Enigma

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Plastered to the wall by the raw power emanating from the dragon before him, the doctor watched in shock and awe as Captive 241 threw his partner into a portal and escaped. He had no hope of catching him now. Luckily, he was able to collect a decent amount of DNA from the dragon before he escaped.

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In the wake of his Captive 241’s escape, the doctor tried to pick up the pieces. The lab was completely destroyed, so he moved all of his data to another one close by.

In this new lab, the doctor created test tubes meant to recreate the feeling of being inside an egg. He attempted to grow three clones out of Captive 241’s DNA, but the experiment failed. The test tubes had yet to be perfected and it was too much upkeep to take care of three unborn hatchlings at once.

The clones were considered failures and were called 241-X1, 241-X2, and 241-X3 before their bodies were turned over to other labs for more experimentation.

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The second attempt went beautifully. The hatchling developed regularly and looked a lot like Captive 241. The growth of the hatchling was monitored closely and he was deemed a perfect clone. The hatchling was called 241-V4.

When 241-V4 ‘hatched’ out of the test tube, which really meant that a trap door was opened in order for the hatchling to crawl out, he was immediately enamoured with the doctor. He, in a way, imprinted on him like a baby duck.

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As the hatchling grew into a powerful young dragon, he noticed that he didn’t have a real name. None of the dragons he met in the labs or saw on television had a number in their name! He asked the doctor about his namelessness.

The doctor replied, “Oh, 241-V4, you do have a name! It’s… erm… Enigma! Yeah, Enigma!” He had often thought of all the unknowns he was working with in raising this clone. He had often thought of the hatchling as an enigma, a mystery, waiting to be unraveled.

“Enigma?” asked 241-V4, in confusion. “If that’s my name, why has no one called me by it before?”

“Well, um, Enigma, we here at the lab have gotten so used to calling everyone by their code names that we sometimes forget that they have real names at all!” laughed the doctor. Enigma joined in half-heartedly after a moment.

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It wasn’t too long after that that Enigma’s first set of younger siblings were hatched. As the oldest, Enigma was tasked with looking after the youngest hatchlings. He was also tasked with naming them.

When his baby siblings were born, Enigma asked for training. He wanted to learn how to handle a cleaver like the doctor. The doctor accepted Enigma’s request and praised him for being a wonderful older brother.

Soon enough, Enigma mastered the cleaver and the doctor was able to teach him no more. Enigma absorbed new techniques and information like a sponge.

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Years went by in a similar pattern. Enigma trained in the mornings before his siblings woke for the day, he then took care of them throughout the day. He fed them, clothed them, played with them, taught them, and made sure they were comfortable and ready for their daily check-ups.

Most young dragons would rather trade their siblings for more snacks or a new toy, but Enigma’s favorite time of the day was when he was able to spend time with his.

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The doctor was becoming desperate. None of the clones that he had created possessed the same powers as Captive 241. Continued failure to make powerful clones would result in his death. Maybe he would need to start a new strategy.

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At Enigma’s daily check-up, the doctor started to collect his DNA. However, it was discovered that because Enigma was a clone, his DNA was not viable to make another clone. Enigma was also not able to have eggs the natural way with a mate. He was completely sterile.

The doctor was worried for both his life and the lives of the clones he created. Almost against his will, he became attached to the little boogers. He needed to find a way to get them out of here and destroy Captive 241’s DNA.

He eventually decided that the best course of action would be to tell Enigma the whole story. Maybe Enigma would hate him, but at least he would have a chance to be safe.

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The doctor told Enigma his whole story, including how and why he became a part of the Organization. He was once a humble family doctor until his whole family was ripped into a dimensional rift right in front of him. It was a training accident by a young Temporal Rifter and the doctor was compensated greatly, but it wasn’t the same as having his family back. He thought that if he could harness the powers of time and space, maybe he could get his family back. He realized too late that that wasn’t the case and was already too deep in debt to the Organization. He couldn’t escape.

Enigma, as expected, did not take the revelation well. At first, he refused to talk to the doctor, but still cooperated out of fear for his siblings’ lives. The doctor kept trying to initiate conversations or at least small talk with Enigma, but he was met with the cold shoulder every time.

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What the doctor and Enigma didn’t know is that their conversation had been recorded. Higher-ups at the Organization had had enough. The doctor and Enigma were too much of a threat. They needed to be eliminated.

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One day Enigma woke with a weird tingling feeling in the back of his mind. Something was wrong. He searched around the lab areas, finding the doctor bleeding out on the floor. He had been taken out by his superiors. He only had enough life left in him to warn Enigma.

“They’re… after you… next,” he wheezed out painfully, “your… siblings… too.”

Enigma’s eyes widened in fear. The doctor continued on, a bit stronger than before, “Find the vial.... labeled Captive 241. Take it far away from here… and destroy it! It contains your father’s blood, it must be destroyed before more clones are created. Take your siblings and run!” He fell limp.

Enigma shed a few tears before standing up and rushing to the bedroom where his siblings slept. As he approached the room, he heard yelling and crying. He sped up.

By the time Enigma burst into the room, his siblings had been forced into a corner by the larger dragons. One of the dragons had the youngest clone, still a newborn hatchling, clutched in his claws. They were being used as leverage for the siblings to cooperate. In the corner, the older siblings stood bravely in front of the younger ones, prepared to fight their way to get out.

Enigma ambushed the dragons from the back and took his baby sibling into his own clutches. Without anything holding them back, Enigma and his siblings fought with all their might. It was a hard battle but eventually they overpowered the larger dragons and were able to escape out the window.

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Enigma’s smaller siblings hitched a ride on his back while the older ones flew alongside him. He flew and flew and flew until he could fly no more. He settled himself and his siblings deep in the woods surrounding a kingdom, which is where they made their home. Little did they know that it was already home to a powerful being.

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Andrata watched as many similar-looking dragons slowly built a home near his nest. He wondered why they would decide to live in his domain. Many dragons from the nearby kingdom visited regularly to hunt and gather and fish, but this strange group decided to stay a while.

He thought it would only be fitting to introduce himself. He shaped his gigantic true form, which is incomprehensible and invisible to most dragons, into the shape of a rather small wildclaw, smaller than a fully grown wildclaw, but larger than a hatchling. He covered himself with his favorite plants, hoping it would make him look friendlier.

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While Andrata seemed physically small as a wildclaw, his presence was very large and Enigma could sense him drawing near. He was on high alert. When Andrata wandered around the corner of a rather large tree, Enigma was surprised. He was smaller than even Enigma’s littlest sibling. How could such a tiny dragon exude such a large aura? Enigma stayed wary of the tiny beast.

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As Andrata approached the family, he could see the curiosity of the smallest dragons and the wariness of the largest. He smiled and tried to make himself as unthreatening as possible. Truth be told, Andrata didn’t know much about dragons or how they acted. He hoped he wasn’t offending his new neighbors.

Andrata approached the largest dragon and stuck out his hand, the dragon just looked like he was trying not to laugh. Andrata put on his most affronted face. That only made the dragon actually laugh out loud!

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On the inside, Enigma was howling with laughter. The smallest wildclaw he had ever seen just waltzed right up to him with no fear and stuck out his hand. Obviously, this wildclaw had been in the wilderness for too long and forgot all about dragon customs! Obviously, his laughter had shown on his face because the wildclaw put on the cutest pouting face, which caused Enigma to burst out laughing. This must have broken the ice because the wildclaw had started laughing as well.

Enigma didn’t bother with proper customs and introduced himself and his siblings, expressing their desire to live in this area. The wildclaw, now known as Andrata, also introduced himself and said that he was excited to meet his new neighbors. Andrata had an interesting gruffness to his voice, the kind that built up over time from disuse.

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Enigma invited Andrata over for dinner nearly every night after the house was completed. Enigma told him about his troubled past and in turn, Andrata told Enigma about his true form and special powers. Enigma vowed that the Organization would never get their hands on Andrata and in gratitude, he promised to keep Enigma and his family safe.

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After living as neighbors for a while, Enigma invited Andrata to live with him and his family instead of alone in the woods. He accepted the invitation and was overjoyed at the idea of having a family again.

As Enigma snuggled into his best friend’s side in the giant nest the family shared, he thought about the future. He loved his family, but maybe it was time that the family grew? He had recently heard about more Organization experimentation centers and he wanted to stop them all and make the world a safer place for dragons with powers.

Well, that’s a conversation for another day. For now, Enigma felt content and fell into a peaceful slumber surrounded by his loved ones.

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Currently my only use of the Scroll of Maturity - I'm impatient and it works with lore so... :shrugs:

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