Chrysalis

Hello my dear readers! I hope you are all well, snug, warm, and ready for another rendition of my adventures amongst the Colony. Within the second stratum, the ants certainly had built a kingdom for themselves. The wonders of Anthome seemed endless, and with Emilia as my ever patient guide, we wandered the many tunnels and chambers, visiting historical sites, admiring the most incredibly detailed sculptures, carvings and artwork I think I have ever seen.

Nobody would have expected the soul of an artist to live within the body of a monster, certainly not me, but I was quite moved by some of the works I saw, almost all of them depicting the ‘Eldest’ at some point in their journey.

“Many of the most celebrated pieces produced by the Colony were created by Michaelangelant. She was perhaps the first ant to really dedicate herself to artistic pursuits. Most of the carvings in the old nest were done by her and her acolytes,” Emilia informed me.

“She single-handedly… well I suppose she didn’t have any hands now, did she? She was solely responsible for this aspect of the Colony’s culture?”

The young woman nodded pleasantly.

“That’s right. At least, as far as we know. At the time this nest was built, there wasn’t that much civilian access. By the time more people were allowed inside, the bulk of the work was completed, so no one can truthfully say they saw it being done.”

I cannot emphasise enough, my precious audience, just how remarkable some of these works are. The attention to detail, the intricately fine work, the patience required to complete such work was simply inhuman! Which I suppose is no surprise, given that the artist was no human!

But it wasn’t just fine artworks that Emilia entertained me and my escorts with as we acclimated to the mana. One fine afternoon, we were invited out to witness a truly remarkable event.

“Have you witnessed a live sporting event?” Emilia asked me innocuously as we departed.

Now, I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from, reader, when my nose rose somewhat into the air as I stated proudly: “Of course!”

I make my home in the Golden City, as you well know, and we are a proud bunch, I am ashamed to say. Here we were, in one of the most frontier areas of the continent, and alongside a young woman who likely hadn’t travelled more than a hundred kilometres from Renewal. I described with great pride and flowery language the great contests held in the famed Arena.

the face of Pangera in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans. The spectacle! The whole city could be rumbling for weeks after a particularly

prattled on, Emilia simply nodded

my overly flowery explanation, “I had hoped you would have such experience.

into it. Not just people, but ants also. From the teleportation chambers, there was a flowing stream of eager beings, all rushing into the flow and making their way towards wherever

people,” I noted to Emilia, “is this a particularly noteworthy

be uncovered. For so many to gather, this must be a rare event

“The Stadium hosts matches three

times per

course. Tunnel Ball is

a hundred metres to a cavernous, vaulted dome. Before us, the enormous wall, entirely adorned with carvings, swept away to the left and right. Scene after scene of ants, humans, golgari, bruan’chii and even the elusive Folk engaged in some sort of activity, usually holding a strangely carved rock, covered the surface, so many my eyes couldn’t

Stadium, were large statues that loomed over the passing spectators. Again, a curious mix of races and individuals. I remarked on it to

These are all individuals who contributed to the sport in a serious way. Some statues

seemed to be a colossal ant looking down haughtily on the patrons as they

of a legend. To our left, though we can’t see it from here, is the statue of perhaps the greatest ever player. Jordant. She doesn’t play anymore, but she

main entrance,”

no. Not at

who invented the

over the Ant controlled lands, and then entranced their allies. Even now, his humble visage watches over the grand entrance to the Stadium, and people come from far

explained the rules to me and my increasingly bewildered escorts as we made our way into the Stadium. We joined the hurrying throngs, the buzz of energy high as we walked with purpose. It

that branched several times, and there we were. Emilia later explained the finest ant engineers had worked