It was the call of her own life ringing out from Polaris, both deep within her heart and her mind. She knew both because her spirit could sense that it was time and because she knew that one cycle had passed. The creature within the gem she had left behind would be ready to hatch. She had to face it again, the place where the creature had died before her, where she had left their corpse to rot. And where she had gone to bring them back to life. It was a place heavily filled with memories of the past, both good and bad and where her light would shine again.
Envy had offered to travel with her, but Amazon knew that this first journey was one she had to make alone. Although she wanted her friend at her side to comfort her, she knew that she had to be strong and do this by herself. She was going to be a parent now, a mother. She had to be better, at least for the sake of the one carrying her life in their veins.
It took a while to get from Orion to Polaris so she had given herself plenty of time. She would get there early, before the time of day when she had used her magic to rejuvenate the aardwolf's gem. She didn't want to miss their hatching. She had to be there when it happened.
She approached the place, every step growing heavier and more difficult then the last. She didn't want to go further, she didn't want to face the corpse again. But she had to. Their gem was there.
She rounded the corner, forcing herself not to hesitate and was met with an unexpected sight. It was gone, the half-decayed skeleton that she had seen a cycle ago had disappeared, leaving behind only the skull, where the gem still rested, a soft green light slowly pulsing. Her worry about where the body had gone disappeared in an instant. Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly made her way forward. There it was, Onye's gem, with her own life softly glowing. It was time.
She didn't want it hatching in the middle of bone, however. She needed to get it out and away from what remained of the corpse. Trying not to think about it, she climbed onto the undersized skull and began to scratch at where the gem met the bone. A long time from death, the bone was weaker then it would have been in life and eventually splintered under her attacks and she was able to clear an area around the gem enough to push it off. It rolled and clattered down to the floor of the cave and she felt a jolt of fear as it hit the ground with a clinking sound.
Did she damage it? Break it? Would it affect the child? It didn't hit the ground hard, it was a small fall, but would it still be bad?
She chased it down and threw herself on top of it, checking every angle for any sign of crack or break, but there wasn't even a scratch. Sighing with relief, she curled herself around the gem. Everything was well. She was here in time and here she would stay until her new light hatched for her.
With the comforting thought, she drifted off the sleep.
It felt cramped.
Something was pressing in on it on every side, and its limbs were pressed into it. That was very uncomfortable.
And then it was shaking, the world rattling around it. What was going on! For as long as it had been aware, it had never moved. But now the ground was shaking beneath it, its little world seeming to fall apart.
Thankfully, it came to a stop. But now it couldn't go back to sleep, couldn't slip back into the comfortable nothingness that was all it had known.
There was an audible crack, and suddenly its world was falling apart around it.
The creature "oofed" when it found itself on the ground. It - no, she - sneezed, and blinked beetle-like black eyes, trying to take in everything at once.
@Amazon
The crack jerked Amazon out of her sleep, her heart set racing as she jumped with surprise. A large piece of the gem had shattered, the crack spider webbing across the ruby surface. She gasped with alarm, wondering if it was her fault that it was breaking or if it was just that time. As it started to break apart, she continued to convince herself, reaffirm it over and over that it wasn't her fault, wasn't her fault, it's just time to hatch, completely natural.
When the creature tumbled out, it was like she forgot how to breathe. It looked so familiar yet so strange and different, much much smaller then the aardwolf had been in life and more like her size, although it still managed to be a little bigger then her. With scales and fur combined into one...so strange but she couldn't ask for a more perfect creature. She felt a twinge of sadness, though, that Onye would never live again the way the world had originally intended.
She caught sight of the gem on its head and for a moment she wondered if fate was cruel enough to put the gem somewhere where it would hurt them again. No, it couldn't be like that. She refused to believe.
The world began to move again and she took a gasping breath, tears collecting in the corner of her eyes.
The hybrid shook herself, scales that had yet to harden bumping against each other. Her body followed her head, attempting to shake off the nasty goop that clung to her from the crysalis.
She brought a paw - a dog's paw, covered in fur, up to her mouth, licking at the gunk with a tongue that wasn't quite canine, but neither was it reptilian.
However, she stopped when she heard a thing, becoming aware of the lizard for the first time. 'oh, look at you! You're... alive!' it said, and she blinked at it, tilting her head.
"Oh!" she said, testing the word on her tongue and, oh! that was fun. The hybrid cackled a laugh, eyes lighting up as she said "Hello hello hello!" Her eyes crossed in an attempt at looking at the lizard when it neared, her tail wagging playfully.
To her confusion, the thing began to cry. She whined, tilting her head, and leaning forward to sniff at the lizard. She took several deep breaths while it touched her nose, before leaning forward, licking at its tears.
"Are you okay? Are you okay? I'm alive and you're alive so you should be okay!"
@Amazon
The first word that came out of the child's mouth gave Amazon such a feeling of joy that the tears flowed heavier and she let out a sob. The way they talked, so fast and erratically, it reminded them of Onye. Perhaps the strangeness of their behavior hadn't been from their gem after all and was simply a part of their being? If so, then she really had succeeded. They lived again.
She felt their tongue licking at her tears and she shivered from head to toe. How pathetic, for a child to have to comfort its mother. But the thought went away immediately as the reached forward, almost hugging their strangely-shaped muzzle. She wanted to feel them, she wanted to press it into her mind that they were alive, they were real.
omg please have amazon name her
The hybrid whined in concern when the lizard began to sob, tears flowing heavily. She leaned forward to lick at her tears, whining low in her throat.
To her surprise, and confusion, the lizard grabbed it her muzzle. She squeaked, going cross-eyed to look at Amazon, and tilted her head. However, Luster was quick to decide that she liked the feeling, and so she leaned into the touch.
She gave a disappointed whine when Amazon pulled away, stretching forward to lick at her tears when she realized what the lizard was trying to do.
Luster listened closely to Amazon next words, beaming and wagging her tail.
@Amazon
The hybrid's tongue on her cheek made her whole body quiver with joy. She dry sobbed, unable to spill anymore tears now.
Hearing her own daughter call her mother was an experience that Amazon never thought she would have. It made her happier then she thought it would to hear those words. She didn't know if she could smile any bigger, being a lizard and all.
She was suddenly faced with this extremely important task - one that would effect both her child and her for the rest of their lives, despite how small a thing it was. They were like light to her, light in the darkness.
The hybrid leaned against her Mother, enjoying the feeling of her scales against her own scale-fur.
She attempted to mimic Amazon's smile, but it was awkward, as their mouths weren't quite the same, and so she ended up flashing her teeth awkwardly and squinting her eyes.
However, she couldn't help but to go quiet, even she able to sense the importance of a naming.
@Amazon
Amazon's worry about Luster's health was quickly melting away. They were strange, to be sure, but as she looked at them, they seemed as healthy as could be. Hopefully things would stay that way. While she got sick and passed away, Luster would live on, her little light. The light of hope that she had given to Onye and would serve as a gift to her as well. She had to raise them well, raise them in her spirit. It felt like a selfish thing to do, raise a child to hold onto her spirit, even after she was gone, but it was the only thing that comforted her now. It was the only thing that made the darkness of the future a little less dark.
Luster bounced excitedly from paw to paw, unable to restrain her glee.
However, she couldn't help but to beam when Mother spoke, and nodded,
@Amazon