Hello readers!
This is a preview for my fourth book: the first one that doesn't have "The Aftermath" in the title. You should know what that means, if you've been reading my stories. The trilogy that serves as the prologue is nearly over!
I won't spoil the story but, suffice to say, there's going to be one new OC to my story!
The first chapter doesn't have any spoilers whatsoever so, I guess it's safe to put up.
You don't have to know about the story in the other 3 books unless you really want to go in-depth about the characters and plotline references.
To my longtime readers: Thanks for your encouragement!
To any new readers: I hope you like it!
Ciao!
I'll be removing (most of) these notes when I finish Book III.
The dream ended, pleasant sounds fading into the darkness that encircled its body. It stretched its short paws and made contact with a hard surface. The urge to break through was unbearable and it began attacking the invisible surface with all the ferocity it could muster with feeble, unused muscles.
Suddenly, a crack appeared in the darkness and a minute ray of light shone in. The hatchling basked in the light for a fraction of a second before it was blocked by a dark form. A purple orb peeked through, scaring the hatchling enough to elicit a sneeze.
Much to its surprise, bright-hot-things erupted from its mouth and scared the orb away. Seizing the chance, it clawed and clawed and clawed and clawed until its strength gave way.
Thankfully, at the same time, the shell gave way and the sudden light blinded the hatchling's sensitive eyes. The soft blanket was warm and inviting, beckoning the hatchling to lie down onto its velvety surface.
For the first time, it felt the air rush over its scales, drying it rapidly from the wet liquid that coated its scales. Suddenly, a massive purple thing came down and tried to grab it. Shocked, the hatchling lashed out and bit the thing, pleased to hear a yelp from whatever owned the thing.
It was lifted up but it held on, giggling from joy that it had defended itself justly. However, its young jaw muscles felt tired after a while as another thing slowly prised its jaws open.
The hatchling fell and landed on a leathery surface. A muzzle loomed over it and two purple orbs watched the hatchling. Believing itself to be doomed, it did the first thing it learned to do.
Wail loudly.
Though it was terrified; deep down, it actually felt safe in the hands of the larger being, especially when another one, black this time, began gently rocking. It began to calm down and stop crying as he heard his name for the first time.
"… Ferno…"
They took him to another part of the massive room and placed him, belly-up, on the soft tabletop. It turned and looked at the purple thing, feeling a strange bond to it as the black dragons put a cloth-like material over his hindquarters. It felt soft and welcoming as the hatchling's stomach gurgled.
The younger black giggled and cradled the hatchling, bringing it close to her chest. The hatchling instinctively began lapping up the white fluid, savoring the taste as it grew more and more tired until, finally, it fell asleep in the younger black's paws.
The last sensation it felt before sleep took over completely was the feeling of some soft material being drawn over it, covering the hatchling's scaled body, keeping it warm and cozy as it drifted off into sleep. Instinctively, it knew its mother was there and listened to her gentle voice as it cooed him, letting it flow over its little body in a comforting cascade.
Silence fell as the daydream ended its blissful entourage in the second hatchling's mind. It opened its fragile eyes to a deep nothingness. Or so it seemed.
An uncontrollable anger and fear of the darkness prompted it to start lashing out. Satisfyingly, the darkness cracked, if only by a little. She slowly rationed her little hatchling strength and struck carefully, making sure it wouldn't hurt itself. As a result, it took a fairly long time to break the shadows that were encumbering it but, in the end, it broke through.
The dazzling light forced the hatchling to screw shut its eyes, squinting as a shadowy form picked it up gently. She felt the wind tickle her nose, playing with its sinuses and it sneezed. Cold-white came out of the hatchling's jaws and coated the eye patched being's muzzle in the cold-white.
Wanting to feel what it felt like, the hatchling reached out and touched it, cleaning it off at the same time as the eye patch brought up a… paw, it guessed, and cleared much more of the cold-white than it could ever clear with its stubby limbs. As she felt the comforting coolness of the cold-white, the eye patch had already cleared most of it off and it smiled warmly before nuzzling its belly, making it involuntarily giggle in comfort and joy.
The eye patch spread her hind legs open for a moment before letting go, letting them close up once again in their natural position.
"…Neve…" Instinctively, the hatchling knew this was her name and the eye patch handed her over to a black one. It brought her to a tabletop covered in some sort of soft linen and laid her atop its padded surface. Soft cloth wrapped around its bottom as the black cooed and played with the young hatchling, making it giggle happily.
After it drank some white from the black, she was brought to a dark room and placed into a soft enclosure where another one like her was already lying down, breathing softly.
Feeling safe and warm, the hatchling fell asleep amidst the comforting voice of its mother whispering a soothing tune to both hatchlings. She stretched and a paw touched the other one. It turned and opened one eye halfway, watching the newcomer.
Deciding it wouldn't be any danger, the eye closed and both hatchlings fell asleep with each others' company as their secondary lullaby.
The third woke up from the dream and was scared by the shadows that encircled it. Peeping weakly, it began lashing out feebly, barely making a dent in the shadowy surface. Panicking, it kept trying and trying, failing miserably nearly every time.
After a long while of futile strikes, the hatchling gave up and whimpered softly, afraid that it might never be rid of the darkness. As it waited and whimpered, the shadows mocked its failed attempts and seemed to close in on it. The hatchling curled up even more tightly and stopped whimpering, willing the shadows to leave.
Abruptly, the shadows gave way to a blinding light and, afraid it might be blinded, dove into the soft fabric that surrounded its eggshell, squirming as it tried to go deeper into the folds of the cloth.
Suddenly, a pair of objects lifted it up and the hatchling wailed loudly, afraid of the new sensation of contact with another being. It twisted this way and that, unwilling to expose its soft underbelly to its unknown captor, all the while crying loudly.
Another pair of objects reached in and grabbed it beneath its shoulders, lifting it into the air so its hind legs dangled freely, making him feel completely exposed as the black thing looked down at its crotch and, seemingly pleased, cradled it once again.
It passed him to a purple one, who proceeded to slowly, and clumsily, wrap its bottom in cloth atop a soft bed-like surface.
As it lapped the white fluids that were offered to it, now back in the arm of someone familiar, it heard a word that felt very familiar. It took him awhile to realize it was his "name".
"… Noctis…"
After they were done, the black brought him into the darkness once more and the hatchling began whimpering anew. The black cooed him and placed him into an enclosure that was lined with soft fabric.
It didn't take long to notice the two others sleeping in the enclosure. Shortly after, a furry being stepped in and gently patted the still-awake hatchling, finally lulling it into sleep.
The fourth hatchling awoke from the dream into a shadowy abyss. Surprised, it lashed out and the abyss shattered easily. Bright light streamed in, thankfully blocked by a little helmet that it wore, made of some kind of familiar hard material.
The hatchling tested out its weak legs and, after awhile, felt confident enough to move about. It took a few unsteady steps, which only served to boost its confidence, and began cantering faster and faster, until it bumped into something furry and landed on its butt heavily.
It looked up to see an animal looking at her, astonished in a warm way, and it bent down to pick it up.
Taking this as a threat, it ran away using its newfound limbs, even flapping the weak wings that graced its back out of instinct. It ran around and around, evading capture from the thing that chased her. It had already ceased to be scared, merely viewing it as a game of some sort as the hatchling giggled every time the being fell over.
When it failed to hear footsteps behind it, the hatchling hazarded a glance behind. It was thoroughly pleased to see that it had given up the chase and was lying on the ground, panting.
Suddenly, it hit something hard. Very hard. Very, very hard. The makeshift helmet shattered and it felt something throbbing on its head. Every throb brought up an unpleasant feeling and it began wailing loudly, scared of the new and unpleasant sensation.
She felt a pair of soft, furry things pick it up, slowly rocking it back and forth. Gradually, the sensation ebbed and it relaxed, reveling in the soft fur that was supporting her.
The being tickled her and she laughed gaily, swiping at the playfully intrusive finger as the furry thing handed her over to a black colored being that looked somewhat like her, but not before she heard her name for the first time.
"… Arashi…"
She was a little too euphoric as the black thing-that-looked-like-her placed her atop a table and proceeded to wrap a cloth around her bottom. The hatchling found this experience extremely ticklish and was squirming and giggling happily.
After she was fed something white and delicious to her young hatchling taste buds, she was brought to a dark room as she noticed the four other things in the bed were awake, watching the black thing-that-looked-like-her expectantly. She was followed by a purple thing, evidently male, who snuggled the black one warmly as the hatchling was placed into the bed as well.
"Do they know our names yet?"
"I don't think so, Spyro."
"Well, let's teach them, then! I'm your Dada, Spyro. This is your Mama, Cynder!"
"Spyro… I don't think they understand speech yet."
"Sure they do! Look at them watching us while we're talking!"
"Whatever, Spyro."
She nuzzled "Dada" and turned to the hatchlings, who were watching them expectantly.
"Aww… Do my babies need a lullaby to go to sleep?"
"Mama" picked up two of them while "Dada" picked up the other two and cradled them gently as she began singing in a soothing, maternal voice.
Sleep well, my hatchlings,
No need to be scared.
Fall into your dreams,
Let the moon be your guide.
Sleep well, my hatchlings,
No need to be alarmed.
Your clutch will be by your side.
In love, or in a fight.
Sleep well, my hatchlings,
No need to cry.
Your Mommy and Daddy will always be there
By your side…
The soft, crooning tune made their eyelids droop. Ferno yawned sleepily while Neve rubbed her half-closed eyes. Noctis snuggled closer to Dada and Arashi turned over, already asleep in Mama's arms.
When they were back in bed, Ferno stretched out a paw and playfully pushed at Arashi, who giggled and batted it away lightheartedly. Neve, being slightly larger than Noctis, was curled up next to her younger brother protectively as Noctis snuggled closer to his older siblings.
Bored, Arashi crawled over and mock-pounced onto her older sister, who woke up giggling. Ferno was nudging Noctis' belly and the younger hatchling opened its eyes, placing a paw onto its older brother's head to make him stop it. This only served to make him continue until Noctis was very annoyed and began to whimper.
Sensing he had just upset his clutch, Ferno nuzzled the younger dragon fondly, purring apologetically. Noctis stopped whimpering and sniffled before gurgling happily at his brother's playful touch.
The two girls, on the other hand, were giggling as they batted the blanket back and forth. They had made a simple game out of it and, to their infantile minds, it was the funnest thing in the whole universe.
Eventually, though, the four hatchlings grew bored and they snuggled up against one another sleepily, basking in each others' warmth and safety, leaving the blanket unused. Silently, they made a pact in hatchling gurgles, immature vocal chords still unable to form complete sentences.
In understandable tongues, this was the rough translation:
"Fight for our clutch!" This was Ferno's addition to the pact.
"No fighting with each other." This was from Neve.
"Stay together." Provided by Noctis.
"Have fun!" From the ever playful Arashi.
Nearby, Spyro and Cynder were listening in on their immature words.
"How cute, they're talking to each other!" Cynder cooed from behind the door. Spyro smiled and moved his earhole to the door.
"Wow. They just made a pact, Cynder!" Spyro whispered, astonished.
"How can you tell? It sounds like hatchling gurgles to me…" Cynder looked at her mate suspiciously, wondering whether the euphoria had gotten to Spyro's head.
"I dunno; a hunch, I guess." He nuzzled Cynder, who purred happily and nuzzled back.
"Come on, let's go back to bed. I'm exhausted!"
"Do you think they'll hold up their pact?" Cynder asked before they left.
"… I hope so. Sounded like a good one, to me. Whether it'll help them sometime in the future, I have no idea." Spyro turned to Cynder and watched her beautiful eyes roll skeptically.
"How can you even understand them?" Cynder replied, playfully batting Spyro's head.
"I'm still a kid at heart, you know!" He responded, grinning playfully as they nuzzled each other once more.
They stood there, savoring each others' company until Bolzan appeared, spoiling the mood unknowingly.
So, did you like it?
Are there any mistakes?
(Don't flame my poem if it sucks: it's my first time writing one!)
Leave a review!
FYI: I won't be uploading the later chapters of this book until I finish Book III of The Aftermath TRILOGY so, go ahead and read my other books; it won't hurt to know a little more about the characters!
Sorry for the long 'Author's note'. Won't happen again! I promise!
Where to find The Aftermath Trilogy:
Book I - TLoS Fanfic
Book II - TLoS Fanfic
Book III - Spyro/FF XIII Crossover (I don't care what you think: I LOVE FF XIII! I just HAD to fit Lightning in somehow. Don't worry, you don't need to have a REALLY in-depth of FF XIII to enjoy my other books: Lightning isn't likely to appear again.)