Technomagica 62 Dead Guardians (Patreon)

From our perspective the hive appeared absolutely gargantuan, stretching out downwards in all directions. The ants themselves were quite large too. It’s not that the human soul was small. Space was irregular, twisted in the Astral acting more like a fractal structure and the deeper one dove into it the weirder things became. 

An Astral Phantom could fold themselves down a hundred times in the Astral by diving deeper into the currents simply due to how this dimension functioned. Thus, as we got closer to the hive, we became smaller.

[Are we waiting for… something?] Delta asked as I hovered at the entrance to the hive, moving our shield sphere back and forth.

[Yes,] I nodded. [Be patient.]

After a few minutes, I saw them. Semi-transparent, ant-like shapes. They advanced toward us like a wave from all around the hive.

[There!] I said.

[What are those?] 

[Those are the hive's Astral defenders,] I explained as I began to move the shield sphere away from the colony, [Ant ghosts. They'll attack anything in the Astral that poses a threat to the colony.]

[...Ghost ants?] Delta echoed.

[Mhmm,] I nodded, humming the Alanian song of Tamus-Anima to mask the presence of our souls.

When I retreated far enough from the hive, the wave of ghost ants slowly began to disperse and return back into the hive.

I rapidly moved my Infoscopes forward and caught a ghostly ant that had gone too far out with a triple hum of [Tamus-Anima] suspending it in place.

The other ghosts did not notice the straggler. 

As the ghost ant hovered in space, I ordered the Infoscopes to slice apart its shell and to inject a small shard of my soul into it with [Conjugo] via the [Tether]. It took three of my soul shards to completely dominate the ghost.

[-3 in Soul] The System reported.

[+1 Astral Ant LV 3] It added.

I went over my stats as I slowly drove the sphere into the Astral Ant and connected a control [Tether] to control my new ghost’s movements.

As I went over the data lines I noted that Kliss was showing up as my [Phylactery] now.

Sigh.

I definitely didn’t want that, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I wondered if this is how Astral Phantoms propagated and controlled others and whether my body was a Phylactery of Phantom Sasha. I suspected that a piece of Hollow Mother was hiding somewhere in me, invisible to my Infoscopes due to its absurdly high [Charisma-Invisibility] resonance. It was likely that Sasha managed to infect me with a soul shard during my escape from her twelve years ago.

I had to do something about Sasha, had keep her from endlessly invading my dreams. Perhaps I could sacrifice the [Mana>Electricity] converter and create some kind of a dream-control skill?

[Is this going to take long?] Delta interrupted my pondering.

[Be patient,] I replied. [I’m making sure that we’re invisible.]

[Right, well hurry up I’m feeling hungryyyyy,] she whined.

[Fine, fine,] I sealed the sectus-made cut in the side of the ghostly ant, finished readjusting my Lymphagon barrier to match the ant by separating some of its soul and flew the Astral Ant towards the hive.

When I reached the defensive ward barrier, nothing happened. We were indeed invisible to the hive defenses! Yes!

We quickly ventured deeper into the heart of the colony. I had already scanned the entire structure with my Infoscopes so I knew it well. The ants continued their tireless march, oblivious to our presence. The hive was a maze of interconnected tunnels, chambers, and passages, teeming with life and activity.

Eventually, we passed into a vast hollow space that served as a cemetery for the ants. The chamber was a massive graveyard of ant bodies, piled high and coated in a thick layer of crystal dust. Each dead ant was a tiny reservoir of [Strength] magic, and their collective power seemed to seep out into the Astral, forming the ghostly ant defenders we had encountered earlier.

[That's a lot of dead ants,] Delta mulled.

[This is where the ant ghosts come from,] I explained. [When an ant dies, its body is brought here. Over time, their bodies break down, releasing their souls into the Astral. Their souls remain here and are then reformed into ghost ants, which are tasked with defending the hive in the Astral plane. They are born from the collective will of the fallen, persisting after death.]

[It's… neat and a bit creepy,] she admitted. [But I guess it's effective at defending the colony from grabby phantoms. Sucks that they have to work hard even after death. Damn it, this place makes me feel hungry.]

[You’ll probably turn into an ant if you feed here,] I pointed out. [Stay inside the ghost ant car until we arrive at our destination please.]

Delta made a noise of mild disappointment.

[Did you know,] I began, navigating our ghost ant past a mound of fallen ants, [that ants are one of the longest living insects? Some ant queens can live up to 30 years. Titanthorax-Ant queen can live even longer.]

[Really?] Delta asked. [I thought insects generally have short lifespans… at least bees do.]

[Correct. A regular bee's life is short. However, the queen bee eats royal jelly that extends her lifespan,] I pointed out. [It's got [Vitality] magic in it. Your queen bee should live for 20 years.]

[I see,] Delta said. [Wait... can we people eat royal jelly to live longer?]

[Yes,] I nodded. [In USSR royal jelly was used as a dietary supplement and was believed to have various health benefits. Here in Skyisle it actually has a noticeable health benefit due to the Vitality resonance in it. There are no beekeeper mages in Skyisle, so we'll be the first.]

[Nice,] Delta said. [So, how long do worker ants live?]

[Five to ten years,] I answered.

In a bit more time, we reached the heart of the colony, a vast chamber where the queen resided, her massive form dwarfing the workers around her. I slowed our ghost ant at the entrance, scanning the area for any further dangers.

[Wow! So that's the queen?] My twin asked.

[Yes,] I replied.

I directed our ghost ant towards the queen, moving slowly.

The queen was a massive, brooding figure, her body swollen with eggs. She was constantly attended by a stream of workers, feeding her, grooming her, and carrying away the eggs she laid.

[She's a chonky girl,] Delta commented.

[Yes,] I agreed. My infoscopes finished scanning the queen from the outside. She was tough. When I tried to push an Infoscope through her, a red shimmer ran across her body, destroying the spell. A ghost ant flashed through the wall and examined the space where the Infoscope vanished. I frowned mentally.

[Are we heading straight for the queen then? Just get in, do our thing, and get out fast?] Delta asked.

[No. That's too risky,] I replied. [If we directly attack the queen, she would feel the attack and alert the entire colony, which in turn will bring thousands of Astral ants here. She just shredded my Infoscope like it was nothing.]

[Hrm? What are the ghosts gonna do? I thought that they cant' see us.]

[They will capture or destroy the ghost ant straggler that refuses to follow orders,] I replied. [We really can't afford to fail or be trapped here.]

[Dang,] Delta complained. [So... then what do we do?]

[We’ll infect the eggs she's laying. Eggs won’t complain, they have no way to report that they’ve been compromised from within.]

I guided our ghost ant towards the stream of workers carrying away the queen's eggs.

[See those workers?] I pointed out. [They're carrying the queen's eggs away to different chambers. We'll get them while they're in transit.]

[Sneaky,] Delta said. [So... what do little ant Queens do after they're born?]

[They grow up, fed and cared for by the workers,] I explained. [When they mature, they leave the colony, taking a portion of the workers with them to establish new colonies of their own. They take part in what is known as the Nuptial Flight. The young queens and the males fly from the colony, mate in the air and then the queens land to start a new colony, often quite a vast distance from their birth colony. An ant queen only needs to mate once to continue to lay fertilized eggs for her entire life.]

[So.... you can tell which egg has a queen in it, right?]

[Nope. There’s no difference between the eggs. They’re all exactly the same,] I said.

[Wait… what? So how does an egg turn into a queen?]

[The chamber it’s raised in, plus a specific type of nutrition, especially during the larval stage, is what influences the development of a queen versus a worker,] I explained. [We simply need to infect the eggs that are being carried to the princess chambers.]

[Ant queens aren't born regal, they're made into royalty huh?] Delta mulled.

[Yep,] I affirmed as I carefully maneuvered our ghost ant towards the line of workers, each carrying a precious egg towards the princess chamber. As we neared, I reached out with my Infoscopes, targeting an egg being carefully cradled by a worker.

I directed an Infoscope to penetrate the egg's shell. However, the moment the Infoscope made contact, the egg's shell lit up with a soft red glow and the spell bounced off, disrupted by the protective magic inherent in the egg's structure.

I frowned.

[It seems the eggs have a defense mechanism too.] Delta commented, [Guess it's not as easy as you thought, huh?]

I shot back a mental smirk, [Challenge accepted.]

I tried again, quickly adding several layers of [Strength-Resonance] to the Infoscope, to match the specific pulse of the shield that surrounded the egg.

On my twentieth attempt, as I carefully adjusted the frequency of my Infoscope, I finally matched the field around the egg's shield. As I slowly pushed the Infoscope towards the egg, I felt a slight resistance, but this time, it didn't bounce back.

[Yes!] I exclaimed mentally.

With a gentle probe, I inserted a shard of my soul into the egg via the Tether. The process was delicate, requiring absolute focus. I felt the tiny life within the egg, so fragile and yet filled with incredible potential.

[-1 in Soul] The System reported.

[+1 Titanthorax-Ant embryo LV 0] It added.

I sliced a shard of Delta’s soul and added it to the egg next, since I wanted both of us to be able to control and monitor the future queen.

[Woo! We did it!] Delta said, her giddy voice echoing with excitement in the Astral. [I see the new Phylactery in my system! Great job!]

[We're not done yet,] I reminded her. [We have a lot more eggs to infect.]

[Right,] she agreed. [Let's get to work. Well... you can get to work. I’ll sit here and watch for trouble.]

With a nod, I set to work, carefully injecting each egg with a fragment of my soul. One by one, the eggs became linked to me.

[+1 Titanthorax-Ant embryo LV 0] [+1 Titanthorax-Ant embryo LV 0] [+1 Titanthorax-Ant embryo LV 0]

[This is going so smoothly,] Delta mused, watching the process with fascination.

Just as I was about to infect the eighth egg, I sensed a sudden shift in the Astral. An alarm went off in my mind, and I quickly pulled back. I saw red ghostly shapes appearing all around us, emerging from walls.

[What's happening?] Delta asked, her voice filled with worry as the tunnel became filled with Astral ants.

[It seems that my magic has been detected,] I said, trying to keep my tone calm. [We need to get out of here, now!]