The Hatchling

White Pearl

I felt like I was going slow and fast at the same time. The ground seemed far, but I could see the side of the building like a blur in those few seconds.

A massive tail swung up from underneath me and caught my body, forcing the breath out of me from the impact. Aiden was above, cradling me below like I was some infant suspended hundreds of feet above the ground.

"You're a world class idiot Emira!" He shouted at me, but I could hear the smile in his voice. "You should've listened to Beck."

Those words disgusted me. He was the last person I wanted to listen to now.

Beck was soaring with the rest above the building waiting on me. Was I truly this helpless?

"I'm going to let you go again. This time, shift and join your team. I want you all to start cruising on the cloud line. Beck and I will try and split your squad apart. Your job is to make sure it stays together."

"Wait, why are you..."

He cut me off as he hurled me up in the air. I screamed with surprise, but did as he said and shifted.

This time it was much easier. As soon as I spread my wings out, I was flying, slicing through the air like a bullet. The wind certainly felt better when you were flying.

"Come on!" I hooted at my team as I flew by.

Milo and Yuri followed quickly, but Alric took his time before he finally cruised below me.

So I was just supposed to fly?

I kept glancing up and behind myself, constantly scanning for Aiden or Beck to sneak up on us, but for several minutes I saw nothing.

A whistling of the air told me otherwise.

"Dive!" I shouted down.

In poor unison, we nose dived downwards to avoid our mock assailants, but no one even came. Alric finally leveled out and we all followed.

Listening again more attently this time, I heard nothing. The would strike from above. That was my guess.

Milo let out a startled cry and was dragged down through the clouds by a blur of emerald. What did we do? Go after him?

Something slammed down on my back while I was distracted by Milo, and I was forced down at an astounding speed.

Beck dug his talons into my side, not breaking the scales, but just enough to be uncomfortable. He held me down on my back, making sure I couldn't flip over. The sensation of falling was much more terrifying to experience as a dragon.

Beck's lips pulled back in a vicious grin as he held me down. "Never take your attention off of above you."

Thoroughly startled, I was released and allowed to return to my squad.

The rest of the day went similarly. Constantly getting knocked down without any prior notice. We couldn't predict them. Whenever we noticed them, they were on top of us and pushing us down.

Over an over again we were knocked down. Occasionally, maybe once or twice, I could move out of the way towards the end. Other than that, I knew I would be sore the next day.

"What's the point of this?" Alric roared.

I actually agreed with him for once.

"I would also appreciate it if someone explained, but you don't have to if you don't want to!" Milo added meekly, afraid to sound as brash as Alric had.

"My back fucking hurts," Yuri added.

Aiden swooped down in front of us, displeased with the griping he'd heard. "This will be how we spend a majority of our group practices. You all must be fluid in the air. You have to learn how to dodge."