Much to his delight, the the bison tasted like a fine pasta dish. One wouldn’t think that cooked meet would taste like that, but Darin wasn’t going to complain. After the meal, he even licked his claws clean, only to receive an odd message.

Keen Tongue: Part of you.

This is not an evolutionary material! It is strongly advised, that you do not try to eat yourself. “It didn’t do Ouroboros any good.”

What. The. Hell? He shook his head a moment and swiped the message away. Whoever programmed this world, had one strange sense of humor. “Is something wrong?” Razor Claw asked, noticing the window and his odd behavior.

“Just one of my abilities kicking in, at an odd moment.” He explained, expecting that to end any questions. Given that he’d not seen any other dragons licking their claws, that was probably considered rude too.

“Oh? Do tell.” She requested, causing him to wince. She blinked at his reaction and waited a moment for him to speak.

“I was licking the juices off my claw.” He admitted with a sigh, causing her to shake her head. “And Keen Tongue informed me it would not be a good idea to eat myself.” He stated. When she laughed, he added more. “I wasn’t going to, it just surprised me.”

“I see.” Razor Claw stated with some mirth. “I’m unfamiliar with that ability. What is a Keen Tongue?” She asked, before cutting off the obvious smart reply. “And don’t say a sharp wit.”

“I guess it’s a sort of taste identification.” Darin replied, sounding a bit embarrassed. “It tells me if something is an evolutionary material, and what path it would push me along.” He explained in a level tone. For him, he might as well be talking about the weather. After a few moments of silence, he looked back up to find her staring at him. Worse, many of the others at nearby tables stared as well. Darin glanced around, finding that many of the others had stopped eating just to observe him. A few even had enough sense to mumble under their breaths and identify him. Again? He sighed.

“Little one- I mean, Swift Blaze. You have been blessed by the Mother.” Razor Claw stated, causing many to nod. To his surprise, several of the others just remained frozen. Did their AI crash or something?

“More than you realize, Razor Claw. More than you realize.” He stated, not bothering to hide his mirth. A quick glance confirmed that the frozen dragons had not yet returned to motion. You’d think that Dragons would have more mental fortitude. “I thank you for sharing the meal, but I need to go see someone before I travel.”

“Safe journeys, young dragon. May you grow strong, and bring pride to the Mother.” She replied as he focused his attention on the Hatchery. He felt a pull towards the exit and took flight. Before he had gotten too far, he heard some of the other dragons talking.

“Why do you look so surprised? You even stopped eating.” Someone asked their companion.

“That little one, he’s a…” They stated in disbelief.

“Primal.” Another finished, sounding torn between excitement and horror. Darin couldn’t hear the rest as he passed through the doorway, but the noise behind him picked up quickly. In flight, the journey to the Hatchery seemed far shorter than he remembered.

* * * * *

“Well, good morning. It looks like our sleeping dragon has finally awoken.” Blood Claw greeted him, once he found her in the Hatchery. Beside her, sat a glowing blue shell of dreams. As well, a few of the other young dragons were present.

“They do say, to leave sleeping dragons be.” Scorch added, causing the dragoness to laugh. For once, the red-scaled whelp seemed to be in a good mood.

“My dreams woke me first.” Darin grumbled, despite their mirth. The others looked at him and made note of his bloodshot eyes. This earned him a deep and rumbling sigh from the Den Mother.

“And so you ate and rushed straight here, expecting to be sent on your way?” She asked. After a moment he gave her a slow nod. In reply she just sighed and shook her head. “You’re already a half day behind the others, due to your last trial. But as creative as you are, I doubt that will hold you back.” Oh great, I’m late again?

“Since I-” He began, sounding less than thrilled at her revelation.

“Oh no you don’t! You earned a Name last night.” She stated, cutting him off. “Now that you are a dragon, act like one. I better not see you lazing about all glum and lethargic.” She paused to let her words sink in. After a few seconds under her harsh stare, he straightened himself up and nodded to her. “Good. So tell me, young Swift Blaze, have you prepared for adventures?”

“Uh.” He paused and looked at his pack for a moment, then back to her. “Not really.”

“I expected as much.” Blood Claw said with a sigh. Despite shaking her head at him, she seemed a bit more amused. “Well then. Before we send you out and about, we had better make sure you are prepared.”

“That, would probably be wise.” Darin agreed, feeling a bit embarrassed. Scorch gave a hearty laugh, which earned him a questioning look from Darin.

“You’re hardly the first one she’s had to rein in, before they ran off naked into the wilds. Not even the first one today.” Scorch explained, causing the others to laugh. Even the dragoness nodded in agreement.

“I guess I’m a little to eager to see what became of the world.” He stated, causing Blood Claw to give him a questioning look.

“Or a little afraid of what you might find?” She asked, her tone softer than usual. Darin looked at her for a few moments, with his beak hanging open. Once he regained his composure, he nodded and sighed.

“In the memories, it was such a vivid and beautiful place. The trees were alive and intelligent, as if they were our partners. But everyone has this surprised look when I speak of them. No one remembers the songs of their planting.” He looked into Blood Claw’s eyes and sighed. “They are gone, aren’t they?”

After a long moment, the Den Mother let out a deep and rumbling sigh. “I can’t answer that.” She admitted. Before he could ask, she spoke again. “I only know of the lands near our home. The world is a large place, it has many different lands within it. If what you seek isn’t in the Mother’s lands, go further and go farther. Your search may not be in vain.”

“That could take years, to search the whole world over.” He stated.

“No, given the size of our world it could take decades.” She replied. Darin opened his beak to protest, but she cut him off. “You could find what you seek with ease, or you may have to travel far and wide. But just imagine all the lands you might see, and all the people you might meet in your travels. It is a beautiful world, this place we live in.”

“But what if I can’t find them?” He asked. And then he voiced a deeper fear. “What if I spend years searching for something that no longer exists?”

“Darin- Ahem. Swift Blaze, I think you worry far too much. As much effort as was put in to making those trees for your memories, do you really think the server would just throw that away? A little tip. The boss is big on recycling.”

“Oh, okay.” Darin acknowledged. It was an argument he’d not thought of before. Scorched eyed their exchange in disbelief, as an AI disregarded the fourth wall. To his credit, he managed to keep his mouth shut. The low level NPCs in the room however, remained oblivious to the conversation. An awkward silence hung around for several seconds before Darin spoke again. “So um, getting prepared?”

“Yes. You already have a pack, but you don’t really have anything worthwhile in it. You might be wise to carry some coin, some rations and some emergency items. I guess you’ve figured out that you don’t need water?” She asked. By now the whelps in the room were carrying on their own side conversations.

“Right, as long as I eat meat I don’t seem to get thirsty. And I can supplement my meal by drinking my prey’s blood.” Darin replied. An eerie silence filled the room, and every head turned back to him. Shit.

“You…what?” The dragoness asked, giving him a strange look.

“I can drink the blood of my prey while its warm. It tastes good anyway.” Darin stated, noticing all the strange looks he was receiving. “I think all of my kind could…” He added, sounding a bit defensive.

“Even if it tastes good, I’d advise you not to. That can lead to some unsavory evolutions.” Blood Claw advised.

“Not to mention, that’s really gross.” Scorch added.

“What? So it’s fine to eat raw or ‘well aged’ meat, but the blood is gross? And don’t worry about it Den Mother, I didn’t want to become a blood dragon either. It sounded gross to me, so I declined that path and used the guardian buck’s blood to fill my normal stomach.” He explained. This only served to cause everyone to direct questions at him.

“You have multiple stomachs?” Scorch asked.

“You drank blood? Yuck.”

“You chose which stomach your food goes into?”

“What types of stomachs do you have?”

“You saw what you could become, and opted against it?” Blood Claw asked. She seemed to be surprised yet again. Am I that weird? Darin sighed and took a deep breath before trying to answer.

“Yes, I have two stomachs. One for meals and one for future evolution material. When-”

“Lucky bastard.” Scorch grumbled, interrupting his response. A quick glare from the dragoness shut him up.

“Ahem. When I eat, I can see what paths of evolution my food might lead me to. Then I have the option to direct evolutionary materials to the appropriate stomach. And before I spend all day explaining how I’m different.” He paused to look at Blood Claw. “You were saying something about provisions?”

“Yes. Before your tangent, anyway. So you would like to get yourself ready to travel?” She asked, starting to sound amused. When he nodded, she brought up a window and tapped it once.

Quest: Get ready to travel.

Blood Claw would like you to go see Greed. He will be able to trade with you and help you prepare for travel.

Completion condition: Speak with Greed.

Reward: Learn more, get prepared for travel, learn new locations.

Failure condition: Fail to complete the quest within 1 week.

Penalty: Blood Claw will be disappointed with you and will force you to go through the tutorial again. There will be a quiz afterwords.

“Really, Blood Claw?” He asked, dropping out of character. She laughed for a few seconds and nodded. “You had a quest all prepared, but waited until now to give it to me? You could have given me the quest last night and I’d have done it already.”

“Yes, but then you’d have woken up Greed to complete it last night. And he gets really cranky when he first wakes up.” She paused to shoot him a frightening grin. “But I suppose you already know that. Besides, if you hadn’t stopped by, how would I congratulate you?”

“But…” Darin began. “But you didn’t even congratulate me on passing the trails and earning a name.” He corrected her.

“Oh.” Blood Claw muttered, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I guess you are right. Congratulations then, young Swift Blaze.” She stated, as if it were a mere formality.

“Gee, thanks.” He replied, in a bland tone. His lack of enthusiasm caused her to laugh. “I guess I’ll be off to visit Greed.” Before you send me on a shrubbery quest…

- - - - -

Author’s Note: Sorry it took so long to get back to things. I’ve had a lot going on in the past week, but I still thought I’d get a new chapter done sooner. Work, life, personal health, good books, catching up on my shows, fallout 4 and lets not forget sleep deficit. That said I haven’t given up on the story. I intend to finish out this book, which is a prelude to the larger adventures to come. Thank you to everyone who has patiently waited for the update. And thank you for all the support and feedback. Night! Advertisement Previous

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