The Birth Of Sunlight
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of The Fallen! We got a short chapter this time, mostly meant to serve as a slight cool down and prep for the next chapter, among other things. But I think you'll like at least one little aspect of this chapter. And speaking of likes, if you like my stories head on over to my Pat reon and see about becoming a patron for updates, scene samples, and even a chance at a commission! Now then that's about all I got for announcements and with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!
Human Realm: Unknown Herbaceous Forest
Once again, Asta found himself in a place he didn't know, watching a memory play out that he'd never seen before. Being a several centuries old demoness, the anti-magic boy was certain he hadn't seen even half of Megicula's memories even though they'd been popping up periodically for the last few years. In this particular memory, Asta found himself in the human realm, which he knew due to the difference in vegetation, standing in a field devoid of trees on a sunny day without a cloud in the sky. That is until a large shadow passed over him, alerting the boy that something massive was floating forward in the air above him.
Whatever it was there was no fear to be found on the face of a nineteen-year-old Megicula as she went running past the ashen-haired boy in pursuit of the figure hovering above. He heard no spoken words and saw no obvious gestures from the winged woman, but he'd come to recognize when she was employing her curse-warding magic. The obvious target let out a surprised roar and began to slowly lose altitude. It didn't take long for Asta to determine that the falling figure was a dragon and a huge one at that.
But the beast wouldn't be huge for long as it took on a more humanoid, and definitely female, shape before hitting the ground. If the dragon turned woman was injured, she didn't show it. In fact, she was clutching her sides and laughing uncontrollably. "This….haha….is how….hahaha…..you say hello," the dragon woman laughed, "a tickling curse?! You know I'm….haha…..ticklish enough…hahaha…..already! I give, I give, just lift the curse!"
Megicula simply knelt down, supporting her head with her hand, wearing a smug grin on her face as the dragon woman laughed harder and harder. But finally, the demoness had mercy and lifted the curse. After a few minutes the transformed woman could breathe normally again as the demoness sat down next to her. "Sorry," she began with a slight giggle, "I just haven't seen you in a while so I thought it warranted a bit of punishment."
"You know I have a couple more obligations these days, Megicula," the dragon woman snorted, "But you and my husband must be of the same mind. He kicked me out of bed this morning and told me to go get some fresh air while he takes a turn guarding the egg."
"Did he tickle you out of bed," the winged woman asked in amusement.
"He certainly threatened it," her friend laughed, "I do love that he's trying to look out for me and wants me to go out and enjoy myself a bit instead of sitting with the egg all hours of the day, but he's half the reason I do it in the first place."
"It takes two dragons to make an egg," Megicula remarked, "speaking of which, how is it developing?"
"Our dear child is developing quite nicely," the dragon woman mused happily, "it's only a matter of time now before we have a bouncing baby dragon running around our home."
The Morning: Black Bull's Base
"Asta," the familiar voice sounded far away at the moment, "Asta wake up."
"I have exactly fifteen more minutes before I have to wake up," the sleeping magic knight responded, his voice muffled due to being face down on his pillow.
"No," Megicula grabbed his left arm, "you're waking up now!" The force of her pull was so surprisingly strong that Asta felt himself sailing through the air for a brief moment before instantly righting himself and landing in a crouched position, now fully awake.
"What, is there some kind of emergency," he asked while looking around the room, still trying to figure out if he should be alert or not.
"No, but a wonderful event is happening," the winged woman's excitement was quite clear as Asta followed her gaze. It was the egg; it was beginning to shake violently. Moving quickly, he took the egg out of the incubator and set it on the floor where it had enough room to hatch. By this point, the star-covered vessel was beginning to crack and little by little the shell fell away to reveal what was on the inside.
A tiny star dragon poked its eggshell and mucus covered head out then before struggling to climb the rest of the way to freedom. It fell to the floor and began to crawl along it, exploring the new world it had found itself in. The mystical reptile shook the remainder of the eggshell off of it's head before sneezing out a little puff of fire as Asta and Megicula watched. When it finally noticed it wasn't alone, the newborn dragon approached the ashen-haired boy.
Be it instinct or imprinting, the little creature didn't register Asta as a threat and instead began rubbing against him happily. The anti-magic user smiled while Megicula giggled at the cute scene. He picked the dragon up in his arms then, quickly noting that the star dragon was a female and that her eyes and hearing already seemed to be developed. Thankfully, it appeared she liked being held at the moment given that she settled down comfortably into his arms.
"Welcome to the world," the ashen-haired boy smiled, "we'll get around to introducing you to everyone soon, but first we need to figure out a few things…like what to call you?" It was slightly embarrassing but for the first time he realized that not once had he considered what to name the dragon after she hatched. He wracked his brain for several seconds, but nothing came to him. Fortunately, Megicula clearly had been thinking about it.
"Aithusa," she spoke up, "we should call her Aithusa."
"What does 'Aithusa' mean," Asta turned to Megicula while cradling the hatchling.
"It's a word from the dragon language," she explained, "it means 'sunlight'."
"Sunlight," the anti-magic user mused, "Aithusa, Aithusa, you are Aithusa." The female dragon yawned but somehow seemed to smile at the name. "It sounds great, and she seems to like it. Out of curiosity, though, what brought this particular name to mind?"
"You may have seen some of the memories," Megicula's expression turned somewhat somber, "there was a dragon couple that I knew. They named their newborn Aithusa while she was still an egg. It's a little selfish, but I wanted to honor their memory by giving our dragon the same name."
"I won't make a big deal out of it," Asta assured, "for now, let's just enjoy the moment."
At About the Same Time: Ocean Trench
Many miles away from the Black Bulls base and several leagues beneath the waves lied a massive trench in the ocean. At the bottom of this trench, the temperature ranged from one to four degrees Celsius, and the weight of the water made the pressure over a thousand times greater than the atmospheric pressure at sea level. To say it was difficult for any form of life to live here was an understatement and yet, one being called the bottom of this trench its home. It was a great water dragon, whose massive body and immense magical power made the conditions of its habitat not only bearable, but hardly noticeable.
In fact, the great beast slumbered here most of the time, rarely waking up even when the sea and its currents were at their most violent. And yet, an event of seeming little fanfare, the hatching of the star dragon caused the mythical beast to stir. Opening his massive eyes, the sea monster felt a bit of happiness stirring within him. For the day had come at last, a day he'd waited for untold centuries to arrive.
The great sea dragon wanted nothing more than to see the newly born star dragon as soon as possible, but alas the time was not yet right and he was not in any condition to do so. Looking down momentarily at one of his massive limbs, the beast would note how strangely transparent it seemed for a moment. The time was not yet upon them, the birth of the dragon was only the beginning. But these circumstances, like the inhospitable environment around him, troubled the master of the oceans little.
The star dragon would find her way there in time and the great sea beast, after waiting this long, could wait a little longer. For now, he would rest until the time came to fulfill his primary task. So, with a gentle nudging of his magic to calm the choppy seas above him, the great sea dragon resumed his slumber. It was only a matter of time now until he awoke once more.
The Black Bull's Base
For the last thirty minutes, Asta had been sitting on his bed, cradling the sleeping star dragon. Aithusa's eyes fluttered open then as she shifted in his arms. The reptilian magic creature let out a couple of chirps before pointing her claw at her mouth. If the clue wasn't obvious enough, the little dragon's stomach began growling as well. "Looks like you already know when breakfast time is," Asta smiled before carefully getting up and carrying the dragon out of his room.
As had become routine, he stopped by the chore board and marked down a few tasks he would take care of later. But he would, of course, need to break routine now as he headed to the kitchen to tend to the hatchling's needs. Aithusa seemed to instinctively know it would take time for her to get fed and sat on the table obediently while the ashen-haired boy rummaged around in the cupboards. "Megicula," he spoke up while looking back at the demoness who was currently standing like a guard next to Aithusa, "I remember a few things I read about a dragon's diet, but what specifically does a Star Dragon eat?"
"That's a bit of an interesting question," she responded, "dragons actually have a more varied diet than most people know because they're not just carnivorous but omnivorous. When they're out hunting, dragons can eat raw meat and raw fish along with various fruits and vegetables. But if you want to cook some meat for Aithusa, you'll have to forego any additives or spices. Also, be careful that the meat isn't too stringy or rubbery."
"I was planning on cooking some meat for Aithusa, yeah," Asta pulled out a frying pan and a few other utensils as he spoke, "given what you just said, should I add some vegetables, too?"
"In this case, no," Megicula shook her head, "dragons eat fruits and vegetables if there's nothing else available. They actually hate fruit because it's too sweet and turn their noses up at vegetables. Dragons prefer bitter foods and, in the future, when Aithusa's stomach develops a bit more she won't mind us adding some bitter sauces to her meals with ginger being considered a delicacy. But under no circumstances are you to feed her chocolate or other overly sugary foods, that's toxic to dragons."
"I'll keep that in mind," Asta nodded as he lit the fire under the pan and got to work. In just a few minutes he had a plate of cooked, juicy meat ready for Aithusa who happily devoured the meal the moment it was set in front of her. By the time he finished making his own meal and sat down at the table, the star dragon had finished her serving and climbed into his lap before promptly falling asleep once again. Both Asta and Megicula smiled as the anti-magic boy petted the hatchling with his left hand while eating with his right.
It was a quiet, almost serene moment that lasted, about a minute. The silence was broken by Charmy bursting in with her cotton magic sheep chefs going to work to prepare a massive portion of food for her and normal size meals for the rest of the Black Bulls. The short girl was actually the one who cooked their meals everyday thanks to the speed and efficiency with which her sheep were able to prepare food. Unfortunately, this meant the remaining quiet of the morning was gone as Asta moved into the cafeteria where the other Black Bulls had started arriving.
Naturally Aithusa woke up soon after and became the center of attention. "Oh it's adorable," Vanessa cooed.
"Hey, let me teach it how to throw some real fire!" Magna clenched his fist in determination.
"No, let met teach it how to fight!" Luck pushed the fire user out of the way, naturally resulting in a retaliatory strike that soon devolved into the two of them fighting, again. Gordon and Grey were quiet as usual while Gauche was staring only at a picture of his sister, as usual.
"Such an incredible creature," Noelle put her hands to her cheeks, "I've never seen such an adorable reptile. We should name you something, how about Starry!"
"I've actually named her already," Asta informed, or rather tried to inform, "her name is Ai-."
"No, maybe Milky Way, or Nebula," the royal continued undaunted, "Comet, Shooting Star, no wait, Night Sky!"
"Noelle, I've already named her," the anti-magic boy spoke louder, "her name is Aithusa."
"What kind of name is that," Noelle got in his face, "a majestic creature like her needs a majestic name! Meteor, Falling Star, Flying Star, no wait, Ecli-."
"HER NAME IS AITHUSA!" Asta practically yelled, surprising her with how forceful his voice was, "it's a wonderful name that means 'Sunlight'! Understand this, Noelle, I will let you hold her, I will let you help care for her, but the name is not up for discussion, am I clear?!"
"F…. Fine," the silver-haired girl looked away in slight dejection at first before crossing her arms and regaining some of her usual demeanor, "I suppose I can grant you that much. But as royalty I demand you honor your word and let me hold her when the mood strikes me!"
"Fair enough for the time being," the ashen-haired boy shrugged before picking up Aithusa and exiting the cafeteria now that his meal was finished. Though he didn't miss Megicula giving him a thumbs up for telling the royal girl off.
Later: The 'Rec Room'
Aithusa was curled up sleeping on top of the table that would ordinarily be used for stretch torturing people with ropes, commonly referred to as 'The Rack'. As for Asta, he was currently doing pushups with Magna sitting on his back, the flame wielder currently working on new forms for his fireballs. "Hmm," the anti-magic user mused aloud.
"Yeah, it's a challenge, isn't it," Magna clenched his fist, extinguishing the flame in his hand, "in fact, it's way more challenging than I would've thought at first glance."
"I've been wracking my brain this whole time," Asta grunted while continuing to do his pushups. That's when the both of them spoke up at the same time. "Just what do we name the bird?!" Said bird was currently perched on top of the iron maiden in the room.
"Sparrow, Flit, Black Beak, Red Belly, Anti-bugger," the flame wielder rubbed his head with his hands, "none of them seem to fit!" It didn't help that the bird shook its head at every name given.
"I'm pretty sure that anti-bird is a female," Asta pointed out, "Scarlet, Stella, Satine, Anya, Wind, Sia?" Again, the anti-bird shook her head at every suggestion given.
"Perhaps Nia," Megicula suggested, "or Cynthia, maybe Nadia, Namia, Nedia?" But these names were rejected as well when Asta relayed them to the anti-bird.
"The most promising seemed to be the last one," the ashen-haired boy sighed.
"But what name is close to Nedia that sounds good," Magna asked while resting his head on his hand. Asta thought long and hard for another couple minutes before a name finally came to him.
"What about… Nero?" Strangely enough, this name got no negative response from the anti-bird. "Look like she either likes that name or hates it the least out of all of them. Nero it is then."
"Sounds good," Magna gave his trademark evil grin before lighting a flame in his hand, "now put your back into it! This Black Bull's training session is just getting started!"
The newest little critter to the story of the Fallen has been born! Is Aithusa an adorable little dragon hatchling? Let me know what you think in your comments and reviews along with what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And, of course, keep yourself up to date by checking out my Pat reon! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes are given their next assignment and this one's got dangerous written all over it! 'Til then.