ORIGIN

Something called to the little Shiba Inu puppy, encased in a Chrysalis of Fire Opal, shimmering wickedly in shades of yellow, orange and red. No light moved overhead, yet the shimmering of the Gemstone changed as if alive - the movement lay under.
"Vaessa." The voice whispered, a fleeting thought that didn't quite feel like her own, "come, Vaessa." She moved around, the Chrysalis that had shielded her for some intangible amount of time suddenly felt constricting. The pup pushed her paws against the inside of the Fire Opal, her claws scratching noisily against it's surface. Eyes blinked open, despite the fluid all around her, seeing only the hues of yellow, orange and red around her. The sight of it would never quite leave Vaessa. Even far in the future, when she remembered little of her first Cycles, in her dreams she would recall the sight and wake up, feeling longing and lost for something she couldn't recall.

Vaessa struggled against the Chrysalis, pushing with all her strength. A loud CRACK echoed through the silence in the Chrysalis, as well as around the large room Vaessa found herself suddenly in. The Gemstone had given out beneath her paws and she'd been swept out in a wave of fluids and shards of Chrysalis.
The little pup shook herself, sitting on her butt and blinking her charcoal-black eyes wildly at the sudden lights and sensations assaulting her senses.

Vaessa's eyes blinked in and out of focus for a while, so it took her quite long to even notice something approaching. The form was blurry, until eventually she realized it was another Gembound. They approached her slowly and carefully, lowering their large head to nuzzle against Vaessa's small one.
Their voice threw the pup off for just the shortest moment. It was the first thing, the sound of her cracking Chrysalis aside, she'd heard. Against the silence Vaessa had been living in, even that one, sweet, voice sounded harsh.

"Alright." Vaessa echoed, her tongue clumsily twisting around the word. Her mind was a mess with clear thoughts and feelings she didn't yet know how to articulate.
She leaned upwards on her hindlegs and nuzzled the stranger back. They were a pristine white, so it almost hurt Vaessa's eyes in its brightness. Suddenly, she looked down at herself, wondering what she looked like.
She was much smaller, that was for sure. Tiny even, in comparison. And her fur was beige, only parts of it somewhat white.
And she was wet. The fluid from the Chrysalis' inside was still clinging to her, and now that she was out of it, the wetness began feeling cold. Vaessa began cleaning herself, licking the sticky stuff away, but couldn't reach most of her body by herself.

"I am Vaessa." The pup said, looking up at the other Gembound. Their gaze was empty but Vaessa could see them breathing and had heard them speak. Why couldn't they see? Or could they? More thoughts she didn't yet know how to voice.

Vaessa was thankful for the help. The other Gembound didn't go about it much smoother than she did but she was glad either way. The older creature could lick the places she couldn't reach with her stiff and tiny body straining against any attempts she made to stretch.
"Thank you." She barked, offering the blind Gembound a bright smile. The thought that they wouldn't know she smiled didn't occur to her.
"Yes! Vaessa." The puppy added, nuzzling against the stranger's muzzle while they licked her clean. She'd already given up on it, instead focusing on keeping her balance against the force of the stranger's tongue. "Your name?" Vaessa asked, looking at the stranger and where they loomed over her, then down at her own paws.
They were standing. She could do that. Maybe?

Vaessa pressed her front-legs into the ground and rose up on her hind-legs, wobbly but standing. Now that she stood, it didn't feel like such a big thing, actually. She moved her legs and took a few, tentative steps - only to trip and fall onto her butt next to the other Gembound's front-legs. Vaessa huffed, pouting and no one and nothin in particular.

The pout quickly fell from Vaessa's face and she got on her feet again. "Kielo!" She barked happily, letting the name of her new friend roll over her tongue. It wasn't a complicated name, so she was confident she was saying it right and would remember it too.

Her new friend fussed over her, their muzzle searching for Vaessa and bumping into her form. Their breath against her damp fur tickled and she giggled, pressing into Kielo's muzzle with her's to show them that she was fine. "I'm okay." She said, standing more surely on her own feet now.
With Kielo lying on the ground, she could peer into their unfocused eyes. They were such a pretty shade of pink! Vaessa was in awe at their beauty. "Pretty eyes." Vaessa whispered, standing right in front of Kielo's face.

After a moment, she averted her gaze and peered resolutely down at her paws again. "Vaessa wants to walk." She admitted to Kielo, so they knew what she was trying to do. Her next attempt was taken slower, at a more patient pace. Her legs slowly adapted to the movements and shifting weight, eventually letting her perform a short walk around Kielo, her side occasionally brushing their's when she lost balance for the shortest of moments.
After that round, Vaessa sat down again and looked at her right front paw. It felt heavier than the others and now that she saw it, it also looked different. Where her other claws were all a grey-ish black, the claws of her front right paw were hues of red and orange, and a little longer too. "Woah." She sighed, lifting the paw and marveling at the dancing shades of colour.

The praise made Vaessa smile brightly, black lips pulling back to reveal pearly white teeth, glimmering under the lights of Polaris.
Kielo seemed surprised at her compliments, so Vaessa reassured them. "Yes, Kielo has pretty eyes. And wings!" She exclaims excitedly, peering onto her friend's back and seeing the wings there, as well as taking notice of the many feathers that made up their tail. Vaessa had noticed that the two of them weren't completely the same - from their different fur-colours, to their eyes and size.
Looking over her back, Vaessa waggled her tail. No feathers. Kielo was so pretty and they couldn't even see! Vaessa was sad for them, even though the other Gembound didn't appear to be sad about it themselves.

"No help!" Vaessa barked excitedly, wanting to find her own balance and walk on her own. She would consider it cheating if Kielo helped her.
That aside, she'd already rounded her friend and was now taking a break to marvel at her claw. "One paw is different." Vaessa said, starring down at the dancing colours and thinking about how to explain them to Kielo. All my claws are black but these are red. They glow!" Her voice was an excited whisper. She set her paw down again, hyperaware of its differences compared to her other paws. Where she placed her paw back on the ground, Vaessa can feel a small shard of her Chrysalis. It looks the same as her claws but it's lost its glow.

Suddenly, her head is filled with a vibrating void. Her sight has given way to darkness but it's not threatening and somehow, somewhere in her head Vaessa knows that it's not dangerous. It wants to show her something. The blackness ebbs away and she can see silhouettes but she can't blink the blurry-ness away.
Then, there are voices. Two, Vaessa thinks; she's listening in on a conversation. One of the voices sounds familiar but she can't place it (it's distorted and echoes, as if spoken in a large hall) until an unfamiliar voice mentions Kielo's name. Then, she hears her friend's voice and Vaessa strains her ears to hear every word.
"What is there to be afraid of? You’re my friend, and I’m not afraid of friends. It doesn’t matter how big they are, or what they look like, or what they are. And it never should." Kielo's voice started fading and however desperate Vaessa clung to the intangible force that let her see and hear this moment, it dissolved either way. Before the pup blinked her eyes back into focus and saw her surroundings again, she heard a faint sobbing, and longed to comfort whoever it was that was crying.
At first, Vaessa thought it might've been Kielo but when she could see them again, they weren't crying at all. "Kielo, I saw something!" Vaessa said, torn between excitement and wonder. "It was like a dream but you were there, I think."