Chrysalis

[We hate you!]

[Don’t come back!]

[You’re hurting my feelings! Why don’t you fly over here next to me and say that!]

[Get stuffed!]

[In your dreams, mate!]

[Turn off your lousy magic and THEN talk smack, ey? EYYYY?!]

[Why don’t you come over here and make me? Huh? Need me to go easy on you? Too weak for the real stuff?]

[Get off our island!]

[Yeah! You bleedin’ cheat!]

[Bah! All of you can bite my carapace! Your mums are all classy ladies, but you’re rubbish!]

To a chorus of mentally projected howls and insults, I float down and away from the Wandering Isle. Some of the Magpei follow, unwilling to let us go without getting the last word in. I take note of how they keep their distance from me, though, unwilling to be caught up in the gravity well.

Gweheheheh.

It’s taken a lot of mana to maintain it for this long, but it's been worth it. Looking at the suffering expressions of their faces every time they try to fly up and punch me has been a joy, bringing light to my dark, dark heart.

[Are you still going with them?] the mage, Olivis asks me.

[Of course! As long as they’re willing to serve it up, they’re going to get it back.]

[There will never come a time they are unwilling to serve it up. They’re the Magpei. They’ve been doing this for thousands and thousands of years.]

is why they’re so good at being annoying, I suppose. If there’s a Skill

their energy. They want to be discourteous, rude and confrontational? Fine! I

don’t find

[No?]

She looks at me.

back at her. And in

are

that old, why do

[No reason.]

as a human and my time as an ant… I guess my age would be… what? Sixteen-ish? Less? Honestly, it’s hard to remember how old I was when I died, and it’s difficult to keep track of time as an

content: if you find this story on Amazon,

that some ants have taken an interest in the clockmaking arts.

gracefully with my gravity well, I get a good look at the Legion fleet. Interestingly, they didn’t seem to bother us all that much while we dealt with the Wandering Isle. From what I know, only a few of them

to take pot shots at us, like they did when I was falling, but no. The massed fleet of hulking, armoured warships just sits, idly, with many a soldier and officer watching

something else! If they were admiring my glorious carapace, that would be one thing, but this is just them staring at me like a starving person staring at a ham! It’s uncomfortable,

had my fun. With a flicker of concentration, I allow my focus to lapse and the well to dissipate, the mana spreading out and losing its properties as it blends with the energy around

begin to recede, like oil on an ocean falling back from a pristine beach. Ah. I have returned to

exact moment

you going to learn that there are other ants protecting me

ground by three of my babysitters, Odin only

sense their presence at all!]

and mutated to make

[Gah! Let me up!]

about how not to be weird. When we get back to see Sarah again, I want to see a marked decrease in your

Eran Thouris. I suppose

[So, how was trade?]

that many people on the Wandering Isle, but due to its nature, it does an outsized amount of trade. They were quite interested in your foodstuffs, and we’ve arranged some contracts with several distributors. Tea was popular, as was the furniture, oddly

good news, I

least we didn’t have to put up with the

gives me an exasperated