In the beginning there was only darkness. Pervading every segment of existence, there was nothing but black. Then they woke - mind snapping in to place like the ignition of a sun - and the darkness swept away. There was form, feeling, function, and slowly, the darkness was pushed back.


When the stone erupted from the ground, it was to no great surprise to anyone. Aside from the fact that this segment of the dam was abandoned by the living gembounds - not even the golems seemed perturbed when the oily black of the chrysalis caught the light of surrounding crystals. When it finally split, the creature that came from within was similarly ignored.


The form was indistinguishable from the shadows. It was a lump of blackness, stumbling, staggering, and then running full tilt away from the housing from whence it came. Like some sort of portal, the gembound emerged and was gone before the eager golems could wise up to its presence.


***


It was at least forty hours later, when the golems had caught upon the energy within the stone egg and begun to dismantle it, that the shadow returned to its birthing place. It's form was more pronounced now; it had four legs, a long tail, and a set of shining eyes - burning bright and red with wonder as they watched the golems work.

White had been sick of Polaris for the last however-long she had been here, but now she just felt the need to remain. She had her gifts ready for Oliver and Caravaggio, and if they came looking for her they'd look in Polaris for her. Maybe she could go exploring with Caravaggio after she gives him his thing, anyway.

But for now, White had to occupy herself with other stuff. So she decided to go ahead and explore the Dams. It was something she was supposed to do with Caravaggio anyway, until her father came out from the shadows to tell them not to.

It didn't matter to her, really, but it was sure to be a cool little adventure for herself. She headed down the river: the same way she was heading with the cow, gazing into the distance at the crumpled wall. She noticed huge figures shifting slowly around it.

How strange. Are they new friends? She recalled her father's words: "you might get killed." White, however, still had no concept of death beyond 'I won't see anyone anymore if I die' but that sure didn't scare her as the hybrid continued on towards it.

@Sangiovese

(( @White ))

The effects of the babe's magic gradually wore off. They were stupefied by the strange creatures that had begun to visit the stone casing; some smaller golems were beginning to inspect the smooth surface of the chrysalis, but otherwise they did not seem too interested. Perhaps they had missed the hatching - and perhaps they thought the gembound was still encased.

The gembound wasn't aware of the other, the hybrid, which lurked nearby. They were too engrossed in watching the golems work; that, and the newness of the world, completely distracted them. Sangiovese hadn't realized that their magic had worn off either, meaning the creature wasn't a walking shadow by this point - they were exposed.