Light filtered through from above,
and her world expanded...
and her world expanded...
Water glistened as it trailed down the inner curve of her cell. Her long, pink tongue struggled to catch each drop, her mouth parched and desperate. Light filtered through from above, but not enough, and the walls of her prison were still so very strong, thick and unyielding.
Were her wings starting to unfurl? That would be the death of her, borne down into suffocation by the weight of fledgling bone and skin. She shifted slightly, gently testing the limits of her cage, and felt distinctly less open space above and behind her. Wings, indeed.
Shouldn’t she have been released from this containment hours ago? Days ago? It didn’t matter. Soon, it wouldn’t matter at all. She had so little time left.
It was a risk she had welcomed, the chance to become someone new and true overriding caution and judgement. She had flung herself into this metamorphosis, hopeful that youth and joy and hunger were enough to see her through to the end.
Light reflected across the pearlescent inner walls of her egg. Could there be more of it, or had a cloud only shifted overhead? The subtle cracks in the walls radiated a golden glow, then suddenly shuddered, widened, split apart.
Fragments of shell fell onto her back, light and dry. Her world expanded, her limbs released, and she stood, amazed. Arms and legs stretched, wings expanded in unwieldy delight. A body new, and strange, different and perfect.
Acolytes rushed to help her escape the remains of her chamber. She turned and faced the sun. Dragon, female, reborn.
Emilia Agrafojo lives in the Northeast US, with the appropriate prerequisite spouse and cats to complete her fairy tale.
Follow her on Facebook HERE
Cover: Amanda Bergloff
Were her wings starting to unfurl? That would be the death of her, borne down into suffocation by the weight of fledgling bone and skin. She shifted slightly, gently testing the limits of her cage, and felt distinctly less open space above and behind her. Wings, indeed.
Shouldn’t she have been released from this containment hours ago? Days ago? It didn’t matter. Soon, it wouldn’t matter at all. She had so little time left.
It was a risk she had welcomed, the chance to become someone new and true overriding caution and judgement. She had flung herself into this metamorphosis, hopeful that youth and joy and hunger were enough to see her through to the end.
Light reflected across the pearlescent inner walls of her egg. Could there be more of it, or had a cloud only shifted overhead? The subtle cracks in the walls radiated a golden glow, then suddenly shuddered, widened, split apart.
Fragments of shell fell onto her back, light and dry. Her world expanded, her limbs released, and she stood, amazed. Arms and legs stretched, wings expanded in unwieldy delight. A body new, and strange, different and perfect.
Acolytes rushed to help her escape the remains of her chamber. She turned and faced the sun. Dragon, female, reborn.
Follow her on Facebook HERE
Cover: Amanda Bergloff
