Not Even Ashes
Maurger left behind a steaming pile of goo near Chiconis after his rapid flight from the lair. His sister had insisted that he had the shadow of Maekrux all over him, and he felt rid of it now, finally, that the Blue Phoenix was dead and digested.
His prize still rested inside him: the Egg of the Phoenix.
It had been a strange experience, to form the internal functions necessary to sustain it another week to term; he came to understand how his victims felt a little better and it made him feel quite pleased with his work. The egg had undergone no small amount of trauma already, having been taken when Maekrux was crushed and then altered by the goo-dragon’s unique Dark Primal properties in order to fit through the air vents of Maekrux’s stolen lair. The life was still within it, though; Maurger could feel it. This would be his first child, one he would begin raising to adhere to the ideal society.
His ideal society.
Tirelessly, he had transformed Waere Ulhar Ausixen into his testing grounds, to learn what his society must need – huntresses, breeders, soldiers, guards, leaders, crafters – and all had played their roles perfectly. He learned that ancients reacted more strongly to the transformation and that male hatchlings were better off killed outright. He learned that loyalty could be garnered through special treatment and love to the loyal and cruelty to the disloyal. He learned how to turn his victims into his puppets by invading their brainstem and taking their nerves – perhaps what he may have to do with his future leaders.
And of course, for the second time in his life, he felt what it was like to be the one in control, who called the shots, who got what he wanted, and had all the power.
Had his experiment been completed, he’d probably have left Maekrux to live with his shame, but he wasn’t ready when Amethyr and Daza stormed the lair. This turned out to work in his favor, as he found that, within Maekrux, there was a great and untapped power that Maekrux himself did not even realize he had – the nexus energy of an entire world. Now he would master this power and he would be unchallenged in his own home again. He would have his ideal society.
Nevertheless, he wanted the egg to hatch first. He’d complete the experiment on his own.
At last, the time came. Maurger didn’t lay the egg, by any stretch of the word, but merely expelled it from his gel-like body, traveling through an arm and resting on the created nest. The fluids of birth followed shortly after, drenching the egg in them. Maurger leaned down to stare at its strange and wispy looking surface. “Daughter, you shall become the first of a great society…� he trailed off, sniffing the egg. He snarled viciously at it, roaring his anger to the heavens.
It was male.
He knew what he learned. He lifted his claw to smash it, as he had other male eggs. He loved the feeling of their gooey insides oozing through his fingers, the malformed life within, so delicate and crunchy when fried after being extracted from amongst the shells. This he told himself to make him strike with his claw. He could not. This had become his egg, in a way. He would leave it to die, exposed to the elements. He snuffed his frustration and took to the sky, leaving to begin study of his new-found power.
Rune Mae!
