Scales & Feathers

Chapter 1- Galzra

The Wyverns.

Evil creatures of shadow and the sky.

Long ago, we were in a war with them that lasted 100 years. We almost wiped each other out, but in the end we won. The survivors fled to a faraway land and eventually died off.

But we survived.

I've always wondered how we know that the Wyverns died off; I've never heard of any physical evidence supporting the theory. Maybe we don't know for sure-

"Galzra, watch out!"
The voice of his friend Ver snapped him out of his thoughts just in time for him to realize he had been about to run into a cavern wall.

"Just in case you forgot or something, the armory landing is down this hall- unless of course you figured out how to walk through solid volcanic rock to get there faster." he heard her call after him as her orange scales disappeared around the bend. With a sigh, he followed her through the narrow, twisting halls, the clicking sound of their claws reverberating throughout. When they finally got to the landing, their Claw Leader, Malia, gave them instructions as to where they would be hunting. As Claw Leader, the huge, bright red dragon accented with light green was in charge of all the Drakes in her Claw Division.

I wonder why we never get to know who are parents are; it doesn't seem to bother anyone else, but I've always wondered what it would be like to be raised by them instead by Malia with a group of other Drakes my age. Do the adults just not care enough?

Galzra realized with a flash of alarm and guilt that Malia had just finished giving them their instructions and that he had missed it all. He turned his head quickly, hoping she hadn't caught his blank stare.

"C'mon, Galzra, we need to get going; we've got distance to cover and mouthes to feed!" shouted Ver over her shoulder, making him smile. Her dark blue wings shimmering with what little light shone through the coulds as she launched off of the landing, appearing to catch a thermal and sailing off and away from the volcano. He bounded across the gritty cavern floor, extending his red wings and flapping hard to catch up to Ver, who was already far ahead. He felt a warm updraft of wind underneath his wings; aha, found Ver's elusive thermal! She hasn't even started flapping yet- this must be one huge updraft. And the Sun is out for the first time in weeks, he mused.

Letting the thermal envelop him in warm air and sweep him in Ver's direction, he took in the huge volcano he had just left. Even from the distance he had already gained, it was still imposing. Boiling magma streamed sluggishly out of tunnels at the base of the volcano, while hot gases billowed from the top and out into the sky. He admired whoever had come up with the idea to drain the volcano to use as the Drakons' homes, and could only imagine what a massive undertaking it must have been. Sure, the gases made the sky pretty hazy, but it was a minor side effect that nobody minded. More Drakons were appearing on the countless openings along the volcano, no doubt coming to enjoy the fleeting sunlight. He turned his attention back to the horizon, expecting to see his familiar orange and blue friend, but she was nowhere in sight. Feeling alarmed, his mind raced through all of the possible hunting spots she could have flown to that they haven't tried in a while. The eastern hills... the waterfall... Of course! She must be in the valley. We haven't been assigned there in forever- Malia probably thought hunting would be good in a place that's had a while to restock. He suppresed any trace feelings of uncertainty and wheeled around towards the valley. Still, he couldn't help thinking-

I hope I'm right...