Chrysalis

My hope gleams in the darkness, a diamond shining in the night.

My hope is a builder, a shifter of earth and stone.

My hope is a seer, who glimpses that which is yet to come.

My hope is a speaker, their words know no boundaries.

My hope defends, protects and shields, a barrier between the light and the dark.

My hope bears the weight of the world upon their carapace, and controls that weight.

My hope sleeps, but will rise again in glory.

- Excerpt from ‘Prayers of the Faithful.’

That cake, seriously delicious. I’m pleasantly surprised by how nice it tasted, to be honest. I don’t know what I expected, whether my monstrous body would just reject tasty things, or if I lacked the ability to taste sweet. There’s been a distinct lack of it in my food thus far, I have to say!

It truly is shocking just how quickly you adjust to things. When I started out, the idea of eating Biomass was almost unbearably disgusting. Monster remains are not pleasant to eat, or look at, or smell, or generally be around in any capacity. After a while, though, it’s just what you eat, so you get used to it and move on.

Now, I’ve learned that, apparently, the Colony has a thriving baking industry! Not to mention this delicious tea!

there are humans enjoying a cup and munching happily on a bikkie. Even more shocking, the ants above me on the dome are also enjoying a tea break. It’s a little more difficult to manage, since they’re upside down, but somehow they’ve managed it, deploying some sort of pulley system to manoeuvre the beverages and snacks across the

stadium with baked goods and tea, just how many ants are dedicating themselves to the

though…? Even on Earth, ants love sugar. In fact, there’s really only two things you need to feed an ant colony: protein, for the grubs and the queens, and sugar water, for hydration

colony in a long time…. I

care of. Even better,

are the Endless going to dig into their cake? Right now,

a gesture of goodwill, but I may have offended

case…. In fact, even if they can’t eat it, they may feel forced to since it was me that sent it over! That would be a disaster! I’d better check what’s going on over there, that way, I can

Let me see….

Hmmmm. Ah. Oh. Hmmmmm.

the least. A devious stratagem, an underhanded method. I’ve been compromised, poisoned, and bamboozled. They tricked me with a tainted cake! I would never have expected a member of my family to break the rules looking for a way to win! I wouldn’t say that the Colony is

create yet another, metaphorical cake, one baked with betrayal, and

any different, though, so either this poison hasn’t taken effect yet or I’m simply too huge for it to do anything. Regardless, the kid gloves are certainly off.

the Eldest to

~~~

knows now,”

you sure?” Leonidant

general stared at the giant standing across the pitch from them. She could almost feel the seething