Astral Feline Hyperlynx

The remains of the topsoil stung my black-taloned feet due to the cold. A dragon's body was powerful, yes, but not impervious to extreme temperature. I closed my eyes and released some heat from the core buried in my chest to keep my flesh warm as I wandered. A faint orange light emanated from between my scales, illuminating the ground while I walked.

I held my tail so it would not touch the frigid earth, and climbed up to get a better view of the land. Despite the haze, my eyes saw the remains of a riverbed here, a valley carved by water some inconceivable time past; all frozen in great glaciers by now, most likely.

I'd been warned, of course. The Hegemony of Gods was not kind to newcomers, especially to creatures that had been born to a mortal.

I turned my head skyward, to the dull red above. This world did not lack a sun, clearly... it was this terrible haze. I then let my snout lower, just above the ground, and sniffed at the earth. Frozen soot and ash, and below... once-living earth. Traces of plant matter, of animal remains and droppings. Indeed, I detected a few micro-organisms still clinging to life deep below the surface.

In the divine circles, there were various colorful names for the worlds such as these. Tabula Rasa. Dead garden. Hell planet. A world that had suffered quite enough, that had befallen a mortal fate. These worlds had only two purposes: to serve as places to punish those who defy you, or as raw matter to be split atom-from-atom and reshaped.

I continued down the valley until I found a small cavern. The fumes were of high density, so they were eye-watteringly intense here. Nevertheless, I persisted, and took a deep breath in. Here in this cavern, frozen in ice, there existed a few spores of what I could only assume once was a species of fungus. Looking over it, I saw what I had hoped to find, given the portent I'd felt in this place, and let a grin cross my face.

I lifted my tenebrous talon and struck the earth, carving a secret sign into the stone. Then, I opened my great jaws and let forth a burst of my soul's burning power. In a battle, it could render any foe to ash, but here, the sigil I'd made captured the energy and contained it. I made a few more quick motions in the air, effecting microscopic changes to the spores within the sign's area of effect. It only took a few genes, exchanged in position, to achieve the result I desired.

In moments, the spores had begun to spread mycelium across the surface of the stone, wherever the warmth was greatest. I focused my vision to the stomata and watched as molecules of the noxious gas were ingested by the new life, one after the next.

I exited and spread my great wings, propelling myself atop a nearby peak within seconds. Once there, I curled up on an accommodating flat and let time pass me by. At night, the red glow was replaced with total blackness, yet I endured the ominous strobe as days strung together into centuries. When I needed to move, I found another cavern and propagated the spores -- when I needed to rest, I became as stone and let my mind wander. My resolve wavered, but never broke.

Exiting another cave; I had lost count at a thousand; I saw the lighting shift. I turned to the skies and watched as the clouds parted. Golden light, radiant warmth, poured onto the land. In this intense light, the stone shone like opal, colors washing across the surface, illuminated once more. I saw the timid, naive tendrils of the mycelium begin to spread and explore the spot of sunlight. For a brief moment, I saw too what this world might become, one distant day. Then, the clouds joined back together, fading almost, but not completely, back to the same red hue.