Chrysalis

“MORE POWER, DAMMIT!”

“We don’t have any more! We don’t have the power!”

“It’s so close. So close! Empty the tanks, we need every drop!”

“But… but that’s madness!”

“It’s not madness… it’s BRILLIANT!”

Electricity crackled, lightning flashed and sparks fell like rain from overhead as the ants scurried to follow the orders of their leader. Atop her observation spire, Brilliant cackled, her mandibles snapping together in a staccato rhythm as the flashes and explosions lit her from below, projecting her demented shadow onto the wall.

“Th-th-the b-backup m-m-matrix is collapsing!” Assistant whimpered.

“It’s fine, we have three backups!”

“This IS the third backup!” Experimant roared.

“Not to worry, I installed a secret fourth backup matrix and didn’t tell you!”

“That’s just a lie, isn’t it?!”

Another explosion rocked the chamber and Brilliant teetered on the edge of her spire, a hair's breadth from losing her grip and falling into the swirling maelstrom of light below. The many-faceted eyes of the mage were filled with an unearthly glow, and for a long moment, Experimant was convinced she’d finally lost her mind.

“Dump the tanks and then hit the cages!” she shouted and hundreds of lab ants rushed to follow her orders.

“Th-th-th-th-th-this will overflow the matrix for sure!” Assistant said.

as she snatched up the smaller

w-w-w-will save the

think she’s

underground pipelines and into the gate matrix. As predicted, the matrix blew almost

CAN SEE EVERYTHING!” Brilliant roared.

of power she could reach out and

“L-l-leader! Be c-c-careful!”

“BAH! CALL ME BRILLI-”

white, then expanded rapidly, enveloping the entire room in a second. Brilliant never got a chance to complete her

as stone and debris rained down from above. The chamber had been built to withstand magic detonations, but that last one had been beyond even what Brilliant

room stopped shaking and Experimant felt confident enough to

get a quick headcount?

said, emerging from the

you are…”

want to know

“Not really-”

with a front leg. “And that was the best

“Y-y-you're alive?” Assistant mumbled.

you out of the

our sensor arrays melted?” Experimant grumbled as she helped the rest of the lab-ants emerge from the protective

ones. But that’s fine, I got a good look at what they

said it out loud, went to apologise, then shrugged and kept doing what she

necessary. My brain, that is. Come on! We are on the verge of a breakthrough after this

energy, the little mage raced off in the dust and began rummaging about, shouting and exclaiming all the while. Assistant hesitantly made her way from the perimeter as

two front legs as an array embedded into a reinforced stone pillar flickered to life. “Someone extract the data

off to another one. When that refused to work, she savaged it with a bite before running to the next. In short order, she’d either repaired or fatally damaged all ten of the outer detectors and started poring over the printed scent-pages of information along with her

IT! The kick of power we got by infusing the liquid mana was just what we needed. See