Updated 4/27/2023

Chapter One: Brood of Blood

The Era of the Dying Lands; Year 203

Early Spring

Scarlet Grove

The moon hung low and full in the inky black canvas of night, its ethereal glow washing over the forest beneath. A shaft of light pierced through the thick canopy of leaves, illuminating a nest of three freshly laid eggs. Each was shaped like a teardrop and was a lovely shade of azure, and their shells were speckled a darker blue.

The birther of the eggs sat in front of the hurriedly dug nest, her dark-amber eyes unblinking. Her feathers were dull with age, and her limbs creaked each time she shifted her weight, telling of the long life she lived. Scars littered her body, most hidden under her thick coat of scarlet feathers.

Those who did not share her broadest name may only know her as an earthborn. Earthborn were dinosaurs — creatures who walked the earth. Earthborn could not fly like the skyborn — pterosaurs, nor could they thrive in the oceans like waterborn – prehistoric marine reptiles.

Some creatures, like her prey, may know her as a sharptooth — a creature who only devoured flesh. Others may at least identify her as a clawhand, an earthborn known for walking on their hindlegs and most being blood-thirsty, but not all. Further still were those who may know her as a featherwing clawhand — featherwings were clawhands who possessed not only feathers on their bodies but also longer feathers on their arms and tails for display and sometimes even flight.

Other, smarter prey items may recognize her as a sickleclaw. The large, curved talon on each of her innermost toes earned that name for her kind. But, like many other types of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and the like, her kind could be split even further. She was a type of sickleclaw called a strongbiter. Strongbiters were known for their broad skulls and stocky, muscular bodies rather than the slim, lithe forms common among other sickleclaws. Further still, she was the largest of strongbiters, a greatshadow.

Her kind's full title was Earthborn Clawhand Featherwing Sickleclaw Strongbiter Greatshadow.

Other creatures held similar, long titles, and there were some whose titles weren't as complex. Nonetheless, even if creatures did not know each other's true titles, they could tell each other apart by different body shapes and courtship displays that only thrived within one's blood. For example, the different shaped crests between two hollowcrest singers or the different sails of sailback hookmouths. And some differences weren't as noticeable. In the long run, it was instinct to know who was of your kind and who wasn't. And sometimes, even when creating families, it didn't matter.

But it would devastate Blood-Seeker, for she had crossed more than just the blurry line between greatshadows.

The elderly formel dug her clawed hands into the soil around her nest, eyes narrowing. It never occurred to her that she would lay another clutch after Silver-Singer died. It had been years since her grey-feathered, orange-eyed mate died from waterlung. Not many years after his death, she reached the time when females no longer produced eggs.

Or so she thought.

For the past few days, Blood-Seeker had denied the urge to build a nest until she couldn't any longer. She figured it was just a phantom urge to brood. It was the season for nest-laying, after all. Many members of her pack were laying their eggs, either starting families or adding to them. Blood-Seeker even thought that, just maybe, the urges were triggered by particular thoughts and… actions from not too many nights ago but wouldn't result in anything but urges. None of it had to mean her body had allowed eggs to form within her.

Tonight, she had been proved wrong.

The urge had become too strong, and she was forced to slip off into the darkness of night while her pack slept. She walked as far as she could, not quite to the edge of her territory of the Scarlet Grove. She dug as soon as she found a dry patch of dirt, then let instinct take over.

Three tiny azure eggs were nestled amongst the upturned soil before the moon could rise much higher in the sky.

Blood-Seeker continued to stare at the eggs as the night grew, unsure what to make of them. They were a beautiful shade of azure and shaped like a raindrop, typical of most sickleclaw eggs. But they were tiny — very tiny for greatshadows. An unusual speckling decorated their shells, something Blood-Seeker had never seen in her other eggs.

But she expected the oddity of her new eggs, which made her heart clench.

They couldn't be fertile, could they? There was no way a stupid decision late in the night, her mind clouded with thoughts of love lost too soon, that it would have come to this, right? She was too old to carry eggs, let alone fertile ones. And the male she mated with not too many nights ago wasn't even…

Deep in her heart, Blood-Seeker knew none of those thoughts and questions mattered. She already knew the answers. There was a reason that the impossible had happened. Images of the strange cavern full of stunning, glowing crystals filled her mind. A cavern some of her pack members visited when they were struggling with illness, terrible wounds, a troubled state of mind, and… conceiving. And it was the place she had stupidly mated with that male.

The scarlet greatshadow knew little about the strange magic of the world, but she knew enough that the glowing crystals within the cavern were called Shards. And she knew some Shards were known for granting strange miracles.

And they gave her a miracle she did not want.

She dug her claws deep into the soft, upturned soil, a low growl rumbling deep from her chest. What would her pack think? Their alpha, who had led them for almost three decades and begun to crack at the joints with age, slipping off into the night. And why did she slip off into the night — to lay three eggs, of all things! Three eggs in her old age. Eggs that were tiny and speckled, so unlike any other greatshadow eggs. And knowing that their alpha had not shown an interest in any of the males in the pack… A night with a rogue greatshadow would cause more than enough scowls and snips from the pack, but this…

Even if she were the alpha… she wouldn't be safe from banishment.

Blood-Seeker was old, and several pack members eagerly waited for her to step down. She hoped one of her youngest sons, who still lived in the pack with her, would take over, but they were still too young, and others were getting desperate. If one of the pack members found out about the foolish mistake she had made…

With a heavy shake of her head, the greatshadow stood. She flexed the massive, curved talons on her innermost toe-claws. It would be easiest to crush the eggs, wouldn't it? But, as she raised her foot, a flash of onyx feathers and light-grey eyes filled her vision. They didn't belong to the strange male from a few nights ago, but to a male she had fallen in love with so long ago and whom she lost too soon.

"Damn you, Night-Ponderer. Why did that… male have to remind me of you? It's been years since that bitch killed you, and I still miss you. Even after all this time. Even after I took Silver-Singer as my mate. You and my first clutch… What would it have been like if you hadn't been killed? If she hadn't slaughtered our three children?"

Blood-Seeker lowered her foot, staring at the three speckled azure eggs. Memories of her first mate and her powerful maternal instincts were just too strong. She should crush them. She wouldn't have to worry about them hatching. She wouldn't have to worry about banishment. Everything would return to how it was before the moon touched the horizon, but…

She couldn't.

Sighing, Blood-Seeker lowered herself over her nest, ensuring the eggs would stay warm. She would worry about her pack later. Right now, she needed some peace to think.

Maybe, by sunrise, she would have to leave the eggs to be eaten by the furry rodents that the younglings of the pack killed on their adventures through the grove.

But that didn't feel right.

Nothing did.

It would be on her terms if they would never hatch. She would not let ugly, furry things eat what had been created within her. Blood-Seeker would decide whether her offspring would live or die, and she would be the one to end them.

But… what else could she do?

So many troublesome endings stopped if the eggs were crushed. It was the easiest and least issue-filled for the alpha. If Blood-Seeker brought them to the pack, they would question her. If she roped another pack member into her secret to help care for the eggs, there was no telling if the eggs would hatch and if the pack member would spill the secret. Gossip was strong and traveled swiftly, even among the quietest of her pack. And if the three azure eggs did hatch, there was no way the pack would let the hatchlings live. If they looked anything like their sire…

And the eggs would hatch. Why wouldn't they? The world had already forced Blood-Seeker's body to produce the eggs, and she knew by their scent that hatchlings were developing within.

Blood-Seeker closed her eyes. She was getting too old for this. For everything. And to think she could be a new mother within a moon cycle. But, for now, she let her thoughts drift into the abyss for just a few heartbeats. She needed peace.

Peace without thoughts.

All she knew was that she wasn't one for taking the easiest way out.