Morning met the young drake with a radiance that outmatched his bleary half-sleep. At the first light of the punishing sun of Jund, all of the close-knit family began to shift into wakefulness. The young drake resisted the insistent nudges from his parents, and even did his best to ignore the rambunctious tackle from his younger sister, but at the thought of what today was, he suddenly turned onto his stomach and leapt to his feet. His father gave a reproving snort towards the son's undignified actions, but turned away to the rest of the family.
To any family of drakes, this was just another day. Well, the young one assumed this. He had never seen another drake family on this place called Jund. In fact, the only others like him were in his own family. Anything that bore a slight resemblance to them were dragons, and dragons were not interested in drakes as anything other than unworthy competition and food.
Anyways, while the rest of the blue beings walked around quietly, using the elbows of their wings and their hind legs, the young drake was waiting eagerly for the moment in which he would be allowed to leave the cave. The mothers went around the young ones, performing morning preening, much to the young males' protest. He wasn't the only one who disliked being picked at by his parents. By an hour after sunrise, all of the young ones were ready and eager to start their day.
The first adults flew from the cave, signaling the official start of the day. They peered out from the edge of their precarious perches, and then dove off, arching gracefully in the air before extending their azure wings and catching the wind. Adults naturally flew high in the air, trusting their impeccable eyesight to help them spot prey, and relying on their blue underbellies to shield them from those who would look upward.
The young drake was right behind the adults, waiting for them all to clear the ledge before he took a look down from the dizzying height they had set their home at. He could spot many volcanoes from here, as well as thick jungles, and he knew that everything was populated with fierce beasts that lived by the rule that if you weren't eating, you were being eaten. Knowing this, he spread his own wings and launched off from the cave mouth, leaving the young and their protectors behind.
It was easier now for him to soar than it had been a bit ago. He had practiced diligently, particularly when he wasn't supposed to, and it caused him to be confident in his flight. Still, he checked the ground periodically, glancing at it to make sure there were no surprise attacks from below.
The young one was more concerned with the sky, however. Being a younger drake, perhaps 9 feet tall, he didn't have the strength to fly as high as the adults did, and so didn't have the protection they did. The tan scales he had as a young one didn't seem to be going away, either- a troubling prospect when camouflage could mean the difference between life and death. Constant vigilance was something his mother had trained into him, although she was limited to only her more primitive ways of communication.
Another glance down and the young drake caught the sight of a few goblins, staked out on the ridge of a canyon. They were dressed up strangely, with clothing that didn't quite fit them and colors that made them flashier than any being should ever be in Jund. They were ripe for eating, and that was exactly what the goblins were out for.
He didn't quite understand the goblin's fascination with being eaten, but they seemed to consider themselves sacred food for the dragons, even mistaking the drakes as the same breed. The young one would admit that he dove by their ceremoniously colored selves now and again for a meal, particularly when he was too bothered to do real hunting, like he was supposed to. However, since he had begun to understand things better, the drake found their behavior to be stranger and stranger. He couldn't imagine ever willingly being eaten.
The drake began to tilt downward, fancying a morning snack. However, a scent caught in his flared nostrils, and the drake propelled himself upwards sharply, out of range of any weapons from the ground. He smelled humans, and the young drake knew that today was the day in which the humans went out to hunt dragons.
This was also an interesting thing he noticed. Occasionally, the humans would go out on ritual hunts, to bring down dragons. They hunted in groups, knowing that slaying such terrible beasts was impossible without numbers. The humans were strong, and could be extremely intelligent, giving them some sort of ground against the fierce strength of the dragons. Still, the fights did not always turn out well for such a sentient species.
Circling once, the drake was curious to see what the group of hunters were doing near the goblins. Perhaps they were using the goblins to find a suitable dragon to slay? That was rather clever of them, seeing as how all dragons and drakes knew that goblins were easy morsels.
There was a low rumbling that caused the young one to backpedal ferociously in the air. The rumble rose to a deep roar that seemed to shake the ground everywhere. The drake knew this sound. It was evidence of an ancient hellkite that lived here on Jund, and it had awoken from its slumber. The drake had little idea where the roar had come from, but he knew he would be dragon fodder if he stayed up in the sky, so with a swoop of his wings, he dove into the jungle below.
Landing was uncomfortable, but he was small enough to fit through most gaps and avoid most unfriendly branches, eventually landing in a thick set of bushes and vines. He crouched underneath them, curling his tail up to his side to make his presence less obvious. It took an effort to calm his breathing and listen, staying even more aware on this unfamiliar territory. He never wandered onto the ground, except when he was in dire need.
The sound of the hellkite above informed the drake that he had not been spotted, and that the hellkite was moving on to other matters, whatever they may be. This resulted in a breath of relief, and then he stiffened to a sudden snapped branch. An ensuing 'Sh' sound made the drake still even further.
"What was that? You hear that?" A gruff voice said, in what the drake recognized to be the tongue of the humans.
"Hear what?"
"Pay attention, lad!" The gruff voice spoke again, this time accompanied with a loud smack and a sound of protest from the younger individual. "If you want to even witness the killing of a dragon, you have to pay attention!"
"I am." The boy hissed.
"Shush it. All of you!" A deep voice said. "You'll attract their attention, and then both bait and prey will be lost."
The group fell quiet. The drake barely heard them walk through the brush, and eventually the human hunting party made their way in front of him. Somewhere around ten men, almost all experienced hunters with worn faces and scarred bodies, made their way quietly through the thick foliage. Somewhat lagging behind the group was a boy younger than the rest. He looked nervous but determined, bearing his weapon with either a terrified grip or a sturdy confidence- the drake wasn't sure. In the young boy's other hand was what looked like a small dragon's claw, made into an amulet that hung around his neck.
They had almost passed by the young blue drake when the leader, with his deep voice, told them all to stop. He peered around the jungle, his gaze resting where the young one was hiding for a moment too long to be comfortable. Then, satisfied that he couldn't spot whatever was nearby, the man told the rest to get moving again. The young drake waited a while after the hunting party had moved on to finally back out of his hiding place.
There were a few guttural sounds from behind the drake, and he turned to view a few surprised goblins, no doubt wondering what he was doing in the bushes. He blinked at them. They blinked at him. Finally, the drake gave a sharp hiss/growl and the goblins jumped, and then ran out of sight. The drake flew back into the sky feeling pretty good about himself.
"Bait and prey." he repeated in the air, feeling the words shape and rolling the 'r' too much. He tried again, trying to better mimic the human that had said it. At the same time, the drake tried to put meanings to the words. If they were in some sort of order of the food chain, then bait would be the goblins, and the prey would be what the hunters hunted.
It was difficult to piece together languages. The young drake was born with no real language, and so when he suddenly became aware of such things, he couldn't help but learn how to use this form of communication. Although he was a breed for the sky, the young one would spend times on the ground, listening to nearby goblin camps or humans and trying to discern the meanings of their words. The initial result was a mixture of goblin and human tongue, which sounded very awkward put together. Eventually, the two languages were separated, and the young drake was able to put together small sentences. Small sentences grew larger, and the drake slowly became better at speaking. It was something he would never reveal to his primitive-minded brethren.
His own intelligence was a mystery to him. The drake's family only seemed interested in survival, and far be it from him to tell them it was unimportant. But still, he wondered why his family was not intrigued in how plants grew, or why animals evolved the way they did, or what evolution even was. Their entire days were centered on the next kill while this young drake spent his waking hours in discovery.
A roar of dismay caught the drake's attention, pulling his mind away from the mysteries of the universe and where his next meal could be. The drake swung around, cautiously approaching where the sound had come from. He was rewarded for his curiosity. From the sky, the drake could see the hunting party from earlier. They had found their dragon, and now they were attempting to bring it down.
The dragon was more than twice the young drake's size, with dark brown scales and a maw specifically bred for crushing. Its heavy jaws were working at snapping around it, but every time the dragon would choose one victim, a berserker would catch its attention behind it. In the end, the dragon chose not to deal with these humans so closely, and spread its wings to successfully launch itself into the sky.
The dragon's flight was not to be. Just as the beast was gaining some ground, thick ropes made from the hardy vines in the jungles were thrown up, heavy rocks tied at their ends, and wrapped around the dragon's limbs. Unable to make strong enough motions with its wings, the dragon screeched and began to lose altitude. It sprayed fire around it as it crashed.
Humans roared in victory while they swarmed the raging animal, tearing at the tender tissue of its wings and sticking in weapons underneath its scales. The whole scene became difficult for the drake to watch, as he made the mistake of imagining what the spears would feel like. Perhaps the hunting of dragons was not as interesting as he had originally thought. Still, he was apparently fascinated by the entire charade, because when he saw small goblins charging the humans, in defense of their holy gods, Draetur found himself folding his wings and diving down, catching a goblin that was just fired from a catapult in his mouth. He swooped down once more, knocking a couple of goblins off the cliff, to make a point.
The young drake's distraction was enough to leave the hunters unbothered long enough to end the struggle for life and death. The dragon roared in rage, its primitive language speaking of how shameful it was to be beaten by a human. Its final attempt to stay alive ended up with its heart pierced by a human's spear. The drake hovered above, watching quietly and occasionally soaring in circles to break the monotony.
Down on the ground, the humans again roared at their victory. They raised bloody spears before some attended to the dead beast, the others turning to their wounded. For such a small hunting party, they fared well against the dragon. Out of the ten or so that had marched along the cliff side, about six remained, including the young boy the drake had noticed while he was hiding. As the group began to skin and harvest the dragon, the leader of the hunting party looked up and noticed, surely not for the first time, the peculiar behavior of the drake above. Said drake decided it would be a good enough time to leave.
Just as the drake was turning to get out of range of the human's weapons, there was a great roar that seemed to shatter the air and shake the ground. The young drake felt his heart stop for a moment in fear, and he turned frantically in the air to catch sight of the source. In the sky was the same hellkite that had frightened the drake not too long before. But this time, the hellkite was already charging, and the drake had barely enough time to get out of its way.
The huge bulk of the red, ancient dragon, as well as its speed, caused a strange wind around it that sent the young drake tumbling through the air, barely able to correct itself. The small human hunting party was suddenly moving quickly, putting their lives before the kill. This dragon was far too immense for so few to fight successfully, and they all fled before the giant's flames.
The young drake was stuck in place, barely able to hover in his captivation. The giant dragon broke its way through foliage, crushed trees, and burned everything in its path before becoming somewhat content. Its mad eyes eventually turned to the young drake, who was still paralyzed.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten about you, fledgling." The deep growl rattled the earth.
The drake was startled. How had this dragon spoken? The young one had never heard another dragon or drake speak any understandable language. But trying to pry apart this mystery would have to wait, because the hellkite's giant wings were propelling it toward him. Quickly, the drake spun around in the air and dove for the ground, folding his wings for the greatest speed. The dragon behind him laughed, a sound that was like a deep rumble. Then the drake heard the sucking in of a huge breath and, making the connection, pulled up sharply, using his momentum to clear the pillar of fire that would have destroyed him.
"Not too bad." The dragon commented after he had readjusted his own course. "You dragons without forearms are fast, aren't you?"
Now the young one felt insulted for some reason. He was not just bait, or some kind of toy to be played with and then killed! The young one's wings suddenly worked to propel him both forward and upward. Though the hellkite was larger, his weight made him slower to climb and change directions, and the drake 'whelp' would use this to his advantage.
Suddenly, the drake folded his own wings, felt himself slow down, and then his body turned to head for the ground and for the dragon's gaping maw, which was lighting with a new flame. A quick movement let the small one clear the flame once again, and he instead was flying down past the dragon's back. But as the dragon decided to backpedal and change direction so that his weight would aid him in overtaking the small one, the drake reached out both his claws and his wing thumbs to hang onto the dragon's back.
It didn't take long for the dragon to notice. He made an annoyed sound and twisted in the air, attempting to dislodge the drake. However, he couldn't stay in the air like this long, and decided to proceed with dropping toward the ground. As the wind grew stronger, to such a strength that it might rip the drake's wings right off him, the dragon turned his head to look back at the blue spot between his shoulders.
"Enjoy the ride, little tick." He growled. "It'll end startlingly fast."
Now the dragon laughed, and the drake tensed himself, ready to take action. The dragon turned as he got closer to the ground, so that the drake would be the first thing to hit the ground, and probably be squished with the dragon's weight. The closer they came, the more the drake tensed, until he finally spread his wings just enough to catch the wind a bit, and then launched off the dragon's back, heading straight for the thick foliage to the side of the dragon.
Collision with the foliage and trees were harsh, likely bruising the drake underneath his scales. But it was better than being crushed beneath the dragon. It took a few moments for him to regain his bearings, and he could still hear the hellkite, laughing over the idea of the squished drake he was about to see. The young one didn't want to be anywhere near the dragon when he found there was no body, and not even splatter marks, to be beheld.
Quickly, the drake made his way through the forest, choosing the most open routes to make his way further from the dragon. He was far out of the dragon's range of fire when the dragon finally understood that his prey had somehow escaped him. The area around the dragon was immediately set on fire, and then he flew around, casting his flame in areas, hoping to smoke the young drake out. Fortunately for the drake, these efforts didn't work. In fact, the young drake found a cave to rest in at the forest floor. Though he hated it here, he couldn't risk flying at the moment. He wanted to wait until the hellkite had made his way back to the volcano.
The young drake wasn't quite sure when he fell asleep. The fact still remained that he was surprised when he woke up. Under normal circumstances, waking up without memory of falling asleep would have merely been an interesting fact. But since the first thing he saw was the face of a young human boy, things were a bit different.
Cards Drawn: Berserkers of Blood Ridge, Dragon's Claw, Plummet, Goblin Artillery, Ancient Hellkite, Firebreathing
Shieb: So here's the first chapter of my promised three-chapter Magic project. This will explain the past of Draetur from my first Magic: The Gathering fiction, called Of Protection and Instinct. If you don't know who Drae is, I suggest you take a look at the fanfiction.
Feel free to enjoy or not enjoy my work, just drop me some criticism.