The next morning, Evans woke up to the sounds of wood snapping and splintering coming from the other cave. Albida was also missing from his cot, much to her surprise. Worried for his safety, she got up and bolted out of the room, through the dimly-lit corridor that connected the small dwellings together.
Much to her relief, Albida was with Bolzan and Lightning who had, apparently, gone out earlier to gather some wood for a fire which burned with an unnatural black flame. Lightning was chopping up the firewood from the black trees that grew sparsely around the wastelands with her gunblade and Albida, who was biting some small twigs in half and showing them to Lightning. The hatchling chirped happily and flapped his little wings ecstatically when she smiled in return. Bolzan was stoking the shadowy flames carefully, occasionally adding small bursts of black fire from his jaws to the fair-sized bonfire. The burning wood crackled and snapped, throwing up small embers of absolute darkness, some of which got too close to Albida for Evans' comfort.
"Mama! Look!" He snapped another twig between his sharp hatchling teeth, showing the roughly split halves to his mother, grinning happily. Lightning looked up at Albida's voice and noticed Evans. She nodded and smiled faintly, a silent greeting for the new day to her host.
Bolzan was far too occupied with the fire, which seemed to be dying very quickly, to notice her. His scales were flushed red from the effort of constantly adding small bursts of flame to the blaze before him, body flushed against the ground to avoid getting a face full of embers. His wings were beating weakly, possibly due to the fact they had yet to relax after the infection, in a desperate effort to keep the fire alive.
She walked over to Albida and picked him up gently, checking his teeth for any damage. Satisfied that they seemed alright, she placed him back down and sat nearby, watching their progress with vague interest. She looked at the 2 outsiders, measuring them up to see which would be a better choice.
Lightning was fairly cold and uncaring but, from what she observed, it was merely a ruse brought about by years under servitude, probably under some kind of military organization. From the way she smiled at Albida, Evans could tell that she was a kind soul deep inside that cold outer shell. If only she would open up more to others. Her l'cie brand meant that they were both from Gran Pulse though, the way they got their brands would probably be vastly different.
Bolzan, on the other hand, existed on the other end of the spectrum. He was rambunctious and young; though his eyes betrayed a darker intent and a maturity beyond his years. From what she saw in his eyes, even when she was nursing him a few days ago, he was an enigmatic individual to say the least. They carried no trace of the inquisitive light that shone within the eyes of young dragons. Rather, they carried a trace of sadness and a tough life. The presence of the same insignia that marred Albida's eye shocked her at first but she grew to accept it the same way she did Albida's.
Even more disturbing was the story behind the eye which would no doubt be like Albida's, if he were able to convey deeper thoughts with his young vocal chords.
She needed one to continue her legacy and one to care for Albida, when she was gone. Evans closed her eyes and relaxed her mind for a moment, looking over miles and miles of terrain in her mind's eye. She felt something in the ruins but, before she could probe further, something tapped her snout.
She opened her eyes to find Lightning offering her some meat from an unknown source, likely the small pouch she carried with her at all times.
"You must be hungry. Eat up." Lightning seemed cold and hard but, underlying the razor-sharp tones that peppered that short sentence, was the warmth of caring for one younger than her. Probably a younger brother or sister.
"Thank you, but I'll decline." Evans paused for a moment before continuing. "Lightning? There's something I have to tell you and Bolzan, Albida too, if possible." Lightning nodded and called to Bolzan, who then proceeded to pick up Albida gently before walking over and sitting down, letting the hatchling run over to his mother's belly, snuggling in Evans' protective warmth.
"So, what did you want to tell us?" Lightning began, testing the sharpness of her gunblade with the back of her glove. When it left a small white line, she set it down and watched Evans closely.
"I believe that both of you wish to know more about my past." Though they remained silent, they still listened in rapt interest. "After all, one cannot trust another without learning about their secrets and life. Or, so I believe."
"I couldn't agree with you more, Evans." Lightning replied, nodding slowly with her eyes closed.
"You don't have to go back to when you were hatched and all that, just what you feel is necessary." Bolzan added as an afterthought, to which Evans obliged.
"Alright, then. However, this tale cannot begin without knowing of my past." Albida perked up when he heard the word "tale".
"Story time, Mama?" He asked inquisitively. She smiled and nuzzled him.
"Yes, it's story time, my child." Albida squeaked in joy and made himself comfortable for the yarn she was about to spin. Something about his youthful naivety saddened her greatly. She would miss him the most, when she passed…
"The dragons of Gran Pulse have long been the protectors of the world and that truth did not change, even when a being greater than the gods threatened our peace and survival. That beast was Gigas. It was taller than the tallest mountain, longer than the greatest ocean. It came and brought nothing but death and suffering to the inhabitants of Pulse. Along with the human l'cie, we managed to defeat Gigas, but at a terrible cost." Evans paused, recalling the tales she had heard when she herself was merely a hatchling.
"The beast cursed the land with the first of the malignant fal'cie. Before that, the fal'cie had always been benevolent lords of Gran Pulse. With the appearance of Gigas, that all changed. He cursed them, made them selfish monstrosities that cursed humans unwilling to suffer the fate of a l'cie with the brand." She took a deep breath, and continued.
"Of course, since the dragons were the biggest threat, he banished most of them to another world where, they were never seen again. If I recall, my grandmother told me it's name was…"
"Avalar?" Bolzan finished her sentence for her.
"Yes. Avalar. Since that day millennia ago, dragons have never been seen in Gran Pulse. However, Gigas hadn't taken all of the dragons. Some avoided his grasp and lived through the cleansing of Gran Pulse of the draconic kind. They formed an alliance and hid from the eyes of humans, protecting them as silent angels. Eventually, however, these dragons grew sparse and those that survived passed on their legacy to their young."
"And you're one of the defenders of Gran Pulse." She admired Lightning's ability to draw accurate conclusion as she nodded.
"Yes, I am one of the last of the Feymark. Now, I can begin my tale proper." She looked into the bright dark fire as she reminisced about her past.
"I was hatched into the Feymark and, since hatching, I have been taught of how our kind came about and the need to protect Gran Pulse. My mother was one of the brightest warriors of the Feymark, Iseria was her name. She taught me well, caring for me since birth to the day I became a young dragoness. Then, she told me a painful truth. I loved hatchlings a lot and looked forward to having my own to teach. Little did I know that I was sterile, unable to continue the legacy of the Feymark." A small tear glistened on the corner of her eye and it plopped onto Albida's head, who stirred slightly, asleep
"So, you adopted Albida?" She nodded gravely at Lightning's question.
"Yes. Though, it was an adoption by a long stretch. It was about a year ago, while I roamed the Mah'habara, the gate that both of you saw hadn't existed yet." Bothe of them were shocked when she expressed understanding at the gates that had brought them here.
"I had, unknowingly, entered the Spiral Caves in Avalar. I was still roaming when I heard the sound a hatchling crying. Surprised that there was a hatchling this deep in the cave, I followed the sound and found a little green dragon, barely hatched from his egg, lying there, crying loudly." She stroked Albida's head lovingly and the hatchling purred softly in satisfaction, still asleep.
"In that instant, I made the conscious decision that I would care for him as his mother, if I couldn't have my own. The other dragons shunned me except for my mother, may the ancients bless her kind soul, who took both of us in and stayed with us in the Mah'habara, away from the mocking eyes of the other Feymark."
"He's still too young to remember what happened that caused him to be left in the middle of the caves for the rats…"
"I think I can help, Evans. Hold him still for me, if you will." Bolzan motioned to Lightning, who came over and listened as he whispered something into her ear. She agreed with a nod and proceeded to snap Bolzan's neck with a quick flick of her hand. The sickening crack echoed throughout the caves and Evans was too stunned to react as she held down Albida gently.
Bolzan's body fell to the floor and, where it once stood, a figure of pure darkness with red sigils aglow across the draconic body watched the body drop to the floor.
It turned to Evans and Lightning, both transfixed with a deep primal fear that radiated to every limp, screaming at them to flee. Yet, they fought their instinct and stood their ground, muscles paralyzed.
"Don't worry, it's still me. Albida; wakey-wakey!" Bolzan's shadowy form touched Albida's forehead and he stirred. Albida caught sight of Bolzan and, after a split-second of wide-eyed terror, began screaming and crying out of fear. Bolzan could've sworn the hatchling had just dirtied its diaper, a yellowish-brown stain spreading across the white diaper as the tears streamed freely.
Bolzan cooed the terrified hatchling, trying desperately to comfort it; the procedure wouldn't work if his target was squirming out of fear and terror which clouded memories and the heart, making it harder to understand it.
Originally, this would have required a ton of mana crystals to even get a couple of minutes of entry time. Now, with his increased amount of Lazarite energy, he didn't need an astronomical amount of crystals anymore. The one downside: he more or less had to be dead. On that note, he preferred the crystal method. At least he wouldn't be dead; his spirit form creeped out 99% of the people he'd met.
Realizing it would be nigh on impossible to calm the infant, Bolzan had to make do with what he had at hand. Wings spread out; he encircled Albida, intensifying the hatchling's fear. He shut his crimson eyes and willed the hatchling to sleep with a few choice dragonic words. Albida was still crying up till he fell into a deep sleep as Bolzan exhaled slowly, intensifying the oblivion that covered them.
Lightning and Evans found that they were able to see and hear whatever Bolzan was experiencing, from when they saw a terrified Albida in their mind's eye. It broke Evans' heart to see her adopted son that scared but, she knew it was necessary. She choked back tears as she watched the procession. Lightning stroked her crest, trying to comfort the heartbroken dragoness.
Bolzan closed his eyes once again and, when he opened them, he found himself seemingly alive once again. He knew it was a ruse, especially when he saw that the oblivion had been replaced with a laboratory room. He shuddered, remembering his own experiences in this hellhole.
As he looked around, his eyes fell on something in the room that was blocked by one-way glass, laboratory assistants walking to and fro in a hurry. They didn't notice Bolzan, which was to be expected; he couldn't alter one's memory and, thus, the beings in the memories wouldn't notice or feel him. He peered into the glass, into a room with a sole object that shocked Bolzan, a knot of anger forming in his chest.
It was a dragon's egg and, even before the little dragon within the egg knew what was going on, they were already experimenting on it. Tubes ran into the egg shell as fluids were pumped into the dragon fetus that lay within, no doubt already in agony before it even knew what pain was.
The plaque, Bolzan noticed, bore only a few words. Those few words were enough to set Bolzan's teeth grinding in anger:
Hatchling #100
Pre-Hatching Experiment
Do Not Show Sympathy Post-Hatching
