Hit the Ground Flying
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The world of Faerun, a forgotten realm lost to time. A land which held wonders and riches the likes of which one could only dream about. A land of epic fantasy where tales and stories were conjured up by brilliant and adventurous minds with nothing but pen and paper. Such tales echoed throughout the ages, becoming legends that became staples in fictional worlds.
Indeed, it was a place that one could only dream of becoming part of, a place where one could be everything and anything could happen. It was just a fantasy… until I found myself whisked away from my comfortable life.
What adventure awaited me on the other side? Was I born a peasant? A noble perhaps? Maybe even one of the many magical races of which called this land their home? As much as I wished otherwise, I found myself born to a far more brutal fate. My adventure began not with fanfare but with whimpers as I cowered inside my egg.
I laid low, eyes wide opened as I stared through small gaps in the fragile shell that protected me. There outside stood a great beast, a dragon whose scales were white as snow and whose dagger filled mouth dripped with fresh blood. I could only watch as the dragon, my mother, loomed over another egg as a white dragon hatchling pushed itself out before being struck, eaten without mercy.
I could only screw my eyes shut so much and pressed my clawed yet feeble hands against my ears as I tried to drown out the terrible crunch I heard outside. Where was I? Why was I inside this egg? Had I become a hatchling as well? These thoughts swirled around inside my head as I forced my eyes open.
As the earth shook and the dragon loomed over my neighbor, one thought came to my mind; I needed to get out, I needed to run away. With all the strength my feeble body could muster I pushed myself up before bursting through the thin shell separating me from the world outside. I was free and, as luck would have it, so too was my neighbor.
Blood sprayed across my body as mother chomped down on them. I cried in terror, a high pitch squeal to my own ears, as I scrambled out, breaking through the shell as I leapt out of the nest and down to the icy ground. Clawed feet found purchase on the packed and snowy floor. I had found myself inside a dark frozen cave and Mother was in hot pursuit as I scampered to the only source of light I could see.
With my tail tucked between my legs, I felt Mother chomp down behind me, her cold breath spurring me onwards as I made my escape. I felt my blood run cold as she roared, demanding that I come back to her, but I kept going, knowing that every second I stayed in the cave would bring me closer to my doom.
Dodge!
Stop!
Duck!
My blood screamed at me, forcing my body to move on its own as I danced around Mother's terrible bite. My tiny heart hammered away inside my chest, terror gripping my heart as her pillar-like legs slammed down beside me and shook the very earth beneath my feet. Ice and snow kicked up and rained around me with each bite that came close to ending my short and terrible life so far. I did not stop, daring not to think what could happen if I did, as I ran towards the light.
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Maybe it was luck, maybe it was sheer chance alone, but with one final leap I cleared the cave's entrance and beheld a mountain range overlooking a fertile and verdant evergreen forest below. Far beyond that, I could see great towering castles and rolling fields covered in snow. So far up was I in the sky I swore I could see the very coast itself. I found my breath taken away as I glided, my wings stretching instinctively, while my eyes took sight of my surroundings.
Beautiful
That train of thought wouldn't last long as a great roar echoed behind me before I felt cold. My body screamed, or maybe it was my own voice crying out, as a deep chill slammed into me like a great big punch. Buffeted by this icy chill, I spun out of control as frost formed over my wings, weighing me down until I couldn't hold myself aloft any longer.
No! No! No! I screamed as I fell down, tumbling through the cold and unforgiving sky as I fell to my doom. Entirely at the mercy of the winds, I was tossed around, careening uncontrollably as my limbs refused to move, far too cold and encased in ice to do so.
This couldn't be the end! I'd escaped my own mothers maw only to fall to my death. But, as I saw the fast approaching ground below me with the tops of the evergreens jutting out like spikes, I felt a sense of ease, like nothing truly mattered as I approached the end. It was almost funny, really, to have myself reborn but ending up with a monster of a mother, escaping her maw until she decided to freeze me as one last act of spite. I was given hope only for it to be taken away at the very end like some grand cosmic joke.
As I hit the tree tops, slamming through the branches, I was introduced to pain. My light body struck the branches hard, breaking through them despite my weight. My bones creaked as my world devolved to chaotic swirls of green and brown, interspersed with branches slamming into my stomach and driving the breath out of me.
It felt like an eternity before I landed atop a cushion of deep snow, breaking my fall as I came to a stop. I groaned, my body a pile of sad bruised flesh and aching bones, unable to push myself up. I felt pain… yet deep in my guts, I knew that it was good for it meant I survived, I lived!
Despite the miraculous escape, I was still in a world of pain. I could already feel my frayed consciousness drifting, overwhelmed by my aching body. As the minutes passed, I felt the adrenaline in my veins waning, my awareness slipping as I grew groggy.
The snow felt like a thick blanket around me, lulling me to sleep. I could barely fight my leaden eyes as they slowly closed shut, but should I even fight it? Buried deep beneath meters of snow, I felt at ease, like I knew that no one would find my now diminutive form. Maybe… Maybe I could sleep. Thus I closed my eyes and I knew no more.
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A/N:
Finally got to writing this fic after telling myself that I should write a D&D fic to pay homage to the source of my pen name and wasn't this a fun little bit sized piece of work. Easy to plot and easy to write, this fic really reminds me that maybe I should cut down on the words for my chapters and keep it tiny? What do you think? Do you like my chapters longer or shorter?