ORIGIN

The small red and black egg was half-buried in the dirt, looking not much different from a boulder, aside from the red veins lacing through the smooth surface of the egg. It shuddered suddenly, shaking and shaking before going still.

Inside, the small being within stretched out, limbs pushing and pushing, the eggshell straining against them.

A crack rang out across Canis, before a leg shot out, tipped with terrifying black claws, with shiny black scales and dark paw pads. It pulled back inside the warmth, the baby within curling around to position its head in front of the gap. A single orange eye flicked open wetly and peered out of the safety of their egg, and it wasn't long before it extended, shoving through the gap and breaking the rest of the shell.

The hydra fell onto the ground, bits of dirt and dust clinging to their ebony scales, turning them grey as they rolled around, struggling to get onto their four limbs. Their heads weighed them down, forcing them to plant their wings to the ground to shove themselves up, panting from exertion. They shook themselves out, noses bumping together and then shying away, before sniffing at one another curiously. A nip, then a snarl, before the leftmost head snapped at the two as if to say, 'cut it out!'

Yellow-orange eyes peered around, each head looking a different direction, their wings folded in as much as they could be without lifting off the ground. They were nervous. What was out there...?

Each head snapped up to look at Vargas, breaths catching as they stared up at the massive creature above them. The middle head craned up the furthest, wings flapping gently to balance as he tried to sniff at Vargas, the other heads either too scared (the left) or disinterested (the right).

Bloodstone? Was that them?

Heads cocked as they tried to figure out what Vargas wanted them to do, and they stood there for a few moments, eyes narrowed and ears flicked forward, the gears turning. Carefully, they tried to step forward, their wing claws touching the group to make up for their heavy heads, their long, thick tail dragging behind them, as their focus was on each head and the more forward parts of the body. They seemed to fight on which direction to go before the center head grumbled and forced them to trudge forward towards the Master, though they didn't know his title.

The other two heads, offended, curled up and settled down as the center head took charge and started to sniff around, their tail flicking back and forth to balance better, their wings able to be... sort of folded up. They were overly large, as most dragon hatchlings were, so they were held up a bit awkwardly to get out of the way of their feet.

The center head peered up at Vargas again and cocked his head, wondering if he'd done right. His steps weren't the surest, as he was still struggling a tad to figure out all 6 (7, if you included the tail) limbs and where they would go, so he wasn't fast yet.

But... he could be.

Bloodstone's heads followed Vargas, the left-most following until he left their sight, then the right swiveling to follow him instead when he entered theirs. Each head seemed to be... thinking. Chittering quietly before the center head rose up again to face the Leviathan. Three pairs of yellow eyes blinked and studied Vargas, before the left head swiveled to face a spot of movement in the air, squeaking gently to notify the others.

A winged creature. Like them... how odd. They watched it land and only the right head seemed to listen to Vargas at all, the other two bumping into each other as they tried to see behind the Master, before the right head grumbled and made them side-step, making them stop wiggling so much.

You belong to me now.

All heads looked up at Vargas, Right's ears flicking forward while Left's pinned to her skull. Conflicting opinions, it seemed, with Middle being rather indifferent, or missing the tone of voice completely.

Either way, understanding would come eventually. Their scales were already starting to harden, no longer kept soft in the liquid of the chrysalis, lifting off their skin slowly to form plates of dense material. The more they shed, the harder and thicker they'd become.

There was... an awful lot to take in. The winged creature taking flight and coming back with something so big that they had to crane their heads just to look at it. Then the Master was speaking, words that they'd said before and ones who's meanings flew right over their heads. The middle head just blinked rather stupidly and side-eyed it's siblings, wondering if either of them knew what was going on.

Right was perked up, taking in as much information as possible, their golden eyes fixed on Vargas. They seemed to be absorbing as much information as they possibly could, like a sponge. Left, on the other hand, had shrunk back to hide from the appearance of a new behemoth, chittering nervously.

All three heads seemed to be in agreement of one thing- Vargas was someone to respect, and so was the Orthoclase. They still didn't quite know what to make of Garnet. Smaller than the others, a bit bumbling (at least to their limited knowledge of what 'bumbling' meant).

Middle yawned all of a sudden and turned their body around, much to the surprise of Left and Right, and toddled off in a seemingly random direction. When poked and proded by the others, their response was simply-

"Hungry," he growled softly, eyes flicking about as their nose sniffed gently, face nearly to the ground as they searched for something pictured in their instinctual mind.

Right wasn't very amused. The Master was talking to them! They had to listen! But as their tummy grumbled, even they had to admit that food wasn't a bad idea. But still!!