Chrysalis

Her hands hurt like hell.

Mirryn leaned against the parapet of the Legion HQ and took in the view, resting her forearms on the stone.

"How are you holding up?" a voice came nearby.

Mirryn turned to see Donnelan approaching from along the wall.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she asked him.

"Not a chance in hell" he muttered.

Neither of them wanted to talk about their baptism but they couldn't help thinking about it. When they had finally been taken out of the basin the trainees had immediately lost consciousness, their minds longer supported by the complex enchantments that had surrounded them.

Upon awakening they learned that three of their friends had died.

All things considered it wasn't a bad number. Below average. She could see the relief in the officers faces that they hadn't lost more. It seemed stupid, to be thankful of only three deaths but she understood their logic. Would the situation be somehow better if four had died?

No.

The commander and the rest of the Legionaries had been past to visit them in the days since. The trainees had been placed in a convalescence unit, comfy beds, good food, medical staff around the clock, counselling specialists, the works.

On the surface Mirryn would have been shocked to think of the cost of the lavish treatment, the Legion was legendarily thrifty, they made most of their own equipment, ate nutritious but brutally unflavoured food. It was a regular sight for the trainees to be seen cleaning their leathers and polishing their swords outside the barracks in the dawn light right next to their officers.

The trainees were learning just how many things they had thought they'd known had been an elaborate deception. The Abyssal Legion they thought they'd known, the Dungeon they'd thought they'd known, indeed, the world they thought they had lived in were so far from the truth.

think that something like this could exist?" Mirryn asked Donnelan as

not" he answered flatly, "In fact I specifically remember being

was looking at it, Mirryn still thought it

It was a city.

In the Dungeon.

filled with people. The buildings covered the bottom of the cavern and then extended up the walls, carved into the rock face. A gigantic glowstone at the top of the space provided illumination in

Dungeon veins out. There was no risk of monsters spawning within the city itself. Such safety within the Dungeon felt weird to her. She'd spent every moment underground up to this point

the cramped streets below. Even now the light of thousands of lamps lit the city at night like a sea

over the rest of the city. She hadn't been able to explore much yet, the trainees were basically confined to recovery. Not the trainees actually…

for that for

hand?"

down at the heavy bandages that wrapped her forearms all

damage to the

his curiosity he eventually asked "Is it true how they got

you hear?" she

the

shoulders uncomfortably. "it's

whistled his appreciation. "I can't… I cannot

she'd finally opened her eyes and got her bearings he'd already been there. He didn't explain, or justify. He just sat there. On seeing the man that she'd trusted so much, almost like

able to contain it at first… what would be the point of hitting

she asked how many had died and he told her she'd leapt out of the bed and punched him right in the face with both hands. He hadn't resisted in anyway, willingly accepting

spoken with some of her fellow trainees, especially Donnelan. There were feelings of anger, of betrayal and of fear. Fear of the pain that kept them awake at night, fear of the never ending horror of it and deep down, fear that the Legion

tell that something was different. Their bodies were absorbing mana out of the air, breathing it in and out through their pores. Mirryn felt stronger, healthier, her mind felt like it moved more