Hae

The brutal wind forced cracks into the egg, rolling it into an outcropping of rock with a few succulents and cacti to shelter it. The hatchling picked her way out of it, her egg tooth falling out as she scrambles onto the hot ground, electricity arcing through the stone. She bit off pieces of the shell, swallowing them to obtain the nutrients they held inside, then turned to look at her surroundings.

The land was mostly flat, formed by heavy winds. Lizards of all sizes skittered across the plain, hunting for insects. Carrion birds circled over head, cawing cruelly to warn that they would eat anything with the audacity to die here.

The hatchling’s belly was tight and growling. She looked at the little geckos crawling up the plants and licked her lips. Slowly, she crept up on it, then pounced- ouch! She got a face full of cactus spines in her mouth and nose. Shaking her head, she pulled them out slowly, and tried again, using her sharp claws to pick the creature up and puncture its tough scales.

-

At two days old, Hae had become quite adept at hunting in and protecting her small claimed territory, extending a few dozen yards in all directions from her hatch site. She patrolled it daily, proud of herself for her forethought.

When a lightning egg showed up inside her territory, she waited for it to hatch. She wasn’t quite sure what it was. It looked a lot like her egg, but she hadn’t met another dragon before. She thought perhaps she was the only one. Whatever this thing was, maybe it would be good for eating.

The sharp cracks wake her up, and she sits ramrod straight as the creature inside chipped its way free of the shell. It tumbled out in a mass of dark scales and wet wings. It shook its head and pounced on her.

Lore by Aelthen.


morph&python