BridgeWorld

[993AB Day 190]
The gentle warmth and weight of the lava in the caldera's lake soothed the excruciating pain in her head that had her screaming for hours and hours nonstop throughout the night. By morning, she managed to crawl out of the lake and onto solid ground by the pile of gems. Mindlessly, she began browsing through and munching on them to fill a new unpleasant sensation that was tearing at her stomach.

Eventually, both agonies were finally soothed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Her dreams, however, were not so soothing.

A whirlpool funnel sucking up the ocean during a storm, lit up with lightning arcing down its abyss, was swallowing her into its dark clammy cold depths….

A couple of squid-like monsters, barely able to be seen through a thick, green, fluid….

A sky with several moons, the largest of which was several times the size of Earth's Moon, and had numerous glowing pinpoints of orange-red and thick black clouds drifting from those points of light….

A landscape she had never seen before, covered by a thick heavy jungle….

A large wrench-like tool, flipping end over end, flying through the air….

She woke with a panicked ~~scream~~roar. And a tremendous gout of flame blasting out of her gullet.

She blinked in utter confusion at what just happened. Then looked down at herself.

"What the hell!?" she exclaimed, lifting a hand up so she could get a better view of it, working her fingers. "Claws!? Scales!?" She looked over the rest of her body. "WINGS!? Tail? What the hell am I!?" She then looked about herself, not recognizing the landscape, but having only a vague feeling of familiarity to it. Especially the mound of gems that barely topped her height.

A sudden stab of hunger assaulted her gut, and she had an irresistible urge to start gorging herself upon the treasure.

"Oh, this must be some kind of rock candy! It's awesome!" she exclaimed, as she worked her face into the side of the mound, rapidly munching on the flavorful crystals. The greens, blues, and purples were irresistibly mouthwatering, and several yellow and orange were delectable, but she discovered the reds, especially some that had a particular deep bright blood-red hue and stood out from the other reds, were really hitting the spot! Soon, her belly was finally filled with the soothing crystals, and thus sated, her head began to slowly sink for a little, well deserved, nap. But just as her head began to settle into the small avalanches of gems, she suddenly raised her head up and belched. And another tremendous gout of fire burst out of her mouth.

She blinked in surprise at what she just did. And laughed, rolling onto her back, at the hilarity of it all.

But then, her belly told her there was still excess pressure needing to be released, and she burped out another long blast of flame into the air above her. Finally, her stomach was relieved of all discomforts, both emptiness and pressure, and she felt—wonderful as she wriggled her back into the side of the gem mound, fully intent upon drifting off to sleep.

However, just as her mind floated into a dreamy oblivion, some thoughts suddenly came to her mind.

Where are mom and dad? she wondered. And Jessie? But the sensations of comfort she was experiencing were too much to allow her concerns to rouse her out of her impending stupor….