May 03 2019, 07:03 AM
The world was quiet, and cold, and empty--empty of everything except one little being, nestled into his chrysalis.
Of course, the world was not truly these things--it was wide, and filled with life--but for the little neonate that had been sleeping in stasis for just around a cycle, its chrysalis was its entire world, the only world that it had ever known, and so, to it, the world was and would always be cold and quiet and empty. That was just how it was.
Nothing lasts forever. The transparent little chrysalis that had been growing in Pisces was due to hatch, even if the gembound inside was still sleeping, still not awake and fully aware of its world yet. Its chrysalis had chosen to form on one of the slick stone walls of Pisces, and it was not meant to hold much weight--not as much weight as the gembound within had grown to.
There was a quiet crackling, crumbling sound, and that at last was enough to make the Gembound within stir. He blinked slowly, sleepily, waking slowly from a half-dream, half-hibernation state that had encompassed his entire life so far.
The crackling sound continued, a few shards of the gemstone that comprised his chrysalis cracking and falling from the base, and that was enough to make the Gembound fully awaken, looking around at the world before him.
He saw the world in a mosiac; multi-faceted, like a mirror had been shattered apart and put together again. This did not throw him off as it would most Gembound--how could it, when it was and would be the only kind of vision he would ever know--but to a little cat like him who had never seen anything, anything at all before, he could only help but look around at the walls of his chrysalis and try to take in what little he could see through it.
Little did he know that he would soon see much more than that.
As the little one shifted around within his now rapidly crumbling chrysalis, unaware that he was positioned on a wall and the decay of the gemstone surrounding him meant that he would soon fall, the chrysalis crumbled further, a loud crack echoing through Pisces--muffled slightly by the sound of the waterfall, but still audible for a distance--as it broke.
The gembound within jumped, flinching at the sudden noise, and his movement was enough for the chrysalis to finally break.
It fell from the wall it had been affixed to for so long, tumbling down the short way to the stone floor and shattering completely, unceremoniously dumping the gembound into the cold, open world.
He made an indignant, surprised noise, flailing for a few moments before realizing that he was alive and out and almost untouched. Slowly, unsteadily, he rose to his paws, glancing around at the world and taking in as much as he could.
The first thing he noticed was not the grand waterfall, crashing down from the ceiling, from a place very few, if any knew. It was not the moisture in the air, how humid it was in this place--although he certainly felt it--no, it was not any of that.
It was how completely and utterly cold it was in this place. The humidity only increased that feeling, the fluid from what was his chrysalis still clinging to his kitten fur in spots, making him shiver. It was absolutely freezing, here, and he took a few steps back blindly and curled up among the shards of his chrysalis, attempting to drag one of the shards he saw towards his chest, as if that of all things could warm him up.
He had to fumble for it for a bit, slightly off the mark as his gemstone--the quartz wrapped around his eyes, the quartz he was not yet aware of, simply believing that everybody saw like this as a simple, childish assumption--distorted his vision and caused a slight disconnect between the movement of his body and his actual perception of the world.
In the end, though, he got it, curling a paw around the shard and dragging it close, huddling in a small ball and shivering as he curled around the little shard of black quartz.
He was still so cold.
@Asimona
Of course, the world was not truly these things--it was wide, and filled with life--but for the little neonate that had been sleeping in stasis for just around a cycle, its chrysalis was its entire world, the only world that it had ever known, and so, to it, the world was and would always be cold and quiet and empty. That was just how it was.
Nothing lasts forever. The transparent little chrysalis that had been growing in Pisces was due to hatch, even if the gembound inside was still sleeping, still not awake and fully aware of its world yet. Its chrysalis had chosen to form on one of the slick stone walls of Pisces, and it was not meant to hold much weight--not as much weight as the gembound within had grown to.
There was a quiet crackling, crumbling sound, and that at last was enough to make the Gembound within stir. He blinked slowly, sleepily, waking slowly from a half-dream, half-hibernation state that had encompassed his entire life so far.
The crackling sound continued, a few shards of the gemstone that comprised his chrysalis cracking and falling from the base, and that was enough to make the Gembound fully awaken, looking around at the world before him.
He saw the world in a mosiac; multi-faceted, like a mirror had been shattered apart and put together again. This did not throw him off as it would most Gembound--how could it, when it was and would be the only kind of vision he would ever know--but to a little cat like him who had never seen anything, anything at all before, he could only help but look around at the walls of his chrysalis and try to take in what little he could see through it.
Little did he know that he would soon see much more than that.
As the little one shifted around within his now rapidly crumbling chrysalis, unaware that he was positioned on a wall and the decay of the gemstone surrounding him meant that he would soon fall, the chrysalis crumbled further, a loud crack echoing through Pisces--muffled slightly by the sound of the waterfall, but still audible for a distance--as it broke.
The gembound within jumped, flinching at the sudden noise, and his movement was enough for the chrysalis to finally break.
It fell from the wall it had been affixed to for so long, tumbling down the short way to the stone floor and shattering completely, unceremoniously dumping the gembound into the cold, open world.
He made an indignant, surprised noise, flailing for a few moments before realizing that he was alive and out and almost untouched. Slowly, unsteadily, he rose to his paws, glancing around at the world and taking in as much as he could.
The first thing he noticed was not the grand waterfall, crashing down from the ceiling, from a place very few, if any knew. It was not the moisture in the air, how humid it was in this place--although he certainly felt it--no, it was not any of that.
It was how completely and utterly cold it was in this place. The humidity only increased that feeling, the fluid from what was his chrysalis still clinging to his kitten fur in spots, making him shiver. It was absolutely freezing, here, and he took a few steps back blindly and curled up among the shards of his chrysalis, attempting to drag one of the shards he saw towards his chest, as if that of all things could warm him up.
He had to fumble for it for a bit, slightly off the mark as his gemstone--the quartz wrapped around his eyes, the quartz he was not yet aware of, simply believing that everybody saw like this as a simple, childish assumption--distorted his vision and caused a slight disconnect between the movement of his body and his actual perception of the world.
In the end, though, he got it, curling a paw around the shard and dragging it close, huddling in a small ball and shivering as he curled around the little shard of black quartz.
He was still so cold.
@Asimona