ORIGIN

It was nice having a new friend, Binh decided. It certainly was a long time since he talked to one, that was for sure. The snake lazily listened to Sunny's words, his tail twitching gently in the grass. It certainly was an interesting idea: see a different cave without even having to go.

But what she said next really caught his attention. Water cave with green. An island in the center with littler ones around. Very large. Fornax. A trickle of recognition dropped in his mind. "I'vee beeen theerre..." Binh hissed, wistfully. "I waaas yoounng, aand onn the baaackk of a draaagoon. Liike yoour "Caarja", but naamed Haaveen." It was quite peaceful there, he remembered. Except for the massive creatures having hallucinations in the background. That part was just weird.

A pang went through Binh's noodly body. "I waant too go baack." The waters, the cool sand, the moisture in the air. But, just like the snail said, trying his scrying ability was his best shot at seeing it. With a renewed determination Binh cast his gaze into the water and tried to bring up the image of the Great Furnace.

And like a drop of a pebble, an image blossomed across the surface of the puddle. It was blurry, and indistinct, and broken up by ripples nonetheless, but he could still make it out just fine: Fornax. The same view from which he saw it last, on the edge of a beach. No longer were there any strange fish, though: it was pristine waters as far as the eye could see.

"Thaat'sss beaautiful," Binh awed.

The snake contemplated the surface of the water, watching waves crash in someplace far, far away. The underground ocean was spectacular in it's power: it was not a mere sloshing puddle, but a great force capable of destroying islands. Someday, Binh wanted to be like that. Not to terrorize other gembounds, no, but to help them. What use is magic but to help others.

Ah, but Sunny was still with him. He almost forgot. A dark head slipped back down into the shadow of the Monarch, watching the tiny snail passively. "Yesss," Binh hissed. He did not understand this "walking-magic" very well. A spell to walk? To grow legs? Either way, it sounded promising. "Thiiss 'waalllking-maagic' will leett mee goo, yess? I liikke thaaat." A chance to see it again, even once. How nice would that be? "Thhee weettnesss iss good."

Binh was always a tired creature, and he found his head drooping after talking for so long. "It hass been niiicee taalkking to yoou, Sssssunny," he yawned, fanged briefly flashing in the light. "Veery... nicee...." And then he was out, tail draped lightly over his head, snoring away in the shadow of the Monarch.