Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Food, Drink, and Rest

The meat that had been hunted went further than it otherwise would have, now that some of them knew there were other options. They also found that some of the kin gravitated toward some types of prey animals, while others preferred different animals. Bird types, for example, tended toward snake-like creatures and small mammals, while cat types seemed to like small mammalian or beaked prey. Orcs, ogres, and the animalistic kin that weren't birds or cats were the cleanup crew that ate whatever was left. The creatures here were often more than one kind of animal smashed together, at least to their Earth-born eyes, but the majority of recognizable anatomy seemed to dictate what they liked best.
   She encouraged them to try different things; a slice of this and a slice of that, so they would know what to hunt later. Anyone with claws was asked to portion things out--except the dragoness, whose claws were bigger than anything they'd caught thus far (not counting the kill at the stream, which had been hers anyway). Sometimes, they could tell by the smell whether they'd like something or not. Since they were all working off of instinct, even the humans, she let it slide. What seemed like pickiness could be an evolutionary signal that things wouldn't go well on the way through. It was the only indicator they had, at the beginning of everything.
   Everything here, that is.
   The next order of business was finding water. This took much longer, and resulted in more food animals being brought to the dragon. She cautioned them, after a time, to cease hunting, for they'd all eaten their fill.
   "Besides, we should let them repopulate the area, or we'll starve."
   No one could refute her logic.
   It took them until nightfall to locate a potable water supply. There were two small streams, but they had algae growing in them (which some of the kin wanted to try eating). The potable water wound up being underground, accessible by a stone well that baffled them all. It was just wide enough for the dragon to dip her muzzle, and set back into one of the spires a bit. She could comfortably lean in for a drink, and the smaller kin had enough of a lip to sit on and drink. No one could figure out how it came to be there. It was obviously made by someone, but there wasn't anyone there!
   The kin began murmuring among themselves, worried that the previous owners would return and eat them all.
   The dragon tried to remind them that she'd been drawn here, but that didn't help matters any.
   "So it's another dragon! That doesn't mean they won't eat us!" they clamored.
   She cleared her throat, though she could be heard over them easily. "You forget that they would have to get through me first. Do you truly think me such a fair-weather friend that I would lie down and let that happen?
   "If nothing else, I could serve as a distraction while you fled into hiding. Have you not found many small nooks and crannies while hunting?"
   "But how would we get out of the Bowl?"
   "We can only carry so many," the winged ones squawked.
   Her hackles rose at the clamor, which was an odd sight. Few had seen scales ruffle up like a dog's fur. The scales between her shoulders jutted out at aggressive diagonal angles.
   "Do what you will. I believe that a higher power drew me here. Brought all of us here. You are free to believe what you will, and act accordingly." She stalked off across the Bowl for some peace, however long that lasted.
   Her friend glared at them for a bit, before setting off in the direction of dragon.
   The crowd was a mix of confusion, shame, fear, and optimism. No one quite knew how to feel about any of this, nor what they wanted to do about it. The only commonality was that they all believed in the Almighty. The word "rapture" was whispered here and there, but they couldn't even agree on that.
   Night fell slowly here. They all instinctively huddled close to the wall, for who knew what would emerge from the darkness?
   At the peak of darkness, a strong wind howled down and flung any loose material up into the sky. Whatever blew up never came back down! It just got sucked up into the void. Bones, skin, anything that hadn't been consumed or salvaged for tools--and even some of those that were set aside--whirled away, never to return. Kin clung to kin, for fear that they'd be pulled into the unknown.
   The wind subsided when there was no more debris, and peace descended for the rest of the night.