Snippet #1872300

The air was warm, suffocatingly warm, and Kivan couldn't breathe. His hands clutched at his throat and found gills had burst from his skin. Concentrating he tried to absorb the gills so he could use his lungs. They wouldn't recede though, and he began to grope around in the haze for water. Eyes were next to useless in the steamy fog and all his hands could feel was a doughy ground. There! He felt a liquid. He put his face into it and inhaled before gagging on the foul, sweet taste. He could breath it, but just barely. He started to feel woozy and slumped over in the unbearable heat, blacking out.

Kivan woke slowly. His whole body felt wierd and sluggish. The nearest feeling to this sensation was the numbness induced by Lagaba berries. When he stood up a wave of dizziness washed over him. Wobbling a bit, he examined where he was. The room he was in was small, barren and pretty dark except for- Retha! He rushed over to his creature and found she was sleeping deeply. Her glowing patterns were dim, which worried him. Putting his head up to her chest, he listened for a heartbeat. It came slow and loud, like the booming of distant thunder. She is going to be okay. Healthwise, at least. What's going to happen to us in the long run? Why are we here?

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Tha-boom...Tha-boom...Tha-boom... The heart pounded. The little, not fully developed creature could hear the heart that pumped blood through its carrier's veins. Its own tiny organ was trying to match the pace with the larger heart in its beats. Tha-boom. It was a calming lullaby, one that made the small creature want to stay in the dark, fluid filled place forever. But the place had other ideas for it. Slowly yet steadily the little creature was pushed into another chamber. In this one the heart's comforting noise was diminished. This saddened the tiny creature and it squirmed uncomfortably. It's underdeveloped limbs soon tired though and it had to rest. When it woke from its not-quite-sleep it tried to move into a better position to hear the heart beat. It found that it was stuck in a hard casing and it could barely hear the coursing of the heart at all. Muscles began to push the creature further from the heart, farther from its solace. It wanted to get out of the casing- the word egg came to mind, one of the few the creature could comprehend at the moment- but it was too late. The egg-cased creature discovered the weakness in its own limbs and resolved to grow stronger to break free and return to the place of the heartsong.

Retha awoke from her dream. It was as vivid as the one of her parents but had a different feeling, a feeling of losing something and the determination to regain it. After stretching she examined where she was at. What am I doing in a small, dank room? The only source of light in the gloom was her own lit skin. "Kivan?" she said in a querying tone.

"I'm here, Retha. I am glad you are alright." was his reply. She stiffly walked over to her human and sat down beside him. The same question was running through both of their minds: Why are we here?

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"Who the hell are you?" the girl, Isabelle, asked. She seemed anxious and nervous. Why shouldn't she be? Here was a man she had never met before who possibly wanted to adopt her. Seboro wondered what was going through her mind. A small grin flitted across his face for a moment. Honest, check. Or at least not afraid to speak her mind, which is similar. Glancing at the girl's creature he though, A creature who can fight, check. Or at least it looked like it. Maybe the lion was a pacifist? No, the way it was standing didn't make it seem so. The creature looked like it was made of tough stuff.

"I'm Seboro Naykodin," he introduced himself, doing his best to put on a mask of hope with a tinge of sadness. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. Please be cooperative, girl. He couldn't let himself think of the girl as Isabelle. What was going to be done to her could possibly be too terrible for him to grow attached to her. "Recently my daughter died in a boat accident along with her creature. She was about your age." He paused, took a deep breath, let his body tremble a little, and went on. "My wife has been mourning since then and came to me saying that she had a dream of our daughter's spirit. The spirit said she would be happier if we were happy and suggested having another daughter. My wife decided that she would like to adopt an older girl, one around our late daughter's age. I agreed. Would you and your creature like to come with me to my home and meet my wife and see if you would like to become a part of our family?" Finally his speech was over with. How would the girl react? He noted her burying her fingers in her creature's fur. So they have a close bond. Good. They'll need it. He thought back to the more coarse way one of his co-workers subdued the other pair. Seboro desperately hoped her wouldn't have to resort to such measures. Come on girl, just go with me. For your sake and your creature's. He watched her as he waited for her to reply.