“But I don’t want to go!” Acinoryvy declared stubbornly, hunkering deeper into the dank water of the swamp. Their home was a huge swamp on the edge of two kingdoms. Filled with treacherous creatures and natural traps to take the unwary. The muddy water was almost as dark as her black hide. At night it was almost impossible to see her slinking through the boggy fens.

“It is time, my spawn! Your clutchmates have all flown to find their own dens. I pampered you for your minute size, but NO MORE!” The trees shook with the roar that her dam’s words ended on. Acinoryvy cowered up to her eyes in the water, shying back into her small muddy nest. It was true that she was the smallest of her dam’s clutch and had been doted on more than the others. She may be young, but Acinoryvy was not stupid. And it was true she had been milking her dam for every bit of time in her birth swamp as possible. The idea of going out into the world to find her own lair was daunting.

“But moth-”

“BUT NOTHING! Acinoryvy, you have till sunrise to leave my swamp. Otherwise you will force me to treat you as an intruder,” Another roar that sent leaves falling and frog folk scurrying for cover. All in the swamp feared her dam, the great black dragon, Jylenberge. For she was the ultimate guardian of the swamp and had been for a hundred years. The very few adventurers who had made their way through the swamp to her den had become tasty snacks.

The last group had horrible timing, arriving when she and her clutch mates were only a month old. Their dam was extra protective and ravaged their group. Leaving a few alive for her children to ‘play’ with. The play hadn’t lasted too long. Like kittens given a mouse, the adventurers were soon broken and no longer making fun noises. It was their first lesson in the dangers of the outside and one Acinoryvy had learned the hardest. The adventurers had surprised her while she was exploring a river offshoot near the den. Of course, she had surprised them too. Enough that she was able to flee back to her dam and the den, arrows and magic firing at her back.

Her rump had been roasted and sore for a whole month afterward. And she hadn’t been allowed into the water till it was healed. A lesson in wandering off and being unprepared. A lesson that also kept her clinging to the hardened mud of her nest. It was beside her mother’s own in a large cave into which the water of the swamp flowed. Disappearing down a steep waterfall into the depths of the world. All the other small mud nests of her siblings had been destroyed. There were no traces of them left but her memory of their first years as hatchlings together. And if she pushed her dam further, there would be nothing left of her either. Not even her.

“Yes, mother,” Acinoryvy sighed, her tail lashing. There wasn’t much for her to take with her. She had no horde yet. She had no lair to keep anything in. “Please, before I go, would you give me your guidance?”

There was a rumble from her dam as the great black turned their yellow eyes upon her. “What guidance?” She sounded suspicious. Which was fair, Acinoryvy had managed to delay her leaving with requests for guidance twice before. It hadn’t been her intention, of course, but it had triggered some left over maternal instinct in Jylenberge. But she was pretty sure this would not be the case this time.

“Knowing where my siblings have gone, and knowing the outside world better than I, in which direction should I go?” There was silence that followed her question. A thoughtful one that Acinoryvy knew not to interrupt. Though she couldn’t keep her tail from lashing nervously.

“Go to the north and east. Few have flown that way and there are wild lands that way,” Jylenberge paused and turned her head back to the gaping hole of the waterfall. It was glowing, as it sometimes did, communicating in its ways with her dam. She watched the play of lights shading from blue to purple, followed by a sharp streak of warning orange.

Jylenberge turned back to her daughter and said, “Despair says something waits in the northeast. That you should fly for one day to the east before flying northerly for another six days. That is more than your clutch mates received. Be happy with what you’ve gotten, my little Aci, and go claim your lair.” She leaned down and nudged the much smaller dragon fondly. “I will miss you, my wyrmling. But I also am fighting the urge to chase you from this place. It is best you go now.”

Acinoryvy jerked back from her mother’s nuzzle at first, before leaning into it. It would be the last affection she would have for a long time, likely. And the last she would ever have from her dam. It would be a shocking turn of events for them to ever meet again. Most dragons were solitary. Black and red exceptionally so. But despite natural instinct, her dam at least made sure she had a good education on the world outside. She was going to need it.

*****

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The wind felt amazing flowing over her body. It was cool and crisp high in the sky. Flying above the lowest clouds, which were sparse and fluffy. They taunted her to dive and twirl within their moist interiors. And she did dive, letting the wet coat her scales, before sailing back up into the sunshine. Acinoryvy had not experienced any troubles during her first few days of travel. Which was not too surprising given how big the swamp was. For a human it would take a week to get to the heart and her dam’s lair. By wing it took substantially less.

Now she soared over a vast savannah. Golden grass and sparse trees dotted the landscape below her. Herds of animals could be seen roaming in their many sizes and colors. Acinoryvy stopped to get a closer look at the zebras. The closer look quickly turned into a snack as her shadow startled the herd into a thundering stampede. Which was annoying when you wanted to look at a beast up close. There was no choice but to swipe one off its feet. The snapping of bone meant it wouldn’t be getting back up.

It may be surprising to some, but Aci wasn’t much for toying with or torturing creatures. So she quickly broke its neck. Which did make it easier to look at, even if the blood marred the black and red striping. Though she had eaten recently enough, she was not about to waste what she had killed. That too was something she detested. Waste of resources. So she ate as much as she could and still allowed her to fly.

By then the scavengers and other predators had begun to gather at a distance. None dared challenge the dragon eating. They would fight over her scraps, as was appropriate for lesser beings.

From the ground the world always looked so different. The mountains to the northeast were purpled by distance and lighting. Their snowy tops and roughly forested slopes appealed to her. Perhaps it was the place that her dam had spoken of? The wild lands that were waiting on the edges of civilization. In the sky those mountains stretched off into the distance to disappear at the horizon. If there was water then it had great potential.

She groomed the blood and dirt from her maw and body with a quick cantrip. The soft glow of magic enshrouded her for but a second before vanishing. Leaving black scales to gleam dark iridescent hues in the sunshine. Then she left the sparse remains behind for the scavengers. There was still a long way to go. And she had never flown so long or so far.

The rest and feast had been more needed than she realized as she struggled to gain altitude. Wing joints strained and muscles ached as she struggled against a rising wind. In the end she gave up trying to go higher and opted to glide. That she could manage and maintain for a while. Yet in no time at all, it seemed, the sun was setting and her wings screamed for rest. Lost in thought of all the new things she was seeing and smelling, Aci hadn’t taken time to focus on her surroundings. Beyond the basic minimum anyway.

The savanna stretched out in golds and reds for far longer than her wings would carry tonight. But as she looked, there also was sparse cover for her to choose from. So she pushed onwards, straining her young wings as darkness fell and she became a shadow against the stars. A shadow whose altitude slowly lowered until she couldn’t stay aloft anymore. She dove from the sky, angling for a mesa not too far off. But she had already pushed herself and her wings, young though they were, were done. Aci knew it in an instant. She wouldn’t make it to the mesa. She would be lucky to land without hurting herself.

Young muscles finally gave in after days of flight. No longer was she able to hold them aloft to glide. She could barely control them as she did her best to fall gracefully. Dragons don’t normally fall, so it was a novel experience for her. Sure she’d fallen once or twice when first learning to fly, but it hadn’t been like this. Now her wings barely listened to her as the ground plummeted fast towards her.

When she hit it was hard and she felt something bend in ways it shouldn’t. Her roar no doubt startled more than birds into flight. Aci chided herself as she lay in the settling dust cloud, her wings throbbing, her left wrist screamed sharply, and she was pretty sure she had dislocated at least one rib. ‘Great. And me without any potions or healing magic. Well done, Aci. Now what?’

She couldn’t just stay laying in the dirt like the wounded being she was. That would be undignified. So with effort and a great deal of pain she got to her four feet and assessed the damage. Ribs dislocated would make flying extremely painful if not impossible. Not to mention make breathing hurt. But more worrying at the moment was her inability to put much weight on her right hind leg. Looking it over revealed no outward break, and she could still move the limb about. But the pain upon standing was sharp and told her something was broken. Lastly she was sure that her wings wouldn’t support her weight for a few days. Something was strained and it hurt to even hold them folded against her body.

With her own injuries assessed she turned her attention to where she landed. At the base of the mesa where she stood was rocks and scrub with grass growing where it could. In both directions things looked similar. But there was still hope of a cave or more shielded place for her to recuperate. Slowly she began to limp around the mesa. Each step brought another burst of pain which made her whimper or groan. She hated it. Being weak was not something she liked.

The night grew darker and the moon was but a bare sliver in the sky. Stars in their trillions of billions glittered above her. Slowly the night sounds of the savanna returned. Acinoryvy found herself caught by the grandeur overhead. In the swamp there were almost always clouds overhead. So there had been only once or twice when things had been clear enough to see the sky. If the trees were not in the way, of course.

So she stopped her painful trek to look up at the midnight sky. Watching with a small bit of awe that any intelligent creature would have beneath the canvas of the universe.