Wait for it.

Wait.. for..

Now

Lauching from the branch and landing directly onto the rabbit I feel it snap under my talons. Silencing its screams as I clamp my jaws on its neck and quickly snap its neck ending its screeches

Quickly before anything comes to investigate I climb back up the tree and swallow the rabbit in three bites. Keeping my eyes peeled for any predators I slowly start to travel between branches and trees until I begin to relax. Climbing towards the top of the tree I begin my watch of the skies looking for anything flying that might be bigger than my head. After an hour I finally give in and throw myself into the air and beat my wings taking flight for the first time since I've been here the last 2 days

After climbing a few hundred feet I begin examining the area I've found myself in. Only seeing trees. I'll admit there big trees. Big enough to hold me, an almost two hundred pound dragon no problem. Though I suppose them being so big shouldn't be such a surprise when they contain creatures like bears the size of houses or wolves who lit themselves on fire before they start attacking said bear. I didn't stick around long enough to see who won that fight. Mother always said that when titans fought, it is the small who suffer.

While flying I keep an eye out for any giant hawks or eagles who might be flying above me hiding within the light of the suns. Why there's two of them I couldn't tell you but it certainly makes ambushes easier for anything that could be hiding between the two of them. The worst part is I can't exhale flame as I used to if I need to defend myself. The power that I breathe in is different from the one I remember. Where before I could inhale it to fill my lungs and force it out as heat and flame and death now it feels weird and instead of leaving me it wants to stay inside and head further inside me to do who knows what.

Quickly exhaling and forcing the power from me I travel for some time reminiscing about my current predicament. One moment I was flying not far from home ready to pounce on a calf from the local herds living within my mothers land when I felt a horrible sucking and then felt as if I was being torn apart and then I found myself falling into a forest that i'm sure I've never been to. Remembering my mothers teaching of wizards able to harass the worlds power as there own and forcing it to their will. Quickly I assumed that one of those wizards had teleported me to them I blew flame as hard and fast as possible into the ground to burn anything ready to attack me and using the smoke as a shield to hide myself within the tree cover.

What was strange was that the trees refused to burn and the flames disappeared before the torrent of flame even hit the ground. When I went to inhale, the power of the world felt different. Instead of malleable and free flowing it was resistant and full of context and flavors both foreign and alien with a clawing sensation as it tried to reach deeper within my being.

Those next few days were slow exploring and figuring out how to breathe properly without inhaling this foreign power with minor hunting mixed in. Water was the worst as I couldn't boil it and left me sick for half a day where I sheltered in a big borrow in the roots of a nearby tree. It was then that I noticed a bear. As big as mother it made its way across the forest floor running for its life from a pack of wolves big as horses and on fire. I decided that I would stick to the branches and only go to the floor to pounce on prey.

Focusing back on the present I follow the current for a few hours and noticed the power in the air growing lighter making breathing easier and the local flora shrinking. Another hour and the forest thinned considerably and soon started opening up into open ground.

When it started to darken I roosted in a tree that could hold my weight and spent the remainder of the night and morning resting my wings.

I awoke with a start when an earthquake rumpled mightily through the land. Alerted and startled I scanned the surroundings and saw the quake visibly move through the land and trees. Taking wing to try and track where it might have come from. Mother had taught me that most powerful earthquakes point towards a volcano or large mountains and that they make for the perfect homes for dragons by being shields for most threats and weapons that can be turned onto enemies invading to slay our kind.

While flying for some time I reach open plains with trees littering the land here and there. It isn't long after that that I spot a herd of ox 30 strong with a few calves. Still hungry from the rabbit I decided to hunt them as I mother had taught me to do.

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

Slowly I angle myself using the suns as a shield to hide myself in the midday sky. While I lower my altitude I start making out unique features of these beasts. For one the largest and biggest bull has black horns facing forwards with the rest of the herd having a dark grey from the tips leading down with it becoming brighter out at the ends into a pearl white at the base.

The pattern repeats on the hooves with them leaving an easy to follow trail of scorch marks on the ground as they walk. Circling above I prepare to dive on the youngest calf lagging behind in the herd. I hit them with a blood curdling crunch and quickly rake my claws on the side of its throat.

After I'm sure that I cut the artery I throw myself skyward and am immediately assaulted by a bombardment of fire with the force of a stone thrown by a grown man and almost forcing me back down.

Barely keeping myself in the air I level out after about a couple dozen feet off the ground and quickly make distance. Looking toward the herd I see that they have small fireballs between there horns and are launching them at me faster than would be expected. Dodging them is easier than expected with the heat of there flames helping me to gain height and speed. The big one has the biggest fireball and to my horror it only seems to be getting bigger.

Relying only on my training with mother I let myself fall and immediately I feel a wave a heat above me. Slamming into the ground with enough force to rattle my bones I quickly take to the air again and regain some distance and altitude to try to hide myself in the sun.

They don't continue to fire at me which is fortunate for me but they are watching the sky. With reluctance I make my way back to the oxen wary of any attacks that they might launch at me.

It's at this point that the calf is dead and the herd is kicking it hoping that it'll get up. Usually at this point a herd will stick around for an hour or two out of spite but I don't think these ones are of the usual sort and am quickly proven right. It isn't until close to nightfall that the herd moves on. At this point I've been in the air for almost half a day with no breaks and my wings are starting to protest against me. Landing next to the calf I notice that they'd mutilated it because the chest is caved in with a gaping wound within. Not sure why they would do something like that but It doesn't matter either way, I haven't had a filling meal for almost half a week and I quickly lay into the cold corpse.

After devouring about a quarter of the beast I soon start to notice a warmth gather in my belly. Trying to force it out proves to be unsuccessful and leave it be since there's not much I can do about it. After a while I start to feel a warmth growing from my stomach start to pick up steam and compound on it's own growth. At this point I begin to force it out of my self with no avail and am rewarded with a slight aching in my chest.

Instead I try to do the opposite and am immediately rewarded with the power rushing into my chest in between both my hearts and start to feel a burning sensation unlike anything I've felt before. I've been burned before, I'm a fire dragon It comes with the nature, what I don't understand is that with our natural resistance to fire and heat is why this burning in my chest doesn't feel like It has any of that resistance and instead feels like It's trying to force its way out of my chest and burning anything in between. In a blind panic I breathe in power trying to burn the thing inside my chest only for it to triple in the pain and forcing me to collapse in pain.

After my third breathe I quickly force myself to stop pulling in power which proves to also be a mistake because I start to feel a hollowness in my chest that ignites dread within me and quickly forces power back into my lungs. The pain is excruciating and I'm sure I passed out once because I remember the hollowness returning and gulping for air but I keep myself going anyway. The hollow in my chest is strange in the fact that when I refuse to breathe It in It feels as if I'm going cold and drowsy and at the same time making me want to sleep and never wake again.

After what must have been hours the pain it slowly abates and the heat In my chest isn't cool but starts to feel bearable and slowly I make to stand on my feet. On shaky legs I notice its well into the night and I see the three moons in the sky, them being both strange and alien with one being blue, another green and the last purple. When I first saw them I knew immediately that I wasn't in my world anymore because there was only one moon there and it was a pale white. After a few minutes collecting myself I notice the corpse of the young calf is beginning to stink.

After my ordeal I'm still feeling weak and notice that the hunger I sated earlier has returned with a vengeance and I go for a second helping. With my stomach sated once again I start to feel strength within my limbs once more.

When I begin to breathe once again I notice that the power is drawn to the heat within my chest. As if on instinct I pull some of the heat into my lungs and force an exhale through my mouth and into the sky. I'm blinded in an instant as a terrible stream unlike anything I've blown before emerges from my throat with flames so dark and red and burning far hotter than they should have been creates a pillar of fire at least a hundred feet into the air.

Awed by the strength of my flame I soon notice that the heat in my chest has cooled and I start to feel sluggish. With everything that has happened I decide to call it a day and sleep beside the corpse and damn the consequences.