A bright orange chrysalis rested on the floor of Orion. The creature that lived inside had begun to realize that it was getting rather cramped. They began to stretch out, pressing against the walls of their confinement. With a splintering crack, a line appeared across the stone. After some more shuffling, it began to grow, until the chrysalis broke, releasing the one that lay inside.

They tumbled out with a squeak, landing a ways from their old home. They scrambled up and looked around, eyes wide with curiosity. They walked around some before running into someone that they didn't see in their excitement. They looked up at the much taller one.

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia was lounging around, eyeing the chrysalis every so often. They knew it would be hatching soon, but they didn't know how soon. They were just laying with their head on their paws and their tail flicking when a crack alerted them. Turning, they watched as the chrysalis began to crack. "Finally," they growled. They rose and walked closer to the chrysalis, sitting down and waiting for them to finish hatching.

Before too long, they tumbled out of their chrysalis. Imperia watched her through narrow eyes, her tail tip flicking. She had long legs, that much was obvious. And her tail was also long. Other than that, she was fairly small. But she'd grow. When she bumped into their paws, they scowled. "Look where you're going." They didn't care that she had just hatched. Already Imperia was beginning to regret this. It'd be a long time before she'd be able to actually fight.

Oh well. They'd train her. They'd train her and make sure everyone would fear them both.

"Listen to me."

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Aaliyah blinked as she looked up at Imperia. "Hi! Who're you?" she chirped happily, beginning to jump up and down, bouncing around their paws. "I'm not really sure who I am." She paused and looked back over at the other. "I look sort of like you. Am I you? How would that work? Do you know who I am?" She continued bouncing around until she ended up tripping over her long paws. "Ow. That hurt," she murmured, wincing. She had bumped her nose against the floor.

She quickly got back up and began bouncing around once more, her previous pain forgotten. "I feel like I have so much energy! I just want to run around an-oof!" She had tripped once more when she began to run. She scrambled back up and looked over at Imperia, her head tilted. "Will you run with me?"

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia began to despise the other more and more. "I am Imperia. You...You are..." Who was she? Were they expected to name her? They sighed. "You are Aaliyah. You are not me, you are...my child." They cringed. "I am your only parent. Your other is dead. I killed hir, and gave life to hir stone. And now you are here."

"You are expected to do as I say. If you do not, then you will be punished. I am not afraid to punish you, and the severity will be based on what you did or did not do. Please know that I do not give a shit about you. You are here to help me fight. I will train you until you are as good as I am. I will only care about whether you are able to fight, and I will make sure that you do not die. That is the extent of how much I care about you."

Imperia watched as she jumped around. They growled. "And stop bouncing!" Their eyes were narrowed. "And don't run either. No, I will not run with you. I will train you, and that is it. It's best you learn that sooner rather than later."

"Listen to me."

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At Imperia's words, Aaliyah stopped. Oh. Wait, her other parent was...dead? And Imperia killed them? "Why did you kill them?" she asked, her head tilted. She was suddenly starting to feel...something. She didn't know what it was, but it was an unpleasant feeling and it made her want to go away. She was about to go and run but stopped at their next words. She had to stay? To do as Imperia says? That didn't sound very appealing. Then again, being punished didn't sound appealing either. So she stayed, continuing to listen to their words. When they said that they didn't give a shit about her, she flinched. Don't they care about her? Surely they must care about her!

She had begun to bounce around a bit more until Imperia told her to stop. She hesitated before continuing to bounce anyway. A part of her told her to stop, that she didn't want to know if she would be punished or even what her punishment would be, but she ignored it. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Surely Imperia must care for her somewhat, more than what she said. So she continued bouncing around, as well as running around the caracal.

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

"I killed them because I had the chance to. As you grow older, you'll learn to take advantage of such a situation. And you should be glad I killed them. If I hadn't, then you wouldn't even be here right now." Imperia grunted. They had noticed that Aaliyah was beginning to run away until they spoke. Their eyes narrowed. They had to make sure she didn't try to run away. But how?

When she continued bouncing around even though they told her not to, they scowled. Already beginning to disobey them. They'd have to do something to make sure that didn't happen. After a moment of thinking, they began to grin. "Aaliyah dear," they purred, voice dripping with fake care, "come here for a moment." They put a paw around Aaliyah and scooted her closer.

"There's something you need to know," they chuckled. "When I tell you to do something..." They unsheathed their claws, the pink claws from their right paw beginning to dig in slightly on the tiny cub. Their face had went from showing fake caring to that of showing absolute disgust.

"I expect you to do it." With that said, they drew one of their claws across Aaliyah's chest. It wasn't too deep, just enough to make a bit of blood come up, but given how long their claws were and how tiny the cub was, it might just be deep enough to give a faint scar. There, that ought to show her to not disobey them.

"Listen to me."

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Aaliyah was wrong. Oh so very wrong.

When Imperia scooted her closer to them, something about the tone of their words made her uneasy. This didn't seem right. What was happening? Was she going to be punished? She let out a tiny whimper.

When she felt their claws beginning to dig into her, her eyes widened and she whimpered even louder. As the claw slashed against her chest, she yelped and jumped away from Imperia. Blood begin to seep through her fur. It was hardly anything, but the pain was there and it hurt. She frantically began to lick her chest, trying to get the blood to go away.

The damage had been done. She would never disobey Imperia out of fear of what the caracal could do. She'd do everything within her power to make Imperia like her, to make them not want to punish her.

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia grinned when Aaliyah jumped away from them. That ought to teach 'em. "Did you learn to not disobey me? That's a very important lesson to learn," they chuckled.

"Now, onto more important things. Your training will begin today. We'll start somewhere simple, something you should know how to do. Every gembound here has magic. It comes from our stone. Yours, as I'm sure you've noticed, is on your head. Mine is on my claws. They are my claws." They unsheathed their claws, showing the pink ones on their right paw.

"Every one of us has at least one spell upon hatching. I want you to show me your spell. Just look deep inside you and bring it out." This was the main test, the test that would show if they should even waste their time. They didn't know what Asgina's magic was. If it wasn't fire, then this would be hard and they may just not bother to waste their time. And if it was fire, Imperia would start fully training Aaliyah.

"Listen to me."

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Aaliyah nodded quickly. She had most certainly learned to not disobey them. As they continued speaking, she listened. She brought a paw up to her face. So that's what that was. She had been able to feel it. She nearly cut her paw pad on it and quickly set her paw back down and continued to listen. When Imperia showed their pink claws, she looked at them in wonder. Pink claws? She looked at her own, which were just a dull gray.

When Imperia said that she had a spell, her eyes widened. Really? She had a spell? She couldnt wait to see what it was! She felt like bouncing around again, but knew that she shouldnt. She stayed still. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on her stone. She didn't know if it would work. She hoped so.

Aaliyah tried to bring her magic out, but nothing happened. Had she done something wrong? She looked up at Imperia, her ears lowered. Would she be punished for this? She hoped not. The scratch on her chest still stung.

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia watched as Aaliyah tried out her spell. When nothing happened, they narrowed their eyes. Alright, so it had failed. No big deal. They'd just have to try again. "It doesn't work every time," they murmured. "Here, let me show you."

They began to focus on their own stone, hoping to draw out their own magic. Maybe doing a spell, showing Aaliyah what it's like, would help. Soon enough, their paws began to heat up. It did nothing to help their burnt paws, but they figured those would never heal. "There. That's how it's done. Your spell may be different, or it may be the same. Now try again." If she failed again, another punishment may be in order. She didn't care if it wasnt her fault that she failed.

"Listen to me."

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