Antelligent Design

68. The Beast Itself

The city is in ruins. Forget about a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster, this level of destruction is far beyond that. As if a meteor landed on the city or a god stamped down with its heavenly foot. If the latter had occurred, then that god had supremely flat arches, because the city is just gone.

It looks as if no two bricks still stand one atop the other. The open spaces are strewn with rubble, and the once-proud, cobbled roads are broken and cracked. In the distance, the hill on which the castle once stood, with its inner wall and high towers, there is only a ruin.

This city had been built from over two hundred years of effort and endeavour, and now it’s gone. If anyone wanted to recreate the city, establish the Kingdom of Liria once again, they would need to do so from scratch. Heck, even the job of cleaning up this mess would take a monumental effort.

Although, just because the buildings have ceased to be, doesn’t mean the space inside the walls is empty. Oh no, it’s full to bursting. With monsters.

Across every surface, on top of every stone, they stand, stock still. As if mesmerized by an illusion, monsters of every type from the first stratum are rooted to the ground, staring in one direction. The site sickens me to my core for reasons I can’t explain. It’s unnatural for monsters to act this way. As if they were mindless drones with no will of their own.

These are creatures born of the Dungeon. They should fight, struggle and battle!

They appear weak. Like slaves to a greater will than their own. Bears, frogs, centipedes, hounds, slugs, bats, apes, lizards, even a few shadow beasts are in the mix, each staring in the same direction. Even the sightless monsters, as if they were receiving the light of the sun from their god.

Or goddess, in this case, sitting right on top of the Dungeon entrance.

Her aura that dominates the air around me grows stronger the moment I lay eyes on her. Threatening to knock me off the wall. This is supposed to be a weakened monster? Are you kidding me?

I’m not sure what I expected Garralosh to look like. Her offspring gained limbs, heads and tails as they evolved, following a strict ‘more is more’ policy. The big momma croc does not follow that pattern. Of all of her different offspring mutations, she most resembles a titan-croc. Long reptilian body, powerful front and back legs that support her when she lays flat, and would allow her to walk when she stands. A second pair of arms below the first to help support her more heavily massed upper body.

Rather than multiple heads or the over-and-under jaws of the commanders, Garralosh simply has the one crocodile head. It’s difficult to make out the smaller details at this distance, but I think she has more than just the two eyes. I’d have to get closer to be sure. Something that’s not going to happen!

One muscular croc tail extends from the back of her body, lazily sweeping back and forth as she rests.

Long ridges extend down her back, almost long enough to be called spines, from her head all the way to the tip of her tail. They’re dark in colour and gleam like obsidian in the light. Her scales are a deep, dark green, and even at this range I get the sense they would be as thick as steel plates.

There’s nothing exceptionally remarkable about Garralosh in monster terms. So long as you discount her size.

She’s huge. It defies physical reality for a crocodile to be this large. What is this, the cretaceous period? Someone get this frickin’ dinosaur out of here! My mind boggles to even look at her. She is to a croca-beast, what a megaladon is to a gummi shark.

From nose to tip of the tail, I estimate her to be over twenty metres. She is a semi-trailer truck, in mass as well as length, since she isn’t just long, she’s built. Her neck, shoulders and body are thick with muscle. Not to mention her enormous jaws which look as if they can shatter a building with one snap. This is ridiculous! Did you pour every ounce of your evolutionary potential into getting massive? Were you a gym junkie in a previous life? Are you the monster equivalent of a steroid addict?

I’m so bewildered by the sheer size of the monster, I fail to focus on what was happening around her until Morrelia mutters something under her breath.

[What is it?] I send over our Mind Bridge.

[Who is that? What are they doing?] she asks, her mind strained with focused intent.

Who is who? Are you seeing this freakin’ crocodile?

I turn my attention back to the area occupied by the enormous crocodile and try to divert my focus away from gawking at Garralosh, to take in what’s happening in the monster’s surroundings. From this distance, it’s hard to make out the small details, but what I see is enough to throw me into confusion.

There are humanoids down there. Something tells me they aren’t human. They’re too tall and too slender, though their physique is difficult to make out, given that they’re covered in long robes with hoods. Basketball playing monks? What the heck is going on down there?

Not for the first time, I curse my poor ant eyesight. I’ve taken huge strides in improving my vision, but long-distance viewing is really biting my thorax right now.

Now that I take a clearer look, the area around Garralosh does look weird. She lies, brooding and massive, in what looks like a crude basin of some kind. The odd robed figures are positioned around her in a loose formation, each wielding a staff tipped by a glowing core.

Something about their positioning tickles my brain, and when I try to connect the vague shape in my mind, it suddenly snaps into place that they’re forming a spell matrix using their bodies as part of the construct! What the heck kind of magic are they trying to cast?

I can’t squint due to my lack of eyelids, but I still strain as hard as I can just to get a glimpse. I get a vague impression that the robed figures are drawing something up through openings in the earth below them, and it seems as if it’s draining down into the basin where Garralosh is resting.

[Are they… condensing Mana for Garralosh?]