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Description
Ryan crouched behind the blueberry bush, under the birch and pine trees which surrounded him. He was kneeling away from the midday sun watching a herd of female deer grazing in the open green, sun-lighted field before him. The heavy scent from the tree's hid his distinct human odor, which had failed to be masked yesterday night when he arrived in Olivine valley. He had tracked the deer from his camp nearly a mile away and after about fifty minutes of following their trail he had finally tracked them to the very spot he was now surveying. He crouched about thirty feet away, his dark skin and the shade from the trees giving him great camouflage in the shadow filled forest; he dared not move, knowing that this could most likely be his dinner. He held his bow in hand, low to his knee, as he analyzed the ten deer, wondering which he would pick to be his prey. Ryan was never good with hunting and making decisions on who was the weakest, he occasionally realized that the weak people or animals ended up having either a lot of spirit or were in fact very strong. Thinking hard, his crimson eyes rested on a doe, with a white tail and white spots plastered across her light brown pelt. The deer looked like any other, but was grazing alone as if ostracized from the main herd.

Within him Ryan confirmed his target and slowly raised his maple wood long bow, lining up the sights with the doe, as he drew an arrow from his quiver, and placed the nook of the arrow on the bowstring and began to draw back. HE moved his arm back slowly as he paid close attention to his target, his mind occasionally drifting away to the constant chatter of song birds perching in trees and rodents scurrying across the floor, none took notice of the hunter before them. Once the bowstring was drawn back far enough to penetrate the deer, he waited for a second making sure the other deer were not anywhere close enough to mess up the shot or alert the forsaken prey. A current of wind passed over the distant mountains and swept through the valley, moving south, which carried with it Ryan's human scent. Coincidentally, the deer were in fact downwind of him, and the current of air wafted right into their nostrils. Taking notice, birds unfolded their feather wings and took off following the current and shrieking into the wind. But it was too late; the arrow from Ryan's bow had already taken off into the whirling river of leaves and onto the plains.

As if by magic, the wind suddenly changed directions, causing the leaves of trees to rustle and shatter in protest of their slumber. The arrow floated in mid air for a second, merely cut the female deer's side and planted itself just inches away from the doe, with a soft THUMP, causing the deer to jump a startling height, frightened to a new sense.  Such an act alerted the others of the herd and in a flurry they sprinted off into the neighboring trees on the other side of the field, leaving the attacked doe to limp after them.

Ryan cursed under his breath as the strange wind receded to a soft breeze. Red faced he stood to his feet and kicked a small rock a few feet away as he revealed himself to forest, walking into the wide clearing and allowing the high sun to beat down upon his pale white hair. Retrieving his arrow from the ground he looked at the light brown earth and realized every few feet a small drop of blood rested on a blade of grass, dirt, or leaf, leaving a trail of the injured doe's escape. Determined to get what was rightfully his, he cleaned the head of the arrow on the ground and placed it in his quiver and began to walk alongside the blood trail moving quickly off the field and hiding around the trees as he slowly made his way toward the deer who had limped quickly away. Around him nature seemed to just begin to smell the blood and sense a chance for a meal; buzzards and Ryan's favorite bird, a crow, circled around in the air, keeping an eye on the hunter and fluttering away farther down the trail where Ryan suspected the doe traveled.  Ryan acted as if he did not notice the scavengers and kept moving, pausing occasionally to scare away curious beasts or hide from the larger ones. Being in the Olivine Valley, Ryan had learned and seen the strangest of creatures and things, which quickly reminded him why people rarely traveled off the well protected trails. Unlike the animals close to his city, the beasts deep within the valleys small mountains lived foreign and weird creatures.

One of the beings he noticed and regretted ever seeing was; an eyeless eight foot long and five foot tall reptile, with two slits for a nose, a long neck and a giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It had a massive body and four long, sharp talons on each of its four thick muscular legs. To Ryan it somewhat resembled a hairless bear or more likely a komodo dragon, a reptile which he had only seen in pictures from people who had traveled from Viadr Island, somewhere just at the edge of the empire and far off the coast of the mainland. The beast had no hair on its body and was covered with thick scales which were strong enough to deflect swords. It was named the, Silathr, and roamed across wooded areas or marshlands. It took many lives near Ryan's city, and people were ordered to run instead of fight such a beast. Ryan shuddered as he remembered seeing the animal from his treetop camp last night, just moments after getting off the ground; he thanked his god, for helping him evade such a predator.

He returned to his thoughts and focused again on the blood trail, it curved and twisted around the unusual thick trees of Olivine and at points ceased, to only pick back up a few yards away. After nearly two hours Ryan spotted the doe laying peacefully on a massive elevated stone which jutted out of the ground and formed a dagger like shape which pointed to the east. The doe lay atop it, licking its wound casually as if it didn't know it had left its trail. Ryan took a position just a few yards away from it and without hesitating he drew an arrow got it into place and drew back the bowstring. It took him awhile to level the arrow with his target, the excitement within him causing his hands to moving shakily. HE was glad that he had tracked down the doe again and was going to be able to finally take it. He wished not for the deer to suffer and for it to go peacefully without being afraid, but under the circumstances and the now setting sun, he had to finish the job quickly before nightfall.

He released his arrow and sent the projectile whistling through the air, ending with a muffled snap as it made contact with the deer's skull. The deer had made no sign to show that it was alive or hurt, and Ryan took this as a sign to proceed. He moved out from under the bush and stepped onto the giant dagger shaped rock, a tiny stream of light, now penetrated the roof of the forest and shone on the faint splatter of blood which had come from the kill. Ryan walked up the smooth stone surface and knelt beside the dead deer. He clasped his hands together and ushered a silent thankful prayer for deer which would now become part of him, as if a spiritual entity had heard him, a cluster of doves fluttered through the visible stream of light and disappeared singing to each other. He closed the deer's eyes and slowly removed the arrow from the deer's temple, cringing at the sucking sound it made as it was extracted.

Realizing it would be better to get rid of the useless weight, Ryan unsheathed his father's blade and was about to decapitate the animal and degut it when a number of loud shrieks sounded not too far away. Realizing some predator must have startled them, Ryan took in his surroundings and realized that many creatures were retreating to their holes or perching themselves on branches, watching Ryan with a curious glare as if wondering why he stayed in place and did not run. But he had nowhere to go, which made him very uncomfortable. He could try and climb a tree but, that may take a while and who knew what type of being was lurking in the shadows of the forest.  He looked down off the side of the dagger stone and realized he was maybe ten feet off the ground, and decided this would most likely be the safest place for him to hide.  Laying flat on his stomach he peered over the tip of the stone and looked at the forest below, sword in hand and ready for battle.

As he looked deep into the tree's which rose above him but were a number of feet away from him, his crimson eyes stopped at the sight of another. But the eyes he looked upon where about as big and round as plate and a dark forbidding yellow with a black talon in the middle of them, which Ryan took to be its pupil. The eyes sent a violent shiver down Ryan's body and immobilized him with fear, he dared not run or shout, fearing the hidden creature would only take it as a threat and attack. He eased his swords blade to the edge of the rock revealing it to the beast. Not a sound echoed through the forest as the animals watched what stood before them, it was as if time had completely stopped and the universe watched Ryan out of everyone else. The yellow cat-like eyes moved just a bit and locked onto the tip of the blade for just a second and then disappeared. Appalled and relieved Ryan ushered a great sigh rolled onto his back, the fear of what could have happened lolling into his mind. He began to laugh at his own fear realizing how much of coward he was, he vowed that next time he saw those eyes he would stand his ground and either fight the animal and make it clear that he ruled over it and was indeed the predator. How naive and ignorant he was, for he wouldn't have to wait long before the topaz eyes rested upon him again.

Ryan got to his feet and returned his attention back to the deer. He had expected the flies or crows to have taken it as theirs, but even they still rested in the trees waiting for something unknown to the human. Ryan smiled, such scary creatures, he thought raising his sword over his head, he was surprised to hear it cut through the air, as he realized a forbidding silence still engulfed the area. In a heave he brought his sword down and as if given a signal, the stone and forest around him began to shake violently as a growl emanated from the surrounding trees and bounced off object after object creating a head-splitting sound. The boy tried to pinpoint the source but could only drop his sword and press his sweaty hands against his ears for fear that his head would burst.

The growl had now turned into a savage roar which confused and dizzied Ryan, causing him to stubble and fall to the forest floor below. His back was in pain and he dared not get to his feet, it was as if the ground below him was resting on the wing of a bird that flew through the sky at mighty speeds. Ryan realized he was losing consciousness when a great brown figure appeared in the sky and casted a shadow across the clearing and Ryan himself. He dared a look and the first thing he noticed were the huge cat-like topaz eyes. They rested on the face of a mighty brown scaled beast which had dusty jagged spikes protruding from its head down its massive neck, body and tail. The spikes were bigger at the shoulders which held great wings, like a bats, they beat furiously pounding the trees around Ryan as if they were simply blades of grass, the force kept Ryan pinned to the ground. The creature's spiked tail hung firmly from its now descending body, but occasionally swished and whipped the trees around it; the limb was about the same size as the beast itself. Ryan realized with horror that the dragon was about seven meters tall and about twenty-meters long, its wings greatly doubling that size, which folded together as it descended and lowered itself over the dead deer, which was dwarfed by the dragon. Slim brown muscular legs rested on the dagger like stone and positioned themselves close together so that they were all on the surface. Ryan guessed that the dragon was female because of its slim and skinny figure; he had been told long ago by his grandma that female dragons were extremely skinnier than males, and he wondered if she had truly known dragons still existed.

The dragon acted as if it did not notice the human lying only fourteen feet away from it on the forest floor or the small dead animals which had been pushed to the rough forest floor by the dragon wings. It craned its long thick scaled neck over the dead deer and emitted little puffs of smoke which spiraled around the corpse then drifted into the air. It opened its mighty jaws which held a number of sharp rows of teeth and picked the creature up in its jaws. Blood dripped from it as new puncture wounds that appeared across the body. The dragon didn't swallow the doe but merely let it hang limp as it glanced around the clearing before it would once again fly off. It's topaz like eyes rested on Ryan, who still clutched his ears, and was drenched in sweat. It cocked its head to the side like a dog, as if wondering something, and in an instant bent its legs and pushed off the stone, which cracked violently beneath its weight, and flew off into the distance.

Frightened Ryan immediately got to his feet, retrieved his sword which lay a few feet away from him and sprinted through the forest. Realizing that dragons indeed did exist sent a wave of emotions and feelings through his body which forced him to move at an alarming speed faster than he had ever before. He cared little about if any animals saw him or crossed his path he just had to get away from the dragon as soon as possible.  A faint roar caused Ryan to turn and run up a small hill studded with trees crags and mounds of sharp rocks, it took him a while to climb it, but it seemed to be protected well enough that no large predators could make it up the sides. No birds or creatures moved around him, either they were hiding or gone, he didn't know and cared less. The only sound around him was from the leaves which rustled in the breeze or the soft thud of his footsteps. He came to a stop as he reached the top of the hill, before him was a shallow ravine lined with what appeared to be pale rocks and broken trees. Smooth dirt stretched across the large ravine, a great mound of white stones rose at edge of it, just on the side wall. It appeared to be a cave, which Ryan immediately was drawn to. The sun was just above the mountains and in minutes it would set. He made his way over to the wall of rocks and broken trees and jogged towards the cave. A dim white glow emitted from it, bouncing off the inner walls.

Peering inside Ryan noticed a bright oval stone deep within, glowing as if the sun sparkled upon it. It rested on a pile of dead leaves which could hide it if it hadn't been glowing. The scene made Ryan smile; he had never seen such a beautiful stone. It was grey-white and laced with thin lines of blue and white moving across the surface and converging in a small circle on the side. The source of the glow seemed to come from that point, and seemed to only get stronger and brighter as Ryan got closer to it. Ryan curiously was drawn to it and noticed that the stone was slightly transparent, and every time the stone glowed as if it were throbbing with power, a small strange figure stirred within it followed by a soft thump like a drum. As Ryan watched his hands drifted towards the queer stone, he grasped it in his arms and was surprised by its light weight. With his touch it beat and throbbed faster and faster until it was practically a drum flashing about wildly. In the distance, Ryan heard the roaring of the dragon, but he cared little, the stone gave him a sense of comfort and safety.

The walls of the cave now flashed with the rapid white-blue light emitting from the stone, the figure inside stirring wildly. Ryan wondered if what vibrated in his hands was even a stone or in fact an egg. But if it was, what type of egg could it be? He held it tighter but with more curiosity as he tried to distinguish the animal within the stone. He was close to a conclusion when the thumping ceased and the stone flashed no more but simply glowed, an ugly crack rippled across the surface of the stone emitting dust particles and a blinding white light with it. Ryan dropped the egg and backed away, careful not to hit his head on the roof of the cave, he caught the sharp shriek of a falcon outside but dared not turn his eyes away from the now cracking egg. A massive plate fell from the original crack and split to the floor, a plume of steam now gushing over and out of the egg. Ryan's fear did not return just more and more curiosity which shook him to his core. A soft cry emitted from the insides of the stone as it began to break apart. As each plate began to fall, a cry came with it. Ryan stood and watched, eyes big with shock and awe, what have I gotten myself into? With a river of steam surrounding it, the stones base rippled and with a massive crack, which echoed around the cave, it broke apart. A figure could just be seen writhing around in the steam as if was being taken by seizure. Then all was quiet and no squeals or cries could be heard. Ryan watched the steam, wondering what had happened, and in that second his question was answered. The steam receded inwards like dust being sucked up. What lay in its place, sent a cold and regretful shiver down Ryan's spine as he realized, he had just witnessed the birth of a dragon.

Description
Ryan crouched behind the blueberry bush, under the birch and pine trees which surrounded him. He was kneeling away from the midday sun watching a herd of female deer grazing in the open green, sun-lighted field before him. The heavy scent from the tree's hid his distinct human odor, which had failed to be masked yesterday night when he arrived in Olivine valley. He had tracked the deer from his camp nearly a mile away and after about fifty minutes of following their trail he had finally tracked them to the very spot he was now surveying. He crouched about thirty feet away, his dark skin and the shade from the trees giving him great camouflage in the shadow filled forest; he dared not move, knowing that this could most likely be his dinner. He held his bow in hand, low to his knee, as he analyzed the ten deer, wondering which he would pick to be his prey. Ryan was never good with hunting and making decisions on who was the weakest, he occasionally realized that the weak people or animals ended up having either a lot of spirit or were in fact very strong. Thinking hard, his crimson eyes rested on a doe, with a white tail and white spots plastered across her light brown pelt. The deer looked like any other, but was grazing alone as if ostracized from the main herd.

Within him Ryan confirmed his target and slowly raised his maple wood long bow, lining up the sights with the doe, as he drew an arrow from his quiver, and placed the nook of the arrow on the bowstring and began to draw back. HE moved his arm back slowly as he paid close attention to his target, his mind occasionally drifting away to the constant chatter of song birds perching in trees and rodents scurrying across the floor, none took notice of the hunter before them. Once the bowstring was drawn back far enough to penetrate the deer, he waited for a second making sure the other deer were not anywhere close enough to mess up the shot or alert the forsaken prey. A current of wind passed over the distant mountains and swept through the valley, moving south, which carried with it Ryan's human scent. Coincidentally, the deer were in fact downwind of him, and the current of air wafted right into their nostrils. Taking notice, birds unfolded their feather wings and took off following the current and shrieking into the wind. But it was too late; the arrow from Ryan's bow had already taken off into the whirling river of leaves and onto the plains.

As if by magic, the wind suddenly changed directions, causing the leaves of trees to rustle and shatter in protest of their slumber. The arrow floated in mid air for a second, merely cut the female deer's side and planted itself just inches away from the doe, with a soft THUMP, causing the deer to jump a startling height, frightened to a new sense.  Such an act alerted the others of the herd and in a flurry they sprinted off into the neighboring trees on the other side of the field, leaving the attacked doe to limp after them.

Ryan cursed under his breath as the strange wind receded to a soft breeze. Red faced he stood to his feet and kicked a small rock a few feet away as he revealed himself to forest, walking into the wide clearing and allowing the high sun to beat down upon his pale white hair. Retrieving his arrow from the ground he looked at the light brown earth and realized every few feet a small drop of blood rested on a blade of grass, dirt, or leaf, leaving a trail of the injured doe's escape. Determined to get what was rightfully his, he cleaned the head of the arrow on the ground and placed it in his quiver and began to walk alongside the blood trail moving quickly off the field and hiding around the trees as he slowly made his way toward the deer who had limped quickly away. Around him nature seemed to just begin to smell the blood and sense a chance for a meal; buzzards and Ryan's favorite bird, a crow, circled around in the air, keeping an eye on the hunter and fluttering away farther down the trail where Ryan suspected the doe traveled.  Ryan acted as if he did not notice the scavengers and kept moving, pausing occasionally to scare away curious beasts or hide from the larger ones. Being in the Olivine Valley, Ryan had learned and seen the strangest of creatures and things, which quickly reminded him why people rarely traveled off the well protected trails. Unlike the animals close to his city, the beasts deep within the valleys small mountains lived foreign and weird creatures.

One of the beings he noticed and regretted ever seeing was; an eyeless eight foot long and five foot tall reptile, with two slits for a nose, a long neck and a giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It had a massive body and four long, sharp talons on each of its four thick muscular legs. To Ryan it somewhat resembled a hairless bear or more likely a komodo dragon, a reptile which he had only seen in pictures from people who had traveled from Viadr Island, somewhere just at the edge of the empire and far off the coast of the mainland. The beast had no hair on its body and was covered with thick scales which were strong enough to deflect swords. It was named the, Silathr, and roamed across wooded areas or marshlands. It took many lives near Ryan's city, and people were ordered to run instead of fight such a beast. Ryan shuddered as he remembered seeing the animal from his treetop camp last night, just moments after getting off the ground; he thanked his god, for helping him evade such a predator.

He returned to his thoughts and focused again on the blood trail, it curved and twisted around the unusual thick trees of Olivine and at points ceased, to only pick back up a few yards away. After nearly two hours Ryan spotted the doe laying peacefully on a massive elevated stone which jutted out of the ground and formed a dagger like shape which pointed to the east. The doe lay atop it, licking its wound casually as if it didn't know it had left its trail. Ryan took a position just a few yards away from it and without hesitating he drew an arrow got it into place and drew back the bowstring. It took him awhile to level the arrow with his target, the excitement within him causing his hands to moving shakily. HE was glad that he had tracked down the doe again and was going to be able to finally take it. He wished not for the deer to suffer and for it to go peacefully without being afraid, but under the circumstances and the now setting sun, he had to finish the job quickly before nightfall.

He released his arrow and sent the projectile whistling through the air, ending with a muffled snap as it made contact with the deer's skull. The deer had made no sign to show that it was alive or hurt, and Ryan took this as a sign to proceed. He moved out from under the bush and stepped onto the giant dagger shaped rock, a tiny stream of light, now penetrated the roof of the forest and shone on the faint splatter of blood which had come from the kill. Ryan walked up the smooth stone surface and knelt beside the dead deer. He clasped his hands together and ushered a silent thankful prayer for deer which would now become part of him, as if a spiritual entity had heard him, a cluster of doves fluttered through the visible stream of light and disappeared singing to each other. He closed the deer's eyes and slowly removed the arrow from the deer's temple, cringing at the sucking sound it made as it was extracted.

Realizing it would be better to get rid of the useless weight, Ryan unsheathed his father's blade and was about to decapitate the animal and degut it when a number of loud shrieks sounded not too far away. Realizing some predator must have startled them, Ryan took in his surroundings and realized that many creatures were retreating to their holes or perching themselves on branches, watching Ryan with a curious glare as if wondering why he stayed in place and did not run. But he had nowhere to go, which made him very uncomfortable. He could try and climb a tree but, that may take a while and who knew what type of being was lurking in the shadows of the forest.  He looked down off the side of the dagger stone and realized he was maybe ten feet off the ground, and decided this would most likely be the safest place for him to hide.  Laying flat on his stomach he peered over the tip of the stone and looked at the forest below, sword in hand and ready for battle.

As he looked deep into the tree's which rose above him but were a number of feet away from him, his crimson eyes stopped at the sight of another. But the eyes he looked upon where about as big and round as plate and a dark forbidding yellow with a black talon in the middle of them, which Ryan took to be its pupil. The eyes sent a violent shiver down Ryan's body and immobilized him with fear, he dared not run or shout, fearing the hidden creature would only take it as a threat and attack. He eased his swords blade to the edge of the rock revealing it to the beast. Not a sound echoed through the forest as the animals watched what stood before them, it was as if time had completely stopped and the universe watched Ryan out of everyone else. The yellow cat-like eyes moved just a bit and locked onto the tip of the blade for just a second and then disappeared. Appalled and relieved Ryan ushered a great sigh rolled onto his back, the fear of what could have happened lolling into his mind. He began to laugh at his own fear realizing how much of coward he was, he vowed that next time he saw those eyes he would stand his ground and either fight the animal and make it clear that he ruled over it and was indeed the predator. How naive and ignorant he was, for he wouldn't have to wait long before the topaz eyes rested upon him again.

Ryan got to his feet and returned his attention back to the deer. He had expected the flies or crows to have taken it as theirs, but even they still rested in the trees waiting for something unknown to the human. Ryan smiled, such scary creatures, he thought raising his sword over his head, he was surprised to hear it cut through the air, as he realized a forbidding silence still engulfed the area. In a heave he brought his sword down and as if given a signal, the stone and forest around him began to shake violently as a growl emanated from the surrounding trees and bounced off object after object creating a head-splitting sound. The boy tried to pinpoint the source but could only drop his sword and press his sweaty hands against his ears for fear that his head would burst.

The growl had now turned into a savage roar which confused and dizzied Ryan, causing him to stubble and fall to the forest floor below. His back was in pain and he dared not get to his feet, it was as if the ground below him was resting on the wing of a bird that flew through the sky at mighty speeds. Ryan realized he was losing consciousness when a great brown figure appeared in the sky and casted a shadow across the clearing and Ryan himself. He dared a look and the first thing he noticed were the huge cat-like topaz eyes. They rested on the face of a mighty brown scaled beast which had dusty jagged spikes protruding from its head down its massive neck, body and tail. The spikes were bigger at the shoulders which held great wings, like a bats, they beat furiously pounding the trees around Ryan as if they were simply blades of grass, the force kept Ryan pinned to the ground. The creature's spiked tail hung firmly from its now descending body, but occasionally swished and whipped the trees around it; the limb was about the same size as the beast itself. Ryan realized with horror that the dragon was about seven meters tall and about twenty-meters long, its wings greatly doubling that size, which folded together as it descended and lowered itself over the dead deer, which was dwarfed by the dragon. Slim brown muscular legs rested on the dagger like stone and positioned themselves close together so that they were all on the surface. Ryan guessed that the dragon was female because of its slim and skinny figure; he had been told long ago by his grandma that female dragons were extremely skinnier than males, and he wondered if she had truly known dragons still existed.

The dragon acted as if it did not notice the human lying only fourteen feet away from it on the forest floor or the small dead animals which had been pushed to the rough forest floor by the dragon wings. It craned its long thick scaled neck over the dead deer and emitted little puffs of smoke which spiraled around the corpse then drifted into the air. It opened its mighty jaws which held a number of sharp rows of teeth and picked the creature up in its jaws. Blood dripped from it as new puncture wounds that appeared across the body. The dragon didn't swallow the doe but merely let it hang limp as it glanced around the clearing before it would once again fly off. It's topaz like eyes rested on Ryan, who still clutched his ears, and was drenched in sweat. It cocked its head to the side like a dog, as if wondering something, and in an instant bent its legs and pushed off the stone, which cracked violently beneath its weight, and flew off into the distance.

Frightened Ryan immediately got to his feet, retrieved his sword which lay a few feet away from him and sprinted through the forest. Realizing that dragons indeed did exist sent a wave of emotions and feelings through his body which forced him to move at an alarming speed faster than he had ever before. He cared little about if any animals saw him or crossed his path he just had to get away from the dragon as soon as possible.  A faint roar caused Ryan to turn and run up a small hill studded with trees crags and mounds of sharp rocks, it took him a while to climb it, but it seemed to be protected well enough that no large predators could make it up the sides. No birds or creatures moved around him, either they were hiding or gone, he didn't know and cared less. The only sound around him was from the leaves which rustled in the breeze or the soft thud of his footsteps. He came to a stop as he reached the top of the hill, before him was a shallow ravine lined with what appeared to be pale rocks and broken trees. Smooth dirt stretched across the large ravine, a great mound of white stones rose at edge of it, just on the side wall. It appeared to be a cave, which Ryan immediately was drawn to. The sun was just above the mountains and in minutes it would set. He made his way over to the wall of rocks and broken trees and jogged towards the cave. A dim white glow emitted from it, bouncing off the inner walls.

Peering inside Ryan noticed a bright oval stone deep within, glowing as if the sun sparkled upon it. It rested on a pile of dead leaves which could hide it if it hadn't been glowing. The scene made Ryan smile; he had never seen such a beautiful stone. It was grey-white and laced with thin lines of blue and white moving across the surface and converging in a small circle on the side. The source of the glow seemed to come from that point, and seemed to only get stronger and brighter as Ryan got closer to it. Ryan curiously was drawn to it and noticed that the stone was slightly transparent, and every time the stone glowed as if it were throbbing with power, a small strange figure stirred within it followed by a soft thump like a drum. As Ryan watched his hands drifted towards the queer stone, he grasped it in his arms and was surprised by its light weight. With his touch it beat and throbbed faster and faster until it was practically a drum flashing about wildly. In the distance, Ryan heard the roaring of the dragon, but he cared little, the stone gave him a sense of comfort and safety.

The walls of the cave now flashed with the rapid white-blue light emitting from the stone, the figure inside stirring wildly. Ryan wondered if what vibrated in his hands was even a stone or in fact an egg. But if it was, what type of egg could it be? He held it tighter but with more curiosity as he tried to distinguish the animal within the stone. He was close to a conclusion when the thumping ceased and the stone flashed no more but simply glowed, an ugly crack rippled across the surface of the stone emitting dust particles and a blinding white light with it. Ryan dropped the egg and backed away, careful not to hit his head on the roof of the cave, he caught the sharp shriek of a falcon outside but dared not turn his eyes away from the now cracking egg. A massive plate fell from the original crack and split to the floor, a plume of steam now gushing over and out of the egg. Ryan's fear did not return just more and more curiosity which shook him to his core. A soft cry emitted from the insides of the stone as it began to break apart. As each plate began to fall, a cry came with it. Ryan stood and watched, eyes big with shock and awe, what have I gotten myself into? With a river of steam surrounding it, the stones base rippled and with a massive crack, which echoed around the cave, it broke apart. A figure could just be seen writhing around in the steam as if was being taken by seizure. Then all was quiet and no squeals or cries could be heard. Ryan watched the steam, wondering what had happened, and in that second his question was answered. The steam receded inwards like dust being sucked up. What lay in its place, sent a cold and regretful shiver down Ryan's spine as he realized, he had just witnessed the birth of a dragon.