Hen had been a busy, busy chicken. She'd set up a beautiful nest- in a much better spot than last time, she might add- and had spent days adorning her creation with beautiful jewels and shards of gemstones. There, nestled in the center, sat two peculiar objects. One was black, hard, solid, her chunk of graphite as gifted to her from the Shadow Creep. The other was of her own creation, her own design. It was perfectly smooth and oval. An egg. She'd laid it all by herself! Today, she noticed something was off about it, though. Concern grew in her chest. Something about her egg was special, but now she worried she'd never get to enjoy it.

The dutiful would-be mother marched side to side on her nest, settling onto her clutch of one and sighed deeply. The egg was cool underneath her, matching the temperature of the stones it sat on. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe it wasn't warm enough. She sank deeper into the nest, fluffing out her feathers and willing herself to be warm...

...and her feet began to heat up. She felt the glow of her magic more than she saw it, then looked down. The next glowed with the embers that licked at her talons, warming the area nicely. She released the spell and settled in, not minding the smoldering feathers in the wake of her magick. She was used to the burns now. It didn't bother her. As long as her egg was warm.

@Midas

The gilded king knew it would take his progeny quite some time to develop, but he knew it would be safe. It was in a location that only he knew. So, why not take the time to explore a little bit? Lime orbs glinted in the darkness as the massive serpent slithered through the tunnels, tasting the air every few minutes to learn the scents and how to get home. As Midas passed the entrance to Pisces, he had frowned. He remembered his time there. The Wiggle Quests, and the innocence he formerly had. Well, before he killed him.

Now, he was within the core. Polaris, the heart and soul of the Caves. At first, the king had blinked against the harsh blue glow of the room, but adjusted to the bright shimmering of the Spire. It was a massive piece of work, a glowing blue crystal reaching the roof of the room, and perhaps even beyond that.

Yet... something else caught his interest. The snake tasted the air, a pink forked tongue flicking out from scaled lips then retreating back into his maw. It was the taste of an avian. There was quite a sum of Lesser Gembound birds in the Caves, particularly in Eridanus. In the few moments he needed to feed, he may have snapped up a rainbow spinner or two. They, in fact, tasted quite delicious. So he followed the trail, ever silent. His pyrite crown began to glow, magicka pulling at his being... but, it quickly fizzled out. He had barely felt it anyways.

His eyes came upon a rather... interesting sight. A rather unassuming bird lay in a glimmering nest of various trinkets and baubles woven into nesting material. Well, unassuming apart from the fact that it was quite larger than what he was used to, and had raptor-like claws and feet. Midas watched, wondering perhaps what she was doing. He may or may not be lying about five feet away, coiled about a stone, lime eyes glimmering with unspoken curiousity.

@Hen

She'd closed her eyes, relaxing into the warmth of her nest. It wasn't until she felt a tingling sensation wash over her that she realized something else was wrong. Anxious, she opened her eyes again, gazing around the area warily. Not far from where she sat, a newcomer had appeared, wrapped in green around a boulder not some feet away. Ra'Hen took immediate fright of the creature, it's scales and beady eyes. This gilded thing was a reptile. One of the crawlers.

Just like the one who'd changed her.

She stood, bristling, wings flaring at her sides and claws displayed threateningly. Dipping her head down, she crowed at the snake, a garbled rumbled.

"You stay away from nest, Crawler! Ra'Hen not so little now! Ra'Hen gut it, eat its insides! Go crawl away, Crawler! Leave Ra'Hen and Egg alone!"

@Midas

Midas watched the hen relax into her nest, seeming to be protecting something. Perhaps this was a lesser Gembound bird defending its unborn young. The king wondered what it was like to appoint onself as another's sentinel and eternal watcher. Of course, he felt little maternal instinct. Much of the warmth in him had faded away by now. Now, it was all fake smiles and cheer.

He had been noticed.

The serpent was prepared to strike the bird, but he noticed something. It seemed oddly sentient... it spoke. So it wasn't just another lesser Gembound. A steady stream of insults came, and the snake took in each one. He simply tilted his head. "Do you see any limbs upon my icon, avian?" he wondered out loud, and flicked his tail, "I am not a 'crawler'." Midas quirked a brow as he lifted his pyrite-crowned head.

He gazed at the nest once more with the raptor-chicken within. "You defend the egg like it is your young, yet you are a Greater." He could not understand. Didn't the hen know that their kind could not reproduce the same way that a Lesser does? Midas narrowed his eyes only slightly, loosening his hold on the stone. "Don't you know that there's only one way for creatures like the Gembound to create life?" This creature was strong. Perhaps... he could use this to his advantage.

@Hen

This crawler was different. This one spoke to her, addressed her as Avian. Avian. Yes, that sounded okay. She glared at it a little less harshly. Wasn't a crawler? Seemed like one. Greater? Well of course she was greater! Greater than what? She stepped back into her nest a big more, flustered and confused. Finally, it said something curious. She tilted her head.

"Does it mean the egg is bad?" She cooed, turning to look down at the little white speck in her nest. It certainly didn't feel healthy to her. "Then how does Ra'Hen make happy. Make life." She trotted toward the snake now, fearless, and raised a clawed wing at it. "It will tell Ra'Hen, or Ra'Hen will eats it!" Again with the fair trades.

@Midas

The chicken seemed not to bright to catch onto his ruse, so he continued. A fake look of concern crossed his features as he cooed, "I am afraid that, perhaps, it is. It will never be blessed with life." The hen approached Midas with her chest puffed out and with little fear. A clawed wing was pointed at him, and he nodded. "We're bound to our stones, our gems. It gives us life and it is the core of our beings. But, what if I told you that it could also aid in giving way to a new being, a new life?" He'd done this before. It would be successful nonetheless. Now, if the avian could perhaps figure out how to shed a piece of her own stone so that he may give life to it, and that in turn, he'd give a piece of his own and allow her to give life to it.

"You can shed a piece of your stone. It doesn't hurt. The shard will be magically imbued and be able to become a neonate, but it requires life." Of course, this was what he'd been told. "And you can give life to one as well, but I could show you how to do just that."

@Hen i changed the font size bc i literally couldn't read my own writing like wow

The serpent was clever and tricky, and Ra'Hen was none the wiser to it. It spoke, and she listened intently. Her egg was a dud. A failure. But, the snake went on to explain how she could produce offspring of her own anoyther way. She listened to him, hanging on every word he hissed. Finally, he offered her a deal.

"Ra'Hen gets to keep the babies, right? Green Scale won't take them?" She ushered, eyeing him suspiciously. "Ra'Hen wants little Ra'Hens to run with. Green Scale give Ra'Hen little Ra'Hens. Ra'Hen can reward with foods, yes. Rats and feather things." She figured she'd take the spoils with little effort. Surely this cold-blooded creature wouldn't have any other motives she'd have to contend with...

...right?

"Okay! Ra'Hen want little babies. Shed stone, yes." She focused, closing her eyes and willing it to happen... and a second later, her stone began to glow with life. She winced as a sharp sound echoed above her ears and then, with a chime, a shard of her comb fell to the ground. Immediately, though a little dizzy from the effort, Hen stepped one talon over it and brought it to rest between her feet. She eyed it carefully, then looked up at the snake expectedly. "Ra'Hen make stone, now Green Scale fix stone! Make pretty Ra'Hen baby!"

@Midas

The hen bought into it, but one part stopped and snagged on his plot. The 'Ra'Hen' intended on keeping the resulting offspring. Well, he'd just have to work around it once he got there. He smiled sweetly and lowered his head. "Of course, I'd never think of such treason." Otherwise, the serpent nodded in agreement to the creature's offer of a meal.

The chicken shed a stone, then looked to the gilded king expectantly. He'd focused his magicka and attempted to cast his life-giving spell at the stone. He frowned as nothing came from his gem once again. "Spells are not always successful, it seems. I shall try again."

@Hen

Ra'Hen was impatient, so when Green Scale's stone sputtered and fizzled, she found herself fluffing her feathers double time. With a squawk, she launched a wing at the snake's face, angrily brushing at him with her feathers.

"Do better! Make baby! Try again!" She demanded, mournful almost in her pleas. She stopped swatting at him, paused to brushed his scales gently, as if to fix her mess, then stepped back carefully and ushered with a gesture of her wings for him to try again.

"Go again, Green Scale. Make precious baby!"

@Midas

Midas visibly flinched as feathers swatted his face, and he was about to ask of the reasoning behind it when Hen pleaded mournfully then gently brushed his scales as if she'd dirtied the, and was cleaning up a mess. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the shard before him. Magicka pulled at his stone once again, and it began to glow golden...

...the shard glimmered with the light, a small beam of energy travelling from the serpent's crown to the imperial topaz. It glimmered and eagerly accepted the offering of life. He pulled back and scrutinized the stone, as if proud of his work. He turned to face the chicken. "Now, the shard may be planted, and it will grow into a chrysalis like the very ones that we all have emerged from. You should likely plant it in a safe place so that nothing interferes with the development of your precious children."

@Hen