Mid Morning - Late Spring : Home

"Uwahh.." Slowly lifting up my head after a light nap, I let out a yawn.

I looked around the room and saw Ilios laying under my head and Mother laying where I set her down last night, still in a deep sleep.

After the stress and panic from last night, I slept like a baby.

I slowly stood up and stretched, being careful not to wake up Mother.

"Ilios, you stay here and guard them while I go get some breakfast for everyone."

Ilios slowly stood up and stretched before giving me a small nod.

Before I walked out I realized I forgot about something. -I guess I should put this up too..- I pulled out the black artifact I got from Kaelallan and set it on the ground at the bottom of the pile of treasure.

-Alright, I dont have to worry about accidentally breaking that anymore.- After placing it in a safe spot, I quickly made my way down the hall and opened the door.

As the door swept open, a wave of warmth blew over me.

It was the middle of the morning with clear skies and a steady breeze so I stood at the entrance to enjoy the warmth of the sun for a moment. -What a beautiful day.-

After soaking up the sun some, I turned back and carefully closed the door before spreading my wings and launching myself into the air.

As I was flying, I thought for a moment about what to get, but there was one thing I had a craving for.. -Field Bison!-

After only flying for a minute or so I made it to a fairly large clearing in the forest.

It was the clearing known to have field bison in it, but -it seems like they aren't out today.-

Seeing there wasn't anything in the field, I decided to check under the canopy in case one was just in the treeline.

Sure enough, right inside the treeline was a fat and juicy looking field bison. -Perfect!-

I dove down and landed in front of him.

"Hey buddy! Beautiful day isn't it?"

*Rake* *Stomp*

The bison turned to me and started raking his hoof on the ground like he was going to bull charge me.

-Poor guy thinks he has a chance.-

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

His charge was far faster than I expected so my instinct made me throw my hand up and claw his face.

*Shing-Crack*

*Th-th-th-thud*

My claws cleanly sliced through the bison's head, leaving 4 evenly cut chunks of it's face laying on the ground.

*Thud*

After his face was sliced off, his body fell limply to the ground and slid to my feet, where I stood in shock.

I looked at my claws which were covered in blood.

-There is no way they’re that sharp..- I believed I was just imagining things because of how cleanly the bone of the bison's skull was cut.

Most of the bones were shattered since my claws still needed room to be able to pass through and weren't just a thin blade but the area that was cut was unbelievably smooth.

Figuring I'd give it a little test I walked over to the tree next to me and lightly swiped through it with my claw.

*Crack* *Thud*

The cut was once again clean and effortless.

"Well then.."

As I looked closer at my claws to see just how sharp they were I noticed, -they're actually pretty dull.. but that doesn't make sense..-

Figuring I’d watch it closely with mana this time, I went to cut through the trunk of the tree laying on the ground.

*Crack*

I sat there for a moment stunned. The moment I started to swing it, the sharp side of my claw changed shape from a dull rounded blade to a mind-bendingly sharp one.

-So that's why it feels dull sometimes..-

It was awfully convenient but I wasn't sure if it was something all dragons had or if it was just me again.

Figuring I could just ask Mother or Father back at home, I put aside the thought and moved back over to the bison.

I quickly pierced it with my front claws and flew all the way back home with it.

*Thud*

Throwing him on the ground in the middle of the field, I landed and started to clean it.

Most of the time in the past, mother would degut the monsters before she fed them to me. It was considered 'uncivilized' by most dragons to eat any organs of monsters besides their brains or hearts so it became common practice for me as well.

After a short moment, I had completely gutted the bison and created a metal pole to hold up the meat.

Hanging the bison on it, I used my claw to shave off all of the hair so it just left a layer of smooth skin wrapping around the meat.

"What are you doing?" Father landed behind me and raised an eyebrow wondering what I was doing.

"Preparing breakfast."

Father watched my claw glide along the surface of the skin of the bison, cleanly and smoothly shaving off all the hair. "Why are you going to such lengths to prepare it?"

"Is it bad to do things like this for family you haven't seen in a while?"

"Haah.." Deciding to not comment on that, he sat down and let out a breath. "Where is Zachari?"

"She's sleeping inside."

"She's asleep?"

"Yeah, she fell asleep last night." As I thought back to the night, I remembered just how sleepy Mother was. "She looked super tired last night too.. did she sleep while we were gone?"

"No, since she was the only one watching over Krystallo, she didn't let herself rest."

"..." I blankly stared at Father as he explained it like it was normal. "She was way too tired.. I honestly feel awful about it. If I knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep, I wouldn't have gone to Kaelallan."

"It's.. it's just her paranoia. Since she lost Fengari she's been.. more protective.." Father hung his head low and wore a guilty expression.

"Do you feel at fault for Fengari.." I looked at him with eyes of worry.

"N..no, it's just that.." Father looked back towards the door. "When I stopped by during our trip, I.. told her something I shouldn't have.."

I raised an eyebrow wondering what that could mean.

"Well, there is no reason to mope around.." He turned back to me and put on a somewhat forced smile. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Field bison, how much do you want?"

"However much I can get."

I looked back at the bison and cut off a quarter slab of it. "Here." As I cut it off the body, I used magic to turn the bone to dust leaving just a pure slab of meat. "Ill go get another bison for you in a bit."

"You can already use magic like that?"

"Of course!" I quickly handed him the slab of meat. "How is it?"

Father walked over and laid down before chomping into the meat. "Mmm.. it's pretty good, a little dry though."

"Yeah sorry about that, I let it bleed too much.."

Field bison blood has a fairly high salt content so keeping the blood in the meat gave it more juiciness and flavor. -I didn't think about that when I hung it up to clean off the hair.-

Cutting off another quarter, I carried it over to the door and opened it up.

Inside, I saw Ilios sitting down next to mother so I waved him over to give him his meat.

"If Mother wakes up, let me know." Giving a pat on his head, he carried his chunk of meat back inside before laying down and eating it.

“Haah..” I looked back towards the large slab of meat I had hung up. -I should go get a few more..-