Chrysalis

Beyn was a Priest and he was proud of that class. He had worked hard in the seminary, his faith blazing with an admirable glow, such that he had earned promotion and placement into a small village at a young age.

He still thought back on his time at the college, within the Path Sanctuary in Luxon. A mighty citadel filled with learning, preaching and the contemplation of the Path. He'd been happy there, tearing through scripts and sitting at the knee of his teachers, absorbing their wisdom and delighting in his deepening knowledge of the System and the way in which it improved the lives of all peoples.

Respect was due to the System, reverence also! It was omniscient, it was omnipresent and it had saved all of the civilised peoples of the world from certain destruction. It had shown them the Path to salvation!

That is what Beyn had firmly believed his entire life.

Looking around the dusty people surrounding him now, it was hard to comprehend just how he had come to be here.

Such wondrous happenings, such revelatory events, they defied understanding, let alone explanation. If he were to take his lessons, relate his experiences to his old teachers he didn't doubt that he would turned over the Seekers for questioning. Perhaps he would even be purged. Yet he could not deny the evidence of his eyes, nor the wellspring of hope that had erupted in his heart.

He had paid for his newfound belief with an arm, but it had been so worth it.

The evidence was all around him. The System had chosen to present its aid, its benevolence, through an entirely unexpected medium. Monsters! Ants from the Dungeon! It seemed preposterous, yet wasn't it said, "The ways of the System are unknowable by mortal mind"?

Truly none would have expected this turn of events!

"Priest Beyn" he was greeted by a passer by.

and our saviours clack

intended to be sure that they were properly grateful. The monsters infesting the nearby woods had been nearly eradicated by the tireless workers, wood had been provided that was now being made into

smiling, giving blessings to those who approached him. An encouraging word here, a smile or a nod there, a hug and compassionate prayer for those in distress. Beyn moved amongst his people and did his utmost to buoy their spirits so that they might take advantage of this wondrous blessing that had befallen

protection, given by the System itself

in place and raised is one hand to the sky and began to speak, his

thanks, O travellers! O weary folk of a fallen kingdom!" he

hear his sudden oration. Compelled by his

The pain of loss, the heartache of our destroyed homes. Monsters have risen to the surface in a

at his words and the crowd slowly began to coalesce around the crippled priest. Monster pouring out of the Dungeon was the stuff of nightmares, a forgotten legend, that they had

is never straight, the path is never clear before our feet. It is not for us to decide the way, but for the System! We have been delivered from Monsters, by Monsters! Our insect saviours,

Preacher, he was able to read the mood of the crowd, sense the ebb and flow of emotion as his words were absorbed by the crowd. These people were

spoke of the Great One. They'd seen it for themselves. The creature had come right to the village, standing so unnaturally still, and communed

to the people here. To see a feared Dungeon Monster in the flesh, so close. For it not to harm them, but to SPEAK to them?

Unheard of.

was unnatural. To Beyn, it was a sign of

rise, friends! They rise but they shall

towards the ant hill and bowing as Beyn built

despair to overwhelm you! Ensure that the directions of our saviour are met! Be vigilant and educate any newcomers as to the ways of the colony! We must seek to emulate our saviours in our unity

and towards the ant hill. Some were overcome with emotion, unsurprising considering what they had been