ORIGIN

Deep within an offshooting crevice a new life began to stir inside its opal prison. He was awake… he was aware… why, he wondered, should he settle for the pitch blackness he found himself in. Hunger grew as resentment multiplied. The new gembound, not even conscious long enough to know much of anything of the world he found himself in slammed his body into the side of his cage, feeling a satisfying give as it began to weaken.

Mere minutes passed before finally he was born to the world! A new life… Leikari. The world he found himself in would be his perfect playground, and within seconds he spotted his first opponent to beat down to establish control.

The beetle stood no chance as the fresh and healthy pup focused both eyes on its stupidly conspicuous glowing orange spots and pounced. The helpless insect convulsed under the pups weight, and Leikari slashed into its carapace with his canid claws. He deeply wanted to extend his victory, keep the insect barely alive as long as he could, but as he broke through the thick shell he started to feel a sense of wrongness throughout his newborn body.

Numbness washed over the pup as he began to stumble toward the safety of the construct he’d thought of as a prison mere moments before. His vision wavered in and out until whatever nerve allowed him to see through his gemstone was lost to necrosis. Fog filled his mind as he collapsed and fell back into unconsciousness, unsure if he would ever awaken again.

Slowly the new youth to the world opened his eyes and for the first time witnessed the flat but beautiful sight of light streaming into his chrysalis. He felt numb all over, and dreadfully weak and hungry. Somehow though, for no explainable reason, none of these things seemed to matter against the prospect of being alive.

The newborn slowly climbed out of his shell, welcoming the soft earth under his paws even in his fugue state. The numbness and flat vision was a little distracting but nonetheless he started to wander off in a random direction, eventually emerging into a brightly lit room where he spotted another living being.

Eager to find out who this stranger was the pup rushed clumsily forward, losing his footing once or twice as the uneven ground caught him by surprise at that speed. The stranger looked strong, with its big giant crystal and glowy hue, so he really wanted to make a good impression.

After much difficulty the pup finally arrived near his target and slowed to a halt staring silently unsure how exactly to make this new friend like him. Easiest answer would be to give his name, right? But… what was it?

He stared awkwardly for a few seconds before just giving up and blurting out some syllables and hoping it would make do for a name. ”Zie… ree… dee”

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

The small pup stepped back, ears and tail lowered at the soft thud of the crystal and unsure what to expect. The sudden realization had hit him that he knew very little about this stranger, least of all whether he would even be welcome in their company in the first place. When the other wolf turned around though it was not in aggression but rather carrying an air of... fatigue perhaps? Xireidi relaxed a bit, knowing that even if he had accidentally broken some social protocol it wasn't enough to put his life in danger.

Then she spoke, the first actual voice he'd heard in his existence save his own. His mind; it was taking forever to process everything, everything felt fuzzy. Slowly though as each minute passed it was beginning to clear. This would probably take a little time though.

'Squirt', associated with water. Only a quick glance at the wounds he'd taken on his falls confirmed that he was a creature made of dark water on the inside. Something felt wrong about that analysis and the area around his right eye ached as though in chastisement. He'd have to try to think on it more later.

'Breaking out', that seemed... close to accurate? He had awoken in some kind of enclosure made of dark rock. It had been broken already when he woke up to life though. Perhaps a rock fell and smashed it too early and that was why he was having so much difficulty? Whatever the case that too seemed accurate so the young pup nodded his head up and down, feeling a small wave of dizziness but less so than his run over here.

A new sensation hit him as more of the fog cleared. He could sense somehow the presence of things all around, beyond just seeing them. There was of course dirt, the other wolf, mushrooms, the trail he had taken, even the rocks around, they all had a distinct... scent!

The pup perked up as a new sensation emerged from the haze, one he hadn't even missed until it showed itself. Xireidi impulsively lowered his head and started pacing, taking in the new scents and trying to make sense of them. Most everything, as new and amazing as it was to the pup, would eventually become the day to day norm. Even in this state though there was an energy even beyond scent he thought he could sense from the new stranger's crystal. It confused him, but he dared not get too close, tenuously taking one step at a time closer to it, glancing warily at her between each progression.

"Wolf crystal different." he finally spoke softly when he suspected he could get no closer without drawing suspicion.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

Xireidi jumped a bit at the quick words, immediately backing off a few feet from the weapon. With head lowered he looked directly at the other, relieved to see sternness but no territorialism in her eyes. Having made a small amount of distance he sat down and leaned in, sniffing the air and trying to figure out what made the object seem so different.

As though to sate his curiosity the other wolf proceeded to wield the impressive weapon, waving it around before stashing it away on her leg. That had to be it! The crystal wasn't from the cave but instead was a part of her own body. At least that's what made the most sense to Xireidi at the time.

At Kin-Kin's introduction Xireidi nodded deeply in respect, indeed impressed by the one before him and eager to find out what other marvels this world had to offer. His name though was still problematic. He felt like there was a gap in his mind where a name should have been, and the syllables he had uttered as a placeholder, while not entirely off the mark, were as close as he was going to come to any kind of identifier.

"Don't know, mind fuzzy." he spoke, starting to get the hang of speech a little bit, "Good to meet Kin-Kin. I'll call self... Xireidi for now."

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

Xireidi tilted his head at the nickname he'd been given and eyed his own fur. It was a little out of place from all the tumbling around he'd been through but he wasn't that fluffy was he? Still, perhaps there weren’t too many fuzzy things in the cave. He'd only just met Kin-Kin, and the only other entity he knew was down here was... something bad. He couldn't quite remember actually seeing but it was ingrained into his psyche the same way that speech and movement were. Some fearful abomination of abyssal black and iridescent orange, but whose shape was distorted by an impenetrable fog.

The pup visibly shuddered.

With that portion of fog lifted Xireidi realized what everyone else probably also knew. The purpose of life here had to be tied to that entity somehow. Whether it was to defeat it or to be helpless victims was still in question, but he knew he had to start getting stronger as quickly as possible if he wanted to have any chance of survival once the ancient evil appeared again.

Fear was a juvenile emotion though, he knew that, and running around freaked out all the time would do no good. He had to stay strong, not let the realization run his life into the ground.

"Y-you call me that if you want, I guess." Xireidi replied, betraying his mental state for a second as he took a deep breath and brought his voice back under control. His mind flashed back to the object of his earlier curiosity, desperate for a distraction from the path of thought it had taken.

"Crystal leg!" he blurted, "Born with it, or have to wait for it to grow?"

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

Fluffy, as he was apparently now called, sat at full attention partially to attempt to change his line of thinking but mostly because he was honestly interested in how such a powerful looking addition came to be. As Kin-Kin held her crystal out he did actually move forward a bit to examine its intricate design.

Magic though? That could be a useful tool for getting stronger, especially if he could get good enough to do something like this. She said something about being born with the jewel in her chest, and he somehow instinctively knew that he had a special gem of some sort in his blind eye.

His connection to it though was weak, like that bond he should have had with it was designed for someone else. Perhaps that was just inexperience; if he worked hard enough he'd be able to use it as well as any other part of himself. Xireidi tried to focus, tried to feel for this magic Kin-Kin was talking about as he examined the results of said magic...

It took a bit of time and effort, but eventually he was able to bridge that gap and invoke the force residing in his gem. His eyes unfocused and he froze as new thoughts, desires, and emotions flooded into him.

He... what had happened to him. His body was completely broken, his brain almost unrecognizable. There could be no answers though, as the only memories he could access were of acting like a goofy idiot walking up to a strong and unpredictable foe and acting like they were friends already. All he could really tell for certain was that somehow he was here now unable to even move a muscle as his gaze was fixed on a deadly weapon.

He could feel that his ability to stay conscious was tenuous so if he was going to do something he had to do it now. Trapped in his own head he did the only thing he knew he had access to, his own internal magic. Weaving the simple spell as he gazed deep within the crystal before him.

There was exhaustion, fear, desperation. He sensed shadows and emotions of the past as this seemingly untouchable opponent was brought down to a pitiable wreck by her own hubris attempting to control the raw forces of magic. He internally sneered at the lowly image and insight of a powerful creature so weak and helpless as his spirit began to fade into a half sleep.

Xireidi blinked a few times as he felt his senses return to him, his thoughts becoming recognizable again. The way he had viewed the world during magic was... unsettling. Had that scene he had witnessed during that state really happened?

"Fear, fatigue, frustration... that's what your crystal... feels like" he spoke softly in almost a whisper, desperately afraid to let on that the vision had been enjoyable to watch.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away