ORIGIN

Change first came not from beyond, but from within. The kick of his heart behind his ribs was a startling sensation. He could not know fire, could not know electricity — but the tingling surge which was rich in his veins enlivened him all the same. It pushed into each corner of his being, from the peaks of his ears to the chiseled edge of his claws to the tip of his tail. Upon settling into his extremities, it then floated up, radiating from deep inside. Awareness crested over his skin and fur, and for the first time, he felt it.

The cramped shell of his chrysalis.

Instinct urged him to wiggle, and he did. And that was new and startling, too! Quickened with consciousness, he recognized more than the overhead curve of his shell. Spindly limbs were tucked neatly against his chest and belly. The round of his chin pressed firmly into the fluff of his neck. And his shoulders, as they rolled beneath his fur, rubbed against the protective layer which had housed him during his inception. If only it might fall away.

Somewhere beyond, water sang a soothing tune, and he was compelled to hear it more clearly. Enough incentive as that was, he began to move in earnest, pressing the curve of his wrists and his hind feet and the flat of his head against the shell. It expressed resistance, but maybe, if he pushed a little more forcefully....

A greater, unknowable force would not see it occur. He was still so fresh, a being on the verge of his first breath, and he did not have the strength to crack the chrysalis and emerge just yet. He slumped beneath the pressure of the shell, a tightness in his chest which could not yet be dispelled.

With little left to do but languish in the cramped space, his attention turned to the world beyond. At least, what he could sense of it. Even while in a state of low consciousness, before he felt the first thump of his heart, he knew the low rumble of water. The comfort of the cave brimming with life, the stirring of moist, atmospheric air around his chrysalis. The sort which had seeped through its pores to caress him with its fresh scent and coax him into being.

But the heavy thudding upon the ground. That was something new. And it was growing louder with each interval.

He wiggled once again inside his shell, responding in the only way he could to the curious new vibrations. Realization washed over him, that whatever was causing the thudding beyond was like him—moving, autonomous, capable of feeling and thought. Had he not been folded over, he might have offered a low, plaintive cry for help.

Turns out he didn't need to! Something whacked the side of his chrysalis, and—o-oh. Oh, he had not been expecting what, to him, was a thunderous clap of accompaniment. Nor did he expect the swaying of his body as his shell tumbled a short distance with the force of the hit. But the chartreuse gem walls were crumbling, crumbling, and—!

He was out. He was free! As he lay in the destruction of his pod, the pup blinked his eyes, though his sight was clouded with a haze yet. Through it, he could discern a larger Gembound, and awe stirred within his heart. He did not know her, but he knew her might, much as one would upon seeing a... well, whatever she was, for the first time. Scaly? Powerful? New?

And belatedly, his puppy brain realized how huge she was. The awe within his veins turned to shocking cold, and his lungs squeezed out his first sound of absolute horror. "AAAAH!"

Being alive was terrifying.