Chrysalis

[How long will the curious one remain imprisoned within the mouth?]

[Until she's learned not to be a massive pain in my commercial zone.]

A wave of heat washes over me from behind.

[What is this… commercial zone?]

[You know what? Never mind.]

The already sweltering temperatures of the third stratum inch up a couple of degrees as Al literally burns with a level of curiosity that, being honest, I just can't be bothered dealing with right now. All I'd wanted to do is hang out in the demon city and see what they got up to in there. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes. I'd kind of expected that things would go wrong, I mean, they tend to. Tiny would get into a fight, or Crinis would accidently mind-control somebody, or Invidia would nab something he shouldn't and then all hell would break loose.

I make it sound as if I'd expected my pets to be the cause of any issues, but I can be honest with myself. I fully expected that I'd be responsible for some kind of drama, be it getting into a fight I shouldn't have, pinching stuff I shouldn't or mind controlling someone. What I didn't expect was a damned hatchling to go freaking crazy on me!

Now the only way we're going to get back into Roklu is at the head of an army. Good thing the Colony is probably going to assault the place in fairly short order. In the meantime, we'll just have to hang out down here, I suppose. Not that it isn't exciting!

[I … dislike this place.]

Al has a distinctly displeased tone to his usually flat and unemotional voice which surprises me enough that I turn around to face him.

[What about it makes you so unhappy?] I ask. [Isn't this the place that you were born?]

The floating eye of fire swings around the plains around us in one irritated swoop.

[All demons are born of the plains. From the moment we emerge from the spawn points we know nothing but a desperate battle to survive, surrounded on all sides by foes. We consume each other until we piece together our sentience, bit by bit as we evolve. Even those who try to escape the fighting and climb the pillar are thrown back down. Until we reach tier six, we aren't considered a real demon.]

at all,] I sympathise, [but isn't life like that for all monsters? Most of my kind are born within the comfort and safety of the nest, surrounded by family, but I personally was born on my own, one of the weakest creatures in

The demon eye glitters.

and survive only by fighting for their lives, though some hide and cower in the dark

worm

for a demon to actually enjoy

Fair enough I suppose.

at the plains themselves. At the moment we are clinging to the pillar a hundred metres above the ground, looking

a lot of them, aren't there?] I say, hesitance clear in my

them all, the spawn rate will increase until

isn't it? This is

it was during the wave. When the wave was at its height, they were several

their dark coloured demon skin, two claws and strangely bulbous bodies fights maniacally against any of their own kind they can reach. Seeing how tightly packed together they are, there are a ton that they can reach. Some are larger than others, and these seem to ignore the smaller ones as much as possible, seeking out

as new demons crawl from between cracks in the ground to replace those that have fallen. When I pan my attention across the wider plains, the scene is replicated everywhere I can see, for kilometres and kilometres, in

of

you or I would gain anything

thinking

about potentially hundreds of thousands of little hatchlings who would be more than happy to feast on these demons. Looking over the vast plains and the unending supply of small demons, thousands might not be enough to consume all that

get down there...] I sigh and

my surprise, they almost flow away from me, creating space where I won't crush them underfoot. As I bring more legs down, eventually bringing my whole body down onto the ground, the rolling melee continues to shift

they always do that?] I point out the strange phenomenon to

shift away from those more powerful

[Weird…]

flares in a kind of

Anything that is more powerful than themselves is food for later. Better