Wow. I was screaming I... I was running and crying and holding the kid tight. Alphaaaaa, Betaaa. I'll avenge you, I swear.

After a long time of sobbing. The little one came and cried beside me.

"I'm here... I'll protect you."

He began to whistle as if to call his moms...but they didn't come...

How sad.

On my knees in the darkness, I crawled and then I began to sing.

Revenge!

"There's a price on your head!

I'll make you pay for their lives!

What is the fate

Let those who bring death be given to those who bring death

Those bastards killed

But all of you here, you know.

That those monsters before

That they've already spilled blood

I didn't, I swear...

Wanted what happened

Revenge is not my nature.

But still, yes, I'm going to get revenge

Should we just, therefore, do nothing

When you see a mother die?"

I crawled and I scratched and I hit the ground...

And, in a fit of rage, mana escaped and lit up everything around us.

A series of cubicles followed one another. Each with the same configuration. A nest and a room. And a tote bag.

There I found wonders.

Pots and pans, salt... rope and colored stones.

Some were embedded in the walls like a kaleidoscope.

I also found a satchel and a bed.

I decided to settle here.

There was an underground lake of warm water and it was warm and sunny.

I took the lodge near the entrance so that the little one could do his dirt outside and keep the place clean.

Then I let myself fall into the nest.

We fell asleep immediately.

"Mommy?...you don't say anything....

Mummy?..."

Quiet...

Suddenly I was afraid of being abandoned.

"Please, Mommy?"

Heater: "Your anger disappointed me. I'm angry with you.

They're just animals. They're predictable. And if your friends died, it's your fault. It's hard, but it's the truth. I thought you were smarter and stronger. What will you do when faced with humans a thousand times smarter?

You panicked, you didn't anticipate. Worse, you didn't study your lessons well. You could roar and charge your mana scream."

"But... Mommy..."

"You deserve a spanking and the punishment of your life. I would have crushed your face in the mud to make you understand how much I care for you.

But even that I can' t...

I forbid you to be reckless and I'm sorry but you have to survive and pull yourself together. You are a dragon, not a beast and where is the human in you? You have to overcome your humanity and become a dragon that is supposed to be superior to humans. Never forget that. It is a privilege to be a dragon and you should be proud of it. Your wounds are sores. You should have gotten angry, exploded your mana, imposed your terror. They would have run away. No, you behaved like a coward and abandoned your friends in the end. "For fear of losing them you finally lost them..."

"Mom... I ran out of fire..."

"You fool! If you'd put mana in your fire, it would be a thousand times more powerful. At your age I was melting rock... I was slapping my tail like a whip and standing up to my dragon mother. My two brothers and I held off an onslaught of hungry wolves."

"But the Dilos..."

"Your superheated breath would've dazzled them and you could've detonated your breath. Damn it, man... are you a dragon or a coward?

Now you have a group that isn't afraid of you anymore, they're probably waiting for you outside tonight, you have a little one to protect and you're not even able to protect yourself."

"Sorry, Mom... sniff."

"Stop whining and get a grip.

If you were to disappear... did you think I'd be alone? Here... in the dark... and I can't even die to join you in the afterlife?

Have you thought about that?"

You'll do exactly as I say. And being afraid is no longer an excuse.

You're going to the front door. If there are beasts there, chase them away.

"But...

"There are no buts."

Activate the stone and a gate will close the entrance.

"I don't have enough mana."

"Fuck it... dragons have them forever. That's why I'm pissed. You give yourself imaginary boundaries...

You go find a cage and you put your protector in it and you give it something to drink.

Then you go hunting and you train your breath.

And come to think of it... you've got a stinger too... why didn't you use it? Ah... fear keeps you from thinking."

"But rex? The gigants?"

"Plus you have your dragon venom... idiot!"

"Huh??

"Aren't you going to tell me you don't know that?

That's the last straw!...

....

....

You can put your prey to sleep, kill it quickly, or kill it slowly. You can heal and anesthetize and even turn it into a dragon..."

..

...

I began to cry in front of all my failures.

"Thank you mom... I've learned my lesson..."

Today I've grown up, but at what cost.

What was given to me was taken away and I became aware of what a dragon is.

That's when I realized the value of a human mother or dragon or goddess. A mother is irreplaceable...

"Iiiik" said the little one who chewed on me protesting that he was hungry.

"Come on, let's go hunting, Vicky."

And we headed for the exit, well recovered thanks to Mommy.

We left the harbor while it was still daylight and I put mana in my wings and lifted Vicky while he was still a baby and flew north. And I made a discovery. I understood why the dilos had forgotten us.

Wou

Wou

Wou.

The Utahraptors were trapped and their queen with it.

They were barking for help, for more raptors to come and take them out.

There was a waterfall, followed by a dale, then a waterfall, then another waterfall and another waterfall, and on the edge of the river there was a promontory about a hundred metres high above the banks and the river. Some trees provided shade.

The only access was a small path that the dilos could take by storm but they could get out by jumping into the river.

Normally, a tribe could take refuge there from a predator and offer impregnable shelter for refuge or rest.

But with a large number of dilos, it became a death trap.

Unfortunately for them, there were seven of them with a nest and young that they protected. The dilos, they were 14. 7 were resting while waiting for their prey to arrive on their own, waiting for them to be hungry and thirsty.

One of them perished under their fangs trying to break the encirclement.

The rest watched, took a bite out of the perished raptor and provocations rained down...

Hissss

Hissss

I flew over the scene.

A row of dilos were at the edge of the waterfall, unable to jump like raptors, the only ones able to climb under cover but surrounded like plums on a plum tree.

They were all about to die and I could see the sadness and despair in the eyes of these intelligent animals.

A range of emotions and suddenly the queen raised her head and saw me. She recognized me for having spared young Trex, whom they had been unable to enjoy a few weeks earlier.

Against all odds, she began to bark desperately in my direction.

The other raptors began to cry...

I went around and the dilos threatened me by clapping their teeth and blowing like rabid cobras.

I began to draw from my mana and roared with all my strength at the drop of a hat.

Vicky was trembling with fear, the raptors subdued their heads in the ground and the dilos on the way out...

I then charged my mana breath and on the second pass, a glowing trail was traced in the grass where once there were dilosaurus.

One of them was charred and the others fled.

Then I sat down and put the little one behind me.

I faced the raptors and found myself at the only exit of the promontory.

They were playing dead and some of them were moaning. They thought I was going to eat them too.

Queen Alpha came crawling and giggling with fear. She came to my feet and I must have been at least twice her size.

She licked my talons and raised her head, ready to run away. She had good reflexes and had to prepare for an attack from me.

But I gave her a lick and she let it happen.

She continued licking my paw and our muzzles met.

The next moment our tongues got mixed and the other raptors saw me lying down around me.

I straightened my head and gave a thunderous roar towards the fleeing dilos.

The female licked Vicky too, and we formed a small group like this.

The hungry raptors pounced on the cooked carcass.

I roared twice more in the direction of the remains of my carno friends. The raptors raised their heads in the direction I roared and continued their feast.

The queen lay down in front of me, inviting me and I climbed on, accepting her invitation.

Unusual sensations, unknown to me, human and dragon, presented themselves. Everything was automatic and I could not stop, impossible, driven by pleasure.

The female lost consciousness, probably because of the pleasure and the duration and intensity of the act. Afterwards, I was not the same anymore.

I wasn't a baby or a kid...

I was a dragon. In soul, in flesh and blood.

I had a family and a tribe and something to protect.

ROooooaarrr.