The Dragon's Stone (Rewritten)

Prologue

A/Ns: After some very hard and long consideration, I've decided to restart The Dragon's Stone. You guys will see why exactly soon enough. For now, I'm just going to throw the prologue in your faces.

The warm breeze flowed swiftly through the branches of the trees, the forest towering over the landscape. The sequoias blocked almost any sun from getting down to the ground below, where several little animals scampered around among the shadows. A six-legged rat with blue ears huddled underneath a clump of moss while a pack of winged wolves trekked tirelessly across the dirt, weaving in between the closely clustered trees. A male coatyl sung his sad song, mourning the loss of a chick in his nest, wings possessing all the colors in a shard of light spread wide. It was peaceful as the sun was beginning to set, orange and red dyeing the sky, and elegant display of light.

A shrill scream broke the serene atmosphere, the coatyl instantly quieting, the corpse of his chick within the confines of his wings. Birds flapped from branch to branch, trying to see just what was disturbing their dozing colonies. A young girl with short black hair sprinted out from a clump of bushes, tears flowing from her hazel eyes, her long black kimono ripped and dirtied from running. Dashing through the trees, she swept her gaze around, searching for a place to hide from the horrible monster that was chasing her. Sobbing, she jumped into the open trunk of a dying sequoia, huddling down inside it, desperately covering her mouth to silence herself.

That was when a large, wingless dragon came stomping out from a patch of rosebushes, shaking its body to rid itself of the thorns that clung to its scales. The drake sniffed the ground as it padded across the dirt, growling and flicking its tongue out occasionally. The young girl watched from inside the trunk, trembling as she saw the beast come closer. Those potent golden eyes were narrowed on where she hid, as if it knew she was in there. However, the drake then turned in a different direction and went away, slithering into a cluster of hedges.

The young girl let out a sigh of relief, albeit quietly, and crawled out from the trunk, dusting her kimono off. Looking around, she rubbed her eyes tiredly, gazing up at the canopy above. The faintest hint of fading sunlight filtered through the leaves, hitting her face without warming her skin.

Suddenly, she was whacked hard, getting thrown to the ground by a powerful tail. She screamed, nearly choking on dirt, and stood, seeing that cursed drake behind her, staring at her as if she were a tasty piece of meat. Scrambling, she began to run once again, jumping over a fallen branch and several roots, nearly squishing a ten-legged spider the size of an infant. Crying once again, she was blinded by her tears, making it difficult to see as she weaved between the trees.

A griffon watched from far off as it observed the scene, huffing and turning its head to pluck some feathers from its hind legs. The young girl screamed again, veering around a pond filled with koi and winged toads, which the drake strode straight through while dipping its lower jaw into the water, catching some of the creatures in its mouth. Swallowing, it continued to follow, eyes trained on her.

Once she believed she had enough space between her and the wingless dragon, she looked over her shoulder to see how far off it was. Unfortunately, this was a mistake on her part; her foot caught in a root, twisting her ankle to the point that it broke, and sending her to the ground in a tumble of black fabric, her head smacking against the trunk of a sequoia. She cried out sharply, her foot twisted on an unnatural angle, and the drake rapidly approaching. Darkness was beginning to cloud her vision, which she fought against, sending a final prayer to anyone, anything, to say her from being eaten alive.

And then… a beautiful golden dragon tackled the drake, breaking its spine within its jaws. The wingless dragon fell limp within the other's maw. She watched as the golden beast dropped its kill onto the ground and slithered towards her, glowing emerald eyes piercing. She could only moan, her mind and thoughts hazy, crumbling into bits and pieces.

Lowering its bird-like claws towards her, the golden dragon gently picked her up as her eyes began to grow heavy. Four elegant wings, glowing a pale yellow, spread wide, thrusting downward hard, lifting its long, winding body upwards. The dragon brought the young girl to its mouth, gently setting her between its teeth, keeping its maw open as it flew (after all, it would need its only set of legs to land; having such a long body complicated things). She gazed around, dazed, before completely losing consciousness.

…

…

The young girl awoke on the floor of a dark cave, her head aching. She shuddered, slightly cold, huddling under the thick velvet blanket covering her body. A strip of seaweed, damp and cold, was placed over her forehead, and a red piece of some expensive fabric was wrapped around her healing ankle. She gazed around, seeing pile upon pile of gems and jewels, but not a sign in sight of the dragon that possessed them. Only a fire in a bowl-shaped hole in the ground was evidence of a beast dwelling here.

Sitting up and taking the seaweed from her forehead, she saw that she lay on a feather mattress next to a stack of neatly organized diamonds, a few blue gems amongst all the clear ones. On top of the pile was a note, on which was lettering printed in golden ink, something she had never laid her eyes upon before. Stretching an arm out, she grasped the aging paper within her tiny hands, her sharply curved nails nearly ripping it to shreds. She could barely make out what it read, but she knew a majority of what the dragon had written to her about.

Dropping the note on the cave floor, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, wobbly on her healing ankle, and cautiously made her way towards the fire within the bowl-shaped hole. The fire wasn't no ordinary fire; instead of red and orange flames, blue and violet ones poured out onto the grey stone, licking at her bare feet. She edged closer, looking into the depression, and spotted three stones, or, rather, eggs: one was green, another violet, and the last was an icy blue. They were rough in shape, bumps everywhere, markings borne by all three covering their shells.

Gulping, she took a step closer, inching up to the edge, until her kimono suddenly caught a spark from the fire and began to melt off. She squeaked, jumping back, trying to pat the flames off her once beautiful kimono, until she realized the flames weren't hurting her. The fabric fell from her body, completely burnt, leaving her to shiver in the cold. The blue and violet fire called to her, throwing its warmth towards her. Sniffling, she went over to the edge of the hole, sitting down on the cave floor and dropping her legs into the fire.

It didn't hurt.

It didn't burn.

It felt… good.

The girl slid into the hole, making sure not to bump any of her limbs or her tail against the rough stone. The flames engulfed her as she inched her way to the eggs, enclosing them in a hug, protecting them with her body.

From outside the cave, the golden dragon looked down, an expression of approval over its face.

A/Ns: Anyone know who the golden dragon was? Or the little girl? Review. ;)