The arrival of the creatures surprises me, locking me in place. As they descend, the winds they create allow me to get a whiff of the scents coating their bodies. They smell of something more vibrant than anything I’ve found in this chamber; something deep and earthy. Yet, they also smell incredibly sweet and succulent. Or maybe more accurately, whatever’s coating their scales smells like that.

The one on the right is completely covered in crimson scales, with the only breaks being their ebony black horns and claws, their burning orange eyes, and their shining white teeth. The rolling motions of their wings are beautiful, a model of perfection and efficiency. My eyes are drawn back to their horns and eyes when the creature snaps its head to look at me.

It lands on the ground with a thump, the other following soon after. The second one looks almost the same as the first, except for its eyes, which are a furious red—though they don’t seem to hold any malicious intent towards me at the moment.

The creatures look down upon me with an intensity growing in their eyes, as if they were judging a criminal. Bathed in light as they are, they look like the arbiters of heaven.

Have I done something wrong? I don’t think I have…

“Well, this is unexpected,” the one with red eyes says. Strangely, its mouth barely even opens as it speaks. “I don’t think anyone expected one to hatch so soon.”

“Yes… that’s quite strange,” the one with orange eyes replies, turning its focus back onto me. Something changes in the way they’re communicating, and they begin to look meaningfully at one another, almost as if they’re conveying their intentions through facial expressions alone. No, that isn’t possible… is it?

Their conversation becomes audible to me once more. “We should check to see how much mana it has in its body. That will decide what we do with it.” The creature with the orange eyes turns towards me. Something about those eyes makes me want to stare into them forever. Suddenly, the orange gives way to a deep ocean blue. Whatever entrancing effect was in action before instantly disappears. What was that? I shake my head a little, breaking eye contact.

“It has far less mana in its body than I would expect from a baby dragon. I would say that it came out of the egg prematurely. But…” The creature shifts its head slightly, almost as if pointing towards me. “Its scales are as developed as they should be. That makes me think that it was always meant to have an underdeveloped mana pool.” The creature’s head moves side to side, almost as if shaking in disapproval.

What does that even mean? It sounds really disappointed. Is there any way to fix it? Or do I have any advantage that negates that? The creature made it sound really important, though. But I should still be fine, though. Right?

The creature with the red eyes speaks in that anomalous way where its mouth barely moves. “What should we do with it? I don’t think we should just kill it; we might be wasting some potential.”

What?! Kill me?! Why?! My body begins to unconsciously back away from the two creatures bathed in light. They look far more sinister now than before, with the light highlighting their glowing red and orange eyes.

“Yes, killing it would be a waste. How about we just put it into the forest and see if it survives? If it doesn’t have any potential, then it’ll die on its own. If we just pick up the egg shell and get rid of it as well, no one will have to know. And if it does end up being a prodigy, well, we can just pretend we ended up rearing it ourselves,” the orange-eyed dragon proposes to the red-eyed one.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Trying to say something to dissuade them from going down this path only makes my body let out a *Squeak!* Squeak? I can’t speak? No, that can’t be right. Let me try again. *Squeak!*

They both turn to look at me. “Why is it squeaking like that?” The orange eyed one asks.

“I don’t know… and I can’t think of anything that would cause it. Unless… Did you step on it?” the red-eyed one theorizes.

“No. Of course not. I’ve been standing here the whole time,” the orange-eyed creature replies, rolling its eyes a bit. “Although… Maybe it can understand us? That would certainly explain its reaction.”

“No. That makes no sense. This hatchling was born mere minutes ago! Just look at it; it’s still covered in amniotic fluid! No dragon could understand language at such a young age,” the orange-eyed creature responds, turning to glare at the red-eyed one.

Yes, of course I can understand you! My mouth almost opens, before it snaps shut. No, I can only make squeaks right now… How are they talking, anyway? They’re barely even moving their mouths. How am I understanding them? The thought swirls, before a reasonable answer comes to mind.

Are they putting words in my mind? If they are… could they take them away? Could they have taken away my memories? Could they put them back?! That seems like such a large stretch, though…

But even if they could, there’s still no reason why anyone would do that to me. At least, none that I know of… But that doesn’t matter right now. Because these… dragons want to throw me out into the wilds! How am I supposed to survive that if I can’t even walk properly?!

…At least I know for sure what I am now. A dragon. But… aren’t those creatures of fiction? …Well, that’s clearly a mistaken presumption, since I’m here right now, and those creatures sounded pretty confident about their analysis.

I’m broken out of my thoughts by the sound of claws scratching against stone. I look up and see the red-eyed creature begin to walk towards me. My body automatically takes a step back, and I somehow manage to stay steady.

But the dragon just walks right past me, its smooth movements almost mesmerizing. The motion of the red-eyed dragon distracts me from my surroundings. One moment I’m standing, watching it practically slither by, and then suddenly the ground is falling away from beneath me. What’s happening!?

Panicking, my body’s response is to flail around wildly. But that does nothing to break the iron grip something has on me. Defiant squeaks escape me as I struggle to break free. A low rumble has me looking up at my captor—the orange-eyed dragon. It’s holding me and walking back to the sunlit spot.

What is it doing? Where is it taking me? I try to squirm out of the dragon’s hand, but quickly feel it growing tighter against me. Ow, ow! Okay! Okay, I’ll stop. My body falls limp at my command, and the tight grip loosens a bit.

The orange-eyed dragon reaches the sunny spot and stands in the center of it. We are both bathed in the warm light, and I begin to feel myself lose tension in the dragon’s increasingly comfortable grasp. However, while my body relaxes, my mind stays sharp. Or at least, as sharp as it can be.

Suddenly, the dragon that’s holding me extends its wings. My eyes widen upon seeing them. They’re huge! They looked way smaller from a distance! Then the dragon leaps into the air, lifts its wings, and flaps down powerfully, propelling us into the air. As the wind begins to pick up around me, I only have one thought on my mind. What the heck am I supposed to do now?!