GRAAAAAHH said mom, releasing a live rabbit between the four of us.

Brother hadn't killed anything yet, nor my two sisters.

We were in a kind of nest like the birds but full of branches and hay and it was comfortable with mom brooding.

The body heat was pleasant and I let myself go to my instincts, as if to forget a traumatic past. In fact they were only memories that could be accurate if I concentrated but I was a wyvern, a dragon..and proud of it.

In a way I didn't know it, but I was lucky to have "gentle" parents because wyverns let their young "work it out" or "settle", basically the strongest newborn ate everything and let the weaker ones die or just devoured them.

But from the beginning, I protected my little brother, smaller than his 2 sisters.

And I made sure, under the amused eye of mom, that everyone had his share of meat. I shared and of course, they followed my lead.

Every meal was supposed to be festive and we ended with licking the hard to reach places.

Dad would bring in rabbits every day and I would scoop them out to leave only the good parts and collect the skins that way.

Mom was curious to see me dispose of the skins and eliminate the guts.

After 2 weeks, the feeding was finished, our teeth had grown and were like razors.

Brother and sisters were hopping and flapping their wings and trying to fly around the cave.

It was relatively large.

An opening in the side of a cliff with a promontory and a slope inward, downward.

The other caves were separate but joined inside in a kind of network.

The adult wyverns stayed at the opening, just out of the wind and rain, and the eggs were at the bottom, but it continued.

In my deeper cave, you could hear the clacking and squeaking of other hatchlings, other broods exploring deeper.

This is how I found myself face to face with other small wyverns but my impressive size had an effect on them and they quickly returned to the shelter of their nest.

By the third week, everything was getting organized in my head and I had started to make goals:

Communicate!!!

I had captured rats by practicing hitting them with rocks that I threw.

I had found a trick to do with my wyvern tail: like a Neanderthal "gas pedal", I would take a rock the size of a fist, and I would use the tip of the spear (in which the stinger was located) as a shovel, and I would whip forward and the rock would go like an arrow, destroying everything in its path. Finally, the rats had "exploded" parts.

So I approached brother "MIR" because I had decided to give myself a name. My parents "animals", probably incapable of such subtlety.

I thumped my chest as I took his paw hand and pressed it against my chest.

"MIR!"

Say it again!!!

He looked at the rat I was holding out and tried to catch it as much out of play as curiosity.

"NO!!! (NAH KAH) - I had difficulty speaking or pronouncing but I knew how to say MIR "

After about 30 tries, he succeeded in making MRRRGGHHH.... and I gave him the rat.

Father had gone hunting, mother stayed to watch us and the other wyverns.

Some of them would gather, often broods, to hunt in groups.

In fact, we were like a colony of birds and we must have been about fifteen adults with about twenty young. The eggs were not all successful.

Our clutch was exceptional, in the sense that there were four of us and the others had 1 or 2 young, the others dead or eaten.

Mom looked like she was laughing and tried "MIRRRRR"

And... I then gave her a rat...

But she pushed it towards me and I had a lick of affection, which I returned.

My sisters jumped behind me:" MRRRR MRRRR" and I then gave away my 2 remaining rats.

To my surprise, they returned the affection like cats.

I caressed my brother and said "ROA".

Then my sisters: "KRI" and "KRA".

They jumped and repeated their names like a game.

The next day, we climbed to the edge but mom interfered so that we would not go out or be seen by eagles.

These predators knew that a new brood was present and they flew over when the wyverns had gone hunting.

And sometimes adults would not return and the young...well...sadly, they would starve and be eaten by the eagles and vultures.

But with me, that would change.

So, we were on the promontory inside and I launched myself to glide and mom was impressed.

I was able to turn and fly inside and even grab onto the ceiling with my talons and then drop and twirl.

Of course, there was no wind and it was easy.

Then I shouted to Roa to extend his membrane to the maximum and to have maximum lift.

But soon I was exhausted and I joined mom who opened her wings and we went to take refuge there.

We felt safe there. It was our refuge, and even our protective goddess.

Dad arrived before the end of the day with 2 boars.

We got two legs and the rest was shared between them.

Dad had 2 claw marks on his side, probably a hungry wyvern that tried to steal the meal.

The next few days were nothing but happiness and my brood started to use words. And my parents thought it was fantastic.

But mom was hunting but feeding herself and 5 wyverns was hard.

Mom was reluctant to leave us alone while she was hunting.

hen I say

"MIR PROTECT ROA KRI KRA... MIR FORT"

Mom gave me a lick and left for an hour. Probably to go drink

My siblings started to twirl around in the cave and it was fun.

We played hide and seek.

Playing was something new. Young wyverns would watch their parents and pinch their siblings to keep them from getting near their area or the rest of their meals to gnaw on.

But our family evolved differently.

They didn't have the intelligence of a human, but with some stimulation, we could make something of them.

Then after playing "crocodile", the one pinched at the tail having lost, we started to make crafts.

Stones and rabbit skins wrapped around them.

I made a kind of ball.

I SAID "NO EAT BALL"!

They understood more or less and then it was the throw

It was madness.

We flew and practiced throwing the ball with our mouths, then with our talons and our tails.

Mere ran towards us all panicked when she saw all 4 of us strewn on the ground with our paws in the air and our tongues hanging out of breath.

I taught them how to do a high five by slamming our tails together.

Mother was bending us over in panic.

"MOMAN STOP! PLAY WITH US?"

Her big tail flicked back and forth when she saw the ball.

"CATCH THE BALL!"

But we were passing the ceiling and holding on to the stalactites to cheat.

She, too, was exhausted and Dad came home from hunting and dropped his deer when he saw us all on the ground, panting.

Mom looked at Dad, amused.

"DAD? Ball??"

But he was exhausted and in a grumpy mood.

I saw that he had an arrow stuck in his thigh.

It was a shock for me!

He hissed as if to say he was in pain and he knew he was risking infection and that the point would stay forever.

"DAD! NO! NO BITE! BITE HELP!!!"

Mom squeaked a little and I climbed on top of Dad.

I sniffed and felt that the arrow was not poisoned but I had to do something.

I bit into the shaft and pulled the arrow out slowly, and thus removed the tip.

Dad was brave and didn't moan but you could tell he was shaking with pain.

With the arrow removed, I inspected him.

"DAD!!! DANGER!!! NOT HUMAN!!! "

He didn't understand but when I scribbled a man with a head, arms and a bow in hand , he understood.

"YES MIR!!! PROUD DADDY MIR!!!"

Mommy licked the wound and her saliva disinfected the hole and an hour later it was closed... The scales began to fall back into place, to realign.

We were dragons!

But I was beginning to understand

Our wyvern colony was taxing the ecosystem and the prey, we had to look for them further and further away, and that had its risks. The main risk was griffins, dragons, giant eagles and... especially... humans... Well, the closest thing to them.

Other races might have shot an arrow, but it was straight and with an iron point.

It was not a primitive arrow!

I loved my family and I used to fantasize in my head about what could happen to us.

I was a baby, but in reality, I had a family to protect.

I couldn't survive their deaths, that much I knew.

In the morning, when everyone had rested.

I had many plans in my head.