Faff’s father was dipping his paw in the river. The hunting training was definitely not going as smoothly as the flying. He grimaced, both at his singed paw and at the recollection of what happened earlier in the day.

He had brought Faff to earn her dinner, or to be more accurate, brought dinner to Faff - a low leveled Young Doe. Deer after all, were part of the staple diet for the Dragon Family. Easily spotted near the forest, and relatively harmless. Worse case scenario was a bruise or two from a well aimed kick from their powerful hind legs. Plus, Faff had eaten them several times already and definitely loved it.

Faff saw the [LVL 3 Doe] in front of her. She was a little wary, but also very, very curious. Afterall, it was the second living thing apart from her family she had seen up close in her young life.

“Faff. Dinner,” her sire had said, pointing his snout to indicate she should attack.

Faff’s eyes lit up at the mention of dinner. It was after all one of her favorite words. She sniffed the air curiously, trying to identify where “dinner” was.

The young doe was too terrified to move, it knew its fate was sealed when the adult dragon had carried her here. Now it was surrounded by a family of dragons. With the tiniest one barely able to contain its excitement when its father pointed at the deer.

Her father pointed again with his snout at the deer. “Dinner,” he repeated firmly.

Faff tilted her head, in slight confusion.

“Get it. Then, dinner,” her father ordered.

There was that magic word again. Faff seemed to finally understand what was expected of her.

She leaned back on her hind legs, preparing to pounce; tail thumping lightly on ground. She mini hopped to the left of the deer, then to its right. Then behind it. Pouncing haphazardly, faster and faster, as she began phasing with little blinks as she circled the terrified deer.

With her most powerful jump yet, Faff phased mid-air; landing on the helpless doe. She began to ravage the creature mercilessly…

With licks.

[ACTIVE SKILL UNLOCKED: BLINK ATTACK LVL 1]

The doe was terrified. The baby dragon was tasting it before killing it.

Nuzzling the doe one last time, Faff looked up expectantly at her sire. She had caught the little deer. Now, where was dinner? The reaction she got had puzzled Faff tremendously. Her entire family was staring at her with their jaws open.

“Faff?” she looked at the trembling deer, then her family.

Her sire looked like he had aged a few decades in the span of the last few moments.

Flying over he landed next to Faff and the little doe. The doe’s trembling intensified, it began to buck wildly under Faff. A last minute attempt to escape. Swinging his gigantic paw downward, Faff’s sire activated [SWIPE LVL 5] aimed at the doe’s neck.

A loud CRACK sounded as the doe’s neck snapped. The struggling stopped. Faff looked at her sire’s paw on the doe’s head with confusion. She nuzzled the doe lightly, trying to prompt it to move again.

All that happened was dead stillness.

She let out a panicked, “FAFF!!” at her father’s paw, noting that it was what caused the stillness.

[ACTIVE SKILL UNLOCKED: DRAGON BREATH LVL 1]

Faff’s little puff of fire hit her sire’s paw, causing him to lift it in pain, letting out a growl at the discomfort. The baby dragon rushed over to examine the doe. The scent of charred flesh sent a little shiver down her spine. She had burnt both her sire’s paw as well as the doe.

And it was a very familiar scent. The smell of dinner.

Faff’s world reeled a little, as she realised what she had been eating all this time. She stared in horror at the still doe. Her mother flew over, and nudged the little dragon away. Then proceeded to use [DRAGON BREATH LVL 5] on the rest of the doe’s body.

The scent of dinner became much stronger, and Faff dropped onto her bottom, continuing to stare at the scene quietly.

“This is the way of the world Faff. We must eat to live. And to eat, others cannot live.”

Faff’s mother continued to carefully char the dead doe. If a cooking or crafting skill wasn’t used on a dead monster in this world, it faded away into pixels.

“Always remember Faff. Life has a price.”

Faff’s eyes teared up. Recalling how much she had eaten in the past weeks. Now understanding the price her mother spoke off. Trident flew next to Faff, sensing his little sister’s distress. Comfortingly, he tucked her head under his chin and lay a wing over her tiny body.

That evening, Faff did not eat.