From the Ashes - Printable Version

Something was choking him. Claws? No, he was drowning.

"Not long... not long."

A voice croaked in the empty, stirring his conscious. It was vaguely familiar, like a wisp of an echo. Water filled his throat and had his lungs screamed.

OUT!

That was the first word that jolted into his mind. He pushed against he pushed against the walls of his prison and felt it crack underneath his new strength.

------------------

After three cycles of silence, the snakes onyx chrysalis came to life. At first, it quivered, then a sharp crack split down its side as something pushed against it. Then, like a broken dam, a long, black serpentine body spilled from the chrysalis along with a gush of amniotic fluid, wet and writhing in the cold Cetus air.

The serpent's six eyes adjusted to the lighting individually as he expelled fluid from his lungs through a fit of coughing. Then, he let out a great gasp, as if he had held his breath for a million cycles. His lungs cherished the thick, swamp air, the first drink of oxygen they had in a long time. He remembered this. However, what the serpent did not remember was how effortlessly he could move and twist his coils. He was not this limber before. He felt new muscles contract as he lifted his front off the ground. As his vision focused, the serpent looked down, and to his surprise, saw limbs, with talons.

Is this a dream? He thought hazily.

The serpent leaned back in an S shape, lifting over one third of his body so he could hold his limbs in the air. Wide eyed, he stared in awe, wriggling each talon, and clenching them into fists, unsure of what do with this. He slid his head closer, smelling them with his black tongue. They were definitely his.

So fixated on his new claws, he was unaware of his surroundings, including the presence of others.

"speak"

In so many cycles, Equinox had barely moved. The grass around the sleeping Chrysalis had been nibbled short, the marshy ground showing the remnants of huge tracks forming trails in the earth. The creator of such decimation was nowhere to be seen, for the time being, but she wasn't far.

Nox had remained, words lingering in her brain like worms, seeping into whatever sentience she possessed, and clinging to her every actions. It didn't matter how far she strayed from the chrysalis; she'd always come slowly slithering back to settle down, and once again watch over the egg that may well never hatch. She didn't know if, somewhere inside, the serpent still lay sleeping, or if they had passed into oblivion before her very eyes, all those cycles ago.

But today, Equinox heard a deep crack echoing through the mist. Her head shot upright, her jaw clamping still with clumps of grass sticking out haywire in every direction. Her meal forgotten, Equinox let the remnants flutter to the floor, and followed her own trail back the way she had come. Looming like a ghost out of the mist, Equinox arrived, taking a moment to survey the shattered chrysalis, and the strange, serpentine creature that had emerged from it. She opened her jaws, red eye glistening in its depths.

Slowly, the draconian creature bent her muzzle down towards him, pitch black slime dripping in inky tendrils into the marsh. She looked, her eye agleam. She closed her jaw, taking a few long moments to remember how to speak. And then... A soft rumble shivered from her chest and trembled through the earth. Her skin rippled, as though made of a thousand worms.

"Welcome back."

"Speech."

The serpent snapped around. It was that voice again. His ember eyes peered through the mist, and saw a creature of black ooze. Just like that, it all came flooding back, his memories, the ripping, the tearing, red agony. Red like the creature's eye. He had been mauled, torn to pieces. He was Septiezal, and he should be dead.

Septiezal hissed, shrinking away, as that memory ripped through him like sharp talons. He tucked his claws tightly to his "chest" in fear. Had they come back to finish what they started?

"Who are you?!" He bellowed, trying his best to sound intimidating. "Are you here to rip me apart again??"
"speak"

Equinox flinched, her skin rippling in a shock of spines. In all the cycles of waiting, Equinox hadn't once considered the chance that she might not be welcome if, and when, the serpent awoke. She opened her jaws, looking at the snake and struggling over the words to say. A soft hiss of her own escaped her, one of shock and a little fear.

The draconian shrank away, her neck coiling in on itself and her chin dropping to her chest. She stepped back away from the snake. She strained to remember. Was she forgetting something important? Her mind slowly ticked over the possibilities, but no. there was nothing there, even from the fog of memories old. "Nox," she hissed finally, in a low, gurgling voice. That question was the easiest to answer; the easiest for her to pronounce. Her throat convulsed as more words struggled to form. "...Waited for you. You sssssaid not to go."

Contrasting to the serpent's aggressive stance, Nox tried to make herself look as unintimidating as possible, shrinking down close to the earth and settling down on her belly. "I can leave..." she offered finally, raising her head and fixing him with her single, diamond-encased eye.

"Speech."

Nox.

He recognized that name, and scent. She came to his aid, the warmth, black comfort. The sensation replayed in his head.

"No, stay." He rasped, flicking his tongue. Even the scent was familiar.
Septiezal relaxed, allowing his body to droop to the ground. "You.. waited for me?" Something inside the serpent quivered in disbelief. He turned back and saw the broken chrysalis, then looked down at his claws once more. He had heard of gembounds being so badly hurt they changed form. He had never seen it, until now.

This was no dream.

"Nox." Septiezal croaked, face pale with shock. "How long has it been?"

"speak"

Nox glanced up, her eye flickering. She watched, curious, confused... slightly afraid. Her skin rippled with something akin to shame; she would leave, if the snake so wished, but she didn't particularly want to. She'd waited so long for this moment. At the snake's words, though, she focused her gaze and watched. She didn't move, barely dared to breathe, a coil of steam escaping her nostrils in the cold, murky air.

She bowed her head in a slow nod.

The creature didn't seem particularly shocked, or afraid, or confused by the change in form. The last time she'd seen this snake, he had been so badly disfigured that he really could have been anything. But the voice hadn't changed. Even so, they were still almost strangers. When his question reached her, a shuddering ripple of thought washed over her. Her jaws clamped shut, eye glazed inside her maw. Time meant little to Nox, but she knew it had been a long time. "Been waiting... cyclessss."

"Speech."

Septiezal's eyes lit up with surprise. "C-cycles?" He staggered back, falling on his coils. "How... many?" He choked, not sure if wanted to know the answer.

Hot, red agony. Gagging and hissing. Bones break, snapping like twigs under hooves.

Septiezal turned from Nox, examining his body. He did not recall having black scales or sporadic, bony spines, or did he? It was fuzzy. Septiezal lowered his face into his claws and gently traced it. Did his gem always feel like that?

Something vile and sharp tears into into his face, ripping flesh from bone. His vison was gone.

The serpent's sides heaved with fear as the traumatic memory invaded his mind. He began to wring his tail, staring out into the misty trees, watching for an enemy that wasn't there. Septiezal spun around to face Nox. Flicking his tongue, he eyed her with uncertainty. "Why.. did you wait?"

"Two cyclessss at leassst. Maybe three... It'sssss been a while." Nox's solitary lifestyle tended to lose track of the flow of time. Even though she often craved companionship, there were few caves moist and warm enough to truly support her, with the conditions of Cetus the most well-suited to her needs. She always found herself returning here, and always alone.

The draconian found her gaze drawn to the surrounding area, crisscrossed by her footprints and slime trails, and scoured of everything but a few lonely clumps of inedible grass. She opened her jaws a little wider as she turned back towards Septiezal and watched him examining his body. She watched his tail wringing and sides heave, and a responsive shudder of texture rippled through her skin.

She closed her jaws and spoke, chest throbbing with a rumble that trembled through the earth. "You told me not to go," came the answer, soft and simple, the sound throbbing through her chest. "Cetussss is home. Alwaysss clossssse."

"Speech."