Not long after
the jester had fallen to sleep, Aviana had wrapped herself in a blanket and drifted off by the fire, as well. She had intended to crawl back into the bedroll with Kasim, but found that she didn't have the energy to even muster that small effort. So instead, she had curled up on the hearth with the egg.
While they both slept, however, something else awoke.
The precious egg that Aviana had carried with her for weeks
moved. At first, it was a subtle nudge, a slight wriggle. When it rocked a bit more insistently against her stomach, the half-elf blearily opened her eyes.
"Wha-?"
When the egg moved again, she nearly jumped out of her skin and she tossed the blanket away from herself. The streaks of light on the surface of the egg were pulsating in a steady rhythm. For several seconds, all Aviana could do was stare at it in shock, until it moved once more.
It needs the fire.
She wasn't sure how she knew that... she just did. It felt as though the flames were beckoning her towards them. A thrumming beat filled her ears. Unsure was to why she felt so compelled to do so, Aviana gently picked up the egg and carried it over to the fire. The flames were warm, but they weren't hot. They should have burned her arms as she reached into the fire to set the egg down onto the embers.
The moment the egg was placed onto the bed of the fire, the flames shifted to a brilliant shade of blue and grew tremendously. Something tugged inside Aviana. It was obvious that something was happening, but she didn't know what or why. If she had not been in such shock from the rapid change, she might have noticed that the color was the exact same hue as her eyes.
Unbeknownst to her, Aviana had just instigated a long forgotten magic ritual, lost to the sands of time; one that was came with a heavy cost.
Kneeling in front of the flames, she watched in silent fascination as the scales that covered the surface of the egg seemed to ripple and then splinter apart. As the shell came apart, the fire suddenly exploded. The tiny scales that had fallen off the shell embedded themselves into her flesh.
Brilliant blue flames lashed out, ensnaring Aviana and wrapping around her form. The strange tugging sensation from earlier shifted to something else entirely. It felt as though something integral to her very core was being severed and leeched from her every pore; it was vaguely similar to the magic the assassin had used to enchant his blade. The flames forced themselves
into her body, through her mouth and through the cuts left by the scales that had buried beneath her skin. She could feel the searing heat scorching through her veins as it consumed her.
Just as suddenly as the agony began, it stopped. The flames retreated from her, slithering back into the hearth and shifting back to a normal orange and red. Aviana collapsed onto the floor, feeling physically weaker than she'd thought possible. Something as simple as taking a breath was exhausting. But there was something
new within her. That heat had not left her veins, flowing through her like molten silver. There was power in it. She couldn't explain how, but she knew that it was something she had always carried with her. Now, she was simply aware of it.
Her eyes weakly fluttered opened.
"Mngh..."
A rather large charred log in the fire shifted in place and then
opened. Small, leathery wings unfurled; revealing a membrane the color of glowing embers. In the flames, it was difficult to tell whether or not that shimmered like embers too. Something the size of a particularly large cat stumbled out of the fire and onto the hearth in front of Aviana; its wings awkwardly skittering across the stone floor in a ungainly fashion. The body was a sleek obsidian black, that seemed to glitter from the flickering flames behind the creature.
Its reddish-orange eyes locked onto Aviana's blue gaze; and she felt that inexplicable heat surge within her.
The egg had hatched.
