Unknown Time - Unknown Season : Home
-----
-Uh oh…- With my wings tightly clamped to my side and my posture lowered as much as possible, I nervously looked up into Mother's sharp, sky-blue eyes.
I was caught red-handed.
But after an excruciating moment of silence, instead of scolding me, she simply sighed. "Haah…" It was heavy and riddled with worry. "Vasilias, please don't try and sneak off to do something like that again in the future…"
As my shrunken posture slowly started easing, I tilted my head and looked back over my wing. -'Like that'?-
"That fountain is too hot and too deep for you..." Her voice was overflowing with worry. "Just don't do something so reckless again unless I'm with you, okay?"
Turning back to her as my tenseness eased, I expected to once again find her motherly gaze on me, but instead, found myself looking straight into the inside of her mouth. *Pomf*
Gently picking me up, she carried me back into the den before setting me on the pile of treasure next to Krystallo. *Clink*
As I was laid down, she carefully pressed her snout into me as if encouraging me to lay down before curling around the pile of treasure herself.
But I didn't move a hair. After she picked me up with her mouth, I was simply frozen from fear, thinking I was going to be eaten.
It honestly felt like my heart stopped for a moment, but as the fear eventually began subsiding, a bundle of guilt and self doubt replaced it.
A part of me wanted to think my reaction was normal.. any creature would have reacted like that, after all…
But another disagreed. -I haven't totally accepted her as my mother yet.. have I…-
Deep down, the rational, human side of my mind was calling me crazy for everything I was doing. Following my new, draconic instincts, even if it could be reasoned that it was for my own survival, made the back of my mind yell with discomfort.
-But this is undoubtedly real…- From the smell of polished rock and metals to the sensation of the cold, moist air brushing over my scales, not a single sense of mine was dull, rather, they were sharper than ever. -Even my sense of time is unbelievably precise…-
But my subconscious did nothing but reject it, demanding to explain it all as just a dream, or hallucination.
"Hooh…" -I need to just.. slow down…- Closing my eyes as I let out a deep breath, I looked up into the air and breathed in as deeply as I could, separating each scent from the breeze as the tinglingly cold air filled my lungs.
It was a simple mix of scents and sensations that I could each recognize from my memories, however, as I began taking my time to inspect and appreciate each one, it turned into a Trojan horse, bringing forth a wave of mental refreshment before suddenly.. my eyes opened.
In a blink, my gaze was no longer nervous, it wasn't anxious, and it wasn't fearful.. rather, it was firm. -If I don't accept it now, it will do nothing but cause me problems in the future…- I needed to nip it in the bud before it grew into a weed.. an endless vine I couldn't get rid of.
I was no longer human, and I needed to accept that.
So I took the first step.
In an instant, the moral compass I learned on Earth faded, and my old sense of self flickered. At the flip of a switch, I had consciously made the decision to not only rewrite my morality with Mother as my guide, but also give my new, dull, and somewhat childish instincts some control over my mind.
If I truly wanted to embrace a new sense of self, I couldn't hopelessly cling onto my past. I had to begin detaching myself from my old memories, and my old self.
But no matter how badly I wanted to, disconnecting myself was far harder said than done.
In that moment, all I could do was take the first step, the first step toward embracing the mind and body of a dragon, and the first step of a very.. very long journey to figure out both who and what I was and how exactly I got there…
But for the time being, while the flames of determination and curiosity were lit ablaze in my chest, as Mother finally closed her eyes and began drifting to sleep, it didn't take long for me to follow suit. *Thump-Clink*
Quickly sinking into a deep slumber, it wasn't for over a week that I actually woke up.
And it was likely that I would have slept even longer if it weren't for the sensation of a nudge on the top of my head. *tap* "Mmmh…"
"Krystallo, sweetie, you'll wake him up if you-"
Mother's whispering abruptly stopped as I lethargically opened my eyes to see a tiny white-scaled dragon's face right in front of mine, so close our snouts were nearly touching.
Her gaze was sharp and full of curiosity, acting like a mirror of my own gaze; however, unlike mine, her gaze wasn't contaminated by other thoughts or emotions.
It was a simple, unbridled curiosity in her eyes that almost seemed to spread to me like a spark crossing a fire break.
"Haah…" But after hearing Mother's sigh, we were both simultaneously pulled out of the trance. "Vasilias, it looks like your sister doesn't want to go eat on her own." She gently motioned to the side as she spoke warmly. "Could you help her?"
-Hm?- Quickly glancing down the treasure mound, I saw another fresh bison, a little bit larger than the one I previously ate, laying on the spotlessly clean marble floor. -Has Krystallo really not eaten anything yet?-
Looking back over at her, I wanted to sigh, but at the same time, I was oddly happy she wanted to go with me.
*Cl-l-link* Finally standing up, I made my way over to the edge of the mound of gold with Krystallo clumsily following suit, before sliding down, narrowly avoiding the piece of treasure I tripped over last time. *Clllllink-tap-tap*
It only took a moment for me to reach the bottom, thankfully not face-planting this time, but as I looked back, I saw Krystallo beginning to slide down on her own, right in the path of the treasure. -Uh oh!-
In a rush, I tried darting up the slope to catch her before she was tripped, but immediately slammed into an invisible wall. *Thump* -Huh?- It felt like I ran into the side of a brick.
But just a moment later, as I fell back onto my butt, the invisible force disappeared, and Krystallo slid up to me with her face firmly planted on the ground. -W..what just happened…-
My mind immediately started racing with ideas and theories, but before any of them could find a place to stick, Krystallo hopped up onto her feet, clearly unharmed, and firmly pressed the top of her head into my chest before looking up into my eyes.
-Oh, don't be like that…- I felt my chest tighten slightly thinking she was annoyed with me, but quickly moved on as I had to decipher what she was trying to get me to do like it was some cryptic code.
Even if it ended up being obvious.
-Does she want me to bite through the hide for her?- After watching her try to do it herself, it wasn't that her teeth couldn't pierce it, but rather that she simply didn't know how to make the first incision, using the corner of her mouth to pinch it.
Quickly walking up to show her, I ripped off a small piece and spit it out before going to take another bite to expand the hole. "Ptoey…" But before I could even turn back, Krystallo slammed her face into the exposed meat like a spearhead and began eating it like some starved wolf.
"Hah…" -She'll grow into her elegance… Hopefully…-
Eventually deciding to join her, I cut another hole into the hide even though I wasn't particularly hungry, and began snacking. -I know how boring it is to eat alone.. so I may as well keep her company…-
But as if I was being taken over by gluttony, the more I ate, the deeper my hunger grew.
Over the course of the next week, while we were asleep for all but a couple hours every three or four days, that growing hunger did nothing but compound.
It eventually got to the point that it would wake me up, and even though I would force myself back to sleep, the next time Mother laid a bison in front of us, my resistance to it would grow weaker and weaker while my own body grew like nourished bamboo.
Until one day, when I was at least a head-length taller than Krystallo, the hunger completely overwrote my consciousness.
*Woosh-CrAcK* Darting down the mound of treasure, I slammed into the side of yesterday's bison and dug my claws into it, shattering its ribs as I ferally began ripping off the little remaining meat on it.
It was a big event. The hallmark of my first proper dragon sleep: an event where my body would enter a long hibernation in order to transition from one draconic stage to another, growing immensely and evolving in the process.
But while Mother knew, she wasn't excited.. rather.. it was actually the opposite…
-----
- Zachari Ragnarok ~
"Shit…" I muttered to myself as I jumped up in a rush, watching Vasilias mercilessly tear off every speck of meat remaining on the bison. -Already?!-
I wanted to cry.
The first sign was the color of his scales.. the second was him awakening his knowledge inheritance.. and the third was his dragon sleep…
He was a cursed child no matter how my mind could twist it: a child whose body would inevitably crumble during their first dragon sleep instead of grow.
But I couldn't accept that so-called 'fate'.
*WOOSH* Throwing open the colossal stone door of the nest, I took to the sky with curses ringing through my mind. -First, you make me birth a cursed child, and then don't even give me a chance to spend time with it?!-
Quickly zipping through the frigid night sky, I scanned the dense forest below for a bison, but there was nothing in sight. -FUCK! Where is everything?!- It didn't take long for my sadness to begin turning into anger and rage.
But before long… "RAAAHHHH!" The feral roar of a wyvern echoed through the moonlit forest, and my eyes locked onto a clearing where I spotted a small plume of dust not far away.
-You.. fucking.. BASTARD! OF ALL THE TIMES TO BE HERE!- *FWOOOOSH* Zipping over to where I heard the roar, my blood started boiling. -No wonder the bison population has been dwindling lately…-
Wyverns were pests, monsters with the intelligence of a fish, known to rip apart ecosystems and even purposefully invade the occupied nests of dragons.
They were also one of the only creatures known to try and target dragons' hatchlings. -My luck could not get any worse…-
As my pupils thinned, I reached the clearing I had heard the roar from and spotted a large grey wyvern eating a massive field bison.
*FWOOSH* Instantly diving down, I channeled my ever-growing anger straight into my paw. "YOU INSUFFERABLE PEST!" *CRUNCH-CRAAAACK* The ground in the field shattered as my paw blew through its skull with ease, not even giving it a chance to react. -Your meat will have to do…-
Hopping over the half-eaten bison it was chewing on, I gripped the base of its neck before crushing and ripping it off. Thanks to it, I couldn't find any other food for Vasilias, so it would have to take that role.
Even if it tasted absolutely horrible. "Blegh…" -But it might be for the better…- Since Vasilias was a cursed child, he would need everything possible to help him through his dragon sleep for him to have even the slightest chance.
And it just so happened that larger, higher mana creatures like wyverns were better options than regular field bison.
*Crunch* *FWOOSH* Hastily biting into it, I took to the air and flew straight back home, refusing to let my eyes or mind wander.
*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* Fwoosh-Thump* But when I landed and went to open the door, I found that it was covered in frost. -What the…-
*Woosh* Swinging it open, a freezing cold air immediately blew out over me, and a monstrous wave of mana rushed inside as if being sucked by an irresistible force.
It was a mana suction normal for dragon sleeps, but on a scale many magnitudes larger than what Vasilias's age called for. -Don't tell me he already fell asleep…-
Rushing inside in a panic, I darted straight to the den only to find Vasilias standing on a pile of bone fragments where the bison used to be, hanging his head as mana from the air funneled into him like a vortex, sucking the heat out of the air with it.
He looked completely unconscious, but the mana vortex was so turbulent, he clearly had yet to fall asleep. -Thank Bahamut…-
*THUMP* Dropping the wyvern next to him, he instantly jumped onto it, ripping off a few scales before tearing into it like a starved animal.
Except in this case, that's exactly what he was.
Eventually shifting my attention toward Krystallo and my last egg, still yet to hatch, I went to tend to them. However, thankfully, Krystallo seemed mostly unaffected by the cold, sleeping soundly amidst the mana vortex, and the egg had no abnormalities either. -It looks like Fengari will be a late hatch though…-
But it wasn't uncommon for hatches in the same clutch to be a few weeks apart, so I wasn't worried. -Thank goodness…-
Finally sitting between Vasilias and the open door to the nest, I kept a careful eye on his every move, watching the purple glow beneath his scales slowly turn white as he consumed more and more of the wyvern.
At that point, there was nothing I could do but pray. No matter how much I wanted to change things, it was all in the hands of fate…
But that was the exact reason why tears streamed down my face as I watched him begin slowing down.
It was the last time I believed I would have with him. -If his body doesn't break down on its own, he will die from mana poisoning…- But it was why I was going to spend every remaining second I had with him.
Gently lowering my snout next to him, I purged all the extra thoughts in my mind and simply enjoyed his presence until he finally finished eating, and plopped down into the pool of wyvern blood. *Splash*
When I finally managed to pull myself away, a tear crystallized into ice on my cheek, and I felt my chest tighten with determination.
At that point, all I could do was ensure his body was getting the mana it needed, and leave it to the whim of fate…
But it made joy hard to find within my mind.
-Fate, huh…- It was a word I had come to detest over the course of the last week.
But little did I know then, both 'fate' and 'coincidence' would become words I'd completely disregard as time came to pass.
After all, things like coincidence were simply used to fill the gap created by a lapse of understanding…
They were simply concepts of things that didn't exist.