- Is it...

'...Finally time?' He questioned, but with only himself of course. And, as it seemed, only he could know. Not to mention that there was only one way to find out.

He'd spent nearly a week longer by his estimate, within that egg. He didn't feel any larger, and there'd been no large changes in... Anything. That was until now.

He roused from what he could recognize as sleep, as a cacophony of high pitched, muffled shrieks and chirps began to assault his hearing. The egg shook, as the ground beneath it did the same... And he began to panic. What sounded like boulders tumbling down a mountainside, was currently on repeat near him, and from what he could tell, it was dangerous. Why else would there be so many sounds of panic?

He squirmed, wiggled, pushed, and prodded. Kicked, punched, and slammed all he could against the walls of the egg from within. His little body veritably flailing in comparison to his past movements. The rumbling grew louder, and a new sound was added. A crunch. Several of the sources of shrieks... Grew silent. Others grew louder. He began to butt his head against the near top of the egg, fear and terror lacing his every thought and overriding every emotion as he struggled with all of his might...

"C-Chhck!" The egg fractured, and his efforts grew far more potent... And finally, he pressed his snout threw the thin membrane connecting the fractured lines, and broke the seal. Light flooded into his eyes as the outside world became more known than he'd ever felt before. Colors of all kinds assaulting his vision as he took in everything at once. The sheer shock of it prevented him from closing them.

The harsh greens of the foliage. The dull, yet loud browns of the earth. The unnaturally blue sky. The deep crimson of the pool around his egg... The off-whites of the crushed remnants of other eggs. The... Mish-mash of the previous contents of those crushed eggs...

He quickly, upon the instinct of survival, ripped the rest of his body from the egg and pulled himself away from it... Towards the area least cluttered looking. The rumble of boulders had been revealed to be, to his small, yellow slitted eyes, that of an immense dragon doing battle with... Another dragon. As he gained his bearings away from the apparent nest, he could see the outline of what had crushed his fellow eggs... The outline of a giant foot, that of... Well, a giant reptile's. So, probably that other dragon.

In mention of those other dragons, from what he could tell the battle was near its end. The apparent protector of the nest had won... Though both of them looked fairly... Damaged, to say the least. Blood trailing freely from numerous wounds upon their bodies. Gashes in their limbs, and obvious bite wounds upon their necks... But, the assailant had pulled away, and was forced to leave. The once-man waited in stillness, as he watched the end of this encounter... And he witnessed the weak return of his protector... Who lingered over the broken nest... Nuzzling through the eggs and their remnants... Are there any left untouched?

A couple were... But... To the dragon's eye, one egg seemed to be broken differently. Its eyes narrowed in realization, and its head began to whip around, scanning the area for... Something. It found what it had been looking for, as its eyes locked upon the hatchling, who'd been poorly hidden upon the open earth.

It came upon him faster than he could react, though much slower than it would usually be... As its steps were many times larger than his. Soon enough its head was leering over him, and the maw spreading open to reveal those bloodied, numerous teeth. They each had nearly the thickness of his own body!

He closed his eyes, and accepted his fate as food as he turned down his head. And... A wet, warm sensation washed across him, as the heavy tongue of that dragon dragged across his back, cleaning off the remnant fluids from his egg. He slowly creaked open his eyes, and peered upwards to... His protector. Somehow, the non-human creature seemed to hold the equivalent of an amused smirk upon its face... He would've told it off, if he wasn't afraid of being swallowed in a single gulp. That, and he didn't really know how to talk yet. In a test, he chirped.

The Dragon seemed to brighten in mood, and it reached for him picked him up... Grasping him in its claws gently. It brought him with it, in slow steps that yet still outsized his own, to an apparent... Resting place, as it also slid down to the ground, and laid him upon its side. It radiated warmth, in copious amounts.

He decided that, this place was probably much safer than any other at the moment... And he'd used a lot of energy in escaping his egg... He'd explore himself and where he was... Later. For now, he'd sleep.

And as that little hatchling passed to slumber, the mother was simply happy that at least one of her clutch had survived... Such a strong youth, too. Then, she too, fell asleep.