ORIGIN - it begins.

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The lammergeier had been inside this place for so long. It was dark, it was crowded, there was a fluid encasing him that got between his feathers. It was, all in all, an unpleasant experience. Surely, though, there was somewhere outside of this. Somewhere better, somewhere less uncomfortable.

He wondered if he could escape this place. He decided that it was worth a try. Using his wings and beak to his advantage, he eventually formed cracks in his prison. Then, with one more thump of his sore wings, he spilled out on to the ground, landing on his back. Shards of something fell around him. Above him, his prison; a black, shiny rock with red speckles scattered here and there on it.

Oh, good, the entire place seemed wet with moisture. Then again; it was hard to tell when one's feathers were soaked and plastered to your body. He rolled himself over, laying awkwardly on the ground. Now he was wet, sore, and covered in dirt and mud. Maybe it wasn't that good of a trade off.

He heard sharp clacks and muffled thumps, drifting (as they tended to) with an eerily muted quality through the mist. And as ever, Dragon turned, waddle-limping his hefty, bulky body through the reeds toward the sound.

A new Child! They are still being born, then. This is good. The alligator hadn't seen a hatchling in this cave since that snow leopard a few months back. Cetus had been fairly quiet; if this was, as it sounded, a hatching, then it boded well.

When he arrived, the creature was already hatched: a bird, and a fairly strange-looking one at that, dark and dusky and very wet. Somehow, Dragon thought, it seemed to fit Cetus.

"Hatchling!" he boomed, addressing the fledgling where it sat wet-through in the swamp. "Welcome to the caves. Welcome to life." 

Dragon tilted his boatlike snout, peering briefly up at the chrysalis from which the youth had fallen. The gem was a strange color: black, with red speckles. It wasn't unpleasant to look at, but it seemed, unlike the murky-colored bird, strangely at odds with the quiet, ominous peace of the swamp.

Perhaps it does not belong here after all. Or perhaps it does--but only for awhile. We will see.

"I am Dragon! Can you yet speak?" He doubted it--Gembounds didn't usually speak, at least not properly or fluently, for a cycle or two. But it wouldn't hurt to ask; some at least knew a few words, and picked up the rest pretty quickly.

As the old leader of the Children, Dragon took it upon himself to aid them whenever possible. And judging by how wet and lying-on-its-side this one was, he'd arrived just in time.

@Xervas

The lammergeier- Xervas- heard the rustling of reeds. From what he could tell, it was much larger than himself. Would it eat him? And then he saw it as it emerged from the mist- an oversized reptile. While Xervas was large for a bird, this reptile was big for a lizard. Then they spoke.

They welcomed him to life. To the caves. Was this a cave? it was hard to tell. There were trees, and mist, and, truthfully, mud and water seemingly everywhere. And there was a great deal of plant life. If this was a cave, it was one teeming with life, that's for sure.

He watched the great beast lift it's massive head as it looked up at whatever he just fell out of. Then they introduced themselves. Dragon? Xervas found that it suited them, though he was unsure why that was.

Could he speak? He could, to an extent. He shifted, standing on his legs. He stood for several seconds before settling back down. God, that was exhausting.

"Yes," he replied slowly, answering the reptile's question while testing the word in his mouth. Then he figured that it would make sense to introduce himself as well. He had already chosen a name, something to call himself. "I am Xervas," he added.

@Dragon

"Xervas!" Dragon boomed, trying out the name. "It is a good name," he decided after a moment.

"I live here, in this swamp. Those who hatch, if I am near, I will guard, for you are, in your own way, children of Rot, and children of my father. Do you know what it is that you eat, little one?" he asked, tilting his great head.

He ran through the possibilities in his head. Cetus was not great with plant matter, or fruits, or roots--but it had plenty of fish, and for the apt hunter, enough meat to ensure survival. His general rule of thumb upon meeting young Gembound was to make sure they could fend for themselves as soon as possible--one never knew when disaster, or merely "getting lost," might strike.

It appears to be a bird, at least, Dragon wisely decided after some time spent observing Xervas. So perhaps soon it shall learn to fly, and even if it cannot find food here, there might be some elsewhere. How long did Eve take? A cycle, perhaps two? Hrm...

Dragon's mind fell still as he awaited the young lammergeier's response.

@Xervas

Xervas tilted his head to the side. A child of Rot? Was Rot a Gembound, or was the lizard referring to "rot" as something else? What did they mean by either one? He was perfectly fine with the reptile protecting him, though. That he understood just fine. He was still young, and this Gembound seemed well seasoned. They would be a strong ally to Xervas, a good protector.

The lammergeier thought. What did he eat? Meat, most likely, but that didn't sound quite right. "Bones?" He said out loud, though it came out as a question. "Meat," he said, testing that out loud. "Both?" He said, though it again came out as a question. Carnivore, of some variety. He ate animals, or those previously alive, that much he knew.

His instincts said that he ate bones, but bones were inedible, right? Xervas didn't know that it wasn't the bones themselves that he wanted, but rather the marrow. The vulture was also unaware that he could digest bone. Meat was close to what he was thinking of, though. He could live off of just meat without issue.

@Dragon

"BONES," Dragon huffed in surprise. He had only ever seen the old, now-fallen King of Bones in passing, and he didn't equate that fully-grown lammergeier to this dusky, wet thing. And even if he had, he sure as hell hadn't known that Azazel had eaten bones.

But meat! Meat he could understand. And anyway, there were bones in meat. "I will take you to the pile of flesh and bones--or I can show you where to hunt the rats," he offered. "But here, in this cave, in this swamp, the rats are large, vicious things. They can kill a young one! You must be very careful." The black rats of Cetus were huge and savage, and Dragon to this day bore scars over his snout and back from their vicious fangs. He shuddered at the memory.

"The rats in the other caves are smaller," he continued, careful to speak slowly and loudly (though granted the latter came naturally to him) for the young one's sake.

@Xervas

Xervas found both a good option, really. He had just hatched- either he could find a nice, safe place to eat, or he could hunt a rat.

He did trust the older Gembound, though. If they thought that the rats were large and dangerous for him, they probably were. But the young- and most likely foolish- lammergeier didn't want to back down from a challenge, a fight. He had just fallen out of his chrysalis, but he still had claws and a beak.

"Hunt rats," he decided, hopping up onto his legs. If Dragon was going to show him where to hunt rats- big or small- he wasn't about to complain. He needed to learn how to hunt and kill prey items, anyway, if he wanted to survive.

@Dragon

Dragon turned, and slowly approached the now-standing bird. "There is a place that I can show you. You are a bird!" he declared. "There are rocks, and you can climb high, and be near the warmth, and be safe. Yet fly down--once you can fly!--and hunt. There are rats beneath." He then lumbered closer, rumbling with pride in his idea.

"Get on, I shall carry you!" His voice was, as ever, loudly confident. Overly-loudly confident, in fact, booming through the muffling mist. He then shoved his boatlike snout down, burrowing the edge into the mud beside the youngster as if to provide a ramp for the little one to clamber up. "Do not worry at your talons!" In fact, should Xervas think to look closely, Dragon already had a number of fairly fresh marks--from a similarly-taloned bird hatchling--healing across his face.

He could carry the little one, perhaps, to the Crags--beneath the stones lurked both cave spiders and rats, and he could perhaps give Xervas some practical experience in not-being-dead.

@Xervas

Xervas flapped his impressive wings once, settling them comfortably at his sides. Yes, he enjoyed the sound of that. Being able to fly, to swoop down on unsuspecting prey- there was a power in that, a power that he would someday have. Who knows how long it would be before that, though? But he could certainly see what it looked like.

He watched the large snout burrow into the mud next to him after having told Xervas to climb on. He made his way over, then carefully walking up their head and onto Dragon's back, at the base of the neck- or what Xervas thought was their neck, at least. He made sure to keep talons away from nostrils, eyes, and anywhere else that seemed at risk of being poked and injured.

"Thank you Dragon," he said, realizing that he had not yet thanked the loud, reptillian Gembound for their help.

@Dragon

"It is of no consequence!" Dragon bellowed in response to the thank you--after, of course, removing snout from muck. His tone was quite magnanimous. "Now hold tightly, little one." 

With that, he began to lurch-drag his way toward the distant crags. He'd climbed these, once upon a time--when young, and agile. He'd sunned himself beneath the orbs. He knew it would be a good place for a bird of prey to hunt from--the fledgling could hop up, and remain safe, or head down and hunt. 

Dragon's right hind leg had suffered a severe wound long ago--twisted and broken. There were scars along his back, too, old flesh torn and mended, but the leg itself left his gait a lurching limp. This was likely why he had warned Xervas to hold tight: each step was an awkward half-lunge, his right hind leg just sort of waving and dragging along behind. It seemed to take great effort for him to move, but on he went nonetheless, steadily hauling them both toward the crags.

"There are cave rats beneath--but great spiders, too. Be warned: the spiders hunt the rats, and they will kill you too, if they can. Their web will tie you down! But for now I will show you and I will aid you." 

Dragon hauled himself through the tall reeds until at last the tall crags were in sight. He stopped here, lowering himself into the swamp to catch his breath. The place was tall, jagged boulders with watery canals running through the bottom. Dragon knew from experience that rats ran here, but worse than that, the spiders cast their web beneath the overhanging rocks, snagging prey in the darkness beneath.

"Go! Explore, hunt. If you fall into trouble I will pull you out, if I can."

@Xervas

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