"Can you hear us!?" the ants at the top cried out, as loud as they could. But they were met with silence. His voice was swallowed by the dark. Not even an echo answered him, only the distant drip of soil dislodged by the worm's passage.
Dust clung to the corners of my eyes, as I used my legs to wipe it off. The air grew thicker and heavier. I tasted bitterness in every breath—minerals, rot, the scent of fear left behind. I clicked one more time into the black. Still nothing. The drop was deep, the tunnel wall fragile. If I called again, it would be for my own comfort, not his. And that.... did not settle well with me.
"Do you think he survived that?"
I turned back.
"We can only hope for the best." The giant was still where we had laid him. Legs curled tight, mandibles slightly open. His body twitched sometime, small uncoordinated jolts like a dream trying to take form, or maybe just the nerves reacting to the cold. His warmth was fading.
"We can't wait,"
I wanted to argue. But I didn't. Both of us had to accept the reality that we may never see him again. We each took a leg in our jaws and began to drag. The earth trembled beneath the weight. Pebbles scraped against our bellies. The ground here wasn't like before ripped and ruined by the worm's path. Deep gashes split the floor, edges sharp and jagged. Some roots dangled above, thick and veined, others brittle and snapped clean from the ceiling. We had to duck and weave through gouged stone and loose earth, every few steps punctuated by the cracking of shell against debris. I tasted iron in my mouth. Not blood. Just pain. Awfully etched in my throat, suffocating. But still, we dragged him forward.
Toward something we could both feel. An instinct? I guess you could say that.
Time passed in a flash. They reached what they called home, drained and burnt out.
The tunnel narrowed, then smoothed walls pressed tight around us but held shape, as if carved not by time but by purpose. Light seeped from the dirt itself, soft, pulsing, like breath under skin. The silver shimmer crawled across the walls like a living script, wrapping around us as we stepped closer. And then we saw it.
The Core didn't rest; it hovered. Slightly. A few grains of dirt danced beneath it, stirred by an unseen current. It glowed; a blue hue resonated in the tunnels. We laid the giant before it. Unsure of what to do now. Nothing changed for a moment, or so it seemed. Just then threads, sliver, fine as hair, emerged from beneath the ground and around the core. They touched the giant's limbs, wrapping around him gently. The body levitated from the ground. The air thickened.
It began with a hum, low and electric. Not sound, not vibration, but a feeling that rang through the walls of my skull. My antennae twitched uncontrollably. Dust spiraled upward around us, drawn into the current. Then the Core moved.
Not toward us. Not toward the giant. Above.
Dozens. No, hundreds of threads unraveled into the air, conjured from nothing. Gleaming strands of silver and light, swaying like the limbs of some celestial beast. They shimmered as they aligned in a tight spiral overhead. One by one, they arched down, aiming, pulsing, waiting. Then in a sudden rush, the lines dove into the giant.
A blinding surge of wave exploded from the point of contact, so bright we staggered back with cries of panic. But we didn't run. We couldn't. He floated higher. The giant was no longer touching the ground. His limbs dangled limply at first. Then curled, subtly, like he was sleeping. His body was outlined in pure energy, silver tracing every joint, every ridge of his shell, every line of his mandibles. The ground rumbled. A low exhale, as if the earth itself had waited for this moment.
And then—
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
ANT KING IDENTIFIED: "THE CHOSEN ROYAL"
CORE-LINK REESTABLISHED
INITIATING EMERGENCY REVIVAL PROTOCOL
CONSUMING STORED MANA: [42 MP]
The threads tightened, forming a cocoon of shimmering light. The ants froze, gasping in awe at the sight that unfolded before them.
"What is happening?!"
"I don't know!"
Then, in the center of it all—
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
RESURRECTION COMPLETE
Vital Functions Restored
Mana Core Synchronicity: 98%
The light imploded inward, as a shockwave blasted them once more. Their legs trembling, their ears bursting under the pressure, as the fell down into the muddy ground below. The wave vanished with a sound like silence being crushed.
The giant slowly descended. But not limply. His legs bent beneath him before impact. His eyes opened—sharp and aware. His mandibles twitched, slowly, deliberately. The lines receded, slithering back into the Core like obedient children.
We froze.
He stood.
Alive.