Chrysalis

After further hours of roaming back and forth, trying to get a sniff of our prey whilst fending off the endless tide of demons, we finally get another hint.

It’s Al who manages to catch a glimpse, and he lets us know with his usual even demeanour.

[I found something,] he says.

[Oh yeah? Like what?]

[I believe I have detected a trace of almost pure ash mana. It is… unusual.]

[Get at the point, man, enough of your waffling!]

[What are… waffles?]

[Argh! Damn your endless curiosity! What is so unusual about this ash mana?]

He glares at me, which is quite the intimidating glare, I might add, and I know that the question of breakfast foods has only been delayed, not resolved. Nevertheless, he continues.

[Its purity.]

I swear to gandalf, I’m about to flatten this damn eyeball into a pancake. Perhaps he senses my rising ire, because he elaborates without further prompting.

[I suspect it has come from Pyrixan. Only she, that I’m aware of, could manifest such a powerful and concentrated form of that mana.]

[Goody.]

Is it nice to know we got a hint of our enemies? Yes, of course, but I’d rather it didn’t come in the form of manifested destruction in the form of concentrated ash mana.

[Where are they?] I sigh.

[I found the trail at the edge of my awareness. Several kilometres that way.]

can sense

[I can.]

and see if you can

[Agreed…. Now, waffles.]

[Oh for -... fine.]

indicated direction as I explain to the giant eyeball of flame about the joys of breakfast baking. I’ve been told that waffles are great with syrup; personally, I never had the chance to try it, but

minutes of careful travel, Al pipes up

[It’s them.]

around, it’s almost a

[What? Are you sure?]

eyeball flares with

[I am.]

news! We finally caught up to

into the distance. That serves as a timely reminder that we aren’t in peak shape. Tiny might be eager to battle, but he’s been healed dozens

top that off, we’re almost certainly walking

the bowels of the third, away from my Colony, it had better be a trap. If they went to all this effort just to inconvenience me, that’d be annoying as heck. I fully expect, nay, demand a trap be sprung

it a trap, if

He stares at me.

unsure what

is the element of surprise an essential component of a trap, or

just looks confused, so I let the

signatures, Al and I sharing the burden of handling Tiny’s since the big ape can’t do it for himself. As we draw closer and closer to the spot

that it’s hard to spot us if someone wanted to. Amongst the seething ocean of demons, we stick out like a sore thumb. I’m huge, for one, and we’re covered in a moving purple dome of energy that flattens

domain in order to

Will I?

be swept away in a tidal wave of