. : D R A G O N B O R N : . (a MCSM fanfic)

Chapter 1: Alone

"That was some storm!"  Lukas gazed in awe at the rain-soaked land outside.  The storm had beaten whole limbs from the trees, leaving branches scattered on the ground.

"No kidding," Petra murmured, pausing on her way to the kitchen to look out the hall window.  "I haven't seen it storm like this in years!"

"I just hope the power is okay," Olivia chimed in.  "A bad lightning strike can damage redstone-- I'll have to do a thorough check this afternoon and make sure it didn't break anything..."

They made their way into the kitchen, stopping short as they came through the door.

"Whoa," Jesse breathed, "What happened here?"

The kitchen was in absolute ruins-- chests tipped over, their contents strewn on the floor.  Most of the stored food had been dumped out on the ground, and much of the meat had been consumed.

"Who did this?" Axel gasped in alarm.

"Who or what," Lukas chimed in.  "Look-- something left tracks in that spilled sugar!"

They made their way over to examine the prints.  They were small tracks, about the size expected of a small wolf or large cat, but the sugar had settled since the impressions were made, making it difficult to see their exact shape.

"Something must have snuck in here during the storm," Olivia remarked, shaking her head.  "And whatever it was, it sure made a mess of things..."

"Then we need to find it-- and how it got in," Jesse said, shaking her head.  "Fan out and search the place.  Look for anything suspicious."

They split up, heading off into different rooms.  Olivia and Lukas left to check the dormitories, Jesse set out for the living room, and Petra headed out to the hall, leaving Axel to search the kitchen.

At first, the hall seemed still and empty, but Petra remained on-guard.  She kept her sword within reach, in case the animal was aggressive, though she doubted it would be.  One by one, she searched around the pedestals where they kept their treasures-- until with a frown, she realized something was amiss.

The dragon egg had vanished completely, and she furrowed her brow.  They all knew the egg could teleport-- it often disappeared for a while from time to time when one of them accidentally bumped it wrong, leaving them scrambling to locate it again-- but none of them had been in the hall that night.  Had the animal come in and messed with their egg?

She did a quick sweep of the room, but the egg was nowhere to be seen.  Again she frowned, a strange sense of unease beginning to creep over her.  Usually the egg didn't teleport far-- it had never left the hall!  Yet it was nowhere to be found...

Movement caught her eye, and she whirled in time to see a dark tail sliding behind a pedestal.  A cat's tail?  She hadn't really gotten a good look.

"Found you," she murmured, and crept closer, her steps nearly soundless as she made her way over to it.  She could hear something snuffling around on the other side, and with a deft leap she vaulted the pedestal, snatching the creature up before it had the chance to flee.

"You, sir, have caused quite a bit of trouble, you know--" she began, turning the wriggling animal to face her, and broke off suddenly.  The purple eyes blinking up at her definitely didn't belong to a cat.

"Quarrr?" asked the baby dragon, tilting its head.

Petra gave a yell of alarm and dropped the creature, which yelped in surprise and bolted, vanishing among the pedestals again.  She landed hard on her behind and scrambled backwards, quickly grabbing for her sword and brandishing it in front of her.  She glanced around quickly, panting, but the dragon had vanished.