Master of the Mind

Chapter 2: An Adopted Clutch

As Eldawin entered the cave he was slightly surprised to find both his parents waiting for him. He pulled himself to a stop, dropping to the ground. Their cave was relatively small. It had two nests, one large one for the two adults, and then a small one for himself, all made from straw and sticks. There was also a fire pit in the middle that radiated a nice warmth that allowed them all to sleep in relative comfort.

His father, Hynder, was the largest of the three. A rare telekinetic dragon that had lived in the haven all fifteen years of his life. He had large brown scales, a warm smile, and was also considered one of the more powerful dragons of the haven. He always looked up to their leader, Brazen, and went out of his way to please the fire dragon in any way he could. It often exhausted Eldawin. Yeah, Brazen was the strongest of them all, and was a rather genuine dragon, even if he was rather stoic, but he had the same worries and stresses as them all.

His mother was entirely different. As a wind dragon Sapher felt rather trapped underground, without the distant sky to surround her. Eldawin often caught his mother daydreaming about just leaving the haven and flying high into the sky, to let the outside air catch her wings again. But she was too frightened, too fearful of the ones that lived above.

This fear was confusing to young Eldawin. It seemed everyone suffered from it, to varying degree. But the creatures they were afraid of were... strange. Humans, they were collectively called. He had never met one and was only able to make judgements based on what he had seen from the others. What he had seen was... frightening, but strangely so. Humans in and of themselves were nowhere near as big, or as strong, or fast, or powerful as the dragons that hid below. Apparently they were intelligent, but all he had seen from the others was a hatred toward dragons. A hatred that destroyed with odd weapons and cursed with unwarranted dread.

The only dragon Eldawin had met that wasn't thoroughly scared of them was Pantela, and that was because her home worked with them. It split the young dragon's mind, as on one hand the actions he had seen from them in most dragon's minds were terrible. Memories of pain and suffering. But Pantela's memories were of near companionship. Of humans laughing, and of languages that were strange to form with his mouth. But even she had a slight nervousness, a hesitant weariness of what they could accomplish.

As he peered into his parents' minds, he was surprised at what he found.

"Eldawin-" Sapher went to speak, but Eldawin interrupted.

"You're leaving?" the young dragon was shocked.

"Just for a couple of weeks, son," Hynder replied, they were used to his mental powers by now.

"A couple of weeks?" Eldawin repeated, his wings drooping slightly as he continued to look at their plans.

"Yes," Hynder said, sternly but comfortingly, "You will be staying with Cicadia and Terraen. You know their hatchlings, Timber and Tirella."

"But..." the young hatchling was terrified of the idea.

He had spent all his life thus far living as an only hatchling. He enjoyed it. He couldn't imagine life sharing all his food, and time, and nest with others. He found it difficult enough to deal with the minds of the hatchlings in his class, let alone sleep in the same area with them. His parents' dreams he was used to. The dreams of others he really didn't want to deal with.

"I'm sorry," Sapher said softly, nudging him her snout, "But they need more hunters. The last hunting party... wasn't that successful, and we need more food."

By wasn't that successful, she meant several them had been killed and they had been forced to flee. It seemed the humans had found them. Only three survived the encounter. The deaths didn't really shock Eldawin. Death was common around the haven, and he had seen more than his fair share through the minds of others. What scared him was that his parents could be one of them.