His chrysalis was supposed to be a place of rest. Recovery. But his two weeks had been plagued by nightmares. It had not been enough for him to suffer the intense pain of burning alive once, he had to relive it over and over again in his dreams. To any other gembound, this would have served as a harsh lesson to not mess with the tree ever again. But all Callum learned was the same lesson as he had with the meadow deer. He needed to become stronger, and try again.

The dragon's eyes shot open, body fully reformed, bringing him out of his nightmares. Finally. He was free. He thrust out with a hind leg, cracking a hole in the huge chrysalis. It didn't long after that for the entire gemstone to fall down on itself, crumbling away into fallen shards of raspite. Callum looked around. The place was the same as it was when he had first entered his chrysalis. Nothing had changed.

Callum looked back to the tree, noting that it had fully recovered. It was like he had never even attacked it in the first place! He was rather frustrated about this. He had suffered! Only to not make a single dent on the thing! Though he didn't have anything against it. The dragon had to admit, it was a rather cool looking tree. But it just felt like he had gone through all that for nothing.

He knew something was wrong before it hit. Callum fell onto his side, feeling a burning pain run through his veins. His blood was boiling, every inch of his body feeling like it was set on fire. His nightmares had come to life. The dragon was paralyzed from the pain as this went down, hoping that it would end. Had he emerged at all? Was this just another extension of his nightmares? But after nine minutes, the pain subsided, and he was left curled up on the ground. What just happened? Callum had a bad feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he experienced this.

But now that he was healed, minus the curse that he now carried, he realized he had plenty to do. He would have to train harder, and not overestimate his enemies. Like the meadow deer. The dragon still held a rather deep grudge against those things, as the herd of them had foiled his first attempt at a hunt. This tree had defeated him for now too, but he would be back. He was sure of it. His stomach rumbled. Hunger. Perhaps it was time to give hunting some meadow deer another shot, eh?

Exit Callum