Chrysalis



A great sense of relief floods through me as the notifications continue to rain down. In the end, my overwhelming gravitic magic, empowered by my Altar, was able to be the difference maker, just like I hoped it would.

Honestly, the power I get from the Altar, and the unbelievable strength of the gravity spells, feels a little like cheating, especially when combined. It feels like it wasn't that long ago I was just a little, midget hatchling, scraping out a living hiding on ceilings and fighting for my life against the claw-centipedes.

With this evolution, I feel like I've finally tipped the scale. Now I can annihilate monsters even more highly evolved than I am!

MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

All I need is hundreds of thousands, preferably millions of my siblings standing around cheering me on, ambushing my opponents and helping me whip them through dimensions in order to set up perfect conditions for the fight.

Yessssssss. My strength shall shake the heavens! Or more appropriately, the depths!

Wait… what about the Biomass!?

When the Well fades away, I keep a keen eye out and manage to see the precious, precious Biomass falling from the roof of the stratum. Must collect! If it lands on the plains, it'll be consumed in an instant by a gajillion larvae, producing the strongest mini-demons this stratum has ever seen.

With a tremendous amount of effort, inverted gravity bolts and platforms, I manage to collect the food in one place and hold it floating above my head, away from the ravenous gremlins.

There must be thousands of points of Biomass here, I will not allow it to be wasted! I still have so much mutating to do!

[You have done a great thing here today,] Al says, connecting a bridge with me as he floats over. [The heralds would have stopped at nothing to purge your people from this place, and pushed all the demons into following Arconidem's Will. Here, at least, there will be some respite.]

Such a nice thing to say. Ever since I heard about it, what that Ancient bumface has been doing has rubbed me the wrong way. It's good to know that the demons in the Colony's territory will have a little respite at least.

[You're welcome,] I say. [I'm glad I could help out your people and keep my siblings safe at the same time. I suppose you still have to deal with the compulsion, but at least you won't have those big morons chasing you around and trying to force it on you. How is that going for you, by the way? Still holding alright?]

[It has been… difficult, to maintain my presence of mind, at times. The power of Arconidem has been growing as the mana levels continue to rise. Right now… hmm…]

The fiery eyeball trails away and I watch him in confusion. I don't think I've ever seen Al run out of words. He seems to be thinking… about something. In fact… I think he's going to close his eye!

[Don't! Stay with me Al, what's going on?!]

I don't want to look into that void again. Never again!

[I... am confused. The compulsion from Arconidem… I am not feeling it clearly at the moment. In fact, I am barely feeling it at all….]

[Huh. That's surprising. It's a good thing, though, right?]

[It is…. But I do not know why.]

Ah, I can see that's super bothering him. For a demon who wants to know everything, being unable to explain how something this significant has occurred must be vexing.

[Well, if you can figure it out, let me know. If we can get more demons to free themselves from the compulsion, that'd be great.]

I wonder….

[Hey, Invidia,] I say to my friend over our private communication channel. [Are you experiencing the compulsion from Arconidem anymore?]

The little wings of my favourite Envy demon flutter a little as he ponders.

[It isssss gone.]

Huh. Well, that's great news!

[That's fantastic! We should celebrate!]

I feel a huge weight lift off my carapace knowing that Invidia, for some weird reason, is free from the invidious grip of the big butt from below. I don't know why the Ancient is so keen on sending all of his kind on a rampage in the third, but I'm not a fan. If there was one demon I wanted to be free, it was Invidia.

[All right. Let's head on back to the nest and get some rest. It's been a long few days.]

Ain't that the truth. After the emotional rollercoaster I've been on, even I'm exhausted.

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of ants and tens of thousands of demons, I gather up my team and we make our way back toward the nest. I bring the Biomass along for the ride, of course.

To make travelling easy, I utilise the gravity domain until thankfully, blessedly, we make our way back into the giant nest beneath Roklu without any further incident.

Naturally, we are the centre of attention as we wander through the gates. All the ants and, surprisingly, not a small number of demons come to check us out as we make our way inside. I can only assume word of our deeds has gone on before us and the news of the dead heralds has spread wide through the Colony already.

When we finally manage to get into a private chamber, the four of us, along with Al, slump to the ground. I'm too tired to even eat, despite the wealth of Biomass waiting to be consumed.

Well, I'd better get started on it anyway.

[Come on, everyone, let's eat and then get some sleep.]

[Are you sure, Master? We are fully mutated, we don't need it like you do.]

I wave an antenna to dismiss her concern.

[That's tier eight Biomass and you guys are only tier six. That's going to be a metric bum-load of points for you guys. I mean, I need the points, but it's more efficient to give it to you.]

We nom away at it, but end up having to stop halfway through. It's just too much food.

As I settle in for some nice, restful torpor, I decide to take a peek in the nave, have a look around the Colony before I sleep.

To my surprise, I see Al in there, staring at me.

What the heck?!