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.]

few steps back and paused, unsure, while

of his mandibles, to the very back of his abdomen, he was between fifteen and twenty metres 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

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

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 as

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 weren’t quite as solid as she imagined, as she glimpsed incredibly fine wisps of thread

this is getting awkward. You didn’t call me up here just to take a gander at my

scoffed. [But I’ve never seen a tier seven monster, let alone a mythic

aren’t dead yet,

[No thanks to you!]

Geez. Ah,

of them, rushing

going

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

isn’t it?] she demanded of the

I should get you checked out by the crew. We can’t have you dying on us, Enid. Not for a long