It was a sound that woke me up. I gave a jerk of surprise and sat up straight, blinking. Light was still coming in through the entrance, barely any dimmer than before. It would not have been more than an hour at most, and I rubbed my eyes, grimacing at the discomfort in my back and neck from the posture I was sleeping in. Before I could even muster a coherent thought, the sound repeated itself, louder and more demanding.

The crackling of rock as it snapped and broke.

It was coming from right next to me.

Looking down, something was happening to the formation on the cave floor. The closest rock-bubble was glowing red-orange hot and the surface of it was breaking ... and moving.

In shock and surprise I jumped up, the box falling off my lap, the backpack tipping over as I tripped and stumbled, coming about to press myself against the far wall at the absurd and mystifying sight.

WHAT?

The surface of the bubble pushed up, the rock fragmenting as something thrust through it from below. The protrusion widened and the surface gave way as a shape began to emerge from the glowing oval.

A living shape.

It was at this point that my stupefied brain started to understand what I was seeing, and it was not a thing I ever expected to see in reality with my own two eyes.

Impossible ...

With a shove, the top of the egg burst completely, the heated protective corona of birth finally giving way, and the creature climbed from within. It rose on its hind limbs through the wreckage, forelegs clutching at air, thin reptilian body drawn as tall as it could muster, a tiny pair of wings extending on either side in a defiant greeting to the world.