Chrysalis

After a long period of stop-start running through the forest we eventually made our way clear of it and into the open fields. The once neat and organised fields that had been planted with crops or contained docile herds of animals were gone, trampled into the muck by monstrous feet. I didn’t expect the sight to effect as much as it did. My heart experienced a definite pang when I gazed upon the sheer destruction and human misery that had occurred here.

I hadn’t exactly had a positive life experience amongst humans before my rebirth. In fact I’d go so far as to say it was horrible. I never knew why, but my parents had hated me from, as far as I could tell, the moment of my birth. Growing up in that kind of environment wasn’t conducive to my ability to form healthy relationships, things at school went as you might imagine.

After I grew old enough to care for myself my parents pretty much disappeared, I dropped out of school and most social contact vanished. When I think of it in those terms, it doesn’t seem strange that my mentality became a little weird. It makes me a little uncomfortable to admit it, but I felt more at home and more welcome amongst the colony in this life than I ever did amongst humans in my last one.

They accepted me without wanting anything in return, never asked anything from me and my mother, the Queen, gave me her complete and total trust in an instant, simply because I was member of her family.

That was something I’d never experienced before. Not even anything remotely like it. Gandalf mentioned that people brought to Pangera were usually crazy in some way, broken, I think was the way he phrased it. I’ve never really thought of myself in that way, my life wasn’t ideal by any means, but I always felt there were plenty who were worse off than me, but not I think I get what he was trying to say.

He didn’t necessarily just want to bring insane people here to Pangera and reincarnate them as monsters, he wanted to bring people who would feel more at home here, amongst the monsters, than they did in their previous lives. I suppose it could be said that only a crazy person would meet that criteria and perhaps that is what he meant by ’broken’ people.

I wonder what will happen if I were to meet another person like myself, someone who had originated from Earth. It’s a question that’s been bothering me for a long time. We’re both monsters after all, designed to fight and kill each other in order to progress along our path. If I meet one and they try to nibble my face off I’m certain to fight back, no question about that. Is peaceful cooperation even possible in the Dungeon?

My mind weighed down by these concerns, we begin to make our way through the final stretch of our journey. We crept across abandoned fields and passed the numerous scattered farmhouses and small villages that orbited the beating heart of this small kingdom, the capital city of Liria.

The once proud stone walls no longer looked so imposing, large gaps had been smashed into the stone, giving us glimpses of the destruction that had occurred within. Massive stone blocks that had been part of the wall had been scattered across a wide area of land, as if the masonry had been smashed by a titans fist, blasted out of place and flown a hundred metres to land in a field.

What buildings that had existed outside the walls, concentrated around the gates for the most part, had simply ceased to exist, flattened and destroyed, barely a wall remained standing of these dwellings which appeared to have drawn the monsters ire for some reason. They present an ill omen for what remains of the city inside the walls.

Morrelia grows more tense the closer to the city we get. Her muscles are bunched and knotted by the time we reach two hundred metres of the wall, her eyes are ablaze with fury, like balls of liquid magma they seem to radiate heat into the air, so great is her wrath.

cool] I advise her, somewhat uselessly, [Whatever has happened inside the city is likely to be worse than what we see out here and this is exactly the wrong place to

she replied, though her teeth remained clenched

a lot of

follower, [If Morrelia flies off the handle, I need you to try and grab her so we can

never failing to follow my instructions to the letter.

question is sniffing the air as we speak, looking bored without anything to fight. Just to be certain I reach out and speak to him as well. I want to make

aren’t here to fight, Tiny] I warned him, [You are not to attack any monster we see inside the city. No fighting at all until we are

is no wiggle room for him to avoid obeying

we can whilst remaining as far from any momma Crocs that might happen to be positioned inside the city, so taking a glimpse from a higher vantage point makes the most sense, even if it might outline us against the sky. Most monsters have quite poor vision anyway, especially those from the first strata. Since we

stretch of wall with no openings for a few hundred metres on either side. If we’re spotted and pursued then the monsters either having to go over the wall of travel the extra distance could mean

look constantly around at our surroundings, it’s eerily quiet. Where I expected to see roaming hordes of monsters there is almost no motion, no sound. The city feels dead, in a complete way, as if no living existed within it for the last hundred years when only a few months ago I had seen it

we begin to close the final stretch to the base of the wall itself I

in place for a moment before snapping out instructions

Do not get any

[Master! No!] Crinis protested.

back and not on my head, otherwise she would have felt this change at the same time

ride on your shoulder. Don’t get

speak to Morrelia.

hadn’t imagined was possible. If she looked like she could eat rocks before, she looks like she could chew through steel

though I imagine it may be a little different

moved back a little, the little ball of mayhem protesting the entire time,