Being in the egg was far less pleasant for Ander the second time around. He felt as he slammed into the still forming body, fully aware of what was going on around him. Something was wrong however. Pain thrummed through his entire existence, emanating from a spot beyond his body that Ander could identify as his soul, and extending to burn razor sharp lines of pain all through his body. He tried to scream, but there was no air in his lungs, only the pale translucent goop that made up most of the egg’s interior. Slowly the pain faded, enough for Ander to take stock.
Unlike last time, Ander was not jostling around inside of his egg. His egg was nearly perfectly still except for a slow rotation. Feeling what he could of gravity, Ander felt that he was mostly upside down in this position, but it didn’t seem to bother him. The only thing that really bothered him was the fire that continued to run along his limbs and through his torso. It was fading, slowly, but at this rate it would be hours before it went away entirely.
Ander tried to move around inside of the egg, trying to strike the shell and get out, but his muscles barely responded to his mental command. Ander frowned, or at least tried to. It seemed that he was awake far earlier in the process than he was supposed to be. It was a problem. He didn’t know how long it took for the eggs to hatch, but from the development of his body it would take months at the very least. It was lucky that there was some light shining down into his egg, wherever it was.
Ander was forced to stay still while the pain slowly subsided. He thought about using the Walker of Memories skill, but whatever that creature was had seriously freaked him out. He didn’t know if using the skill would call the monster back, but he was not in a position to test that out. And so he waited in the twilight of the submerged egg, not even breathing, as he felt his body wasn’t capable of it yet.
Finally as the pain faded entirely, oblivion consumed Ander, and he fell unconscious.
. . .
Ander woke again as he felt a bump. Ander thrashed wildly against the interior of the egg, tearing away fleshy growths that connected the shell to his navel. He quickly got himself under control and realized that he was being moved. He inspected his body to find it completely developed, and sighed in relief. Of course that is when his brain decided to tell him he was drowning. Ander tried to control his panic as he struck his fist against the egg wall. He felt the wall crack, but it was still in place. Another punch knocked out a section, causing the viscous transparent liquid start to spill out with a final punch the entire egg collapsed, and surprise took hold of Ander as he started to fall.
His downward momentum was almost immediately halted by a crossed pair of leather slings,within which he laid for a mere second before he fell out and into the arms of three of the egg attendants. They let him down onto the ground as he hacked and coughed to clear his lungs of the foreign liquid. The attendants simply did their best to clean him off, and then helped him to his feet and over to a large man standing on the other side of the room.
High Lord Torden looked regal. The command of his posture was contrasted by the obvious compassion in his eyes, that nevertheless held no room for those who did wrong. Ander didn’t know how he got so much from a simple gaze, but he knew it all with perfect certainty. The Attendants got him dressed in the same garb as last time, complete with the cloak that helped ward off the incredible chill.
“Come hatchling,” High Lord Torden said, gesturing toward the circle of his wives as they knelt on the floor. Ander had no real way to object, and so he allowed himself to be sat in the middle of the ring of stunning beauties. Ander knew that it was odd to think of them like that, as one of them was supposedly his mother after all. Still, beauties was the right term, as each one of them would not look out of place in an adult movie. Then they started to sing, and their words, though foreign to Ander, captivated him. They sang for a full minute, and Ander slightly registered another hatchling waiting on the circle. When the singing stopped, them and High Lord Torden looked confused.
“I didn’t get the prompt.” High Lord Torden said. “Try again I suppose?”
“Yes my love.” Was the response of one of the women who looked distinctly older than the others. But even when they tried the ritual a second and even a third time, nothing happened. Ander was appreciative of the performance. Even on earth this was a rare show. But alas, the attendants finally dragged Ander into the other room. Of course that also meant food, and boy was Ander hungry.
He was far less out of it while eating this time, though no less ruthless when it came to getting the food he wanted. By the time he was done, he was sure he had eaten nearly half his body weight with no ill effect. Like before it seemed that the status condition associated with hatching was doing weird things.
His hunger mostly sated, Ander rose from the table. With his mind clear for the first time in a while, he remembered. The amulet. He could still feel his connection to it, but it was not in his possession. He really didn’t want to have to excavate the chasm to get it back. Hopefully, he pulled on the connection, and was relieved to feel it settle around his neck. He quickly stuffed it under his shirt so that nobody would see. He highly doubted that he could explain where he got the thing without revealing things he was very sure would get him in a lot of trouble. He had no illusions that he could fight his way out if it came to that. A quick identify confirmed as he looked at a set of guards stationed around the door out of the room.
Personal Guard of High Lord Torden
Level 65
Personal Guard of High Lord Torden
Level 63
Personal Guard of High Lord Torden
Level 69
Castle Guard
Level 61
Castle Guard
Level 58
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There were more guards outside, but Ander got a clear enough picture from that alone. He was moving to get a look through the door back into the hatchery to get a look at High Lord Torden when a hand grabbed his arm. Ander immediately spun around, the wind guiding him. Part of him had been expecting to see a grinning Sir Mattheos. It was to his relief that he saw a smiling attendant. Ander fired off a quick identify.
Castle Servant
Level 15
Non-Combat
Ander suppressed his instinctual reaction to attack, the man had startled him something fierce, and simply looked at the attendant with a curious look.
“Do you understand me?” The man asked. “I heard that the imbuement ritual failed to grant you your ancestral memories.” Ander stared at the man for a moment before responding.
“I can understand you just fine.”
“Ahh, then. It is somewhat rare, but it does happen that hatchlings come from the egg with their memories already unlocked. The High Lord was concerned that you might have been defective. He will be pleased to hear that is not the case.”
“Umm, yes.” Ander replied awkwardly. He resisted the urge to wring his hands. “I am very tired, is there somewhere I could rest?”
“Of course of course! Come right this way.” The man led him to the second door, the one that led out of the room. Ander looked around suspiciously as he passed through the door, but there was no sign of Sir Mattheos anywhere. With that worry out of the way he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in a castle, with walls of plain stone all around him. On one side, small windows looked out over an inner courtyard bustling with activity. On the other was a row of doors spaced at regular intervals. The walls were decorated with heavy tapestries, and the floors were covered with carpets, both helping to soften the hard austerity of the place. The attendant started to prattle on.
“At first I thought that your inborn talent was just ancestral memory. That would have been somewhat unlucky. Inborn talents are somewhat rare, and having one to gain something you would have gotten anyway would have been a bit of a shame. But then I did feel your identify. I don’t mind, but do be warned that unwarranted identification is a bit rude. Maybe that will make you a good scout? Inborn abilities are always stronger than skills gained later.” Ander was surprised, he didn’t know that identify could be felt by the target, nothing in the chasm had ever reacted to it. He cringed a bit at how he had identified the guards, and was glad they hadn’t been offended.
“Will people get mad if I Identify them?” Ander asked.
“It truly depends. Some people are more bothered by it than others. It is a rule that hatchlings get far more leeway, since those born with talents rarely know how or why they should control themselves. There was a hatchling a few years back who had an incredible affinity for fire magic. Killed three of the other hatchlings by accident, and burned several of the guards and other staff. The entire thing was forgiven. Especially given that he was obviously blessed by the creator to be able to use fire magic despite the creator’s decree.” The attendant got somber all of a sudden. “Of course he was drafted for the southern defense initiative, where he died.”
“Drafted?!” Ander exclaimed.
“Indeed. Damn Azkurians singled him out. Placed him on the front lines. Of course they came back with stories of how he valiantly fought to hold his position, but the few people from his team that returned told a different story.”
“Is it likely that I will be drafted?” Ander asked with a worried tone to his voice.
“Really can’t say. That snake Sir Mattheos took a couple dozen hatchlings from the last clutch, claiming that High Lord Torden had not made his quota of soldiers to contribute to the cause. What an utter pile of garbage. That is why there are so many guards here this time. Sir Mattheos will not be able to get to the hatchery without making a far bigger scene than he is ready for.” The attendant gave a sharp fierce nod at that. Ander was glad that High Lord Torden was making efforts to protect him from that fate. It was less than pleasant the last time, and he doubted he would find a convenient chasm to escape into the next time.
“What is going to happen now?” Ander asked.
“What is going to happen now is that you are going to choose a bunk and go to sleep.” The attendant opened a door, revealing a large room filled with rows of bunk beds stacked three high. “In a few days you will be taken to the pit. It is a training ground where you will be able to hone your skills before taking your place in society. While there, you will be safe from Sir Mattheos and his devious Askurian plots.” he spat out that last part, pure disdain on his face for Sir Mattheos and the Azkurians. He then ushered Ander inside and closed the door behind him.
There were a few other hatchlings in the room, but there was no sound of voices to be heard as each one was fast asleep on a bunk. Apparently the hatching process was hard on everyone. Ander chose a top bunk close to the back of the room, and sat himself down with his back to the wall. The first thing he did was inspect the Amulet, which was the same as how it had looked before. He opened up the inventory and looked inside. Everything was there.
Ander scrolled to the top of the list, looking at what had already been inside the amulet. Building supplies. Specifically, ship repair supplies. There was a line for the extra masts, another for dozens of extra sails, and things Ander assumed were for repairing the hull in case of problems. This was all the stuff that had been in the hold of the ship, and now it was joined with the loot he had gathered from the ruin. He had been suspicious when he saw this stuff for the first time, along with the fact that the ship had disappeared. If he was right then he should be able to switch to look in the armory correct? It would be stupid if he could see in the hold but not into other sections. With a small mental command, the inventory page shifted to display a long list of weapons and armor. Ander gave a mental command, and a longsword fell into his outstretched hand. At that moment the door opened and Ander heard the voice of the talkative attendant as he pushed another hatchling inside. Ander quickly dismissed the weapon, hoping they had not seen.
The hatchling stumbled along, before falling into one of the lower bunks and immediately falling asleep. The attendant meanwhile simply closed the door and went on his way. Ander sighed in relief. It was a good reminder that this place was not a private area for him to experiment. Ander returned to his inventory. He could access the armory, which was great. But there was another location he wanted to access, which had been his goal of searching the ship in the first place. With a mental command, Ander willed the inventory to shift to the vault, and his eyes widened in shock. There were relatively few lines on this page.
Mana Crystal (Full) x325,283,102
Mana Crystal (Depleted) x359
Gold Coins (Early Creaton mint) x2,356
Silver Coins (Early Creaton mint) x5,428
Copper Coins (Early Creaton mint) x8,406
Spear of Wind’s Sovereign
Armor of Wind’s Sovereign
Sword of Wind’s Sovereign
There were a few dozen more lines detailing what seemed to be valuable materials of various kinds, but those were of little interest to Ander. Ander waited for the next hatchling to come into the room. When he went to sleep, Ander would be able to pull out that sword to inspect it closer. But that didn’t happen. Instead when the next hatchling came out, he made a direct beeline straight for Ander.