Unknown Time - Unknown Season : Home
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"Mmmmh…" I slowly rolled onto my side with a groan as I opened my eyes to see a bright, blurry light over me.
At first, I idly questioned if it was a hospital light, but…
"Uwaah…" Letting out a childishly pitched yawn, I blinked a few times to clean my eyes before seeing the beautifully decorated stone ceiling and having a tsunami of unfamiliar sensations blow through my body.
Although just prior to falling asleep, I felt unusually content and comfortable, as if being reborn as a dragon was something to be expected, I no longer felt that way, like a part of my brain had been suddenly removed. "Nnngh-" Straining myself to try and get up off my side, I struggled to get my arm, or now front leg, up under my chest to roll over.
But after a moment, a series of soft, warm growls deep enough to make my entire body vibrate met my ears. "Haha, sweetie…" I had no clue how at the time, but I could understand it as if it were English. "You need to use your wing if you aren't strong enough to turn over like that yet..."
-Huh? Who is…- But before my thought could finish, an unbelievably massive white object descended right behind me, making me freeze from fear before gently nudging me up onto my belly.
It made me almost crap myself, but the moment I was sat up and looked back, that fear vanished.
Behind me was the familiar but awe-inspiringly gargantuan white-scaled dragon I had seen as I was reincarnated.
All it took was a simple glance at her for a name to appear in my mind: 'Zachari Ragnarok'
-M..Mother?- Without realizing it, my head tilted, and a gentle flick found its way into my tail.
I had simply been enchanted by her ice-covered horns and glimmering snow-white scales.
But as my eyes descended back onto my body, my mind and instincts conflicted, and the gentle tapping of my tail ceased.
My scales were black. -H..huh?- The image of my previously white scales instantaneously dashed through my mind in a blur. -What.. happened…-
Slowly looking back up toward Mother, I felt my heart sink while my body became hard to move as if I was suddenly submerged in a bog.
"Hm?" But as her expression warped with a mix of confusion and curiosity, I finally noticed she wasn't wearing a drop of displeasure. "Are you.. worried about the color of your scales?"
Her voice slowly filled with awe as my gaze fell to my body before bouncing back up to her eyes.
A pure smile washed over her face in an instant. "Haha, you really are adorable…" Slowly lowering her head, she closed her eyes before gently pressing her massive head into mine.
The air around me turned frigid in an instant, piercing my scales with ease as if I had jumped into a freezing pond.
But somehow, my mind and chest thawed, heated by an indescribable warmth.
By the time I even realized what was happening, my gaze had softened, and my entire body had relaxed. -W..What is.. this...-
As she gently pulled herself away, this time wearing a warm smile, my eyes followed her. However, this time, instead of raising her head like before, she laid it on the ground next to me so I didn't have to look up at her.
At that moment, as if my body had taken control of itself, I clumsily got up onto my paws before slightly shakily walking over to her, and firmly planting the top of my head into the bottom of her chin.
Almost immediately, the cold pierced my body, and the euphoric warmth once again filled my chest.
It was a sensation words could not do justice, a feeling of comfort, pride, and joy unlike anything I had ever felt.
It made me.. feel like a kid again.
By the time I pulled my head off her, there was a wide, proud smile on my face, and while a little shaky, I stood tall with a happy sway in my tail. -Mom is so pretty!-
However, as my gaze drifted back to my side, disappointment began clouding my mind.
I wanted to have the same beautiful, icy-white scales as she had, but instead, mine had turned black.
-I wonder if it has something to do with my reincarnation.. or...- Looking back at the edge of the colossal mound of treasure, I found the spot where the black tesseract had lain and noticed a small pile of black and purple sand. -Could a single touch of an object really do this to me?-
However, as I lifted my young paw and looked at it, unknowingly cultivating my curiosity, my eyes went wide. -Huh?-
Between my scales, there was a purple glow, albeit faint, flowing around beneath my skin. -What the...-
I couldn't feel anything at all that seemed to correlate to the flow of it, regardless of how much I reminded myself light couldn't originate from nothing.
But the longer I stared, the deeper I fell into a trance, until my thoughts began to shift. -Don't I actually look.. kind of good..?-
Although not the same kind of beauty as Mothers, my scales were beautiful in their own way. They were a pure, and deep black that reminded me of the void, with the faint glow giving the effect of stars and nebulae.
It was almost like my body had meshed with the night sky, and the longer I stared at it, the more my curiosity grew. -How.. beautiful…-
But I couldn't stare at it forever.
*Crackle* Snapping me out of the trance, I heard a faint crackle reminiscent of a distant tree limb on the verge of falling. -Hm?-
Looking up at Mother, not sure whether the sound was just my mind playing tricks on me, I saw her looking to the side with an expression of excitement before hearing the same sound once more. *Crackle*
It was coming from atop the massive mountain of treasure my egg was laid on. -Is that.. an egg cracking?-
Wanting to go up and get a better look at what it was, I wobbly walked back over to the mound of gold, trying to get a grasp of how to comfortably walk on all fours before carefully climbing it so coins wouldn't slip out from under me. *Cl-Clink*
One misstep and I was going to slide back to the bottom. -I think.. I'm getting the gist of it though…- *Clink* *Clink* *Clink*
Slowly but surely getting used to the feeling of walking, the confidence and firmness of my steps grew, until eventually, I peeked over the edge of the pile of gold.
*Crackle* The sound repeated as I watched one of the other, white-scaled eggs shake slightly. -Is my sibling hatching?!-
Feeling an unfamiliar excitement growing in my chest, I eagerly climbed up onto the plateau and walked over to the egg.
"Haha," Mother let out a soft chuckle as I walked up to the egg and curiously inspected it. "Are you excited to meet your sister?"
-My sister..?- Turning back to the egg after glancing at Mother, I closely inspected the shell before pressing my head into it.
It was.. warm. *crack-thump* But the next thing I knew, a slimy, snow-white nub slammed into the side of my face.
"Pft-hahaha!" Mother instantly burst out laughing.
And it only added to the weight I felt on my shoulders. -Oh boy…- My sister hadn't even hatched, and I was already getting bullied.
But as the air around me fell dark from imagining what my future living with her was going to be like, the egg rolled backward, and in a moment of panic, I darted to the side and caught her before she rolled down the gold mountainside.
My legs kind of just moved on their own, but the sensation of the movement was instantly engrained in my mind.
I didn't have the time to think about it though. *Crackle* After the egg was further broken by her paws, her tiny head poked through the hole she made and her eyes instantly landed on me.
She was indescribably similar to Mother, with the tint of her scales and her sky-blue eyes looking almost identical.
But…
*Crunch* *Crunch* Unlike Mother, as she clamped her jaws onto the shell and started viciously tearing it apart and consuming it, she didn't have a single drop of elegance.
But it was oddly cute. -I guess elegance is something dragons grow into.-
Sitting down next to her, I kept my paw perched on her egg to keep it from rolling while she devoured the shell, until eventually, she finished most of it, took a single step out of the egg, and collapsed to the ground, falling asleep on the spot.
"Hehe~," Mother let out a warm chuckle as she lowered her head toward my sister and gently nudged her.
It was a sight that made me subconsciously smile, but I also had to wonder… -Was I that inelegant coming out of my egg too?-
Idly lifting my paw and looking at it, I sank into thought, but not even an instant later, the smell of something absolutely divine entered my nostrils, and my thoughts were immediately ejected from my mind.
*Sniff* *Sniff* Quickly raising my nose into the air, I started frantically sniffing around before a tightness started building in my chest.
It was hunger. Before I knew it, I even had saliva dripping from my mouth.
"Ah, right! You haven't eaten anything…" Quickly getting up, Mother walked into the colossal, seemingly endless dark hallway behind me before coming back with a huge, frozen bison-looking creature in her mouth. *pat-TUHMP* "I'm sorry, sweetie…" Setting the headless corpse on the ground, she quickly walked around to my side before nudging my back with her snout. "Go ahead and eat. Krystallo won't be awake for a while."
-Krystallo?- It was my sister's name, and even though my hunger had clouded my mind like a fog, my thoughts at that moment were crystal clear.
But by the time I engraved it into my mind, Mother nudged me forward, pushing me over the edge of the plateau and sending me careening down the slope of treasures. -Huh?! Mom?!-
Trying to slow down, I did everything I could to catch myself, but I only sped up until… *Thump* I tripped over an artifact and slammed face-first into the ground.
"Pft-" Mother almost immediately burst out laughing before covering her mouth with her wing.
Quickly jumping up, I turned around and glared at her, but all she did was avert her gaze. "Hmph…" With a pout, I immediately pitched my nose up away from her.
But the longer I held it, the more my expression morphed into a smile.
Although I was genuinely a bit upset she simply tossed me down the hill, moving so fast was.. oddly fun.
However… *Sniff* The moment I took a breath, it was like my mind was instantly intoxicated.
Standing next to it, the scent was incredibly potent.
But it wasn't coming from the somewhat smelly hide I was standing next to, rather, it was coming from the holes Mother's teeth had punched into it, oozing blood and exposing the raw flesh inside.
Had I still been human, I wouldn't have even given it a second glance. It was a raw corpse that had been frozen for who knows how long, after all.
But as a dragon, I couldn't stop my mouth from filling with saliva. -It.. can't hurt to give it a taste.. right?-
As I turned back to it, Mother gently laid down around the treasure again and mumbled to herself. "Ah… I should probably skin it first, shouldn't I…"
Before she could move though, my jaws opened and effortlessly dug into the hide, letting me rip off a patch with ease. "Ptoey-" Spitting it out, my eyes turned back to the exposed flesh that looked similar to well-marbled wagyu with a gleam.
*Pat-Rip* Digging my teeth into it again, I ripped out a small chunk before going to swallow it like a feral animal, only to stop as I felt an imaginary tear roll down my cheek.
The taste was simply… -Heavenly…- I genuinely questioned if I had died and gone to heaven at that point. It was juicy, tender, and simply melted in your mouth.. literally… -Dragon saliva really is something else…-
But I wasn't complaining.
Letting the meat sit in my mouth for a moment, I caressed it with my tongue, taking off layer after layer as if it were ice cream before swallowing it and going for another bite.
I.. didn't end up savoring the flavor like that for long though…
*Chomp* "Mmh…" -It's so good…" *Gulp* *Chomp*
Before I knew it, I had eaten more than enough for my entire body to fit inside the bison.
It was far more meat than I should have had room in my stomach, but I wasn't even bloated.
It was as if my stomach was just incinerating it.
Of course, that wasn't a bad thing. -I could eat this forever…-