Chrysalis

When the mana starts to drop, it drops fast. One second I’m up to my eyeballs in the stuff, absolutely drowning in energy, the next it’s receding so quickly I feel like I’m going to get swept down a stratum if I don’t hold onto the ground.

So. That’s it? Just like that?

Hanging from the top of my tunnel, I feel relieved and a bit… disappointed? Look, I’m not asking for the Legion to come knocking on the Colony’s door every wave, but I kind of expected something. This wave has ended with a murmur rather than a roar.

Ah well, it is what it is.

I drop off the roof, stretch out a bit, clean my antennae, then walk back into the nest. Time to go find something else to do, I suppose. Back in the central command chamber, the generals are running around like mad, as always. I find Sloan right in the middle of it all.

“Hey there, Sloan. What’s happening?”

“The wave is ending,” she says, obviously distracted.

I poke her on the head with an antenna.

“Yeah… so why is everyone so busy? Shouldn’t you be winding down? Slowing your roll a little bit? The wave is over.”

She sighs and turns to face me properly.

“The wave being over means the siege has ended. It’s once again safe to venture out of the fortress and into the tunnels.”

“Right. So?”

exploring the lower tunnels and completing the lower sections of the nest as quickly as possible! If we can leave

Ah.

really expect we’ll come under attack? I hadn’t heard of

to be prepared.

tell her and

general needs after this protracted defensive battle. Leaving the generals to it, I

direction. It’s amazing, when I allow myself to indulge in it, just to feel the unity of the Colony. I may be the only creature who gets to feel it like this in the entire lifetime of my

needs, all working to better

are there humans here? And

out just who has come to visit. It doesn’t take long for them to find me, either. A procession of robed priests, each with antennae rising from

If

any pheromones, so none of us ants are all that bothered. I decide to just ignore them, hoping they’ll go

live at this level. That’s handy. Incorporating the ant priests and human soldiers alongside our own

saves a few lives, then I’m willing to put

Time to

Tiny and Invidia all look weary after the long weeks of fighting. The big ape is singed in places, still-healing wounds marking his enormous arms and shoulders. Crinis glomps onto me the moment she’s in range, moulding herself onto my carapace and retracting all of her flesh until she’s about the size of a beach ball. It’s not always easy to tell

sense of satisfaction

guys