Alesha shivered, hating the sensation of her polymorphed body. It made her feel itchy, both hot and cold at the same time, and overall like something was physically wrong with her.
"Why does this feel so awful?" She lamented, tugging at her hair and stomping one foot. "This sucks!! I thought I could just ignore that I'm a dragon now since I can transform using Kalszoth's skill, but noooo, it just HAS to be uncomfortable as Elantris's fourth hell!! GAHH!"
With her last exclamation, she kicked a stray stone, then stomped over to what she was calling her "Chaos Nest" to calm herself down.
Over the past couple days, she'd been experimenting with proximity to Chaotically modified materials and found that, whether she was in her dragon form or not, she would get restless and uncomfortable if something Chaotic wasn't nearby.
She couldn't even last very long away from her nest. After what seemed like only an hour, symptoms would start to appear in earnest, making her behave like a drug-starved addict.
Of course, what made it even worse was that this was true whether she was in her dragon form or her human one. In fact, it was actually harder to endure separation from Chaos while in her human form; Alesha theorized it was because being human was already uncomfortable by itself.
She laid down on the Chaos Nest, finding it both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Comfortable because it was made of Chaotically modified materials; uncomfortable because most of it was hard and her polymorphed human body (unlike her dragon one) was soft.
"Just how high level is Zorhellian's polymorphing magic that it felt not only 'not uncomfortable' but also natural? And he could do that to who knows how many people at once? Maybe he's the true god of chaos," Alesha mumbled.
[I assure you, Zorhellian is no god.] Rogork said.
Suddenly, Alesha's thoughts turned to Toltura, Goddess of Chaos.
If Zorhellian was powerful enough to transform thousands or more individuals into alternate forms at once, then just how much more powerful was Toltura? How mind-numbingly powerful could she possibly be?
The thought made her afraid.
A rumbling in her stomach made Alesha sigh. She'd been putting off going hunting until she could figure out what was going on with the separation from Chaos, but even though she now appeared to need food less often since she'd become a dragon, it was clear she could no longer afford to wait.
Shifting into her dragon form, Alesha rolled around in her Chaos Nest, nuzzling up to each and every piece of Chaos-ified material before reluctantly getting up to leave.
It was strange how quickly one could form emotional attachments to things that provided relief from discomfort. It felt almost like she was being trained, like a pet, to choose Chaos over the natural order of things.
Thinking about it too much would only land her in mental places she didn't want to be, however, so she stood, stretched, and looked at Collin's corpse. It had long since lost its warmth, but it hadn't stiffened up and still smelled fresh.
"Shouldn't it have decayed somewhat by now? Or at least gotten stiff from rigor mortis??"
[That is strange,] Rogork said. [The only thing I can think of is that it's either something weird with the atmosphere here or a side effect of the Mistress's Monstrous Reproduction skill. Since I don't sense anything unusual about the atmosphere it's probably the latter.]
Surprised at Rogork's straightforward answer, Alesha nodded. "That would make sense."
Maybe if she didn't make a big deal out of how cooperative Rogork was being, it would be helpful like this more often in the future.
[Not a chance,] Rogork sneered. [I will be helpful precisely when I want to be and at no other time.]
Right. Rogork could read her mind. Just because she didn't say something out loud didn't mean she could hide it from the System.
Alesha ever-so-gently adjusted Collin's body, then, realizing scavengers might come for it, tore down a nearby tree. Then she stripped its branches and laid them on top of Collin's body to hide it.
[Ha! You really think that'll be effective? It won't stop rats or small scavengers!]
"Are you trying to get on my nerves?" Alesha snapped. "I know that! Dammit, I don't want to leave my children alone here, they're so vulnerable…"
But it wasn't like she'd be able to hunt with them along. Not when she still struggled with her increased strength -- worst case scenario, the fragile egg sacs would end up crushed somehow. That was definitely a worse, and more likely possibility, than scavengers coming for Collin's body or her eggs while she was gone.
So she reluctantly left her eggs behind.
Hours later, Alesha returned to her Chaos Nest frothing at the mouth, nearly feral.
She had not successfully hunted anything.