Chapter 1: Hatchling

Darkness. But something hard and tough lies at the edge of the darkness. The being floating in the darkness asked itself, what is beyond the edge of the darkness? The creature felt compelled to break through and used all its might to do so.

Crack!

Suddenly, light rippled through the hard exterior of the darkness, but only along a thin, jagged, bending line. More pressure is applied for what feels like an eternity until the darkness is swallowed by light, but it's too much to handle. It's blinding! But after a few moments, the blinding light starts to feel more comfortable as it takes shape.

The creature that just escaped its prison of darkness looked up at something enormous looming over it. After the brief pause it continued cracking open its thick shell. The looming creature watched as two horns jutted out of the top of its head while red scales enveloped its whole body and two massive wings similarly jutted out of its back. But it did not look at the hatchling with malice, rather, with love — and the hatchling instinctively understood this.

The little hatchling finally managed to bash open the egg with its feet just enough to crawl out and greet the enormous creature standing above it, leaving a trail of thick egg slime behind it. The looming creature craned its neck down and used its massive tongue to lick the slime off. This gentle yet ferocious looking creature was known to the intelligent inhabitants of the world as a dragon — feared and respected by all, though the hatchling was obviously unaware.

"Gna!" yelped the little hatchling over and over again, even after the licking stopped.

It's only response was a gentle, low rumbling.

"Gna!" it continued yelping. The larger creature took a few steps towards the bright exit of the cave they were in, then turned and replied with a beastial sound that seemed to indicate "follow me". The hatchling didn't move an inch and just kept on yelping the same sound until—what can be assumed to be its parent—turned around to pick it up in its massive clawed hand and place on it's back to leave the cave.

The hatchling curiously took in the outside environment. From atop it's parents back, it saw a never ending field of green leaves with a blue sky above it. Birds smaller than it were soaring through the air and in and out of the tree tops. Eventually, they stopped at a curious looking part of the forest. Not because it was vastly different, but because the ground was littered with rotting fruit. The hatchling was curious and inspected everything it could before its parent got its attention and reached up to pluck a juicy orange looking fruit. It ate the fruit in one bite, then grabbed another and reached out its hand to give it to the hatchling. Before accepting the fruit, it sniffed it, then began to chew and eat bit by bit.

The taste was exquisite, and the hatchling wanted more. Both of them feasted on the delicious orange fruits. Once the hatchling was full, they explored the forest even more. They saw a tree as tall as a small mountain with enormous fruits that tasted even better than the previous fruit tree, curious creatures that mostly ran the second they saw the pair, many types of interesting trees, and even a tree that moved on its own. The hatchling adored it all as it took in the wonderful world around it, learning and growing.

Night slowly began to fall on the forest and the creatures within it. Seeing this, the pair turned back. In a moment that took the hatchling by surprise, the parents' large wings stretched open and its body stiffened. Like a whirlwind, it took flight. Scared for its life, the hatchling shrieked and clung on in fear of its life as the wind blew like a hurricane past its face. Eventually, they reached a height far above the forest and glided across the sky. Though scared at first, the hatchling eventually tiptoed to the edge and peered down at the world below. It was instantly entranced by what it saw. While staring at the world below, the flying beast opened its massive jaws and emitted a thunderous roar that could be heard far off in the distance. They made it home soon after.

For the next week it tried to fly with its tiny wings, but it couldn't even lift off the ground.Their peaceful life continued like this for months and eventually the little hatchling learned how to soar through the sky like its parent, gleefully watching its progress.