Chapter 3: Change

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"Conditions Met: Activating Procedure ◇̧̕≠̧҉∬̷§̷̸͏§̧͜͢†̶̷͢‡̴͞∝̶̢̕""

The cube immediately started shining a blinding purple light and it spoke in a completely foreign language.

I once again found myself again in a dark place without light. -What in the..-

Cutting off my thoughts, the mechanical voice spoke again. "Severe damage and instability detected."

It was a language I have never heard but I somehow understood it clearly.. -Instability?-

"Damaged Soul of higher dimensional being resides weak 3rd Dimensional Body: Invalid"

-What? A soul of a higher dimensional bei..- My thoughts were quickly cut off by a series of errors.

"-Error: Invalid

Error: Invalid

Error: Impossible

Commencing Repairs."

-Huh? What do you mean commencing repa..-

An extreme searing pain coursed through my body again that made my mind go blank again.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the mechanical voice spoke again. "Repairs and Modifications Complete. Experiment successful."

"HAAAHH.." As I violently gasped for breath, my eyes shot open. -I'm.. I'm back..- I was back in the white room with the cube I touched being nothing more than a pile of fine powder.

As I glanced around, I felt an inexplicable 'change' in my body, but before I could move, I passed out from both mental and physical exhaustion.

- Zachari Ragnarok ~

Perched at the edge of a towering oceanside cliff, I looked out towards the setting sun and let out a deep sigh. "Haahh.." -I wonder if any of them have hatched yet-

"It's about time one of them hatch isn't it?" It was the soothing voice of Osto Ragnarok, my husband.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that. They should hatch within the next few days." A gentle smile appeared on my face. -To think I'm about to be a mother..-

As I was caught in my own fluffy thoughts, I noticed the air change. "It's truly a shame I won't be able to see them hatch.." Osto wore a slightly saddened look.

"What?! Where are you going?"

"I was called to Bahamut. They called a meeting to discuss the preparations for the festival in 34 years.. the youth event.." A warm smile came to his face, but I noticed the thin layer of sadness behind it.

"Oh.. right.." -He did mention that earlier..-

Quickly lightening the mood, he gave me a familiar confident and goofy smile. "I have to make sure the island is ready for my strong children to come and have fun!"

Immediately cheering up, a warm smile returned to my face. "Right, I'll be sure to raise them as the strongest in the world!"

"Hahaha, that's my wife. Hopefully I'll come back soon." He sat up confidently and overlooked the seemingly endless ocean in front of us.

Knowing he was about to leave, I leaned into him.

"You'll be safe.. right?"

"Of course! I may not be an elder but I'm still strong."

"Haah.." I quickly took advantage of an opportunity to poke fun at him. "Don't be jealous when you come back and find that our children are stronger than you."

"Haha, I look forward to the day my children surpass me..." After a short moment of silence, he stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff, extending out his massive wings in the process.

"Is it time already.."

"Yeah.. I'll be sure to visit when I get the chance.."

"Okay.. just.. be safe."

He flashed his confident smile and moved to the edge of the cliff before jumping off.

After he left, I sat there alone for a while and watched the rest of the sunset, it gave me time to sort my thoughts.

It wasn't until an hour or so later that I finally got up and started flying home.

The forest below me had a thick canopy. But, as I flew over, I could sometimes see some monsters through small openings.

A slight look of concern appeared on my face seeing some of the larger monsters. -This forest is a dangerous place for the kids..-

After a moment of thinking though, my concern shifted to confidence. -I'll just need to protect them until they get strong enough to wipe this forest clean!-

-Ah, right.. I should get something for them to eat..-

After killing a small field bison for food, I finally landed in front of two massive white and gold doors.

Not wasting any more time, I opened up the doors and walked in, carrying the dead bison with me.

-Today, I'll figure out what that weird cube thing is..- As the thought crossed my mind, I noticed that one of the eggs on the pile of treasure was missing.

-Oh, it looks like one hatched.. but.. where are they?- I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until, -Huh?- Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the cube had turned into a powder and laid just next to it was a small baby dragon.

The dragon was laying completely flat against the floor as if to take up as much space as possible which made me want to laugh but something was wrong.

-Its not white..- It was a small void-like black dragon, slightly bigger than what would fit into the egg. There was a purple and blue light flowing between the scales and it had black-purple horns and claws.

There wasn't a single trace of me or Osto in the child.

-But..- When I leaned closer, I could clearly feel the connection between us. -its Vasilias.. but.. what happened to him..-

A mix of confusion and anger started filling me. I thought someone might've tampered with his hatching process but looking around the room revealed that nothing else had changed except the cube.

-The cube artifact.. thing.. turned into sand.. is that what tampered with my sweet baby?!- I glared at the small pile of sand but quickly calmed myself down, purely grateful that Vasilias seemed to have hatched successfully and looked healthy.

I walked over and lightly picked him up with my mouth, moving him back up onto his small bed of feathers.

I stood there and watched him sleep for a moment. The sight of his peaceful smile made me feel an unfathomable joy and melted away all of my stress and worry.

After shaking myself out of a small trance I got caught in, I curled around the pile of treasure and fell asleep with him. -No matter how his appearance changed, he's still my baby boy..-