“Lium…? Where should we go now?”

“I have an idea, but it’s going to take us a while to get there. I was thinking we could visit the Amphipteres, maybe they saw whoever destroyed the caves.”

The two friends walked in silence, their scales shining in the light of the rising sun. It wasn’t an awkward silence. It was peaceful, just letting each other know that they aren’t alone in this mess. The sound of a river stream broke the silence. Lium immediately ran to the stream to drink. He was so shocked at what happened that morning that he forgot how hungry and thirsty he was. Kej followed behind him, altho not as eagerly as his friend.

They drank, and then they tried to hunt something. Sounds easier than it is. They always considered food and water as something that they get naturally, from parents or other dragons that went hunting that day. But now there are no adults to hunt for them or teach them.

“C’mon, it can’t be that hard Kej! It's just fish!” said Lium, already impatient and clearly hungry.

“It's not as easy as it looks. Why don’t you try with me? Then maybe we would have more food quicker.” replied the fire-red dragon, annoyed by his failure at fishing, and his friends whining.

“Yeah, sure. I have an idea! Why don’t we compete?”

“That sounds like a stupid idea, I’m in,” said Kej and smiled.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kej liked Lium, as a friend of course! They did everything together. They were inseparable, not that anyone tried to separate them. Everyone in caves knew of the friendship between the young hatchlings. How could they not? If you saw one of them, the other was probably close by. Kej saw Lium as a big brother he never had, Kej was even a few months younger than him. Lium saw Kej as a little brother. He wanted to protect him from the world outside of their home after they learned that there are more dangerous things than getting caught doing silly little pranks around the caves. Both of them knew the caves by heart, they explored the place countless times. At first, it was difficult to navigate, but then they understood why the paths were linked the way they were. Something about his little brother figure made Lium believe everything will be ok, just as long as he can protect him.

They ended up catching a few fish. It wasn’t a lot, but they were both proud of their skills. Even though both ended up getting a surprise bath when they fell into the river. Lium fell first and laughed about it. Kej followed him after leaning a bit too far after a fish and losing his balance. Kej was grumpy when his friend laughed at him. “Oh, come on, it was funny. Besides, you laughed at me too.”

“I guess,” said Kej, turning his head away from Lium.

“Hej, it's just childish fun, no harm done.”

“I know, I know. Let’s just get out of the water and eat. I’m so hungry.” said Kej, smiling.

Lium liked it when Kej smiled. He was glad to know his friend wasn’t mad at him.

After getting out of the river, they divided the fish evenly between them and ate. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not hungry anymore!” said Kej, grinning.

“Yeah, but we have to move. Otherwise, we will never get to the closest Amphiptere territory.

“I hate when you’re right.”

“Let’s go. Maybe if we’re fast enough, we’ll get there before night falls.”