Jul 05 2015, 11:42 PM
In the beginning, there was light. Or there should have been light - but it couldn't make it through the thick shell of the casing around him. Instead, in the beginning there was the voice. But he didn't know it was a voice quite yet; nor was he aware of the source of the sounds. They came in waves, blurred by the chrysalis that bound him. The lulling pace of the lake water kept the new life calm; he felt relaxed, wooed by the faint rhythm... Until the voice.
"Wwwsss..." It started slowly, like a soft buzzing behind the sound of the water.
"Aakkeee... Uhhh.." As the sound grew louder, he realized it didn't match the tone of the other sounds; it wasn't from the lake, or from inside. It was drifting. He felt afraid then, and trembled beneath the stone.
A new sound erupted then - loud, deafening - and the whispered strangeness was forgotten. The shell gave a crack and he, somehow aware, spasm-ed a kick. Another crack came after that, and he felt his body connect to something solid, blooming with the pain of connection. The chrysalis groaned as if in pain and he, mindlessly, yowled. Warmth swept around him for a moment, starting at the base of the shell and rising - and then there was cold, because the egg split open and dumped the poor creature's body against the mud.
The smell of urine and the petrichor of Eridanus assaulted the pup's senses, to the point that he squeezed his eyes shut and curled up next to the crumbled piece of the stone egg nearby. It afforded very little comfort; it was hard, and cold, and smelled even stronger than he did of ammonia; but it was all he could find initially, and without a proper understanding of what was occurring (this birth, which was ultimately a very messy and very scarring introduction to the world), he rested in the shadow of the chrysalis.
"Wwwsss..." It started slowly, like a soft buzzing behind the sound of the water.
"Aakkeee... Uhhh.." As the sound grew louder, he realized it didn't match the tone of the other sounds; it wasn't from the lake, or from inside. It was drifting. He felt afraid then, and trembled beneath the stone.
A new sound erupted then - loud, deafening - and the whispered strangeness was forgotten. The shell gave a crack and he, somehow aware, spasm-ed a kick. Another crack came after that, and he felt his body connect to something solid, blooming with the pain of connection. The chrysalis groaned as if in pain and he, mindlessly, yowled. Warmth swept around him for a moment, starting at the base of the shell and rising - and then there was cold, because the egg split open and dumped the poor creature's body against the mud.
The smell of urine and the petrichor of Eridanus assaulted the pup's senses, to the point that he squeezed his eyes shut and curled up next to the crumbled piece of the stone egg nearby. It afforded very little comfort; it was hard, and cold, and smelled even stronger than he did of ammonia; but it was all he could find initially, and without a proper understanding of what was occurring (this birth, which was ultimately a very messy and very scarring introduction to the world), he rested in the shadow of the chrysalis.