Growth and a first encounter

Weeks had past since Mothers lecture on the foundation of rune creation, and something came to mind while I was starting my daily effort to create any rune at all.

Why rely on runes for the creation of spells when one could just simply use their magic to will or imagine an outcome, that was essentially what the runes purpose was. So I decided to ask mother, "Rawr (Mother why do we rely on runes for the casting of spells when it seems to me that magic in itself can create phenomenon without the need for runes?)"

Mother stared at me wide eyed "How has one so young already begun experimenting with runeless casting?" she said in a hushed voice "Valorian the reason for this is that magic in itself can do as you say, but those with the power to command raw mana directly into natural phenomenon are extremely rare. So rare in fact that even I who has lived for over eight thousand years has only heard of one such caster. The progenitor of all dragons and our ruler Rengal."

"This is why runes where devised by the creator as a way for us to manipulate our mana. As I have already explained each rune has a purpose and those runes are formed through your own mana. It is the same principle as directing the flow of small stream is easy but trying to control the currents of the entire ocean at once will not be easy to say the least."

Hearing all of this made me want to strive for the greatness of our ruler, and filled me with admiration for he great power. I decided to return to my rune practice, but armed with the information mother had just given me I started my efforts anew. Thinking not of runes at pieces of puzzle but as individual fish in a school all moving together as one for a purpose.

My siblings looked at me with puzzled expressions, as far as I knew they had not practiced runes at all after failing on their first try. Instead choosing to lay about all day to conserve energy as mother had only brought back one other carcass for us these last few weeks. Needless to say I hoarded a large portion for myself.

The disparity in the amount of food we have each received since birth was starting to show as well I had already grown to just under 8ft in length, but my wingspan had seen the most growth by far, going from a measly 4ft wing span to now a little over 10.

Whereas my siblings Corentine, and Apolloia went from 5ft and 5.5ft in length to 6ft and 6.5ft respectively with their wingspan only increasing by 2ft to my 6ft.

By this point they had both also learned to speak as I had and would complain to mother when I would take more of a share of the carcass. Mother only looked at them both huffing "If you are to be strong I cannot fight your battles for you, I only prevent anything that would cause your death." so know that soon mother would go hunt another animal my sibling would spend the day together thinking of ways to take more food for themselves.

Paying them no mind I continued my effort of rune construction, as my practice continued suddenly there was a small flicker in the area I was concentrating my mana. Seeing even a little progress propelled my efforts all the way until I decided to go to sleep.

Upon awaking Mother was no where to be found, thinking to myself that she must have gone out for more food I started my new daily ritual of practicing my runes.

Three hours later I started to hear a grunting noise accompanied with the clang of metal from the entrance to the cave. I immediately knew that this was an intruder, looking at my siblings "Rawr!- (quickly hide I will take care of the intruder as mother has tasked me!)"

I quickly made my way to the front of the cave and pressed myself onto the inside of the sheltered edges of the cave entrance, making sure to leave no part of myself visible from the outside. Now that I was so close the entrance I could hear that there where many individuals climbing the cliff face that led to the entrance of the cave. Grunting I heard earlier now seemed to be some sort of communication.

Not daring to test my luck just yet I waited in the silence of the cave only hearing water drip from the ceiling and the grunts from outside.

What seemed like hours could only have been a few minutes before they made it to the top of the cliff. Now with hushed voices I could hear the intruders speaking to one another, from the smell and sound I guessed that there where 30 of them just outside.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky leaving no shadows for me to get an accurate measure of their numbers. Soon enough they entered the mouth of the cave, as soon as they entered I held my breath hoping that they would pass and I could trap them inside. Any creature daring enough to venture into a dragons den should have known that it was akin to walking into their jaws with open arms.

As I waited I also counted, there where many more than 30 as the intruder entered I counted 50. As soon as the last one entered I could hold myself back no longer, my pride was on the line. A more primal part of me wanted to kill them all as soon as the first one stepped inside the cave but I knew that if I did some may escape.

As soon as I lunged at the last intruder catching him off guard I sunk my teeth into its fragile neck and pulled using my right paw to hold its body in place.

getting a better look at the intruders now that they had just heard their comrade die in a very violent and gory way and had all turned around to face me. From my memories that I had gotten from my heritage, they could be nothing other than humans.