Crystal stepped out of her home and into the dark forest around her. She moved quietly and quickly, deep into the jungle. She saw a flickering firelight and turned to face it. She stalked towards the eerie glow. As she moved closer, she started to hear murmuring voices from a clearing.

Suddenly, the wind picked up quickly and extinguished the flames. Crystal blinked, trying to see in the sudden darkness. The ground rumbled and shook. Crystal tried to take a step forward, but she tripped over a tree root.

The ground shot upwards, creating a spire of earth and rock that scraped the clouds. Crystal stumbled, trying to find her balance.

She tripped again and fell into a hole in the ground. She tumbled head over heels and hit her head on a rock. As the world around her faded to black, she heard something in the background. Click. Click. Click.

…

Crystal slowly opened her eyes. She had a pounding headache and her whole body ached. She looked up and around, letting her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. When she could see properly, Crystal saw that she was lying in a divot in the floor of a dirt cave. She looked over and saw several more divots in the ground, with only a few empty.

She heard a clicking sound coming from a hallway, so she ducked down to observe without being seen. Two dragons marched in, covered in gold plating. They resembled ants in dragon form. One marched over and yanked on the arm of a sleeping dragon in one of the divots. The dragon woke up with a yell. The other ant-like dragon grabbed onto the previously asleep dragon and helped to drag them off into a hallway.

“No!” The dragon yelled. “I don’t want to end up like the others!” His voice trailed off into nothing.

After a few minutes, the two ant dragons, presumably guards, walked in again. They grabbed the next dragon, who woke up just like the previous one. One of the guards swung its tail around and stabbed the helpless one with something on the end of its tail. The dragon yelped, then collapsed.

When the guards started dragging the unconscious dragon away, it didn’t make a sound. Oh no. Crystal thought. I’m next. She immediately pretended to be asleep. When the guards walked in and grabbed her, she didn’t move. The guards dragged her away just like the others.

The tunnel floor transitioned from a dirt-like material to a rough papery one. Crystal peeked through her eyelids and saw a room illuminated by an eerie green glow. She turned her head slightly and saw an egg-like shape with clear walls filled with a greenish liquid. Suspended inside the shape was a dragon. They weren’t moving and had odd bulges on their head. While Crystal was watching, the bulges burst open, revealing two antennae that had grown underneath the skin and scales and broken through.

As Crystal was dragged along through the massive cavern she saw many more globules, each with a dragon in it. One dragon looked almost completely like one of the ant dragons, with the exception of its wings. One was halfway there, with random patches of scales clinging onto the exoskeleton underneath. The guards stopped, and Crystal saw something that caused her to realize what was happening. A dragon that looked exactly like the first one he had seen dragged away was inside a globule.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no. She thought. These ant dragons are converting others into them. The guards lifted her up and tossed her forwards. She pretended to wake up and stood up. She saw she was inside an empty globule with a gap in it. She lunged for the opening, but it suddenly zipped itself closed. She turned around and around. There was a sudden numbing sensation around her feet, and she looked down. From six small pores in the bottom of the globule, a green liquid was spilling in. As soon as the liquid touched a part of her body, that part was numbed.

She yelled and scratched at the walls, but it was no use. The liquid poured in faster and faster until it reached her neck. She took in a huge breath of air before it covered her head. She beat the walls from inside, but the liquid overcame her. Crystal drifted off into a hazy sleep, unaware of what was happening inside or around her.

…

Crystal opened her eyes. She was encased inside a globule filled with a green liquid. There was a faint trickling sound from above and she looked up. The liquid lowered quickly, and Crystal started to move as her body regained feeling. Once all the liquid had drained, the globule was ripped open from the outside. A guard was standing there.

“Ooh. Nice colors.” He said. “You’ll get to pick your name.”

“What?” Crystal said. “Don’t I already have one? It's… It's…” She trailed off.

“Don’t worry about that.” The guard says. “Everyone has a bit of confusion at first.”

“Oh. Ok then.” Crystal said. She looked down at herself and saw that, unlike the guard, her exoskeleton was a dark pink color.

“Well, come on then.” The guard said. “Follow me.” He walked off into a tunnel. Crystal followed him, stumbling over her second pair of front legs at first. She walked and walked, following the guard. Eventually, they both came to a stop and the guard knocked on a door.

“I have urgent news for the queen!” He said. The door creaked open and he continued inside. Crystal followed, only to stop when she heard at least a hundred gasps from around her.

“Well, look at this.” A feminine voice came from in front of the guard. The guard moved aside to reveal another dragon in a dark pink color. She stood tall and proud, with a crown of gemstones on her head. Crystal immediately knew this was the queen of his colony. She bowed low.

“Oh, stand up you.” The queen barked. “You don’t need to bow to me, for you are a queen ant. You shall rule this colony with me. Now you must pick your name that shall be feared along with mine.”

Crystal thought. Finally, she said, “I shall be Mantis.” She raised her head and climbed up to the podium with her queen.

“Together!” the queen said. “We shall be the rulers of everything. Phantasmi and Mantis!”

“Together,” Mantis said. She smiled, and the last remnants of her former life as Crystal, the gemstone dragon who conquered the jungle, washed away. “Forever.”