It... Actually Worked?
A rich, commanding woman's voice spoke: "■■■■■■, my commander, how did it go?"
Another voice, this one incredibly deep and vigorous, responded, "I wish you would have let me have a little more fun with them, Mistress, but what havoc you so graciously allowed us to wreak was incredibly satisfying. Consider the humans well and truly intimidated."
"Good. Now, perhaps, they will submit to my demands."
The male's voice spoke again, sounding both eager and frustrated. "When will you allow me to annihilate them, Mistress? You know what they did to me. Why do you hold back my teeth and claws from their throats?"
"Enough, ■■■■■■. Your time will come. Remember, you are my dog, and you will submit to whatever conditions I ask of you without complaint. That was our arrangement."
A low growl sounded, somehow coming across as a submissive grumble rather than an outright threat. "Very well, Mistress. I am grateful for whatever scraps you give me."
"Shhhh, come here, ■■■■■■, there, there," she cooed. Indistinct rustling noises suggested movement, then settled down. "Patience, all will be avenged in time, and those who oppressed you will be crushed. I'm always on your side, remember?" The sweetness in her voice was almost sickening.
A different kind of rumbling sounded, this time akin to that of the purring of a very large cat. The deep voice responded in an absentminded voice, as if distracted by something delightful: "Yes, Mistress… always…"
In the utter blackness, nothing could be seen, yet a sense of the woman being aware of being watched came across clearly. Just as the viewer's awareness perceived her, she perceived the viewer. It was a distinctly unnerving feeling.
----
Consciousness came slowly to Alesha. First came the awareness of her breath bouncing off of something in front of her face, the warm air reflecting onto her lips and nose as she breathed out. Then came a soreness that pervaded her whole body. After that, as she started to shift in order to adjust her position, she noticed hundreds of little tugs on her skin as flaky things ripped and broke, detaching from a larger surface and allowing her to move.
This strange and unexpected sensation caused alertness to come to her suddenly. Her eyes opened quickly, and she perceived a network of dark, squiggly lines interrupted by a few holes of light, the tint of which suggested bounce light from outside the window. Was it morning already?
Thinking back, she recalled that she had received a bunch of System notifications at once, but had fallen unconscious before being able to read any of them, thanks to her vision having been blurred by tears.
[Good morning, sleepyhead!] The System's overly cheerful voice greeted. [Isn't it a lovely day to be alive? I'm excited, are you excited? Because you should be!]
Okay, so the System was back? And even more chatty than usual?
[Yep, yep, yep! I'm back, cheerful as a swimmer and energetic as a pink pony]
Alesha was so confused by the System's nonsense that she couldn't respond for several seconds. What did being cheerful have to do with being a swimmer, and why did the System associate a pink pony with the concept of being energetic?
[Haaaa, of course you wouldn't understand. You simply aren't cultured enough to comprehend the utter gloriousness of muah, how sad…]
Deciding to ignore what she couldn't understand, Alesha refocused on the situation at hand. She shifted her position again to test what would happen. Once again, she felt something attached to her tearing, though with greater concentration on the sensation, it felt more akin to fragmenting or falling apart rather than tearing. It was kind of like how it felt to flex your skin and cause previously caked-on mud to break off in a mixture of chunks and dust, no longer held together by the moisture that had allowed it to stick there in the first place. How strange. She didn't recall getting buried in mud.
Sitting up, the cocoon which enshrouded her disintegrated into fragments, some falling off like pieces of eggshell and others more like grains of sand. She blinked rapidly and blew out of her mouth, then moved to brush the stuff off of her face. What the heck had happened? What was this stuff?
[Hmmmmmmm usually, Host is quite quick on the uptake! Are you perhaps feeling disoriented from your evolution? Hmm? Hmm?]
Alesha froze. Evolution? But… it hadn't worked! She had pressed the
[Heh. That's what you think, is it?]
She had been certain, but from what the System was saying… it must have worked?
With a thought, she pulled up her status window. It… it really had changed. There were a host of unread notifications and her status display had changed in several areas.
{~~author's note: changes to her status screen from the evolution are in bold~~}
*****
Alesha Jane Williams
Age: 22 [Sol years]
Species: Human (Bloodline: Chaos Dragon)
Racial traits: (4)
Level: 5
XP: 240/600
HP: 38/38
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Vitality: 6
Intelligence: 10
Psychic: 4
Chaos Energy: 0/10
Free Stat Points: 1
*****
*****
Racial Traits:
- Carnivorous Constitution
- Child of Chaos
- Chaos Dragon's Dominion -- [Partially Locked]
- Mana Core
*****