Andromeda

A voice rose out amongst the cosmos. Something small yet something far greater than what she? Yes she, could fathom. It rushed over her in the form of pure cosmic radiation, painting her scales in soft purples and sprinkling her wings with pinpricks of light. A reminder of what she once was.

“Andromeda”

The voice whispered.

“Andromeda, You Cannot Stay Here.”

A question swirled upon the tip of her fangs, her mouth filling with the dust of dying stars instead. She should have coughed, but she couldn’t bring in the air to do so. Instead she let her mouth close shut and swallowed the muck down.

“Andromeda, Our Precious Star You Cannot Stay Here”

Why?
The voice did not answer her.

She felt something, a tug on her flank that pulled her down. Down Down Down, Gravity taking its hold as she plummeted.

“Andromeda, You Have Fallen.”

She noticed that. She should feel something about that shouldn’t she? But nothing but acceptance for her fate rose up.

“Andromeda, You Shall Find No Sanctuary Amongst the Cosmos.”

Then where would she go? The voice did not answer, but instead showed a place, A Planet. Where small creatures flew across the skies, walked across the lands and swam across the seas. A dragon had its telescope trained on her brilliant form, watching as the streak of light slowly grew closer.

“Andromeda, Our Fallen Child Find Sanctuary Amongst the Light. Andromeda, This Is Where We Speak No Longer.”

She crashed into the atmosphere, a fiery sphere protecting her descent. Her landing was not graceful, she slammed into the hard earth with a scream. Her very first intake of breath was painful, the pull of gravity almost choking. She had crash landed into a small lair, the noise and scent and sights were overwhelming.

Someone alighted next to her, their voice flat but their posture livid. Another much larger form peered down at her, their voice laced with worry. She tried bringing her limbs closer to stand, but the force of gravity still had shackles over her.

For the first time in eons she felt powerless.
She opened her maw, a shuddering gasp escaping before she could wheeze out.

“Sanctuary.”

The two had startled, arguing with each other before the larger went back into their den and reappeared with a bolt of cloth. They gently rolled her onto it before dragging her back inside, murmurs of apologies as she winced and cried in pain.

Soon enough her exhaustion won the battle and her eyes slipped closed. She could explain who she was when she was not writhing in agony, for now she would sleep.

In a clan of astronomers, a star has found its home.