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Marina shivered, cringing as the cold slimy mucus that covered the stone walls stuck to the pads at the bottom of her feet.
Exhausted, beaten and lost Marina couldn’t imagine a worse fate than staying in this dreaded cave system a moment longer. Summoned by the Matriarch to battle, Marina fought until she couldn’t anymore. In the struggle to survive the Empyrian had only managed to hold herself together for just a little longer than the alpha. But thankfully, the brief moment was all she needed to slip away.
“Marina! Come take a look at this!” A familiar voice broke through the silence and echoed through the cavern.
Unfortunately, her brief moment of respite didn’t lead the tyrian back into the open sky. Instead, she was led away by a smaller bug-like creature, a desperate raspy skree beckoning her into a cramped, moist nest of sorts.
“I think this is what that little guy was trying to show us!”
But at the very least, Marina wasn’t alone. Joined by her companion, a chaser by the name of Reese, the pair followed a crying Centiwyrm into the deep. Only stopping once the invertebrate changed course, they watched as it circled one of the thousands of eggs nestled into a shiny blanket of gel and crystals.
“That can’t be it, It looks like any other one of the eggs down here, why would…?”
Marina paused, her eyes widening with shock as she watched Reese jump paws first into the sticky slime without a second thought. Stuck in neck high sludge and grinning ear to ear, the chaser waded through the slop until the egg was in her grasp.
Gently cupping the hardened shell into her paws, the chaser's smile slowly faded. “Somethings wrong,” Reese explained, squinting as she turned the egg over. “It’s not broken anywhere, the baby couldn’t have hatched yet… But the egg feels cold”
Marina wrinkled her nose, feeling uneasy as the Centiwyrm stared unblinkingly at the small vayron holding it’s egg. “Here, give it to me. Let’s see what we can do”
Reaching one wing out to cradle the egg, and the other to lift Reese from the viscous liquid, Marina brought them both back over to the driest patch of stone she could find. Looking over the egg, it seemed nearly identical to the thousands that rested in carefully made nooks.
“I don’t know what's wrong, but let's see if we can try to warm it back up again. Reese, do you have anything we could use to dry it?” Marina scanned the cave, her eyes falling on empty walls. There wasn’t anything down here she could use, Marina just had to hope her friend was more well equipped.
Reese hummed as she dug through a small saddle bag resting on her flank, searching for something she knew wasn’t there. “I don’t think I have any blankets, I was trying to save space for healing potions if anyone else needed an extra”
Still rummaging through bottles and brews, Reese’s expression seemed to flicker with excitement as she abandoned her search. “Here, let me give this a shot”
Laying her wings down as a cushion, Marina gave the egg a safe spot to rest as Reese trotted over next to it. Wrapping her body around the scaled shell, the chaser dabbed up any extra moisture she could using the fur on her tail like a makeshift towel.
“Good thinking” Marina nodded approvingly, double checking that all the gel was cleaned from the egg. “But I don’t think there is much we can do for this egg down here, if we can get it up to the surface… Maybe a cleric or a doctor could help”
Humming thoughtfully, Marina held the egg close to her chest as she slowly stood up. She clamped her teeth around a crystal growing from the ceiling above, breaking it off in one quick motion as she jerked her neck to the side. Placing the glowing mineral in front of Reese, her eyes rested on the saddle bag.
“I think I know how we can get this egg up topside, are you ok with emptying your bag?”
“Let’s do it” Reese smiled, gently pulling sparkling containers from the pouch. Setting all the magical elixirs to the side, she bounded after Marina in her quest to collect as many glowing gems from the well as she could.
Working together, Reese dug through hard earth and Marina sorted through every high shelf until they had enough gems to comfortably nestle the egg.
“These should be enough, bring your bag over here, hopefully this will last the trip”
Marina got to work as Reese held her satchel open, carefully arranging the gems into a bowl-like shape. Holding her breath Marina felt her chest grow warm as she tried to summon her magic. She needed precision and focus, it couldn’t be negligible, but not uncontrolled either.
Clenching her jaw shut, Marina summoned a spark of fire that pushed through her teeth. Brushing the edges of the precious jewels that laced Reeses bag, she attempted to get them warm enough to transfer heat to the egg without causing harm.
“The gems should hold onto enough energy to keep the egg warm. Hopefully long enough for us to reach the surface, but I tried to make sure they aren't too hot” Marina explained, watching warily as Reese placed her paw on the crystals.
“They feel just right,” Reese nodded. “We’re going to make sure this egg gets to the surface in no time, we’ve got you little buddy” The chaser watched as Marina softly placed the egg in the bag, feeling reassured by her company's confidence.
With one last glance back to the Centiwyrm who led them to where they were now, Reese and Marina made one last attempt to let her know it would be ok.
“We’ll do our best, I promise”
And with one final goodbye, the pair left the way they came, this time with a small hope for the future in their bag.
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Prompt used: Draw or write your Reosean being gentle with the egg. Do they gently wrap it in nearby nest material, or offer to take and care for it?
Reos used:
Reese 17770
Final word count - 1007