Chapter 5

It has been many years since my first hunt, and I look back upon it fondly to this day. The thrill of stalking and the satisfaction of finally bringing down your prey cannot be appropriately expressed; they can only be experienced. The meal you eat that is caught by your hands or claws is a fantastic feeling.

In the beginning, I counted the days as they passed. Then, I counted the moon's cycles. Eventually, I counted the years—kind of.

They never tell you about living a long life because it messes with your sense of time. As a human, you live between 80-120 years, so that is how you perceive the flow of things around you. As a dog who lives 12-20 years (for the giant breeds), the days must pass by at an astonishingly slower rate.

When I passed my first one-hundred-year mark, I still saw the world as every day having a meaning, a purpose. But when I passed 200 and then 300, I realized that the days were becoming less and less critical. Why do dragons sleep for long periods?

The answer is as simple as it is original: Boredom. The longer you live, the more days fly by, and you find yourself doing nothing, especially as your growth starts to slow down so your body stabilizes how much food it needs and when it needs it.

Now, at 300 and some odd years, I had moved out of my mom's cave and found my own further South down the coastline. I still visit her when I think an appropriate amount of time has passed, but she always gives me these weird looks when I come by. I think it is because dragons probably don't care much about their family once they have grown and left the nest.

At this point, I could talk in English as I did as a Human. It was not the same as manipulating your throat, which is weird. Not painful, but uncomfortable. I also have started to understand Mom's "Dragon Talk" better. The movement of her lips and brows, the sounds she makes about certain things. It was like how animals communicate. With gestures and expressions. Honestly, it took me longer than most to learn since I had the mindset of a human at birth. This is a point she teases me about every time I visit.

Now that I think about it, she doesn't think I want to mate with her, right? I know animals sometimes disregard familial relationships to have kids, but I still find that nasty. We might have to talk.