Princesses - Chapter 5

This is not my home.

I was born here, one of a thousand sons and daughters of my mother. From the beginning, I was marked as different.
I am taller, stronger, and cleverer than any of my broodmates - and I have outlived them all by now.

I have no peer.

When the time came, I overcame and devoured my mother, as the ancient ways of our people demanded. I drained her
dry and left her withered husk under the cruel sun's light to crumble to dust, and then I went down into the hive
to announce that it was done.

Down here, we subsist on scraps and the stray flow that wanders down from those above. These caves naturally
amplify such things - but my people need more. They need plentiful food, lots of room, and somewhere to weave
the nests and lay the eggs.

I am alone.

The other hives called me mad, and their queens ordered me cast out. The other forgotten races refused me as well.
The dogs cower, craven, in their mines and imagine that they will never be dealt with. The domovoi sneak and
scuttle through the bones of the earth, gnawing on them and imagining that they will never be found. I knew
better.

My children are starving.

The dribbles and flows of energy that sustain us are drying up. Every year, they grow less. While we are all
individuals, we are also a hive. I can feel my children crying out as they die from hunger - but I have a plan.

One of their lesser queens will be taking a consort soon. There will be a great outpouring of food for the
children then. I am powerful, and I am clever - I will replace the lesser queen, and my children and I shall
rise and replace as many of them as we must, until the festivities are over.

I am Chrysalis, the Queen in Emerald, and I will not let my children starve.