Warmth. Engulfing, consuming, ever present. The basis of life starts within a warm and secure environment. Now it was time for a new life to emerge into the wonders of the caves. The creature had begun to stir from it’s long slumber. It had stayed within it's home for quite a while, sleeping through whatever the world had in store. The creature now opened it’s eyes for the first time, seemingly surrounded by a shimmering and glistening white casing. The creature was getting used to it’s surroundings, wiggling what little appendages it had. Movement was hard as the casing was very restricting on the body. There was one thought that coursed through it's mind. Out. The creature wanted out. Finding use of it's back legs, the creature would give a kick, attempting to make an indent in the large chrysalis. It would get out if it could.

The kick had broken through enough of the crystal for it to emerge. The creature wiggled in joy. It got closer to the edge of the crack before tumbling out with a high pitched screech of surprise. It was cold out here. Nothing like the comfort of the casing. The creature struggled for a moment to orient itself, taking in this new big world.
It was time. The worm was here.

Kalama had napped not far from the chrysalis, on a jutting rock, its surface devoid of bones. Beak tucked within her wings. She was calm, for once in her life. But that changed quickly. The crack of the chrysalis was flagrant, loud enough to wake her. She rose, shaking her head. In her sleep-addled state it took a moment for her to process what the noise had been. But then it all clicked together. The chrysalis! The one she'd made! Kalama scrambled off the rock.

"Yes! My creature!" Kalama's mind was brimmed with the possibilities. It could be anything--it would undoubtly be cool. It was a fusion of her and a gigantic worm. It would have many teeth. Be very strong. She saw a sliver of it from behind the broken shell of its chrysalis. Long and pale white. Like the ice worm. Her spawn was perfect.

"Big Scary Death Kalama the Second, it is me! Your maker!" She shouted. But as she rounded the chrysalis, things became more apparent. It was a worm alright. But no spikes or carapace. A beak and huge eyes. Bird legs. It looked...silly. Not

"You...you uh, came from that?" She said, gesturing at it's broken chrysalis with her beak. Shards of diamond littered the thing's feet."Well, uh, nevermind. You're huge! You--you're my minion! A hybrid of a fearsome monster, and a legendary champion of battle!" She attempted to strike a pose, brimming with confidence. She'd pulled a wing muscle too fast, and the muscle locked. Kalama yelped, shaking out the pain.

"Dont mind that! I will train you to be unstoppable, Death. Defeat every gembound that comes into your path. And defeat my enemies, the Bonebound and Imp, the coward."She hissed.

Kalama paused. She had to do the parenting thing. You were supposed to take care of hatched gems. How did that work? "But first, you've got to become an unstoppable machine. Uh, you can eat after you've...killed a lesser." Yeah, that sounded reasonable for a newborn.


think "speak"

@Kalaziel

Kalaziel

I feel most times we're high and low

If I had my way, never let you go

The small worm was quite startled by the sudden appearance of a large brown mass. They let out a small cry of shock before realizing that the mass was speaking. Words were still new and foreign to the young gembound yet they understood with crystal clarity each meaning. The mass waiting in front of them was their creator. Someone who had put time and love into their creation. The worm watched in interest as a movement was stuck by the mass, yet apparently not to it's liking. The creature felt a warm feeling creep through it's body, unknowingly happy at the presence of their creator. The mass was continuing to ramble on about all the things the worm would complete.
"Enemies. Why enemies?" they thought, a sense of importance settling like a blanket in the gembound's mind.

A sudden pang went through the small worm. Hunger. They had heard the mass mention something about catching a 'Lesser'. A noise fairly close made the young worm turn it's head, instincts kicking in. On legs a little too short for support, they toddled closer to the sound. The prey would be theirs. The beak of the young worm opened slightly, giving just enough of a view of the rows of small teeth. They were close now. A simple mouse wouldn't be so hard right. The worm attempted to lunge towards the mouse to trap it in it's maw.

Tiny teeth just barely clamped onto the lesser creature and, with a little bit of a struggle, all was said and done. The hunger had subsided and 'Big Scary Death Kalama II' had just completed their first successful hunt. They looked up at their life-giver with vacant eyes and gave a happy shriek.
"I did it?" they asked, wanting to double check that they had, in fact, done it. An exciting start to what hopefully was ahead.

Art by Deirdre Harder

The mouse came bolting out: a small, red-brown creature, large eyes locked on the diamond chrysalis shards. A small twist of flower buds, like a garland, was wrapped around this Lesser's torso, and a little piece of golden metal was perched behind one ear. It ran greedily for the chrysalis, oblivious to the danger fast approaching--so that, its eyes shining with diamond, it never saw its death coming.

A sharp squeak and a few twitches, and the Red Mouse, tiny as it was, was dinner. Or breakfast, maybe.

@Kalaziel @Kalama

The mouse went down easy to Death's strong powerful beak, and Kalama felt pride. Their kid may have been...strange looking at best, the farthest thing from intimidating, but they were already a hardened killer. "Yes!" She said. She shifted from talon to talon, then approached the small worm and its' kill. She bent down and pulled the piece of gold from the lessers ear, placing it on Death's head.

"You did great! You will be the most terrifying creature the caves has ever seen." She said, tail whipping about in excitement. "You killed it, so this is yours now. I've killed many things, Big Scary Death Kalama the Second. Many trophies." She lied. "I fought giant monsters to the death. This is the first of many you will have."

Kalama bent her head back down to the red mouse's body, tearing the garland off. It snapped easily and hung limply in her jaws.She didn't like it--it was pretty and not scary. Death could not learn to like pretty stuff. Only scary destruction. Kalama dropped it, and promptly stomped on the mouse's garland, the buds and loose petals coming apart.

"This is for cowards and dumb gembound. We only like trophies and war and training to get strong." She punctuated each word with a stomp on the garland. Kalama stepped off the garland, nudging the tattered remains to Big Scary Death Kalama the Second. "Flowers are weak, right, Big Scary Death Kalama the Second?"

think "speak"

@Kalaziel

Kalaziel

I feel most times we're high and low

If I had my way, never let you go

Upon finishing their kill, the worm watched in silence as their life-giver approached. The small piece of gold from the kill, now placed upon their head was fulfilling to say the least. The worm felt happy that they had pleased the whims of the mass. They had completed something real now, outside of making their way out of their chrysalis. A good first step in the overall walk of life.

The life-giver had once again launched into a flurry of words. That there had been many dangers that had been slayed by the mass. It gave the little worm hope. That they as well could take on anything that they set their mind to. They would be the next thing to watch the caves for. It would make the mass happy, and that was good enough.
"Only the first! they thought excitedly, their head filling with scenes of epic battles and fun journeys.
It was something to look forward to for sure. When they were bigger and could travel with their life-giver.

Movement in the corner of the worm's eye alerted them back to the limp mouse. The mass had moved over to the mouse and grabbed something with it's beak. A string of tiny flowers that the prey had been wearing. The mass threw the garland to the ground as it rambled. It was a sight to behold for the tiny creature, their first taste of destruction and fear. Life extinguished beneath the claws of their life-giver. The words rang inside the creature's mind. Those things were weak. They wouldn't get stronger. The worm would. This new knowledge cemented itself within their mind. There wasn't room for things like flowers where strength was needed instead.
"Yeah! Weak! I'll show them. I'll be strong! the worm cheered excitedly.

They wobbled their way over to the piles of buds and petals now left on the ground, looking with disgust. A feeling bubbled up within the worm. Warm, heated, angry. These weren't right. The worm took a deep breath in, the feeling traveling upwards, outwards. They released the breath, a gust expelling from their body. As if all of the anger they felt washed away, taking the petals and buds with it. Nothing in this world could be eternal.
"I can do it! they said proudly. A new experience. A learning experience.

@Kalama

Kalama was filled with dark glee as she watched the smaller gembound blow the garland away, scattering the remains. Kalaziel was fearless, strong. Scattering the weak fragments with a simple breath. She bared her fangs in a grin.

"Yes, good my creature. Big Scary Death Kalama the Second, murderer of plants and mice. You're lucky you have me as a mentor." Kalama fluffed up, ego satiated by the young worm's hunt. Death was turning into an unbeatable monster. Well, would be. They still needed to train and to fight some gembound. Big ones. Maybe she could make Death and Bug fight. But Death... they were still... really unintimidating. Those big vacant eyes and tiny limbs. They wouldn't intimidate anyone. Not looking like that. Her grin warped into a frown, and she tilted her head.

"You dont look scary. No one would be scared of you lookin like that." Kalama brought a wing up to her beak, pondering how to fix that. "Oh!" Kalama turned away and raised to the tips of her toes. Her head darted around, searching. Nothing. It all looked like normal Canis. Dry bone, rock, and sand, as far as the eye could see. Kalama growled, kicking the lore-friendly dirt and stalking off.

"Follow me Big Scary--" She growled again, irritation growing. That name was so long. She had to say more than three words, which was way too many. "I'll just call you Kala the Second for now, okay?"

think "speak"

@Kalaziel

Kalaziel

I feel most times we're high and low

If I had my way, never let you go

The little worm was surprised at the power that they had. This was something new for the young gembound. For them it was a taste of power uncontrolled and unharnessed. It was something for the worm to keep in mind in case they ever needed it in a harmful situation. If there was more where the gust had came from then they were eager to learn more. It would come in time.

The worm watched it's life-giver closely as it spoke. The young gembound needed to be scarier, bigger, more powerful, and ready to take on the caves that lay sprawling in their field of view. Their life-giver was looking for something. If the mass was searching then so would the worm. They scanned the area, not too sure of what exactly they were supposed to find. In the end, it's search would turn up fruitless.

The brown mass was already moving, summoning the young worm along. So it would be with these steps that the worm would leave behind their fractured chrysalis in favor of adventure and battle. They toddled hurriedly behind, attempting not to lose balance as they did so. Their life-giver was focusing on names. Their name. What they should continue to be known as.
"Kala the Second!" the worm mimicked the mass joyfully. This would do for now.

Art by Deirdre Harder

@Kalama

Kalama stalked forward. Her movements were quick and assured, despite the fact she had absolutely no idea where she was going. Aside from looking for water. She was quiet, save for the odd grumble or badly used curse underneath her breath. Kalama hopped on a stout rock, darting her gaze over Canis. She stood on the rock for a solid while. Her eyes spotted nothing. But there--a short walk away lay a spot that shimmered when she looked.

"Ha! I see it, this was Kala."

Kalama darted off. Too enthralled with her big brain idea to remember she should slow down for the newly hatched gem. She approached the puddle, turning her head to inspect it closely. Then, she kicked the nearby dirt into the puddle. And continued, until the puddle was more dirt than water. A thick, dark mud. Kalama lifted a foot, dragging her talons across the mud until it caked on the bottom of her foot. She held it up, wings spread and tail against the ground for balance.

"Over here, Kala."

Kalama was starting to dislike calling them Kala. And them calling themselves Kala. She was Kala. What if they got uppity because they shared the same title? What if they thought they were on the same level of warrior as her? That wouldn't stand. Kalama would think of something.

think "speak"

@Kalaziel

Kalaziel

I feel most times we're high and low

If I had my way, never let you go

The beckoning call from the brown mass spurred the little worm on, trying desperately to catch up on it's unstable legs. It too saw the shimmering surface of the water, eager to dip tiny claws into it. When the young gembound came to a halt, the pool was now brown in color and not as shiny as before. They knew that part of it was due to Kalama's actions. They approached the mass who held a glob of mud within their talons. The worm's dream of being able to guzzle some fresh water, dashed within the murky surface.

They took a moment to dip one one tiny clawed front foot into the darkened water, swishing it about some before turning their attention back to Kalama. This was sure to be something else to learn. Something that would help them continue to grow. This would be good for them! The worm tried to sit awkwardly in front of the mass, waiting for the lesson to begin.

Art by Deirdre Harder
@Kalama