“I spent an hour finding my way out of that mess. And now I get to march back in on a fools quest?” Darin asked. His irritation had crept into his voice.

“Well, yes.” Blood Claw admitted. She would have scolded anyone else for using that tone. But given his situation, she was lenient on the hatchling. He rumbled out a sigh, as much as his tiny frame allowed.

“Which way to the Hall of Dreamers then?” He asked in a flat tone. If he needed to do something tedious, it was best to do it now rather than later. He shook his wings and flexed his neck in preparation.

“I ‘could’ send you on your way right now, but I wont,” she replied. He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “I’d like to prepare you first, if you’re willing to wait. You need to eat and there is someone you need to meet”

Darin nodded but held his tongue. He wanted to move forward in the game, not backwards. If he died of hunger, he’d only return here and have to begin his search again. Even thinking of it made him sigh. Perhaps with her preparations he could save time in finding his shell. Given the size of the cavern, he feared he might be there for days on his own. Turning about, the golden dragoness fell into her tour guide routine.

“Follow me.” She commanded. After she led him through a few rooms, she stopped and indicated the opening to her left. “That’s the room you died in, so you know it leads to the Hall.” A quick glance through the door showed a faint chalk outline on the floor. The outline looked like a very small dragon in a painful position. Instead of going left, she took him down a long and well lit hallway. When they reached the room at the other end, he was surprised and repulsed.

“What the hell?” Darin asked. Large slabs of stone and some flattened boulders were scattered around the room. There were dragons here, but they drew his attention far less than the scattered bones. Many of the stones had animals laying atop them. Okay, it would be too generous to call them animals. Parts of animals might be more accurate. Some of them were charred, while other seemed quite rare. At the far end of the room, some of the parts had grown quite ripe. He shuddered to even look at it.

“This is the dining hall,” she replied. The look she gave him was one of surprise. “Why else would we leave food laying on the tables?”

“Tables? Wait, that’s food?” He asked, his stomach was twisting at the thought. He kept his eyes on the near side of the room, where the food was fresh. A few of the nearby dragons had stopped and looked his way. Most didn’t even bother to stop chewing when they turned. Gross!

“In case you hadn’t quite figured it out. Dragons are carnivores. Hunt, kill and eat. Are you following so far?” Blood Claw asked. He nodded, feeling a bit stupid. She didn’t seem surprised by his outburst, so it may be common from new players. “Different subspecies have different dietary requirements. Some can only eat heavily charred meat, thus the blackened meat on a few tables. Another group can only eat meat on the rare side. And for the truly unfortunate, they can only eat ‘aged’ meat…so we make them dine at the far end of the room. Their food smells horrible to the rest of us, but it’s not like we can exclude our kin”

“So how do I tell what to eat?”

“Well you follow your no- well your beak, in your case anyway”

“I’ve never eaten raw meat before, or charred ash.” Darin told her, his bland color had started to turn an unhealthy shade. The idea of having to eat raw meat to survive was more offensive than he was ready to admit.

“Oh! That’s right, players tend to get turned off by the thought of eating meat. Don’t worry, it’s all digital and it’s all sensory mapping anyway. Nothing living was killed for your meal, well nothing really alive. Also taste and texture shouldn’t be an issue. Foods that your body approves of will taste like something you enjoy. I’ve been told that deer often taste like pizza, and many have said rabbits can taste like a fruit or salad”

“Clever, very clever.” He admitted. For appearance sake, they could still look like ravenous beasts. All while enjoying something far less offensive. “So I just sniff it, to see what I get?”

“In essence.” She replied. “The better it smells, the better it is to eat. Thus the better the food it will taste like. If it smell bland, you can eat it, but it is sub par. If something smells bad, avoid it. And remember that your body is different here. Foods you enjoyed as a human may smell bad to you. If you eat them anyway, you might end up being poisoned. So if you absolutely must have your favorite dish, find it in the wild or go to the lounge”

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep it in mind”

“You’ll forget at some point.” She said with some amusement. “They always forget at some point. Old habits can be the most amusing.” She gave him an odd look, then pointed to a smaller table in the corner. “Sit by that one, I’ll bring you a few samples”

“None of the aged stuff, please.” He requested. She just laughed and made a shooing gesture with her claw. He walked over to the table and sat down with the wall behind him. As she gathered his food, he realized why this felt familiar. It was like sitting at the kids table during a family gathering. He couldn’t help but cringe and hope the dragons were less dysfunctional than his own family. Well, they had already killed him once…

“Here, try these.” Blood Claw instructed. A moment later she dropped several chunks of assorted meat on the table. Well chunk was a relative term, as each piece was larger than his head. He noticed she was watching him with some curiosity.

“You seem rather interested, is there something odd about the meat?” He asked. She blinked and shook her massive head.

“I’ve never seen your subspecies before. So I’ve become rather curious about what you can eat, and what you prefer”

“Fine, I guess I better find out then.” Reaching out he grabbed the nearest piece and promptly slapped his beak with it. “Body shape, right.” He muttered while she laughed. He wiped his beak off with his other claw and carefully tried again. This time he brought the food close and sniffed. “Edible, but not great.” He told her. Looking at it, it did seem pretty rare. He set it aside and picked up charred chunk. He was thankful that it smelled bland. In the end his favorite was fresh cow roasted medium well. Ironically, it tasted a like steak.

- - - - -

Author’s note: Busy day, thus a short chapter. Perhaps not as exciting as other chapters, but still needed to help show how the world works. Questions, comments and feedback welcome. And sorry if I grossed anyone out.