The labradorite had sat dormant for what seemed like endless cycles. The cave had been long abandoned, dust collected over the rocks, some cobwebs appearing in the corner. Nobody had been here in a very long time. Its owner, long abandoned her home. The children, long wandered away.

Yet the labradorite remained, the child within sleeping peacefully, sleeping its time away.

He remembered, distantly, someone speaking into his dreams. A soft voice, calming, soothing. "Kestrel...my Kestrel..." He remembered, distantly, the feeling of a smile. Was it real? Was it a dream? He didnt know and he found...that he didnt care. He just slept longer, dreaming of peace and warmth and no responsibility, not even the responsibility to breathe.

It came again. "Kestrel...please....wake up..." He shifted, almost uncomfortable. But he didnt want to wake up! It was so warm in here. It was so comfy. He didnt know what would happen if he woke up. He was scared. So he curled tighter and pressed ears close to his head. Was he dreaming that? Or did he really do it?

The voice whispered a few more times. And after a final "I love you." it stopped altogether. The dream was ending. But he held on, mental grip clutching with all his strength. He didnt want to wake up!

And it felt like holding onto a fading memory for a long time. It felt like the world was thinning around him, like everything was going gray, if he could even see color yet. He felt weak, withering away by the day. But still he clung on because it was all he knew, all he understood. With the end of the dream came the end of the world.

And...was any of this real? Or was it a figment within his head?

And then it was over.

One moment and the world shattered around him. There was no catalyst. No force of will to push his way out. Only a moment of the smallest change and he was tumbling out onto cold stone floor. Shards of labradorite chrysalis lay around him, fluid clung to his skin and pooled under his body. He lay there, senses turning on, processing this second coming, before eyes blinked open.

Everything was blurry. All he could see was gray and black, arranged in fuzzy blocks and shapes. He swallowed heavily, feeling a bit of strength flood his limbs, before he was picking himself up, slowly, clumsily. He found his footing with a bit of effort and stood up taller. He'd groubded himself, fully awake now, but found himself lost. What...what now?

There hadnt been anything before; he could barely...remember anything. If there was anything to remember at all. He tried to sort through what he thought were memories, trying to think back, but it was all a muddled mess. There was nothing.

Sighing with defeat, he turned his nose towards fresher air and hesitantly stepped forward, making his way out of the little hole in the ground that he had hatched into.

What emerged from that tunnel was a full grown creature, not a child. Not unlike what he'd looked like in his past life, although he was unaware thered been anything before. And with his coming, returned to the caves a long dead king and the promise of change.

King N'Chard had returned.

He had only been out of his cave a few minutes, blinking in the light of the Spire, squinting, trying to focus on the big ball of light that only rendered as a blob of turqoise. It was half-blinding, but so, so different then what he'd been experiencing in his not-experience not-dream. Whatever it was.

Sharp strikes against the stone alerted him to someone approaching, cat-like ears perking and swiveling towards the source as his whole body turned, looking up at the approaching creature. It blinked a number of times, trying (and failing) to focus on who it was, or even what it was, that was standing before him. He could see blue, darker then the big crystal behind him, although the face looked white. And...antlers? He hadn't yet seen trees, but if he had he would definitely have equated the antlers to the branches of a tree, although he could only make out the thickest parts. The smaller branches disappeared into the fuzziness of the background.

He took a step closer, to see better, but he masked his weakness with a taller, prouder stance. Although he was quite a bit shorter then Rezik, he wasn't intimidated. He opened his mouth to greet them, ask them some things, but before he could say anything, the other spoke first.

It shocked him enough that he stood there, brain not quite understanding what he was asking. Any...last words? But he hadn't spoken anything yet! Like, at all! And he was talking to him like he...knew him. Although he couldn't see the expression on Rezik's face, he noted the way that he'd approached. Confidently, directly towards him. What was going on here?

He wanted to ask a million questions. Who was this guy? How did he know him? What did he mean? What was he expecting? But the only thing that managed to come out of the dumbstruck child was a very intelligent "Wh...what?"

Something had changed in the face of the other. He saw movement, but couldn't discern exactly what it was. Perhaps if he could, he would be having nightmares about it for days. He instinctively squinted, trying to see what it was doing, and saw only more white.

Confused and disoriented, he barely comprehended what the other was saying. He had no idea who this "him" was or what he meant by an echo. It didn't sound like he did know him...perhaps he was mistaking him for something else?

But then it didn't matter. Because suddenly he was moving forward. Kestrel didn't have time to react before a hoof was suddenly coming down and slamming down right on his neck. He let out a surprised squeal and immediately began thrashing around beneath him, but it was difficult when there was something so hard and heavy pressing down painfully on his spine. "Hey, get off me! Why are you...stop!"

He didn't beg, he didn't cower, but he did panic. And magic flared out in his fear, trying to do...something, anything!

He panicked more, as the world slipped away and suddenly he was somewhere else. There wasn't pain here (although he could feel it, distantly) but there was someone. White, majestic, sitting by the edge of water. Not where he was before. And he...he could see it. It wasn't blurry, it wasn't a mass of shapes, no, it was crystal clear, like the eyes of the one he was seeing through.

And it took him a moment to realize he was seeing through the eyes of the one that had attacked him. The clack of his hooves, his voice...he didn't know what any of it meant, nor could his still-panicked mind catch up in time to even think about the vision, and then it was slipping away.

He was back in his body, but the hoof was gone. Someone was roaring and that, too, scared him, ears pressing hard against the back of his head. So much was happening. Too fast. It was too much, too suddenly. Just minutes ago, he'd been dreaming in non-existence. Now he felt beaten and bruised, scared and confused.

He lay on the ground for a moment, too shocked to move, trying to catch up, mentally. Half of his mind was still in the distant past, remembering that crystal-clear water and the creature of pure white, how sharp the stones looked and how detailed fur could be. But the sound of voices - very very angry voices, pulled him back.

He looked up and stared at the scene in front of him. There was someone else - his savior, he assumed, and the voice behind the roar that had terrified him. He was on top of the one that, moments ago, had attacked him and held him at his mercy (which, he realized in that moment, he would not have granted). Anger in the voice, hatred, bafflement from the other. But he couldn't see it. All he saw was something white and something dark atop a gray surface.

But he, at least, understood something very crucial about this moment - his savior was about to kill the other. That didn't seem right. That wasn't right...was it? He didn't understand, it had all happened so fast, so suddenly, and he found himself crying out, "Wait!" before he could stop himself. Things just needed...to stop.

He stared with eyes wide, breath coming out in short pants from the stress. His head was spinning but he still watched intently, trying to work over everything that had just happened to him. He watched the white shape - Teosar? - shove the other away - was his name Rezik? - and then again, he was sent flying back, but not by a physical means. Magic? And then he was gone, running away, and then everything went silence. And still. And he felt himself take a deep breath in the blessed quiet, feeling tension leave his body in the wake of the aggressor's flee.

But Teosar was still here and he became quite aware of it as he turned to him and spoke - not in an angry, wild voice, but gentle, almost hesitant. He opened his mouth to answer that no he was not alright, his neck hurt and he was confused and who the hell was that anyways, but he couldn't voice any of it yet.

He was still mistaking him for someone else! He didn't get it - did he look like someone so much that it would cause this violence? Did he just not remember things he'd done?! But...no, Teosar had called him fresh-born.

Instead of answering by way of his own health, he looked up at Teosar, trying to lock eyes as best he could when he couldn't exactly see where those eyes were, and answered in a quiet voice, "Who do you think I am?" His words shook, as if he were barely holding back from wailing and yelling and crying - which he was, but he'd had enough of that, ears still ringing from Teosar's roar. "Who was that? And who are you?"