Having a smaller ant crawl all over my carapace is kind of ticklish and I was frankly a little glad when Smithant was finally finished with her work. I could tell she was pumped up, she was practically radiating the same level of energy as the hatchling by the time she was done. Without so much as a ‘thanks for …

“Explain to me please, why you would ever think that sticking your head into a blast furnace would be a good idea?” I demanded of the hatchling, still dangling from one of Crinis’ tentacles. “I wanted to see what it looked like inside!” she protests. “Inside? Inside is nothing but fire, superheated gas and liquid metal!” “REALLY?!” she goggles at …

The hatchling is practically vibrating with excitement as she watches all the action and I can already sense the thought of running off to explore further forming in her mind. This little thing! She needs to chill out, yeesh! Rather than toss her to Invidia for time out, I head off her burgeoning escape attempt by offering to take her …

[Alright Invidia, you can spit her out now.] With a wet splat the hatchling is deposited onto the tunnel floor in front of me still dripping with demon saliva. With a shiver she begins to shake her legs and abdomen in an attempt to cleanse herself of the goo. She has a little success before furiously cleaning her antennae, dragging …

“You must be kind of a big deal, huh?” the hatchling observes, staring up at a giant statue of me carved from glittering stone. “Ahem! You can ignore that. Come on, we have more interesting things to see.” “This is amazing to look at,” she says as I drag her away, “I wonder who made it?” “So do I,” I …

While the hatchling enjoyed a little solitary education, we moved back out beyond the defensive lines of the territory to drive back the swarming monsters for possibly the final time. The mana levels continued their slow draw down and with every hour that passed the spawn rate of monsters began to gradually recede. I was hugely relieved that we had …

Universal education. It’s a desirable principle, but how many times has it been achieved on Pangera in any meaningful way? The only large society to apply this idea on a wide scale, to my knowledge anyway, is the Colony. Though it might not last long, the education every hatchling receives is certainly intensive, covering almost all aspects of operations within …

The thing about the tunnels in the second stratum is that they’re freezing cold, like really cold. What’s more, when you get this deep, they reek of death mana, which when combined by the near total darkness makes them a rather unpleasant place to be. It’s like being in a graveyard at night where it’s permanently raining. As an insect, …

“How long have you got?” Advant asked, her scent distracted and her antennae wavering busily back and forth. “Not long,” replied Brendant, similarly occupied, “I’m only off shift for under an hour and I had to travel to get here.” “I also have a lot of places to be,” Victor looked tired but a determined light sparkled in her eyes. …

The battle yet raged, a full hearted defence of the Colony demanded the attention and resources of every caste and every council member worked (almost) around the clock to ensure the family would ride through the trouble, greater and stronger than ever before. In many ways, the current Colony was like an egg, a hard shell on the outside, protecting …