Chrysalis

"Get back here!" I grumble at Brilliant, "if you don't behave yourself, you're going back in the mouth!"

She freezes in the process of dashing off into the city and turns back towards us.

"Do I even fit in there anymore…?" she asks doubtfully.

[Invidia, show her the mouth.]

He does.

"I see that I would indeed still fit…" she says, the scent faint.

"Yes, yes you would. When it comes to mouths, Invidia is ranked second in our group behind Crinis in terms of size and believe me, you don't want to spend any time in there."

"Why is that?" she asks, her curiosity overwhelming her good sense… as usual.

"Because everything that goes in there is slowly annihilated, disintegrating into tiny molecules that are then digested. She doesn't even need teeth to shred her food."

"That's… horrific."

"I think that's the point. Anyway, before we run off into a strange city full of demons that we don't know anything about, how about we stick together as a group and agree on some simple ground rules?"

"Ground rules like what?"

"First of all, you're currently tier three and every entity in the city that I can sense right now is at least tier six. So, to almost every monster in here, you are a snack. Try not to get eaten. Second, let's try not to antagonise anyone, pun not intended. I'm pretty sure the city lord would be more than happy to destroy us if we give him a chance, so let's try not to give him one. Clear?"

"Crystal!" she nods enthusiastically.

Looking down at her clear and energetic eyes, alight with the promise of new knowledge, I just know that this is going to go horribly wrong.

"All right then," I sigh, "let's get going."

[Tiny, watch the hatchling carefully. I get the feeling she'll try to run off at some point.]

He nods seriously at me before taking up a position near the little ant, always keeping her in his eyes. I hope it'll be enough. There's a slight gap between the wall that encircles Grokus' compound, and therefore the base of the pillar, and any other structures, a gap we cross rapidly and find ourselves immediately surrounded by the press of strange buildings and even stranger residents.

There doesn't seem to be any roads, because why would there be, or any sort of planning having gone into the layout of the city that I can see so far, which correlates to the obscene tangle that I witnessed from above. It looks as if the demons just build wherever they please and knock down any building that gets in the way. The neighbourhood planning committee meetings must be quite the sight…

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but the demon city of Roklu somehow manages to defy all expectations. As we move deeper amongst the buildings, more faces poke out to watch as we walk past, each and every one a different shape or size than the one before. The demons come in a seemingly endless variety of types and even if some are similar to each other, there are almost always some differences that can't be put down to mutations alone. Compared to the uniform appearance of my own family members, besides the obvious differences between the castes, this is almost a ridiculous level of diversity. I keep an eye out for demons similar to Invidia and although I see a few that are close, there doesn't seem to be any that I see which are exactly the same.

[Are you one of a kind, Invidia? I thought there'd be a lot more demons similar to you down here, considering how powerful you are.]

[I do not know.]

[I suppose it doesn't really matter.]

"ROAR!"

BOOM!

[What the heck is that?!]

A powerful bellow quickly followed by a ground shaking crash rattles through the air and I plant my feet firmly, antennae swaying through the air rapidly. To the side, I see that Tiny has leapt forward and snagged Brilliant off the ground before she could make a getaway, although she was heading toward the source of the noise, as opposed to away from it…

[Be cautious… let's go check it out.]

Looking at the demons around us, none seem to react all that much to the disturbance, seemingly far more interested in us than they are in whatever caused it. Feeling my tension unwind a little, I nonetheless keep my guard up as we thread our way through the buildings toward the source of the noise. A few minutes later we find what we're looking for in the form of a large, brutal looking demon dragging away what appears to be whatever is left of the demon he had a disagreement with. The ground is heavily cracked, and a few nearby walls are clearly damaged, but again, nobody seems to be willing to do anything about it. The hulking form of the grey skinned behemoth slowly stomps away out of our line of sight, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Either that big chap is tier seven or at the very peak of tier six, judging by his core. Clearly a physical build, he was as bulky as Tiny and just as large. Which reminds me.

[No Tiny, you can't go fight it.]

He looks disappointed, relaxing from the impressive pose he'd pulled in order to best display his gorilla physique.

[And you can probably put Brilliant down now.]

[Urr?]

The little ant in question is currently having her face rammed into Tiny's right bicep as he lifted his hands to better flex. Looking apologetic, he gently places Brilliant on the ground, giving her a little pat on the back and dusting off her carapace. I'd roll my eyes if I could.

"Are you alright, Brilliant?"

"I … think so?" she says, staggering a little as she gets her balance.

I have no idea what just happened. Are the demons here just allowed to eat each other whenever they want? And damage the city? That can't possibly be right… how would they even form a city if living in it provided no sort of safety? Why would any of them live there at all?

[Because living here is much safer than living elsewhere. But you must reconsider your assumption that 'safety' is the primary concern of the city's residents.]

That seems like a reasonable thing to say actually… demons are monsters, much the same as the members of the Colony. But whereas the ants of my family are all related to one another and have an innate desire to cooperate, no such thing binds demons. And considering that, judging from what I've seen, safety doesn't seem to be one of their concerns, I can corroborate that with what I've witnessed in the wild at least. That leads to the question, what exactly is it that demons want?

And whose voice was that?!

With a start, I realise a mind bridge has connected to me, so stealthily, so sneakily that I hadn't even noticed it happen?! Who the heck?! All my minds and constructs blaze with activity as I rally my own mind mana to my defence.

[Who's there? Why have you invaded my mind? Is it because of my carapace? It's the carapace, isn't it? So shiny… so marvellous… one look and you were entranced… addicted! Well you can't have it! It's mine. Mine I say!]

[Ah. I mean no offense. Allow me to reveal myself to you and we can clear this misunderstanding.]