Chrysalis

Leeroy’s heart was afire.

“Onward, sisters!” she roared, her pheromones rolling across the battlefield like a wave. “Surely today, we will find that which we seek!”

“We seek!”

Her own call was obliterated by the reply of the massed Immortals. They numbered five thousand now, and for Leeroy, charging at the head of their ranks was like being locked to the peak of a collapsing mountain.

The reliquary of the fallen Immortal covered all of them in its blessed light, and Leeroy felt her soul singing as the massed enemies loomed ever larger in her eyes.

As the wave had gone on, the number of powerful monsters who descended from the sky, or rose from below the ground, or emerged from the depths of the lakes, never ceased to swell. The defences of the mountain had been as well constructed as the Colony could manage in the time they’d been given, but even with all their preparations, it proved impossible to clear the monsters from their mountain fortress fast enough.

So the number of rampaging monsters grew. And grew. And grew.

They fought each other, mostly, but the Colony strove desperately to push them away from the mountain-nest to prevent damaging it. Now that they had secured a safe haven on the fourth stratum, they would do anything to keep it.

Including letting the Immortals loose on the battlefield.

“We Seek!”

The tidal wave of pheromones released by the armoured column was so thick it hung like a fog over their heads. As they charged, that fog was caught by their legs and frames, swirling around their feet until it appeared as though they ran atop a cloud.

In the field ahead, Leeroy could see an immense pack of monsters thrashing and fighting before the gates of the nest. To many, it would have appeared like a nightmare brought to life, a whirlpool of death and destruction. Powerful monsters battled there. Sinuous lizards that swam through the air like eels, emerald scales glittering in the light; spirits of wind, water and earth towered a dozen metres into the air, manipulating the elements to their will. Horrific, bloated creatures of the deep, thrumming with a powerful aura and overwhelming life, forced themselves onto the land, fanged maws a bottomless pit of hunger.

To Leeroy and her followers, it was like a glimpse of heaven.

monsters weren’t tier one riffraff, freshly spawned, not knowing up from down. These were powerful, tier six and seven beasts, fat from feasting on the abundant weak prey the wave produced

within her

sure her legs, even as reinforced and mutated as they were, would snap from the strain. They held, but only just. As her spirit

like an explosion. As the tip of the wedge slammed into the massed beasts fighting outside the gate, the first enemies simply vanished… popped like balloons as thousands of tons of massed ants smashed into them like an Ancient’s fist. To Leeroy, this was the moment she lived for. Ahead, monster after monster stood, so closely packed together they may as well have been a solid mass. Behind, thousands and thousands of

her armour scream as it warped under the pressure, felt her carapace buckle and crack as she was compressed between an unstoppable object and an immovable obstacle. This time, she hoped, it would be enough. This time, the enemy would stand firm and she, at the head of the formation, would be broken. No

she

the Colony, as did the second, as did the third. The Immortals trampled over

Then the fighting began.

match. They battled recklessly, leaving themselves wide open, throwing themselves on their opponents’ fangs

by the finest layered and enchanted metal the forges of the Colony

within, and she leapt, flinging herself into the open maw! Bright green fire licked her armour, burning her antennae, but she crashed into the monster’s teeth

Not enough!

of earth. The creature raised up a portion of itself, hardening the shifting

calculated the point at which the strike would reach its peak momentum and rushed forward, taking the blow at the perfect moment. The stone shattered, showering her

NOT ENOUGH!

that the Phoenix Fire organ was growing hotter within her, preparing to unleash its cleansing fire. If she wasn’t struck down before it was ready,

That didn’t seem likely.

to be

turned again and saw a leviathan hauling itself out of the water. Surely, a tier seven beast, its

This was perfect!

she screamed, and rushed forward, her heart igniting with precious hope

could she fight something this strong? Impossible, not even the Eldest could fault her for making a flawless sacrifice play! Deep down, she knew the Eldest would tell her to

flung herself into the creature's mouth, kicking