A gift left behind (Hildrhilt-)

The day was a cool one, the sun high above with clouds covering it as they passed. A storm had ravaged through the region cooling the weather from the warmer summer that was meant to remain for a some time. In a deeper portion of forest were a small clearing, and there a battle had raged on for some time only ending in dual losses. There laid a great serpent, bloodied with a gouge across it's belly with it's innards now as it's outards. The large snake was well dead, and several feet across from it where ten Ogres lay dead was a red dragoness, fitted with with a bladed armor that slowly turned into a metal grain.

Behind her was a clutch of eggs, all but one of them crushed, but luckily they had beared no hatchlings so they would suffer, but the last one she hadn't been sure. She watched her red and grey striped egg for some time, silence then the sounds of the forest filling her ears before she took her last breath. She disolved into the earth, turning into a grain-like metal that left a black spot in the grass. Alone stood the egg, warming from the sun, no monsters present to eat it or the dead

The sun was warm on the dark dragoness’ scales as she padded through the forest, the smell of decaying foliage greeting her nostrils, the freshness of the area around her was nearly calming. She had been caught in the storm, its magnitude had forced her from the skies and take shelter through the night under a stand of very tall trees. Moisture still clung to the patches of grass that sprung from the dark soil, the brush dripping slightly onto the earth below them. Her hazel orbs turned to the canopy above, the sun twinkling softly on bits of droplets that still clung to the needles of the pines and the large, broad leaves of all the other trees, creating a mystical land of diamonds above her. Hildrhilt inhaled deeply, taking in the refreshed air until her lungs held no more capacity, her exhale slow and calm.

Hildrhilt continued to pad along, her long tail swaying softly behind her in her exuberation as she made her way in the direction the noises that had greeted her early that morning, wondering if there was possibly another dragon nearby. Though she was not one for social interaction, she felt like sharing this beautiful day with someone. She continued her slow walk, her paws leaving deep prints in the soft earth, occasionally pooling with murky water as she drew the mud between her claws.

It was some time before she entered a clearing that was deep within the thickest part of the forest, coming to a halt at the sight before her. Her hazel orbs scanned the bodies of the monsters before her as a frown played upon her muzzle. If there was a dragon here, they must be horridly injured, a Dentem Magni of that size was a match for any dragon. She slowly walked into the clearing, the smell of the monster’s blood tainting the air as her gaze fell on each one in turn. She took in the sight for a moment before she came to a halt once more.

She was both confused and saddened when her paw grazed the armor. She leaned her large head to take in the scent of the dragon that wore it. When she exhaled and saw the ash fly up, she closed her eyes, “Rest your soul, brave one.” She whispered in respect, swaying her tail. After a moment of silence, she lifted her eyes, her heart sinking at the sight of the nest before her.

She slowly padded forward, her head low as she observed the broken shells of the other eggs, thankful that they were empty. Her eyes then fell upon the one egg that stood alone, the sun shining brilliantly on the soft pink of the shell. Hildrhilt sat for a long moment in front of the nest, staring at the egg as she battled with herself over what to do. It was obvious that this clutch’s parent had passed, though she wasn’t sure if there was a mate nearby, though she was sure that they would have come to retrieve the egg by now.

After a long period of thought and warring with herself, she leaned her head forward and gently touched her snout to the warm shell, staring down at it as her heart sank once more. She couldn’t leave this little one out here with no one to care for it. With a heavy sigh, the dragoness stood and turned back to the armor, running her tail through it slowly before moving it under a stand of brush, feeling as though it would be a proper place for their soul to rest easy. Hildrhilt stared at it for a long moment before placing her paw upon the smooth metal, “I will take good care of your hatchling, you will not have died for nothing.” She said softly before moving to the nest, taking the egg within her maw. She looked back to the armor once more before spreading her wings and bursting into the air, a sound like thunder left by her wake.

When she finally made it to her cave, she padded toward her nest, her claws clicking gently and creating an echo that softly vibrated around the rather large area. Upon reaching the nest, Hildr gently set the egg in the center of it. She stared for a long moment at the sight, truly odd to her eyes, before moving to curl around it. Hildrhilt gently tucked the egg between her rear leg and her belly, knowing that was the warmest place on her.

She continued to stare at the bit of egg that she could see before curling her tail around herself, laying her head upon her front paws, the images from the day playing within her mind.

The egg was shifted from warm to cool as the dragon had carried it to her lair, a shift within the egg began and and a shiver came from it. As the egg was set down it was as steel as stone. It remained there for several minutes before a small coin slowly drug it's way pass the dragon and toward the egg. It then slide upon the shell and began to embed itself before another coin did the exact same, and third then a fourth. Ten coins collected on the egg until they put enough pressure to crack the shell.

That was until they all dropped at the same time. This event was odd maybe even a sign of something interesting, but alas nothing. Nothing til the egg began to crack more til a small piece of shell broke off. A red snout poked it's way through the hole of the shell, a light flurry chirps escaping the cracked prison. The small snout moved back into the egg, small little chirps escaping throughout the cave, granted they were near silent it was still noticable.

The dragoness was just beginning to sleep when she heard metal slide across the stone floor of her cave. Her eyes popped open in surprise before searching the cavern as the afternoon light filtered in through the entrance, glinting off of the source with a brilliant golden flash. She lifted her head as the coin moved toward her, surprise lining her features before moving her leg, watching as the coin attach itself to the egg with a hollow ‘clink’.

Hildrhilt was filled with a muddled mix of confusion and wonder as she watched nine more coins slide toward the egg, the tip of her tail flicking slightly against her flank. What was going on? She could say, in her many years she had never seen something like this regarding an egg.

After a few moments, the egg was shimmering from the movement of the coins that had attached themselves to it. She leaned her head down to investigate when she heard the soft cracking sound. She felt panick rise up within her as she moved to attempt removing the coins. Before she even touched the egg with her snout, the coins fell away, causing her to flinch back a bit.

She stared for a long while, curiosity still embedded deep within her mind before all other feelings ceased at the tiniest sound. The egg had continued cracking, the sound tickling her senses before she saw a piece fall away. She lifted her head a bit and stared in surprise before a tiny red snout emerged from within, releasing the tiniest of chirps.

Hildrhilt stilled as the overwhelming feeling of anticipation filled her, replacing all other emotions and nearly made her forget about the magnetism this egg had before. She watched for a moment before the chirps became a bit more frequent. A draconic smile spread across her muzzle as she leaned her large head to the tiny hatchling, releasing a soft yet encouraging rumble. The sound was low and smooth as her warm breath washed over the hatchling from her nostrils, encouraging it to further escape its confines.

The egg moved slightly and the chirping stopped. The egg stood still for a minute before cracking and more pieces breaking off until a small Hatchling, no bigger than a foot, broke through the back of the shell. It chirped up a storm, getting louder and louder as if needing something. It crawled around frantically away from the dragoness in all sorts of directions searching for something.

The late sunlight had shone on the little dragons red scales, a smooth and slender body fitting that of a hatchling. The oddity of it though was it's lengthy tail which was longer than it's own body but for now it only drug behind it's crawls. Something was wrong with it's shape though. It's ribs could be clearly seen through it's scales and it's legs were scrawny like that of a starving animals. The hatchling itself was starving, almost as if it were hindered in the egg in some way. It's cries continued unaware behind it was another dragon.

The dragoness watched with wonder as the hatchling finished escaping from its calcium prison, the tip of her tail sliding slowly across the stone in anticipation. She had never seen a hatchling break free and it was fascinating for her.


Hildrhilt watched the tiny red creature emerge and begin calling, watching as it began to crawl away from her, staring at his gaunt body. Concern soon began to bubble up from her gullet as she rumbled quietly to the hatchling, leaning her head down to reach him. Her snout met his tiny body in a gentle gesture before she ran her tongue across him, rumbling a bit more in a primitive call.

She knew the little one was searching for food and she glanced about her cave, knowing she had nothing for him to feed upon that was remotely fresh. With a sigh, Hildrhilt debated whether to leave the hatchling here or take him with her, knowing she could kill a small prey animal with just her claws.

The hatchling struggled to find any food, it's stomach ate at it's mind and it was starting to turn ravenous, that was if a hatchling could turn ravenous. The hatchling grew louder in it's cries until it felt the dragoness like it's back. It shivered yet quieted for a moment before chirping again, albeit at a slower constant. The poor thing sat there with a mix of emotions, a set of tears starting to escape it's eyes.

A raccoon squeezed it's way through a hole in the wall carrying an armful of berries and nuts in it's arms. The hatchling spotted the raccoon however it wasn't fixated on the creature, it was set on the colorful things in its paws. The hatchling began to crawl and chirp in a higher pitch at the sight, the small mammal spotting the little dragon and dropping it's contents. It got into a defensive position on it's four paws and growled until spotting the larger dragon behind the smaller. It grew scared in that moment and sprinted pass the dragoness escaping the cave.

The hatchling crawled it's way to the berries and nuts until finally reaching them. The hatchling began to eat the food quickly, trying hard to fill it's belly of the fruits. It was odd that a dragon would eat vegetation, there have been omnivorous dragons before and most hatchlings would have tore into the animal instead of a bunch of fruit. But this was different. It could be the hatchling was confused, but clearly as it finished crunching through the acorns and walnuts it stopped chirping as much. As a matter of factley, it appeared to be slower and it's belly now a bulge, but it still chirped, now searching for something new.

It shuffled for a bit before turning fully, finally seeing the massive dragon before it. It stared for a moment before frantically crawling toward the dragoness calling out loud and quickly.

Hildrhilt noticed the change in tone of the hatchling’s chirps, a soft smile upon her muzzle before her eyes flickered up to the disturbance and narrowed her eyes. She thought she had cleared all of these vermin from this side of the mountain but apparently they were still lurking. The dragoness prepared to strike at the creature in order to rid her cave of the creature as well as provide food for the hatchling before she hesitated, seeing the little one crawl toward it.

She watched the exchange with a slight tilt of her head, both curious and bewildered as to why the hatchling was investigating the prey at such a young age. She was tolerant of the creature being there until it became aggressive toward the young dragon, producing a protective growl that rolled from her nostrils. She watched the raccoon flee past her before looking back to the hatchling, tilting her head a bit more as he began to ravenously eat the berries and nuts.

She remained silent as he began chirping once more, waiting to see what he would do next. When it turned and finally saw her, her gaze softened. it was such a tiny little thing, her heart tugging as it came crawling for her, chirping. She rumbled a low, soft call to it before leaning her head down to nudge the hatchling gently, rumbling once more.

The hatchling relaxed and it's chirps sounded short and low, it used it's two scrawny front arms and paws to cling to the dragoness' muzzle, licking at it curiously and getting berry juice and crumbs all over her snout. The little dragon began to grow slower and slower till he yawned, his once red tongue lolling outward for a brief moment, blue and green painted. However if one looked into his mouth, there were a set a sharp teeth like most dragon, but in the back were a set of maulers that looked to be growing with the sharpened teeth. Upon closer inspection of the eyes, both orbs were completely blue glowing dimly with red iris's, looking both strange yet beautiful. It's back had bumps, not it's spine from the malnutrition but rather a growth under it's scales.

The hatchling was clearly tired, it's red eyes gazing at the dragoness it identified as its mother. It seemed dazed and began to fall asleep against the dragons snout, slumping against it before the hatchling began to bop it's head back and forth in a struggle to remain awake. It still had energy but it still was so little, barely able to keep it's body from slumping and upright.

((I've got nothing else to post on this part. Time skip perhaps? Or shall we call it done? Either way it's your call ))

The beginning of the next day flowed with little interruption, the hatchling sleeping a good portion away after its hatch day. The tiny being lay against Hildrhilt’s belly and she marvelled at it, so full of spirit at such a young age she couldn’t help but imagine the great things the hatchling would be capable of. Reassuring herself thoroughly that he would become stronger than her and by default better at combat. Though, this meant she would more than likely have to send him away to learn the semantics as she had nothing to give.

When the noon sun peeked its way through the entrance of her cave, casting a tendril of light upon the hatchling’s red scales. It was at this point that Hildrhilt truly took in the odd shape of this hatchling. With a tilt of her head, she attempted to make sense of the abnormalities and match them to any breed she had seen before, though nothing came to mind.

The dragoness studied the hatchling for a while before looking away, her hazel orbs peering out of the cave with a silent sigh. What happened to this one’s parents? It must have been horrible, considering the monsters she found nearby and the crushed eggs within the nest. But, she had successfully hatched their prodigy, meaning she had done something right.

The sun had hit the hatchling in the eyes, causing it to stir and silently yawn. I opened it's eyes to look up at the larger dragon, staring for moments till it squirmed it's belly downward. It crawled off the dragoness, chirping loudly in demand of food. Already awake and it's hungry, typical. It stopped after it fell off and looked around, nothing seemed to interest it until something came across the hatchlings interest. Right outside the cave was a blueberry, and immediately the critter raced for the fruit chirping in what sounded like glee.

As the hatchling made it's way to the outside of the caves mouth there was a loud screech, not like an irregular creature of terror. A hawks cry. In one swift motion, a blink of an eye, a shroud of shadow swiped it's way across the mouth, snatching the hatchling up and traveling faster than the dragoness ever could. As the hawk flew, the chirps grew distant until nothing. Luckily however the nest was only five miles away from the cave, nestled in a thick of trees

Hildrhilt slowly turned her head at the sound of the soft chirps emitting from the hatchling, meeting its eyes, a soft and instinctual rumble expanding her throat in a greeting manner. A soft smile pulled at her muzzle when the hatchling crawled over her, allowing the little one move along with it mission.

When they fell from her, Hildrhilt immediately dropped her head and nudged it gently, encouraging it to keep moving. When it started moving once more, its chirping becoming more intense, her gaze lifted to where it was aiming its direction. Spotting the blueberries, she tilted her head once more, finally realizing that this hatchling wasn't a normal dragon, preferring the vegetation and fruits over any meat.

She allowed the mission to continue, allowing the hatchling to figure out what it wanted on its own. She watched, mainly out of curiosity, with a dismissive flick of her tail tip. She allowed her gaze to drift at the wrong moment. A sharp screech met her ears and before she could react, a shadow flashed and the hatchling was gone.

Releasing a deep and astonished snarl, the dragoness bound quickly out of the cave and burst into the air, following the distant figure of the hawk. Panic arose within her as the chirps faded before seeing the hawk dip down into a stand of trees five miles away. Pushing her wings to carry her as quickly as they could, she rushed to the aid of her hatchling.

Upon reaching the stand of trees, she burst into a small clearing beneath the trees and landed, staring into the tops of the trees to find her hatchling, rumbling wildly to locate him. Her panic leaned a few trees as she pushed against them with her large body, frantic to find the wee one before anything terrible happened to him.

As the dragons leaned and moved through the trees, there appeared to be a sizable nest. Multiple chirps greeted the dragoness, a nest full of hatchling birds, grey in color, were being fed by a Shadow Hawk, one of these critters were Abbadon. But instead of the hatchling dead like any other prey, the mother Hawk was feeding it a piece of fish which the red hatchling took with no resistance. In the time the hawk had possession of the little dragon it's chirps mimicked that of it's own young, her instincts kicking in and viewing the reptile as her own.

As the dragoness would near the nest the Shadow Hawk would squack loudly and and take to the air, the dragon too big for it to actually defend it's nest. The small fuzzballs and the red hatchling ate vigorously at a massive stergion brought from a nearby lake, the thing almost to bones with very little meat on it now. It must have been the remains of another meal just recently. The hatchling looked up at the dragoness and chirped with excitement, crawling toward her with a full belly and small bits of meat hanging from it's sharp-scaled maw. The smaller fuzzballs of hawk hatchlings followed the red dragon, not out of hunger but rather like ducklings following the leader. They were going wherever their red brother was going.

Hildrhilt spotted the nest and moved toward it, a soft growl rumbling from her throat as she saw the shadow hawk. The hawk squawking loudly before bursting into the air and flying away. The dragoness watched for a moment before looking down into the nest, preparing herself for the worst.

Much to her surprise, the hatchling was alive and feeding alongside the Hawk's own hatchlings, causing her to tilt her head in astonishment. She watched for a moment, utterly dumbfounded by the actions of this tiny dragon, until the hatchling turned and saw her. She rumbled softly, the sound lined with confusion as she lowered her head to touch her snout to the hatchling, her eyes falling upon the fluffy hawk hatchlings that had inadvertently followed her own.

She was highly confused but decided not to dwell on it, taking the hatchling within her maw and backing away before lifting into the air. She was sure to not disturb the nest, almost thankful to the Hawk for feeding her hatchling instead of killing it. She made her way back to the cave as her mind raced. What had she gotten herself into?

Landing at the mouth, she set the hatchling gently upon the ground. She stared at it for a moment before grooming the scraps of meat away from its tiny maw. Upon finishing, she nudged them along, allowing them to explore under her close supervision, her eyes flickering to the sky anticipating the appearance of the hawk once more to take back its adopted reptile.

The hawk screeched above, circling high above the cave as the hatchling was let down in the cave, already on the move exploring the space. The hawk remained for several minutes, hearing the loud chirps of the hatchling before it decided to take off to it's nest. The hatchling crawled to one of the walls finding the same hole where the raccoon once was. It crawled in the small space, chirping as it did. There was a loud cry from something in the hole and out rushed the same raccoon from the previous day, rushing out of the cave. The chirps ceased before the hatchling crawled back out with blue and red smears across it's maw, the scent of berries covering the hatchling.

The hatchling chirped lightly and made it's way to the dragoness, climbing and latching onto her right front forearm. The hatchling appeared tired already, so early in the day as the sun hung overhead and began it's lowering descent across the clouds