Chrysalis

Chapter 281 It's getting hot!

Beds are wonderful things, don't you think? Especially if you have a good one. My family had never shown me affection in any meaningful way, but I did have decent stuff. At least, I did until the collectors got hold of me. My bed had given me the welcome and comfort that was missing from everywhere else in my home. Warm, snug, safe. My head resting on a soft pillow, the reassuring weight of sheets and blankets. It had been my sanctuary. A vessel that could carry me out of my life, away from the rejection, harsh words and angry eyes. How bad can life be when you have a comfortable bed? Probably terrible, but hey, I have my own policy.

I had to wonder if Garralosh had felt the same way, in her past life. Gandalf, the System, said that all of us were a little odd, in our lives, which was why we were chosen. Perhaps this would be a common thread between us. Or at least, increase the thread count… heh.

As the increasingly irate crocodile prepared to attack once more, I hit her right in the face with all of my most fluffy bed time memories. Sinking into a mattress, drowsy with sleep, cool sheets covering me and my pyjamas. Pyjamas! Damn I miss Pyjamas. Why the hell didn't I wear them all the time? Superior to regular clothes in every respect!

Ah!

I let myself get distracted by my own mental attack! How's Garralosh responding? The giant crocodile has faltered once more and I take the opportunity for another cheeky Omen Chomp! The mountainous reptile is missing a few chunks from various places and ichor is steaming off her still burning scales. The hiss and bubble of it is a constant background noise in the battle at this point.

CHOMP!

Take that! In fact, she still isn't responding, I'll take a chance and go for a sneaky second chomp, inflict some of that deep damage.

CHOMP!

The hit to my stamina is massive but the outpouring of energy from the Vestibule replenishes me. The Will of the colony is becoming my strength! Already my health is near full again and the regeneration gland is nearly ready to go once more. This is insane!

A wall of anguish slams into my mind, stunning me for a short moment. Awww snap. She's not happy!

[STOP BRINGING IT BACK!] she screamed and then promptly exploded.

Not literally exploded in the 'flesh flew everywhere' kind of way. But power and heat burst from her in a calamitous wave of rolling fire that blew me backwards and gave me a thorough roasting at the same time. I felt pain erupt all over my frame as my carapace began to sizzle, the organs and muscle beneath rising to a temperature they don't like to operate at. I'm a smoking ruin of an ant! She did that in an instant!

"Vibrant! Are you alright?"

"Fine-fine! I'm too fast!"

"HCK! Good for you…"

I cough and a small cloud of smoke is spat out of my mouth. I need healing! I activate my healing gland once more, the precious healing fluid that built up since my last use began to flood into my system once more. Only half of a full dose, but I'll take what I can get!

My vision is hazy as the wall of fire that rolled over me toasted my vision to a degree, but the mind bridge is painting a picture of what Garralosh is doing right now.

She is full of rage, thrashing and clawing at the dirt, snapping at the air. Tons and tons of reptile lashing out with all her strength is a heck of thing to be close to. Her anger is cataclysmic. The ground shakes and the air is filled with the sound of her fury. She's like a natural disaster made manifest, a titan, something primordial from before the gods were born.

All I can do is try to keep my feet and scramble back to create some distance as I heal up. I really need to thank the unshakeable faith the colony has in me at this point, as their energy continues to flood my body, healing me and restoring my reserves. I'm not sure why they have faith in me right now, I'm not sure I would!

My eyes come back into focus and I can see Garralosh in all her fury. Her eyes are mad with rage as she unleashes her terrifying strength in an uncontrolled frenzy. So strong is she that her strikes into the ground are causing shockwaves that are collapsing the colony's tunnels beneath us. Long sections of ground fall straight down to create troughs and trenches where before there was only flat earth.

She's not liking this! I would go so far as to say that she's really hating it!

…

I should keep going!

My sub-brains continue to churn out magic. The most powerful of them is maintaining and operating the mind magic construct on its own as the other two cooperate to weave together the sensations and illusions. It appears as if the Vestibule is also supporting my brains as even they seem to be holding up under the strain of constant spell weaving admirably well. The vestibule is the gift that keeps on giving!

The ground around Garralosh is destroyed, burnt and thrashed into a mess and she doesn't look like she's going to stop any time soon. With Vibrant behind me, keeping her speed aura covering me, I decide to go in once more. I need to take every opportunity to do damage!

As I dash forward I smack her with more memories from Earth. Cola. Fast food. Couches. Television. Sport. Anything I think she might be able to remember, anything that might disrupt her thinking.

As the barrage of mind magic slams home, I maintain a little distance, just in case she decides to explode again, but she doesn't. I'll have to take a chance. I dash in once again.

CHOMP! CHOMP!

At this close range I decide to take a risk and try something different. I raise my abdomen up and lower the front sections of my body to improve the angle and expose my business district! Even with just this position I can easily fire my acid straight forward thanks to my new additions!

POW! POW! POW! POW!

I rapid fire a few blasts of my new and improved merchandise straight into the wounds I just caused before I turn and dash as fast as I can away. I can see the ripple of pain run through the enormous frame of Garralosh as the acid begins to eat into her. Why isn't she healing herself? She must have a healing gland of some description, surely…

All the while I continue to send a constant stream of mind magic across the bridge. Any impression, any thought or sensation that might work, I package it up and blast it across. I can feel it impact against her mind, also. Each time the magic hits home her thoughts shudder away from it, desperately trying to protect herself from remembering what her life had been like.

But then something changed. Her mind opened up, reached out across the mind bridge and seized hold of mine. I felt like a mouse gripped in the fist of a gorilla. What the hell is happening?! She battered me with her pain and fury, turning her madness into a weapon that she used to beat me right in the mind.

You want to play this way?! I doubt you know mind magic like I do! If she's going to open herself up to me like this, then I'm going to step on through!

All four of my minds switched focus and my body grew completely still for a second as I spun together a spell of incredible complexity. When it was finished it appeared like a ship woven together of spider thread. I put myself aboard and launched it across the bridge, straight into the mind of maddened Croc.