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.]

I know. I’m not minding it so much, you know. Then again, I’ve always sort 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 I have a purpose, you

[NO.]

the plan in the end? You came to the surface, destroyed a

THEM AWAY. BREAK

killing with you. It’s never, just ’kick back and relax’ or ’vacation from murder’, just kill, kill, kill. What about my

[KILLED MY CHILDREN.]

to kill me first, to

THEY ARE

sense? Wait, I’m not sure I want

thought the mind 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 your time sunk in

mass of instincts and emotions. There isn’t much left of the human inside. Just enough for me

least, that’s how I understand it. I’ve been in Garralosh’s

a glorious victory, but I’ll take what I

A cage. A prison of mind magic that will bind this weak mind from its decidedly

like embracing your new life here, I can relate to that, believe me, but mass destruction? Seems a little off the deep

ONE CAN STAND IN

obviously, they can. It already

[I’LL KILL THEM!]

[Yeesh. Back to this.]

my brains working that sweet, sweet mana with all the grace

KILL ALL OF YOU. ALL OF THE INSECTS WILL 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

Whoa there!

breaking point, the very fabric of my mind coming apart at the seams as her

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

I WILL KILL THAT

truly enjoyed her second life

by the way. I’ve kept that name from my old life. May

rage that is Garralosh’s mind as a response. Perhaps she would fly off the handle again, or go nuts in some other way. Instead, she grows still. I can feel her searching. Reaching back into memories she’d

Cage is ready to

BAM!

Why am I the one