ORIGIN

clack, clack...

The sound was subtle, barely audioable over the roar of the rotating contraption churing the water in the chambers beyond. Among the ruins of the dam, where the golems once slumbered, lie a sky blue chrysalis. Its rough walls cradled a lifeform that once slept like the golem, but it too, had stirred to life. A blue light illuminated the inside, but only for a moment, revealing the shadowy form of a equine, forced into an unnatural fetal position as space in the chrysalis became sparse.

CRACK!

With one final shake, the chrysalis dislodged itself from its crevice, rolling down a slope of boulders, leaving behind a trail of shards as the egg-like stone slammed its body on to the hard surfaces. The hunk of angelite began to tumble violently as it gained speed, mercilessly battering the lifeform within. Weaken, the blue walls broke open with a piercing shatter, freeing its inhabitant. A flash of black and white stripes carried on the barbaric decent, its long legs flailing helplessly. Landing with a hard smack on its side, the striped creature's tumbling came to a halt as it slid close to the edge of a stream, pebbles following after. It laid there for a few heart beats, its chest rising rhythmically as it drew in fresh air, then, lifted its head off the cold, stone floor, scanning its new surrounding with confused, sky blue eyes.

Wha... what happen?

The striped one shook his head in a feeble attempt to unscramble his memory what just transpired. He did not know what he just did, but he felt like he could do it again. He remembered being cramped, his legs crying for movement, then sensing something.. strange, intriguing, something not like him, yet, he was of it. He could feel them all around him. Suddenly came the storm of pain that racked his entire body, and he opened his eyes, not to darkness, but to light.

Isn't it obvious? You hatched you big dumby.

The foal cocked his ears at the disembodied voice taking up resident in his head. "Woah, did I do that?" He gasped, looking back at the trail of angelite shards in his wake.

Yeah, made quite a mess there, tsk tsk, anyway, you should probably stand up now.

"Good idea." He replied before shifting his scraped legs underneath his body, hoisting his himself up. His knobby knees wobbled as he tried to decipher how to stand on thin legs longer than his body.

His ears picked up on another voice, this time, not of his mind. It seemed to come from down under. Suddenly, Kito felt something soft and warm brush up against his legs. He only managed to catch a glimpse of it before the thing knocked his hoof from under him. It looked like a furry rock, a furry rock that talked perhaps. Loosing his balance, the gangly zebra foal fell face first into the crystal clear stream below with a splash. He barely had time to scream "Aah!"

Wee!

The cold water engulfed his body, stinging his hide and sapping the energy from his limbs. Kito began to panic when it began to flood his nose.

This is not the same as air!

He kicked his legs wildly until they brought him to surface. With a powerful blast of air, water sprayed from his nostrils in a mist. Kito slapped the crystal water with his long legs, neck strained forward as he fought to keep himself afloat. Frantically paddling, he made his way back toward the bank. Hooves scraped at stone until he found his footing and pulled himself back onto land, water dripping from his drenched coat. Droplets flew from his striped hide as he shook himself dry.

What an odd rock...

Kito stretch his neck toward te furry stone that tripped him up and sniffed it. It did not smell like a rock, maybe it was an animal, like him. What kind? That he could not tell, but for some reason he wanted to call it a duck-beaver.

"Hey, you're funny lookin'!" He giggled.


"Speech"
Kito's thoughts...
Auditory hallucinations

Kito playfully reared in excitement at the billed one's voice. It speaks! It speaks! He brought his front hooves down on the stone with a clop. What joy, to find another creature like him. He wondered what they would talk about.

"Momma Destiny?" He nickered, liking the way her name rolled off his tongue. Having a name must be nice. Kito could not remember his. Wait.

I vote we call him Simon.

Kito had a name and it was a good name. He could not wait to tell it to this nice lady. His bountiful foal energry bubbled up towards his mouth until he could not hold it in much longer. "Hi Momma, I'm Kito!" He brayed giddily, tossing his head. The zebra foal proceeded to bounce around Destiny, finally getting the hang of his skinny legs.

"It's so cool you can talk, I thought I was the only one!" The energetic foal stopped his shenanigans and came to face the cute little chimera. "Well, besides my head friends, of course, hey, are you like some kind of duck-beaver?"

There were more? Kito pawed at the ground excitedly upon hearing this wonderful news. He wanted to meet all of them! It would be wonder to hear to the voices of others for a change. He wondered of all of them were as nice as Momma Destiny the Duck-Beaver. He had sky high hopes that they were. Hanging out with others like him and not every second with the head-friends seemed that a grand ol' plan.

Kito flicked his ears towards Destiny when she asked him about the head-friends. He was happy that she asked. His noggin-amigos never asked about themselves. "Yes! Well.. sometimes." He answered, cocking his head. It was true, his head-friends weren't always "friends"."Sometimes they call me mean things, He wonder if friends were supposed to call each other names. Was that normal here? He perked up however, wanting the share the better side of the voices to Destiny. "But they help me out and keep me company when I'm lonely, so I don't mind it!" he chirped, his voice overflowing with optimism. "They're like, a voice in your head that's not yours, ya' know?"

Aw, how touching I'm flattered! Maybe we won't set you on fire after all!

Kito smiled and nodded at the voice. What was a fire? "You're welcome!" He blurted out loud, not realizing that other Gembounds could not hear them.

Boop her on the bill. Said another.

Without giving it a second thought, the little foal happily complied, reaching his muzzle down to gently bump it against Denstiny's bill.

"Speech"
Kito's thoughts...
Auditory hallucinations