Chrysalis

The Colony possesses a trait that is uniquely ascribed to it and to it alone, among the advanced, thinking societies that have emerged on Pangera. And that is, you can almost view them as a single entity, a super-organism, so to speak, due to how united in purpose they are.

Disagreements, or different approaches, are almost absorbed as part of the process, as millions of individuals work to bring about a single outcome: the betterment of the whole. It’s almost comical how incorruptible they are. Even more than a society, they are a unified mass of constantly shifting components that give the appearance of a society, while concealing their true nature. The Colony is not a people, or a country, or a kingdom, or an empire. They are a single beast. One Creature. One Mind. One Purpose.

- Excerpt from ‘True Threat’ by the propagandist Erdagon

The best way to put your troubles behind you is to keep pushing forward, find something else to do. So that’s exactly what I get to doing. With Tiny, Crinis and Invidia beside me once again, we throw ourselves into the long list of jobs Victor has put in front of me. Escort construction teams down into the tunnels? No problem, we’ll get them there lickety-split. Fight off a raid from some sort of crystalline cow-looking things? Of course! They will crumple in the face of Tiny’s fists. Stand guard while an excavation team takes mineral samples from a potential mining site?

I mean… it’s boring as heck… and surely you can get someone else to do this… but fine! We’ve got it!

All the while, the thriving and vibrant energy of the Colony wraps around me like a warm blanket. Every day that goes by, the family becomes stronger, more secure, and my confidence grows. It’s hard not to grow, with so much zest and vigour being pumped directly into my veins via the Vestibule. The enthusiasm and drive of my siblings is contagious. I can’t help but catch the bug and throw myself into every task with determination and vigour.

It’s heady stuff.

It takes barely two days to crush through Victor’s list, leaving the general scrambling for things for us to do. At that point, I tell her not to bother and to let me know if anything else comes up, something they need me and the squad to take care of. Something that isn’t guard duty on mining expeditions.

It’s at that moment the general twitches as if she just recalled something.

“Oh yes, Eldest. There is one thing that you should look into.”

There’s something off about the tone of her scent…. I can’t quite put an antenna on what it is, but she sounds… shifty.

Anyone can do those jobs, you don’t need a pack of mythic monsters to take

only two of you were

in my eyes!” I shoot back. I will accept no prejudice against Invidia and Crinis! They’re

been taken without approval. Report

you’re saying. We are stretched

of thousands of

have noted that the monsters here are not like the ones we fight in the first stratum,” the general replies a little snippily. “Maybe you can pulverise giant lizards with hardened rock shells, or sea krakens, or water elementals, without

evolution. There are millions of us at this stage, millions, and all the cores and Biomass that can be spared get funnelled towards the next generation. That means our young hatchlings are coming out of the antcademies stronger than ever, which is great! But after that point, their growth begins to stagnate. Against the more powerful monsters of the fourth, the ants need greater numbers to

important to make sure every grub grows up to be as strong as possible, I instituted that policy after all, but we need to ensure the

what is this job you have

still surprised

to welcome

My antennae twitch.

that is good and six-legged

Just focus on doing the

That’s not weird. “You want to meet, and escort, this VIA. Where

them at the

thought we hadn’t connected our gates

“We haven’t.”

coming from within

VIA? Am I allowed to know