The chrysalis was on open ground, undisturbed, somehow, despite being in the center of the caves. It was flat, as if the creature was sprawled on the ground or perhaps it was simply a flat animal. It had been laying there for cycles, unnoticed and unmoving. Until now.
There was a small twitch from the creature inside as its consciousness began to slowly rise from the disgusting muddiness of their long sleep. The frail crystal began to crack around them, much easier and gentler then when they had first hatched. After a few moments of their waking, the cracks continued to spread as the crystal suddenly shattered, the pieces dropping to the ground or on the back of the bat lying on the ground, as if it were dead, wings splayed out to the side.
They groaned as they woke up, no consciousness completely in control just yet. The eyes of the bat flickered open as life once again flowed through their veins. The four struggled to throw off the last of the sleep as they tried desperately to remember what happened. It came back to them slowly. The disease, the sickness that Crack had stupidly taken into their small body. It had been unable to control it and the plague had ravaged their body. It was horrible, wracked with fever and vomiting everything they ate. Their skin had turned an awful color and was extremely painful to the touch. It had gotten so bad that they couldn't move anymore, barely able to breath beyond the pain. It was then that they had collapsed here, in Polaris, their body too weak to move any further. And the chrysalis had formed around them, restoring their body and healing what the disease had destroyed.
They still carried it within them, but in control now, a tiny seed. And Crack, having seen what it had done, was shocked into silence.
There was a grumbling sound as Rusty woke up and anger surged from the lizard's consciousness.
Crack didn't reply, almost as if it hadn't even heard him. They were too busy being, well, completely shocked. The others wished they knew what was happening inside its head and what it was thinking, but it had always been a tricky one to figure out.
Caliante was about to rebuke it as well when there was a sudden noise from Salvation.
Surprised, Caliante and Rusty turned their attention towards where Salvation was and realized that he was right - two more consciousnesses seemed to have appeared within them, still developing fully, but definitely there. Perhaps a result of the terrible trauma they had suffered just before retreating into the chrysalis. Caliante shuddered to imagine what it would be like once everything went back to normal. Or, at least, when things got back to a semblance of normal. Right then, they were still sprawled out on the ground, barely moving, their body still getting used to feeling again.