A stabbing line of jabbing teeth would be the first sensation of pain I experience in this new life, and what would be the action that awoke me from what was a delightfully pleasant nap. Something, or someone in this case, had sunk their fangs into my tail, which as it so happens is quite a sensitive spot for a newly hatched kobold. A rush of panic and anger shot through me like a cannonball as I leapt from my prone position, only to hit my head on a low hanging ceiling with a dull metallic thump. Day one of lizard life was already off to a terrible start.
Opening my eyes and rubbing at my sore spots, I noticed three very concerning things. One: I was inside of a cage made from wrought iron bars. Two: There were three other kobolds in this cage with me, and they all triggered an instinct in my head that told me they were family. Three: the gray kobold from earlier was standing outside the cage with a terrifying snarl on their face.
Not wanting to be subject to whatever screwed up ritual this might be, I put myself as far from this stranger as I could, taking note of the sounds and smells around me to better understand the scenario. The old one, or as I’m now calling them in my mind “Chalk Eater” on account of the white coloration around his mouth and hands, smelled of something dangerous and intangible that was permeating through the air around us. The only sounds I could hear were the soft snores of the pile of other young in the cage and the wheezing breaths of Chalk Eater, who hadn’t moved since I spotted them. A tense minute of staring ensued, with neither one of us daring to back down.
This standoff ended when the other hatchlings began to stumble into the waking world as well, drawing the gaze of the gnarled old one. The very air around me settled down as those deep crimson eyes turned away, as though merely being observed was distorting the space around me. I gave a sigh of relief and looked to see how my siblings were acting. Unsurprisingly they were acting like babies: crawling on the ground, gnawing at anything they could find, and babbling in nonsensical barks and trills. Chalk Eater looked at them with a calm expression, from what I could gauge by the relaxed posture and half-lidded eyes.
Then something odd happened. The gray kobold put his hand by the bars near the others, and with a few gestures that glittered in the air made the bars near them vanish. My eyes flicked between the old one and the now missing bars as I tried to make sense of what had happened. The children, now with easy passage to a wider space, began to crawl excitedly into the larger portion of the room we were in. I had yet to notice it due to my contest, but the room we were in was not actually a building of any sort, but rather some kind of cave with stone walls and sediment lines. I had only taken a look at the surroundings for a moment, but in that time both the kobold elder and the others had moved away from the cage, which was now returned to its former integrity.
From a doorway at the far end of the cave came two people I recognized immediately as my parents. The large green one was holding onto the hands of the short orange one as they spoke to the Chalk Eater with their quiet yips and hisses. The three of them exchanged words for a while before the couple picked up the three young ones. They looked happy, though I noticed that the green one was pointing at me, their head cocked to the side as they yammered at the wizardly lizard. Another gesture was made, though this one had no sparks or lights, and the couple retreated from the room hastily. I couldn’t tell if the gray one held some kind of authority or if that was a threat, since I knew nothing of what was going on or how these creatures operated. Perhaps I would learn with time, which it seemed I would have much of as the elder left the room, leaving me alone in the dark cave.
With time to myself I was able to experiment with this new body. First was my eyesight, which I had noticed was able to see perfectly fine in the dark, regardless of the fact that there was no possible way for any creature I knew of to see in color in the dark. Perhaps it was magic since the wizard had shown that it was possible, and Death had said something about mystic arts. My second avenue of exploration was the use of my legs. They were oddly shaped compared to the human legs I had previously lived on, though I noticed that they were not that difficult to operate and stand on with the assistance of my tail. Speaking of, I had noticed already that all of the young kobolds I had been with had different sizes and shapes to their tails, though none of them were quite as large as mine. As if reading my mind, I felt the muscles in my unique appendage flexed, curling the scaly length around myself involuntarily. The sudden motion threw me off balance, causing me to almost fall over, but the semi-circle I had formed around myself acted as a perfect counter to the scenario by pushing me back onto my feet. Thanks tail!
Since I technically had the place to myself, and I didn’t feel any sense of looming dread, I decided to try talking. I didn’t want to try speaking English in front of the creepy mage, and since I couldn’t understand their conversations I knew that the language was learned, not inherited. Clearing my throat I began to speak aloud to the empty space I found myself in, though instead of words came only creaking sounds and croaks from my voice. Damn, was I actually a frog? Repeated attempts were just as unsuccessful, though every so often I was able to make a sort of barking sound that the adults had used so often, though doing so left me particularly drained of stamina. Perhaps it would be best if I rested until something happened. Once again I laid myself down upon the cool stone floor, though this time I used my tail as an improvised pillow. It was not long until my mind slipped into the unconscious world of dreams.
…
CLANG CLANG CLANG
The sudden banging on the bars of my cage sent me tumbling as I tripped over my own limbs. Chalk Eater was back with some sort of staff in hand and my green parent off to the side, who was fidgeting nervously. The old mage began making numerous barks, yips and trills towards me, though their purpose as well as the words were unknown to me. I could only glance around nervously, looking for some way to avoid those terrible eyes and their unnerving effect on me. They squinted and began muttering some sort of words unlike the usual language I had heard, accompanied by a flurry of rapidly wiggling fingers. Then, with a harsh slam of the staff into the floor, the spell they were casting erupted forth from the air around me, encasing me within an invisible hand of some sort.
As the imperceptible fingers curled around me, a sense that my very being was being peeled away and inspected flooded my every sense. Every part of my physical body was probed, and a sensation of an intruder in my mind rummaging in my thoughts sent me into a panic. I screamed and thrashed with every fiber of my self, the sensation being too painful and disturbing to handle without giving some sort of resistance. Almost as soon as I had begun to writhe the spell vanished, dropping me onto the hard cave floor with a bodily thump. Through bleary eyes I could see the old wizard contending with the green one who was attempting to wrestle the staff from them.
The battle was short, however, as the old gray kobold shoved the larger of my parents back long enough to bring the jagged head of the staff to bear. Chalk Eater began barking in harsh tones at the assailant, who was now backing away cautiously towards the door until they had left completely. Those vile eyes rested on me once we were alone, and I could understand through them that their owner was both afraid and angry at the sudden outburst.
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One withered hand reached out and took hold of one of the bars, and the old one spoke in their strange barking voice. A strange sensation crept into me as they spoke, as though the pain were being willed out of me with every syllable. When they ceased speaking the effect ended, leaving me no longer in agony but not any less exhausted or disturbed. Chalk Eater nodded once, then spun on their feet with an indignant huff as they left the room.
What the hell was all of that about? From what I could gather, the old bastard had used some kind of spell that was inspecting me in a way that was very unlike anything I had heard of, almost as if my internal structure was being dissected piece by piece. Then after the scuffle with the big one, who I guess might be my mother given how protective she was, Chalky used some kind of healing magic to mend whatever got torn up by that damn spell. Now I was left alone again, now noticeably worse for wear and feeling completely violated, and already I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. Damn it.
…
Cold, hungry, tired and afraid of what was going to happen to me, I woke once again within my steel prison. I didn’t have the energy to move, but regardless my entire body shivered in an attempt to keep itself warm. I didn’t want to open my eyes, as I was fearful of the possibility that I would once again be face to face with the diabolical sorcerer. There was so much i didn’t understand in regards to my situation, but it wasn’t as though I could ask anybody why I was being confined, or why I had been subjected to such treatment. An awful thought crossed my mind, though it was one that was oddly comforting: I might be reunited with Death sooner than later.
A recognizable wheezing voice came from the doorway, and my blood turned to ice. Chalk was back, though it seemed that they were staying out of the room for the moment. With the last remainder of my strength I propped myself up enough to lazily peer out across the room as a large figure hurried towards my pen. My vision was still blurry from the forced investigation earlier, but even so my sense of smell told me that this visitor was not the villain with red eyes. A pair of green hands wrapped around the base of the metal roof above me, and with a groan of strained metal and popping of rivets the roof of the cage was ripped from its joints. With a powerful kick the bars between me and my rescuer were reduced to scrap, allowing me to clearly see who it was. Mama was here, and she was pissed.
She hurriedly wrapped me in a bundle of cloth and pulled me close to her side. The warmth coming from her was comforting, yet also intense enough that it practically forced the chill from my very bones in an instant. From my cradled position in her arms I was able to watch as she stormed through the doorway she had come from and into a long winding tunnel beyond. At the entrance were two red kobolds, both pressed against the wall to avoid the imposing mother, and the gray kobold standing off to the side glaring at me as I was carried away. My tiny hands did all they could to pull me closer to her side, the terror I felt upon seeing that bastard making me seek some form of protection from my savior. She wrapped her other hand around me as she shushed and cooed to me to set my nerves at ease, though I could feel her pace hasten for a moment as we traveled deeper into the tunnel.
It was not long before I found myself in what I could only assume was our house, though it was more like a chamber one would see in an ant hill than an actual room. One large empty space that had been shaped into a dome with small alcoves in the walls, some holding sleeping kobolds while others held containers. I was taken to a place in the center of the room where a small nest had been made, maybe even the one I had been hatched in, and laid atop a fur of some kind. This room was noticeably warmer than the one I had been in before, allowing me to lie down comfortably for the first time.
Mother went to one of the alcoves filled with containers, then returned with a bowl filled with a sweet smelling paste. She managed to sit me upright then began to slowly spoon feed me the strange tasting mush in small bites. It took maybe an hour for me to consume the entire bowl, but by the end I was too sleepy to concern myself with keeping track of the passing of time.
Once I had been fed and wrapped within another layer of cloth she curled herself around me with both her body and her tail, forming an all-directional cushion and warmer. Sensing that she herself was just as tired as me, I did my best to snuggle up to her as best as I could, as well as make sure that I could see her face. I don’t know how else to describe her other than saying she was broad featured. Small calculating eyes, a wide mouth with jagged fangs poking from her lips, and two large and intimidating horns coming from a point just behind her sparkling blues. Without the ability to speak, I could only convey my emotions by placing one of my tiny clawed hands on the end of her snout. Her lips curled upwards ever so slightly as her tired eyes drooped closed. I was not long after her into the dreamless rest.
…
With no sun to act as a point of reference, I could only guess by the sound of footsteps and voices echoing in from the tunnel door that it was morning, or the approximation of such. I sat within an alcove high off of the floor watching the rainbow of colorful reptiles march past the entrance. Mother kobold had put me in here, and was busy tending to the needs of my siblings alongside the assistance of father kobold. From my point of observation, I had been able to discern some repeated words that seemed to be names. The parents had used names for each other that I was sure were not nicknames, making them Bahruk the father and Juaki the mother. As for my siblings, it was a bit harder to discern.
The largest of the three, with red scales and black eyes, was Humey the ever-curious wanderer. Middle of the three was the one who had gnawed on my tail, the pink and brown speckled Mibata. Third, and perhaps the strangest one, was Tokols the white. With how much flexing dad was doing, and how often he spoke to them, I assumed that they were all boys. The three of them were all face down in their respective bowls of mush, devouring the contents noisily.
My name is apparently Kayrux, and it seems as though Juaki is giving me special attention for some reason. I could attribute it to the fact that I was locked in a cage and tortured, though something tells me that it’s only part of why. Regardless, she eventually gets the three noisy eaters to finish their gloop before preparing me a dish of my own. She sets it on the shelf next to me before taking a seat at the edge of the center pit, watching me expectantly. After a moment of poking at it I conclude that this must be their kind of baby food. With unsteady hands I begin scooping some of the not-applesauce into my maw, which to my surprise is much better than it was last night, especially when warmed.
Juaki’s eyes bulge as I eat. Unlike the terrible trio, I had the manners to take my time and not jam my nose into the dish, which was obviously not what she was expecting from me. Bahruk had a similar reaction with his jaw hanging open slightly as he watched me. Eventually I had eaten my fill, and without a proper place to clean off my hand I simply opted to stick it in my mouth and lick it clean. Mom understands my intent, and she comes close so she can take my bowl away. I can tell for a moment that she is concerned by the half-portion I hadn’t eaten, but her eyes don’t linger on it long as a tiny yelp comes from Tokols, whose tail is currently being gnawed on by Mibata. If I could understand her, I swear she would be saying something like “Timmy, you get that out of your mouth right now!”.
It’s a pleasant scene playing out below me as mom and dad each pull on one of the two squabbling babies, all while Humey sits in the back watching it all with tears in his eyes. I’m almost tempted to climb down the shelf and join in, but the feeling of the air around me becoming disturbed sends my heart rate into overdrive. Standing in the doorway, staff in hand, is Chalk Eater and two other kobolds larger than mother. They all stare at me, and I can sense that the worst was soon to arrive.