Chapter 1

Frolicking through the woods, a dryad was enjoying the usual routine of enjoying the peace and quiet of nature. She alternated between moving on foot and teleporting from tree to tree.

This way, she was able to travel far while still enjoy her surroundings. She had learned this since a young age, and had always used it.

Sometimes, she would stop and chat with the plant life or whatever small critters that happened to be nearby. She was the chatty sort of dryad, who always managed to find something to talk about, from the mundane to the near unfathomable rumours.

Right now, she was talking to a dandelion about a scandalous rumour concerning certain nymphs and dryads. The dandelion couldn't understand the half of it of course, but she didn't care. It was nice to talk.

She did this for the rest of the day, spring only lasted so long after all. Sometimes she even ran into other dryads that were out to experience what the season had to offer. She spent some time with them, then moved on. Her kind was always liked that, they didn't really socialise with their own kind much.

She reached a favorite spot of hers, an old alcove that didn't have any usual visitors except for her. Sometimes she even tried to charm some handsome men to follow her here.

It was quite spacious, wildlife had prospered here just any part of this wilderness. Granted, there wasn't anything as majestic as a grown deer or a boar, only critters. But still, it was somehow still lively. The sun's ray of light was also quite sufficient here.

A grand oak tree had became the landmark some decades ago. She had asked around if it could become a treant, but apparently it wasn't suited to be one.

Today, it was no different from the usual. No single person except for her was here. The dryad began to dance around with laughter, just enjoying the serenity of nature. The peace and quiet, though in contrast to her chatty personality, was resonating with her.

She sighed with content, then began to lay on the soft grass of the ground.

A shining gleam near the oak tree caught her eye. She hadn't seen it before, didn't even sense it through the plants hiding parts of it. It was an object hidden from nature itself. And it definitely didn't belong here.

She became tense and cautious, very few things in the world can evade the sense of nature and the wild. And none of them were ever harmless.

She began approaching it slowly, ready to teleport at a moment's notice. She didn't carry any weapons, but that wasn't due to forgetfulness. She used magic to harden her skin, making it turn into bark. She placed her hand on a branch, and it split off from the tree, a new shoot growing from where it broke off.

Fully armored and armed with a club, she stalked towards the hidden object. The sounds of her steps were muffled by the grass, which allowed her to move silently.

While she could just teleport to the shining object, giving her the element of surprise, she could just as well be ambushed. Therefore she took the safer approach. Besides, if the opposition is too strong, she has a chance run and warm others. It would be disastrous if no one else knew about this.

She was a quarter away now, she readied her club, and then charged at the mysterious object with a battlecry. The plants around it leaned away to make way for her, exposing the object fully, letting the sun shine on its already shiny exterior.

It looked as though it was made out of pure silver, it even looked as tough as the metal. It was ovoid in shape, so it couldn't stay in an upright position. It was currently residing in what appears to be a nest, a messy one at that. What was odd, was that a mist surrounded it, something was magical about it.

The dryad froze, it wasn't what she expected. She had expected something deadly, even poisonous to the forest. She was even prepared to die to stop it, such was a dryad's devotion to nature. But it was a false alarm.

However, that didn't mean it wasn't a problem.

Staring at the potentially problem inducing ovoid, she found herself a bit breathless. Everything about this reeks of a nefarious plot. However, the metallic colour of the object says otherwise.

"A dragon egg....." she mumbled. This could be either a recipe for disaster or a cause for celebration. Going by the colour of the egg, it seemed likely to be the latter.

"Still, it doesn't make sense that a silver dragon would leave their egg here." It doesn't make sense for a dragon egg to be here in the first place. From her centuries worth of memories, she recalled that silver dragons prefer mountains.

"So, this could mean two things. This is a test." At this, she narrowed her eyes at the egg. "Or, most likely, the parent abandoned the egg for a reason."

The dryad knew that dragons are unlike any beast or animals. They are more akin to other races with their intelligence and ability to socialise, though that may only apply to metallic dragons. Chromatic dragons however, are a different story.

She had relax once she saw that the egg was metallic, knowing that if the parent dragon returned, they wouldn't be attacked immediately. Now, she was only confused, trying to figure out why the egg wasn't left in a mountain and was instead here.

More importantly, what was the mist around it for? Protection? Stasis? Something else? Questions swirled inside her head and she was unable to find answers.

She paced around a little bit, sometimes twirling the club with incredible ease. She even mumbled to herself, the weird situation not affecting her chatty personality.

It wasn't safe for the egg to remain here, that was for sure. While some creatures might not be brave or foolish enough to attack a dragon egg for food, some will, especially larger creatures. Besides, she doubted the mist would be able to defend the egg on its own. Sure, it might hinder attackers, but it wouldn't be enough.

So, she concluded that it would be best for other nature spirits to know about the egg. The older treants, nymphs, satyrs and dryads might be able able to decide what to do with it . But they might decide the egg was trouble than it was worth.

Personally, she felt that having a dragon indebted to them wasn't a bad thing. Just imagine, a dragon helping to defend the forest, they would be untouchable for decades. Of course, she wouldn't force the dragon through emotional obligation, the dragon could leave whenever it wants.

She wasn't confident in raising the dragon on her own, maybe she would get help from other dryads. Maybe, she could even convince the others on her idea.

First of all, she had to get rid of the mist. Plants don't mix well with the cold in spring. Imbuing her club with a dispell effect on it should work.

She worked her inate magic, and stepped towards it. She raised her club and harden her arm with bark until it could barely bend. Who knew what nasty surprise the mist had? She the gingerly move the club into the range of the mist. It caused frost to start forming on the club but nothing else.

Seeing that the effect wasn't dramatic, she quickly tapped the egg.

That was when things get weirder. The mist instead of retaliating, was absorbed into egg. The egg then began to drop in temperature rapidly. Causing frosting to appear near it.

The dryad felt her heart caught in her throat. She didn't know what was happening. Shouldn't the mist disappear?

*CRACK*

A cracking sound interrupted her panic. The metallic egg was cracking. A small crack had appear along the shiny exterior and was slowly spreading. When the crack had stopped, a *thud* came from inside the egg, making the crack again.

"It's hatching?"

The *thuds* became more frequent, the cracks spread faster.

Until finally, the wyrmling broke free.