I had been a young and silly dragon my early years. Born from a fine golden egg clutched by a golden dragon and black dragon, along with five brothers and six sisters. I was, regrettably, the smallest of the pack, and always got teased because of it.
My parents were Trebren the black dragon and Zreba the golden dragon. They were kind to my siblings and me, always treating us as equals. As we learned to fly, we got to follow them on hunts and maybe even help catch food. That was exciting.
And every night before the fall of the great globe in the sky known as the sun, my parents would tell us all stories. Usually, they were scary stories, about evil monsters from the south called humans and griffins. My parents always cautioned us about humans. "They're vicious beings." My father told us. "They hunt dragons to chop off their tails and horns."
At first, humans were just something to scare all the kids. "Go to bed or the humans will get you!" and "Brush your tail or the humans will know!" It always worked.
Soon enough, my oldest sister and I were able to leave the nest for real hunts. As I later learned, the first of our hunts with our parents were hardly hunts. We had come down and attacked when the food-beast was already down. That was not anything to get excited over.
So, that very day, my father took Tanga, that's my sister, who's a bronze and I to the hunting grounds. It was a long, hard fly all the way there. I was so impressed by my father then. He could fly forever; it seemed, without getting tired. I always hoped the someday I would be exactly like him.
Beneath us were these huge buffalo-type things. They sensed my father in the air above them, and scattered. I could not hide the disappointment on my face… these were the beasts my father hunted? They barely seemed worthy of a dragon's meal! But I still glided down with my father, watching the movements of the herd. They moved like a flock of dragons in a war-flight, all movements perfectly synchronized no stampeding. As I watched, I gained more and more respect for these simple mammals.
"Now, do you see the weaker one at the back of the herd, Pyre, Tanga?" My father asked.
We both nodded, angling our bodies better to see the one back there. Indeed, it was weaker, smaller then the others, straggling behind the herd. In fact, it appeared to have tripped over a root and broken its leg. Such a thing would be a hindrance to the herd, I now realized.
We dove down. I faltered as we got closer. These were not simple six-foot tall buffaloes… these were almost twelve feet tall, at the shoulders, and they had fangs and claws, not horns and hooves! This WAS worthy of a dragon catch! But I was suddenly afraid.
Tanga was not, however, so I could not show any fear either. We came closer. I realized my father had not followed through with the dive… he was leaving it up to my sister and I.
At full speed, we hit the neo-buffalo. First Tanga, then I. Its hide was hard, and we nearly bounced off before gaining purchase with our claws. The neo-buffalo kicked us off, and then ran on, not as fast.
Tanga and I followed on the sides, each move synchronized. We knew what we were doing without even saying it… I would soon learn why. Tanga went in by the head, gaining the neo-buffalo's attention. It charged at her, and she stayed just out of range of it's claws, jaws, and horns. I attacked from the side, since from behind was too dangerous. The neo-buffalo turned to scrape me off, and Tanga attacked from the front, at its vulnerable yet thick neck.
Once again, the neo-buffalo shook us off. This thing could take a lot of punishment! Then, my father dropped down in front of it. The neo-buffalo, not willing to face my father, turned around. Tanga and I were back up to bat, in a sense.
This time, I distracted the neo-buffalo, and Tanga took to wing. As the neo-buffalo charged me, Tanga leaped down from above, in a full speed dive, and crashed into the neo-buffalo's back, claws raised. This was terribly effective, and broke the buffalo's back. I moved and quickly killed it with a bite to the throat.
This was one of the first of many kills my sister and I, and later my brother Grainger, brought back to the family. But as soon as my youngest sibling learned how to fly, our family left Autsehgio, and traveled west.
There was a different world. My father rushed into a cave, and scared out a hydra, which had lived there for a few months. This had obviously been their cave before they went to Autsehgio.
As soon as the various monsters in the area realized that the dragon clan was back in town, they moved away. The prey animals stayed, realizing loosing two or three members of their herd was better then loosing ten or twelve. This haven still seemed wonderfully save to me. Tanga, Grainger, and I continued to hunt as a little pack of our own.
Late on a night when the moon was full, I was laying next to my bronze sister and black brother, my belly full and mind content. Tanga had grown extremely domineering and bull-headed over the past year. Grainger had grown more docile and fearful, it seemed. I figured I was a happy medium between the two, but that was probably childhood naivete.
We, as usual, had tons of gossip. Tanga was relating the story of the blue moon and the dragon. Grainger was covering his head with his claws, trying to sleep. I was staring at the stars, pretending to be listening to Tanga. It was not easy to pretend to listen to Tanga, believe me you.
It was about that time, staring at the full moon, that I saw a dark shape moving in front of it. It was a dragon… a big dragon. I stood up, screeching in fear. This dragon was not one I knew. My father and mother leaped up from where they had been laying, eyes narrowed at the approaching shapes above.
My mother cried a warning to us cubs, and we hurried over to her, hiding beneath her golden wings. My father rose into the air, his black scales making him invisible against the dark night sky. I was terrified. I did not know who this dragon was or why it was intruding on our territory. I did, however, have the utmost confidence in my father. I did not even think that this other dragon could possibly hurt my father.
Silly, silly me. The dragon attacking my father was Bavray the dark, a blue dragon with an evil mind and soul. He was extremely dangerous, for he was a berserk dragon. But my father was one of the most powerful dragons in the west.
However, Bavray was from the east…
It was a terrible battle, relating from what I heard alone. My mother would not allow any of her precious cubs to see the battle which was going on above. There was a screech of triumph, and something heavy landed next to my mother. The sound of a defeated dragon reached my ears, and the dragon flew away.
I looked out from under my mother's wing, and was overjoyed to see my father sitting next to her. The golden wall of scales around my siblings rose, and my mother shooed us away. Tanga, Grainger, and I stayed as close as we could.
All that night, I watched the stars.
Apparently, I hadn't watched all night, as the next morning revealed. The bright sun and Grainger's annoying singing woke me. Tanga was crawling all over the rocks above my head, perpetually hyper. "So, wanna go hunt?" Tanga asked, leaping down in front of me.
"We just ate yesterday." I groaned, rolling onto my back. "I'm not hungry… oof!"
I shooed Tanga off of my stomach. "Don't jump on my stomach, it hurts." I complained.
"Ah, I can do as I please." Tanga growled.
Grainger shook his head at us. "Ah, quit your belly aching, Pyre. You should like an overgrown Griffin mother."
"Griffin mother, huh?" I demanded, and leaped at him. We began wrestling, Grainger putting his larger size to his advantage. "I'll show you Griffin mother!"
We played all through the day. My father seemed none the worse for wear after his fight, and recovered quickly. It was not long before we were all half grown, and my mother told us it was about time we would have to head out on our own. We at first did no believe her. After all, we were her beloved cubs!
Then, my mother and father flew us all back to Autsehgio, after a long week alone. I was glad to be back to Autsehgio, but a little scared. What did this all mean?
As I believe I mentioned earlier, the first few years of my life were pretty uneventful. Nothing really happened, until the day my mother was sitting on the empty nest and began to make clucking noises…
