Khthonia knew what a luxury it was to breathe, and regarded her own airspace as precious as the pearl she carried before her.
She did not mean to be snappy, or rude, but dragons knew to steer clear of her else she would bare her teeth at them until they left the area. Seeing as she spent her first days of life suffocating under the weight of abandonment, most assumed she would prefer company. But not so; even the merest sign of attention made her uncomfortable.

Khthonia's egg was lost when a small landslide buried her nest; her siblings rescued, her egg was forgotten. When she broke free and consumed the shell, the soil that surrounded her penetrated her nose, ears and mouth.
She did not know what came over her but that the earth grew around her, a fungus encasing her wings and rotting it into a deeply poisoned pattern, damaging them irreversibly. She felt her scales harden and calcify as mineral seeped into her.
Eventually she vomited up her pearl, the precious possession she held close to herself as the only thing she knew. Curled around its perfectly smooth surface, she closed her eyes and waited, sure she would die trapped underground, her body to become part of the living earth.

She woke as large claws clasped around her, lifting from her shallow grave and pulling her into the brightness of day. She snarled and snapped, unsure and confused as the Guardian set her onto the solid ground. Unfurling her cramped wings she felt like she'd emerged from a coffin, not a chrysalis.
"How did you find me?" she asked, still through her teeth.
"I saw the collapsed earth," said the Guardian. "I knew there were Plague nests around here. I wanted to check for any lost eggs. Do you know where your parents are?"
"They left me," Khthonia said bitterly, her claws scraping her pearl as she gripped it. "Left me to die."
"I'm sure it was an accident," said the Guardian. "My name is Trovryss. Do you want to come and live with my clan? Everyone is welcome. I have dragons who can heal your wings."
Khthonia's red eyes blinked. She could not see much, most of her vision wrapped in a fine gauze of white. She looked up at the form of her savior and away. She did not need time to think, but hesitated to voice her decision to the stranger.
"Come, my child. Where else would you go?"
She sighed in a half-snarl. "Fine, take me to your lair."