Ch 1: The wonder of a new beginning

The sandy beaches beamed with sunlight as the little hatchling woke, shaking its body to get rid of all the sand that covered the wyvern during the nights it stretched its long blue body and shook its head, suddenly small droplets fell from the sky, one even splashing onto the wyvern's snout 'rah? Rauuhh...rai...rain!'

He called out above, more and more gently fell from the sky but that wasn't the only thing that was in the sky, a large figure flew past, its shadow was large but surprisingly its wingspan was short, the figure flew right past the hatchling almost like a swoop, gliding over the water circling back, the figure was much clearer to see as the hatchling squinted to see what was flying near.

It had a large and round body the colour of dark-dark brown and brown spots with its underbelly light yellow, its tail was long and had the same colour as its body with a leaf-like fin at the end but the most noticeable part about this wyvern (the hatchlings guess) was its torn snout, sharp scar were along its snout and you could even see a little bit of its tongue almost handing out as it landed near the shallow end of the water.

The hatchling hissed as it drew closer to this wyvern, it didn't smell familiar but then again, it didn't know what 'familiarity' smelt like, but it knew...the troubled hatchling hissed again with a puff of smoke raised from its nostrils as it leaned closer.

'What a day! I'm glad I'm out, this breeze is always nice,' The large dark brown wyvern gazed across, the wyvern's calm eyes turned to shock as she saw the small hatchling alone on the beach 'A hatchling? Where is your mother? No need to be scared it's just...well, I've never seen a hatchling alone, I'm Flora... Do you have a name?' She asked, she held out her wing, her eyes seemed to be calm again, and gave a friendly smile

'N... n' It tried to speak as it looked up at Flora. 'Can't you pronounce, no? you probably can't pronounce a lot of words as I just thought...you must be young, and hungry,' She giggled as she came closer.

'Aww, your adorable! Wow, and you have those splotches on your head? Now that's cool! A baby boy hatchling...sister would love this, she always wanted hatchlets' She bent down, by now the hatchling was close enough to touch- but still weary with her look, she walked a bit closer to him, her heavy footsteps startled him, but she just smiled and continued.

'No need to be an afraid young one, it's sad your mother left you; I wonder why? She could have at least given you a name you know...I'll name you!' She excitedly said raising her head.

The glow of the sun reflected her sharpened green eyes wonderfully that even the hatchling tried to say was amazing but... 'Ama...amaz, amaz!' He tried to say looking up at the sky and giggling. She sat back down with a loud thump, her short stubby wings folded around the helpless hatchling as she was in thought.

'Maybe...well you kept looking at the sky and I'm guessing you hatched here...I heard there was a terrible storm a while ago, but some wyvern spotted it and said it was gone just like that,' She snapped her claws making a quick 'click' sound.

'Did you, do it? You look...well your blue. Water wyverns don't come to land let alone be...alone...You all are in the ocean far away from anything else? How did you end up here...maybe you floated away with currents. But wouldn't your parents know and probably already looked for you and your wing looks weird too' She questioned slowly opening his left wing with her talon, it stretched out with blue rays shined through, but she was right, at the end of his wings weren't blue anymore.

They reflected a near green-ish colour and his talons weren't black or a dark-coloured tone but simply grey, it was a very unusual sight for a wyvern to be here, let alone a discoloured wyvern or even water wyvern by that matter. He looked ashamed and fell covering his wings with his warm body and jaw, she shook her head and gently comforted him with a half-winged hug.

'It isn't anything to be ashamed about, all wyverns are different. Do you see my torn snout? I used to be so self-conscious about it after a battle but now I embrace it! I got it from fighting a nasty wyvern, you might be like the heroic me someday,' She winked laughing.

'Skygaze, I think you should be named Skygaze, because of your colour with the sky. Both blue let alone you keep staring at the sky all day, that is probably nothing to worry about though, I always loved that name...I don't know how long your hibernation was but if it was the time of that horrid storm then you would have been weeks old,' She dipped her head.

'They say hatchling hibernation varies and some can immediately hibernate while others can't, I guess when I can teach you proper speech then you can tell me...Skygaze, would you like to come with me? You need someone to take care of you and I think me, and my sister will be good parents, maybe not my sister' She patted herself on the back with a smile as she stared behind her checking there was no one else there.

'I don't think anyone has raised a wyvern that isn't their element, this sounds crazy! An earth wyvern, actually correction, two earth wyverns raising the rare water wyvern. Like do you guys swim all day or something like that? Oh, Flora! This hatchling wouldn't know this! It is so sad you have been left out here to drown...wait? Can you drown? You do have water-egg-type scales' She shook her head deciding she shouldn't ask any more questions as it would be useless, and she would just get more confused herself.

Instead, she brushed herself off from the sand and carefully picked up Skygaze, her grip with her talons was loose around Skygaze's flappy body, he settled and lowered his head comfortably with him being safely held within her talons. She lifted herself into flight beating her short wings fast, he steadily was raised, he looked amazed as the view of the beach became wider and wider, he had no choice but to be with her and let her raise him, he didn't have anyone else except maybe the sea...

The flight was incredible for the young hatchling as the wind was in his face, and his face went a bit numb as he gained such speed through the flight. The beach became as small as a spec through the clouds as Flora flew higher and higher through fluffy white clouds, near the beach were Rocky Mountains and hills that were described with that dangerous storm making smaller hills shallower with the intensity. Grassy fields drew Skygaze back in with small animals living their lives and wyverns of all ages and elements populate the areas with even some other wyverns flying across, dashing their way for prey or simply enjoying a wonderful flight.

These hills showed no sight of wyverns but only small animals, Flora broke the silence as she roared 'You see those hills? They are called Piper's Hills and that is where my sister, Bombard and I live, you see why we like it right? Hardly any wyverns around except for us! You will be comfortable here, I know there isn't much watery stuff in these lands, but I think you will like it' She pointed down with her snout, he looked closer and understand what she meant and replied with an exciting yelp 'Yah' He roared happily.

'You sure are a happy one, I thought water wyverns were snarky and mean, well...not happy wyverns mainly, of course, you are different Skygaze, you will like it here and hopefully you will learn our ways. Earth wyvern ways, it will be difficult for you as you are different but you will need to learn how to survive but we can only teach you our ways maybe when you are older, you can learn but for now ours is best' She puffed loudly, large black smoke was raised as she tilted her wings and headed for the hills, her flight turned into a glide which Skygaze didn't like at all, his face feels weak and with the wind increasing making his lips and chubby cheeks flap aggressively. 'Bah, blah' He sounded as he tried to get ahold of the wind.

They landed on the flourishing lands, Flora landed quite abruptly as she closed in onto the ground, her large legs made her stop faster with even some lines that were drawn through discolouring the green to rich black soil that was underneath. Her talons gracefully let go of the small wyvern he stumbled over the grass; he had the biggest smile as he learned. He picked up his speed and dashed through the hills, the wind through his scales and the grass softly under his feet, he couldn't have been happier.

'Come along now Skygaze, I know you want to play in new terrain, but you have to meet my sister first, it isn't far at all. Would you like to get picked up? Or still run along and you follow me' She rhetorically asked, of course, he took into the running almost bolting when she finished, and she quickly followed after him. He surprisingly took the lead first even though his feet always get the best of him, trampling over the land with his wings gliding through, it was a beautiful day, sunshine and hardly any clouds to be, it was perfect.

'No! It's over here little one, let's see who can get there first!' She teased making a sharp turn to the right and making a shallow jump over a small hill, she continued with her running and did not cheat by flight, she wasn't that good of a flyer anyway especially with her short wings, so she was glad she was participating in this 'Running duel' with the small wyvern.

'You're getting slower! Come on' She looked back, and she was right, Skygaze slowed down a bit and puffed multiple times with smoke coming from his nostrils and had a shallow breath, he didn't entirely stop as he tried to keep up but he much slower. Flora! What were you thinking? He is only a couple of weeks old of course he will be tired now, I'm surprised he didn't collapse beforehand, to be honest.

She rushed back into a hovering flight coming back for the wyvern, he was on the ground now still trying to catch his breath, and by now even words 'T..tir' He barely spoke, she looked down with shame 'You mean tired? I'm sorry I got a little too rough...let me carry you' She offered to try to hide her guilty face, but all he did was nod as he looked around. 'Come here...' She said picking him up once more, her talons coddling him as she went into flight.

The flight only took a couple of minutes but that was enough for Skygaze to catch his breath as they landed once more, Flora took in extra caution when she landed and kept checking him with her mysterious green eyes. 'Huh?' He questioned, they landed on what seemed like a random hill, there was no den, no structure, it just looked like an old cliffside with hills. She saw his confusion and giggled 'Don't worry, this is it but it's a secret,' She winked.

His eyes showed understanding and gave in with a smile as he followed her 'We lay fake grass around so we can hide away from others, most earth wyverns are friendly but ever since the battle we had to lay dormant, we hide our den with great techniques, first the fake grass that hides our entrance above next,' She stopped pulling up some fake grass, what laid was a weird door with a symbol, it had a raindrop with a curve on the side, inside the raindrop was a dragon, its legs and arms were crossed while its tail curved to the side and the head of the miniature dragon roared what looked like fire-like water with some coloured in steam flowing from it.

'That's the water wyvern symbol, this place used to be owned by water wyverns before everything but now your kind live in the deep sea...this was an old den and when we explored we found it, it was perfect and quite large as you will see so that's why we live here now, we can teach you all the symbols of each type of wyvern' She concluded, Skygaze still confused only replying with 'Rah' in agreement.

She opened the door carefully with some sort of combination, one talon to the symbols head, one to the tail, and next to the heart, all three areas almost lit up with a very light blue ray, the door made a crack and opened its self-up, he stared in amazement. 'That is the combination, all wyvern dens that is and only that particular type of wyvern can access its den but as you can see...we are different. Bombard discovered the water wyvern combination, you see, she is really smart so if you need any history or unlocking locks you go to my older sister! Anyway, come along' She scurried.

Instead of following her, he went closer to the symbol of the door, this was the closest thing he ever saw that was another water wyvern. Its head was slim while its wings were much larger just like his wings were, it was light blue all over even with its wings and webs, but they weren't grey like his. He looked down at his wings and moaned, they were green and grey, not like a true water wyvern, he got flustered and barged his way through the door trying to ignore it.

The den inside was large, Flora was right. It had one big opening showcasing what he guessed was the prey area, and lounge area, and even a little window showed, it wasn't a proper window but at least it shed some light. Further out were two hollowed-out tunnels that he pictured as rooms, the two tunnels were far apart, one on the left near the prey area and the other on the right where the window was.

The large opening was very high, and the ground felt hard with its stone flooring, the large room was cluttered with weird items and objects that were 'neatly' ordered by rows and rows with mushroom-like shelves and moss growing all around.

In the middle, was a stone-cut sofa that was close to the ground, the prey area was almost shut off with a wall half covering it, Skygaze looked in further and simply saw a stone counter with prey all around with a small water source running through. 'I know, it's a lot hey? Well get used to it, want to see my room? I got the biggest room, I won a bet a while ago and now I have the biggest room' She sneered running along. He quickly followed her and went into the tunnel to the right where the 'almost' window was near, and he came running up right behind the earth wyvern.

The tunnel was filled with artworks of the past, earth wyverns, and water wyverns for that matter, and had a portrait of Flora and her sister, it didn't take long for the tunnel to end, there was a smaller door that was the entrance but this time with the door had no symbol and was simply just a plain door that was decorated with flowers and moss.

Flora swung the door open in excitement 'Come in! I know you want to; this is your new home Skygaze, welcome to the Flurnbug family! I, Flora, and my sister, Bombard, my parents passed during the war, and we didn't have any other siblings or family members, but we may have a new one' She teased with her bright eyes looking straight at him.

'M..me?' He asked, she stomped dramatically and replied 'Yes! And you learning new words already, oh, how wonderful,' She sat down on the cold floor and continued 'Welcome fellow Flurnbug, welcome to our family' She called in open wings, he smiled and sat down with her, he tried to speak some more 'Th...th' he tried to pronounce, she laughed 'You mean thank you? You're welcome! We earth wyverns love to sleep and I feel like hitting the hay, it is nearly dusk, I didn't realise how long the trip was, I swear it was the afternoon when we came here,'

'It doesn't matter, the sun always shines here,' She went closer to Skygaze and whispered, 'Even at night!' She joked. She rested her head once more, her wing around the hatchling as she laid on her side, her short wings only covered Skygaze halfway but he didn't mind, she puffed a little smoke before closing her eyes, her tail wrapped around herself, and Skygaze as she whispered 'Goodnight little one, you will enjoy it here, we will take care of you'

He leaned in closer as he yawned, stretching his wings he laid into Flora's chest before he closed his eyes, shuffling his tail neatly away, he drew his tail closer next to Floras. He smiled, he trusted his tail a little more but not too close, only enough to touch hers, he rested his titled head onto her chest showing his white/grey chin as they slept.

He had a home, a family and a mother, and maybe an aunt...no longer on the beach or near the ocean, he was a Flurnbug but he still had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, like something wanted him back in the ocean trying to pull him away...he mumbled and tried to clear his thoughts but that feeling felt like it was never going to go away.