Akilatjin knew herself to be the descendent of a rather powerful Ferric Dragon. One of the benefits of her draconic bloodline was that she inherited many of the memories of her matriarchal ancestors. They came as images usually, so some of their knowledge didn't translate, but it gave her a sense of who she was. Or at least, who she was supposed to be.

Initially she was only aware of the space she occupied, the world was literally her body. Over several months that awareness spread to cover the entirety of the inside of her egg. During that time she had been unaware of the passage of time, but once she had unlocked her mother's memories she had been able to go back and put meaning behind her earliest moments.

It wasn't for another few months that she was able to extend her senses to cover an area around her egg. By that time, something must have happened, because she was not in her mothers nest, the one she had memories of her assembling. Instead she was being carried inside a literal sack. That lasted for a few days, during which she was able to discern that she was being carried by some kind of humanoid. She didn't have a name for this kind of creature yet.

Then she found her egg being sucked into some kind of golden contraption. When she first sensed it, she discovered a hunger that she hadn't known existed. She wanted to devour the piece of metal, but found herself unable to move much. This was the first time she really understood that she had a body, and the limitations it was currently under. Previously, her mind hadn't really made a distinction between her physical self and the rest of the organic substance that made up the egg.

Before she could do anything with this newfound realization, she found her thoughts being smothered. Time lost all meaning, and her awareness shrank to nothing. She had no way to measure how long she was in that state, but then just as suddenly her thoughts returned and her senses took in everything they could. She was surrounded by several humanoids of various types now. Two presences were decidedly more vivid in her awareness, while the others barely registered. It wasn't just about size, although they were smaller, the other two individuals had a vibrancy to their energy cores that the smaller ones lacked.

Once again she found herself drawn into that golden prison, her thoughts and senses suppressed. When she returned the next time, things had changed yet again. The next few hours were a confusing time. One of the two intense individuals had disappeared, and there were strange and powerful energies that surrounded her and sought to enter the fortress that was her egg. Then she sensed what she originally thought was the other individual returning.

It only took her a moment to discover her error. The invasive force surrounding her was having an effect on the clarity of her perception, but this person's energy had a very distinct flavor, and it also had an intensity that the other did not. It wasn't the strength of it, that was lesser, the difference was something she didn't have a word for yet.

The new more powerful presence eliminated the lesser ones around it in turn before facing off against the other strong individual. There was some back and forth, but finally the newcomer overcame the older being. Afterwards it started probing at the constricting and invasive forces assaulting Akilatjin. Soon it forced a terrible breakdown in the energy webs and then she felt her home rising. Hands caressed her briefly and then she felt herself flying through the air.

An instinct pushed her to spread her wings to catch the air and allow her to escape. Reality intruded once more and yet again she was forced to acknowledge that she didn't have that much control over her body. Instead she could only watch as her home descended for the hard ground. At the last moment those same hands that had thrust her into the sky, caught her and cushioned her landing.

Shortly afterwards she was once again having her thoughts restricted and reality seemed to blink. This time when she regained her awareness she was in a very different place. The environment itself felt much more welcoming, the ambient energy contained an encouraging sense of growth. Once more there were two presences, one of which was the newer strange being that had taken her. The other individual was nothing like what she had seen before.

It was bright and pure in its energy. If she had to describe it, she would call it joy. For a moment she almost thought she could sense its thoughts. Then she became aware of forces building around her. Another web of magical energy lines surrounded her. Whereas the previous encounter with such forces had felt like being roasted in a fire of filth, this felt more like a bath of cathartic caresses. There were also tendrils trying to press in on her like before, but these were more of a conversation whereas the previous web had been a lecture.

The presence that had created the magic lingered for a while, but soon enough it moved away. By now she was able to sense her surroundings within almost fifty meters, and the being left that area and didn't return. Akilatjin was left with only the joyful individual she had found when she awoke this time. It stepped carefully through the surrounding webs and then she felt a pressure on her shell. It lingered for a few moments and then it moved away and left her radius of perception. Its departure triggered a new feeling to spread through her awareness. It took her several minutes to determine it was loneliness.

Hours passed before she felt any other being. It was the joyful presence again. It didn't stay long, and then once more she was left by herself. It was long enough this time that she finally accepted her pitiful state, and determined to do something about it, she started to study everything within her awareness. The intense scan began with the most important place, her own body. Some of the energy from the surrounding web had started to seep into the egg and had entered her form. There wasn't any noticeable change being caused by it, other than the foul feeling she got from the presence of a foreign essence.

As she gradually expanded her search she found a welcome surprise. The cursed golden prison was missing, which was a good thing, but she was reminded of the hunger she had felt upon realizing its presence. Instead of that conscious stealing piece, she found a new source of metal in the shell surrounding her. Her developing body had formed a stomach, and she felt an ache inside of it. Her mouth wasn't close enough to reach it, so she started consuming the material separating her from the ferrous treat.

Her digestive system, while present, was currently tiny, so she had filled her belly after a single bite. This forced her to wait until it was digested before she could take another. It took several hours before she had made a noticeable difference in the distance between her and the shell. She would have contentedly continued her consumption, but once again she felt joyful energy approaching.

Rather than briefly hanging around before abandoning her again, it kept approaching. This time it came all the way to the edge of the web, and then seemed to settle down. Hours and hours passed and she felt comforted by its presence. Finally it stirred, and she felt thoughts seeking her out, but she was unable to comprehend them. After several minutes, the presence once again left her alone, and she resumed her journey though the energy rich albumen around her.

For days her life consisted of this routine. The air around her would warm slightly, which a search of her inherited memories suggested was day, and the other being would leave her, returning occasionally until the air cooled, signalling night. Then it would lay nearby, reminding her that she was not alone.

Then one morning, something changed. Whether it was because her mind had developed enough or the magical web had somehow changed her, Akilatjin was finally able to hear the joyful presence.

"Goodmorning little one, I hope you have a wonderful day."

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Somehow she could not only hear the words, but she understood them. She tried sending a message back, but it didn't appear to work as the presence once again left her alone. Instead of eating her way to the beckoning metallic barrier, she focused on her thoughts and tried to project them, wanting to be able to touch the other presence if it returned. For most of her experiments, she had no one to receive her messages, but every time the sense of joy returned, she pushed out as hard as she could. All day long she failed to elicit a response, but she continued undaunted. That evening she rested.

In the morning she was greeted again. "Good morning little one, may this day bring you happiness."

Using every ounce of mental energy she had, she directed a simple message at the core of the being across from her. "Hello"

The presence shifted, she detected an increase in its intensity. "Did you answer me?"

Joy, now her own, suffused her being. She had been heard! She directed her thoughts again.

"Hello!" It wasn't creative, but it was all she could think of for the moment.

"Are you okay?" There was a note of concern and doubt in their sending.

"Yes!" Not only could she not develop a more complex response, but her energy was rapidly waning.

The other being's response was lost as blackness consumed her. It wasn't like the compressive force of the hated gold that inhibited her thoughts and senses, instead it was simple exhaustion. By the time she had recovered, she was alone again. Akilatjin debated trying to communicate when it returned at night, but her energy reserves were still low. She spent the night eating her surroundings, not to reach the shell this time, but instead simply trying to restore her resources.

That morning she reached out before the other presence did. "Good morning."

This time the individual's core exploded with energy. "You really can hear me!"

She was barely able to answer it again to confirm, before she felt herself losing consciousness again. She hadn't fully depleted herself and was able to will her senses to remain active, but further communication was impossible. Over the next few days she was able to dramatically increase her endurance. It was in large part due to her allowing more of the energy of the web to infuse her and her egg.

During her moment of weakness, as she used everything she could to stave off the blackness, she touched upon the well of foreign energy that had been creeping into her. It was like a jolt of power, and it allowed her to keep herself aware. After that she had started accepting more and more of that energy into her domain, it would be her own personal battery.

After she was able to send more than one or two words at a time, she was able to learn the name of the welcoming presence. 'Two Socks' was the words, but they came with images and impressions that she was still trying to parse through. She didn't share her own name, to a Dragon, names had power, but she allowed Two Socks to call her 'Little One'.

Over the next month it shared more about the world around them, and itself. After the first week it also started telling her about the presence that had placed her in this web. It didn't give a name, but it was very sure that its intentions were good. The energy she was stealing from the web was also encouraging her to look favorably on this individual.

"TS, why do you keep talking about this individual?" She asked. Akilatjin had shortened the wolf's name to conserve energy.

"He took me in when I was lost and young, and my life has been changed for the better because of him."

She had to admit, the combined onslaught of positive pressure from her only two inputs was working, until the pain began, that was. Her body was now full of the web's magic and the invading energy started changing her. It wasn't her mind that was affected, it was modifying her actual body and the energy conduits that ran through it. This did not seem to be a beneficial change as the metamorphosis left her nerves on fire. Acting out of instinct, she started to eat more of the material around her. When she reached the shell, she was able to scrape a little of it off, a spicy and sweet flavor melted over her tongue, and it briefly distracted her from the agony. All day and all night, for three days she scraped more and more of the shell into her mouth. Rather than focusing in one spot, she crawled her way around the whole surface, unknowingly reducing the barrier surrounding her.

Finally the web freed her from the pain and the change was complete. She couldn't properly describe how she differed from her previous body, but she felt both lesser and more at the same time. When she came to, she found a second presence beside TS. It was nowhere near as strong as any she had sensed before, but it seemed to be linked with her friend. It was the first time she thought of the other being that way, but it felt right.

While trying to explain what had happened to her, Akilatjin finally revealed her name. TS was indeed her friend and could be trusted, or so she told herself. As an unhatched dragonling, she didn't have the vocabulary to explain the changes, and TS had no experience with which to draw on to even make an attempt at understanding. Still he was a comfort.

"I am sorry for whatever it was that happened to you little Aki, hopefully my friend will return soon and I just know he will make you better."

She felt a warm feeling at the wolf's use of a nickname for her. It made her feel closer to him. "How can you be sure he will help? What if he is the one who caused this?"

"He wouldn't do such a thing. I know he will help because he has done it before. I was injured once, and he used his powers to make me all better."

It was comforting to think that this other being might not be as bad as she thought. That was probably a bad sign, indicating that both her friend and this constricting array of magic were affecting her thinking, but she couldn't hold it against TS.

Once again the routine began, building her energy all day and then spending the night scraping layers of iron off the shell along with the more organic parts of it. In the morning she communicated with TS. She had originally tried to talk to the other, lesser presence, but gave up after repeated failures. It just didn't seem to have the mental energy necessary for this type of speech.

Then one day, a third presence arrived. It had finally happened. The being who TS and the magical web wanted her to think well of was back. It spent some time with TS, and the sense of joy from her friend skyrocketed. She experienced a bitter feeling that she eventually identified as jealousy before the presence moved closer to her. It wasn't fair that this thing was able to touch her friend and she was not. Then it placed its hands on her shell, first one and then the other.

Finally, it laid its head on her egg and she could sense some of its feelings. Overriding everything else was a sense of purpose, or duty, but there were also other emotions below it. Some of that same joy she had felt in her friend, fatigue, humor, and…preparedness. That was a new one. This being was in a constant state of coiled anticipation, waiting to respond to any stimulus. Deep down she also detected an emotion that was directed at her, hope.

She let that feeling wash over her some more. There were more impressions wrapped up in it, anxiety, curiosity, impatience, and a trace of fear. Finally she decided to find out what it wanted with her. She attempted to establish contact. Originally she used longer messages like she and TS had managed to communicate, but it was much harder, and nothing seemed to get through.

It seemed like this thing was unable to hear her. The only way she would be able to determine its intentions was to ask it when she emerged from her egg. It was maddening to live with the uncertainty, but if it was too stupid to hear her, then what else could she do. The shell around her was already starting to thin and break down, and Akilatjin should get her answers one way or another after it broke. Finally she sent out one more thought, a single word, a promise.

"Soon…"

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