Chrysalis

“SHIELDS!” Advant shouted, her pheromones washing over the entire area in a mighty burst.

The two mages, thankfully, were quick to respond and a shield sprang into being around the large soldier, mere moments before the mess of vines engulfed her completely.

She lunged forward, mandibles snapping as she sheared through hundreds of the tough, living ropes, not noticeably making a dent in them.

“Need some fire?” Propellant asked, eager.

“Of course I want some damn fire! Why are you asking? Just cast it already!” Advant hollered.

An immediate burst of flame washed over her, igniting the vines and driving them back temporarily. Of course, it also set the fine hairs on her antennae on fire at the same time….

“Not me, you idiot!”

“Sorry.”

Unsurprisingly, Propellant didn’t sound all that apologetic as she watched the plant monster retreat, smothering the flames with its innumerable vines. Coolant sighed and conjured a jet of water to douse the singed soldier.

“Really now, you should be able to aim better than that, sister.”

Now dripping wet, Advant fumed silently for a moment before deciding she could no longer hold it in.

“You two have been useless since we got down here,” she sniped at the bickering mages. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d had a falling out of some sort.”

Propellant and Coolant stood awkwardly for a moment.

incredulously, before she shook her head. “Fine, whatever. You’re being ridiculous. Get over yourselves and stop making

to surge up the tunnel once again to

your fault,”

my fault?” Coolant replied icily. “The creature is clearly weak to fire, you should have

has water within its vines. You

being petulant because you’re mad the Eldest didn’t teach you

just being petty because they didn’t have a mega-ice spell for you

then use it. Go help Advant without setting her

“Maybe I will!”

love to

for a long moment, staring at each other until a bedraggled figure trudged out

suck,” Advant ground out. “If the Eldest were here to see your incompetence, you’d

defended herself icily. “Propellant,

to hear it,” the

healer came forward and began to go to work, repairing the extensive damage done to Advant’s carapace. There were a number of smaller wounds as well, places where the vines had pierced flesh and inflicted harm. The healer grumbled to

stumped. It was unusual for any members of the Colony to have a disagreement of any kind. Beyond unusual, exceedingly rare, but it did happen.

way of their task, which was not acceptable. Especially because Advant was the

the table,” she told the two mages. “Either you assure me right now that you can both operate at your best going forward, or we turn around and go back. I only agreed to come with so few in the team because I assumed you two would be such an asset that it

drooping with shame, though neither willing to admit fault in front of

a frustrated puff of

know everyone is stressed right now. The Eldest is out of commission for who knows how long, and we have a ton of things to do, but you two can’t let something petty

“We are not performing

say,” Advant remarked, still picking chunks of vine from

Propellant said. “I’ll do my best not to set you on fire.

singed,” the soldier replied. “The light roasting was the issue. I sincerely hope that whatever is bothering the two of you is resolved as soon as possible. For now, let’s focus on the task at