For a startled second, Alice couldn’t figure out if it was a wooden contraption shaped like a dragon, or a living dragon that was made of wood.

Her eyes couldn’t tell — but her heart and her class absolutely and without question knew that this was a flesh and blood dragon that had taken on the aspects and appearance of wood.

Its body and scales were bark brown, and it's back was either covered with a mat of grass or had specialized green scales that flowed just like a meadow on a windy day. Its head was craggy and pointed with harsh eyebrows. What looked like horns made of branches swept back from its head.

And it was large, so much larger than any of Alice’s dragons. The size of a draft horse at least, though obscured by the waving grass it could have been larger.

It was strangely beautiful… at least until it parted its jaws and showed its teeth in threat.

It charged forward.

Iggy and Spark immediately rushed into Alice’s defense. As they did, the clearing around them became alive.

With shuddering creaks and snaps, the trees seemed to bow down to loom over them. The grass stood up straight, doubling in height, and suddenly there wasn’t much room to fly at all.

Spark was caught by the fingers of branches that wrapped around him.

His scales flashed as he sent electricity through the twigs, but it did not affect the wood.

Iggy, however, didn’t have the element of lightning. He had fire.

The branches reached for him too but couldn’t seem to grip onto his Ultimate Armor scales.

Iggy sent a blast of fire toward the wood dragon which recoiled with a hiss. Then it struck out with a wide paw tipped by spindly claws, sparking as they hit Iggy’s side. Iggy was thrown briefly to the right and almost caught by waving tendrils of grass. He managed to wrench himself free at the last second.

The wood dragon was huge, and Iggy looked so small in comparison. Spark was even smaller, and Alice couldn’t stand to see her dragons hurt.

Meanwhile, Prim was shrieking out loud in a high, fluted voice.

By the way the wood dragon’s head swung back and forth, looking but not seeing, Alice knew Prim had concealed them in an illusion. But with grass all around, the branches bowing and seeking, they would be found before long.

“Prim, cancel the illusion,” Alice said, and the dragon immediately obeyed though Alice knew she was not happy about it.

Meanwhile, the wood dragon struck out at Iggy again, who dodged in the nick of time and sent another blast of fire breath at it. Some of the grass-like scales withered on its back. The wood dragon roared in agony.

Before Alice could think about what she was doing, she stepped in.

Immediately, the grass tried to wind its way around her ankles, but it was not strong enough to do more than slow her.

Alice stepped in between Iggy and the wood dragon.

“Stop,” Alice said.

“What are you doing?” Iggy cried. “I have this!”

“No, stop fighting.” Then she looked at the wood dragon who had reared back in surprise. “There is no reason for this. We aren’t here to attack you.”

Falling back on four feet, the wood dragon opened its jaws and roared in defiance.

And Alice received a prompt from the system.

Do you wish to make this dragon an aspect of your class?

An aspect? But… didn’t Prim have to lay eggs for that to happen?

Her hesitation cost her.

The wood dragon struck out at her with its claws, like a bear slashing an enemy.

Iggy was faster. He darted forward and rammed the dragon’s wrist with his shoulder, knocking the giant paw up and sideways.

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Claws flashed over Alice’s head so close she felt the wind, and bits of earth and roots rained down on her.

The system prompt shattered into a million pieces.

If Iggy hadn’t been so fast, if he hadn’t jumped in…

Alice knew she should turn and run. Iggy would again throw himself between her and her attacker — to the death if he had to.

But she couldn’t leave him. And she couldn’t back down.

“Prim,” she said, not quite without knowing why. She was moving on pure instinct. “Help me.”

Her first dragon had not left her shoulder, of course. She also knew what Alice wanted. Her tail tightened around the back of Alice’s neck in reassurance.

Again, and somehow through Prim, Alice received the prompt.

Do you wish to make this dragon an aspect of your class?

“Yes!”

The wood dragon suddenly reared back as if Alice had reached out and slapped it. Fear flashed in its eyes.

It roared again, shaking its head back and forth in denial.

Then Alice’s heart sank as she received another prompt.

Aspect 1 “Primordialis's" level is not high enough. Attempt to tame Juvenile Nature Dragon failed.

Oh no, she thought, wondering if she should perhaps run after all.

But the wood dragon seemed to have the same idea. With another roar that sounded more like a dog’s yelp, it turned tail and ran.

Alice had to duck as its tail swung over her head, threatening to take her out.

Furious, Iggy followed for a few paces, and only pulled up short when Alice commanded, “Let her go.”

As the wood dragon exited out the other side of the clearing, the foliage closed behind it in a thick wall of thorns. Alice knew that nothing would be able to follow any time soon.

The branches relaxed their hold and Spark was released. He, too, tried to follow.

“Don’t,” Alice said again. “Let her go.”

Only then did she realize what she had said. The dragon was a she. And not a wood dragon but a nature dragon.

“Are you hurt?” Iggy growled, looking Alice up and down for damage.

“No, thanks to you.”

“You should not put yourself in such danger,” Prim said reproachfully.

But Alice shook her head, and on seeing Iggy’s still stormy expression, opened her arms. Immediately, her fierce dragon flew into them. He seemed to need some consolation.

“I would have never forgiven myself if you were hurt,” he rumbled.

Spark, for his part, still looked angry. He didn’t come in for cuddles, but swam through the air overhead, emitting blue-white sparks off his scales. Alice let him blow off steam — er — lightning.

As for Alice… she wasn’t sure how she felt. Shaken? Most certainly. Amazed she had not only run into such a creature but survived? Yes, that too.

Also, she was afraid.

She had told Sorceress Samantha that she had tamed her dragons. The lie had come out quite naturally. But perhaps it had not been a lie at all. Subconsciously, did she know this may be a possibility?

Dark classers take dragons as their own, she thought, but then pushed it away forcefully.

Iggy looked up into her eyes. “We should go after it,” he insisted. “We must not allow such a danger to intrude on our territory.”

“We intruded on her territory,” Alice told him. “Prim, did you know that I could do that? That I could try to tame other dragons you didn’t lay?”

“I never thought about it,” Prim admitted, “But as you grow stronger, so do your powers.” She sighed and her head dropped. “I’m sorry, Alice. I wasn’t strong enough to help you make that dragon one of your aspects.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Alice told her. “Or yours, Iggy. You saved my life back there. And Spark, that was simply a poor elemental match-up. Electricity won’t do anything against wood. Please calm down.” She raised her hand toward the little dragon who was still darting this way and that in the air.

He glanced at her and blew a little frustrated smoke out of his nose. Then he nodded once. While he didn’t say anything, he alighted to her upper arm to quickly rub his head against her neck. It felt like getting a minor static shock.

Now that the danger had passed, she was properly able to take in her surroundings.

This was an unusually circular clearing and there were boundaries of thick brush all around it.

“What does this look like to you?” Alice asked slowly.

“A forest?” Numi asked. “Trees?”

“A dragon’s lair?” Prim guessed.

“No, think bigger. Wait… think smaller,” Alice said. “I got a prompt which told me the dragon was a juvenile. I don’t see any eggshells around, but I think… I think this was a nest. I think we chased it away from its own nest.”

And if that was the case, where were its parents?

Alice shivered. “We need to leave.”

She took a few steps and stopped.

There was a puddle on the ground, not far away from where the nature dragon had been resting when they’d come upon it. The puddle wasn’t near where her tail had been, and besides it was a clear fluid. No, this had been roughly where the head had lain.

Alice remembered the strange feeling she’d gotten before: The feeling that the trees themselves were weeping.

Maybe not the trees, but the dragon?

Where were the parents, anyway?

Alice had no answers, and as they made their way out, she glanced back over her shoulder to the clearing, frowning to herself.

She wished she could do something for the juvenile dragon, but right now that was impossible.

First, she had to level and grow stronger.