A Shocking Start to a New Life
I nibbled on my pie- it was really good by the way- as Lottie started scampering around her cottage. I had no clue what it was she was doing, but she was doing it with more vigor than a typical woman her age could muster. Most of the time she was in the room I assumed was a kitchen.
After about ten minutes she stood before me and let out a breath of air. "There, all set!" She said happily. Though I still could not tell you what it was she had been doing. "You came to you decision much faster than the last soul I was in charge of. but it is all good to go now."
"Sorry. Did you need my help?"
"Oh, no. All good here, Deary. In fact, all you need to do is sit there, nice and still, and you will have started your new life before you know it."
Alright then. I did what I was told, and sat still, my empty cup and plate at my side, hands on my knees, and watched Lottie's every move.
She made sure of her footing, raised her thin hands, and closed her eyes.
She didn't chant or anything, but I got the feeling that she was performing some kind of magic.
Sure enough, after about a minute, I began to feel warm and tingly. After another minute, my eyes began to flutter closed, the warmth and numbness over taking me.
"Good luck on your journey, Max. In a moment you will be on another world and I hope it is everything you wish for and more!"
Her words seemed to echo as my consciousness faded out once again.
My first experience in this new world was one of darkness. But it wasn't, exactly an unpleasant darkness. It didn't take me too long to realized that the confined, dark, and viscus space I found myself in was likely an egg. After all, dragons hatched from eggs, right?
There had been a small moment of panic, but then instinct over rode human logic and I realized that there was nothing to fear. This was all normal. I was a baby dragon and I was currently resting and accumulating power from withing the hard shell I was born in.
Lottie said that dragons had a type of genetic memory, and that did seem to be the case. I couldn't explain how, but I knew without a doubt that this was all as it should be, and that there was no need to rush my hatching. I knew it was perfectly normal to be aware while still in my egg.
And when my time of consciousness appeared to be short, my mind drifting to sleep more often than awake, I knew that that was also normal. After all, I was still a baby, even if I was considered viable to hatch.
Dragons, though hatched from eggs, are viable from the moment their eggs hit the fire heated coals that their nests are constructed from.
But, rather than hatch immediately, it is better to wait.
Not only is it best to wait for a time where the conditions are more favorable, and all the stars are aligned, as it were.
This made it all the more likely that the baby dragons survive.
After all, female dragons are rare, and notoriously picky about mates.
I supposed it only made sense that a creature so powerful and long lived had reproduction issues. Other wise the world would be over run with dragons, leaving the ecosystem in tatters. It wasn't like dragons had many natural predators to keep the numbers in check, after all.
And, even though it was possible to hatch now, there was one very big reason not too: Mother's memories.
The influx of mana that we- myself and the other eggs I could sense- were storing, on top of the little Mother was sending our way, was to prepare us for her final gift before we made our own way in the world. That gift were her memories.
Memories that she- and the dragon dams who came before her- accumulated over their life times.
Memories of prime hunting grounds, places to avoid, dangerous monsters.
.. all sorts of important things. Really it is mostly like the ultimate family photo album and history book ever made.
It is a legacy that each dragon dam passed on to the next generation.
One day, it would be my responsibility too.
I wasn't entirely cognizant of the passage of time.
I couldn't tell you how long I spent in my nice, comfy egg at all.
But I learned to sense my mother, feeling her massive presence was quite easy once I was aware of it.
And once I could pick her out I began to seance the smaller life forces of my brothers and sisters nestled around me.
It was hard to be accurate, but I thought there may be another four eggs in this nest. I wondered what my siblings would be like, and If we would all hatch about the same time.
Truthfully, I was starting to get anxious.
The desire to hatch was mounting every time I awoke, but I resisted, assuming that it was simply because I was used to being human, and there fore impatient with the process.
Still, it really was hard, staying in this small space where there was a whole new world out there for me to explore.
It was during one of these anxiety filled, wakeful moments, that my musings were interrupted. At first it was a strange change in the mana fluctuations around me. But, rather quickly it turned in to actual physical senses as well.
Normally, Mother was very careful with landing or walking near us. At least, I assumed she was because she was very large, yet i never felt any tremors from her movements.
But today my liquid world was shaking quite violently. One second I was dozing, thinking of what it might be like to fly, and the next I felt a snap in the mana around me, followed by what I could only describe as an earth quake.
And then, for the first time, I actually heard something.
My dragon baby brain, not yet blessed with Mother's memories, would not know of what to make of the sounds.
.. But I was not a normal baby dragon, was I?
I could make out feint booming noises, what I was sure was a very loud roar, and then the murmurings of voices, though I couldn't pick out the words.
But, for voices to make it though my thick shell, they must have been more like shouts than whispers.
I immediately began to panic. this was not good! Not at all. Fear and anger bubbled up in me. Mother would not cause such a ruckus around us, not after being so careful for so long. Clearly we were under attack or something.
It was dumb, I mean I was a baby... But I immediately started kicking and bashing against my shell.
I didn't think I could truly help my mother, but I wasn't about to quit without trying!
After all, I had brothers and sisters out there, and unlike me, they would be confused and at a loss for what to do.
I kicked and stretched, bashing my little claws and spine against the hard shell, over and over.
I may not have a clear concept of time, but I did know that this was taking too long.
In fact, not too long into my struggles I had stopped hearing anything out and about my little egg home.
But I had already started the process of hatching and could not stop now.
About the same time I stopped hearing the noises, I started feeling strange. there was a pressure on my mind. Then I realized that Mother had started giving me her memories! Did that mean she was fine? Had I worried for nothing?
But... It wasn't long before the pressure on my mind lessened, and It was just my own consciousness floating around in my head. I began to panic again then, though I wasn't really sure why. I just knew that my instincts were raging that this was not how it was supposed to go.
Eventually, one of my kicks worked. I felt the shell give way, the membrane stretching. I continued to stretch and kick, my energy severely depleted. After all, before now I was only able to stay awake for a few moments at a time, and that was without all the efforts of hatching.
With a loud crack and then a rip, my would was turned up side down once again.
I felt cold open-ness all around me, light bombarding my eyes and color startling my young brain. I stood on coals, the liquid of my egg sizzling around me, and shivered. I was stiff and tense, unsure what to to and probably in a little shock as well.
"Little... One..." I heard a soft but weak voice echo in my head. It was feminine but sounded like it was coming from a woman on her sick bed.
I shook my head. It was a very whip lash like sensation, given I was not prepared for how long my neck was. Still, I had to figure out the source of the voice...
I blinked my eyes a time or two, the 'snick' of my boney eye lids surprising me at first. My vision was still a little blurry but I could make out smudged greens and browns, and below me, the faintly glowing coals of the nest.
"Little one..." I heard again, also seemingly withing my own mind. But this time it was followed by the very real world sound of shifting stones against a hard surface, emanating somewhere behind me.
Nervously, unsure of my footing and exactly how to work this new body of mine, I stumbled around.
At first I squinted through the blurriness, making out the cupped and jagged halves of what must have been my egg. But them move meant caught my eye and I felt my gaze rising up... up... and up.
I gaped in awe as I set eyes upon a dragon for the very first time.
This must have been my mother! I had no way to decern size, really, but if I had to hazard a guess at what I thought my own height was- which I thought might be about the size of a medium sized dog- then Mother was easily many times that.
I would say about three stories at the wither, and that would not even include her long neck!
And she was silver! My eyes started to adjust and i could make out the slight shimmer of her scales and long spiky crest. Given the quality of the light, it was either night, or this place was in a thick forest. I was betting on the forest, given the loamy scents recognized from the places I played in as a child back on earth.
"I am... so-so sorry... Little One..." Sighed Mother, causing me to gaze up at her in confusion. Why would she be sorry?
But as I looked I realized that Mother was not alright. I could see rivulets of blood oozing down her long neck, the deep red a shocking contrast to her stunning silver scales. And even from one of her nostrils there was blood...
Mother's head lowered, and I saw another glaring injury. One of her gorgeous sapphire blue eyes had been gouged out! the wound squeezed shut and oozing. What could have done this to such an awe inspiring creature as she?
"Mother!" I tried to say, but only a rather embarrassing peeping gurgle could be heard. But I tried again, this time imagining my thoughts reaching her. "Mother! What happened?"
I felt a splash of strange emotion flash over me from mother: Relief, amusement, and sadness.
"Bandits... Thieves!" She snarled, before her head, about the size of a bathtub and some change, collapsed next to my much smaller form. "...Humans..."
People? People did this to Mother? But surly that was impossible! She was huge!
But then I realized something. Yes, Mother was large and could breath fire... but she had a nest of vulnerable eggs to protect. And one of those foolish eggs had been attempting to hatch too. The humans had attacked when Mother was at her most vulnerable.
Anger and rage filled me then and I snapped my little jaws opened and closed. I was surprised when I heard Mother laugh, both in my mind, as well as a sort of gargled rumble out loud.
"You are, indeed... my daughter." She said, one working eye growing glazed. "I am sorry, Little one. I was... Not able... to give you your birth right... properly. So much has been... lost."
Shaking, I realized what she meant. She was too weak and near death, and was not able to give me all the memories of she and my Grand-Dams before her.
I spun my head from side to side and froze when I finally realized the carnage around me.
the ground was tore up and blood splattered and there were the ripped and scorched corpses of what I assumed to be armored humans thrown about.
Rocks looked like they had been torn up from the dirt, the large earthen cliff faces either side of the nest were covered in claw marks and the ripped roots of trees, and there was another human corps speared onto a log near by.
But most disheartening of all were the two shattered eggs a couple feet from me, the baby dragons that had been inside torn to shreds. Heartbroken, I turned away.
"Yes..." Growled mother, her own rage apparent. "Vile beasts that they are. Your... brothers... slain before they... even tasted air..."
"Why?" I asked her, sounding weak even to my own ears but not particularly caring. I had two brothers, and I would never meet them... Never would they fly int he sky as is a dragon's god given right!
"Poachers." Sighed Mother, her words spoken softly and with great effort. "Mages and warriors alike... I thought-thought we would... be... safe here. But they came... all the same."
"Why?!" I asked again, all the more forceful and angry this time.
"Many reasons. We are strong... they are weak. No wings... now claws or fangs..."
I felt my anger grow, small claws gripping the coals beneath me. I would get these poachers! The human in me was not immediately prone to violence, but the dragon wanted revenge and retribution for the loss of not just two young drakes, but the great mistress of the sky that was my mother.
"Yes." Mother growled once again. "Find them, Little One... Get big... Get strong... And find your siblings..."
"Siblings?" I asked, yet another one word question. but hey, cut me some slack! I was only, like, five minutes old here.
"Two. They took... their eggs. Gone. Long gone... now."
So I had two other siblings out there?
A sense of purpose filled me then, and I resolved my self to avenge my family, and rescue my bothers or sisters at all costs.
"Little One... No- Allura..." As my mother spoke the name I felt magic rush over me. I had been named! I was Maxine no longer, now I was Allura the dragon. Allura the avenger! "Grow big, and strong. Live... make new memories."
I felt my eyes well with tears. I did not know this dragon, not really. But I felt a familiar connection with her all the same. She was my mother, after all.
"Never forget... Allura... That you are the daughter... of Verona! Never... forget..."
I wept then, as my mother fade away. Today I was born, and today I lost a mother and two brothers.
Tomorrow?
Tomorrow I began my mission to seek out those I had taken from me, and avenge those who had died.
Tomorrow, I would be a dragon!