Dragon Child: The Journey Begins

Prologue

Rayla flew through the skies carefree. She spun about in loop de loops, roaring occasionally. The sky meant freedom. Freedom from her parents. Freedom from her nest mates. Freedom from the dragon kind that wanted to hold her down. Now it was time to find a nest of her own.

Her beautiful translucent scales sparkled in the setting sun. With a turn, they shone blue. Another turn made them seem red. Each time she turned, her scales gleamed a different color. Sometimes blue, sometimes red, other times it was green. Eventually, if one looked long enough, you would see every color imaginable glistening in the sun. She was a rare breed.

Magic was a staple of all dragons. Most dragons like her only had one magical attribute. Their attribute was decided at hatching, when their scales shone in the sun for the first time. The translucent scales would slowly change, settling permanently on one color. That color defined what magic the dragon had. The fact that Rayla's scales never settled down was a rare event among dragons. It meant that she wasn't limited to just one attribute.

Because of her scales, though, she was sought after by many wishing to mate with her. Though she wished to have a hatchling of her own, she didn't want to be tied down by the power struggles of the dragon kingdom. Just by having all attributes made her a princess in the eyes of the other dragons.

She chose her time wisely. Leaving quietly, no one noticed as she used the uncommon invisibility skill. She flew fast and far from the dragon kingdom. After several days, she felt it was safe. Only now did she truly relish her freedom, soaring and tumbling through the sky like a dragon who only just learned to fly.

She eventually calmed down and began to look in earnest for a new nest to call her own. As she searched the forest below her, her enhanced eyesight spotted some movement. Curious, she enveloped her body in invisibility and slowly landed in a nearby clearing. She snuck closer to the movement, trying not to be spotted as she watched the drama that unfolded before her eyes.

A young human woman ran through the woods in her direction, clutching at her chest tightly. Wounds covered the woman's body, blood staining her clothes. She looked as if she would collapse at any time. Every now and then, she would turn to look frantically behind her, as if she were being chased by something. Rayla followed her stare and saw several shadows chasing the woman closely.

Amused by the antics of these frail humans, of which she had never seen in person before, she quietly followed them.

The human woman had quite a bit of a head start on those following her. The shadows never seemed to be able to close the distance. However, the woman's stamina would surely fail her soon. The shadows behind her moved closer as she stumbled slightly.

As Rayla watched the woman struggling to free herself from her fate, she felt a strange connection. It was like Rayla herself, struggling to break the bonds the rest of the dragon kind attached to her. She felt sympathy for this frail human woman.

Just as she felt that, the woman she watched fell. As she struggled to stand again, the shadows behind her descended. They stood in a circle, surrounding the woman and cutting off any form of escape.

"You've given us quite the hard time, woman." (????)

The woman simply stared up at the shadows, heaving heavily as she clutched at her chest.

"Hand it over, and maybe we'll spare your life." The gruff voice from before glared down at her.

The woman shook her head violently as tears began to leak from her eyes.

"Very well." The same man said coldly as he raised his weapon at her.

Rayla became enraged. Who did these puny humans think they were?! Surrounding a defenseless being who simply wished to break free from the bonds of fate. Even now, the woman held a look that said she would never give in. Rayla decided to help the woman.

Roaring loudly, she exposed herself from her invisibility. The shadows turned in shock as they saw her approach them.

"D..d...DRAGON!" One of the men surrounding the woman yelled in disbelief.

The others backed away in panic. Only the leader stayed his ground. He swung his weapon quickly to finish the job he had started. The woman crumpled slowly to the ground.

Rayla was shocked. She was sure that her sudden appearance would help the woman to avoid her fate. However, she was simply slaughtered, and directly in front of her at that! She directed her rage at the man who killed the woman. Even now he was reaching down to grab something from her dead body. Rayla leaped at him.

The man only had time to look up in shock before he was swallowed whole. The others saw this and immediately turned to flee. Rayla would not let any of them flee. She went on a rampage. After a short time, none of those who chased the poor woman were left alive. Rayla quietly went over to look closely at the dead woman.

As she looked at the corpse, wondering why the woman was being chased so adamantly, her body seemed to move a bit. In surprise, Rayla peered closer at the body, using her snout to nudge her a bit. She turned the woman over and found the thing she clasped to her chest, the thing she refused to give up at the cost of her own life.

Even in death, she refused to release the object. It was a small bundle of cloth. As Rayla stood there, wondering where the movement of the body had come from, the cloth bundle moved. Rayla moved her head back quickly in surprise. Slowly, she drew closer again. Using a claw on her fore foot, she gently removed the cloth bundle from the dead woman's grasp. Opening it up, she found something astonishing.

A little human hand waved in the air. As she removed more of the cloth, the human was fully revealed. It was a tiny little human. It stared up at her silently, unafraid. It had big eyes that had an unbelievable clear color, as if they had no color at all. They reminded Rayla of her own scales.

Thinking that, she plucked a scale from her body and handed it to the tiny waving hand. As she did, though, she noticed the scale was larger than the tiny human. She chuckled to herself and held up the scale to compare to the human's clear eyes.

The tiny human giggled and grabbed at the scale. As it touched the sharp edge of the scale, its hand sliced open, drawing blood. The blood seemed to seep into the scale, and miraculously, the scale disappeared. The tiny human's eyes began to change. They started to change into different colors nonstop, running through every color imaginable, before finally settling down to the clear color they originally were.

The tiny human scrunched up its little face as tears formed in its eyes. Suddenly, it began to cry. Startled, Rayla turned her head back and forth in a panic. Finally, she reached her tongue down and gave the tiny human a lick. Her tongue easily covered the entire baby. When she drew her tongue away, the baby stared at her, tears hanging in its eyes. Just as suddenly as it started to cry, it smiled at her.

Rayla felt something stir in her heart. What was this feeling? She reached down her claw, which easily covered the baby. She made a decision, one that would forever change her fate. She picked the child up and held it gently in her claws.

'You will be my hatchling.' She thought to the child.

Putting the child gently in her mouth, she walked back to the clearing and took off into the sky. She had to find her and her hatchling's new home still, and the sun had already set.