It had been late at night when the Guardian came. He had been a rogue male that was determined to start a clan of his own...at any cost. The Guardian had attacked the nest of a lone female Pearlcatcher. Celeste was one of four hatchlings that the female guarded. However, the Guardian wasn't interested in the adult female since she would refuse to mate with him in order to help him advance his clan and it would be more trouble than its worth to force her into submission.
Celeste watched as the large Guardian male slaughtered her mother. As hatchlings, her and her 3 brothers could do nothing against him. Unfortunately for her brothers the male wasn't interested in them since they couldn't lay eggs and they would probably fight back as they grew older if he chose to keep them as warriors. That left just Celeste who was shaking in fear and cowering at the back of the nest, hiding behind what was left of her mother and her brothers.
She helped when the male snatched her up in his claws and took flight. Celeste was young and couldn't fly very well but she could somewhat glide. She watched as the ground became farther and farther away. She whimpered at the sight of her dead family as they disappeared into the distance.
The young hatchling didn't know how long or how far the male had taken her but enough was enough! She gathered all of the strength and courage she possessed and bit down onto the Guardian's leg as hard as she could. The male roared out in pain, releasing his grip on the young hatchling. He quickly tried to regain his grip but it was already too late. However, his claws had caught Celeste's tender wings, slicing into them and preventing her from even gliding properly.
She fell. And fell. And fell. And then...blackness. The young Pearlcatcher had collided with the side of a cliff and rolled down into a river. The current carried her down the river until her body finally came to rest at the river's mouth. She was alive but only just. He body was battered, bloody, and broken. It was amazing that she had even survived such a fall but she had somehow managed to do so.
Celeste's eyes opened slightly and she let out a small, weak whimper. The smell of her blood would probably attract predators but she wasn't in a state where she could defend herself. Without her mother she knew she would have to toughen up...or die. Those were the only options.
She let out a small growl as she forced her broken body to move, staggering to her feet. Every step she took pained her greatly and she limped severely but she had to move on and find some place to hide in case that Guardian came after her again.
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