Chapter 3: On The Run

The hatchling dragon flew as fast as it could for as long as it could. As the sun set across the sky it could no longer keep up and began to descend; it was exhausted. After descending into a forest thick with trees it curled up against the nearest tree and tried to sleep, but the forest was dangerous. Danger lurked around every corner. Every time it was about to drift off to a peaceful slumber, some noise would startle it awake and it would start the process all over again.

Sunlight peered through the forest and the dragon awoke. It was hungry so it stood up and began searching the forest for food and water. Eventually it came across a flowing river and stood at the edge to drink some water. The young dragon felt the cold, refreshing water revitalize its body as it drank.

A figure emerged between the trees across the river, and it similarly walked up to the bank of the river to drink water. The young dragon finished drinking and tilted its head up. They locked eyes until the young dragon turned away and walked along the rivers bank. It decided to follow the river to see where it went.

Up the river, the young dragon found a full berry bush; they looked delicious. With excitement in its eyes, it ran up and plucked a handful of berries with its mouth. It smiled as the berries filled its mouth, until it realized they tasted absolutely abysmal. It spat them out as fast as it could and ran back to the river to clean the taste out of its mouth, but no matter how hard it tried to get rid of the taste it wouldn't completely go away. Resigned to its fate, it kept walking and left the berry bush behind.

Although the thirst helped deal with its hunger, the young dragon was still ravenous. With a heavy heart, it decided to brave the river in an attempt to find some fish. It dipped its toe into the river and took it back out to test the waters, then slowly embraced the water and once it was completely submerged it looked for prey. The fish were instinctually keeping a distance from the strange intruder. The young dragon slithered through the water and tried to get as close as it could to the fish. Like a burst of lightning, it shot forth through the water and tried to catch a fish it was targeting, but it missed. The fish easily darted away, out of the grasp of the young dragons comparatively large mouth. Still hungry for something more filling than river water or gross berries, the young dragon refused to give up. It tried and failed to catch a single fish for hours. Eventually, it gave up and decided to try again another time after taking a nap.

The young dragon continued its quest for food in between the trees of the forest. It found a berry bush that looked eerily similar to the one it saw before and decided it would be best to avoid it. Further in the forest, the young dragon stumbled onto a giant tree. It flew up onto the massive branches and ate from the massive hanging fruit that looked like a giant dried-up orange watermelon but was actually more similar to a coconut because of the fluid trapped inside of it. The shell protected the sticky, thick purple liquid inside. The young dragon cracked through the fruit's shell and slurped up the sticky liquid with joy, reveling in the deliciousness of it before passing out on the thick branch.

With access to fresh water and as much food as it could ever want, the young dragon made the big tree its new home. It built a nest and slept in the branches at night, ate the fruit of the tree in the day, and when it needed water it would fly down to the river to quench its thirst. It also spent a lot of time practicing its swimming and hunting in the river. Thankfully, most of the animals in the area left it alone and when an animal decided to pick a fight it was just as easy to fly away.

At least that was the case until another very large, very adult looking dragon decided to move in next door. On top of that, it seemed to be quite aggressive. It would regularly stampede swathes of the forest down and kill any animals that got too close to its home. How did the young dragon know? It could hear the screams of the animals as they tried to get away or fight against the huge dragon, not to mention it saw the devastation of different parts of the forest with its own eyes.

The young dragon quickly decided that it was no longer safe to stay in its new home and moved on. It flew day and night, sleeping mid-flight, until it came across a large group of very strange looking structures. Although the area around the structures was a forest, the structures themselves were sparsely surrounded by trees. There was also a vast tract of a yellowish plant growing nearby.

Something delicious wafted out of one of the larger structures, something unlike anything the young dragon had tasted before. It dive bombed onto the shabby wooden roof to try to find the source of the smell. It looked at one side of the building and there seemed to be more of the strange bipedal creatures, so it walked to the other side of the structure to see if it was safer there. It didn't see any of the creatures, so it glided to the ground under a large tree right behind the building.

Success! The mouth watering smell was even stronger from the square opening in the wall, and lots of noise was coming from inside. It went up to the opening and stretched on it's hind legs to get a peek inside. Two young women with blonde hair were busy making food while another person periodically walked into the room and carry the food away.

One of them spotted the young dragon peeking in.

"Shoo!" she said as she waved her hand at it, and it quickly ducked it's head down.

"That's an odd looking creature," she said to the other woman making food with her.

"What was it?" the other woman said.

"Dunno. Looked kinda scaly, maybe some sort of big lizard." She replied.

"Maybe It's a dragon. Run for your life!" They both laughed at the idea.

The young dragon hid under the windowsill, not willing to give up. It turned around when it heard a loud noise.

"Siran! Look! What is that?" said the black haired boy with long hair. A girl with long blonde hair leapt out from behind the tree.

"I don't know but it's pretty. I want to pet it!" Siran said to the boy. She tiptoed towards the scaly creature, but it growled at her as she approached.

"Maybe its hungry!" the boy said and then dashed off, while the young dragon watched. Five minutes later, he returned with a slice of meat pie on a wooden plate.

The young dragon could smell the pie and it was obvious it wanted it, but it didn't dare approach them. The boy edged closer and placed the wooden plate with the pie on the grass in front of the young dragon. Then he stepped back, and after he did the young dragon slowly went up to the pie and started hastily eating it.

"Try to pet it." The boy whispered to Siran; she stepped towards it and it growled at her for a moment so she stopped, but once she got close enough she placed her hand on it's scaly head and gently petted it.

The young dragon finished the slice of pie only to look up and see that the boy brought another. This time, the boy put it right in front of it instead of a few feet away. It quickly started gobbling the pie up and the boy took the opportunity to start petting the young dragon along with Siran.

"Good boy," said the boy.

"Who says it's a boy? I think it's a good girl," Siran quickly said.

The two of them started each other down until the hungry dragon finished its last slice of pie. He sneakily picked it up and held it in his arms.

"This guy's heavier than he looks." As he said that, he suddenly felt the weight become more bearable. "Huh, I guess maybe not." He paused for a moment. "Hey, sis, can you take the plates back inside."

"On it!" she said with a joyful look in her eyes, then picked up the two plates and ran inside with them. A few moments later she was back.

"You've gotten to hold it long enough! Now give it to me!" she said as she plied the dragon out of her brother's grip. He was obviously not happy about it, but let it happen.

They walked towards their home which lay nestled in the forest at the outskirts of the village.

"Mom! Dad!" Both of them yelled out repeatedly as they approached their house. Their dad, a young looking man with a beard, popped up from behind the house while a moment later their mother came out from inside.

Their mother's hands were covered in a white powder, presumably from making dough.

"Look what we found in town!" Siran yelled out as she excitedly held out the scaly creature with a dumb look in its face, staring blankly out into the distance. It licked it's lips once to get the remaining pie off.

"What is that?" their father asked.

Meanwhile, their mother slowly reached her hand out to it, but it didn't take notice of her even when she started petting its head.

"Mom, can we keep it?" her son asked.

"Taking care of an animal is a big responsibility. Do you think you can handle that?" Their father chimed in. The children pondered his words for a moment.

"Yeah!" Siran replied.

"Well, have you given it a name?" their father asked. Both kids thought for a moment. "Well, how about Savra? It stands for lizard, and that thing certainly looks like some weird lizard."

"I like it," the boy said.

"I like it too!" agreed Siran.