Its life force stirred, weak, but growing.
Cracks spread across the stone shell.
Chunks fell away, melting into sand that scattered across the ground.
Beneath, smooth infant skin emerged, unblemished and hairless, like that of a tiny monk.
The last of the stone dissolved, revealing a robe embroidered with swirling white and gold symbols.
The baby's eyes were closed, its chubby hands clutching a stone book.
Then, suddenly, its eyelids fluttered open.
A flash of green light ignited within them as the book in its hands burst into brilliance and vanished into thin air.
The remaining bits of stone crumbled from its pudgy fingers.
The baby... or whatever kind of being it was, turned its head.
Its plump cheeks wobbled with each motion, eyes gleaming emerald as they locked onto the source of the chaos shaking the forest.
It raised its gaze.
The forest and the sky above it were distorting, eroding and tearing apart like a film being burned away.
