Chrysalis

Granin stirred as the wave washed over him.

"W-was that?" Corun asked breathlessly.

"It was," the triad leader stated.

Torrina sucked in a breath, letting the shock register on her face instead of her usual stoic expression.

"This is a lot sooner than we expected," she said after calming herself. "Are you sure?"

Her teacher shot her a slightly annoyed look and she looked down. Granin snorted.

"You're too smart to ask a question like that," he scolded her, "we just got punched in the face by a wall of mana. Of course I'm sure."

"I know. I suppose I just didn't want it to happen now. I don't think I'm ready."

"Nobody is ready for what's coming. They might have spent three thousand years preparing themselves, but they still aren't ready."

At least we won't be the ones to pit ourselves against the overwhelming strength of the Ancients. I'm happy to leave that to those with far more hubris than I.

Corun warred with the sense of excitement and trepidation. World shaking events would take place, and soon. A wave the likes of which the world hadn't seen since the Time of Rending was building. It was possible the events of the past would repeat themselves, with the Ancients causing devastation on a global scale. Naturally, he was nervous.

asked Granin and the old Shaper scrunched up his

level isn't high enough, but it's getting close. If I were to guess, I'd say that those who aren't awake are stirring at the least, and

He shrugged.

after that? Less than a year is my guess. If we don't have a solution by that time, then

when the Ancients took matters into their own hands. Cataclysm, catastrophe,

in time," Torrina said, and Granin

and

with one's god might be a happy occasion for some religions, but amongst the cults, it meant coming well within eating range of an all-powerful monster. Granin imagined it may be a very

he thought, not for long, but

of the Ancients. There would be little point keeping Granin alive, so he'd

still be

so," he said, returning his mind to the current conversation. "Our only chance of staving off disaster is to present a new Ancient. That was the task laid on the founders of the cults, and we are running out of time to deliver. If

Corun

the first tier seven ant in the history of Pangera, and a mythic monster at that. Considering where he'd started, it was a remarkable journey. In fact, recalling he hadn't even been born amongst his Colony, but in the tunnels by himself, it was beyond a miracle he'd survived to this point. She understood what he was saying, though. Compared to what he needed to be, there

need to worry too much on that front," Granin said. "This wave is going to be like nothing we've ever seen before, and the next will be even worse. If you want

down below. From their vantage point high in the fortress nest below Roklu, the three had a huge range of view over the plains below. Torrina

it only grew worse, and worse, and worse. Larger demons began to climb up through the belching

to the point where the golgari felt their lungs burn when they breathed. Not from the smoke,

need to create filters in