Once again Rosalyn struggled until fatigue overtook her senses for what seemed like the thousandth time. Her life had continued on like this for what seemed like an eternity, but she wasn’t entirely sure how long it had actually been. The biggest problem with being in a small black space she came to realize was you can’t tell time.

Thankfully, she did not appear to be truly alone, no matter how dark and lonely this space was, as there were the voices to keep her company. She didn’t know who they were, but she would have surely gone mad a long time ago without them. As best she could tell there were three distinct voices that would speak to her. The first was a small voice that seemed to be inside the black space with her that would tell her when and where to push until she grew tired, and then it would tell her to sleep. Occasionally other voices that sang to her would come from outside of the walls and whisper encouragement and love, invigorating her and making her try all the harder to get out. She would listen to the inner voice and attack the walls of wherever she was and fight to be free because that is who she remembered that she was, and when she was tired one of the outer voices sang her to sleep. Sometimes it was a half remembered lullaby from her childhood and other times it was a haunting melody in a language that vibrated in her head strangely. Both were pleasant in their own ways and both proved one simple truth.

She was loved. Something deep inside her heart soared at that, like her heart had forgotten that and it was uplifted to be reminded of it. And so the cycle continued. She would push until she couldn’t anymore and then she would sleep listening to the gentle singing, until something changed. She saw something that she had started to doubt had ever actually existed… light. It was faint and flickering, but…

“I have to get to the voices! I have to thank them for singing to me. I have to tell them that I love them!” she thought to herself. Struggling with all of her might, Rosalyn looked down and found herself hanging halfway out of… something… was that an egg? Deciding to figure it out when she had a moment to catch her breath she kicked her legs one more time and popped free from the… egg. She got a good look at the swirling silver surface as she fell down and something about it tugged at her brain. Unfortunately, before she could place where she had seen it before Rosalyn’s head hit the ground with a soft thud jarring whatever answer she might have brought forth about it. Bouncing one more time on something pleasantly soft she found herself sitting on her butt on cold stone facing a giant silver egg with a hole in the top. She gaped at the size, as it clearly had to be at least ten or more feet tall as she dumbly tried to think of why it looked so familiar. Blinking owlishly at her surroundings she was astonished at the saucers of silver and gold surrounding her. She almost thought they were small dinner plates, but they had faces on them. Putting that on the pile of ‘problem for future me' Rosalyn looked to her left and right some more and tried to stand up. It did not go as she planned and Rosalyn landed on her butt once again.

“I’m here!” She tried to yell, but what came out could best be described as *GRONK* a noise that she found more than a little surprising and worrying. It really didn’t sound like a normal noise she should be making. Before she had a chance to really digest the strange noise everything in the room darkened a bit as a large shadow loomed from behind her. Rosalyn, turning her head around to investigate this new development, saw a large blurry shape standing over her. Unable to tell what exactly was over her, something craned down to approach her face.

Then she saw the teeth and the little voice in from inside that had told her where to hit the walls of the shell starting ringing danger alarm bells in her brain. Fighting back panic and getting ready to flee, the teeth parted and she got REALLY worried.

“Hello, dearest.” The teeth said giving a giant reptilian smile. “That was very fast! I am so proud of you. Most whelps take several months longer to hatch.” That comment made Rosalyn blink in confusion. Whelp? She was human… wasn’t she? She was still a bit confused and her eyes weren’t focusing like they should. However, she did feel off. Like the scale of everything was very wrong and she was smaller than normal. Looking down at one of the small dinner plates on littering the ground it clicked in her mind what it actually was. It was a coin. Looking back up at the teeth she forced her eyes to focus on more than the middle distance and a face came sharply into view. Looking into its eyes an electric shock ran through Rosalyn’s brain as the tiny voice whispered a single word “Mother.” That didn’t sound exactly right to Rosalyn’s brain, but she found herself unable to think of any other word in relation to the being in front of her.

As her Mother inspected her, Rosalyn in turn studied it back. She, and Rosalyn just knew that it was indeed a she, was huge… and she was so beautiful. Mother had scales that were the clearest silver. They sparkled in the flickering light, as every color she could think of danced on her scales. One minute there was green, then red, then blue. It was mesmerizing. Rosalyn almost missed what Mother was saying.

“I was a little worried about side effects from placing your mana inside of the egg, but it looks like there is nothing physically wrong with you. All the bits seem to be where they should be. Tell me little one, what do you remember?”

Rosalyn flashed back to the pain when the lance of power pierced her chest and Mother let out a sigh that vibrated the air around Rosalyn’s head. “I do regret that. I destroyed the lich after he wounded you, but in the end we were unable to save you as you were and left with no choice. I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry.” Thinking through what Mother was saying, the gears in Rosalyn’s head started turning and several dots starting connecting to one another. “Serena? Mother? I’m a whelp?” she tried to ask, but once again all that came out was a confused GRONK noise. “Yes, dearest. You are now a very fine whelp, very adorable if I must say so. I do have good genes! A baby dragon, my baby to be precise!” Mother… no… Serena had a proud look on her face as she craned her head off to the side to speak with someone Rosalyn couldn’t quit make out, but quickly turned her attention back to her before more than a moment.

She sat there in a daze while the dragon fawned over her and oohed and aahed. She wasn’t human? She was a dragon? A dragon made out of a human’s mana? Taking a deep breath and looking down to inspect herself she was surprised to see three fingered claws covered in snow white scales instead of the hands and feet that she remembered. Turning her head around to her backside she saw and a short stubby tail covered in the same pure white scales... and wings! She had wings! Standing up clumsily to a surprised gasp from Moth… Serena, Rosalyn flapped them experimentally but was unable to achieve lift. “Darn. Flying sounded like fun.” She tried to say once again only for a disappointed GRONK to escape from her throat. Serena…her… mother… let out a soft chuckle watching her attempt at flight. Sitting down once again in disappointment, Rosalyn thought about what Mothe… Serena… Going a bit cross-eyed at her brain’s betrayal, Rosalyn raised her head up and screamed “Screw it! If my brain wants to call her Mama then I will call her Mama! I might as well embrace this nonsense!” Of course, the only sound that came out was another angry GRONK.

“Your thoughts are so all over the place. It is endearing.” Flinching at the statement, Rosalyn looked at her and thought, “Mama? Can you hear me?”

Mama, as she had decided to call her as her brain seemed incapable of calling her Serena, let out a squee hearing her think that. ”Oh! You called me Mama! Yes dearest, I can hear you. You should be able to vocalize eventually, but until then I can still hear you. You seem to have imprinted on me properly as well. I know that might be a little weird for someone in your position, but trust me it is perfectly natural.”

“I probably shouldn’t have, but I grabbed the mana in your body… the one that was dying that is… and I transferred it into the egg and used it as the ‘spark’ of life to kick start the gestation process. Neither Cham or I are sure if we did the right thing, but we both came to the conclusion that having you alive to hate us for doing this to you is better than you being dead.”

“Hearing you think, everything seems like it mostly worked. I must say that I am glad, and we only have one more thing to do before I take you to see Cham.” Hearing the familiar name, Rosalyn perked up and stared at her new mother. Whispering so softly to herself that Rosalyn was almost unsure that she was speaking she said, “I name thee… … …in the tongue of dragons.” Rosalyn, who felt like her entire brain was once again going cross-eyed, was able only to hear a strange scratching noise when Mama spoke the name as the same electric jolt from earlier ran through her mind. Looking down at her, Mama let out a soft chuckle at the look of confusion on her face, “Do not worry, that is not for you to know right now. A dragon’s name, their true name, has power. Your old name is plenty fine for us to keep using for now. I will tell you more when you are older and can defend yourself.”

Unsure about what was happening to herself, but not really seeing anything she could do about the situation she nodded her head in confirmation and suddenly felt very tired. Almost as if she had ran a hundred miles in the span of the few minutes since she had… hatched? Sitting down groggily, she let out a sleepy GRONK as one of her Mama’s massive claws came down to stroke her gently. Closing her eyes in unexpected joy, she started to uncontrollably purr and the sound only deepened as the appendage stroking her changed after a brief pause to a slim, soft hand. Opening one eye sleepily, she looked up and saw a silver haired woman leaning over her singing softly as she gently scooped Rosalyn into her lap.

“Mama? I have a question.” Rosalyn thought as she valiantly fought sleep. The silver haired woman smirked and said “Of course, dear.”

“Can we stay like this for a while? This is nice.”

Abbess Sarah Longchild felt like she had aged ten years in the last two months. Her field operatives had been dealing with ever bolder cultist activity and they had received no additional word from Sister Chamuhua past her initial report on the attack and potential loss of the phylactery. Shuddering at the thought of what the cultists would unleash if it had truly fallen into their hands she took a sip of her rapidly cooling tea. Staring bitterly out the window she again lamented the loss of the simple life she had enjoyed before rising to her current position during the Dead War more than a decade ago.

“Where are you Cham?”

As if an answer sent by the Divine herself, a knock came at the Abbess’ office door, and a young blonde man dressed in a cleric’s habit walked inside carrying a sealed letter. “Ahh, Carl. It isn’t like you to barge into my office like that. What news do you bring me?”

“It is a letter from the Justicar, ma’am. I thought you would want to read it immediately.” Standing up out of her chair at the news Abbess Longchild rushed to the other side of the room and all but snatched the letter from her waiting secretary’s hands.

Scanning over it quickly, her features grew darker and darker as she read the accounting of what had happened deep under the earth in that Divine-forsaken cave. While she did take great pleasure to hear that the lich that had ransacked Cham’s home had met his end, even if the exact details were left a bit vague in the letter, it was incredibly distressing to hear about this new creature that had attacked and gotten away with the prize.

Sighing tiredly, the Abbess sat back down behind her desk and re-read the note once more, this time analyzing it for details she had missed the first time. As she did her face contorted into a frown that morphed into a full blown scowl.

“Carl, what is this gauntlet that Cham keeps mentioning?”