Chrysalis

“What’s going on?” Jern asked, confused.

“Something’s happening in town, I’ve no idea what, though. People just started running!”

That did indeed seem to be the case. Wherever Jern looked, people were poking their heads out of their houses and wandering toward the centre of town, or jogging down the streets after coming from the fields.

“Come quickly!” he heard a voice calling from somewhere closer to the square. “There’s big news to hear! Come to the cathedral!”

“To the cathedral?” Jern asked, confused. “What’s going on over there?”

His friend, Alis, stared at him as if he were being stupid.

“If you want to find out, then we need to go to the cathedral, right?”

“Good point.”

Feeling slightly foolish, he put down his shovel and scratched at his cheek awkwardly.

“Soooo, you want to come with?”

Alis shook her head, sending her blazing red hair swaying down her back.

“Of course I want to find out, I’m only standing around here because I’m waiting for you! Hurry up!”

“Oh,” Jern chuckled, trying to hide his embarrassment as he stepped out of the stables and into the street, being careful to avoid running into anyone. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

The two joined the flowing crowd of people as they made their way toward the largest building in Renewal. The cathedral towered over the burgeoning city; its tall, lavish spires and elaborate carved ants were an awe-inspiring sight, one that Jern frequently found himself gazing at, lost in the endlessly complex lines of the stone. In front of the cathedral, filling the town square, the crowd was abuzz with energy, murmuring and calling to one another, a hundred different conversations fusing into one, persistent roar.

“I feel like everyone in town is here,” Jern mumbled, uncomfortable.

He didn’t like being in crowds.

“Can you see what’s happening in front of the cathedral?” Alis demanded.

“Uhhh, yes? Can’t you?”

and kicked him

not a

she wasn’t comparing herself

I think the head priest

before she started poking him in

demanded, “I

Jern looked around uncomfortably.

said, “but we need to move to the side. I don’t want to

“Ugh. Fine.”

wasn’t hard to make a path to the edge of the crowd. Once he was confident they wouldn’t be disrupting anyone, he reached down and grabbed Alis by the

“Are you steady?”

course I am.

idly twining her fingers through his hair as she peered

unusual. There’s even a few generals and carvers!

tell the difference?”

Alis rolled her eyes.

different. Look at that one, you see the

“Yes?” he replied doubtfully.

the most curious, and they move around the most. If they’re connected to a human with a mind bridge, they usually

know a lot about the

the

Most of our

he said, idly scratching at his

Jern was concerned, they were regular people who lived and worked in Renewal just like the rest of them. Except they had more legs. He knew about the nests and that there was Dungeon stuff and all that, lower down, but he’d never needed to worry about that. He cleaned stables for

said, leaning forward

his right hand up, just in case she fell, as he tried to spot what she’d seen.

your day, but

to himself. He

him

at talking in public his words felt like they flew into

roared, his words rolling through the crowd like

speech from Beyn. They

WHISPERED

reaction from the crowd, and even Alis was bouncing