I twist inside my shell. The walls are becoming more and more transparent, and I am ready. I push against my cage and hear a crk. I push again. Crr-rrk. I realize my freedom is close, and push harder. Crrr- rrrrr-crack! I see light peeking through the small gap in the shell. I feel the protecting liquid inside trickle out.

“The Cocoon is hatching! Pass it on!” A guard yells down a hall. I hear fainter calls echoing down the passageway. Soon, I hear three sets of footsteps running down the hall.

I press again, harder. Crack! Crrr-rr. Crk! The gap opens, sending a spider web of cracks around the opening. The fluid inside streams out in a river of honey-golden liquid. I push again and again. Each shove sends out more liquid and spider-webbing cracks.

I need to get out. It has been so long that I have forgotten my name, if I ever had one to begin with. I twist and writhe, cracking the shell violently. Then, with a wet shattering, the shell falls apart around me, spilling the liquid all around. I stand there, on a pedestal of some kind, breathing heavily.

“My queen? Are you alright?” A voice asks me. I look up and see the face of a dragon. My kind of dragon. I remember. I am an Antis dragon. We have four wings and six legs, with antennae on our heads and a carapace protecting our bodies.

I straighten out and flare my wings. Gasps echo around the room. For I am beautiful. My carapace is a dark pink, contrasting sharply with the gold of my colony.

“I am fine,” I say.

“Do you have a name for us to call you?” The same dragon asked. I think about it.

“Yes,” I say. “It shall be … Phantasmi.”

The dragon turns around and shouts out to the hundreds of dragons around us, “I present to you, our new Queen, Phantasmi!”

The dragons cheer and clap, for I am their savior. I shall lead this colony to victory in our Conquest of the world. And everyone will bow down to me. And everything will be mine. Forever. For I, unbeknownst to them, have the power of the ancient god, He Who Destroyed the Civilized, Shadow.