Chrysalis

It takes several more hours of hard travel before we make it to the first group of building we've seen on our journey. A small cluster of farmhouses built close to each other, a family holding perhaps or a collection of folks gathering together for protection and company.

We spot the buildings a long way out. The tall, pointed roofs of the barns poked themselves above the tree line letting us know well in advance we were close to our destination. But even from a distance we could the damage that had been done. Jagged edges ran down the side of the barn were smooth lines were expected, open holes in the thatch work and the lack of smoke from the chimneys spoke to what we could expect to find when we arrived.

I hardened my heart and continued to run forward. I couldn't help but glance toward Morrelia the closer we got. Her eyes were tight with emotion, whether worry or anger I couldn't be sure. I hope she doesn't get too angry when we get there. Going on an anti-monster rampage might be understandable when surveying their wreckage, but in her present company it might make things a little awkward.

Our steps were inevitable and it didn't take long to close in on the buildings, their condition exactly what I had imagined it would be. Crumbled walls, smashed doors, claw marks on the ground, the stones, the trees … claw marks pretty much everywhere.

It was obvious that monsters had run through here, destroyed this small settlement and moved on. The most unfortunate thing were the clear signs of a struggle. A twisted pitchfork lay on the ground between two sturdy tables that had been braced against the door of the largest stone house. To one side I noticed an old, rusted sword, snapped in half. On closer inspection, the indentations of powerful teeth could be seen on the blade, a sign of where a creature had bitten the sword to pieces.

It was horrible to imagine, a group of farmers, gathering together to try and hold of a swarm of creatures from the Dungeon below, something they didn't know much about, something they would never have expected to see. How would they have felt during that final struggle?

Most chilling of all is the complete lack of any sign of the people who had fought here. No remains for burial, no torn limbs, not even a blood stain.

As if a monster would ever leave Biomass behind.

Crawling over the buildings, up the walls and over the shattered ceilings, hit me hard. This was what the refugees were fleeing from, this was the fate of the thousands, tens of thousands of people who hadn't made it out. Perhaps they hadn't heard in time, perhaps they'd underestimated the danger, perhaps they just didn't believe it could happen. Whatever the reason, it had cost them dearly.

Queen, my mother in this life, left a lifeless shell in her royal chamber. All signs of the brood would be gone, no eggs, no fat, squiggly larvae,

Unforgiveable! I would be heart broken, filled with anguish and rage should

exactly why I'm avoiding

of futile combat we uncovered. Her fists clenched and her neck muscles grew taught until I was concerned her

want to draw the attention of the dark haired warrior right now. I suspect he just doesn't want to be a punching bag since he's able to recognise that Morrelia is an ally and he wouldn't

fury and smashed one backhanded fist into a barn wall. For moment the only sound is the echo of her rage as she stood, breathing deep, before the

…

Nice punch…

she managed to spot me in my totally obvious resting place behind the

this world into a universal translating mind joining bridge of sparkling complexity that would

nice thing about having multiple minds is that I can quite comfortably weave my spells whilst complaining internally, plenty of spare brain

ok over there?] was my tentative

served to upgrade her frown into

Fine. I want to move on, find some monsters to

to move to find those, since, there sure isn't any of them here! Ha! Ha!

berserk and kill