It turned out, that the Hatchery was really a cluster of several rooms. Darin wasn’t sure what they were, but they did look interesting. The room with Lava rocks seemed fairly straight forward. There were enough scorch marks on the floor and wall around the stones. He had little doubt that the young came here to practice their flames. A few corners held other oddities, such as basins with flowers. He assumed he’d figure that part out later.

The next empty room he saw puzzled him. Water flowed across center of the chamber, perhaps 1 foot deep and 30 feet wide. The current was somewhat swift, as if this was the shallows of some river. The air carried an odd salty smell, not a foul one, but the type one would recognize at a beach. On each side of the chamber, dry sections of stone connected to small ramps. Each ramp lead up to a shelf carved half way up the wall. Each shelf offered a single ledge, one that extended a few paces toward the other side of the room. There was perhaps 40 feet from ledge to ledge, but the significance escaped him. At the edge, he leaned his head over for a quick glance at the water. “No fish?” He asked, sounding a little disappointed. Below him, the water frothed and murmured with the faint sound of laughter. Darin took that as his cue to leave.

It was a few rooms later where Darin finally found his objective. In the center of the chamber sat Blood Claw, lecturing the other whelps about the history of dragons. “It was said when the Mother first created-” She paused seeing Darin, causing every head to turn. “I see our midnight warrior has finally rejoined the waking world.” This earned him a few laughs, and an odd sounding giggle from Greenie. Giggling dragons, that combination just seems wrong, he mused.

“What can I say, someone woke me up in the middle of the night. So I ended up sleeping in.” Darin offered, glancing towards the black whelp. His wing and tail appeared to be healed, but he still edged away from Darin. A few of the others laughed, but the den mother responded in a more serious way.

“I doubt he will do it again. But I’d appreciate if you don’t go breaking any more wings.” She let the statement hang a moment, causing a few to cringe. “They are quite a pain to heal properly. And if they don’t get enough practice in, they might never learn to fly. You don’t intend to permanently cripple your kin, do you?”

“No, den mother.” He said with in a lower tone. “I just didn’t like getting hit with his wings during the fight. Had he not attacked me with them, I’d have just torn up his scales and spikes.” Darin knew it was a weak defense, but still it was better than nothing.

“But, but…” Was all Spikey managed to say. Blood Claw was now looking at him, in a less than flattering way.

“Strange. I didn’t hear about that aspect of the fight. Nor the part about waking someone up.” She addressed everyone for a moment. “And it is in poor form to wake anyone up in the Rumbling Rooms, as well it is in poor form to scream or shout there.” She stated, before fixing both of them in place with a glare. Darin nodded his head, but the whelp visibly shrunk as he lowered himself to the ground.

“Red may have gotten off easy, when someone knocked him down yesterday.” Greenie commented, having seen both fights. “Isn’t that right, someone?” She asked, looking directly at the blue whelp. The whelp only shot her a dirty look in response, annoyed at being sold out for his mischief. When he noticed the hatchling staring at him he sighed.

“Am I next on your list then?” Blue asked. He knew how the pecking order worked all too well. With the weakest whelp thrashed, he expected to be challenged for his own meager position next.

“Are you planning to start a fight?” Darin asked. It was an odd moment, seeing a room full of dragons in shocked silence. A moment later he decided to clarify on things. “I’m small, I’ll likely always be small. But it doesn’t mean I’m weak. I don’t much care about the pecking order. But if you try to pick on me, or go out of your way to anger me. I will make sure you regret it. Right scorch?” He asked the red whelp, still sporting some traces of the damage.

“Scorch?” The red whelp growled. His lips twitched back in the start of a snarl, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Nicknames don’t count.” Blood Claw interjected. “He could end up with that name, or he could earn a better name before his trials. I’m positive,” she said slowly, “that this will encourage him to work harder. So he can prove that he is a prime example, of our proud race.” She said. And while her words were encouraging, her tone and glare made it clear she expected no less. Did he just gulp?

“Den mother, I have a question.”

“Yes, Hatchling?” She asked, her tone sounded amused at his polite wording.

“I know a few locations, but not the Dinning Room. How do I get there?” Darin asked. He ignored the murmurs from his peers and focused on her response.

“Why do you wish to know? You were already fed yesterday.”

“But that was yesterday. I’m hungry again.” He explained, only to cause the others to murmur more. Most surprising was Blood Claw, who sat there with her jaw hanging open. She did not seem the type to be easily surprised.

“Dar-Ahem, dear little hatchling. That’s a joke right? Many of us need eat only once every few days or each week. Surely at your size, you aren’t able to absorb a full meal that fast. Did you not eat properly? You said something about a second stomach before…”

The others were watching the exchange with a good deal of interest. Their abnormal little companion had the metabolism of a mammal? And a second stomach as well? Darin ignored them while he looked at his Inventory screen. It showed the same thing, two carrying claws, a mouth and two stomachs. He examined them closer and found the cause of his confusion. “That’s odd.” He muttered.

“What is it?” Greenie asked, being ever curious. She seemed to ignore the den mother’s glare.

“My second stomach lists as ‘{Unknown}, subspecies required to activate’. Is that normal?” He asked. Blood Claw just stared at him, jaw hanging wide once again. Everyone else was looking back and forth between the two. The silence lingered for several uncomfortable seconds, until finally she spoke.

“I know you’re a dragon. But past that…just what the hell are you?” She asked. He didn’t have an answer, not yet. But somehow he doubted it would be the last time he heard such a question. He sighed. The others all started talking at once, or perhaps gossiping would be more accurate. A few moments later a notification appeared.

Location learned: Dinning Hall.

You can now find the Dinning Hall from anywhere in the world.

“When you are hungry and near by, it’s a great place to eat…if you don’t mind meat, meat, and more meat.

He looked up and nodded to Blood Claw. It had not taken her long to get past her confusion. “Go, eat, and return. When you get back, I want you to go find your shell. Enough is enough, and this mystery is driving me crazy.” She told him, causing the others to quiet down. He nodded and started to focus on his destination. “And little one…”

“Yes, Blood Claw?” He asked in a respectful tone.

“When you do learn what you are, I will not hold it against you. Even if you’re some kind of mutation, a rare and failed breed of dragon, or just an unlucky runt.” She paused for emphasis, rather than insult. “You are still one of the Mother’s children, and you are still a dragon. No matter how well you do or don’t match with your more pure blooded kin.” She meant it to be reassuring, but it caused him to wonder how well he would ever fit in.

In the Dinning Hall, he made short work of his breakfast. The only thing acceptable to his nose was a giant mole like creature. With great care he dragged a chunk back to the “kids table” and cooked it with care. To his utter disappointment, his entire meal tasted like nothing but roast potatoes. Several tedious pounds, of roast potatoes. No gravy, no salt, no butter, not even cheese and bacon. No wonder they only eat every few days, if it was like this every day, they might willingly starve themselves. At least he understood now, why no one had beaten him to the mole.

With a disappointing meal in his stomach, he paused to check his inventory again. It showed that his first stomach was full of mole, while the second one was empty and locked. He was curious, as well as annoyed. His return to the Hatchery was uneventful. Darin suspected he might get lazy about path finding in time, with turn by turn directions in his head. When he returned to the others, he found them still in the middle of a history lesson.

“…and that was why the fire clan formed. Nearly a thousand years after the Fall of the Stars.” She paused a moment seeing that he’d returned. “You are ready then?” She asked. Darin nodded. She pointed towards the Hall of Dreamers with a single claw. “Then go, and good luck little hatchling…”

- - - - - -

Author’s note: I hope I am keeping the world believable and and presenting it as a living thing. Thank you for the feed back and reviews. Doubly so for the good ones. I know I don’t have a flash title and theme, but I’m happy to see the slow and steady increase in my Reads, Follows and Favorites. I hope to keep up the nightly pace, but I don’t want to promise it. I’m all too well acquainted with Murphy’s Law. As ever, thank you for taking the time to read. And thank you for the the positive feedback. Advertisement Previous

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