Chrysalis

Titus surveyed the broken wreckage of the once prosperous city of Liria. The Legion fort around the Dungeon entrance had been levelled giving him a clear view of the devastation the moment he had stepped back onto the surface. Garralosh and her monsters had done their work thoroughly here. Everywhere he looked he saw wreckage, as if the beasts couldn't stand to leave one stone on top of another. The Legion commander felt the pain in his heart as took in the ruins. He could see the ruins of Baker Dockerty's shop from where he stood. The jolly old man had been full of life, ready with a smile and a glazed bun, Titus' favourite, every time he'd stopped by. So much waste, so much loss. All because of one stupid monster.

He blew a breath, releasing the tension building in his chest. What was the point of raging at a dead beast? The kingdom was gone, Garralosh was gone, the Legions' responsibilities in this backward part of the world were over. Still, Titus felt no sense of satisfaction. They hadn't managed to defeat the giant Croc themselves and he was still filled with regret that he had failed to take her life when they had clashed. His axe had bitten her flesh, taken an arm but she had slithered away like a snake. Perhaps if he'd pursued then, he would never have witnessed this scene now, perhaps his son would have taken the trials elsewhere and survived. Regret boiled in his belly.

Sensing her fathers' emotions, Morrelia stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're an idiot," she said.

Titus turned his stony face toward her.

"You did more for this country, more for this city than any dozen other people in its history combined. You fought harder and longer than even the Legion asked of you. There was nothing more you could have done, so stop being stupid and feeling guilty about this. None of it is your fault."

updates, better

daughter! Titus himself didn't seem to mind at all. He only nodded and patted the rough and calloused hand

a

Morrelia snorted.

and you know it. I'm just in a unique position to

don't see me

run her eyes over the wreckage again. "I still can't believe this happened. When Anthony and I first came here, this whole space was filled with monsters, almost every surface was covered with them.

reached the surface. Many of them had been born here, had parents, spouses, some of them had children. Morrelia had been able to provide a list, the names of everyone who had gathered at the survivor village. It was a scarce comfort. Only a fraction of the people who'd lived in the kingdom remained, and the capital had been the hardest hit. The tears and cries of anguish stung. Sometimes he wished he could unbend long enough to show that kind of emotion, but he never did. Part of him was afraid that if

I want you to

before she left. The Abyssal Legion had been such a part of her life, to reconnect with it again had felt so natural, as if she had been welcomed back to the family. To her, the Legion was literally family. It was a chance to spend time with her father, to reconnect with her mother, after ten years of separation. She didn't want to abandon the community in the south, the survivors that she'd formed bonds

Well, Isaac could burn in the third strata, but the others, even Anthony, that puzzling creature who seemed to turn everything she'd been taught about monsters on its head. There was something building there, something special. She wanted to be a part of it, wanted to help build it. It was an adventure,

time