Halcyon

Magic... So much magic.

The thought moved sluggishly through the dragon's head. He was... Floating? In something... Warm and wet. Submerged. Another pulse of magic shifted through the liquid surrounding him, tickling him further into wakefulness.

Find the source.

The thought reverberated strongly. Was that his own thought? It felt like it was but somehow... It was different. His tail swung, swirling the liquids around him, his eyes opened to slits, burning as the liquid stung his eyes.

And the magic pulsed again.

He took a breath, only... It wasn't him that did, he felt the disgusting liquid flowing down in his throat into his lungs. A cough racked him, more liquid drawn in. He thrashed now, panic suddenly encompassing him. He needed air.

Wings stretched wide, flapping, claws tore through the gross red ooze surrounding him until finally, finally he broke the surface, coughing and spitting up red goo. Bubbles popped thickly nearby and around him. The stench of death was everywhere, inescapable.

"Finally."

A voice, unfamiliar above him. He tilted his head up, looking for the source.

"That's... Interesting... Are you still an imperial?" It was a spiral speaking. He felt like he'd seen the spiral... Long ago... It felt like in a dream maybe. As he pondered this he heard his own voice responding... but... It wasn't him speaking... But that was certainly his voice speaking, echoing what would have been his next thoughts.

"What do you mean... Still an imperial?"

The spiral twisted in the air above him, squinting green eyes at him. He sniffed, feeling the pulse of magic again, fainter now. He could just tell... The magic seemed to be coming from this... Spiral. Though... He was no normal spiral. Something about the magic felt wrong. Why was that?

"My my... How interesting indeed. If I were any other dragon I might mistake you for one of those dreadful emperors... But you seem to still have your mind to some degree yet... Split like an aberration. Look a bit like an aberration too..."

The spiral was making... No sense to him. Besides that, he needed to be out of the muck. He was tired and treading water... Or whatever this was, was exhausting him. Using his tail like a rudder and wings to push him forwards through the muck, he swam, flopping down heavily once he finally reached shore. The spiral followed him.

"Can the other head talk?" The spiral prodded tail tip tickling his nose, then ... Poking what felt like a muzzle but... Wasn't his muzzle.
"Don't touch me. And explain yourself Spiral... Why do you speak in riddles?"

A growl... His growl without coming from him echoed somewhere to his left. He turned, looking, to see a second head staring back at him. It was like peering into a mirror. He growled, tail lashing. Looking back to the spiral. What was the meaning of this?! He... He wasn't an emperor... He hadn't died. Had he? He scowled, trying to sift though broken memories. His head hurt.

"Come with me to my clan. We will help you. There's others there that also escaped this ... Wretched place. Though we don't have imperials I'm sure the others can help you better than I can in your new .. predicament of having two heads ."

And what choice did he have? Slowly he stood once more and walked along after the spiral, he was still too tired to fly but the smaller dragon didn't seem bothered by this. He tried helping him find his memories, sift through them for an identity... A name.

"Halcyon." He and his second head finally found his name, speaking as one.