This is another piece of my book! I hope you like it! I've decided to call it Dragon Fire. Click/Space (there's information in the project). PROLOGUE: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/618185454/ NEXT: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/633331910/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “What’s that?” Sunny asked me. We had heard an earth-shaking roar, for the second time that day. I remembered hearing it once or twice before, but never this loud. “Star! I said, what is that?” “Wait, listen,”I said. ROOOOAR!!! “Star, it sounded REALLY close...” I looked over and saw that her eyes were wide with worry. She curled her tail tightly around herself, like it would protect her. As annoying as she could be, Sunny was still my little sister and I loved her. If I was her age, I would be scared too. As she pressed up against me, I stroked her back with my tail, calming her. “Don’t worry. It isn’t coming for us.” “Thank you, Star. You’re a great big brother.” She smiled, no longer nervous. “So, what was that?” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes my little sister could be SO annoying, and sweet at the same time. “How should I know?” Sunny ignored my grumpy tone. “Maybe it’s a volcano erupting! That would be so cool! I would love to see one sometime.” She paused, considering. “Actually, I don’t want to see one erupt. I don’t want to get hit by volcano flames or flying rocks.” “That’s pretty smart, Sunny. I’m surprised!” I teased. Sunny narrowed her eyes, glaring at me. She opened her mouth to make some stinging retort, but a loud growling interrupted her. “Are you hungry?” I asked, when her stomach had finished rumbling. “I guess so!” she said, giggling. I went to look at the contents of the food cache, and came back carrying a sack of pears I’d taken from a farm. Sunny tried to take the sack from me, but I held it out of her reach. “One thing. Don’t eat all of them! We only have a little food left, so I will go hunting soon.” “I’m hungry!” she growled, making another grab for the bag. I gave her the pears, and she gulped down five of them at once. When we had finished the pears, I told Sunny to collect some more moss for her nest while I went out to hunt. “But I want to come!” she protested. “I’m as old as you were when you started hunting!” I sighed, knowing she was right. Eight turns ago, when I was eight turns old, and she was only two turns old, our mother and father had disappeared. We waited for three days, and then I had decided we needed to leave. I had carried Sunny all the way to the place where our grandmother, Raga, lived. When I told her why we were there, she brought us into her cave and told us we could live with her. I learned to hunt, and two turns ago, we decided to move back here. We both loved Raga, but this was where we had been born, and it was our true home. Looking at Sunny, I realized that she was growing up. Her golden scales glinted in the sunlight, and she was ten turns old, after all. Still… “No. I know I started at your age, but I don’t want you to have to learn yet. If our parents were still here, you wouldn’t start hunting yet. I would only have learned a turn or two ago!” She scowled, and lay down. “All right. But be back soon!” “I will.” I took a few steps outside the cave entrance, and unfolded my wings. The entire span was about sixteen feet across, and a shimmering silver. With a leap, I was airborne. (continued below)
I rose over the rocks below our cave, propelling myself into the sky with every movement. I flew over the peaks of the mountains, twisting in the clouds until I found my way out. I could never get over the joy of flying. Seeing the rolling hills and the trees scattered over them, with a river sparkling its way through, I was in my element. A scent drifted to me on the breeze, and my gaze darted downwards. Oh! There! I made one circle, and pinpointing the animal among the trees, dove. The result was one squeal, as the pig saw me, and then it was lifted in my claws. Once I had caught two rabbits, I decided I had enough food. I circled around and flew back through the mountains to our cave. “Sunny! I got food!” I called. “Sunny?” The cave was empty. I dropped the animals and called again. Why isn’t she answering? “Sunny!” When there was still silence, I padded through the other chambers, but the food cache, the sleeping chamber, and the cave containing the freshwater spring were all empty. She wouldn’t have flown off on her own, but would she try to follow me? Did she want to hunt that badly? I leapt to the cave opening and roared as loud as I could for her. The noise echoed around the mountain valley, but there was no answer. Her golden scales were very visible in direct sunlight, and my sharp eyesight couldn’t see her anywhere. Had someone taken her away? Who could capture a dragon? Sunny wasn’t anywhere near fully grown, but she could control her fire now, so she should have been able to defend herself. Was it another dragon? I started absentmindedly shredding the pig with my claws, but I forced myself to stop. I couldn’t take my frustration out on my food. I needed to focus on the task at hand. I had to find Sunny. I carefully sniffed the floor. Her scent was there, but it was mixed with another, unfamiliar one. I decided to start by identifying the scent. My grandmother was good at identifying scents. She had lived for a very long time, so maybe she would recognize it. I would go to her, as fast as I could fly. Again, I leapt into the air.