I feel it once more, that familiar haze... This is a dream.

Though it’s not like I've had before.

Voids of white all around, equally as blanched crystal flowers of many assortments litter the dream scape.

This space seems to fractal off into infinity but intuition says otherwise.

In the center of the world is a black flame, in the center, my soul.

The closer I get to it the more time seems to dilate in opposite directions till…

A soft, rhythmic, glass hum dims, the flower below feels like a stagnate, sharp, tundra gale blasting everything it touches with a cold burning passion.

Oddly enough despite how cold to the touch it is, it’s providing a sense of comfort.

Eyes still closed I hear Loki say, “Hun, they're awake already!!!”

Nyx said, “Really? They've had their fill so soon?”

When my eyes open I see Loki bearing a draconic grin, sections of pointy teeth shining a sparkly white, practically glowing.

“The flower is pitch black, I don’t think our little gem is going to pull a drop more.”

I start to make subconscious notes of his excited body language.

“Well then, our first born may yet be first for the throne…”

I turn my head over with a questioning tilt towards my mother, who has a much softer smile of pride riding above her bottom jaw; two teeth slipping out from the top of her mouth at the front, extensifying her regal, calm yet radiant demeanor.

“Looks like the naming ceremony will have to be hiked up.”

I look back to Loki who started to nuzzle the underside of my neck

which sent a euphoric static throughout my body; without any will of my own, my vocal chords and chest produced a symphonic trill and purr mixed together.

When Loki stopped, I had to shake my head to bring myself back to the present.

“They definitely have your icey touch.”

”They also have your cute trill.”

“It’s not a trill! Is it?”

“It’s certainly high enough to be one. Though you shouldn't worry, appearing more like a child, it’s not feasible.”

“You're on a real mean streak today.”

She gave a soft chuckle, “Maybe, though after you catapulted our firstborn, I feel it’s deserved.”

Loki let out a puff of a sigh, “Fair enough.”

Loki then gently lifted me, and as he did, the flower beneath crumbled into brittle bits.

Taking a closer look, it seems instead of scales Loki has a white smokey quartz formation all around His body, looking closer all kinds of different colors seem to dance off the surface of him.

His eyes are a beautiful pale almost blue but still mostly green hue.

As he turns his head in excitement towards Nyx, I get a better look at his horns that go almost straight back, slightly curved back to the ground.

The most interesting part yet besides his personality is the fact that his horns are mesmerizing; a dark opal with plenty of red mixed in seems to adorn his head.

Following where Loki is looking I can see Nyx is pondering something, likey the naming ceremony, her tail seems to softly sway like a pendulum while one of her claws resets under her chin as she stands on her two feet.

“So when do you think we can get the party started?!” Loki said with an almost worrying vigor.

“Considering we haven't told anyone yet about our firstborn hatching, if we want to do the ceremony right, at least a month of prep would be needed unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless we prioritize the needed traditions and scrap some of the completely useless or what would otherwise be awkward…”

“Yeah, it’s weird trying to entertain some of the exhibition, especially now that they are awake.”

“Indeed, Importing and modifying to adapt to current circumstances all in all is the best solution.”

“So what’s the actual solution we are going to implement besides the obvious?” Loki said while softly nuzzling the back of my head.

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That seemed to draw a smile out of her as her neutral face picked up a soft smile.

“Well, most things become obvious when you observe them, but to actually answer the relevant part of your question we’ll just do it in two phases.”

She starts taking steps towards me and Loki, purpose in every step.

Loki holds me slightly higher as he says, “If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say we will first do a quick quiet one, then when all the showy stuff is ready, we throw a public spectacle.”

She wraps her arms around me and Loki, both of them seeming to have a more conductive touch now that they both are borderline smothering me.

“Well, the most important element is receiving a name from chaos, everything else can be taken care of in the background. Any other speculation would be out of our control anyways, so we’d be better off giving details on a need to know basis.”

“True, now that I think about it, I've only heard and read legends of our kind having that short of an absorption period, and that was when Chaos actively guided us and the other gods of the world, and even still when they let the realm run free… Do you think our first born could be-”

“Blessed by Chaos? If so, we may have much more to worry about in the near future, let alone the probable reactions of the countries that slipped from our control a generation ago.” Nyx said while stepping out of the hug and caressing the side of my face.

Loki then softly rested his head on top of mine while he said,

“It’s really settled then, we use our reputation for keeping our personal matters private to lie about their incubation and absorption time, minimizing political ramifications. This would be a lot easier if faith wasn’t so ingrained in the world, but there is only so much uninvolvement that can occur even if there are fundamentals that prohibit that from directly happening.”

Nyx lets out a chuckle, “Honestly, culturally we are one of the more advanced peoples, but following the doctrine of order and chaos didn’t cement our legacy like our ancestors thought it would; one of the specters of order said as much, but since it wasn't explicitly written in chaos’s grand design, they were to afraid to deviate from our set path.”

“Understanding a god's intentions is easy compared to the force of nature that created them…”

“Getting back to the topic of the most urgence, where should we hold the private ceremony?”

Loki gave a soft hum while he thought of a good place, “The only thing I can think of that would be ready on such short notice would be our gathering hall.”

Nyx gave a nod and took the lead while Loki carried me out of the treasure filled room.

----------------------------------------

While we were moving, I noticed that the crystals that made up my fur were yet to settle on a color, sometimes dropping to the dark midnight that Nyx has and at other times shifting to a deep crimson, inaddtion to occasionally a snow white.

On an interesting note, I can sorta control it.

It’s a bit finicky and requires intuition but seems manageable.

Just as I decided to stick to a nice shade of crimson, I’m once again lifted much higher; this time my arms grab a hold of his shoulders, peeking out from the left side of him.

Wings morphed out of his back, almost pinning me to his back.

Instead of being annoyed by the lack of warning, I decided to appraise the situation a bit more.

This castle seems to have a pretty open design.

I honestly have no reference for architecture, but it was very much not of any culture I know of.

Spires.

Spirals.

All pointing in different directions, some carved in such a way that it pops and blends with some of the others, creating lots of depth.

There are also similar shaped protrusions on the roof jutting out as a light source in various abstract sconces as well as chandeliers that look like they belong in a modern art gallery.

The carved texture of the wall is interesting too with subtle repeating quartz formation patterns way more fancy than popcorn wall but also reminiscent of it.

To me I looked as elegant as it could be with all of the abstract ornamentation making me feel an assortment of things.

This whole hallway was a piece of art.

Though I’m pretty sure any human who came in probably wouldn’t fully appreciate it, unless they were obsessed with dragons.

As soon as we reached one of the junctions Nyx turned on a dime to face us, “so little one, are you ready to meet someone new?”

To that question I could only give a tilted head.

“For now it will just be the priest that lives in this part of the castle, but if you're feeling up to it, later we can introduce you to some of the staff around the castle.” Loki said

with his excited grin yet to fade.

Being able to actually possibly respond in words I do my best to see if speaking in this new tongue is something I can do.

The syntax is free form but it seems those two use a dialect that uses the same syntax format as english.

“Sure.” After digging around my brain, the one word I wanted to say came out.

Nyx seemed to adopt the same excited simile as Loki; the metaphorical ice around her melting as stars burst in her eyes at my first word.

“So adorable!”

Loki nods in response to her comment.

I couldn’t help but smile softly myself, even if I was the one to cause this scene.

After my mom took a moment to collect herself she started to turn towards the door again preparing to knock.

Wait Mother? I guess it took a second to settle in…

“Ready Loki?” She said

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”