It was the first few days of the fall, and the sky was beginning to set into a rustic red and orange by the time of 6pm. The colour would glow and shimmer for a good hour and a half before fading slowly into a deep blue-black which we associate with the night sky, loitered with the stars, containing the souls of our ancestors.

I smiled, resting my head on my knees, looking up in peace at the dusk, with my winding plumes of silvery breath floating upwards with each slow intake and release of the crisp evening air. Today's jobs had been completed, and tasks fulfilled, errands had been run, and now, it was time to rest. Time to bask in the leftovers of the day, soaking up the last of the light until darkness set in.

Shivering slightly, I adjusted my resting position under the young oak, my back finding a new groove to rest against. I stretched my arms and gazed up, as stars, one by one, started appearing. The souls of past Emperors, Jarls, friends, and family started greeting me. I sighed. This was what I enjoyed; the end of each day. The time I had to myself, all whilst I still held my childhood to my name, at least.

I was 16, son of a blacksmith, older brother to a 5 year old sister. It was expected of me to become my father's apprentice at the age of 17, which is the age which here in Whiterun is considered as the time us children 'come of age'. I didn't particularly like the sound of becoming a blacksmith, mining for ores in the day and smelting them at night- really doesn't sound like fun to me.

My eyes flickered down from the darkening sky, and settled on the river that ran peacefully past our town. The glimmer of the reflecting stars on the water's surface made me think of how lucky we all were. It had been a whole two decades since the last known Dragonborn killed Alduin for good. Alduin, being the dragon which demanded reign of Tamriel back to his kind, the dragons. Probably more for himself than anyone else. I don't really know much about that story, as it ended four years before I was born.

It still interests me though, how one person can be the uplifting of a dying kind, and then singlehandedly take down the terror of the skies that was making everyone's life a misery. It really must have been something to witness.

I yawned slowly, and with a soft breeze which made my skin tingle, I decided that the time was dawning, and that bed was calling. I hauled myself up onto my feet, and took one long lasting gaze into the trickling river.

Something caught my eye. The smooth currents were being disturbed, water was splashing and colliding with a small rock, sending water flying into the air, only to fall as a mist back in to the river and onto the grassy banks.

Out of curiosity, I clambered across the ground to the water's edge, peering over and down at the river. Squinting, I tried in vain to see the rock which was disturbing the peace of the river; my aim was to remove it, just because it seemed odd. The rivers waters were usually tepid and calm flowing, and this object just made things obscure.

With one hand clasping the grassy bank, I leant over and took a firm grasp of the rock, wedged into the riverbank. It moved a little, and with a few shoves, it dislodged and rolled beneath the waters. I removed the mossy rock from the waters and set it on the bank. My thumb rubbed the outer of the rock, and the feel of engraving caught my attention.

Scraping away algae, I peered down at the language embedded into the rocks surface, it was scrawled in a language I could barely recognise, something long forgotten, and that I felt that I should know. I sat in silence, the only other sound despite my slow breathing being the calm trickle of the river beside me.

"Lok Ku…" I mumbled, struggling to read the language, "Lok..Ku..Kulaan. Lok Kulaan?"

The rock shifted in my grasp, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My eyes widened and I tried to drop the large rock, but for some insane reason I couldn't bring myself to do it, I just couldn't let go.

"What the!" I cried, holding the rock away from my face. I could feel a heat dispersing from the rock, enveloping my hands and creeping up my arms, settling at my chest, and remaining there. I was shaking, scared to the pits of my stomach, which itself was churning in worry. Whatever this thing was, it was most definitely not a rock. It was like an egg.

"Lok kulaan," I whispered suddenly, my mind ticking over as I recalled some of the distinct language, "Sky prince?"

With that phrase, the egg, thing, split down the middle, and I finally dropped it. It landed between my legs, on the grass, and split into pieces. My breath wavered on the wind, and I watched, bemused and scared, as a creature emerged from the egg. It was slimy and gunky, with big black eyes and a long curled tail. I knew what this creature was, and all at once my emotions twisted and clashed; the warmth I had felt in my arms and chest disappeared instantly and I shuffled quickly back until my body hit the oak tree. I sat there, shivering.

From afar, I stared in horror, as the freshly hatched dragon cawed and yelped, writhing in the sludge from the egg, moving its small wings around and stretching them. After catching its balance shakily on its small hind legs and forearms, it raised a small head to stare at me. Inspecting me with its eyes, carefully and quietly.

"Oh my god," I whispered, my voice barely audible, "Oh my actual god,"

The creature yelped and cocked its head to the side, blinking in curiosity. I blinked back, just as curious, but a hell of a lot more scared.

With slinking, wobbly movements, the slimy creature clambered forward, its frontal half lowered and its hind arisen; as if it were a dog asking to play. Still with a head turned to the side, it cawed quietly, approaching with caution. Just as it got within a foot of me, it tripped over a stone lodged in the ground and collapsed weakly upon my lap.

In fright, I raised my arms away from my side and wriggled as the creature struggled to get up, I called out and tried to shove it away, but it was surprisingly heavy, and its gunky slime was covering my leather chaps.

"Get off!" I cried, pushing it aside, successfully this time. It rolled over onto its side, off of me, and yelped loudly as it hit the floor. Almost instantly, it got up and jumped back a good few feet. Then it sat on its hind legs and stared at me, a little more coldly this time.

I felt a little guilty. As scared as I was to have discovered a dragon egg, and witness it hatch, hurting the creature didn't seem too friendly. The thing was just brought into the world, I was its first living contact, and I shoved the helpless soul away.

Looking towards the creature, trying my best to not look terrified, I tried to smile. This gesture only confused the scaly, winged lizard; it cocked its head to the side again.

"Sorry," I apologised, feeling a little stupid about talking to a mute, probably stupid animal, "I didn't mean to hurt you,"

Its head perked up a little, and it slunk back over to me again, careful this time to avoid the rock jutting out of the ground. It got within touching distance of me, then sat on its hind, and stared at me.

Oddly, it seemed just as curious as me.

I was quite surprised to not discover that a baby dragon isn't as helpless at birth as I thought. I mean, he seemed pretty able; not able enough to run, or let alone fly, but able none the less.

Lifting an arm, I reached towards the little animal, leaning forward some, also. At first, it seemed frightened, but as it came accustomed to seeing my appendage reaching out towards it, it started to move forward.

At this precise point, it came to me that I didn't know whether this dragon were male or female. I recall learning in school that the males tend to have longer horns and broader snouts, and that females had longer tails and wings that stretched further in span. It was hard to tell for the chick, as it was freshly born and not really developed enough to be able to tell its sex.

I jumped back into reality after a few seconds of pondering, only to find the snout of the small creature pressed into my palm. Its eyes were closed and its tail was swishing from side to side. My eyes widened and a small smile grew upon my face. I was touching a dragon; one of the most feared creatures in all the land. Well, maybe not. A baby dragon, but still, it counts.

"We need to get you somewhere safe," I spoke quietly, blinking at the quiet animal, "Dragons aren't safe in Whiterun. Everyone's on high alert to… umm… hurt animals like you,"

The dragon opened its eyes, and to my amazement, its irises had turned the most bright, brilliant shade of blue. Much brighter than my own, and much denser than that of a summer days' sky. Not blue like the ocean, but almost like a cyan that stood out tremendously.

"Whoa…" I pondered, leaning in a little to get a better look, despite being weary of the small creature's sharp teeth, "Your eyes…"

Snapping out of the little trance I'd put myself into whilst staring at the dragon, I turned and looked towards my town, then back to the lizard baby.

"Look. There's not much of a future back there for me right now,"

The dragon made no response, but looked at me intently with its bright eyes.

"Well… I have to inherit my future… as a blacksmith, and I don't really want to do that. And, well. Well, that's not important. What's important is the fact, I'm not returning to that place with you, 'cause you'll be hunted, and seeing as I've got nothing really to live for if I stayed there, then, well… We could leave, go somewhere safer,"

It huffed a little, and wandered over to my side, lowering its head and forcing it under my arm so I was hugging it slightly. Still aware that it was rather slimy from being inside the egg, I held it close and exhaled shakily. This really was an odd experience.

Right. This really is it, a real turning point in my life. I'm going to run away, with a baby dragon, to find adventure elsewhere. I really have no idea what's going to become of it, but it should definitely be an experience to go through. Home life was going to get me nowhere anyway.

With my decision made, I turned to look down at the small winged lizard, and smiled.

"This going to be interesting, little guy,"

-:-:-

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