uthor's Note: This is the result of a writing challenge I accepted from the 'Writing Challenges and the Dwarven Fan Club' Forum. It is about Saphira before she hatched and became Saphira, Eragon's dragon. Merry reading.
Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon, I don't own Saphira, I don't own Vrael, but I do own Sylvana and Vrael's riding partner. All OC's are mine, but anything already written by Paolini is not.
Prologue
Consciousness. She wasn't sure how it came for the other creatures, but to her it came sudden, like the fire that comes to a pile of dry brush when the sparks of a tinderbox hit it. That was her first thought; her second was that it wasn't time.
It was an impulsive thing, she realized, an unconscious questing of her mind for something. What she had been looking for, she didn't know, but she hadn't found it. What she had found was a way to check her surroundings without seeing. For now that she thought to open her eyes, she realized that there was nothing to see. She seemed to be surrounded by a warm liquid, and beyond that by something more solid. That solid thing was the problem, of course; it was blocking the light. She reached out with a clawed forefoot to break the solid, but the thought came again. It wasn't time.
So now she knew that that meant it wasn't time to leave… whatever this was—yet. Then she remembered—she could check out her surroundings without seeing! But how had she done it?...
How long she struggled to remember how to duplicate an unconscious movement she didn't know, as time is hard to measure when there is nothing to hear or see. Frustration began to seethe within her, squirming around as does the many-coiled snake, seeking release. After frustration had established itself, another emotion began to writhe around in her mind—anger. Struggling harder and harder, the anger suddenly flared to life; and she was through.
Through the hole in the mental barrier she sent a questing tendril or thought. If it could have been formed into words it would have been akin to yelling "Hello?" into an someone's house to see if they were home, and as such, she didn't expect a reply.
But something did reply—another consciousness grabbed on the thought tendril and yanked until their minds seemed so close as to press against each other.
"Listen, Watch, and Wait."
The voice boomed inside her head like thunder, deafening her mind and destroying the rest of that mental barrier. Thoughts then began to roil around in her mind, thoughts that weren't hers. She listened to them and they taught her many things. Most she forgot, and wouldn't remember until they were needed, and then they would be forgotten again. But just as many she remembered; how to speak, how to see using only her mind, and the history of her people all the way up to the time of people called The Riders.
Then the presence was gone, and she was left alone in her egg again. Things made more sense now that the voice had taught her words. She knew she was in her egg and that when the time was right, she would leave her egg and become a hatchling.
The mental presence swiftly touched up against her mind. "Now might be a good time to watch and listen, young one."
So she reached out with a tendril of thought and found a rodent near by. She carried herself into its mind and used its senses as if they were hers.
"...is a good one. Only three days out of the womb and Sylvana says she was already mind talking."
"Indeed. Kind Sylvana, our choice has been made. Under your permission, we request that the blue and white egg may be taken and raised to be a dragon for our riders."
"Yes." The voice projected into everyone's minds—even the rodents—and she instantly knew who that otherworldly presence was. Her mother.
"You may take this precious baby and raise her to be one of yours, with my blessing upon her. Take her, and be kind to her. May your swords stay sharp and your magic unfailing."
"Thank you Sylvana."
Then one of the men—the older one—bent down and picked up her egg. She could see it now, a beautiful blue oblong spider webbed with lighter white. It was an odd feeling, to be picked up and stay in one place at the same time. As she left the rodents body she heard the younger one speak to the elder. "Come on Vrael, I heard that the Urgals might be planning a last attack..."
And she slept.
Okay, so maybe not the best chapter in the world, but interesting. Just wait until she witnesses the rise of Galbatorix...
