We warred for survival. That was our driving motivation for so long that when we eventually reached the point that survival wasn’t threatened, we almost didn’t know how to act. We had established enough power, enough allies, that the forces who sought to exterminate us were unwilling to pay the cost, and thus secured our ongoing existence.

Some theorise that it is only when one doesn’t have to struggle day to day that their true personality can shine through. In that case, this period would reveal who the Colony was, what our priorities were, and who we saw ourselves being in the future.

Even the Eldest, so often the driving force behind our development and direction, stepped into the background. Left to our own devices, the Colony had to search deep within itself to find a new direction, a new channel in which to place its bottomless energy.

Excerpt from the private notes of Historiant

Turns out, it takes a lot of mana to create a volcanic eruption.

[Stay away from the master you trash! Die!]

[GRAAAAAH!]

[Ssssurrender your livesss to me!]

BOOM! BOOM!

And it requires an extreme level of concentration and focus.

[Succumb to fear! Retreat from the shadows!]

[Ahhh. The experience isss mine!]

[HRAAAAAAAAA!]

[Can you keep it down, dammit! I’m trying to focus!]

[Sorry, Master!]

I take a moment to push away my irritation. It’s not exactly reasonable to expect them to be quiet as they protect me from an unending torrent of furious termites.

[It’s fine. Do your best up there and I’ll try and get this ready as quickly as possible.]

[Okay!]

Invidia and I have created a little bunker for us to huddle in, but it doesn’t take long for the larger termite soldiers to start scissoring away at it. Even the workers are capable of nibbling at the stone and tearing it down piece by piece. Since neither I, nor Invidia have the energy to spend on repairing it, we are becoming more exposed as time passes.

I suppose the little demon could divert his attention to whipping up some stone, but personally I’d rather have him on explosion duty.

Gah! This spell is such a freakin’ pain in the noggin!

Multiple types of mana flow out of the omni-elemental construct at a constant rate, each seized by my mind constructs and condensed before they are added to the intricate weave that is this spell. Its structure is almost like a spherical cake, one with dozens of wafer thin layers that surround an explosive, condensed lava core.

Not something that I want to be standing next to when it goes off, but I don’t know how long it takes to detonate after I finish it.

Exciting!

[Master! There’s more of them coming!]

[More? How in the name of all that is ant can there be more?!]

[I don’t know, but they managed somehow!]

I shift to look and what do you know, she’s right. It’s horrifying, but also fascinating to see. The termites flood around the tunnel corner like literal water, a densely packed wave that sloshes and froths as individuals are sent tumbling or flying by the sheer weight of mass behind them.

Word must have gotten out to the wider nest that the queens were under threat. Naturally they drop everything, no matter what is happening, to come and defend the queen. In fact, the ka’armodo might have found their mental control breaking if they tried to deny the termites their most basic instinct.

I wager there’s a few lizards with mighty headaches out there right about now.

[There’s nothing I can do about it!] I tell them. [Unleash everything you’ve got. I need more time!]

[I-I’ve got it, Master.]

[I hasssss it! Givesss it to me!]

Invidia bursts out, his eye crackling with power as he unleashes his devastating eye beam. In fact, he appears to have supercharged it this time, the green light shredding through everything it touches. It looks like it’s shredding anything that even gets close to it! Holy moly you little eyeball, you’ve been holding back on me!

Except now his eye is bleeding, thick ichor dripping onto the tunnel floor beneath his hovering form. That is less cool.

[Don’t overdo it, Invidia,] I tell him. [We’re okay.]

[We willssss be,] he replies with supreme confidence.

As much as I want to worry about him, I can’t. Instead, I turn and pour all of my attention into the spell, weaving threads with all the delicacy and speed I can muster. Within, the omni-elemental construct spins and whirls as raw mana is pumped in one end and converted into the elements I need.

Just managing the damn thing is taking me five mind-constructs!

Come on mana, just… frickin… work!

[BWAHA!] I cry out in triumph. [I’ve got it!]

[Is the spell complete?] Crinis asks.

[Heck yeah! Check it out!]

[Master… shouldn’t we run?]

[Oh, right.]

When it’s finished, the spell flashes into existence, a hovering sphere that has almost every drop of mana I had within me contained inside. Coated in a jagged, rocky exterior, the spell begins to radiate immense heat just a few seconds after I complete it. As impressive as it is, we need to get the heck out of here.

[Which way isn’t covered in termites?]

[None of them!]

Well nards.

[Then let’s make a new one! This way!]

My brains creak as I draw on them again, grabbing hold of ambient mana and yanking it into my drained core. From there I pump it into the omni construct and grab hold of the earth mana that comes out the other side, which I flood into my mandibles.

[We’re digging our way out!]

I throw myself at the wall and start ripping into it even as I use the mana I’ve created to break up and soften it. A blizzard of stone chips and loose soil is funnelled behind me as I pump my jaws, repeatedly using the combo skills.

The second I clear enough space, the other three pile in behind me, Tiny fending off the ravenous horde with his feet as they rush in behind him. Even now I can feel the heat building behind me, starting to conduct through the stone around us. It must be blazing hot down there next to the thing.

Keep on digging, Anthony! Dig like your life depends on it!

The next few seconds are spent desperately scrabbling. Even Crinis uses her tentacles to tear and sweep at the earth as we try and gain even just a few more metres of space.

Then there comes a deep rumbling, followed by a shattering CRACK that resounds throughout the mountain.

Then comes the lava.