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!

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

just how many ants are dedicating themselves to the

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 and energy. When I could afford it, I’d give my own pet nest a treat and let them have

in a

to take care of. Even better, I’m in it! When is this game

Endless going to dig into their cake? Right now,

that half as a gesture of goodwill, but I may have offended them by neglecting

since it was me that sent it over! That would be a disaster! I’d better check what’s going

Let me see….

Hmmmm. Ah. Oh. Hmmmmm.

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 honourable, per se, it’s more like they don’t think in

metaphorical cake, one baked

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

the Eldest to teach a

~~~

Eldest knows now,” Solant

you sure?” Leonidant

them. She could almost feel the seething energy