Carpe Diem

Basilisk knew the entire world could be at his fingertips, if he just took a plunge and grasped them. He trailed along near the ocean, feeling the sand beneath his oversized paw pads. They were heavy, clumsy, things to cart around. He often found himself tripping over them, and cursing their awkwardness. His siblings seemed better proportioned, and balanced. Why couldn’t he? Perhaps it had something to do with how it seemed almost every day he woke, he had grown a little taller. He already towered over his siblings.

Shaking his head, he turned from the ocean, and raced up the bank. Tripping through the grasses until he found a stream. His parents were too ill and erratic to have fully explained things like boundaries to him yet, and he was well intend on his exploring. He found the tree that had fallen across the stream, and scrambled onto it. With a great deal of luck, and the occasional claw stuck in wood, he managed his way across without mishap. Then he was on the other side, and the strange scent of sulfur touched his nose. He raised his head to the wind, sniffing intently. Wiggling his nose, and marvelling at how the scent almost seemed to burn on its way through.


"Speech"