Ciel and The Dragon's Egg
Ciel's POV:
Three weeks, and nothing's changed.
What am I complaining about? Oh, maybe I should start at the beginning. About three weeks ago, I tripped in the garden over a large, violet, oval-shaped rock with pink swirls that had not been there yesterday. Sebastian caught me before I could get hurt, of course, but I was still angry about it. "Where the hell did that thing come from?!" I demanded. No, I was not throwing a fit!
"It looks like an egg of some sort, Young Master," Sebastian replied. "I did sense a rather large presence here last night, though it vanished just as quickly as it came. I did not think for a second that an egg of this size had been left behind."
It was fairly large, about the size of my head. "What kind of egg is it, anyway?" I asked, picking it up, though it was a bit heavy.
"I would say a dragon's egg, Young Master," Sebastian replied. "I grew up seeing eggs like this, especially back during the medieval ages, though it's quite a rarity to find such an egg today. Mankind nearly hunted dragons to extinction simply because King Arthur was allergic to them, as you are to cats. Back then, there were at least 17 adult dragons per every five miles the world over. However, their numbers have decreased to a measly 3 per every ten miles, and they now mostly inhabit the mountains and forests, and the deepest depths of the seas, places humans are still too superstitious to venture into. The fact that one has left its egg here may mean that dragons are attempting to re-establish themselves by housing their young with humans." He paused, before adding, "That may not be the wisest idea, depending on whom the egg is left with."
I, however, had stopped listening after the word "Three," and was currently more interested in what the dragon hatchling might look like. Everyone said they were big, green, winged beasts that breathed fire, but until this moment, I'd not even believed in dragons. "Do you have any idea what type of dragon might hatch from this egg?" I asked.
"Judging by the coloring, a European Arcanist," Sebastian said thoughtfully. "It's incredibly rare to see even one egg of such a thinned-out breed these days. Their numbers are even fewer than the four elemental breeds, air, water, earth, and fire. What do you wish to do with it, my lord?"
"I think I'll keep it," I decided, after very little thought on the matter. "How long will it take to hatch?"
"If incubated properly, it should hatch in about 3 weeks," Sebastian said, looking concerned. "But if the conditions for the incubation are not perfect, the embryo will die before it even hatches. Please leave this part to me, young master."
"Very well. Let me know when it's close to hatching," I said, returning to the Manor while Sebastian built a new shed in which he created the perfect conditions to incubate and hatch the egg.
That brings us up to today. For the last three weeks, the egg has been in the shed, but as far as I can tell, nothing's changed. I'm tired of waiting, I realized. I want to see how close to hatching it is.
I quickly hurried out to the shed and looked in the window. Finny was watching the egg closely. After building the shed, Sebastian and I had opted to tell the other servants about the egg and what would hatch from it, as it would be impossible to hide a growing dragon from them. And as it was to become a member of the family, and a servant of sorts as my pet, I'd need the help of all the servants to raise and train it. Thus, Finny was taking his shift in watching over the egg as in neared its time to hatch. "How's the egg doing?" I asked as I entered the shed.
"Mr. Sebastian said it should be hatching any day now, young master," The gardener said cheerfully. Just as he spoke, we both heard a soft tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap. We stared at the egg's shell as a small crack appeared on its smooth surface, slowly growing with each tap from within.
"Go get Bard, Mey-Rin, Snake, Tanaka, and Pluto," I instructed. "I'll call Sebastian and watch the egg." With a quick nod, Finny took off at top speed, yelling for the others. "Sebastian, the egg is hatching," I simply said, knowing he'd be at my side in an instant.
"At long last," he said to my right as the crack in the shell grew larger. Soon the rest of the servants were gathered around, watching with bated breath. With a final tap, the egg split in half, and a little head popped the top half of the shell off. It was still in the shadows of the eggshell, but I could see mauve scales. It poked it's head out fully, and I beheld the cutest little creature I'd ever laid my eyes on.
A little purple dragon gazed up at me, its head no larger than a newborn puppy's. It was a bit pudgy, but then, all babies were. It had shining scales like amethysts swirled with pink runes, and bright violet eyes. It looked me straight in the eye, then crawled out of the remains of its egg to get closer. After flicking its tongue at me to get my scent, it came even closer, until it jumped into my lap and cuddled up to me. "Kre!" it chirped, nuzzling my stomach happily, before moving to examine Sebastian, then Finny, Mey-Rin, Bard, Pluto, Snake, and Tanaka, in that order.
"It's so cute! Is it a boy or a girl?" Mey-Rin asked.
"She smells like a female- says Oscar," Snake translated for one of his snakes as they curiously flicked their tongues at her, no doubt greeting the new reptile. "Oh, what shall we name her?- askes Emily." the snake-man translated, assuming a high voice to speak for the singular female snake that always tagged along with him.
"I think we'll call her... Aurora, as she was born just after dawn," I decided. Aurora chirped again, then scurried over to me. "Kre!" she chirped, licking my cheek. I think this could be the start of an interesting friendship.