Its emergence was abrupt. One moment, a chrysalis. Next moment, it shattered to reveal a valkhound. Or perhaps it was a valkturtle, with its looks. Without conscious thought, the shell on its back began to glow an eerie green.

The sizable turtle creature looked around, gaze endlessly curious. It was an innocent sort of curious, much like a child, even though the being was fully-grown in appearance. Not only was it curious, but it was also confused. This was very different from what it had known, after all.

Something felt missing. It reached for an unknown power, and it channeled it. And then suddenly, what was missing was here. A little patch of mushrooms.

Had it done that, it wondered. Certainly that seemed to be the case. It gave a pleased rumble, only staring at the mushrooms now. Confusion was forgotten, in lieu of an odd affection for the fungi.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

The shift of living oilstone from chrysalis to small moving object caught his half-observant attention. He was only travelling back and forth, but as always he kept an eye on any chrysalises that might be rooted in the tunnel or in Draco proper. That was, after all, part of his job.

He angled for it, and at once spotted the distant phosphorescent glow. An interesting choice. It was an indifferent thought; this creature had likely been an idle creation but had been offered to the Forge, and so Vargas headed over to collect it. He'd gotten a description, but the real thing was... something else. Bulbous, slippery-looking, every bit a Valkhound in appearance yet tagged with the 'wrong' magic for the average Chaos monster. That made it likely to be more tractable, at least, but something of an oddity here. "V-Chaos-Ten," he greeted it, striding over. "That is your name." He peered briefly to study the carpet of mushrooms it had sprouted. "Utilizing your magic already, I see. I am Master Vargas. I am an authority in these caves, and I operate others in a group called the Chaos Forge. Do you understand any of that?" he asked, tone amiable enough; he had no idea how much language this one might yet comprehend.

@V-Chaos-Ten

The new being was so focused on the mushrooms sprouted with its magic that it had forgotten everything else. It was therefore startled by the seemingly sudden nature of another being appearing. Additionally, it had not even imagined the existence of other beings until it suddenly saw this one. For a moment, there had just been it and the fungi. Now that had changed.

Baffled by the words that it did comprehend, the newly named V-Chaos-Ten stared somewhat blankly for a moment after Master Vargas had finished speaking. "...I am Ten," It agreed after the pause. "You are Master Vargas."

Yet, Ten was far from finished with this new thing called speaking. "What is magic? ...My magic makes these?" The first question was general curiosity, the second question was a hopeful interpretation of the statement, nodding towards the friendly fungi. After all, if it was 'its magic' specifically, that implied that magic could do other things, perhaps. But Ten only wanted fungus friends, really.

"What is authority? There are others? ...The Chaos Forge is a group with others?" Ten's questions continued, an innocence to the valkhound's inquiries.

Glowing green eyes regarded Master Vargas with endless curiosity.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas always kept an open mind, and a ready fist, for new Valkhound hatches. Some of them came out ready to kill anyone and anything they saw. Others were almost childlike. This one seemed intelligent enough, and he'd opened his mouth to respond when it began to pepper him with questions.

And more questions. And--more questions.

His jagged-toothed jaws closed, and he waited with the patience of an ancient for Chaos-Ten to finish. Then he began to answer, carefully juggling all of the questions in his mind lest he forget one. "Magic is a power inherent in you. You can use it to shape, create, and destroy. Yours," he went on, glancing down, "is the magic of fungus. Mushrooms, mold. It has many uses. We can train you with it. Authority," he continued, gamely pressing on to the next set of questions, "is rank and power. Leadership. There are others," came that confirmation. "You are correct. Well done!" It was praise for its keen intellect, its boldness in replying and most of all, its accurate assessment in drawing from context. Good, for one so young. "We serve Chaos in His nest. We create monsters, and train them, and send them to serve elsewhere. But I think you are meant to stay in this cave and aid here, not to go and fight on other worlds. We will teach you," he added, eyes ranging curiously over Ten's body. What had been the purpose of this one-? Its intended task? Vargas was unsure, if even it had one; maybe it'd been an idle whimsy, created out of boredom and little more.

Whatever the case, it had been left in his care and under his instruction, so he would do as he saw fit. And luckily for this generation, Vargas--in that regard, at the very least--was fairly easygoing: he welcomed his creatures to find their own, preferred niche.

@V-Chaos-Ten

V-Chaos-Ten waited patiently for each answer. Though it was new to existence and had many questions, it was not an impatient being. At the praise regarding its correct conclusion, its tail thumped the ground happily.

Once Master Vargas had finished speaking, Ten spoke again. "Magic is... Inherent power," It stated, but it was far from done speaking. "Authority is rank but power too?" Ten spoke as he considered the words. "Is leadership... not-inherent? ...Gained?" It wondered aloud.

"We... is Chaos Forge? Chaos Forge can train me with magic, and Chaos Forge will teach me?" The turtle-ish being sought comprehension.

Ten had more questions, but those were the most prominent in its mind. Next it started the rest of its question in random order. "What is his, since not we or them or you?" Genders pronouns, what are these things.

"Monsters... Monsters aid... Monsters help? I am a monster? How can I help?" What makes a monster.

"What is a world? There is... more than one?" What Ten knew was so small. The notion of a world, let alone multiple words was inconceivable to it.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

The thump of the tail, preempting another barrage of queries, drew Vargas's eye and if he could've perked a brow, he would have. What a strange way to indicate emotion. Endearing, though, in a way. If he were the sort to become endeared.

"Authority is... the power that comes with rank and leadership. It is not a tangible power the way magic is," (in most cases, but... he'd leave that alone for now, lest it simply become confusing) "but leadership and rank are gained, yes. The success of any group depends on its teamwork and its leadership. A fool leader may ruin their followers! A good leader will bring out the best in even mediocre soldiers. So one must prove themselves worthy of leadership, by proving they are capable, intelligent, tactical, and so on." Would that be enough-? "I am a Master, and the leader of the Chaos Forge, but those are ranks that I have earned. I was Overseer, once," and some part of him still longed for that. 'Master' was an immense power but also responsibility; 'Overseer' had come with fear in the eyes of all those who heard the title, because rather than a leader and a creator, an Overseer was meant to lead... but also to destroy. Plus, it had involved far more freedom, and far less responsibility. "But yes. The Chaos Forge will teach and train you."

As for 'what is his,' Vargas puzzled over this. He misunderstood: he thought the question was 'his' in the possessive, that the child was asking what belonged to someone. And the rest of the sentence was simply baffling to him. If he'd understood he'd have gladly explained, but after a long moment of blank staring, he simply grunted. "What-? You will need to rephrase that question," he suggested, still puzzling over it. It clicked an instant later, and all six eyes blinked. "Ah! You mean the word 'his?' We are... all of us. You are you. I am a 'he' and all that is mine would be 'his.'" Maybe that would help. (Maybe not. This was a lot to explain in one attempt.)

"A world is a planet. A... an enormous ball of stone and earth, plants and trees and water and so on. There are many of them, yes. We are beneath the surface of a world," which, given his previous explanation, didn't quite line up but... it'd have to do, for now.

@V-Chaos-Ten