“A talk?” Darin asked, looking up at her.

“Yes, a talk. But really it will go a lot better if first I talk, while you just listen.” She informed him. Already this conversation seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. Rather than argue, he nodded. Long ago she had learned to avoid trying to smile at hatchling, showing teeth tended to be taken the wrong way. “I’ll start with the most basic things first. My name is Blood Claw, and I am considered the Den Mother here”

“I’m-” he began.

“No. You don’t have a name yet, you are a hatchling.” She stated with a raised voice. “You wont even become a whelp until you’ve gained some strength, and oh…” she paused a moment and looked him over. “Well, with a few levels you’ll become a whelp anyway. Then, once you are feeling brave or reckless you can take your trials”

“My trials?” He asked. He visibly drooped a bit, when he realized he’d just interrupted her again. She gave him a dirt look before resuming her introductions.

“Why do they never read the fine print? Oh well. Yes, your trails. Before you can leave our sheltered grounds you need to prove you can survive in the wider world. Well, you need to at least not bring shame on us Dragons.” She paused a moment to glare at him. “Because if you embarrass our people, we will make sure you regret it. We understand that different sub species have different skills. We wouldn’t ask a Land Wyrm to fly. Nor would we ask an Ice Dragon to prove his fire resistance. But if the gods gave you a skill, you’d damned well better know how to use it before you leave here”

“How do I find my sub species and skills?” He asked. Her head lowered a few feet and shook side to side slowly. Her deep rumbling sigh confirmed that he’d just said something stupid.

“Gods, why can’t I just eat the ones like this?” Blood Claw asked, not quite under her breath. With a sudden motion of her neck she lunged at him, stopping only a few feet away. She started at him for several seconds and then groaned. “So it was Muse again? She really needs to stop being so creative in how she ‘helps’ new players. That poor girl who got a hydra nearly had a breakdown. Can you imagine, having four extra heads stuck to you? One of the heads had a thing for music, it wouldn’t stop singing until the others bit it off.” Blood Claws shuddered at the memory.

“Um?” Darin asked. No longer sure if he was dealing with a player or a high class AI.

“Oh right, the stupid ones, sorry. Oh, sorry.” She stated, realizing what she had just said. “Let me answer your questions first. I’ll try to get them all, before you ask them. If I miss anything, wait until the end.” She instructed him. He nodded, which she took as a good sign.

“First young hatchling, I can tell you skipped the Tutorial. While it is understandable, doing so is still quite stupid.” She glared at him to be sure he kept silent. He let his wings sag in response. “If you had bothered to read it, you would have learned the magic words. Character, Equipment, Status, Skills, Identify, Inventory, Lounge, Duel and Party. All of those words are very useful and many more exist as well”

“I see.” He said, feeling like a complete idiot. He had tried voice commands at times, but he had never tired the right ones.

“Yes. For more information consult your Tutorial.” She added, being sure to rub it in. While she waited, he called up his character for the first time.

CHARACTER SHEETNAME:Hatchling*RACE:DragonGENDER:MaleSUB SPECIES:UnknownLEVEL:1PROGRESS:00.00%UNSPENT POINTS:0HEALTH:13 / 13REGEN:HP + 0.07, MP + 0.30MAGIC:25 / 25STRENGTH:2~FORTITUDE:3~AGILITY:40DEFENSE:10KARMA:0RENOWN:0LOAD:0.0 / 13.75 Stones.SIZE FACTOR:0.25

“How the hell are my Stats so mangled?” His magic looked good and his agility was amazing. But his strength was so low he wondered how he would even carry his own food.

“Well you see…size matters,” she explained. Her torso was shaking as she tried to suppress her laughter. “Your strength is your Base stat times your size and you, little hatchling are tiny”

“I noticed.” He grumbled, making a theatric show of looking between his legs. If he was going to be the butt of the joke, he might as well be good at it. Blood Claw lost control finally and her laugher flooded the room. A brave whelp tried to slip in and discover what was so funny, but a quick lash from her tail sent them running.

“Goodness child. I’ve not laughed that hard in a while”

“Well at least someone other then Muse can get a laugh out of it.” He was trying to be a good sport about it all. But it was disappointing, finding out just how weak he was. If not for the joy of flying, he might have given up on the character.

“Now, now, it isn’t all bad. You are probably the fastest hatchling here. Sure you might be the weakest and have the lowest health, but they have to hit you before they can hurt you.” Somehow she managed to sound motherly. Well, she was the Den Mother after all. He Shrugged. “Besides, you still haven’t even found out your subspecies yet. Who knows what kind of bonuses you’ll get”

“Okay, how do I find that out?” Darin asked. He started to get excited at the possibilities. If he was lucky, maybe it would even negate a few of his weaknesses. As he perked up, she gave him a strange look.

“Well, that might be a little complex”

“What do you mean?” He asked. His wings drooped as he started to get a bad feeling about this. She sighed at his puppy dog reaction.

“Normally we move eggs to the Hatchery, before they hatch, so we can instruct them. But when Muse got creative she, caused us to miss that step”

“Well that explains why I had such a rough time of it. And why it took me ages to find my way out of that cave”

“The Hall of Dreamers,” she corrected him. “It is called, the ‘Hall of Dreamers’ always remember that. All dragons go there first to dream, until the gods urge them to wake.” Her tone was stern and respectful. He understood now that it was a sacred place for Dragons.

“I will remember that. But please tell me Blood Claw, how do I learn of my subspecies?” He asked. She turned and looked at her shoulder, as if the scales had just become interesting. She sighed, stalling would only work for so long.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, normally it would be quite easy, but this is a mess. To absorb the memories your parents left you, to gain your knowledge and your blessings…”

“What do I need to do?” he asked.

“You need to eat your own egg shell. When you do, you-”

“But I hatched somewhere in the the Hall of-Oh shit!” He looked at her in disbelief. In return, she gave him a sad nod.

- - - - - - - - -

Author’s Note: I went back and Edited the Intro chapter tonight while I had time. Hopefully it is a smoother read now.