Chrysalis

It was a long time before my sister was out of range of the Vestibule. The last flickering embers of her Will reached me hours later. How many hours, I honestly can’t say. Unable to do anything else after my failure, all I could do was sit and listen as she Willed for freedom, Willed for escape, Willed for it all to be over.

When at last the range was too great, or her Will was too thin, or perhaps she had finally experienced release, I swear I felt something inside of me break.

Once again, I triggered the healing gland once it had filled up. The flames of the Phoenix lingered within my carapace even now, trying to chew through my body, refusing to be extinguished. I didn’t see what I could do about it other than heal myself over and over again until finally they ran out of juice. It’s painful, but nothing compared to what my lost sibling was forced to endure.

The ants on the expedition are not filled with jubilation and triumph, as they should have been after such a successful outing. Once word of what occurred spread across the ships, there has been a simmering fury bubbling away inside the Vestibule, a grief and an anger that only serve to magnify my own.

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of the Vestibule allowing the Colony to affect my thoughts and emotions, but this time we are united, and our feelings are perfectly aligned.

With a silent command, I reach out through the Nave and contact the individual I’m seeking. She appears shortly after, popping into reality with a burst of energy and landing nimbly on the deck next to me.

“Have no fear, Brilliant is he—what the heck happened to you?!”

It takes a little while to explain what had occurred, and when I’m done, she’s just as furious as the rest of us.

“Why didn’t you call me, Eldest? I could have wiggled my way in there, no problem.”

“Too risky. It’s impossible for us to say what kinds of defences they might have had against that type of intrusion. If you’d been caught, we’d be mourning two lost siblings right now instead of one.”

Brilliant simply scoffs.

would have found my way in and out. Are you forgetting who I am?!

insane confidence is one of the things that makes her who she is. There’s no point arguing

know you have a lot on your plate,

mad scientist snaps

“I’m intrigued, go on.”

case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you

know about the Church of the Path. Everything. Their history, their alliances, their strength, their eating habits, all of it. They have put

Brilliant as I go on. She’s not interested in

figure out. That hardly calls for me to employ

I tell her, “I want you to look into every site in our territory where the Church of the Path might have

the Will had… drained out of the captive was locked in my mind. It

they were conducting some strange sort of spell. Some magic

at the top of her head

odd to our sister…. Well, I don’t have a reason to doubt you, so I’ll investigate. If there’s something there, then there’s something

her

taste in the mouth. I’d rather be looking into something else altogether. Did you know that they asked me to help them look into the mana of the fifth stratum? It

is interesting

that, but make

of the fifth are enemies of everyone, and we will need to overcome them if we want to push deeper into the Dungeon. The Church though, they are only enemies to monsters, and have clearly announced their intentions towards us, and

escapade in which we made so many unexpected friends, we finish by making a

there will never be peace between the Colony and the Cathedral, not so