It was a sweltering day in August, and the dry season was taking its toll on the Rainshadow steppe. The bountiful herds that once provided for us have long since scattered across the badlands in search of water. This left us wayward hunters to squabble over whatever we could get our claws on, leading to many chaotic encounters. These were dangerous times for a young dragon to be hunting alone, but I was certain I could pull it off. I foolishly believed because I am a Dartwing and a Dragon Mage, I was fully capable of handling other predators until I was greeted with a grim reminder of my youth.
Patrolling the outer rim of my pack's territory, I decided to hunt alone. I was pressed for time and social endeavors could wait. Tomorrow, I was going to meet my soulmate, the very child I had both blessed and cursed to be my lifelong familiar companion. A daunting prospect, seeing as we both share a soul-link, yet all I knew about her was that she was alive and a girl. You'd think sharing souls would tell you more about a person. Regardless, life-changing events could not be met on an empty stomach. I needed my week's meal.
Fortunately, the weather was in my favor today. Clear skies and a steady breeze made navigating the parched plains an easy task. It was only a few hours into my flight when I spotted a massive cloud of dust rising from a distant hillside, accompanied by the sound of rolling thunder. I fixed my gaze on the approaching chaos and after a few moments, the realization finally hit me.
"A parasaur stampede!" I said excitedly as I dove in pursuit. Although I had yet to directly observe my quarry, the hooting cries and thunderous footfalls of the animals were unmistakable. As soon as I passed over the hill, the ground beneath me came alive with a hundred of the crested duck-bills, all fleeing in a desperate panic. They weren't running from me, however, trailing the herd were at least a dozen allosaurus taking turns rushing into it in pairs. During this, the predators would bite and claw at their flanks in an attempt to isolate slower beasts, leaving many with lacerations. I carefully lowered myself above the marauding carnivores to gauge the threat, until I was warded off by a lunging bull allosaurus who wasn't keen on sharing. I retaliated with an ear-piercing shriek and sliced across his face with my talons. With a pained howl, the creature quickly retreated from the chase trying to shake the oozing blood from his snout.
Each of the allosaurus ranged between eight to ten meters from head to tail or just past a street's width, with three hooked claws on each hand. Their massive jaws were packed with serrated knifelike teeth used to hack flesh off their victims in brutal cleaving motions. The theropods sported a rusty-brown pelt with bright red crests adorning their skulls. Each was comparable in stature to me. Though I was more than a match for any of these scaly brutes, I just couldn't risk facing the entire pack alone. If I am going to have any chance of eating today, the damn beasts have to go.
I flew ahead of the ravenous predators and kicked one of the bigger parasaurs directly in the head, sending it tumbling to the ground with a satisfying crack. As if on cue, the allosaurus abruptly abandoned their pursuit and seized the fallen animal with the ruthless efficiency of wild dogs. The hapless prey disappeared beneath a mass of hacking jaws and a shroud of dust. Then it was over. I had the herd to myself and the allosaurus were gone. I didn't look back, but I felt a little wasteful sacrificing an animal I wasn't planning to eat. At least the competition was over. Regardless, this guilt didn't last, because now it was my turn to hunt and my aching stomach spoke louder than any regret.
However, feeding myself wasn't going to be so simple. Unlike the allosaurus, I was currently alone, and I wasn't big enough to carry a grown parasaur on my own. So, I had to catch something a bit more manageable, a bit... smaller. This herd had many foals, most of which were less than half my size and would be easy to lift. The only problem was: how do I reach these pint-sized delicacies without getting trampled? The young animals had all been moved into the center of the herd, where simply plucking them off the ground was impossible. If I was going to eat today I needed a plan of attack, so I climbed high above the chaos where I could strategize in relative peace.
Once I was high enough to see the entire herd clearly, I began to dissect their formation for any weak links. Much to my disappointment, there seemed to be no breaches in the parasaurs' ranks, rendering simple mob attacks useless. In my mind, ideas came flooding in like a raging river. Unfortunately, there was a dam.
Should I use my fire to blast them out of the way? I thought. "No, that's stupid! The force will send you plummeting back to the earth and besides, the poison will taint the meat."
Then how about I kick them out of the way as I did with the allosaurus, that worked out fairly well. " That will take too long, and you were just lucky that plan worked as well as it did."
For the next several minutes, I would conjure up and reject every idea I came up with, until I felt a sharp pain in my tail, "Aaagh, what the hell!?" I shouted in frustration.
"These damned spines! I spent all morning straightening them, how could one be loose.." I paused briefly, a new plan was forging in my head and this time, I liked where it was going.
"That's it...it's perfect," I said with a faint cackle."It's about time we had a good storm."
After a brief airborne preening, I gazed at the fleeing mass of meat one last time in preparation for my assault. When I was ready, I raised my spines and dove toward the center of the herd with blinding speed. The wind rushed past my plumage, creating a harsh whistling sound that increased in volume with each passing second. This seemed to startle the animals because by the time I reached a striking distance, they began to break their formation and their bellows grew more frantic. In an instant, I spread my wings and with a single flick from my tail, the air came alive with the sound of crackling thunder, followed by a shower of venomous spines.
Though none of the parasaurs were hit, I had made my point and the entire herd broke ranks and scattered in every direction. Seizing the opportunity, I landed in the middle of the fray and continued my attack on foot. I wreaked havoc upon beasts, using as many tactics as I could to divide them further, from menacing roars and shrieks to outright tackling older animals in my way. This proved effective. Within moments, a terrified and reckless foal broke from the rest of the herd and fled into the nearby forest.
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easy!" I said to myself as I gave chase, my heart racing with excitement and rage. Although I was unable to fly in the dense woodlands, I tore through the dried foliage with my claws, easily keeping pace with the foal. We leaped over logs, weaved between trees, and strode across ditches and clearings, but neither of us could outmaneuver the other. This grew increasingly frustrating, since there were many times when my prey was just within grasp, only for it to side-step at the last second, each time sending me hurtling into a random obstacle I swore wasn't there a moment ago.
This continued for almost ten minutes. I was just about ready to give up when I saw the foal suddenly disappear over a steep hillside followed by a loud thud and silence. Briefly forgetting the chase, I stopped dead in my tracks to process what had happened, and then once again it hit me.
"It fell off a cliff," I said in bewilderment, ambling to reach the summit. I could see my quarry lying motionless at the base of a cliff, roughly skyscraper height. Scavengers had already been attracted by the commotion and gathered patiently around my parasaur. Thankfully, it was only a few vultures and a pack of troodon, nothing even a human couldn't handle. At least, I thought it was only them, clearly, my judgment had been impaired by hunger and anxiety.
"Well, I guess that works too," I said with a sigh of relief, "At least now I don't have to worry about getting my plumage too dirty." Ah, the famous last words before the disaster. It's funny how life always finds a way to ruin your plans.
I glided down to investigate the scene, but mostly to claim my prize. It wasn't hard to reach. The animal had landed in the center of a large sandy clearing, perhaps a dried-up pond. It didn't matter much to me though, as long as I had room to take off. Standing over the foal, I was fairly certain it was dead. Every part of its body seemed broken and a pool of blood had formed around it. Wasting no time, I reached over to move the kill to a more secure location. But as soon as my teeth made contact with its skin, I suddenly received a harsh blow to my left eye, sending me reeling back in pain and astonishment. It seemed I had misjudged my victim's endurance, and for a brief moment, we both took time to express our mutual pain.
"SSKKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEAACKK!!!!! WH-WHAT, HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!!?" I roared in disbelief, retreating only a short distance to make sure my vision was still intact, leaving the crippled foal to flail helplessly before me. Its desperate cries echoed through the surrounding jungle, attracting more troodontids and even their larger cousins, the dromaeosaurs. Within the space of a minute, at least fifty of the feathery demons spilled into the clearing, their barks and chirps adding to the chaotic chorus. As a united front, they began to besiege the stricken animal while I was distracted. Unfortunately for them, it didn't take long for me to recover, and unlike with the allosaurus, numbers meant nothing to me.
Standing on my hind legs, with my wings spread, and spines rattling, I bellowed at the marauding raptors. But instead of scattering, they turned to face me as a squealing mob of gnashing teeth and hooked talons.
"Plumed Wyrm! Kill! Kill! Kill Plumed Wyrm!" They chanted in their shrill false dialect.
It seems they had gone mad from starvation. I can't blame them. The dry season makes us do crazy things. However, it was time I reminded them where they stood on the food chain.
"You bastards think you can steal from me?" I said with a sadistic grin of predatory rage as I braced for the slaughter. "Time I gave you lot a decent reality check."
"KYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Lunging into the flock, I seized two of the closest raptors and cracked them between my jaws like eggs before hastily guzzling them down. Seeing this as an opportunity, the rest swarmed around me until I was surrounded. I struck again, but this time, the raptors anticipated my attack and were able to evade capture. Before I could prepare for another strike, several raptors pounced onto my back, biting and clawing at my sides while the others harassed me from the ground. I twisted and snapped about, trying to shake off these rapacious featherweights, but I was quickly overwhelmed.
I was getting worn out. The chase before and the combined weight of the mob were sapping away the last of my strength. I couldn't believe it. They set a trap, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I was only able to crush three more raptors before I was forced to the ground, where they smothered my body like a plague of locusts. Trapped beneath the screaming mass, I could feel my saddle being ripped to shreds and my skin being torn away. So they did believe I was now their prey... big mistake.
"THAT'S IT, NO MORE GAMES!!!" Abandoning all caution and restraint, I unleashed the full force of my fire across my body. The initial blast incinerated several raptors and the recoil sent me rolling across the clearing, shaking me free from their grasp. As I rose to my feet, I glared at my assailants while they rallied for a final round. The dried woodlands around us were now ablaze. Smoke darkened the sky and flames roared like a beast, and yet we couldn't care less. Our empty stomachs are what mattered to us. Let it burn, it can't reach us here. The fire was an inevitability, we all knew this.
There was no pause, no more hesitation, no more tricks. The raptors joined together into a fluttering pincer-shaped mass and charged forward as a tidal wave of teeth and wings. But as they advanced, I launched a volley of spines into the horde which wiped out most of the front line and sent others tumbling over. Pouncing raptors were scattered like leaves by the freezing gusts of my beating wings. Now with an opening to attack, I dove straight into the heart of the mob, slashing wildly with my claws. It was then I lost track of the fight. It was hard to see clearly through the thick smoke, flying limbs, and spattering red puddles.
At some point, while at the brink of exhaustion, when my bloodied maw was no longer choked with matted down, with a dried-out moan I said, "Had enough reality already?"
"Run! Run! Run!" The survivors hollered as they retreated into the scorching woodlands, swiftly vanishing into the dark smoke. They had forgotten their fear of fire for something far worse.
"Good, so get out of here!" I roared, making no effort to pursue the beasts. They had learned their lesson and would never threaten me again. Provided they survived the wildfire, which they did most likely. As soon as the predators' cries faded from earshot, I had to stop myself from collapsing into the hot, sticky sand. It didn't stop the bile though. The putrid black torrent billowed from my maw. With a few heaves, a dark caustic pool formed beneath me, reducing whatever it touched, be it saddle, fabric, or cadavers, into an inedible foul-smelling sludge. My strength and rage had subsided, and now I could feel the pains of my labor. It was agonizing. The kind of pain that pulses across your body and makes every movement an excruciating chore. Despite this, I still took time to mend my wounds, sealing each cut with a few licks of amber. Sweet Imperials, it hurts!
I turned around to see the parasaur foal I'd fought so hard to get was still alive but had gone silent. We stared directly into each other's eyes. We both knew what was coming next. As I slowly advanced upon it, my victim made no effort to escape. Instead, the animal attempted to ward me off with feeble kicks and bites. Even with a broken body, its will remained strong. I couldn't help but admire such a valiant effort. Alas, I subdued my quarry with a swift bite to the throat. The hunt was finally over. I had earned my right to eat a decent meal, but it was a hollow victory.
Not because of the injuries or the bile. Those were all superficial and would be quick to heal. I had failed to keep a promise to my family and now had to face the consequences of my mistake. So what now Beskytter? You really messed up this time. Mom and Dad trusted you and you've failed spectacularly. Do you have anything to say for yourself?
"Yes, fighting is painful and my life is hell, happy?" I said with a groan of humiliation, "But for now, I will try to enjoy this little feast while it lasts and hope it was worth it."
It wasn't...not even in the slightest.