ORIGIN

The chrysalis had grown rapidly to encase him, locking him away for a short duration that would (presumably) keep him safe until the process had completed. He did not sleep within the shell. He did not dream. He wasn't sure what happened; only that the golems had come for him and he had felt an insurmountable panic. There had been a livid green light that flooded his vision and then darkness.

When he woke this time he could not move. It was much like his first emergence. This time he was too cramped. It wasn't warm here, his body was stiff and beginning to ache, and try as he might to dislodge himself the chrysalis had worked its way around his entire body efficiently enough to contain any movement. Lithos tried to wriggle free but nothing budged. He strained his neck muscles as he tried to stretch and contort, but he was firmly rooted there.

It wasn't until something shook the ground that Lithos felt something ease. A tension along his hindquarters lessened and he thought he could move just a little bit. There was another rumbling - this time from the other direction - and so he worked as fast as he could to get feeling back in his legs. It was there one moment and then gone the next; he felt connected to the ground and then weightless, but only for a split second at any given time - it was not constant but it was bizarre.

He waited there for a few minutes between attempts. Sometimes it felt like there was more room, enough so that he might kick out and shatter the constraining stone from around his hocks, but at the same time he'd lose feeling in his extremities. He felt weightless, cushioned on the sharp contours of the shell, until the feeling returned to his legs and he could try again. It confused him - frightened him - but Lithos had to focus on breaking through, on getting free. The rumbling of the earth wasn't as frequent now, but all he could think about were the golems and how scary they were. They could be waiting for him outside of his chrysalis, ready to pulverize him!

Lithos sucks in a breath and tries to rear up, and when the finds that he's unable to move his forequarter up he thrusts it down and tries to kick back his heels, rocking within the chrysalis until something finally snaps. A web of cracks spider their way through the stonework and as shards fall away, he finds himself exposed again. Large chunks cleave apart and he makes a mad lunge through the cool cave air, erupting from the chrysalis only to collapse against the scattered remains of the dam. Freedom, at last.