Chrysalis Read online

  Kala closes her eyes and meditates for a moment, clearing her mind and feeling peace wash over her restless mind. Meditation has quickly become one of her favorite skills to use. She opens her eyes and gasps, the world is transformed, everything is twinkling like diamonds. She can see through the trees and sees the living animals as bright energy. It is like she has X-ray vision, she can see energy moving everywhere. Is this Xoria Communion?

  A small squirrel-like creature stops in the branches above her, she can see into its body and see its little heart beating. Kala reaches out with her mind and can feel a thread of energy, she pulls on it and the creature drops dead. A ball of energy rushes toward her and slams into her chest. Kala screams and falls to the ground. There are new notifications popping up, but her head is swimming and then she passes out.

  Kala wakes up feeling strange. Was I dreaming that I was a squirrel? She wonders. The sun has barely moved from its position in the sky, it must have only been a few minutes that she was passed out. What the hell just happened? Her body feels amazing. She looks at her User Sheet, wow, she has a three-hour buff to her health. Her health is raised by 20%. She also gained 10% experience and two new skills!

  Congratulations! You have learned the Sub-Skill:

  Consume Core (Novice, Lvl 1)

  So, what do you and the devil have in common? You both eat the souls of the living. Kidding, it is not understood if Cores are what humans know of as souls. You are now able to pull the Cores out of any living creature and consume them for varying rewards. Consuming Cores has a 25% chance to learn a random skill from the host. Skill has a greater chance of success if target is under 50% health.

  Mental Cost: NA

  Requirements: Must be in Xoria Communion.

  Cool down: 24 hours

  Warning: Cores of a much greater level than your own may cause death if consumed.

  Experience awarded: 50

  Congratulations! You have learned the Skill:

  Find Nuts (Novice, Lvl 1)

  Well, it was a squirrel-like creature, what'd you expect? You can now find all nuts in a ten-foot radius. Nuts will glow slightly for five minutes.

  Mental Cost: 5

  Effect 1: 5% chance to find rare or better nuts.

  Experience awarded: 15

  Well, she doesn’t know what to think of any of that. She can consume the Cores of the living? Kala wonders if it would work with the Cores from the already dead? It seems like a very powerful ability, also kind of scary. She is almost relieved she can only use it once per day.

  Kala stands up and brushes the dirt off of her back and hair. She walks a few feet into the woods and then activates Find Nuts. At first, she thinks nothing happened, but then she begins to notice glowing objects on the ground. She leans over and picks one up, it's a nut of some kind.

  "Huh, well I guess I won't ever starve." Kala says to no one. She cracks the nut on a stone and then pops it in her mouth. "Not bad." It gives her a two-minute buff to Perception. She picks up a few more and puts them in her pockets, you never know, they might come in handy.

  Kala wanders the woods, with no real destination or purpose. She decides to sit and meditate again, peace pours over her and her spine tingles. She opens her eyes and she is in Xoria Communion again. The world is so beautiful, she laughs out loud and begins to tear up. She wipes her eyes and notices a trail of energy in the air.

  She stands up and touches the energy, it scatters like dust being blown to the wind. She sees the trail of energy travelling further into the woods. Kala follows the trail for half an hour, it twists and bends, sometimes going up into the trees and then coming back down. The further she goes the brighter the trail of energy gets.

  Up ahead she sees a bright glow darting about in the air. There is also something much larger chasing the glowing thing. She equips her bow just in case.

  She enters Stealth and gets closer. The glowing thing is screeching and it sounds scared, it zooms past the tree she is hiding behind. It is so bright she is almost blinded, she deactivates Xoria Communion and can now see that the glowing thing is actually a very small person with wings, about the size of her hand. Kala hears a growl and sees a monstrous flying thing chases after the little person. She then gets a pop-up window.

  New Quest Alert:

  Save the Fairy

  You have encountered a fairy being hunted by a Red-Eyed Jamya. Kill the Jamya and save the fairy.

  Quest Type: Rare

  Difficulty: Hard

  Rewards: ????

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  Well, damn. She just wanted to go for a walk. Kala sighs and then takes aim with her bow, she pulls back the string and an energy arrow forms. The longer she holds it, the more powerful the arrow will become. She feels her head tingle and her mental energy bar begin to drain.

  She releases the arrow and misses the Jamya by a few feet, the arrow strikes a tree and blows a small crater in it. The Jamya screeches and circles around in the air and then focuses on Kala. "Damn." She says. It is one ugly thing. It is about the size of a large cat, but its size is the only similarity. The Jamya has brown scales all over it and long gangly front arms and small squat legs. Its head looks smashed and deformed, its beady red eyes glare at Kala as it hovers in the air about 15 feet away.

  "Mmmm…human. Much tasty. More meat...than fairy. I eat…you...now. Call brothers... Feast." The thing says to Kala in broken words.

  "That's not going to happen. Leave now or you will die." Kala says.

  The Jamya laughs, a very disturbing sound, and then puts its right hand up to its mouth and blows between its claws emitting a high-pitched whistle. She hears a number of whistles reply off in the distance.

  "Brothers." It says in an excited, scratchy voice.

  Kala feels something land on her shoulder and she make a startled sound. It is the fairy.

  "Thank you human. I can provide some healing and let you know if any try to approach from behind you." The tiny woman says. She is wearing a delicate silver dress, it almost looks like spider silk. She is very pale and has silver hair. Her eyes look like liquid metal and glow slightly. She looks to be older, maybe in her fifties, yet she also looks to be young. It's confusing, her age seems to almost shift before her eyes.

  "Thank you." Kala says.

  Kala looks back at the Jamya and it's gone. Then something hits the tree right above her head and she twirls around. The Jamya is above and behind her. She looks at the tree and sees that it is sizzling and the mouth of the Jamya is dripping a green substance. "You spit acid?" Kala asks it rhetorically.

  Before it can say anything, Kala activates her Flare skill and the Jamya bursts into flames. It screams and when it opens its mouth, the flames catch the green acid substance on fire and it goes down its throat. All of the sudden the Jamya explodes, gore and acid rain down on Kala. She suffers multiple burns and falls to the ground trying to get the acid off.

  A warm light envelops Kala and her health is restored. "Human, more red eyes are coming." Kala hears a small feminine voice say. The fairy is floating in the air before her, its little wings fluttering rapidly.

  "Thank you for the heal." Kala says and then gets up. She looks down at her outfit. There are burn holes everywhere, and the durability went down 20%. "Damn. Jax is going to kill me. This is a new set of armor."

  Kala runs about 20 feet away and enters Stealth behind a boulder. She hears some more whistles and then two Jamyas fly over to where the exploded one is. Two more fly over to bring the total to four. One of them is different, larger, and its scales have a reddish color. Kala Analyzes it.

  Name: Lud Ludsi

  Title: Fluffy

  Level: 6

  Synthesis: 17%

  Health: 147

  Mental: 37

  Stamina: 90

  Focus: N/A

  Race: Jamya, Subspecies Elite Red-Eyed

  Skills: ????

  Loot: ????

  Fluffy? Kala suppresses a giggle. "We should ru
n." The fairy whispers to her.

  Kala closes her eyes and meditates for ten seconds and then takes aim with her bow. She pulls back the string, for every second the string is pulled back one point of energy is channeled into the arrow. She counts for 60 seconds and then exhales all her breath and releases.

  The arrow races across the short distance and slams into the elite Jamya. Since she was in Stealth it counts as a Sneak Attack and does 150% damage. The force of the arrow pushes the elite Jamya into one of its brothers hovering next to him. They get tangled up and both fall to the ground.

  The elite's health is almost down 70%. Kala quickly looks at the Stealth icon and sees that she is still hidden. She takes aims and fires another arrow hitting the elite again, leaving him with only 18% health.

  “Look out! On your left!” The fairy yells at Kala.

  Acid hits Kala on her arm, causing her to drop her bow. She screams out as the acid eats through her armor and into her flesh, taking 12% of her health. The Jamya swoops in and tries to claw at Kala’s face, but she ducks down and grabs one of its legs, then slams it into the ground. It lays there momentarily stunned. Kala makes eye contact with it right before she caves its head in with her boot. “Gross.” She says, trying to scrap the gore off of her boot. “One down, three to go.” Kala says to herself.

  She leans down to pick up her bow and she is tackled to the ground from behind. Kala feels excruciating pain from the base of her neck as the fucker takes a bite. She feels the Jamya leave her back and Kala rolls over to see it being strangled by plant life, its health slowly draining away. She hears a screech and sees another Jamya flying towards her. She aims her Crystal Ring of Raw Energy at it and fires its only stored shot. A stream of white light leaves the ring and hits the creature right in the face. It screams out in pain and spirals to the ground. Kala grabs her bow and walks up to it as it writhes on the dirt, clutching its eyes. She takes aim, counts to 30 and releases, point blank, ending its life.

  Kala looks around and doesn’t see the elite Jamya, but she hears a dragging sound. She follows the noise and finds the creature trying to drag itself to cover. “You know, it’s not nice to eat fairies.” She says to it as she picks up a large rock. It only has 11% health left, it turns it head and looks at her.

  “We only…want eat…why you kill?” It asks Kala.

  “Your brother was trying to kill a fairy and then tried to eat me!” Kala yells at it.

  It tries to respond, but coughs up blood. After it finishes hacking up blood it speaks. “Fairies…so yummy…favorite…you big warrior…join me…we hunt yummy fairies together.”

  Kala stares at it in disbelief, is it asking her to hunt and eat fairies with it? “No thanks.” Kala says and then end its life with the large rock.

  She stumbles over to a tree and then plops down against it. The fairy flies over and lands on her knee.

  “Thank you, human.” The fairy looks very sad, her eyes shimmer with tears. “I’m sorry I can’t Heal you again, my skill is still in cool-down.”

  “It’s okay. I can do it.” Kala says, and then uses Heal on herself. “Why do you look so sad? And what is your name?” Kala asks the beautiful woman.

  “I cannot give you my true name, human. You may call me Nissa.” She looks at Kala, waiting.

  “Oh. I’m Kala, nice to meet you, Nissa.” She says. “So…why are you sad?”

  Nissa stares at Kala, her silver eyes glow. A shiver runs down Kala’s back. “Killing brings all fairies sorrow. The Jamya found our secret home and…ate everyone. I am the only one left of the Silver Moon Fairies.” She sheds a single tear that turns into a small crystal which she catches in her hands. She looks at the tear in her hands and then looks at me. She cocks her head and her eyes glow brighter for a moment. “You are not a true human. What are you? I sense that you have a deep connection to The Great Spirit. Are you one of her goddesses?”

  “The Great Spirit?” Kala asks her.

  “She is everywhere, she is life. How do you not know of her? She is so strong in you.” Nissa asks, sounding confused.

  “Are you talking about the Xoria?” Kala asks her.

  Nissa gasps and then looks angry. “Do not speak her true name!”

  “Sorry, I am pretty new to this world. Well, not really. It’s complicated. I didn’t mean to offend you.” Kala says.

  “It is forgiven.” Nissa sits down on Kala’s knee and crosses her legs.

  “But yeah, I do feel a strong connection to…The Great Spirit. It’s how I found you.” Kala says.

  Nissa looks at her with a curious expression. Kala closes her eyes and enters Meditation, then she opens them and she is in Xoria Communion. Nissa gasps and flies off of Kala’s knee. “Your eyes! They are like a fairy’s.”

  Kala can barely look at Nissa, as she is so bright. Kala closes her eyes and leaves Xoria Communion, “I didn’t know my eyes changed when I entered communion. Sorry if I startled you, Nissa. It is a fairly new ability for me, I am still learning what I can do with it. I saw a trail of energy left in the air, I followed it and found you being chased by that ugly bastard.”

  Nissa flies back down to Kala’s knee, “Then The Great Spirit has brought us together. I will join you and we shall serve the Silver Mother.” Nissa takes the crystal tear and offers it to Kala. “Please accept this gift for saving me. Never has a human been given one of our tears before. They were always given to the Great Tree to feed upon, but the Jamya destroyed it with their acid.” She looks like she might shed more tears, but her face tightens and she doesn’t.

  Kala takes the small crystal tear from her hand, it is the size of a small pebble. She Analyzes it.

  Tear of a Silver Moon Fairy

  Rarity: Rare

  Quality: ????

  Durability: ????

  Effect: ????

  “Thank you, Nissa. What does it do?” Kala looks down at the tear in her hand, it feels ice cold, and she senses tremendous energy from it.

  “You must swallow it. I…do not know what it will do. I think it affects everyone and everything in a different way. Only the Great Tree and the queen are allowed our tears. I mean, were allowed, they are both gone.”

  “Will it hurt me?” Kala asks her.

  “Oh no! It is a great blessing. I would not seek to hurt one that is so close to the Silver Mother.” Nissa says.

  “I’m guessing that the Silver Mother and The Great Spirit are the same?” She asks her.

  “Oh. Yes, they are different aspects of the divine. The Silver Mother appeals to me more.”

  Kala looks at the tear one more time, and then pops it in her mouth and swallows it. A great chill blooms in her middle and spreads to her whole body. It is not an unpleasant feeling, but feels like a cool drip in a spring on a hot day. Kala’s Xoria Communion turns on all by itself and she sees a number of notifications pop up.

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest:

  Save the Fairy

  You saved the Silver Moon Fairy Nessa from the Jamya.

  Quest Type: Rare

  Difficulty: Hard

  Rewards: 100 experience and a Tear of the Silver Moon Fairy.

  Congratulations! Your skill Xoria Communion has leveled up x10. Any sub-skills of Xoria Communion will start at the base level of the parent skill.

  Rewards: 500 experience.

  Congratulations! Your skill Consume Core has leveled up x10.

  Rewards: 500 experience.

  Congratulations! You have learned the Perk:

  Xoria Conduit

  So, it seems you are all about the Xoria. By leveling Xoria Communion to level ten you have gained the passive perk, Xoria Conduit.

  Effect 1: Mental, Health, and Stamina regenerate 15% faster.

  Effect 2: Luck and Perception are increased by 10.

  Experience awarded: 50

  Congratulations! You have reached level 5. You have 10 attribute points to assign.

  “Your hair and eyes…” Nissa says in a shocked v
oice.

  Kala closes the windows and look at Nissa. “What about my hair and eyes?”

  “You have silver streaks in your hair now, and your eyes have a soft glow, like a fairy. This is amazing! We are sisters now.” Nissa says, her face beaming with joy. She seems to grow younger. “I have lost everything, but the Silver Mother brought you to me so that I may have family again.” Her eyes shimmer with tears, they drop from her eyes and she catches them, then places them in her pocket. “We must find a new tree to make a home, sister. These tears will feed it.”

  “This is kind of a lot to take in, Nissa. You are welcome to join me. But, I do not know if I can go and find a tree right now. I am with a group of people in the human village. Apparently, there are some bad guys coming to kill everyone. They are called The Caste.” Kala tells her.

  Nissa frowns, “Yes, I know of them. Horrible creatures, they seek to rape the Silver Mother and take her power.” Nissa scrunches her little face, like she is deep in thought. “I may be able to help your human village. Fairies avoided humans, I have not heard of any human seeing a fairy in hundreds of years. We like to keep to ourselves. But, I will help you, sister. I wish to avoid more death if possible.”

  “How would you be able to help the village?” Kala asks her.

  “I can ask the Silver Mother to hide the village.” She says, like it is a simply a matter of asking.

  “Um, you just have to ask? That seems too easy.” Kala asks with skepticism.

  “No, it is a 12 to 14 hour process. It usually takes many fairies joined together for it to work. I must be given free access to at least 50 of your human villagers. I will draw upon their raw Core energy.” She says.

  Kala’s eyes go wide, “You want to use their Core energy? Isn’t that very dangerous? I’m not sure they would go for that.” She says. Every living creature on this planet has a Core in them, some believe it to be their soul. Kala was always under the impression that you never messed with your Core energy.