Chrysalis

When the Colony goes all in on something, they really do go all in. I was obviously aware of that, but seeing the gigantic stadium that they’ve built to host games somehow still manages to shock me.

Did they really need to go this hard? Holy moly. The thing is enormous!

And there are ants everywhere. As well as people! I was asked to head to the venue well ahead of the game, there’s a waiting area for the teams before they go out onto the pitch apparently, but as I make my way over, the place is already packed!

The second I step out in the cavern that holds the stadium, a great cheer goes up from the gathered humans, and even the ants start clacking their mandibles in appreciation! Apparently, they learned to mimic clapping? There’s tens of thousands gathered already, and the game isn’t for four hours.

I pick my way through the crowd carefully, essentially walking above them, placing my legs in whatever gaps I can find.

“Nice to see you all. How’ve you been? Shouldn’t some of you be working?”

“Speak for yourself!”

“Oi! I am here to work!”

And thus, Tunnel Ball officially became classified as work for the participants.

It was rather embarrassing being the centre of attention in all that, but once I make my way beneath the stadium and away from all those prying eyes, I feel a lot more comfortable.

Back in the day, when I was a lot smaller, it wasn’t that hard to move through a group or area without being ogled to quite such a degree. Now that I tower above every other ant and human, things have gotten a little more difficult.

I can hear the crowd gathering overhead. There’s a steady drumbeat of feet, and a resonant click-clack of claws, for hours. In the chamber itself, I focus on keeping my core topped, pulling in the mana of the second stratum, to try and overcome

drained by my highly evolved body, and the rate of replacement simply can’t keep up. Only by actively seizing energy and pulling it in can I maintain an equilibrium. If that wasn’t bad

Those bums.

The sooner I can get this match over with

absolutely raring to get going by the time the match comes around. The noise overhead is deafening at this point, a constant dull roar. I have no idea how many people are out there, or ants, for that matter. I can feel the vibrations, through the walls. My

ready

“Finally…”

body and push, levering myself up from the

a dignified Eldest in

waiting area to the pitch, weaving magic as I do. The exit from the tunnel is blazingly bright ahead of me, illuminating the field beyond. As I emerge into the open, my legs are barely

are thousands of humans here, perhaps tens of thousands. I didn’t even realise we had so many! Have we conquered more cities in the first and second

a hundred thousand

let

The crowd gasps in shock and admiration as I take to the skies, rising up to become level with the tiered rows

Behold my flying

I spy the Endless at the other end of the pitch,

are today’s victims. And I see Solant, right in the middle, her eyes revealing the calculations running at a million miles an hour within

matter how much you think,

down and I

moly, my

meet them there, trundling forward even as I hastily suck in more mana to replace what I