She never knew when they might come for her. She would fall asleep in her bed, in the orphanage, alongside the other children who had lost their families, and wake up somewhere else entirely. At first it was confusing, opening her eyes and finding herself still enveloped in perfect darkness, but she grew used to it. The nameless one would …

Our mission is more than holy. We are not a religious order, dedicated to the pursuit of an unknown god. Our rituals are not held in service of empty sophistry, symbolism or in deference to imagined forces. Everything is in service to the mission. We remind ourselves of the purpose. We hone ourselves like blades, scrape away until we are …

When did he begin to hear the call? Even I can’t be sure. Long before I warned him, of that I’m sure. Such a subtle thing, that siren song, the incessant pull that pushes them to dive ever deeper, until they are crushed by the pressure or forged into something new. I firmly believe he would have gone there even …

“Nice work, Brilliant! You’re getting a lot quicker with that dark magic.” “I quite like it, to be honest. Watching Crinis jump through shadows has been an inspiration for me!” “What’s it like to be able to perceive the shadow dimension?” The smaller ant thinks for a long moment. “Weird,” she says. “Fair enough, I suppose. Trying to explain another …

Leeroy was tired. Not just in a physical sense, because she was definitely drained from long days without rest and filled with hard labour, but more than that she belt a weariness that echoed deep within her very soul. Not even the harsh words of the Eldest had been enough to shake this lethargy and sense of aimlessness from her …

Burke wouldn’t say she disliked the company of other ants, not at all, but it couldn’t be denied that she, and quite a few other scouts had developed a strange sense of independence over the months. More than any other group, except perhaps the far ranging core shapers who spent more time with their pets than others of their own …

The demon infusion program began rather shortly after our expansion began within the third stratum. It became clear quite quickly that a steady supply of demon recruits would be needed to fuel our ambitions, especially if we wanted them to be a regular and meaningful contributor to our conquests. Normally this would happen naturally, there is always a flow of …

It’d be nice to mutate right now but I want to build up my bank of Biomass a bit more before I take the plunge. Going through those endless lists and menus is a massive pain in the backside and I’d rather save it all up and go through as much as possible at once. That doesn’t mean I don’t …

I’m kind of surprised that the hatchling, I mean Brilliant, didn’t try and escape after evolving, but here she is obediently waiting for me after waking. Has she finally learned her lesson? That would be a good thing indeed! Growth! Actual growth! And here I thought I was going to have to change her name to Massive-idiant. [Well, well, well,] …

Tiny looked down at the little one cradled in the crook of his arm and felt a smile creep up on his face. It was good to protect the little one, and make sure that she survived as she slept. Keeping her safe when she was awake was much harder. Tiny preferred time like this. It made him feel good, …