15. Hatchling
W hen Aeden opened his eyes, he let out a pained groan before rolling onto his side. When he was greeted with a cold, hard floor, he knew that it wasn’t a dream and that he was still in the cave. He had no clue how long he had been unconscious, but his head ached like he had sunk one too many ales.
When he remembered what had happened, he pushed himself up as fast as he could and looked for the egg straight away.
It was right where he had left it, except now it was half an egg; the other half was collapsed on the floor, the hardened shell broken into hundreds of fragmented pieces much like a shattered vase.
There was no sign of anything else.
Aeden spun around towards the cave opening behind him.
“Shit.”
The Aer-Kin had likely escaped. Now he had no chance of ever finding it, or seeing it for that matter .
“ What’s the matter? ” a girl’s voice asked inside Aeden’s head.
Aeden shot back around, his jaw almost hitting the ground at what he saw.
The creature stood awkwardly on four legs.
It was as tall as he was, even though it was only mere moments old, unsteady and wobbly.
Its scales were a curious mix of onyx and red, with charcoal-black streaked with veins of yellowish orange.
A jagged crest of red-tipped, scaled plumes crowned its narrow head, catching the light like embers in a dying fire, while its golden chest scales shimmered faintly, too soft yet to be the armour that they promised to become.
It blinked, its wide amber eyes gleaming with a piercing intelligence, as though it knew more of the world than it had any right to. Its wings, still damp and crumpled from hatching, hung at its sides like dark cloaks.
For a long, breathless moment, the Aer-Kin simply stared, its gaze fixed and unblinking, its head moving from one side to the other as it examined Aeden as though it could see through him.
And then, with a soft chiming of its scales, the creature moved, uncertain, each step hesitant and unsteady.
It was like watching a babe take its first steps.
It was small now, fragile even, but there was no mistaking what it would become.
This was an Aer-Kin, and it was beautiful.
“ Are you okay? ” the voice said. It had a surprisingly concerned tone, yet its mouth did not open. All the same, Aeden heard the words as clear as the morning sun. “H-How are you talking to me?” Aeden asked. “Why can I hear you?”
“ It’s our bond ,” the Aer-Kin said.
“Our b-bond?” Aeden had never heard of anyone bonding with an Aer-Kin before the official bonding ceremony. He wasn’t even sure what the rules were about this, but he was quite certain he had just broken every single one of them.
“ I was drawn to you in the weave. At least I think that’s what it is called, it is difficult to explain ,” the childlike voice said.
“How can you talk? How can you know all this? You have only just hatched,” Aeden asked, rubbing his eyes just in case he was dreaming.
“ Language is easy. My words form in the tongue that you are familiar with. The knowledge I have is mainly based on the things you already know. Does that make sense? ”
“Kind of,” Aeden said. “It’s a lot to take in. You said we had a bond . . . Does that mean?—”
“ Yes .” The Aer-Kin started padding its feet and let out a soft, delicate chirping sound that actually came from its beak. “ You and I are bonded to one another. You helped me hatch. Our souls are now one .”
Aeden didn’t know what to think of the situation. Then the fear of the gods dawned on him. How was the academy going to react to this? He had bonded with an unsanctioned hatchling.
Was she a Flamebelly? A Barbtail? A Rockmaw, perhaps? Aeden had a decent understanding of Aer-Kin on paper, but he couldn’t be sure what breed she was.
“What are you?” Aeden asked.
“ I am your Aer-Kin, and you are my human ,” the delicate creature said, turning its head sideways and talking in a slightly confused tone.
“No, I mean what type of Aer-Kin are you?”
She looked over her body, stretching out her elongated neck to give herself a good look-over before saying, “ I don’t know. I don’t have a name yet, either .” She gave Aeden an expectant look.
He wasn’t expecting this, and the thought of giving her a name filled him with dread. The responsibility was huge.
“You want me to name you?” Aeden asked.
He took a step towards her and stretched out his hand.
The hatchling reached her head forwards, then placed her cheek into Aeden’s palm.
The two of them exhaled deeply, as if in tandem.
The texture of the scales was softer than Aeden thought they would be.
They looked to have a hardened shine, like stone, but they were warm to the touch.
“I’m Aeden,” he said.
“ I know. ”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“ I know ,” she giggled playfully.
Aeden let out a strange noise that was part excitement, part exhaustion, and the Aer-Kin seemed to mirror him, letting out her own chirp-like sound.
“Are you a female Aer-Kin?” Aeden asked. Her voice sounded feminine, but he just wanted to be sure.
“ Yes ,” she said, nuzzling into Aeden’s hand once again.
Aeden started to think of names for her. “How about Legartha?”
The Aer-Kin winced, shaking her head in disagreement.
“Okay, how about Ziara?”
The Aer-Kin let out a screech of disapproval.
“Okay, okay,” Aeden said, laughing as he studied the creature more closely. She was a thing of beauty as he examined every scaled feather on her body. They looked like they were coated in light fluff .
Aeden continued to think on names when one pushed its way to the forefront of his mind. He said it aloud more like a compulsion than an idea. “How about Nyra?”
“ I love it ,” she squealed with delight as she bounced up and down in the air.
Aeden felt a wave of happiness wash over him that wasn’t entirely his. To say it was confusing was putting it mildly; it was like he had butterflies in his stomach.
“ It’s such a beautiful name, thank you for blessing me with it. I will bring honour to it as well as to your mother .” She lowered her head as if bowing to Aeden.
“Nyra it is, then.” Aeden smiled and rubbed his hand over the crown of her head once again. He wished he could stay in this moment for as long as possible, just the two of them. He had so many questions that he wanted to ask her.
“This wasn’t meant to happen this way,” Aeden said. “I don’t know how people are going to react when we leave this cave and head back to the academy.” He didn’t know what to do.
“ I am yours and you are mine ,” she said simply. The sentiment seemed to settle Aeden’s growing nerves from thinking about the academy.
Surely they couldn’t kick him out now that he was bonded to an Aer-Kin, even if it had happened in an unconventional way.
Nyra let out a squeal of pain that instantly made Aeden feel uncomfortable. She tried to move her wings, or at least it looked like she was trying to spread them out.
“What is it?” he asked, concerned and desperate to ease her pain .
“ My wings .” She tried to flex them again, but she let out another pained squeal, her wings trembling as she attempted to stretch them out.
“Steady, girl,” Aeden said, rubbing his hand down her neck to try and settle her. “Let me take a look. I’ll be as gentle as I can.”
Nyra straightened up her neck and lowered her body to allow Aeden to reach her wings.
Taking a closer look, it was clear that something wasn’t right with them. They looked disjointed, drooping slightly down her sides. Aeden took hold of the wing nearest him and attempted to lift it. It was heavy, but there was little to no resistance at its base.
Nyra let out another pained cry.
“I’m sorry, girl, I don’t mean to hurt you.” As far as Aeden understood, wings retracted back on an Aer-Kin before settling by their sides. Nyra’s wings didn’t look like they were set in the right position. Aeden was no expert.
But he knew who was.
“Let’s get you back to the academy,” he said. “I know just the person who should be able to help with your wings. Master Ember is responsible for all the hatchlings at Aviara. He will know how to help you, I am certain of it.”
“ I hope so, they hurt really bad ,” Nyra said. There was a sadness in her voice that Aeden didn’t like.
“For the time being, try not to move them. We don’t want you in any uncomfortable situations, and I don’t want you to cause any damage to yourself.”
Aeden brushed his hand softly over the surface of Nyra’s head and down the back of her neck. Her feathers were soft, like bedding, and he bedded his fingertips in gently to give her a light scratch. Nyra arched her neck and let out a chitter of appreciation.
“ Is there something wrong with me? ” she asked, a slightly scared tone to her voice.
“You have only just hatched, and we’re able to have a full-blown conversation, Nyra.
I’m not going to lie, I don’t know what’s normal.
I am pretty sure you shouldn’t be in this much pain.
” Aeden couldn’t describe it, but he had an overwhelming urge to protect Nyra, to make sure that she was okay.
Right now, his instinct told him that he was going to have to get her back to the academy and explain what had happened – and hope he was not about to be expelled.
This wasn’t part of his plan.
When he was back at the academy, he would speak with Master Ember about Nyra’s wings. He was the most knowledgeable person on the campus about hatchlings and the most logical person to speak to about the matter.
“You will be okay.” Aeden paused. “ We will be okay.”
“ Thank you, Aeden. I’m glad it is you that I have bonded with ,” she said before letting out another gentle chittering noise.
“Now all we have to do is figure out how we’re going to get back to the academy.” Aeden looked out from the cave. “Are you able to walk?”
Nyra stood back up and shook herself down, then took a few unsteady steps forward. It amazed Aeden that she was able to move at all, having only just hatched from her egg. She staggered to one side and then the other, making sure to keep her wings tucked up tightly against her side .
She bumbled forward, and Aeden instinctively wrapped his arms around her chest in a hug-like motion to stop her from tumbling over.
“I’ve got you. I’ll try and keep you steady,” he said as he looked up at Nyra’s large eyes. “There’s just one problem.” He looked down at his swollen ankle. “I don’t know if I can walk.”
Nyra let out another chitter before padding her feet on the ground excitedly.
It was all Aeden could do to let her go and stop himself from falling over.
Taking a step back, he cried out in pain as he bore weight on his injured foot.
It felt as though white-hot burning fire raked all the way up his ankle and calf.
Leaning against the cave wall, he buried his head into his hands and concentrated on not screaming out profanities.
“ Sorry ,” Nyra said, pushing her head into Aeden’s side.
Aeden took a few short, sharp breaths. “It’s okay. I guess we need to help each other.”
Aeden looked outside the cave again. There was no way the two of them were going to be able to climb back up to where Aeden had fallen from, which meant they were going to have to walk all the way around until they found a way up to the top path.
“ I think I can help with your foot ,” Nyra said, sounding slightly confused as if she was questioning herself.
“How do you mean?”
“ I don’t think I can fix it, but I think I can help lessen the pain. That might help you with walking .”
“How?”
“ Our bond, and the magic that flows between us . ”
The very concept of magic was something Aeden had completely forgotten about, but now that he was bonded with an Aer-Kin, he would have access to it. His powers would manifest.
“ Are you okay? ” Nyra asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just a lot to take in. Just a short while ago, I was on an exercise with the academy, and now I have an Aer-Kin.”
“ And I have a human ,” Nyra said excitedly, padding her feet on the ground.
Aeden’s own joy lifted, his heart fluttering as an overwhelming feeling of happiness lit up in his core. He felt a warm flush rise up, settling in his cheeks. It was almost dizzying, the euphoria that had overcome him.
“What is this?” he said, pressing his hand against the cold wall of the cave once again as a head rush came over him.
“ My feelings are yours and yours are mine. It’s in the bond that we share. It will get easier .”
“But I don’t know that, so how do you? You said the language you use, it’s through me that you can communicate.
But how can you be so sure? You’re barely an hour old.
” In truth, Aeden expected to wake up at any moment only to find that this was all a dream and that he had simply banged his head really, really hard.
“ I can’t explain it myself, but there are things that seem to be imprinted on me, like a library. Perhaps this person at the academy would be able to help shine some light on this .”
“You’re right,” Aeden said, “there’s just a lot to take in.” His face started to cool as his joyous emotion began to stabilise, although that feeling of nausea was still there .
Now she was here and bonded to him, he knew one thing: his life was about to change forever.