A purple dragon lay in the bottom of a pit, a layer of red mud underneath her. Her eyes were pressed shut, and her back rose up and down in time with her breaths. Snorts escaped from her nostrils as her face twitched. Her claws scratched the ground, sinking her paws deeper into the soft earth. Air surged into the pit as Alora’s chest expanded, taking in a deep breath through her mouth. With a thunderous crash, a sneeze racked her body and the ground around her. A crack ran up the side of the pit, and a particularly large rock was dislodged, landing on Alora’s head.

“Gyack!”

Alora shot to her feet, her head swiveling from side to side. The rock rolled off her head and onto the ground by her front claws. She frowned and stared at it. Her chest lurched, and a second later, reddish-black vomit spewed out of her mouth. She brought her paw up to her head and groaned, rubbing her forehead while frowning, her eyes squinting. “What the heck? Did I catch the flu?” She closed her eyes and sat on her haunches, rubbing her temples with both her front paws. “Or did I eat something bad? That was a really weird dream. I’m sure I ate something bad. But if I eat something bad in a dream, would it affect me out here?”

Grating sounds rang out as she scratched her head with her claws. She sighed and opened her eyes before reeling back. “What the heck!? I’m purple!” Her neck craned down and to the side, her gaze taking in every inch of her body. “Why am I purple?” She swallowed and rubbed her eyes. She slowly opened her right eye and brought her paw up to her face. It was still purple. “This isn’t good. Mom’s going to withhold food from me.”

Alora’s eyes narrowed, and she bolted upright, standing on her hindlegs. She crawled up the side of the pit and peeked her head over the edge. “Zyocuh? Where are you?”

There was no response.

“He ran away!” Alora clacked her teeth together and climbed out of the pit. She brought her head up towards the sky and sniffed. Then she lowered her head to the ground, her nostrils expanding and contracting as small snuffling sounds filled the air. “He ran away after finding out I turned purple! How dare he? I knew I should’ve tied him up, but I didn’t think I’d fall asleep.”

Alora rubbed her chin and sat back on her haunches. She brought the back of her paw up to her face and spat on it. She rubbed it against her side before bringing it back up. Alora’s face darkened. There weren’t any signs of the purple color fading. “How do I explain this to Mom? I…, I think I’ll blame it on Vur. Okay. This is definitely Vur’s fault. He’s the adult who was supposed to be watching over me.” A sigh escaped from her lips, and she tilted her chin up towards the clouds. “The real question is why am I talking to myself out loud? I should stop.”

“No, no. Don’t stop. It’ll help me understand your state of mind better.”

Alora froze. She waited with bated breath, but the strange voice that she swore she just heard didn’t say anything. “H-hello? Is someone … there?”

“Down here.”

Alora swallowed and lowered her head towards the sound. It seemed to be coming from underneath her paw. She raised it up, but no one was there. “Where are you?”

“Over here.”

Alora flinched. This time, the sound came from near her head by her … paw. She stared at the tip of her claw. It shone with a dim light, and the voice from before came through, “Yes, you found me.”

“That’s great and all,” Alora said and wiggled her claw back and forth. “But, uh, what did I find?”

“You don’t recognize my voice?”

“Nope.”

“I’m Zyocuh.”

“Say what?” Alora asked. She brought the tip of her claw right up to her right eye and closed her left. “Did you shrink? I don’t see you.” Her eyelid narrowed until all that could be seen of her eye was a slit. “Oh! I think I see … nothing. I demand an explanation.”

The tip of her claw flashed. “You ate my soul,” Zyocuh’s high-pitched voice said. “But I have ways to preserve myself, so I let you tear me to bits and infused a part of me into the claw of your soul. I’m lucky you don’t wash your paws after you eat.”

Alora stared at her paw. Then she craned her neck forward and bit down, removing the tip of her claw that Zyocuh’s soul was occupying. There was a high-pitched scream followed by a wail. Alora nodded and spat out the tiny portion of claw. Unfortunately, another one of her clawtips lit up. Zyocuh’s high-pitched voice echoed through the air. “That hurt!”

Alora’s eyes bulged. “Why are you still here!?” She groaned and shook her paw a few times. “Mom’s really going to get mad. Not only did I turn purple, but I caught a weird sickness too?”

“You shouldn’t refer to me as a sickness,” Zyocuh said. “Besides, weren’t we planning on working together to defeat your uncle? This can be thought of as a bonus. Using your body as a medium, I should be able to channel spells that I could only theorize about back when I was still a human. As long as the two of us cooperate, there should be nothing in the world that can stop us. But first, we have to absorb the giants from the other two ritual sites.”

“How about … you tell me how to get rid of you?” Alora asked and nodded. “I think that’ll be the best for our cooperation.”

“…You don’t even know how to use your newfound powers,” Zyocuh said. “And you want to get rid of me so soon? I thought dragons were wise.”

Alora shook her head. “No, no. I’m wise, and I know that keeping you around is going to bite me in the butt one day, so … yeah. We’ll go absorb those two giants, but after that, you better be planning on finding a way to separate yourself from me in a manner that both of us will enjoy. Got it?”

“You’re a lot shrewder than I thought.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Alora said and nodded. “Now that I’ve established dominance in our unlikely cohabitation, how about you tell me what newfound powers I got?”