Beneath the Burning Sky (1018)

The war is over. Well, this war, anyway. Man, the Colony really gets into too many wars. Can't an ant take a break?

And no, it's not my fault! Most of the time!

This conflict with the termites wasn't started by me at least, and the skirmishes with the ka'armodo are also not my (direct) responsibility. My conscience is clear!

I lie on the still smouldering ground for a while, keeping a watchful eye on the lava flow to make sure that I don't get baked while I flop. The mountain is still a smouldering wreck, belching smoke and fire into the normally pristine skies of the fourth stratum. The voice of Gandalf still rings inside my mind, letting me know there are still termites inside the nest somewhere getting roasted.

I don't even want to begin wading through the barrage of System notifications I received. I must have killed hundreds of thousands of termites with that spell, and maybe a few ka'armodo. The bulk of them would provide me with almost no experience, being a much lower tier than me, but hey, one experience apiece from a million monsters is still a million XP!

I'm almost nervous to check my level. Was that enough to push me over the top and get me to one-sixty?

"You look comfortable, Eldest," Coolant observes from nearby.

"Eldest, you HAVE to teach me that spell. That was the most glorious thing I've ever seen in my life!" Propellant gushes.

I suppose a volcanic eruption would be rather exciting for a fire magic specialist. Judging by the stars sparkling in each of the thousands of lenses that make up her eyes, Propellant isn't going to leave it alone until I tell her.

"I'll try," I say, "but the spell requires combining a number of mana types, compressing the heck out of them, and it isn't cheap, cost wise. Without all of the relevant skills, you might not be able to use it until you hit tier six."

After all, unlike a specialist like Propellant, I happen to be able to use whatever elements I like.

"Noooooo!" Propellant howls. "I have to evolve! I have to evolve NOW! Coolant, let me kill you."

"Excuse me?"

"I need experience! You wouldn't deny your closest sister her dreams would you?"

THWACK!

"Calm yourself a little," I scold the fiery mage, "before I tell your sister to coat you in ice. Yeesh. Be a little patient and you'll make it to tier six soon enough."

Coolant eyes her sister, who is still rolling on the ground rubbing at her wounded head, for a moment before she turns her attention back to me.

"Speaking of evolving, Eldest. Have you…?" she trails off.

I shake my head.

"I haven't checked yet. I kind of wanted to enjoy the sensation of not being exploded for a bit. Me and the crew were a little too close to getting flambéed. I'm pretty sure Tiny's feet are medium rare at this point."

"Well, you should probably check anyway," a new scent breaks into the conversation and I roll a little to see Sloan arriving.

The general looks tired, but triumphant. The battle is won, another great victory for the Colony, but her work is still far from over.

"If you've reached the threshold to evolve to the next tier, then that will change what the Colony will do over the next several days, perhaps even weeks."

I throw her a confused look.

"What do you mean? I'd just be evolving right? I've maxed out my mutations, you don't even have to feed me. Let me rustle up a heap of cores from the nest and I'll be good to go."

There's an awkward silence around as the council members all shuffle back and forth. In the end, it's Coolant who breaks the tension.

"Eldest…" she starts, "not having you available to protect us is a bigger issue than you seem to realise."

"The Colony isn't so weak," I scoff, "what are you so worried about? It's getting to the point where you don't even need me around anymore, and I'm happy about it. I've got other important work to do besides fighting all the time."

Like grub tickling.

"We have to be careful," Propellant tries to pitch in. "You're an important part of the Colony, and we need to know in advance if you aren't going to be available."

What on Pangera are they talking about? I give all three of them the stink eye as I try to work out what is going on here. However, I'm saved from over-taxing my brain by the appearance of Protectant, the nigh invisible guardian appearing seemingly from thin air.

"They are attempting to lure you into a secure location and have an extensive protection detail placed around you at the time of evolution," she says, blunt and to the point. "They fear you'll reject them if they make a straight up request."

Coolant, Propellant and Sloan all slap themselves in the head with an antenna.

"Why would you say that?" Sloan complains. "Now the Eldest will never agree."

I stare at her.

"You want to protect me while I evolve? Did you think I was going to wander over to a ka'armodo fortress and evolve on their doorstep or something? Just how dumb do you think I am?!"

A pause.

"You weren't?" the general asks.

"No! Of course not. I was going to evolve under the Mother Tree or something. If I could get back to the third stratum without feeling like my guts were getting ripped out, I'd probably do it there, but I can't."

"That's part of the issue," my bodyguard pipes up. "They don't fully trust the bruan'chii, or the tree. It isn't even a question of if they will attack you while you are vulnerable, the Colony isn't sure if they can defend you adequately."

"What do you mean? Who's going to come and attack me while I'm evolving? I think you are all getting paranoid. Wait, what do you mean the Colony?"

I shift my focus and see there are thousands of ants nearby, all dead still as they focus on our discussion.

"Oooookay. Don't we all have work to do?"

"They want to know if they need to build a fortress in the next few days," Cobalt breaks in this time, wearily joining our small circle. "If it has to be done, we need to make sure it gets done right."

"A fortress?!" I yell. "Why in the name of the shining strands of the bounteous beard would I need a fortress?! You've all gone gaga!"

It's Protectant who breaks it to me.

"The Colony will not risk anything happening to you while you are at your most vulnerable. Here, in the fourth layer, we are weak, with little knowledge of the threats and with no fully fortified position. Our enemies could take advantage and attack if they were to learn you were comatose."

"It's not that big a deal," I protest, but I feel like I'm losing this argument.

"You won't be allowed to risk yourself, Eldest," my guard tells me. "Once you're awake, you're in charge and can do what you want, but while you're asleep, your safety is entrusted to us and we won't let you be hurt."

All of my siblings around me present a unified front, and I find myself casting about to try and find a way out of the spotlight. I really don't want all this fuss! I just want to evolve in peace. Maybe I don't even have to evolve! I might not even have the levels… all this worry for nothing!

"Look, there's no need to worry anyway. How could the termites provide enough experience for… erm… ah, nuts."