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.]

nest, surrounded by family, but I

The demon eye glitters.

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

worm that

it isn't common for a demon to actually enjoy returning to the

Fair enough I suppose.

clinging to the pillar a hundred metres above

lot of them, aren't there?]

the spawn rate will increase until the numbers return. This is the natural state

wave is over isn't it? This is the normal

wave. When the wave was at its

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 others of their own size

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

awful lot of Biomass…] I wonder

it's worth to harvest,] Al comments, [not that you

thinking

happy to feast on these demons. Looking over the vast plains and the

down there...] I sigh and begin the final

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 away so as not to

that?] I point out

will instinctively shift away from those more

[Weird…]

eye flares in a kind

that is more powerful than themselves is food for