In case you don't know a thing about Oasis Wyrms, I'll tell you. The most noticeable thing is that they lack any sort of limb, wing or leg. Oasis Wyrms use their thick tails to bury themselves in sand near an oasis, then they wait for a parched, lost animal to come near before they devour it in one bite.
This Oasis Wyrm was curled on a blanket, though, so it couldn't have been the source of the sand.
"What..." I breathed, the scales on my spine still raised.
The small Wyrm was a dusty orange, with faint leopard like spots down its sides, a tan sandy back. It had black marks like a cheetah underneath its eyes, likely to help guard its eyes against the hot desert sun.
It didn't seem hostile, so I gently lowered my talons toward it. The little Wyrm wrapped itself around my arm and flicked out its forked black tongue, tasting the air around my arm.
It felt gritty, like sandpaper. There were small ridges on its back scales, giving it an alligator-like appearance.
I thought for a moment. Carefully I walked back outside, on two legs this time, keeping the arm with the Wyrm held firmly against my chest, as though I was carrying glass.
It was difficult finding something for a Wyrm to eat, especially with only one free arm, but eventually I found a small lizard nestled inside a damp drainage pipe.
I offered the lizard to the little Wyrm, which happened to be the perfect size for it. It tasted the air momentarily with its tongue before constricting the lizard, stealing it out of my talons and bundling on the ground.
The Wyrm ate relatively slowly, and it took a full 5 minutes before the lizard was completely swallowed and was digesting.
It was while the Wyrm was gnawing on the lizard that I realized it had to have been taken from the desert, probably as an egg. There was no way to return it, not without knowing which desert it belonged to, not to mention it being much too little to survive long with the Dactyls around.
And now, if I wanted to take care of the little thing, it first needed a name.
It resembled a bulky snake, so at first I was thinking of different kinds of snakes, and then I realized the spots, the way the body tapered slightly before the tail, and the large rimmed eyes. A male, a could see from where exactly the tail tapered, which is quite a bit further down than on females.
I went with Leopard Gecko, or just Leo for short.
My father kept a lot of books on Dracology, that he never let me read because it was 'too sophisticated', but in my free time I would sneak the books off the shelf and read them for hours until I was caught. Eventually he quit trying to stop me and just let me read.
After Leo was done eating, I lifted him up, and he immediately coiled around my arm, slithering up it before nestling like a scarf around my neck.
"Leo," I whispered, and I felt him flick his tongue in and out, as if he were tasting the word on his tongue to see if he fancied it. Satisfied, he lowered his head onto my shoulder.
Now that I knew the town was abandoned, and had Leo on my shoulders, I wasn't sure what to do next. I decided to head away from the abandoned town, to set up a camp in weather more arid, suitable for Leo.
I made sure to hunt more for Leo, and ended up finding a tarantula, two more lizards, and a young Teryx.
I didn't have anything to pack up, so I made sure Leo was securely wrapped around my neck before I took off.
Spreading my wings, I launched off the ground, causing billowy clouds of dust to form below me.
I wasn't worried as much about being seen this time, as the town was clearly abandoned and I hadn't much reason to move with extreme caution.
I hovered for a moment, mapping out the land internally. I wanted to go towards the Wishward Savannah, a place safer than the desert with a hot climate.
The savannah was back the way I came, across the plains.
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After a few hours of travel, the Wishward Savannah was on the horizon, and getting closer by the second. I had just stopped to take my last pitstop snack break with Leo in a small wooded area, when a rustling in the leaves startled me. I quickly grabbed Leo and shot into the air, curling around a tree branch and tucking myself in the shadows.
A small nose poked out of the bush, and a small forest Jerboa-like creature came hopping out, its small nose poking the air tentatively for danger.
I nearly breathed a sigh of relief when a Marshae Dragon stomped out of the bushes directly to the side, eating the little creature whole.
Marshae Dragons appear very similar to a crocodilian, with a short powerful build and rigid bumps along the back. However one big difference was the fact that Marshae have huge powerful wings that carry them short distances, as well as the size difference.
The Marshae inhaled deeply, flaring its large nostrils. It paused, blinking, before whipping its head around to glare right at my hiding place.
