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BACK INTO THE CHAMBER RETURNING, ALL MY SOUL WITHIN ME BURNING

As soon as I step inside the chamber, the screaming stops.

It’s dark in here. And foggy. There are these thick clouds floating through the air. Everything is the same, but everything is new. The fog is new. But I can still see things.

I mean those same two dragon skeletons are still sitting there erect in their chairs. Each of them has a gold crown setting on their skull.

My parents.

Now that I’m older, I can see the chamber for what it truly is. And here in the lair, the small screen is set up in front of these skeletons, still flashing the words:

DESTINATION: PLANET EARTH

This is the aftermath of my parents’ failed Fertility Mission. Because my ignorant father tried to take shortcuts by using time travel to get to their Designated Foreign Planet.

And back when all this happened, I was just an egg onboard their spaceship as it hurtled toward Earth.

But how did I survive the crash?

And now, at this moment, a very strange vision comes into my mind:

The vision is of a patch of blue tranquil sky.

Then a black rectangle appears in the patch of sky.

Now the spaceship ATHENOS comes hurtling out of the black rectangle. The spaceship is covered in flames. The black rectangle vanishes. Now the blazing spaceship plunges toward Earth.

Suddenly the clear door of the spaceship opens and two talons frantically toss a big egg out into the air.

Mother.

The egg falls through the air. Falls through white wispy clouds.

Tumbles downward, spinning. The white shell glints in the sunlight.

Then falls through treetops. Bounces off of tree limbs, but never breaks.

Falls all the way down.

Bounces when it hits the forest floor.

Rolls to a stop in a bed of moss.

Now the egg trembles.

And a tiny black beak pecks a hole in the shell from the inside.

Then another hole.

I remember how the sunlight poured down into those holes and made my little eyes blink like crazy.

In the distance, a fiery explosion rises up out of the forest.

Mother and Father gone now.

So, for just a few sacred seconds, all three of us were alive at the same time here on Earth.

The explosion causes the forest floor to rumble and shake.

And so begins my life as an orphan.

Now the tiny black beak pecks another hole in the shell.

I remember how my little lungs in my chest were heaving because of how hard I was working, and I felt dizzy.

Another hole.

And now I am the only Survivor.

The only thing left from—

But at this moment my vision is interrupted by Runcita Floop, who comes dancing up to me out of the fog.

“I’m so glad you’re finally here!” purrs Runcita. “I was starting to wonder when you were going to show up. Wow. Look at your horns! They’re gorgeous!”

My Queen-to-Be.

My Luscious is here in the chamber.

Just as I knew she would be.

God bless you, Dr. Terrible.