Upon entering the Incubation Chamber, the pair was surprised to see that the shell had disappeared. Had the dwarves cleaned the mess? Malik didn’t like the idea of them entering without his permission. He would need to speak with them about it if that were the case.

However, in place of the shell was a small bowl made of the same living material. He crouched next to the bowl and examined it. This must be where he was supposed to deposit his blood. Carefully touching the bowl, he expected an alert, but nothing came. Aisha watched on with interest but didn’t interfere.

Malik thought about where he should bring the blood from. His wrist was still healing and he didn’t want to pour in so much this time. Then he had an idea.

“Aisha, come here.”

She arched her brow, “What is it?”

“I want to see what will happen if we both use our blood,” Malik said.

“We have the same blood, do we not?” she asked.

Malik thought for a moment, “Yes, but it’s different. You are you, and I am me. We are very much not the same.”

She nodded, “Ok, what do I do?

“I think we just need to put some of our blood in there. We just cut our fingers like so,” he said, holding up a claw and tapping the tip of his other index finger.

“Will a lot of blood come out? Do we need to fill the bowl?”

Malik shrugged, “More blood is better, but I think any amount may work. There shouldn’t be much blood from a small cut.”

She held out a finger and gulped in fear. She had never felt pain before and his chest suddenly hurt with guilt. Still, Aisha needed to learn how to do this, just as he did. If something were to happen to him, she would need to continue in his place.

“Don’t worry. A little scratch on your finger won’t hurt much,” he said.

She nodded and looked a bit more determined.

They both held their fingers over the bowl, Malik looked at Aisha and gave a nod, slicing the tip of his finger. Aisha did the same and their blood began to drip into the bowl. The bowl quickly absorbed the blood, not letting it pool. The veins throughout the structure came to life, throbbing. Malik felt a pull at his finger where he cut as if an unseen force was sucking the blood from him. It was extremely uncomfortable and he looked at Aisha, seeing her face contort in pain. Their blood began to pour in a stream rather than a drip.

It felt wrong to Malik, so he forced his hand into a fist, pulling it away, then grabbed Aisha and yanked her away as well. She frowned at him and rubbed her hand, but didn’t say anything. Instead, they looked into the bowl. There was no drain, but their blood swirled and absorbed into it at the center. When there was none left for it to drink, a small stone egg, smaller than Malik’s palm emerged through the bottom of the bowl.

Malik broke the silence as they stared at the egg, “I think it’s wise if we always have another gargoyle present to pull the other away during the process.”

Aisha nodded her agreement.

“Hmm, I’m going to check the Log. You can come with me if you wish.”

Aisha was enchanted with the egg in front of her, “No, I think I’ll stay here for now.”

Malik left the stifling room and approached the Altar. Quickly flipping to the Incubation Chamber page, his suspicions were correct.

After the basic information about the structure, more text appeared.

Incubation:

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Blood Donor(s):

Malik & Aisha

Time Remaining

6 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes

He couldn’t wait to see the result of both Malik and Aisha’s blood. However, he wondered if the hatchling would be considered first generation.

He thought about going back into the Incubation Chamber with Aisha, but he found the room too stiflingly hot to be comfortable. Then, he considered going to Naveck, but he saw the dwarves scurrying about, collecting rocks. Naveck was picking away at the side of the mountain. Malik wondered if they were working overtime to distract from the “surface sickness” Themo had mentioned. Themo was busy carving runes into some of the stones the dwarves had brought him.

Apparently, it was time to summon Zahid and let him know what had happened. It had been too long since they last spoke. Returning to the Altar, Malik placed his hands on the sides and called him forward, spending an Altar Point.

“I was beginning to wonder when you would call me back. I see that we have a new Citizen, yet the dwarves have not committed to stay?”

“Yes, the dwarves need help, but they don’t seem interested in staying forever,” Malik answered.

Zahid’s lip curled for a moment before relaxing his face, but it didn’t slip Malik’s notice. He then told Zahid the tale of the dwarves and how Aisha came to be.

“Your progress seems to be slowing as well,” Zahid said, seemingly uninterested in the second gargoyle.

Malik was getting annoyed, “There hasn’t been any time to hunt or build. It’s just one thing after another. What have you done to help me?” he snapped.

Zahid straightened his ghostly robes, “Relax. Once you have more citizens, you will find my abilities quite useful.”

“Then you’ll be pleased to know that a family, both human and Shape Shifters are coming to stay here, likely becoming the first citizens other than Gargoyles,” Malik said, watching Zahid’s reaction closely.

His face didn’t give anything away, but there was a pause, “That is surprising. Shape Shifters usually prefer solitude.”

Malik could guess the reason why they preferred the private lifestyle but didn’t push the issue.

“I would keep a close watch on them, but it will be good to have more Altar Points with them here as Citizens. I will show you a glimpse of what I can do for you. Those greaves you’re wearing. Put them on the Altar.”

Malik frowned but untied them and placed them atop the Altar.

Zahid placed his ghostly hands over the flimsy greaves and closed his eyes. A golden thread of light came from Zahid’s ghostly fingertips and danced along the small piece of armor. Soon, the light fizzled and Zahid appeared to be tired. The greaves didn’t look much different, but the ties did appear to be sturdier. They had looked as if they would give out at any moment before, but now they were fused with the shell.

Still, Malik wasn’t overly impressed, “That’s it?” he asked, squinting his eyes.

Zahid’s pride was hurt, “Yes, you little…” Zahid appeared to take a breath as if calming himself, even though Malik didn’t think he needed to breathe.

“That’s with only one spare Altar Point. Now imagine having thousands of them and providing me with something of higher quality.”

“Ah, I see,” Malik said, still unconvinced. He suddenly wondered if Zahid would, or could harm him with his magic. What power did he have over Zahid?

“Zahid, as Founder and owner of this Altar, I order you to return within,” Malik blurted.

Zahid’s eyes widened in surprise and swirled back into the Altar. Malik breathed out a sigh of relief.

It was interesting though. He felt that he had finally experienced his first real power with his Founder class. Sure, the Incubation Chamber was incredible, but that had been a gift by some other force, Malik couldn’t comprehend.

Now that Malik knew he could control when Zahid was in or out of the Altar, he would set some ground rules during their next chat. Just being able to send him back inside the Altar wasn’t a long-term solution and he promised himself to find further safeguards in the event Zahid went rogue on him. How powerful could he get if Stone Wing Spire flourished? Could Zahid decide to harm him and seize control in some way? Malik needed to find these answers, but he couldn’t just yet.

As he was thinking about Zahid, he suddenly felt his chest slightly fill up as if he had killed a beast. He looked around and saw that Themo had completed something that looked like a pillar. It was circular and made of rock, but it seemed to be made of one large piece of stone, leaving Malik confused. Was this the start of him leveling with the buildings? He hadn’t felt this with either the Altar or Incubation Chamber, but again, those were mostly gifted to him.

Curious, Malik made his way to Themo to investigate