Yasu Ineru Nimrod's Origin Story

## **The End of the Beginning - Prelude**

It's 111 B.R., early morning at the central domain of the island of Draak. Inside of a dragon-made lair at a smaller hill overlooking the then known Draak's Floating Dragon Academy, a dark scaled dragoness hides at the deepest depths of the caverns within her nest, gently wrapping her exhausted body around two recently brought to the world eggs. The slim dark skinned dragoness with odd feathered wings would be known in later records as Ilrane Ineru, the mysterious companion and mate of the Eastern Outpost's General Guard Telrak Ineru, awarded veteran of the repelling forces at his outpost. Her mate would be at his guard duty during Yasu's and his sister's bringing into the world for the first time where Ilrane would be the only one supervising and aiding in their hatching that same year a few months later. The first time Yasu and his first to-be hatched sister, Nyana Ineru, met their father first was in 112 B.R., for the celebration of their first year as born. Due to the distant nature of his father, Yasu never had many memories of him and is unable on a later date to even remember how he looked like. His mother rarely left the lair, if ever, eating the food provided by her mate which he would usually leave on the entrance of their home.

Yasu's childhood was spent within the lair for the most part as his mother would not leave for the outside limiting his ability to socialize with other dragons of his age other than his sister, making him eagerly await the day where he would be able to attend the neighboring Academy for the first time and socialize.

A year passes by, Yasu and Nyana grow strength turning 1 year old of hatching, training their legs and stamina by running around their safe haven of the lair under the watchful eye of their mother, occasionally leaving and playing outside the entrance, chewing on rocks and grass as a form of familiarization with their surroundings, often making Ilrane chuckle. Their lair was built on one of the more sought-after places of the island, in the central area of Draak on a hilltop overlooking the magnificent floating dragon academy of Draak, home to a multitude of hatchlings and their parents, teachers and families of all kinds of social status. They all would play around the entire area of lower Draak, under the academy itself which was quite a playing ground for most cheeky hatchlings, running around the massive chains that linked the academy to the ground, sliding between its metallic hoops, sometimes one would even see sheepish hatchlings gliding from the top floors away from their teachers that hopelessly end up yelling at them from a distance between a crowd of laughing classmates. Observing these never-ending activities was one of the favorite past times of both siblings as they had a direct view at the entire academy and the valley it was built upon from the comfort of their lair entrance, making them excited for their own journey which was just around the corner the next day, both just caming of age for the inscription.

Ilrane would be quite nervous about the whole endeavor, having to leave the lair on a daily basis, even if for a short time to accompany the children down to the academy and back, it was quite a big task for her psyche. The nervousness of hers was making both siblings quite unsettled but most of it went overtaken by their own excitement as the dawn broke in through the entrance, shining morning light of the next day into their chambers seemed to fill both siblings with energy. Nyana would have her beginner scale pack all ready with her favorite toys, while Yasu would rather be burning his energy off by chasing random flies around their room as their mother called for them to leave. He'd quickly grab a random closest-to-him book from the home library, packing it into the empty small leather sack pocket he carried and left in a hurry.

Their mother was waiting at the edge of the hilltop looking at the crowds already gathering in, hatchlings farewelling with their resident parents for another day of the school whilst more came in through the portal from various destination. Yasu and Nyana playfully weaved their way between the larger adult dragon's legs excitedly before she nudged Yasu towards the narrow road down the hill with her snout, with Nyana trailing behind before Ilrane put her darkened goggles on her eyes following also. Halfway down the hill, a sudden loud blast noise was heard echoing from what it seemed to be the north of the island rendered the entire Draak colony silent in shock and confusion. The island and their residents stood still for a few seconds before noticing how the large chains holding the floating structure a few yards away from them started to rattle, the crystals surrounding the academy fading in and out of their energyzed fashion, something was clearly off.

Before anyone could get out of the shock of the first detonation, another sudden blast echoed even louder through the island, sending a shock wave of air through Draak knocking some of the weaker hatchlings over to their butts. Panic started to erupt as now it was obvious this was no mistake of happening, an attack was imminent and they started to feel the threat in the air. Many parents starting to try and flee with their young in the quickest way possible, through the portal, but this one wasn't working for whatever reason it was. Hatchlings and their parents hopelessly banging at the now solidified energy field was a terrified sight, never crossing the mind of the residents that they could be cut off from the world this way ever.

Suddently, Ilrane shrieked out covering the hatchlings with her wings as a sudden shadow appeared on top of them, landing down near their mother with a loud thud only for the surprise of it being their father, Telrak. He coughed grasping for air with open cuts and lacerations visible thorough his body, torn armor scales with multiple cuts deep enough to pierce his scales underneath. He took a moment to recover before growling worryingly with yells at his family to leave immediately. *"Cross the portal! Quickly, take them now!"* he kept yelling but Ilrane knew that the portal was no way to escape with many families being just as stranded as they were. She pointed at the clog of people at the portal making him realize that his warning was too late leaving him with an expression of both anger and concern. Ilrane asked what was happening, explaining in short the blasts from before.

*"The outpost, was outrun... We had to evacuate..."* the large white male with golden splotches scattered thorough his body coughed. *"A horde of blighted came out from the deadlands, shadows, and corpses. My brother from the watch... Ageriam perished..."* he shook his head with a loud snarl. *"I thought it was too late for me too, a bastard wraith chained me to the ground from the air as I was about to leave, one of his abominations attempted to cut through me but I escaped.. I came straight here, saw a dark horde heading south through the deadlands as I was flying over Harro.* *The north of Draak's protective barrier was already being chipped through when I flew in through one of the cracks within the shield, otherwise I couldn't have made it. The blasts.. It must have meant they broke thro-"* a third blast shock waved through the crowd and the family, knocking little Nyana out of balance sending her ragdolling further down the hillside path with luckily Ilrane catching her after a few tumbles.

Clear, almost seethrough chunks of crystalline texture pieces began to fall from the sky as they looked above how the protective barrier began to break above them, sending magical remnants of the shield raining down over Draak's residents. *"There is no time, you have to leave with the children now! Take them to the western shore, it's the closest to Lerena, if the portal doesn't work, we'll try to fly them through the ocean. We should be able to carry one each, won't make it on your own."* he pushed at them to move swiftly when a gross stench started to creep in from the north down into the valley and it's surroundings. Telrak spiked his scales with a loud hiss seeing shadowy figures rattle and crawl their way from the hilltop, shadowed by a large dark cloud trailing above them. *"Go, now! I'll hold them off, wait for me at the shore, I'll be right there! Leave!"* he yelled at them with Ilrane running off with both hatchlings staying close to their mother.

They ran down the hillside into the sudden crowd of people still attempting to cross the closed up portal, with multiple screams and yells of help and confusion keeping the family from being able to pull through. Ilrane looked around the large gathering deciding to take a detour around the crowd at the cost of lost time as she was not going to stay around waiting for something that would clearly not happen. Bumping both hatchlings to what she though was westwards around the crowd ended up being directly south, being confused in the conmotion they ran the wrong direction. Yasu trailed in as close as he could to his family before bumping heads with a lost panicking hatchling on the way, yelping out with Ilrane returning for him. The lost hatchling asking for it's mother with teary eyes to which Ilrane didn't know what to answer, other than to try and look near the portal. Multiple other hatchlings running around, hiding behind rocks and bushes ended up being directed back to the portal by them as they kept running for it further down south reaching the shore leaving the academy and the stranded dragons behind. They were half a mile away gasping for air from the long run to which they still could hear the cries of help and conmotion echoing from the distance even at their location with their father nowhere to be seen. Ilrane scanned the darkening skies for any sign of a familiar face to no avail making her nervous and with the feeling of hopelessness.

A foul odor inundated the entire island, reaching even the furthest reaches of the shores at this point making the siblings cough in disgust not used to such strongs smells whilst Ilrane was still waiting for Telrak to appear. She stood on her hindlegs attempting to make out what could be happening at the academy, only seeing the floating building but not being able to make out the crowd anymore. The tone of the distant voices shifted drastically, loud shrieks and yells of agony echoed from the distance making the family perk their ears towards the academy in terror. *"They're here..."* Ilrane whispered in shock as the dark unnatural storm cloud stretched above them engulfing the whole stretch of the island with a stench-filled dirty water rain pouring down on them, overtaking the heartbreaking noises from the distance.

Telrak was still nowhere to be found and she was growing desperate, they had to leave and she knew that returning wasn't an option anymore. She got snapped out of thought when loud yells and unholy shrieks approached closer, a few undead corpses appeared chasing down two hatchlings that seemingly ran for it from the carnage. Ilrane panicked. *"Get on my back, quickly, hurry.."* she ordered Yasu and Nyana as she was already running to the water edge and jumping in, letting her body flatten out with the water surface stable enough for them to use one of her wings as a bridge to make it on top of her back. She held scrong with all four of her legs against the sandy bottom as the hatchlings held onto the spikes on her back as strong as they could, however, the stormy currents already started dragging her body away from shore not being able to hold onto solid ground any longer.

Detached from the shore floating through the rainy waters they watched in horror as the hatchlings from before got butchered alive near the waters, stranded at the edge of where they once stood with the undead watching Yasu and his family from afar, seemingly awaiting for them to get back on shore. She knew that there was no way pack so her only option was to attempt to paddle west towards Lerena in hopes of reaching the land with the currents, but getting disoriented with the starting waves, she was paddling directly south. Battling against currents and wind her limbs grew tired rapidly being left mercylessly adrift like a log through the dark cold waters of the sea.

Battling to stay afloat and keep her head out from the waves was not easy and they drifted more into the sea with every minute, the waves grew larger and the shore was nowhere to be seen anymore. They started to be washed over by water spitting salt water with teary eyes from the irritation, Ilrane was further confused to their direction. *"I can't see.... Hold... Just..."* she tried to keep both hatchlings desperately holding on to her calm but a sudden large wave toppled her body over deep underwater rolling under the forcefull wave with no more feeling of weight on her back to which she panicked. She clawed her way back up to the surface spitting water out before yelling at her children to attempt locate them between the stormy waves. Desperately looking around only seeing water for a few seconds before being toppled over by another wave her air was running out. Ilrane resurfaced again only to get hit once more to which she lost conciousness after gasping a large chunk of seawater.

Thunders raged above from the stormy unnatural clouds as one of the lightnings hit a tree nearby knocking sense back into Ilrane, opening her eyes suddenly to cough out saltwater she had ingested. She catched her breath before dropping limply onto the sand of the shore she got washed out to getting some sense as to what just happened. After a few more breaths of fresh air she realized that she was alone, immediately attempting to yell out for Yasu or Nyana between coughs and an irritated throat, she clawed and crawled her way through the sand until she spotted something curious washed ashore, a brown-toned book of sorts. Giving her some hope she got quickly to it to realize that book was from their home library, must have washed ashore from one of the children's bags.

Yelling a few more times with no response, after a few minutes, she noticed a shimmering in the distance, it seemed like white and yellow-ish scales reflecting the lightning lights off to which she gasped, eyes narrowing. *"Y-Yasu.. no!!!"* she yelled in despair tumbling her way to his lifeless body that washed out with the waves. Reaching to him she realized he wasn't breathing, staring with his golden eyes lifelessly at his mother she cried in agony at the loss of her children hugging his small body to her chest in hopes that he would come back. Crying out for the other children the pain in her heart was grave, the loss of both children was unbearable. With the sinking feeling that this wasn't going to happen, she prayed for either one of them to come back to her. If only she could do something to bring Yasu's body back to her, she thought, before suddenly gasping. Ilrane had a sudden flashback, remembering a time from her past in which her father revived a dead beloved pet of hers by using his blood as a conduit to channel his vitality to the animal's. What if she could do the same?

Deperate and determined she carefully rested the little lifeless body of the hatchling on its back and with a shaky hand she gestured in the air to change her form into khutit to match better the size of his. Not thinking about the future consequences, Ilrane pondered how did her father do what he did to which she thought to get as close to his vitality source as possible, his heart. With a bit of hesitation she reached in towards his chest giving a one last look at his lifless expression before piercing with her claw between his softer scales cutting inside his chest between his ribs at the center waiting for a second before taking a deep breath and dragging the claw further down to cut a slit between the bones wide enough for her hand to fit in.

*"You'll come back.. you have to come back.."* murmured to herself as she cut a slit on her wrist letting some of her own blood flow out onto her palm coating it before sliding it entirely into his chest cavity reaching in carefully towards his motionless heart. Once she reached it, she gently cupped it with her hand and gave it a gentle squeezing mimicking beating whilst letting more of her blood flow around it. Ilrane closed her eyes concentrating, channeling the rest of her vitality into his body whispering softly *"Come back ... live..."*

Yasu suddenly gasped and almost contorted his back arched for a few moments before falling back onto the sand coughing out seawater reanimated back to life. Ilrane took her hand out from his chest falling on her back holding her weight to look hopelessly as the hatchling began to cry out in agony. His chest closed in before her eyes immediately with a sizzling noise mixing in with the painful cries, the water from his scales evaporating like a hot stove as soon as the rain droppets fell on them. Yasu's scales from the center of his chest outwards started to turn dark grey from his natural white with golden shimmers pigmentation, tranforming the hatchling's body in a few seconds with him crying from the painful process clawing at the sand desperately.

Ilrane regaining some of her strength back got closer to him grabbing hold of his paws trying to calm him down reassuringly before another burst of pain waved through his body as sudden carvings began to sizzle and burn through his scales, carving channel-like lines and symbols between these and his skin painfully. Once these were carved, Yasu almost fainted from the pain received, the markings dull black with no vitality flowing through them. She reached for him, gently holding his cheek *"Yasu.. hey.. You have to feed... Bite me.."* she told him as soft as she could whilst crying from seeing her child in such pain attempting to reassure him *"It'll make the pain go away... I promess..."*.

Yasu gained some senses back within whimpers and a dizzy head, only to sense the smell of his mother's blood as she kept her still bleeding wrist in front of his snout awaiting his response. The hatchling's eyes narrowed as he jolted for it, wrapping his newly grown piercing fangs around her arm biting hard and stucking intensely. She gasped with a subtle yelp but pressed on and rubbed on his head gently for a minute or two before his scales stopped sizzling, the channels carved between his scales glowed red filled with renewed vitality to which he fell unconscious. Ilrane rested his head down on the sand making sure he was breathing right and that no visible injuries were on his body before flicking her ears back as footsteps in the sand echoed in the distance.

She forgot that they landed on unknown territory, loosing track of time. Ilrane gave a quick look around in hopes of spotting Nyana to no resolve to which she felt guilty and heart broken, the loss of her child, the painful future she brought upon her other one was unbearable. Ashamed of her actions without knowing what to do, she took her goggles off and placed them on Yasu instead, cuddling the book she had found that seemed to be the only thing left from their home between his hatchling arms and quickly used her magic to change forms, taking off into the distance between the dark clouds dissapearing between the heavy rain. The footsteps grew closer before stopping at the hatchling's body before being picked up by a big clawed hand and taken away.

## ***Day of Reawakening - Chapter 1***

Crackling, stomping, tearing, crunching... noises, all around, echoing within the chamber that he was asleep in. Unknown scents, voices and languages made his mind all wary and confused. The little hatchling opened his golden eyes tiredly, too much light was being cast on him as it was creeping in from the entrance just next to where he was at, making him hiss in discomfort. The sudden hiss provoked a few eyes to slide in from the entrance giving a watchful eye on the hatchling.

*"He woke up?"*

*"I think so, I heard a hiss."*

*"It wasn't you?"*

*"Who woke up?"* multiple draconic voices emanated all around before he came in to realize that he was surrounded by three adult dragons staring at him wearingly. He did not understand any of what they said leaving him even more confused and startled.

*"Tena ei ieo?"* he asked with a low dry and growly voice as he sat up squinting his eyes from one surprised expression to another.

*"Did you hear that? It sounded familiar."*

*"It did, can't tell what he said."*

*"Where is Semeneth? Bring the wise one over."* they said between them before a larger dark male ancient made his way through the entrance and the audience to look down at a startled Yasu.

*"No need, I will take him."* he said as he reached in for his scale pack to take out some recently caught cod offering it to Yasu to eat. *"Eielen nieo agau?"* Yasu nodded taking the cod and eating it rapidly whilst the conversation went on in the background.

*"We don't know what he is, he may be dangerous, it requires more study."*

*"I'll take care of him, he's just a hatchling, don't you see?"*

*"But how do you explain how long it has been? We have no records of his hatching!"*

*"Could be a poorer family's offspring, not everyone can get reco-"*

*"But this is unacceptable! We have to let the council know of this before taking any decission!"*

*"It isn't needed, I'll take him to New Trismus, they'll take him to Skalkaar where records will be forged like everyone elses' have been. He'll start his own journey anew, perhaps we will know more about his origins with time."* the ancient glanced over to the hatchling. *"He will tell his own story if he remembers it with time, I will let the council know if he speaks."*

*"Skalkaar? But that place is for newborns, he could be old enough to-"*

*"I said, he will come with me. I already spoke to Semeneth, he needs to have a normal hatchlinghood in order to keep track of him."* Yasu finished his meal in the meantime looking curiously at the bickering about something just for the darker male to turn towards the entrance.*"Like you said, we don't know what he is, it is better to keep him oblivious, for now."* the ancient walked out of the entrance barking out to the hatchling *"Dakais eo"* to which Yasu jumped down from the elevated bed tripping over his forelegs rolling on his butt. He shook his head grabbing quickly on his sack with the book he recognized as his and ran for the entrance making it underneath the legs of the adults.

With no dragons to block the sun for him, he tripped over in the grass when the sudden blast of sunlight outside blinded him greatly making him hide his face under his paws. The larger dragon took Yasu's mother's goggles out from his little sack and placed them on the hatchling's eyes with a smile. *"Meior?"* Yasu nodded and trailed behind the ancient as he imediately went back to walking through the city of Chiconis heading for the portal. Many eyebrows were risen as they walked through with the hatchling attempting to keep up with his wobly legs against the large steps of the ancient sometimes tripping over in the grass. Hatchlings that would run by stopping in to go and greet the new hatchling only to be hissed at and stoppd by other adults in the vicinity to which left Yasu confused as to why they were not let near him. Guards spiking their scales and wiggling their battle claws at his sight whilst they walked by, he seemed very confused as to the whole ordeal, who those dragons were and where he was at. The ancient seemed to notice his curiosity and confusion to which he reassured him *"Ieo ro anjarum naronien, ana."*

Yasu had no choice but to follow as they both crossed the city reaching the location of the portal. The large dragon gazed at the portal, then at the hatchling gesturing for him to cross first. Yasu swallowed as he has not crossed a portal before in his life but gathered the will to hop through it appearing a few seconds later at the other side on top of a crystaline pad on a hill dirt road near a town that Yasu didn't know. Full of new smells and the sounds of distant voices from other people, the hatchling got nervous and eager to go and instrinctively explore, but the ancient stopped him quickly after crossing the portal himself, just as Yasu almost bolted for it. He swiftly placed his big paw in front of him with an exclamation *"Daga!"*

The ancient let out a sigh with the seemingly startled hatchling softening his voice to reply to him in old Erdoten k'Eilerten language which seemed to be the only one Yasu knew. *"Listen, you probably have a lot of questions now and all will be answered in time, however, you cannot just take off like that without warning."* With a gentle motion the giant settled on the ground near the hatchling with a relaxed stance. *"Besides, they wouldn't have understood you if you started asking questions."* he added with a subtle chuckle.

*"Why not? Are they not dragons?"* Yasu said settling on the sun warmed ground himself.

*"How did you know?"* he rose a brow intrigued by the hatchling's knowldge of other races surprisingly.

*"Mother would tell tales of two legged creatures, evil and good ones that would live beyond the land of the dragons. I always thought they were real, but never saw one."* the hatchling replied drawing with his claw in the dirt what it seemed like stick figures resembling bipeds.

Taking a second to admire the drawing of the little dragon, the ancient remained silent collecting his thoughts unsure whether he should try and push on the hatchling for questioning now or in another moment unsecure of what was the mental state of his at the moment as he didn't seem to realize his situation so far. He dediced he'd try and hint at it and not give any pressure if it didn't succeed. *"Do you recognize this place?"*

Yasu looked up from his doodling to take a glance at the surrounding landscape before shaking his head.*"No, I have not been here before. My mom will never allow us to leave our lair. She says it is dangerous..."* his voice faded away with the last words realizing something. *"My mom... where is she?"* he whispered almost scared to say it outloud.

The ancient took a deep breath collecting his thoughts replying with a serene voice. *"We don't know, we thought you could help us with that."* He reached into his scalepack to take out a tome of papyrus sheets and a charcoal tip stick. *"Do you... remember anything?"* said with a soft tone unsure of what the reaction of the hatchling would be.

The little one shrugged his shoulders with the uneasy feeling of concern, confusion and the feeling of loss that he did not understand. He was confused as to where he was, how did he get there, seemingly not recognizing what had happened other than he was there and his family wasn't. *"How did you find me?"* he said almost pleading to the ancient for any clues as to why he was feeling that way.

*"You were found by an elderly dragon couple, on the shores of the Island of Aedan."* said reading out from his notes to which Yasu yelped in pain as what it seemed to be a painful flash of memory hit him. The ancient reaching with his big paw towards him reassuringly. *"Does that sound familiar to you?"*

Yasu closed his eyes frowning attempting to proccess what he just saw, a glimpse of a storm, murky waters, the voice of his mother yelling his name out. *"I... I don't know"* he said between whimpers before crying outloud once more with another painfull flashback making his chest scar burn to which he pressed his paw against it gasping. *"A storm.. foul stench... the two hatchlings... they... blood on the sand..."* he squeeled and rolled into a ball shaking with the ancient placing both paws around him protectively.

*"Where were you. Do you remember?"* he asked gently attempting to get any answers.

The hatchling started crying and whimpering louder. *"The Island... it fell, the barier.. rainning glass on us.. I can't see him, he's gone... I... I drowned.."* he sniffled out shaking his head gasping for air as if he was drowning again reviving the past to which the ancient reassured him repeatedly poking at him to snap out of it.

*"It's okay, you're not drowning. You're safe now, listen to my voice."*

Yasu attempted to focus on the voice of the ancient calming down after a few minutes stopping the feeling of pain and burning from his chest. He rested shortly before the ancient took his paws away letting the hatchling move around freely to which he looked with soaked eyes the larger drake. *"I want... my family back.. Why are they not here with me?"* whimpered.

The ancient closed his tome with a sigh. *"We don't know where they are... you're all that was found. You were brought to the council of Chiconis for healing but you never woke up."* he said with pain in his voice. Yasu shrugged saddened by the thought of not knowing the fate of his beloved ones, feeling abandoned and alone. *"This.. was 241 years ago."* he finished with Yasu gasping looking up at the ancient with confusion.

*"How is that.. possible? I have been.. asleep, all this time?"* he asked looking at his paws realizing he hasn't changed or aged other than not recognizing the color of his scales. *"Why do I look, different? What happened to me?"* bit his lips with anguish.

*"We don't know, we were hoping you could shed some light on those questions yourself, when you remembered."* the ancient reached in to wipe out the tears from the hatchling's eyes with a gentle smile. *"Your questions will be answered, with time. This requires more research and you've said a lot today that could aid me in finding clues to your past."* Yasu closed his hands into fists with a sniffle feeling defeated for not being able to remember more to which the ancient noticed and gave a soft nuzzle to his back. *"We will find your family, you gotta me strong until then. There is always hope."* he reassured firmly.

The hatchling sniffled and sighed looking up at the ancient. *"What should I do? I have nowhere to go.."*

The large dragon nodded and pointed at the nearby visible town with a smile. "*You should visit that town, it is a place for beginnings. Our race always start their way there. I will be on my way to visit the libraries of Chiconis once more, with the newly found information, I may be able to get you some more answers. Try to stay out of trouble until my return, will you?"* he nudged the little hatchling softly as he stood up.

*"Wait!"* Yasu barked at the dragon. *"But, you said they would not understand me. How will I communicate?"* he shrugged with a rise of his eyebrow. *"How do you even know my language?"*

The ancient laughed a little before shaking his large frills along his head. *"I am a scholar, I research many things from the past, including your language which I studied many years ago. It is the old draconic language of Erdoten k'Eilerten which was commonly used from the time you seem to be coming from. Nowdays, the common tongue is the universal language betwen all races, and you will have to learn it too."* he nodded to the non exsistent extiement of the hatchling to which he added. *"Try to listen to the words, understand what they could mean. Use your wit to learn, like you did the first time with your family."*

Yasu pouted slightly with a nod. *"Thank you, ancient."* he said with a long sigh.

*"LungTien, dear hatchling. That is my name. What is yours?"* he added with a gentle smile.

*"Yasu.. Ineru"* the hatchling replied with a smile too before taking a glance over at the town.

The large dark ancient adjusted his scale pack with his multiple scrolls and scribings before taking off into the air. *"Go, explore! You will be safe here, I will be back when I get more information, I promisse."* nodded before taking off towards the portal to disappear through it in the distance.

Yasu was left alone again, with multiple questions as to what was happening and wether the ancient would be able to find his family to be reunited again. The only thing left for him to do for now was to move forward. A bit scared of his new surroundings, yet, oddly feeling safe within this island, he decided to wander around into town he had spotted a bit ago, New Trismus. He wandered between the buildings looking around curiously, seeing creatures he has never seen before, two-legged skin-toned ones that had no wings or tails or horns, quite confusing of a sight, just as the ones from the tales his mother used to tell. Some of them would wave their arms at him to which he would hop away anticipating a possible attack not knowing what those gestures could be for, such weird behavior indeed.

In the center of this small town was a tower wooden structure that was quite the sight to behold for a hatchling that hasn't seen a human shrine before. He took a walk around it feeling a strange energy emerge from it but not quite sure as to what it was for, or, what the purpose of the structure being there was. *"Well, hello there hatchling!"* Yasu got suddently startled from behind by a strange voice making him jump forward only to turn around and hiss at the human figure in front of him. The human put his arms up in a display of surrendering visibly shaken by the hissing response.

*"Oh don't be alarmed, I will not harm you."* said the human making the hatchling tilt his head in confusion. *"My name is Steward Pratt McGuben! The Marshall of our beautiful tranquil town of New Trismus, and you may be?"* he presented his hand towards the hatchling. *"I can't recall seeing you before."*

The hatchling looked around attempting to find a way to understand what he was just told, grasping for any straws he could draw he decided to try and use his paws in the same way as the human was using them to gesture. He pointed a claw towards him, then his ears, and then shook his head. Pratt seemed a bit confused scratching his beard whilst shrugging his shoulders.

*"Are you unable to speak or hear?"* he attempted to communicate back.

Yasu titled his head again and sighed heavily rolling his eyes with a chuckle before realizing he had his book from home with him. If their language was different, perhaps their alphabet was different too? He opened the book at a random page and pointed it to Pratt, then drew a line between the book and his snout.

*"What a strange language indeed, oh, is this your language? You do not understand mine you say?"* Pratt laughed a little at the encounter before resting his hand on Yasu's shoulder to which the hatchling hissed making Pratt retract his hand immediately as if it was never there on the first place. "*Come, perhaps one of the trainers will help you with that."* he started walking away noticing that Yasu wasn't following him, to which he stopped and waved at him to follow.

The hatchling followed Pratt through the town with more curious eyes gazing at the pair before resuming their activities. Heading outside they followed on a path leading down a smaller hill and over a river, before stopping at one of the pads with a portal next to it. There were two large chamber entrances carved in rock on the left and right sides from the central pad and portal to which Pratt gestured for Yasu to wait while he went in one of the entrances only to come out a few moments later with an adult dragon trailing after him. He said something to the dragon and waved to both silently before leaving back into town.

The dragon gestured for Yasu to follow him inside the lair where she opened on the floor a large map of the known world pointing with her claw to New Trismus Island, then proceeded to point at Yasu and the map again attempting to make him show her where he was from to try and figure out why he did not speak the common tongue as it was a regular to all dragon kinds to speak it. He took a second to understand what she wanted him to do, looking around the map for a moment, but ultimately shrug his shoulders not knowing the answer as he never really saw a map before, much less knew how to use it. She sighed then bit her lip, thinking, she perking up and tugged the map away imediately.

Pulling out a scroll of the basic common tongue alphabet she had stashed under a pile of random scraps and scrolls she started pointing with her claw on the letters to spell out her name, Kerian. She smiled and nodded at the hatchling thinking that he'd do the same but yet again, he didn't know the common tongue, much less its alphabet. Pouting in disillusion she attempted to do something else and try to teach him a few basic words instead, to see if he would catch the meaning of them. She pointed at herself and spoke *"Kerian"* then pointed at him and waited.

Yasu tilted his head to which she pointed at the scroll of letters and said *"paper"*, then pointed at herself again and repeated her name, then pointed at the hatchling and waited. The hatchling frowning for a split second but then perked up realizing that she was probably naming things, so she must have been asking his name to which he replied *"Yasu"*. She jumped in joy nodding making Yasu happy that he got something right at least to which she eagerly clapped her paws together and pointed at the ground. *"Floor"*, then at the walls *"Wall"*, then to the tree, *"Tree"* and kept going to which the hatchling just chuckled. She shook her head slowing down letting him attempt to mimic and repeat patting him on the head when he got the words right.

This went on for a few hours before Yasu got exhausted and fell asleep in her lair floor to which she tugged him in on her bed and decided to take opportunity of this situation to go and ask her colleagues at Skalkaar for aid to his situation.

## ***Forest of Beginnings - Chapter 2***

After the hatchling woke up a few hours later sleeping through the night at the dragon trainer’s residence, the youngling stood up eagerly looking for Kerian to no avail. The trainer doesn’t seem to have returned yet from her travel to Skalkaar leaving Yasu to explore her cavern filled with many machines and old books and scraps of knowledge that he wasn’t able to understand.

He instead got caught in curious about some shimerring gemstones laying around near a gem cutting machine, even in small shattered remnants from larger cut gems, he found quite the intrigue on its colors and shapes attempting to piece the debris together before getting startled by Kerian. *"Good morning! Today is a big day for you!“* she said outloud clapping her hands together as she did in excitement only to receive Yasu’s confused expression.

Kerian rolled her eyes with a chuckle gesturing for him to follow as she made it to the nearby portal awaiting his arrival. Yasu basically stole on the way out one of the cut malachite debris pieces and snuck it into his sack along with his book trailing behind the adult for both to cross one after another to the other side to Skalkaar.

Landing on a forest area with the echoing sounds of distant animals and their noises, Yasu was impressed to see that much vegetation on the same place, never having visited a forest before in his life, he began to sniff the bushes and various plants picking up on all sorts of scents.

Kerian smiled at him letting him enjoy his new surroundings for a minute before nuging him forward with her large snout to follow a trail between the foliage. They followed it for a bit until a familiar figure was seen at the edges of one of the clearings in the forest, a hatchling. Kerian waved her wing at the hatchling that was being distracted polishing what it seemed to be a small dull colored copper bell, the hatchling quickly packed it within her scale pack sitting next to her.

Yasu wearingly gazed the hatchling over from behind the adult's body. *“Spitfyre! So good to see you again, is your trainning going well?“*

*"It is! Instructor Karkath was very pleased with my recent loot and my progress in the art of hoarding! I even got a reward for one of my trophies, a bell, a whole precious bell, can you believe it?“* she eagerly jumped around her scalepack leaving Kerian to laugh.

*"Sweet student, would you mind doing this one a favor?“* she spoke softly sliding a glance at Yasu hiding behind her. *“This fellow needs to start his trainning, but he does not speak the common tongue. I had success on teaching him some words by associating things with words and Karkath and Jemenoth already know of his situation, however, I cannot train him as I have other students at New Trismus to look over too. Would you mind helping him around for me?“*

Spitfyre seemed to be in thought, processing the information but quickly with eager nodded resuming her jumping and bouncing again, this time around Yasu who confusedly just sat there whilst she kept bouncing around in circles. He sheepishly stuck his tail out in her trail for her to trip over to which she did. Yasu let out a laugh slaming the ground with his paw in utter joy of his deed to which Spitfyre was not very keen about, clawing a dirftfull at his face. He frowned at her to which she responded the same way only for Kerian to intervene frowning at Yasu and shaking her head in dissaproval. The hatchling shrugged his shoulders avoiding eye contact before being pat on the back and pushed towards Spitfyre with Kerian making them both sit next to eachother.

*"Now listen, you both will behave, okay? I don’t want Melimer to come complain to me that you were fighting, you both should be mature enough for that to not be an issue anymore.“* She took a few steps back taking a sniff to the air before noticing the visible confusion on Yasu's face not understanding. *"I will come check on you two soon. Behave and...“* she bent her neck down towards Yasu blowing hot air on him. *".. no more fighting."* which he seemd to have understood by how he shrug under the menace. The adult took flight towards the norh dissapearing between the trees leaving both hatchlings behind.

Yasu kept frowning not being happy to be lectured by strangers whilst Spitfyre stood back up facing the other hatchling offering her paw in a truce to which he sighed and accepted. She pointed at herself and said her name with Yasu saying his before she went off walking through another trail in the woods with Yasu following closely behind. She would often stop and pause with new things to name and point at waiting for his response before moving on. Yasu would sometimes feel quite stupid having to say things like *"rock.. grass.. tree.. frog..“* things he already knew and recognized but not being able to tell them in his own words. He was already past this stage of trainning at home being home schooled language it seemed unfair to him to have to learn a different language alltogether, but, seeing as how things were, he had no option but to follow.

The two of them met a few other hatchlings around along the way; some gathering insects and fruits, some fighting with wildlife, some digging random holes in search of hidden treasures or.. something similar; some chewing on tree branches for no reason to which Spitfyre would just chuckle and move along. The place seemed quite full of life and more of his species around meant that Yasu wasn’t feeling that nervous, it all seemed quite familiar from how he used to look down at the playing hatchlings at Draak with a slight flashback taking over stopping in the trail for Spitfyre to notice and wait. He shook his head and moved on shortly after.

After a few minutes of hiking through the forest they reached what it seemed a sudden climate change from trees and forest to volcanic surroundings as the green trail suddently turned into a warm floor cracked with hot lava underneath, littered with volcanic dark ash. The air grew hotter and no trees were in sight any longer other than large volcanic rocks, amber colored crystals and a lot of small rattling pebbles on the floor. This suddent shift in the nature was quite unusual and surprising, magical even much to his confusion. Spitfyre didn’t seem to be bothered by it anymore making Yasu snap out of it when she bumped into him standing at the edge of this place to make him follow her, leading to a frown of dissaproval fom his side. She chuckled and just showed him her tail as she kept walking forward.

Yasu felt the need to bite on it to prove his point but by the tone of Kerian earlier, it seemed like she didn’t like his misschief from before so he forced himself to let it go. They reached a pile of what seemed like random junk and hoard items like bells, swords, broken helmets and gems between other things like ribbons, twigs and even bones to which Spitfyre cleared her throat loudly and waited sitting.

The hatchling stood next to her gazing over the pile of stuff not understanding why they were there before a random piece of some sort of button shaped object flung from behind the pile with a loud growl of frustration, flying between the two hatchlings and bouncing away into the distance. They both looked at it roll away with confusion before switching back their looks to the pile where a larger red-ish dragon appeared. The dragon walked with no finess, back bent with a tired expression he cracked his back with one arm and just then stopped dead in his track. Noticing the two seemingly waiting for him figures, he felt awkward to have been seen that way looking around astounded as to how to save the situation. Spitfyre cleared her throat again and bowed her head down in respect. *"Instructor, I apologize for disturbing you now but you’ve got a visitor.“* She said in a low tone as to not let out a laugh.

The dragon stuck out his chest to attempt to hide the awkward way he presented himself before, pretending like if it never happened pointing at Yasu. *"Is this the one?“* to which the hatchling nodded and scrampered off without a further word. *"Well, welcome, I suppose.“* Yasu tilted his head and looked around from the ground to the pile behind the dragon and then the sky, seemingly not knowing what to do or how to reply. *"Ah, the language. My apologizes.“* The dragon turned at his pile of junk and trinkets to fling some of those items around making a mess in the close viciny with an old boot landing on Yasu’s head at one point before pulling out an old book. *"Eureka!“* he yelled towering the tome towards the sky in a display. He then proceeded to cough and sit down with the hatchling and opening the book on the first pages.

Yasu sighed and rolled his eyes, not really interested in more deciphering before realizing that language was actually his native one. He jumped closer to the book taking a closer look at the words to which the instructor smiled. *"Good, you recognize these words. It will be so much easier for us now to teach you.“* He said turning the pages around with words both from the old dragonic language and the common tongue in it as some sort of dictionary.

The hatchling would be tasked on a daily basis with studying it and then doing pronunciation readbacks with Karkath and attempting to do small talk which was a rather mentally draining task on him as Karkath was quite a strict instructor, making Yasu work harder if he messed up or straight didn’t want to cooperate. After a few days, Karkath began instructing Yasu on doing some of the regular trainning that hatchlings would usually do at Skalkaar under his teaching, like doing basic battling with the local wildlife and rewarding him with some tasty snacks if he was able to describe what he did in the common tongue well enough to be understood.

Some weeks have passed and a familiar shadow would abruptly interupt his target practice with fire breathing when it landed between himself and his now running away target, a ground beetle. Yasu frowned a little before realizing that the shadow behind of the dragon was actually LungTien to which the hatchling eagerly climbed on and cuddled on the top of his snout before being gently put down between the ancient’s large paws. *"It has been some time, I couldn’t come earlier.“* Said in old draconic language settling down within the clearing in the forest.

*"I understand, it was busy.. err.. time for you and busy for me too. Learning, .. err... hard task. Understanding better now, yes?“* He spoke in the common tongue with a bit of a studder between certain words to which the ancient with a surprised expression smiled widely.

*"Look at you! Now you speak common tongue, that is a wonderful thing. You truly are a special one. Have you been good?“* he asked whilst looking for something between the countless scrolls and scraps of paper within his pack.

*"Yes, learning, stronger and safe. Make.. err... friend here, small hatchling like me, help me catch some..g-v-....fulets.“*

The ancient chuckled taking a bulk of old papyrus sheets out. *“I think you meant grulets, the small pigs.“*

Yasu nodded with a laugh. *“Grulets, yes.“*

LungTien placed the reading on the ground and shifted to a bit more of a neutral tone. *"I am glad you're doing good, I bring some news to you."* he spoke settling down on the grass bed before him. *“Yasu, I visited the great library of Chiconis after we spoke last time and searched for the records to similar events from what you mentioned. The storm, the passing of hatchlings. And, I believe I might have found something.*" he paused swallowing hard collecting his thoughs.

The hatchling sat down also with a intrigued yet a little apprehensive expression. *"And?..Have you found my family?"*

The ancient shook his head saddened noticing the imediate defeat on Yasu's face before proceeding. *"It was a difficult read... The years and time period seem to coincide with the time you were asleep. You were.. one year old, yes?"* he added.

Yasu nodded his head anticipating more information curiously.

*"It all points to the great fall of the Draak Academy. It was the only time recorded in history that Aedan suffered a great storm like the one you described, the only time hatchlings were known to have perished in a horrible way.. like you described"* he paused for a second letting it sink in with the hatchling that was tensely listening. *"So many deaths.. Horrible.. I tried looking for your name and I couldn’t find a registry within the academy admission. I do not think that you are lieing to me, however, I must ask.. are you from Draak?“* he said showing a list of the registered names of the hatchlings that seemingly perished within the attack.

Yasu glanced over it with a bit of confusion with a flash of the floating academy and the entrance to their lair jolted before his eyes for a split second nodding. *"Yes, but I never go to academy, first day, day of death... when sky broke and go black.“* He said with a concerned frown holding in the sniffling.

*"I see, so that is why the records do not mention you or anyone with your last name in it, you never attended the academy."* he settled some more documents down. *"Do you know the name of your mother and sister?"* the ancient spoke softly giving time and room for the hatchling to process it all.

The hatchling blinked rapidly a few times with a headaching flashback piercing through his mind again, seeing the expression of anguish of his mother over him when he bumped into that hatchling, the saddened expression of his sister being dragged behind their mother through the sand. *"I.. Ilrane.. and Nyana.. my sister."* he mumbled to which LungTien quickly checked through the papers with a sigh of desilution when no texts were found with those names either.

The ancient put some of the papers back into his pack with the hatchling still struggling to remember. He placed his paw around him reassuringly and noted. *"Don’t worry, don't force it, it is not your fault. I have some good news tho, I have found records of what I believe was your father, he has the same last name as you do, Telrak Ineru. Do you know him?“* He shuffled some of the papyrus to place them side by side pointing to different places on them. *"Here, he was a General Guard it seems at Eastern Outpost for a long time. Does any of that make sense to you?“*

Yasu saw another flash back of his father urging them to run, of his torn scales, how he was last time seen before they had to leave. *"Yes, that is dad.. mine.. he say we have to go... west.. to Lerema"* frowned patting at his head slightly.

The ancient rubbed him along the back reassuringly. *"Lerena, yes, it is west of Draak, must have tried to go through the water. Your story connects."* Yasu laid down between the grass strands flicking one of the rocks next to him away silently, seemingly not wanting to talk about it to which the ancient noticed tugging the papers away. *"I am sorry for what happened to you, it must have been very painful... I tried my best to look for any kind of recent notice for leads on your family but I could not find any. The last thing known is that Telrak was spotted a Draak within the invasion attempting to protect the hatchlings but was not seen since.. No word of other dragons that could have escaped was found... I am so sorry.“* He said wrapping his wing over the hatchling with a low gentle rumble to which Yasu sniffled a little holding his cry in understanding that it won’t bring his family back to him.

*"Yasu, listen to me.“* He nudged gently the hatchling making him look up at the ancient’s large snout. *"This is not your end, you have been given another opportunity to start anew, with a new journey, with a new life."* the ancient nodded with a smile.

The hatchling suddently narrowed his eyes. "New life..." he mumbled with another painful memory flashing within his mind. He unconsciously trailed his fingers along his chest where his scar was at with flashes from him underwater and drowning sunk in, flickering in and out before his eyes, disorienting him as painful jolts went through his brain yelping out.*“Drowning.. Air..“* the ancient concerned started to try and ease him out of the pain by rubbing along his back whilst he kept getting more flashes of dark water, the feeling of water inside his nose, burning along his throat. Then of sand, rain on his scales, a dark figure over him yelling his name, then darkness. *"I died...“*

"You died?.. But that is impossible, how could you be?..“ Lung Tien looked a bit confused and concerned at what the hatchling was saying. Yasu semed to be still in pain starting at clawing at the ground whilst the ancient noticed that the markings on his body started to oddly flicker in and out of glowing as they were before, gradually darkening more and more. The hatchling started to shriek and yell in a growly and raspy voice that wasn't his natural self, to which the ancient backed a step away from him raising his paw up protectively just in case anything was to happen.

The moment of his reanimation flashed before his eyes, the sudden realization blanked his expression, eyes narrowed as his body darkened fully to which Yasu proceeded to mindlessly bolt towards the ancient’s hand leaping into the air reaching for it and biting ferociously between his scales on one of his fingers piercing through. LungTien surprisingly gasped and growled from the sting with a frown to the unexplicable hatchling’s behavior. He lifted him up in the air and dangled him from side to side to try and dislodge him from his finger with no avail. Yasu kept biting on chewing and sucking strongly on whatever draw of blood he got from between the scales breathing heavily until he slowly calmed down, stopping the wiggling of his body and closed his eyes. A few moments later he dropped off on his own to which the ancient caught him mid air placing him down on the grass gently. "Interesting.. What.. are you?“ the ancient inspected his still somewhat bleeding finger and the still present fangs poking from underneath the hatchling's upper lips. Yasu's breathing normalized, his markings stopped flickering and fading away, rather glowing even more brightly than before with his small body seemingly soundly asleep.

Lung Tien let the little hatchling sleep while taking some notes to which after about an hour later he normally woke up with a loud yawn. Still snoozed and apparently behaving a bit drunk like, Yasu shook his head looking for the ancient sitting nearby. He made his tumbling way towards him giving a pat to the ancient's tail before reaching to his side. The ancient took the scrolls away quickly packing them in his scale pack.*“Feeling better?“*

Yasu tilted his head followed by a wide yawn. *"I asleep, might be tired from trainning. Don't know.“* He giggled before rolling around in the grass.

Raising a brow the ancient was confused once more but pretended to follow along. *"Probably, was your day tiring? What did you do today?“*

*"Study, language doing and trainning.. err... with fire breath! Grass beetles hard to catch, need to hit from afar!“* smiles proudly of himself.

*"I see. Have you done... anything else?“*

The hatchling hummed for a short period of time thinking back to his day, clearly not remembering what just happened a hour ago. *"No, just practice and you visit. Why ask?“* he noticed the confused expression on the ancient's face.

The darken ancient shook his head and smiled warmly nudging the hatchling with his nose playfully. *"Good, you have to keep practicing to get stronger and smarter too.“* He murred lowly giving his belly a scratch. *"You will tell me your progress when I come back soon again, yes? Train well, Yasu.“*

The hatchling nodded cuddling around his finger for a moment before being risen into the air and dropped down on his back with a loud giggle.

*"Yes! Will talk better too. Be strong as you.“* He spit a small fire ball landing on top of the ancient's finger which he easily shook off with a chuckle.

After some moments of playful interaction the ancient said his farewell and lept into the air to return to the portal with Yasu looking for the sack of random stuff he has collected overtime stumbling upon a few drops of what it seemed blood on the ground. He sniffed it and frowned with confusion before shrugging it off grabbing his sack and scrampering back off to the trainer for more instructions.

## Forging your own path - Chapter 3

Growing up is no easy task. It is easier to just give up and do something simpler, like nothing. However, it is part of one's nature to continue forward, to evolve, to accept oneself as it is with the good and the flaws that each being has by nature. It is more difficult to come to terms with these flaws if those were never supposed to be there on the first place, when it goes against your nature, the fiber of your being. When it makes you do things you don't understand. These were the thoughts that the smaller hatchling had to deal with whilst he continued with his rigurous trainning, both physical and mental. Mastering the arts of the simple combat, the usage of his limbs as well as his draconic inner fire which seemed the most difficult part of the battle for him since it required a lot of his focus which often was elsewhere. A couple of months have passed since the last visit of Yasu's friends like LungTien and Kerian, the island started to be a bit small for his psyche to which led to his last task there, the last part of his beginner trainning for him, the evaluation of his common tongue. After numerous battles, claws hardened as steel, the tongue used to the feeling of fire when spit upon an unsuspected enemy, even the fine art of tinkering battle guantlets and chest scales, the language barrier seemed to be what drained the hatchling the most.

Yasu anxiously awaited both Karkath and Jemeneth to arrive, his self-forged scale pack ready with his numerous trophies and hoard he has won overtime, being ready for departure to the world once he had completed his last task. The instructors arrived with a pleased expression on their faces as they started. "Yasu Ineru, you came here nearly 2 months ago, alone, weak and with little knowledge of this world and it's customs. You have proven your worth in battle, you have proven your worth in crafting, however.." the hatchling frowned a little not anticipating any obstacles with his trainning. "..you seem to have a dissability which is concerning to us."

The little drake stood up from his sitting possion visibly confused and slightly agitated. "I have done everything that was asked of me, I passed every trainning, what could possibly be wrong?" he almost hissed.

"Your inability to channel the magical force." Jemenoth finished with a serene and stern tone leaving Yasu gasping.

"W-what does that have anything to do with my journey? I can fight just as anyone else, have I not? Why would it matter if I can use magic, I am sure plenty others cannot... right?" he replied deffensively.

"Indeed you have, you have not failed a task, yet, you cannot use any of the basic magical spells that every hatchling learns to use, be it for damaging or self protection." Karkath sighed shaking his head continuing after Jemenoth. "We are affraid that we have not met a hatchling previously that was unable to channel magic like you. Some show more talent than others, of course, but the most basic of spells... in the unevitable cistumstance that you get injured.."

Yasu interrupted almost barking out. "That won't happen! I am strong, you've seen what I can do!"

"Yes, you are very strong physically, unlike any other hatchling we've trained in the past, however, there are forces out there that cannot only be beat by pure stength alone. What if you encountered a foe that was immune to your physical abilities? What would you do?" Kerian continued.

Seemingly cut off guard the hatchling remained silent for a few moments before replying. "I would keep trying."

"That is not all. If you ended up injured, you cannot use Primal Heal, Rejuvenating Breeze, any kind of spell in that sense not even a simple Primal Bolt." Jemenoth casted easily some amber colored energy flames between her claws as a demonstration.

"I would find another way..." he shrug dissapointingly.

"Yasu, we will not stop you in your journey. We only want you to know your weaknesses so you are aware in the face of a difficult situation, know your limitations and try to use your wit to overcome those obstacles." Jemeneth smiled gently attempting to cheer the hatchling up with Karkath following shortly after. "You are one of the most exceptional hatchlings we've had in recent years. You are very smart and seem to not have fear against anything. That is good, it means you have a strong mind and a strong will. Just please, be careful out there. Just because you have not been injured yet, it doesn't mean that it cannot happen in the future."

The hatchling nodded and looked ad his paws comming to terms that he may never be able to do magic unlike other hatchlings he has seen before, feeling that he may be weaker than he thought. "I understand. I will try and not get into trouble, but... Why am I not able to use what it seems a trivial thing for our race?"

Karkath and Jemeneth traded a glance before Karkath replied. "We don't know but it doesn't mean that you may not be able to channel it in the future. Perhaps, you need to learn a special way of doing it. Only time will tell." Both dragons nodded and Jemeneth pulled out a battle claw of the size of a hatchling with a bronze casted body and small red garnet pieces incrusted along the knuckles and the upper side of the guantlet. "After having this conversation with you, we have also thoroughly evaluated your ability with the common tongue you had to learn, and, we are very pleased to give you a farewell gift as the end of your exam is completed. Be safe on your journey, and don't forget to visit us from time to time." The dragons smiled down at the hatchling that was admiring the fine work of Jemeneth putting the guantlet on imediately adjusting it with his grip with an excited grin.

"Thank you, instructors! I will not dissapoint." he said eagerly putting his scale pack on and getting ready to move on to his new journey. He stood on the edge of the smaller hill with a road that lead down towards the portal only to take a glance back waving his feathery wing at them shouting a farewell and scrampering off down the hill.

"Do you think he'll make it?" said Karkath as the hatchling dissapeared into the distance with a long sigh from Jemeneth.

"I don't know. He has not had more than stratches from here so far."

"Did you forget the time that the mother sow almost pierced through his side? He had internal bleeding..." Karkath glanced worringly at the other dragon.

Jemeneth frowned her brow. "You found him after Spitfyre called you in to heal him because he couldn't... yet he almost fully healed alone by the time you took him into the hatchling den. In less than an hour, he had no more pain. I've never seen something like that." she ended turning back to the dragon returning to her forgery station with Karkath trailing closely behind.