My first awareness was of an immense, shadowed cavern, where stalactites of varying lengths depended precariously from the unseen ceiling.
Abruptly, heralded by a subterranean tremor, a slender icicle of stone fractured and plummeted, its descent culminating upon the uniquely contoured, metre-high oval of my own shell.
A sharp, cracking resonance, and the stalactite shattered into myriad fragments.
Clearly, this egg, my egg, possessed considerable resilience.
In close proximity, a collection of other eggs lay in an orderly arrangement, diverse in their specific kind yet comparable in magnitude, stacked neatly upon a conical cairn of stones.
Then, another tremor coursed through the earth, and from the cavern's distant corner, a behemoth materialized.
Its form, hundreds of metres in stature, was extraordinarily majestic, its entirety swathed in dark crimson, rhomboid scales.
Each ponderous step of its massive hind limbs sent reverberations throughout the cavern.
Its thick, elongated tail trailed in its wake, casually sweeping aside and pulverizing any stones that dared impede its path.
A pair of robust arms hung, swinging with natural grace at its sides, imbued with an aura of infinite power, their sharp claws like honed blades.
Its leathern wings were veiled in a layer of fine, ruddy scales.
Upon its short, powerful neck rested a head, similarly adorned with crimson scales.
Its protruding jaws housed a formidable array of sharp teeth, and the very breath it exhaled, so torrid, visibly distorted the ambient air.
Crowning its head was a pair of backward-curving, spiralled horns, and beneath them, a pair of dazzling, aureate pupils sparkled with profound wisdom.
Upon entering the cavern, this colossal being proceeded directly to the repository of eggs.
"Hmm... I wonder if any little ones are impatient to emerge and behold this world!"
Murmuring thus to itself, the behemoth halted beside the stone pile.
Though termed a murmur, the sound was, in truth, astonishingly resonant, causing even the stalactites above to quiver.
Yet, paradoxically, her voice bore no resemblance to her terrifying and ferocious appearance; indeed, it possessed an inexplicably mellifluous quality.
Gazing down at the eggs below, which to her were no larger than pebbles, the behemoth lowered its massive frame, bringing its luminous golden pupils closer.
Though her countenance could sculpt no expression save for ferocity, it conveyed an impression of gentle solemnity.
"Ah! By the Creation Dragon, there are actually five small fledglings this time!"
As she spoke, the scorching breath emanating from her maw wafted over the eggs upon the stone cairn.
The aura, potent enough to distort the surrounding air, felt like naught but a gentle zephyr to these nascent lives, having no discernible impact.
After a careful observation, she selected the five eggs she had identified from the pile, placing them upon the cavern floor.
Then, she descended, her eyes suffused with keen anticipation as she regarded them.
"Er... where am I?"
As I opened my eyes, naught but an inky void met my gaze, bewilderment flickering within my own dazzling, golden vertical pupils.
So confined!
As I stirred, this singular sensation crystallized in my mind.
I was, it seemed, enveloped by something.
Suddenly, my pupils contracted sharply, and then, a deluge of memories inundated my consciousness.
Contemplating these alien yet strangely familiar recollections, a multitude of questions surged within me.
"What are those animate things?"
"They are humans!" a voice, profound and resonant, answered.
"The four-legged ones as well?"
"Nay! Those are canids!"
"And those quadrangular objects that ambulate?"
"Those are automobiles!"
"What of the stationary quadrangular structures?"
"Edifices!"
One by one, queries bloomed in my mind, and a mysterious, paternal voice furnished the answers.
Gradually, a world brimming with novelty and peril unfurled within my psyche.
It was a realm dominated by a species called humans, populated by a diverse array of other creatures, and the myriad contrivances of human ingenuity.
So...
"Is that the world beyond? Once I emerge, will I inhabit such a realm?"
"Nay, that was *my* world.
Your world, you must discover for yourself!"
"Who are you?"
"I? I am your progenitor, your sire!"
"Where are you? Why can I not perceive you?"
"I reside amidst the astral tapestry, in the starry expanse.
If you wish to behold me, you must rely upon your own strength!"
"The starry expanse? What manner of place is that?"
"Stand upon the earth, cast your gaze heavenward, and that which you behold is the starry sky!"
"Why do you dwell there?"
"We hail from the cosmos; the starry sky is our aspiration, our ambition, our future, and our ancestral home.
We are the Celestial Dragons of the Starry Expanse; the cosmos itself is the emblem of our liberty, thus we are born unto freedom! Remember your name, Falbule Vet! Remember... I shall await you in the empyrean!"
"Starry expanse... freedom..."
I softly echoed these two words, my luminous golden vertical pupils glinting with a light men called dreams.
Suddenly, a delicate, fracturing resonance reached my ears!
"Du Ao!"
Accompanied by a nascent, guttural cry, a small, golden life—I—descended into this world!
Then... I turned my head and commenced gnawing upon my eggshell!
Beside me, a diminutive wyrmling, cloaked in Crimson Crystals, swallowed audibly at the sight, then tentatively approached me, the small golden one.
However, a sudden gust of wind overturned this little creature enrobed in Crimson Crystals!
A deafening sound followed.
"Nay! Billy! That is not yours!"
The wyrmling clad in Crimson Crystal, Billy, reluctantly withdrew his gaze upon hearing this admonition.
He noted that I, the Golden Dragon, regarded him with a hint of animosity, and appraising my robust physique, Billy sagely retreated a few paces.
According to his inherited memories, this golden counterpart, designated a Gold Dragon, was a draconic type known for its brawn over intellect.
What a pity, I mused, that none of the four who had emerged were of the same lineage!
Thinking this, Billy glanced at the other two hatchlings who, alerted by the noise, had turned their attention, and then focused on the final, yet-to-emerge companion.
Hopefully, a kinsman would issue forth!
However, as his gaze fell upon the silver-sheened eggshell, he sighed with helpless resignation.
If his inherited memories served him correctly, the occupant of that egg was more closely related by blood to the golden Ao beside it than to himself.
Suddenly, a cracking sound pierced the air.
Five pairs of eyes instantly converged upon the sole remaining intact eggshell on the cavern floor.
Amidst these expectant gazes, the eggshell did indeed fracture, but the silver wyrmling that emerged merely glanced at us before commencing to eat on its own, evincing no inclination whatsoever to communicate.
Observing this, the affection in Winters' gaze instantly transmuted.
"Wyrmfiend!"