Chrysalis

I’m not sure what I expected, honestly. Here in the base of Garralosh’s psyche, I kind of thought I’d be talking to a person. Instead, her mind is represented by an amorphous shifting mass that is at any one time part human, part crocodile, part Escher painting.

[I WILL KILL YOU.]

Good start!

[You do a lot of that. Killing I mean. Why do you have such a grudge against the people up here anyway?]

[THEY HURT ME.]

When she communicates, it’s like a psychic scream that punches into my mind with brute force. Unpleasant, to say the least.

[How the hell did a bunch of farmers and townsfolk hurt you? They could barely hurt me!]

[NOT THEM. OTHER’S. VENGEANCE.]

So.... To get back at the person who had chopped off her arm, she annihilated a kingdom full of innocent people. Yeesh.

[So, care to explain that dragging feeling I noticed in your memories?]

The second I mention it, her struggles double in intensity and my mind starts to ache under the strain of pinning her down.

[GET OUT OF MY HEAD!]

[No.]

Once again I’m able to master her, my will is superior. Neglecting her mental stats is proving to be a grievous error. I suspect the Karmodo has done a fair bit of mind magic on her and she doesn’t even remember it. I can only imagine the Lizard Wizard would have magnitudes for control and finesse than I do. I barely know what I’m doing!

[THE PULL. I EVOLVED TOO MUCH. TOO FAST. I WAS CALLED TO THE CENTER. OTHERS LIKE ME. ALL DEEPER.]

Called? By the System? Or something else?

[You don’t like remembering that you were human do you? Tried pretty damn hard to suppress it. Must have been part of what kept you... sane-ish. Even a cruddy life as a human was better than being a monster in the Dungeon I suppose.]

[DON’T WANT TO REMEMBER.]

of gone with the flow. The constant danger and the threat of death isn’t great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to feel like

[NO.]

You came to the surface, destroyed a kingdom, maybe two, and then

THEM AWAY.

just ’kick back and relax’ or ’vacation from murder’, just kill, kill, kill. What about

[KILLED MY CHILDREN.]

kill me

THEY ARE FOR

sense? Wait, I’m not sure

of Garralosh would be... more than this. She’s super old! More than a century! Maybe even two! Where’s the accumulated wisdom of the ages? I suppose, if you spend all

of the human inside. Just enough for me to taunt her

the careful spell I’ve been weaving. Here in this place, time isn’t passing on the outside, at least, that’s how I understand it. I’ve been in Garralosh’s

but I’ll take what I can

the careful weave of my spell continues. A cage. A prison of mind magic that will bind this weak mind from its decidedly

huh? You were a human being at one stage. I get you felt like embracing your new life here, I can relate to that,

CAN STAND IN MY

they can. It already

[I’LL KILL THEM!]

[Yeesh. Back to this.]

feel my brains working that sweet, sweet mana with all the grace and dexterity

BE CRUSHED BENEATH MY FEET. I WILL CONSUME THE HUMANS AND TURN THEM INTO MORE OF MY KIND. THEN I WILL DESCEND AND THERE WILL BE DEATH. I WILL SLAUGHTER EVERYTHING I SEE UNTIL I FIND THE THING THAT BROUGHT ME HERE AND I WILL KILL

Whoa there!

dear life. My mind strains to the breaking point, the very fabric of my mind coming apart at the seams as her desperate insanity gives the beast new

spoken to Gandalf, then? Err.. The System I

WHAT I HAVE SUFFERED, I WILL KILL THAT CREATURE A THOUSAND

serious rage issues here. Not entirely unjustified, I suppose. It doesn’t sound as if Garralosh has truly enjoyed her second life experience. One out of five stars, wouldn’t stay again. My spell has almost completed. Just

remember, but I can’t help but be curious. My name’s Anthony, by the way. I’ve kept that

go nuts in some other way. Instead, she grows still. I can feel her searching. Reaching back

get an answer. Cage is

BAM!

am I the