It had been a long time. Azrael barely remembered it, it was barely a shadow in his memory now, obscured by cycles of time and shrouded by a more evolved mind and matured way of thinking. He had only been a mindless beast, driven by instinct and hunger and anger and now he could think - he had a complex mind, he had experience, and when he sat down to think about what he'd done, the very first thing, he realized that he had really been a monster.

His first act as a living being had been to kill another. Because it had been a thinking creature as well. Perhaps it hadn't talked, but it had been intelligent. He had killed someone without any sort of mercy and left its stones hidden within the bones.

He remembered where he'd hatched - his den was nearby, but the exact place may be difficult to find. The location of the white stone would be hard. But he would prevail. He would find it and give it a second chance.

He stood at the place, remembering, ever so faintly, the bone pile here. He had hatched in this place, beneath the bones, and, as he leaned down and began to dig through the rubble, pushing bones upon bones to the side, he found shards of his chrysalis, long abandoned here within the bone pile. Then he was in the right spot.

It took a while - the stone, after all, was very small, but, at last, the glint hit his eye and he reached forward, grasping the little white stone in his claws.

He pulled the bird's stone out of the bones and held it in his paw, tossing it over for a moment. He sighed softly and turned, taking it back to his den where, hopefully, Forgraves was still sleeping. Once he arrived, he sat in his nest, legs crossing in front of him, and closed his eyes, focusing.

He felt a jolt as magic began flowing down his arm, pooling into the gemstone that lay in his fist. Warmth crept up his palm and he opened his eyes, looking down. The stone pulsed for a moment, darkness obscuring its white before it settled back to normal.

Azrael silently set it down next to his nest and watched it for a moment. He'd tell Forgraves about this when he woke up, that he'd be having a sibling soon. He leaned back against the wall and stared off into Canis, a small smile touching his lips.

*exit