Beginning

This was originally the second entry of
'The Legend of Kissalena'
but it didn't really fit.
If you've already read it - sorry!

She floated outside time; with no way to measure it or care if it passed. She had no concept of self and therefore no need to clutch at each passing moment or label it; time was meaningless.

Now, was - and would always be, 'now' - how could it be otherwise?

Awareness arrived piece by piece as her senses emerged from hibernation. Unconnected random thoughts sparkled like fireworks - a flare of insight instantly lost to the dark, as the spark that spawned it withered. Her first conscious thought was to wonder at the sound:

Thub
Thump
Thub
Thump

Thick liquid swirled all around her. It filled her mouth, her nose, blurred her vision and muffled her ears until her surroundings appeared to shift and sway, hopelessly out of focus. It was peaceful to hang suspended; no cares or fears. To exist without hunger or thirst, safe in her own strange little world. Time passed and her thoughts cleared; sharpened.


Encountering an obstacle confounded her. Had she been moving? Was this some vast ocean and she a piece of flotsam at the will of the current? But no, it was all around her; her limitless universe had a shell, a wall that enclosed her. Had her world shrunk or had her body grown vast? How would she know?

Could she stop this compression, return to... before? Time now held her in its grasp: she wanted the past, feared for the future. 'Now' was transient - worse it was out-with her control.

The walls closed in, with only her heart beat to measure the passage of time her brain battled with concepts newly gained or dimly remembered. Nothing she could do or think changed her plight. The barrier closed in, and the ocean drained until she lay curled tight; unable to stretch her limbs or lift her head.

When would this end? How long could she survive trapped in this shrinking prison? The walls grew tighter, hardening. Bracing her limbs she heaved, screaming at the pointlessness of her actions. Kicking and clawing she surrendered to panic.

"Let me out!"
"let...
"Me...
"OUT...

She began to move; rocking back and forth. With each strike of her limbs the sensation increased until she swung within a pendulum. She leaned into the next swing; teetered for a moment then the whole structure crashed down.

Her cell struck some unseen surface with a deafening crash. On its side it began to rock and swivel. Battered by the fall she endured the motion still trapped in a foetal ball. Her eyes focused on the surface achingly close to her eyes; cracks. Fracture lines radiated out from the point of impact. Drawing in a deep shuddering breath she opened her mouth to tear at the barrier with her teeth; ramming her head, her face, mindlessly against the weak point.

At first the cracks merely widened. Then a tiny section tore free to fall from sight and a blinding glare knifed down, burning her eyes. Fresh air bathed her face; helping to clear her mind and dispel the panic.

"I can do this..."

Closing her eyes she tucked her chin tight to her body and butted hard. Breached now, the walls collapsed in fragments and she pitched face first onto the ground. Surrounded by the remains of her exhausted egg sac the little dragon lifted her head and scented the air: Freedom.

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