The surface of the onyx glimmered with a thin residue of water due to the humidity of the cave, giving the vantablack of the stone a more lively gleam; occasionally there came a pulse of some energy (presumably magicka) while the forces worked to build, maintain, and protect the precious cargo within.

It had been quite a while since @Asimona had harnessed her power to awaken the waiting gem; nothing stirred, not a single tremble to the stone's surface betrayed the life waiting within. Nothing, save for the dull glow of magicka that had become a constant. The illumination caught best on the striations of water that streaked the exterior, casting them with a luminous glow without any definitive hue. For the past several hours the glow had intensified, but now it began to grow dull - to fade - which made the darkness of the onyx seem all the more menacing.

Perhaps the creature inside the chrysalis would awaken soon? It had certainly taken its sweet time, letting its siblings hatch before its own arrival.

Even as the mother dragon settled her body around the large chrysalis, a change was transpiring. Deep within the many layers of stone, where the beast sat waiting to emerge, tiny fissures had cracked throughout. Nothing too deep, nothing too obvious, but enough had begun to crackle and crease on the inner walls of the egg that it was growing more obvious that the time was coming.

The stone groaned, and seemed to breathe and shift, until finally a mighty crack sounded and a fissure sliced its way through two-thirds of the egg's top half; it petered out at the thicker midway point, and then there was quiet.

Beyond the shell where the creature lay sleeping, the rush of damp air that siphoned in to the chrysalis caused the being inside to shiver and quake. Perhaps it was too cold? Perhaps they were too sensitive to it - but the quaking led to kicking spasms, to claws dully catching on the stone interior. The being woke a moment later with the abrupt opening of their eyes, and in the left eye flashed a strobe of magicka of similar composition to whatever had pulsed through the shell ---

--- and with a lurch, the shell cleaved in to pieces with the emanation point somewhere in the middle, likely the child amidst the rubble.

When the dust settled there were shards of onyx scattered across the earth, slick with dew from the humidity of the cave. At the center of the eruption of energy sat a disheveled pale shape and when Asimona began to tend to it, the creature roused again. The pressure of the magicka within a confined space did not appear to have damaged the gemling; they were very tired, evidenced by the sluggish lift of their head and the weary glaze of their squinting eyes, but as soon as the sound of their mother's voice crept towards them, the creature seemed to wake properly.

The first thing the pale cub did was yawn -- straining their new jaws, flashing tiny shards of teeth in the light and squishing those eyes shut until the spasm completed itself. Their mouth closed softly, and then they flicked their tongue out, dragged it across their soft snout without really knowing why. It was comforting, except for the taste of the dust and stone that the debris had left behind. The child blinked sleepily at the dragon for a few moments and then sank contentedly against them.

The child's body was rotund; further inspection would reveal a dense hide coated in pale scales, some which seemed too soft to be of use. Maybe they would toughen over time? Their body was stout and quite small when compared to the immense shape of their parent, but it was clear there was something draconic about them. The babe sought warmth and comfort and the adult could serve both purposes.

There was a chilling aura emanating off of the mother dragon, yet as the babe squished themselves against her body the space began to warm. The child squirmed. Their eyes opened to slits, then widened when the light pierced in to them, and they let out a series of irate murmurs. They kept squirming, and didn't seem like they were going to be getting comfortable anytime soon.

Then, there was another body pressing in close. That caused the babe to pause for a moment and look around, movements slow and sleepy, and then they heard the bird-like hybrid speak. The child didn't know what it meant but they tried to parrot it back,

"Sebbin?" blurted the voice softly,

The bird-thing had a strong smell. Not unpleasant, but different from the mother dragon. Enough so that the child grew curious of them, and began shuffling closer and closer, prodding with their blunt pig-like nose. As soon as the soft tissue of the creature's nose touched upon a rough bit of feather, they withdrew and squished closer to mother with a dissatisfied huff.

Speaking brought more attention to them, so the cub leered from their curled place next to their mother and decided not to do that again; not that they didn't enjoy the presence of both these bodies, but the sounds were so... Loud. So different from the quiet and calm sleep that had pervaded their existence up to this point.

When the sebbin spoke again it was with a different word, but somehow the newborn understood. They heard the term and their bumpy brow creased, crunched, transforming their face in to something of a grimace, and already they were forced to break that rule they'd just made about not talking.

"Naaah," they declared, but kept opening their mouth until they were yawning reaaally wide, ending with a small hiccup. The cub looked to the mother and nudged them with their rough chin, wondering aloud: "Oo? Yoo sebbin?" They asked this innocently enough, trying to gather more information. Something to differentiate the creatures.