Chrysalis

[Holy moly, Enid! Don’t scare me like that!]

[Don’t scare you like that?] Enid squawked. [You damn near killed an old woman, you buffoon! I thought my heart was going to stop….]

[I’m not that scary looking. Crinis says I’m very handsome.]

[You’re enormous! And purple! Your mandibles are the same size as my bed! You knew damn well you were going to take me by surprise hanging off the roof like that.]

The gigantic monster scratched itself on the head with one of those enormous antennae. As thick around as a man’s leg and as long as a house was wide. It didn’t feel like that long ago since Enid had last seen him, but Anthony had changed an enormous amount.

[Your last evolution really was a big change,] she said. [I can’t believe how different you look.]

For want of a better word, the ant preened, cleaning his antennae and shifting to bounce the light off his carapace.

[Well. I did put on a lot of size. Gotta boost that Might somehow.]

[It’s not just that. Step back a little, let me get a good look at you.]

[What?]

[Go on, back up.]

steps back and paused, unsure, while Enid passed

long, and possibly eight tall, at her estimate. Each leg was an absurd length, so thick they didn’t look like they belonged to an insect at all, though compared to the rest of his body,

change, no longer a shiny diamond coating over the common colours of the Colony, Anthony’s shell had transformed into something else altogether. A deep, shimmering purple, somewhat opaque, so that she almost felt as if she could peer into it, darkening to black as it grew thicker. Light seemed to ripple as it played across the material that comprised the carapace, as if touching the surface of a lake. His

person was tall, they weren’t the stubby, somewhat blunt gripping tools she saw on the mages and healers. No, these were deadly weapons and they looked the part. Hooked at the ends, with barbs evenly spaced along the ends, they looked like they could punch through armour just

gotten bigger, to the point she could pretty much see the lines that separated them. Some were clearly larger than others too, which was interesting. His antennae were interesting as well. In the light, she could see they

didn’t call me up here just to take a gander at

woman scoffed. [But I’ve never seen a tier seven monster, let alone a mythic one before. I thought I should

dead yet,

[No thanks to you!]

Ah, the healers

the chamber, five of them, rushing toward her and immediately poking and

going on?

them away, but they ignored her, and she suspected that she

doing, isn’t it?] she demanded of the ‘Great

should get you checked out by the crew. We can’t