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.

think?" he asked Granin and the old Shaper scrunched up his

sleeping. That being the case, the mana 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 those who are already risen are moving around, reaching out. This wave isn't going to be big enough,

He shrugged.

is my guess. If we don't have a solution by that time, then they'll take matters into

knew what it meant when the Ancients took matters into their own hands. Cataclysm, catastrophe,

Anthony makes it in time," Torrina said, and Granin

said, and

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 moving experience, to see Yarrum with his own eyes. A

not for long,

There would be

still

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 we can meet their expectations, there's

Corun

tier seven? Anthony was perhaps 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 was still a long

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

From their vantage point high in the fortress nest below Roklu, the three had a huge range of view

didn't die down, it only grew worse, and

lungs burn when they breathed. Not from the smoke, but from the faint tinge of pure destruction in the air, now strong enough to begin to unmake their bodies from the

create filters in order