Somewhere amongst the rocks, beyond the beaches and the sand, lay a small white orb like a gargantuan pearl, fused in part to the stone beneath. Its surface was opaque, shiny and smooth like glass. And yet, it was about to hatch.

A small scrabbling sound had been, in the past hour or so, occasionally audible as consciousness stirred in the being inside. And now a low creak could be heard as the child within began to stretch. Finally, the sound of stone splintering as a single crack spiderwebbed over its surface. One shard came loose, and then another; until finally part of the stone was pushed outwards, revealing a small, sticky white paw sticking out of the top at a diagonal angle.

Fluid ran in rivulets from the hole as another paw followed, soon followed by a small, black face, wet and bedraggled, with a single gleaming tooth poking out over her lower lip. The child pried open wide pink eyes and squinted, blurred gaze taking in the lights, the rocks, barely making sense of the lights glistening on the lake's surface. Finally, she let out a mew, a long and plaintive sound, not bothering to clamber any further out of the ruins of her chrysalis.

The world outside was much bigger than she could have ever known.

A little kitten, gray and fluffy with odd little extra tufts above her paws, had just recently hatched. Now, only moments later, she was on the move. Sniffing at anything and everything, it wasn't long before she came across the chrysalis that shattered almost right before her eyes. She stared at it, at the tiny kitten that couldn't be much bigger than herself.

She heard the plaintive mew, and couldn't help responding with one of her own. She walked closer to the chrysalis, head tilted. She had no idea what to make of someone else. She'd only been alive herself for a brief moment, having wandered here from her own chrysalis which wasn't far.

Slowly, carefully, she lifted a paw to poke the other as best as she could, given the kitten was still slightly in her chrysalis.

@Heartfang