Day 4: A New Life
Sentence: 10-20 Coli Battles
Sentence: 10-20 Coli Battles
The egg hatched early in the morning, before the sun had truly risen. Larkin was awoken by the gentle rocking of the egg and the quiet sound of cracking. Her heart beat faster as everything registered. The child was on their way.
Larkin held her breath, hardly daring to do anything to disturb such a sacred moment. She watched in rapt awe as the cracks grew deeper and the shaking grew more violent. Finally, pieces of green shell began to fall away, revealing green scales underneath. A similarly green head lifted itself out of the shell to feel the morning air on their scales for the first time. Their eyes were still closed as the hatchling tumbled out of the egg.
Larkin had a son.
The tundra pulled the coatl child close, beginning to clean the egg fluid from his scales. Her heart felt like it was going to burst with joy. She had never experienced anything more beautiful, and it was her moment alone.
"Your name will be Zunde," Larkin decided. The hatchling mewled and snuggled in closer to his mother. The tundra wrapped herself around him. She would keep him safe.
Ulf rose with the first hint of dawn. Of course, in the shadow flight, it was never truly daylight, but it was lighter than before. The gaoler stretched and began to make his rounds of their campsite. The bogsneak brothers had left already, and Topaz still had not returned. He peered into Larkin's shelter and saw her curled around a small green hatchling. The egg had hatched, his mission would soon be over.
Not wanting to disturb the tundra and the hatchling, he moved to build the fire for breakfast. It was nice, the silence of the morning. It reminded him of the old days, or rather, what he imagined the old days to be like. He hadn't actually been around at his breed's inception.
Larkin and the hatchling emerged just as Ulf was finishing off the cooking. The tundra still looked half asleep, and the hatchling was riding on her back between her wings, looking out at everything with wide green eyes.
"I see the child hatched," Ulf commented, stoking the fire.
"His name is Zunde," Larkin corrected.
"You named him? Shouldn't his parents be the one to do that?" Ulf commented, handing Larkin a plate for her and the hatchling to share.
"He's my son, of course I named him," Larkin said sharply.
Ulf winced. Of course the tundra memory would mess this whole thing up. The Icewarden had clearly left some gaps with his 'replacement' creation. Larkin had been traveling with the egg so long that her maternal feelings had evolved into an actual belief that she was the child's biological mother.
"Larkin, you remember Topaz stole that egg right? He's not actually your son, and his parents are likely worried sick," Ulf suggested gently, not wanting to upset the tundra.
"I don't know what you're talking about! Of course Zunde's my son!" Larkin shot back, glaring at the gaoler with icy coldness.
"Of course," Ulf sighed. Larkin may be smaller than him, but she could still be intimidating when she wanted to, "And what of the father?"
"The father's not important, he's not here now, is he? He clearly doesn't care enough about me or Zunde to stick around!" Larkin turned away to slide the coatl hatchling off of her back and into her arms, "I'm all he has."
"You don't remem-" Ulf sighed, "Of course you don't." He couldn't bear to look at the way the tundra was playing with the child. This was supposed to be an easy quest. Follow the coatl, get the egg back, bring the child back to the parents, justice is served. He wasn't expecting anyone to actually get attached to the child.
"Where is Topaz anyways?" Larkin asked, looking up from Zunde long enough to notice the other coatl's absence.
"Beats me, it's not my business what trouble that arrogant fool gets himself into," Ulf growled.
"Ulf! Be nice!" Larkin scolded.
"What? Aren't you angry at him or something?" Ulf said in surprise, "Why are you so concerned at him all of a sudden?"
"I may be angry at him, but he's still my friend!" Larkin growled back.
Ulf shook his head. Tundras. If he had to deal with any more of them, so was going to go insane.
"So I take it you're not all for abandoning Topaz to the wilds of the Tangled Wood and going back to the Windswept Plateau together?" Ulf rolled his eyes.
"We have to find him!" Larkin insisted.
"Of course you do," Ulf shook his head.
"Well if you're going to be grumpy about it, you don't have to come!" Larkin had finished her food and had positioned Zunde on her back again. She was clearly ready to set out again.
"No, I have to come," Ulf sighed, getting to his feet, "You wouldn't understand."
"Whatever, just don't complain the whole way," Larkin shook out her fur and marched out of the camp, leaving Ulf to pack everything up behind her.
The tundra had proved to be surprisingly fast. Ulf was struggling to keep up with all the luggage.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Ulf asked, struggling to plow through the thick undergrowth that Larkin's smaller form could easily slip though.
"I smelled him a little ways back, he can't have gone far!" Larkin shouted back.
Ulf bit back a stinging retort and put his energy into getting through the bramble undergrowth as unscathed as possible. Suddenly, something else caught his attention, the distant sound of wing-beats.
"Do you hear that?' Ulf asked.
"What?" Larkin called back from ahead.
"I said, do you hear that?" Ulf asked again.
There was no response. Then there was a scream. Feeling a sudden surge of panic, Ulf raced forward to see Larkin swarmed by a flock of webwings of various colours. Ulf let out a roar and charged at the birds, trying to scare them away, but they were not so easily intimidated. He took a few swipes, but the birds easily dodged his large and clumsy paws. He soon realized there were too many to actively fight off.
"Run!" Ulf ordered. Larkin didn't need to be told twice. She broke away from the flock and raced through the trees. The webwings flew after her in hot pursuit, and Ulf could do nothing but follow, ignoring the pain of the thorns as their pierced his skin.
Then suddenly, everything was different. Ulf suddenly found himself racing down the streets of a large, empty city. Many of the stone buildings were badly damaged in one way or another. A few were left standing, but with obvious marks of some terrible disaster. As he slowed to a halt, he noticed an enormous palace in the center of the city. Only half of the palace stood strong, one side having been burned away by some sort of fire. He stared up at it in all. Where was he? He was so bewildered he hardly notice Larkin slow beside him.
The two dragons stared in utter bewilderment at the city that had suddenly appeared around them. Suddenly, a figure could be seen emerging from the foggy entrance of the palace. It looked serpentine in shape, and as recognition flashed across his mind, Ulf felt a growl rise in his throat.
"Hello, I was wondering if you both would make it in!" A large grin spread across Topaz's face. Ulf had never seen the coatl so happy. "Welcome to my kingdom!"
@CleverDual @HauntedWhale @Disillusionist @AlchemyFox @Tirtouga678 @catmeow1 @Leopardmask @Midwinter @chantric @Dynami @ShinyDecidueye @tigressRising @FallenEclipse @Stitched @Willnotgogently @Sabariel @MisterMylez @Skystrider
Battling in the Coli with two magic dragons and an anticipate setup is the most terrifying thing ever, I was so convinced I was going to lose someone!
Also, now that I have officially moved to Shadow, I can have then arrive at the ruins! Now we can really get this thing started!
Also, there was one more thing I was supposed to write about today, but there is already enough eventful things in this chapter and it seemed to naturally come to a good ending so I'll make it a part of tomorrow's chapter instead!
FR+2