Ascent of a Dragon

Excellent! A small thud resounds within a pitch black cave. Wonderful! A louder thunk echoes forth, followed shortly by a clatter and a crack Ouch! Crack, thud, crack... flop. Wahaha, perfect! I have finally escaped that dark and sticky prison, as expec-wait... It's just more darkness... Dammit, who designed this place?!

Bah well! No use moping in the dark. Let's take stock of things. A small figure fumbles out of a shattered egg into the darkness, bumping and scratching into obstacles, letting out tiny yelps and squeaks with each impact. First things first, a head count! Me! Good good, that's everyone.

And now for the more important questions. Where am I? What am I? Who am I? No, seriously, what is my name? I mustn't remember. Why?! Memories memories... I have none! Or rather, I have a bunch, but none about me! Little patters of feet softly echo, followed by a flop and a grunt. More of a squeal really. Still though, I need a name. Something memorable, something grand which can live up to my inevitable greatness!

The figure stands tall, then flops back down again. Dammit! Why is standing so hard?! Who's idea was it to put these heavy things on my back? Gah, screw it, my glorious name can come later. Right now I need to figure out WHAT I am.

Body strewn across the floor, the figure begins to systematically tense each muscle. Four limbs twitch in sequence Legs, followed by the jittering of two large coats of leathery fabric Wings. Bone clatters together, sound echoing across the room Teeth. Finally, a long, malleable appendage wiggles itself behind the figure Tail? Something feels odd about this one...

... I'm a lizard aren't I... No wait, wings. So I'm a dragon? DAMMIT! That's worse! Shadowy bastard dares to turn me into one of these village burning, overeating, good-for-nothings?! I'll show him... her? It, whatever! The dragon flails about, tail slapping the ground in frustration as the wings flap wildly.

Calming down, the dragon takes a seated posture and huffs. Hmm... You know what? Screw shadowy dude! I'ma be the coolest damn dragon it's ever seen! That'll show it. With a resolute nod, the dragon stands up on its four feet and begins inspecting itself further.

Next order of business, gender! Scratching a claw, nowhere in particular, the dragon tilts its head in confusion. Nothing... Does that mean girl? Do dragons in this world even have a gender? Whatever, we'll just say girl. It's close enough.

The dragon then flexes her claws, scratching at the nearby rocks. Weapons check! I have claws, very nice, very nice. Placing a claw between her Jaws she begins nibbling at it. Teeth, very sharp, very nice. She then begins to wrap her tail around herself, once, twice... Why is it so long?! This thing is so getting in the way of literally everything! Seriously who designed this thing? They deserve a demotion!

With a sigh, the dragon flops back down in defeat. Wings? Whatever, they're not in the way (much) and I can't exactly test them when I can't see, so I'll figure those out later. I guess that brings me back to my first problem then. A name! How about Draggy?

Draggy bounces up and begins to explore the darkness. Knowing her body better helps her keep balance, but does nothing to stop her bumping into every rock and wall in the area. Thankfully, Draggy's scales seem to be doing a decent job absorbing the impacts without injury, but that's hard to really gauge without actually seeing the damage on them.

Hmm, no. What was I even thinking? Draggy? What a stupid name! I can do better than that. Something cool, epic, with a lot of deep meaning. I've got it! I'll name myself Godslayer! Hmm, yes perfect. Powerful and unique, with much deep meaning I'm sure.

Godslayer waddles forward, the lack of collisions indicating she's reached some kind of clearing. Out of the corner of her eye she spots a faint white light for but a moment before it disappears. Tilting in confusion, before shaking her head Godslayer moves forward. Hmmm... maybe a bit too on the nose though. Godslayer sounds cool sure, and lives up to my standards, but it's more of a title isn't it? Maybe one I can earn? I'll have to kill a few gods, but that's no biggie really. Maybe something cute, like... Lily?

Moving forward, Lily? discovers a soft patch of ground. Leaning down to investigate Lily? gives the surface a quick sniff. Yes. This is moss. Very mossy indeed. Lily though? Cute sure, but if I turn out to be a guy later on it'll be awkward as hell. Not that I really care, but still. I'm better off thinking of something androgynous. Maybe a concept, or some kind of cool natural formation? If you can name your kids Hope then I can name myself Nebula or something!

But then what would work? Tentails? I only have one though. Light? I'm not much of a bookworm. Yeagar? Nah, too big. Dwarf in the flask? I'm not short! You are!

The terribly indecisive dragon lays herself down on a particularly comfy patch of moss to relax. Can dragons eat moss? No, let's just... not go there. I don't care if I can, I won't!

Well, when all else fails, go with math! How about a number? Something big... I could just go with Infinity I guess? Infinity scratches idly at the moss in front of her. No, too much. I'll just be called arrogant if I name myself that. How about something more obscure like Aleph Null? Sure it's two words, but I've heard of people with a dozen names in one so I'm justified having two. It's only the smallest infinity, which makes it perfectly humble just like me!

Aleph Null gives herself a satisfied nod. Hm, yes. This is the name for me. I can go by just Aleph, which rolls off the tongue nicely and has plenty of nickname material for my many friends to use... When I get them. Having finally decided on a name for herself, Aleph gives her body a good stretch, followed by a long yawn... Or rather, a squeal. Resting her snout on the pillowy moss below, she coils up and relaxes.

Man. Naming things is tiring. I suppose just having been born may have something to do with it, but still. Sleeeep... She thinks to herself as she slowly surrenders herself to the comforting abyss of slumber.

After what felt like hours of comfy, mossy, rest Aleph stirs awake. Granted, in this dark cave with no way to tell time it could have been a few minutes... or days. Giving herself a nice long stretch and a flap of her wings, Aleph stands ready for the day? Night? Whatever, she stands up.

Fuaaa, another perfect rest! Or wait... That was technically the first time I've ever slept, so... Eh whatever. Opening her eyes, Aleph takes in the grand view of absolutely nothing within the pitch black cave. Haaah... Well there goes my theory of it just being a really dark night...

Come on, surely the shadowy bastard didn't just leave me in a pitch black cave with no way to see right? Do I use another sense maybe? Echolocation? Aleph closes her eyes and focuses her hearing. The cave is silent save for a faint dripping and distant chittering. Tapping a nearby rock with her claws she listens as the clack reverberates through the cave.

Hm yes, I gained nothing from that. The sound of water is pretty nice though. I am pretty thirsty... And hungry. Not sure I want to follow that other sound though, sounds gross. Still though, none of this helps me see. Do i maybe use another sense? Smell? Touch? Am I missing some kind of instinct for this?

Actually, wait... Do I have ANY instincts for this body? Everything has been pretty hands on so far. No odd feelings, no automatic tail swishing, I don't even have any weird cravings... Does that shadowy bastard seriously expect me to figure this stuff out myself? This better not be one of those magic sense things, I'm not even attuned! Least it could have done was to give me eyes that could damn well do something in the place I was born!

Slamming her tail on the ground in frustration, Aleph wobbles herself towards the dripping sound. Haah, no use complaining about it. I'll just hope this place is an exception and everywhere else has some kind of bioluminescent moss or something.

I suppose one thing I haven't considered is that my eyes simply don't work. I thought I saw a light earlier, but I could be mistaken. Or going insane? Nah, no way. Either way though, I do have eyes so surely they're good for something. Maybe if I can figure out this worlds magic system I can make myself glow? That is, if it actually has one... Worst case I'll just have to tap into the pure energies early, but I'd rather have some kind of head start on that.

As she gets used to her new body Aleph begins to stumble less. Using her front feet to probe the ground in front of her and avoid obstacles she manages to find the source of the dripping in good time, albeit with a mild headache from the endless stalagmites assaulting her snout.

Sniffing around in search Aleph flinches back as her nose is assaulted by a sudden cold. Huachuu! Eughh... Water in your nose is the worst, no matter what species. Huh, wonder what I was before... No! Not important, water comes first!

Holding out her tongue she laps down the slowly dripping water, patiently taking in her fill. Fuaaa sweet hydration. No more complaining Aleph, only optimist Aleph here. First order of optimistic business? Food! I'm starving! Haven't had a bite to eat my whole life! Let's fix that.

Giving the air a solid sniff Aleph begins the search for sustenance. Hmm yes I have a good sense of smell. Would help if I knew what any of these scents actually were, but oh well. Aimless wandering for me then.

With a determined huff and a stretch of her wings Aleph picks a random direction and strides, somehow not immediately colliding head first into a wall. Hm, this is going well. If things keep up like this then who knows, maybe I'll even find some friends in this dark and moldy cave.

That determination was short lived however, as one wet rock would seek to prove to the world. Finding herself now careening down a dark tunnel with no sense of up or down Aleph sequentially lists off every curse word she knows, and a few more, before slamming to the ground with a fwomp.

Uuuuuuugh... right in the... everything. Good thing I landed on this soft, warm, scaly floor though. Could have been a lot worse. The floor vibrates as a low hiss reverberates through the room. Oh... Um, hmm... Maybe it's friendly?