Aathis Prequel (Part 1)

For those that enjoyed the Aathis the Redd Dragon story, here is part of a prequel to that story. And I’m publishing it here first in order to thank you for following me on medium. Enjoy!

A single oval-shaped egg shook on the cave’s floor. An immense lady dragon eyed her soon-to-be child with care and curiosity. All while a gargantuan male dragon guarded the cave’s entrance. The egg shook violently this time. So violently in fact, that a shard of eggshell caught the mother dragon in the nose! Both parents laughed.

“Perhaps we’ll name him after my grandfather, after all,” thought the father. The mother dragon smiled, then flicked the fragment away.

“Why not? Wasn’t he the volatile one?”

“Yes, his name was Aathis. I think we have another Aathis here, too.”

“Sure, his name is Aathis which means volatile one,” mom lead in with, “But hopefully our Aathis won’t snort out fire at the first mention of an old joke, like his father.”

Mom loved to tease Dad about this snorting laughter, an old joke between lovers indeed. They both laughed at that and sure enough, Dad snorted loudly which sent a fireball flying into the air. The fire caught a ten-foot-long fly in legs, which sent the great, and now burning insect flying into a scavenger dragon, angering both of them further.

A scavenger dragon had no fire or wings, but still had great strength and stood tall. The beast also had a powerful bite along with its immense skull, as well as powerful legs. Curiously, the scavenger dragon had two tiny arms in its front. The scavenger dragon roared loudly stomped toward the cave! The hot fly followed, both ready to deal death.

Dad looked at his wife and nodded solemnly, duty called. Mom nodded soberly as well. Their son was about to be hatched, but Dad would have to go and try to keep them safe. There was no choice. The father dragon leapt into the air then flew, ready to defend his family.

Mom eyed the egg, as her son shook away shell and connective tissue from his eyes. Aathis, her son, had hatched! She knelt down and gently removed the rest of the egg fragments.

“Aathis, my son, good morning! Come here under my wing and stay warm,” she tented her son underneath her right wing, “your father will be back soon with something for us to eat. Let’s wait patiently. And by the way, I know for a fact that he misses you.”

Being a dragon, mom was one of the most intelligent species to have ever lived on earth. Her wisdom and intellect told her that she did not want to tell Aathis that his father was actually outside fighting for his life. No, the fear of losing his father might dishearten young Aathis permanently. She smiled at her newly born son and hugged him, then waited.

Dad flew high into the air and watched as the scavenger dragon could only roar at him defiantly. He would deal with the landwalker, later. Meanwhile, the ancient fly closed in on the dragon.

In order to survive in this ancient time, flies had to be as durable as stone, this one was that type.

Dad let his fire fly at the attacker, but the quick fly deviated to the right and only caught some heat on his wing. Undeterred, the fly moved in to bite the dragon and drain some fluid from the dragon’s eyes. Dad brought up his claws to keep the fly away but the speedy fly, saw this coming and bit the dragon just beneath his claw. The bite did hurt but was not enough to stop the dragon. Dad moved in with his other claw, but the fly’s perception of time was still faster than anyone else and he got away by diving. Both beasts eyed each other angrily.

Dad knew what he had to do. His opponent was fast and had a dense hide, but his enemy was also reacting with emotion, with anger. Rather than leave and survive, this fly was angry and determined to stay and fight! Dad made a pillar of fire a short distance outside of his mouth, which heated the air around him tremendously. He waved his wings toward the fly as well, simultaneously taunting the bug and sending heatwaves toward him.

Offended by the taunting, the fly moved in for another bite. How dare this arrogant fool taunt a highly intelligent fly! The fly flew one foot forward while Dad tripled his flame and fanned his wings! A scorching heatwave overtook the fly, which sent the bug crashing to the ground.

Wounded but not defeated, the fly tried to get airborne. But to no avail, he was stunned badly. He tried to take a step forward. Perhaps the scavenger dragon would help him? He walked toward his unofficial ally but could barely move. He took another step then…another…but…could…not…move…as the father dragon landed directly on the fly and squashed the bug. Dad eyed the scavenger dragon angrily.

Rather than set the scavenger on fire, Dad decided to fight a fellow dragon on even terms. No fire would be used here unless he had no choice. The dragon stood on his hind legs to catch the scavenger with his claws. By now, the scavenger was already charging forward. The scavenger lowered his head and bit at the dragon father, the bite would not let go.

The new dad tried to pry the beast’s jaw away, to no avail. They both shook, writhed, and clawed at each other but nothing gave. Dad now tore at the beast’s eye and managed to remove it. The scavenger now felt less confident than before and dropped to the ground, hoping to take the dragon’s claw with him.

Dad roasted the stout scavenger beast with all the fire he could muster. The scavenger fell and roared in agony but its weight and sharp jaw, still caught the dad’s badly wounded claw and removed it.

Dad had defended his wife and his son Aathis but in so doing, lost an arm. He removed some flesh from the scavenger dragon’s middle, then flew toward his home cave.

“My dear? Aathis?”

“We are here,” called out the mom, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, Orella, I am,” she knew there was a serious problem when he called her by her first name, “but I must fly. Here, feed our son.” Dad threw some cooked dragon flesh into the cave, being careful to hide his missing claw. “I will return shortly, after I get some air.” Dad flew away. Being a Redd dragon, he was naturally healed by the air and would return when he had recovered.

“Come back to us soon, Adalbert. Come back to us.” Orella fed her son his meal and took some for herself as well. Freshly killed meat was the best and hard to resist. Aathis immediately started gobbling it down, just like his father.

As they dined, Orella could not help but wonder if this day said something about her son’s future. The same day that he was born, her son Aathis could have lost his father. Was her son destined for adversity? Or something great and because of this, was already facing resistance? She could not help but wonder.