--------///----Reina's POV----\--------

With us standing behind the air wall and Eclina poised to start the flood, all it came down too was when she started. Though looking at Ava, she seemed to be a little stressed. Mina noticed and started to help her out and put a hand on her shoulder as she started to funnel her air with Ava's.

(Orven) " Can anyone explain to me what exactly they are doing? "

(Reina) " It's probably something about us not choking from the smoke. In which case, don't bother them too much so we don't all die please. "

(Orven) " I understand. "

We couldn't help since aside from Eclina, only Mina and Ava had air so we just had to bet on them being enough. Eclina made sure to look back and nod at Mina and Ava's efforts and then turned back as she started the lightshow. The ants still hadn't noticed us being here but when six fireballs began to materialize behind her tails, they all seemed to just stop and turn towards her. Which was honestly one of the scariest things i've ever seen in my life. It was like they just all planned for that moment and executed it with the most synchronized movement ever.

Though fear factor doesn't really equal fire resistance. As soon as she released the fireballs, the ants started to screech in pain and tried to advance towards us, but with the slime on the walls being incinerated, the other elements weren't being interfered with anymore. That made it possible for Eclina to make row on row of earth spikes to impale them as the fire and smoke burned and choked them out. Though her use of air to force the smoke, that came from the burning ants, down towards them do they would be forced to breath it in was somewhat pitiful... Towards them.

Though the smell was immaculate. The burning ants started to smell like grilled meat which started to make my stomach growl... Needless to say, they all heard that. Good thing i've been through worse so something like that wasn't embarassing.

(Endis) " Think they taste as good as they smell? "

(Reina) " We could go find out if any are left that aren't burned like charcoal. "

(Orven) " I feel slightly disturbed that you two are actively considering consuming those creatures. "

(Endis) " Anything is food if you're hungry enough. "

(Reina) " That sounds way worse then me wanting to eat an ant thing. "

And it really did. It's not like i was thinking to eat some some weird goopy corpse or something. People eat bugs raw so it's not like i'm weird for wanting to eat a massive ant that smells like grilled meat. It's perfectly normal!

(Endis) " I feel like you're trying to justify something to no one but yourself. "

(Reina) " Shut it Mr. Super shit. "

(Endis) " I couldn't stop it or get away! "

(Orven) " Are you sure you two are not related? "

(Reina and Endis) " We're sure! "

(Orven) " ... If you say so. "

(Mina) " When... Are you going to give him... A better insulting nickname? "

(Reina) " I just so happen to like "Super Shit" so until i find something else to fill it's place. "

(Endis) " You said that last year! "

After he said that, i turned back to him and stuck out my tongue at him. I felt proud with that nickname so i was going to enjoy tormenting him with it. And reminding him of that dumb mistake was pretty good too.

(Reina) " Besides, you're the one that told me about the gasbugs in the first place. So whatcha calling me out for Mina? "

And she did. If she didn't tell me that gasbugs let out a burst of shit smelling gas when they die, then i would've never held Endis in place with my earth so it would explode on him. She even kept it from Endis so she must've had something like that in mind in the first place! I just did it before she could! She was probably just a little healous that my plan worked the best. I managed to hold him long enough that he pretty much got blasted with the full force of the shit gas and smelled worse then shit for days! Hence, "Super Shit".

(Endis) " I hate the both of you so much. "

(Mina) " I'm innocent. Always was and always will be. "

(Reina) " Shouldn't you be- oh. it's done. "

Mina was busy the last time she responded, so when she replied without sounding strained, i was curious enough to look back over and saw Ava panting with sweat rolling down her face. Eclina was looking around the area and observing all the burned ants with a confused look on her face. Meanwhile, Orven was comforting the kids since it looked like they were scared shitless after Eclina burned the ants to death.

(Ava) " Mina... Can i get some water please? "

(Mina) " Sure. Do you want me to dip you into it or just splash it? "

(Ava) " Dip please. "

(Mina) " Ok. "

So Mina made a ball of water and slowly lowered it over Ava's head. It was probably as cold as she could make it since Ava started to shiver for a bit before she eventually got used to it. When she was done, Ava shook her head so Mina could get rid of the ball, and she did. She let out a sigh of what im assuming was relief, as we all started to walk over to Eclina. She was still looking over the fire festival but turned back to us since we were coming to her.

(Eclina) " I've gotten all the ones here and now that there's no slime anywhere, i can figure out where the tunnels go. My fire is still travelling through the tunnels but they'll probably reach the hatcheries in a dozen or so minutes. "

(Mina) " Are you getting an accurate picture of this places structure? "

(Eclina) " Yup. I can even make a map for you. "

When she said that, she slapped her earth tail against the ground and started forming thin rolled up slabs of earth that raised themselves up and started to unfurl themselves. There were four of these which all started to have structures inscribed into them. The first one was obviously the first "floor" of this colony while the second one was filling up for this area and the tunnels that were on this level. The third one seemed to be halfway complete and was still being inscribed while the fourth one didn't seem to be inscribed yet. Mina grabbed the second map and looked at all the tunnels that were inscribed onto it and looked at the marker that symbolized where we were.

(Mina) " Hmm... I see two dead ends... Think those are hatcheries? "

(Eclina) " Think they were. I can feel the flames eating through them and the picture i'm getting is just of my flames burning everything. "

(Reina) " We can come back up after we find the queen and check if there are any eggs. "

(Endis) " I don't want to second that but i will. "

(Orven) " I am for this idea. "

(Ava) " That works. "

(Mina) " Then let's just make our way down and deal with the queen. "

(Eclina) " I can pick up where i left off now right? "

(Reina) " I don't think anyone is going to say no to that Eclina. "

(Eclina) " Yay! "

She smiled, which made it look like the fire festival that just happened and burned a multitude of ants to death had never happened. Though despite that it did, she still looked cute. I was about to reach out but Mina took the chance she had and started petting her before i could!

(Mina) " Don't look at me like that. This is just karma. "

(Reina) " Ughhhh. "

(Reina) " I'll remember this. "

(Mina) " Ok miss telltale. "

(Reina) " What's that? "

(Mina) " Dunno. Who cares. "

I couldn't help but just sigh as i looked at Mina scratching Eclina's ear. Eclina still had a smile on her face but it was as big as when i was petting her. Though i couldn't do anything about it now but to take it out against any surviving ants and the queen. Mina was too busy petting Eclina so she handed the maps over to Orven since he was essentially the most limited to his combat options. The fourth map was around halfway completed at this point, which made the kids curious since blank parts were being filled in right infront of their eyes.

(Mina) " Let's go straight to the queen and then check everything before we leave. Orven, lead the way since you have the maps and let Rei or Endis deal with anything that survived and gets in the way. Ava, you can probably rub Eclina's back if you want. "

(Ava) " Can i? "

(Eclina) " Sure. Go ahead. "

And so she did. Ava was still a little hesitant when it came to Eclina, but she was overcoming that after listening for a bit. But that didn't mean i was going to stop myself from sending death glares at Mina. She obviously saw them and just smiled back as if nothing was wrong. I was going to get her back for this injustice! Though for now, we were just following the maps so we could get to the queen. Eclina had started her story again and managed to finish the meeting with Mina and Endis when we made it down to the third floor.

It was almost like the second, though Eclina's flames had already made their way through these tunnels so the slime was nowhere to be found, though the floor was pretty much hot as hell. Though Mina coated our feet in cold water so we weren't worried about burning our feet. It was at this point that Eclina had started talking about getting to the gates, when i started filling in the parts she didn't know. Since i was the closest to everyone involved, i was able to find out about anything i didn't know and pretty much knew everything about the issue.

Ava and Orven didn't really know much since they never asked and it really didn't come up in a random conversation so this was pretty much the first time they were finding out about the situation. I could see their faces changing because of what they were hearing, though now wasn't the time to talk about it. While we were goin, we came across a bunch of ant bodies and even some that were clinging onto life as hard as they could, though they were good enough for me to vent my sadness of having Eclina taken from me.

We made progress to the point that Eclina had almost gotten to the point of the rifts and also to the entrance to the fourth floor. I was wondering if we should let Ava and Orven in on the whole "rifts of mass destruction" thing, but Eclina suddenly stopped for a bit and looked like she was spacing out. This was weird so we all just looked at her with the obvious confusion on our faces. She looked over and looked like she was about to say something but then just shook her head.

(Eclina) " I don't know if im allowed to talk about it. Sorry. "

(Mina) " It's fine. "

(Reina) " ... Hey, Eclina. Do you think it's fine to tell Ava and Orven about the... "You know whats"? "

(Eclina) " The whats? What are... OH... It's fine if you trust them. I'm close to that point anyway. "

Me, Mina and Endis looked at each other and all nodded in what probably looked like some practiced and agreed on moment. We spent enough time with Ava and Orven to trust them and to let them know about the rifts. And we did. At first they looked at us like we were fucking with them, then came the realization... Then the panic. If we weren't underground, i feel like one of them would have shouted so loudly that everyone within the city would hear them. Though, we did manage to calm them down when we said we still had time to prepare.

But there was still the feeling of disappointment that we didn't tell them sooner. And some other emotions in their eyes that we would have to talk about when we were all somewhere else. Though for now, they'd have to be put off since we had just made it to the fourth floor. The map was filled in with all the tunnels and showed which ones led to a massive room at the bottom, which was obviously the queens room. So we knew where to go.

Eclina had gotten back to the story and was essentially about to finish up when we were swarmed by a lot of ants. It had to be said that the further down we went, the bigger the tunnels. The fourth floor tunnels were enough for Orven to use a smaller version of his golem form, as long as it was four meters or shorter then he could use it. Ava even had some space to fly, though it was more like floating a little higher. Though considering what they just heard, they weren't exactly in the best state to fight so me and Endis took it onto ourselves to teach these ants that we were stronger.

And we did. Me and Endis were too accustomed to taking sides and plowing our way through whatever was in our way. So it was obvious that this was the method we used, especially in these bigger tunnels. I was able to use my Siellas to send out waves of darkness and fire slashes after them while we were still at mid range and easily retracted them so i could tear through the ones that i was closer too. All Endis had to do was rush in and start decapitating the ones he fought.

We didn't need to coat ourselves either since not only were some of these were injured so they weren't a threat, and the others were individually weaker. It was just their numbers from before was what we were worried about. It took around two minutes for me and Endis to clear out to fifty or so ants that came after us. After we were done, we kicked them aside and kept moving. Eclina went back to her story and was pretty much done. Though we were still a while away from the queens chambers so there was a bit of an uncomfortable silence.

(Endis) " Soooo... I know you two are grumbling in your heads about us not telling you anything but you do realize how much we trust you to have actually let you in on this, right? And it's not like this is some small information either. You should know how much this stuff could effect everyone. "

The way he brought it up was definetly not the most subtle, but at this point the directness of it was probably the best for now. It was going too be up to what they said next. And i for one was interested in how this was going to turn out.