ORIGIN

Marigold had - rather promptly - decided she contained a boiling hatred for Eridanus and everything within it; including her 'father.' She was fairly certain, however, that Midas would attempt to follow her if she dared step outside of Eridanus.

The wheezing hybrid had spent perhaps hours snaking herself around tree trunks and the Mother (occasionally rasping out a greeting to Priest) and attempting to coat herself in shadows as she had done before.

But to no avail, it seemed. Perhaps the Mother disapproved of it? Regardless - it caused the worn hybrid to slink away from it with a last worn farewell to Priest. She continued around the trunks of old, tall trees, murmuring to herself quietly.

At last, when out of view from the Mother, the inky black shadows returned to her scales, draining the colour from the auburn colours and causing her fur to go a deep black. Perhaps, one day, she would return to the Mother with her scales a brilliant cold and light itself clinging around her mane.

But for now, she had to hide from Midas. Keeping towards the shadows, Marigold's eyes went half-shut as she crept out towards the exit of Eridanus and slithered out into tunnel I. It was strange here - there were no ferns or trees or even moss; but there was dust and rock.

She shrugged it off - but where to go next?

On one end of the tunnel, there was an even darker room, and on the other side, a room that was illuminated blue. With a slight shake of the head, the creature's gangaly legs moved across the worn tunnel, towards Polaris.

What a strange place this was. The lack of plant life was alarming enough - but there were strange things dotting the walls. Marigold had stopped to stare at them several times, trying to figure out what they meant.

Were they drawings? Was it a message? What did it mean? She paused and turned midway through the tunnel and slowly slid down onto her haunches to continue watching the markings on the wall, as if they were preparing to move.

But alas, they did not.

It was mildly disappointing.

Even so, Marigold was still sure that they were going to begin moving and dancing across the wall - but the sound of scampering feet caught her ears and she remembered just how empty her belly was. Food was more important than the carvings at this point, and the hybrid continued on into Polaris.

It seemed as though as soon as Marigold reached Polaris the scampering stopped. She looked around with the inky blackness still clinging to her body, sniffing and listening for more sounds of movement from prey animals - but there was nothing. She was starving by now.

She began moving forwards into the illuminated room, body so low to the ground that she could feel her belly-fur gently grazing against the cave floor - it was quieter this way, she assumed. She held her breath, chest growing even tighter as she crept along.

Finally, her ears picked something up. Rasping and quiet, albeit restrained movement. She couldn't quite see it, but she could definitely hear it. She crept up towards the sound of the laboured breathing, deathly silent.

The outlined figure was roughly the same size as her. It'd be a fitting meal - she did not have the same maw as her father after all. Midas had to swallow things whole, but she had the maw of a canine. She could chew it.

She lowered herself to her haunches and prepared the leap.

Morpheus wasn't the happiest child to roam Origin, but they might as well have been one of the more content few. Their days were spent napping and wandering and, occasionally, following other gembound through Polaris.

The first person they had followed had been that white bird, the one they dubbed Death. It was a fitting name, at least. They wandered down the tunnel and into a new room, a dark room with strange lights on the ceiling and strange stone structures.

They had watched. They observed. They noted and they left.

They would visit some time later.

But for now, they turned and left. They were certain they hadn't been seen - mostly because they were sure the raven would have started screaming at them to go away or something along the likes of that should they had been spotted.

There was no yelling, and therefore, they had not been seen.

Upon exiting, however, the rasping hybrid had came across a new creature - something that was clinging to the shadows - or rather, the shadows seemed to be clinging to it - but it was dimly illuminated by the lights hanging from the cave walls.

What a shame. It seemed to be trying to hide.

They followed, and they watched. It didn't go far before it stopped and looked at the shapes carved into the wall; something Morpheus theirself had taken absolutely no interest in. They watched for a good few minutes - perhaps even some hours, before the beast felt theirself grow bored of this one.

The other hybrid, covered in shadows, fur and scales, had not noticed them slip quietly by behind them. Not until the last possible minute that they had walked by and back into their birth place - Polaris.

They had heard the creature behind them scramble back to her feet as they entered Polaris, but they were relatively sure that it was too late for the creature to chase after them now. Which was good in their books - they had felt much too social today.

However, as soon as they sat down, they realised they were bored out of their skull. Eyeing a tiny pile of rocks next to them, they narrowed their eyes at it briefly.

Their eyes met with a pebble lodged between two larger rocks and, as the hunk of rock began to shimmer gently between their shoulders, it suddenly shifted away from under the rocks, causing the other two to topple over each other.

They lifted themselves up, leaning down to inspect the rock. A hog's nose sniffed carefully at the rocks, and they nosed it gently, curiously. He didn't notice the near-silent pawsteps behind them.

They were quiet as they continued to nudge the small pile of rocks, wide-eyed and curious. They hardly noticed claws sink into their flank and their legs collapse under them, as if their body had gone completely numb.

However, at the sight of another gembound staring them down with blackened (though fluffy) paws pressed against their neck, everything came down on them like... like...

...like a gembound pinning them down by the neck sounded appropriate, yes. They shifted, squirmed, rasped and wheezed in protest, but the thing on top of them was seemingly relentless.

They widened their eyes and continued to thrash under the other gembound, letting out a shrill, breathless shriek as their gem began to shimmer once more.

She was sure she had done it - she leapt, she caught. She had the thing pinned down, yet it still somehow got away from her. The slippery snail had vanished from under her, and somewhere else.

But where?

Well, turning around told her it was probably behind her. She assumed this was what she caught - some sort of thing with a similar build to her, but with a lot less hair and scales. It had a strange nose and strange, thin skin clinging to it's toes and legs.

It wheezed. She wheezed, too.

Perhaps it was related to her? Midas had been her father, but she had no mother. Marigold paused and sat down, tongue flicking out briefly. "Hello," rasped the hybrid.

Perhaps this new thing that had attacked them had immediately forgotten that they had attacked them. That was okay - Morpheus didn't particularly care, as long as it didn't try it again. They watched the snake hybrid sit down and they tilted their head before also lowering themselves to their haunches.

They paused, watching. "Hello," came their rasping reply. They paused again, no more words came - not from them and not from the other hybrid. There was only silence as Morpheus observed the creature, and the creature observed Morpheus.

Morpheus was the first to reach out. Carefully, with the gem between their shoulders glimmering, they touched the other hybrid on the nose with their own. They noticed the hybrid wince and cringe away, but that simple touch was all it took to see.