Chrysalis

Mirryn awoke with a start.

Instantly wide eyed and alert she turned her head to look around her and her eyes were struck immediately by the austere white room in which she lay. She was lying on a clean bed in a small white chamber. On the roof a glowing crystal provided illumination, a clean white light the filled the space warmly. Just looking at that light nearly brought Mirryn to tears. She'd feared that she would die surrounded by the blue light of the Dungeon, seeping into her body and killing her slowly.

She couldn't remember much of her arrival to the Legion base in the Dungeon. After their long descent down the carved spiral staircase that the commander had referred to as Periclasus' stair. That journey had tested the trainees to their limits. It had taken long days of endless marching to reach the bottom, spiralling ever downwards into the depths and the lower they got, the sicker they become.

None of the trainees had been down in the Dungeon this deep, for this long. Without proper acclimation, the lower part of the first strata would normally be the first place that a Dungeon delver would need to worry about saturation sickness, or 'the blues' as it was colloquially known.

During this wave, which didn't seem to want to end, the mana had risen to ridiculous levels, the first strata was currently reading much the same as the second right now, the trainees were unable to cope. Every one of them was struck with the blues, quite literally turning a light shade of blue as the raw mana of the Dungeon began to pervade their bodies. Mana saturation sickness was an insidious killer and a truly messy death. Delvers, mercs and every being who entered the Dungeon lived in fear of it, their bodies literally breaking apart cell by cell as the excess energy ravaged their bodies.

The trainees got their taste of it as they walked the endless stairs. They began to stumble, their legs no longer responding as they should. The further they got the more the symptoms became pronounced. Their vision slowly overtaken by a blue haze that made it difficult to see, their hands started shaking, then the whole body. The young, strong trainees began to experience the fear that was normally reserved for the aged, the fear of having their own body betray them and begin to fall out of their control.

Through it all they felt no pain, only a giddy, inexhaustible nervous energy. The blues didn't make people feel tired, as the name might suggest, rather the mana suffusing their body and brain numbed them and gave them the jitters, as if they'd been drinking five cups of coffee every hour. They couldn't sleep, couldn't rest, couldn't think clearly, they were both more exhausted than they'd ever been in their lives and completely unable to rest.

With the encouragement and support of their fellow Legionaries and officers they'd barely made it, the only other members of the party struggling as much as them was the prisoners the Legion had mysteriously brought with them on this expedition.

Less capable than the trainees many of them had to be carried towards the end, the soldiers taking turns to hoist the murderers on their backs as they battled the long march.

The last Mirryn could remember was arriving before a large stone door. She could barely see by that point, the door itself was nothing but a blur. The commander had stepped forward and done… something and the door had swung open, vague figures had rushed out, gathering the sick members of the party and bringing them inside. She had collapsed into the arms of the person rushing towards her and then woken up here.

Looking around the room some more she noticed a strange arrangement on the side of the bed. A tube had been inserted in her arm, surrounded by a glowing enchantment that had been drawn directly onto her skin. Nervously following the tube with her eyes she saw it was attached to another enchantment drawn on a nearby flat table. The center of the table held four softly glowing cores.

closing her eyes to try and feel if anything was different she noticed that her saturation sickness was significantly better. If she focused hard she was able to feel the flow of mana in her body, slowly inching down

fine manipulation of the mana in another

anything Alberton but as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know!" the commanders voice

feet could be heard as the Loremaster and

just can't understand why we didn't make more of an effort to prevent Garralosh from reaching the surface. You know what will happen up there.

if a fist had smacked into

want rip the head off that Croc and protect our people?

began to wonder what was going on when

"I'm just worried".

bulwark. As much damage as Garralosh can do, would you want the second strata monsters to rise to the surface? Do you know what that would mean? This wave isn't ordinary Alberton and you would should stop

know" before the door suddenly opened and the two top officers of the Liria branch Legionem Abyssi strode into

you're finally

should. Something about her commanders tone

the HQ?"

perform emergency treatment to lower the mana levels in your body. All of the trainees received the same

head spun for a moment. So all of them had been in this place? Where were

are waiting for you. We have

you walk

her legs. "I think

from the blues. Titus didn't wait for her to ask and stepped forward to support her, carefully removing the pipe from her