TBATE: The Dragons Of Diacathen

Chapter 7

Continuing, Grandpa slapped my back and said, "Now! Take a bath and then rest. You reek of something rotten, brat. Little one, let's leave Arthur alone so he can recuperate."

I noticed Tess still looking depressed by the sudden news of my leaving. Growing up and living with her for three years had given us a bond that was as close to siblings and while she was only nine years old, the fact that she was already showing signs of blossoming into a beautiful woman did make me feel a twinge of regret that I wouldn't be here with her as she grew up.

"Tess! Cheer up okay? I'll still be around for a few more years and even after I leave, it's not going to permanent. I hope you can someday come and meet my parents too." I gave her a sincere hug.

"Eeep! W-what are you?" I can almost see the steam coming out of her head as she turned bright red. Suddenly, she pushed me away and ran out.

"Ah! Youth! Haha, sleep well, brat!" he chuckled, shaking his head while closing the door behind him.

Was Tess going through puberty already?

I hopped back into bed, feeling too lazy to take a shower right now.

"I'll just lay down for a little and then take shower." I muttered aloud.

*Rustle* *Rustle*

I wonder if it's windy tonight. I usually didn't hear the rustling of leaves.

*Crack*

Okay... that was an unusual sound

I sat up to look around, trying to locate where the sound is coming from.

*Crack* *Crack*

I turned my gaze towards where I had left my robe on the chair.

"Kyu~" "Kyu~"

Kyu?

My robe was making "kyu~" sounds? My brows furrowed as I tried to assess what's going on.

*Crack! * "Kyu~!"

The stone!

I jumped out of my bed and carefully rummaged through my robe to locate the gem that Sylvia entrusted me with.

"H-haha...Holy shit..." I breathed out as I fell back on my butt, staring at what used to be the rainbow-colored gem.

"Kyu~!"

The stone wasn't a gem...

It was an egg!

And what used to be an egg was now something that I couldn't put into one word.

The first thing that had come into mind was that it was a dragon. It looked sort of like a dragon to me, but at the same time, it didn't. It was all black. It kind of reminded me of a small kitten but with scales. It was sitting on all fours, studying at me with its head tilted to one side. The sclera that would usually be white in the human's eyes was black, like Grandpa Virion when he uses his second form, except its irises were a bright red instead of yellow. The pupils were sharp slits that would normally make it look menacing, but with the body of something akin to a small feline animal, it just looked adorable. The most noticeable difference between a dragon like Sylvia and this little... thing was that it had two horns on its head. The horns looked identical to the illusion that Sylvia had been before she revealed to me that she was a dragon. It curved outward around its head and then, sharpening into a point in the front.

Its head was shaped like a cat's but the snout was a just a little bit more pointed, otherwise the same. The tail, though, looked exactly like Sylvia's tail. It was a reptilian tail that had two red spikes at the end. Along the spine of this hatchling were also small red spikes that matched the color of its eyes. It didn't have wings but where the wings should be located were, instead, two small bumps.