ORIGIN

Vivilene wasn't entirely sure where she was going.

Vivilene wasn't entirely sure where she was.

Perhaps wandering away from the pack had been a terrible idea, in retrospect. Perhaps she should have asked father or Astéri to come with her; to guide her through the caves. Instead, she took a wander on her own to get some alone time. This would be a lesson, perhaps. Be careful what you wish for, because Vivilene was starting to wonder if she'd be alone forever.

Never to see her family again. Never to listen to them laugh. Never to hear her father's stories. Vivilene didn't like the thought but it stewed over in her mind as her hooves clicked through the tunnel and into a new room. At the very least, the hyper-obsession didn't last too long as Vivilene found something new to worry herself about: the rows and rows of bones.

She knew what bones looked like from Attikias's hunts, and the prey that he'd skin the meat from. She knew these things were dead things and she had the distinct idea that, perhaps, she might turn out to be like one of them if she stayed too long. And yet--

What if someone needed her help?

This much was enough to catch her from falling; enough to stop her from trembling and shaking and crying. If there were people dying here then surely there were people that had gotten lost in here and needed to be guided out, and Vivilene just happened to be standing at the exit! No, no, no, she couldn't run away and try to go back home now. She couldn't live with the possibility of abandoning someone in their time of need.

Click, click, click the little hybrid made her way across the room, her thin limbs avoiding from trambling on ancient skulls and ribs and femurs. Most of them had been piled up on each other (the shock and disgust and sadness would hit her later, when she realised the gravity of this) and, at least, made it easier to dodge. But she couldn't find anyone that seemed very alive, certainly not like her family.

There were rats; plenty of them, as far as the eye could see, but they skittered and darted away from her, wriggling away into the walls, into their dens. Vivilene didn't know how to hunt, but she wasn't hungry either-- at least, not yet. Maybe it was for the best. If she had to try and hunt for someone else who was starving she might end up crying again, and no one really seemed to be here. Whatever, she supposed.

Vivilene was about to turn to leave, to try to make her way back home, when something glittery caught her eye. The lanterns hanging off the cave walls caught their light against something large-- very large --and multi-coloured, twinkly and sparkly. Eyes like saucers, the cervitaur made her way curiously towards it.

It was so much bigger than she was, smooth to the touch when Vivilene put her calloused hand to it. It was pretty, too, reds and blues and greens were interwoven into each other. What was it? Something about it seemed familiar to her but in a way that she couldn't quite place, like smelling something you thought you had smelled before.

She put a long ear to it and listened for a moment. It seemed hollow, almost, but full. Cold against her face but with an underlying warmth she knew most rocks weren't supposed to contain. Was something... in it? The child reeled for a moment, startled by this thought. Were they trapped?

Her mouth fell open, and then shut. Quietly, carefully, Vivilene lifted a small fist and knocked against the smooth wall of the ammolite chrysalis.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Vivilene was ready to give up and decide there was really nothing here to save-- not unless she could somehow find out how to make life from bones --and decide that this rock was, in fact, just a pretty rock that should be left alone. That was, until it started banging in response.

And then the fear returned, sinking like a pit in her stomach. She was suddenly unsure if she wanted whatever was in there to come out. It might have been what was responsible for all the bones and death and bad things in this room. But the nipping feeling of uncertainly lingered within her-- what if it needed help?

No one else was around. Just her. If the possible mass-slaughterer was imprisoned there intentionally it would be her fault for letting it back out-- but at the same time, if it wasn't, it'd also be her fault for abandoning it. These kinds of moral dilemmas were a lot for Vivilene's baby brain right now.

What else could she do? Vivilene came here to help people. Help people she'd do.

There came a neat but brief clicking of hooves on dusty floor as she paced, briefly, and then turned. With a shuddery, frightened breath, she reared herself onto her forelegs and kicked her hind hooves back for the thick mass of ammolite.

There was a sharp jolt of pain that went up through her legs but she felt a distantly-familiar crack of stone. She angled her ears back towards it as she came back down onto all fours and turned. It... should be easier for the thing in there to break out, at least. She'd left a deep crack in the shiny surface of the gemstone chrysalis, enough that, if pressure was put onto it, it would break.

For good measure, the cervitaur leant over and knocked on where she'd hit the chrysalis.

There was a new feeling that rose in Vivilene's chest when the chrysalis broke away. Pride wasn't the right word, but it felt good. It felt great, in fact, to help someone. Vivilene was almost happy for the first time since she went for a wander, and that was something, considering she was in a room surrounded by bones.

And then she got a look at it, and was panicking again.

Too big, perhaps the biggest thing she'd ever seen, in fact. With a lot of teeth and big claws and paws that could crush her too easily. She backed up fearfully, eyes wide.

If you had known any better you should have just left me in my chrysalis, it said-- and Vivilene knew she was going to die right then and there. He was still talking but Vivilene largely wasn't listening (as it happens, you tend not to listen to a creature that might murder you), eyes flitting back to the exit.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the hybrid move its head-- but she didn't need guidence to know where Orion was. Nor did she actually really know what an Orion was to begin with-- but the movement was certainly enough to get the hybrid to bolt, scrambling with a great clatter of hooves on dusty cave floor to get to the gates. She dodged bones and rocks alike with a rare agile movement, leaping and bounding like the cave deer she vaguely resembled to get herself back to safety in the star-room.

She didn't look back, but upon later recounting she could have sworn she heard the other creature say 'bye' when she left.