ORIGIN - TO BECOME PELAGIC

It is through heat and pressure that all things, eventually, come to be. Nothing can be without the greatness of a star, and it is because of this process that-- in the end-- a tiny chunk of starlight ended up buried into the shelf wall of a place once long forgotten to time.

When a life is formed, there is usually a lot less pressure and heat involved than that of a star. Usually. However, in this specific case, deep in the vents of the great furnace, the life of this lost piece of starlight knows nothing but pressure and heat. The void of the depths surrounds the growing embryo, protected only by the thick shell. Were it any closer to the magma bellow the churning tectonic plates, the being might have been cooked alive before it even knew life.

But like a planet nestled into circumstellar habitable zone, the tiny chunk of rock was allowed to grow, and grow, and finally... Stir. Nothing had disturbed the being bellow the distant surface in its whole existence, so when the time came, there was no worry. No concern. Breaking free was something the being was reluctant to do, already a creature of habit-- but nature insisted. It cooed to the child, luring it out of its slumber. With a rumble too deep for most beings to hear, a great effort was made to escape.

t̛̀ ̧h͞ ̧̧è͘ ̶̢́e҉͞ ͏n̡̡ ̵̧d͞ ̴͡҉l̢͝ ̸e͜ ̛́̀s̡͟͜ s ̵́͠ ̷͟͝c̢͜ ̸ỳ̕͞ ̧c̷͟͜ ҉l̷̨͝ ̸͝e͠͞͝ ͘.͟ ̶͏ ̀́͞r͡ ̡̧e͏ ͘̕͝b̡̡͟ ̨͜i ̢̀͢r̀̕ t͟ ҉h ̡.͠ ͟ ̷d͠͞ ͘̕e͘͢ ҉̧͝a̡͞҉ ̕͜t҉ ̷h͡͝ ͘.̷́ ̢͢ ̸̡f̨͜ ̀o͏ r̶̢͘ ͟g̕ ̧è͞ ̕à̵͞ h̢ e͏ ̨̛͜a̡̡ ̛d̶̨ ̛.̧ ̴̸̧ b̵ ̕͟͡e̵͢͡ ͘g̨͟ ̸͠i҉̧ n̕ ͠ a̢̕͞ ̶̧̨g̷̴ ̡͏a ͞í͠ ̸̸n̛ ̀.̷͘͜

A crack grew with the determination of the new life. The water churned around the shell; the beast's entire world rattled and shifted. Hot water rushed around the gemstone, and as the stone shattered... the tiny new life fluttered up through the air, tiny limb like tentacles squirming to grasp at nothing. The shell broke free from the stone and began drifting down as the babe floated up aimlessly...

And as the remains of starlight returned to the molten core, only a tiny fragment was left inside of the new beast. The world was vast and at first, seemed incredibly empty. Water swirled around the new life, hot mixing with cold as it went higher. For a moment, the creature was blindly observing with their sense of touch, coming to understand the currents that it resided in...

But that was when the magic inside of the beast surged.

The world opened up in that moment. Hot white dots, vibrant and close, suffocating, surrounding. They mapped out the entire universe for the newborn, telling them how the water churned. In an instant, they came to understand the space they had been thrust into.

It was a new beginning. The sea creature floated through the world like a child carried by a mother; in a way, that was what it was.

Quietly, she shifted. It wasn't so hard to move around in the caves - after all, she could rely on her sense of smell to get around, and above all, her magic. She had been in Orion the last time she cast a spell; but she didn't feel the unusual alarm that she often did when the world opened up to her and she could see the bacteria crawling and festering over the walls, the floor and perhaps most frightening of all - on her.

For three cycles now she had used this fairly strange way of making her way around things - if it were to be to hunt, find plants, or just get some exercise in general. She did not often leave her birthplace of Orion - for no particular reason. She could not see the stars imprinted on the ceiling, after all.

When she did decide to leave, she was careful - and she rarely did it alone, too. Her sister often accompanied her - but seemingly enough, not today. The dragon was almost at her full size now - she towered over most other gembounds. If not her actual height were enough to intimidate most, the sheer size of her wings would be.

Lichen half-slithered half-hobbled down the tunnels. Stepping on the snow caused icy chills to shoot up her legs and the dragon grunted slightly, whiskers shifting slightly as she turned the corner into somewhere else. This place felt so much different to Orion - it felt so much different to the tunnel she had just left.

She lifted her head, sniffing quietly. There was something unusual in this place - something beyond the heat that was touching her scales. It was the scent of water, the light churning and splashing of the warm waters.

She approached quietly, scales illuminating the ground below her. She reached out, nose-first, to touch the water before her mouth opened to drink. She couldn't see much of this room anymore - the spell had began to fade, but regardless, the dragon sat down, listening quietly to the sound of water echoing through the room.

@Orarian

For a long time, the creature simply existed in the realm of the depths. There were other creatures down with it, things that moved slowly with current along side them. The newborn learned quickly how to hunt, if only because they had bumped into something edible-- some sort of equally squishy thing. Their understanding of the world was limited at first, but as it went along, laws and facts became apparent to them.

Namely, the pseudo-heat sense in the form of swashes of bacteria. The currents were filled to the brim with the small white pinpricks, and from this they learned how to follow the water. They learned that concentrations usually meant food... But before long, they found that there was a void.

They was a bit afraid of the void, above, at first... Above the water's baseline, there was less bacteria, only faint traces in the air. They avoided the air above, sticking to the familiar. It wasn't until the beast saw something come from the void. Something reached in from a cliff face that reached up into the void. A massive thing. Something much more solid and concentrated than the things the creatures they had been eating.

Immediately, their instinct was to scream. The low pitch was hard for most things to hear, especially with the water distorting its voice. Thankfully, the creature's magic came to the rescue... Or at least, tried to.

" L͠͏E̶̶̛͘͘Á̶̢̕͝V̀E̴̛!̵̸ ́̕͡G̸͟҉O̵͜ ̵͘À̧͘͠W̢À̵Y̴҉̷!͘͞ ! "
The voice screeched around the mass of bacteria, the giant living thing that had approached and drank the water at the shore. The pitch was deep, echoing, but not particularly loud-- more like a hushed whisper on the wind than anything else.

Bellow the surface, keeping a safe distance, the foot long translucent beast steeled their nerves, ready for whatever the thing in the void was planning.

@Lichen

Since the little fiasco, Ghost and Iris had settled into Fornax quite nicely. The dragon had plenty of warm water to swim in, and there was lots of land for the wolf to wander upon. Today, Iris was treasure hunting, exploring. There must be something cool and pretty to bring back to Ghost, or perhaps even a treasure to give to Hawthorne next time she found herself in Pisces. Already, the hybrid had found the remains of a couple of recently shattered chrysalides. One was blue and sparkly. Not far from that, there was also a piece of the chrysalis, but she quickly realized that it definitely was a living and breathing thing. It had weird little tendrils. Of course, she assumed it was a newborn lesser gembound. She didn't like to eat little neonates. It made her feel bad, even if they weren't sentient. So she had swam away, continuing on her way.

But then a great voice echoed through the waters, the source undeniably the strange blue thing. Iris's head moved to the side, multihued gaze looking in the direction of the sea slug. Her blowhole flared, releasing a little spurt of bubbles as she approached, really unware of what the thing had just said. But it said words, so that was enough to tell her that it definitely was sentient. The amalgam found herself halfway on land, and halfway not. She glanced at Lichen for only a moment before she broke the weirdly awkward silence between dragon, dragon, and sea slug. "HI!!!" she squealed, clicking eagerly as she awaited a response, slapping her flukes in the water.