King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Book 4: The Dark Secret: Prologue

Year 5,005 AS

Tears streamed down green scales of a Rathian before being swept away by the currents of the wind.
'He's gone,' she thought. 'He's really gone.'
She clutched the egg tighter in her talons. But not too tight, she didn't want to crack it. It was the only thing she had left.

She closed her eyes, remembering everything that had led up to this point. A few years ago, she had found a mate; and eventually they had an egg. The one she held in her talons. Last night there had been a rockslide. Her mate had pushed her and the egg out of the way, just in time.

The rocks had come crashing down on her mate - Sparrow, that was his name. Sparrow, the Silver Rathalos and right wing monster to the Argent Comet. He was responsible for important messages that were sent throughout Pyrrhia. And he was killed.

Now all she had left, was their egg. Their single egg. Her flame in the dark. The only thing keeping her from giving up. She wanted to see her mate more than anything, but the little rath inside needed her more. It needed its mother. So she had to stay strong.

She opened her eyes and the last tear fell. The night sky was cloudy and dark. No dragon would see her from the sky or ground. She was flying south, across the ocean. She and Sparrow lived on the Southern tip of Pyrrhia, on its 'wing.'

Off in the distance she could see land. The eye sight, hearing, and smell of a rath was increased two-fold when flying. She could see the beach; the trees; a few night animals. That's where her and her child would live. In the woods, away from others until it was safe.

Unfortunately, the sky had other plans.

The clouds started swirling, and winds picked up, howling with a primal rage. There was a flash up red, and singular bolt of lightning twisted from the clouds and struck the Rathian.

She went limp and fell from the sky, the egg slipping from her talons. She crashed into the waves and the egg landed with a ker-plunk noise. As soon as it happened, it was over. The was still dark and cloudy, but the wind wasn't howling; the ocean was calm; the sky was peaceful.

A while later, just before dawn, a SkyWing washed up on the sandy beach. The SkyWing had bright red scales. The waves slowly washed back and forth, going from the ocean, to the beach, and back to the ocean. Eventually the SkyWing's eyes fluttered open, revealing them to be green.

The SkyWing laid there for a moment, processing the situation she was in. Then it clicked.
'My egg,' she thought, and quickly shot up to her feet. 'Where is it?' She quickly looked around, eyes moving frantically, only looking for the egg. Not processing that she was now a dragon.

Then she noticed an odd shape bobbing in the water. It was shaped like an egg, of course, because it was an egg. It took a moment for the SkyWing to realize that, but it wasn't hers's. Her's bore red and grey-blue stripes on its shell, this one was the color of copper. Then she started to panic. Her pupils shrunk, and her nostrils flared. "Where's my egg!" she roared, flinging sand with her talons and tail.

She paused only for a moment, to take a breath. Then she felt a pull, a maternal feeling. A feeling that her child was in trouble, and it needed her. She quickly looked around trying to find where the pull- no. Where her child was. She paced the edge of the beach, going to the right a ways, and then to the left. But no matter where she went, it kept bringing her back to that same spot on the beach.

Tears started streaming down her face. The longer she looked the stronger the pull felt, as if she child was getting into more and more danger. She looked at her talons, then her wings, and finally her tail.
'I'm - I'm a dragon,' she thought. She stayed still for a moment a focused. Her eyes slowly drifted toward the copper egg, floating in the shallows. That was it. That was her egg.