"Tiera, you are from a long line of strong dragons," Mother let that sink in a bit.

"Ones that have changed dragons, forever. They are AuRon, Wistala and RuGaard, who got his name later on. AuRon was a gray who is scaleless. All three had a hard time, so hatchling you want to know more," Mother said.

Tiera thought about it for a bit. She liked learning about their family line, and the towering, green figure speaking to her made it even better. Her Mother's name was Willow, as she had picked up through conversations between Mother and Father. However, she still prefered calling her 'Mother' by default.

"How about you go play for a while. Remember, Tiera I will always be here for you."

"Ok, Mother," Tiera said.

"Hatchlings it's time to hunt, all of you come outside," Her Father ordered, although not sternly. "I'll keep you safe."

Tiera went outside, thinking that it would be fun. Her three siblings followed close behind.

"What do you think we will get today, Scatha?" Tiera inquired.

"I don't know," Scatha replied, "But I'm a bit afraid. Did mother tell you the history of the family line, with the gray, when they were siblings they got invaded and a green sibling died?" Scatha had inherited Mother's green scales, as well as her adeptness at history. Though Tiera would never had admitted it to Scatha to her face, she was jealous of her.

"Will you stop worrying about that Scatha? It'll be fine. Father said he'd keep us safe," Abraxas said. He was the copper, much like RuGaard, which, in Tiera's mind, told nothing good about him. From what she had heard from stray stories, mostly from Father, who had never favored the copper ancestor, RuGaard had a grudge against AuRon for most of his life.

"Why do you have to be so annoying at times," Ember said, irritated. Ember was the last of them, a red with a hot attitude.

While it was true that Abraxas did complain about usually trivial things and annoy the other three, he had a good heart. Tiera's siblings may have been a pain at times, but she still loved them. After all, they were the only family she had.

"Ok, look there's a sheep, straight ahead, let's get it," Scatha proclaimed. "Remember: don't fight over the food!" She said, hungry and determined.

"Tiera, it's your turn to get the food. It looks strong, so you can take it," Insisted Ember.

I guess it's all up to me, Tiera thought.

"Father, I don't think I need your help," Tiera yelled up to the imposing figure. "I think I can take this one on my own."

Father hesitated before answering. "It's all yours," He grumbled. "I'll watch from above." He then gave her a calculating look. "Remember Tiera, with those blue scales of yours, you can be seen easily," Father said.

Tiera remembered that animals and some humans, dwarfs and elves are scared of dragons. very few humans, dwarves or elves come around here and since father is way overprotective, caring and stubborn that he almost doesn't want them to meet any people. They knew if he didn't know them he would kill them.

Tiera was quick. She took down that sheep quickly, using her sii to slash its throat. She started to feast, yet before she could take a second bite, Father carried the carcase back to the cave so that her siblings could feast as well.

"I could have done that too, you know, maybe even faster," Said Abraxas, while eating the sheep that Tiera had killed.

    "I'd love to see that. It might be entertaining to see you try!" Ember mocked. "The biggest catch you've got is a rabbit, and that took you ages!"

    "Ember, please don't tease your brother. You know he was still young. You failed to catch that mouse, remember?" Mother said, glaring in his direction.

     They all laughed except Ember, who looked annoyed. "I guess we all have had trouble doing something in the past," He said grudgingly. "I'm sorry, Abraxas," He added at a glare from Mother.

     "It's fine, Ember," Abraxas said, a hint of smugness in his voice at Ember's apology. "I shouldn't act full of myself all the time," He replied, though it didn't seem like he meant it.

    "Alright hatchlings, that's enough. Let's end it there and after dinner we will have another family line lesson if you want," Mother insisted, already turning into the cave.

    After their Mother ate the corpse of a horse that Father had killed in the Upper World, they returned to the egg shelf and Mother settled for another long talk with her hatchlings.

    "So where shall we start?" Mother asked her hatchlings.

    "How about Wistalas adventure?" Scatha replied, the excitement about learning of her family an appealing prospect for her.

    "Very well then," Her mother replied. "I'll start with how she escaped the raiding of AuRel's cave. After narrowly escaping, with Jizara sadly losing her life," She paused there, as if in silent mourning, before continuing, "They were pursued by dwarves, men and elves. AuRon gave himself up to let her escape, though she quickly grew the want for revenge against the dwarves of the Wheel Of Fire. In her trek to the murderous dwarves, she unfortunately fell into a river, which stopped her quest for revenge against the murderous Wheel Of Fire."

"The graceful Rainfall happened upon her and took her as his daughter. Wistala became very well known in Rainfalls estate; his maid even created an inn that they named the 'Green Dragon Inn'. It had a beautifully painted sign with a depiction of Wistala in all her beauty."

    Tiera thumped the ground with her tail in order to get her mother's attention to ask a question.

    "Yes, Tiera? What is your question?" Mother asked, turning her massive head towards the small hatchling.

    "Did the siblings ever find each other?" Tiera asked, her small, squeaking hatchling voice seemingly insignificant in comparison to her mother's.

    "Yes, they did find each other, Tiera," Mother replied, smiling in her direction.

    A sudden knocking at the opening of the cave gathered their collected attention.

    "Stay here, I'll see who it is; Do not follow me, stay here!" Father ordered. "I'll be back, my hatchlings." He bounded toward the opening of the cave. Tiera could smell the anger - and fear - among Father's wake.

     Mother then brought all the hatchlings to a small hidden shelf in the back of the cave then spoke quietly to them. "You should be safe here - for now. I will be back my hatchlings." Then she bounded toward the opening in the cave. They could slightly overhear a conversation from inside their cave: "Yes, I know, but I need help with this! I can't keep the people from entering your forest, they're starting to doubt my story. Even worse, some are even looking for the beast in this forest!" Cried a human voice, something that startled the young hatchlings, even from the safety of their cave.

    "You should know by now, Yato. That if you endanger my hatchlings in any way, I will kill you and nothing will stop me from killing you and your family!" Father growling angrily

    "I'm sorry but I can't do anything please help me with this." Yato squeaked in a very quiet voice.

    "Azurite! Please be easy on him, you know he's trying his best, and you owe him for keeping them from entering our forest for so long," Mother said sympathetically. They heard fires crackling outside, most likely from Father.

They started to get more quiet; it was getting hard to hear at this point as the conversation became private. "... I know... hatchling... help... quest..." Yato whispered.

Father sounded not so quiet and furious at the hominid. "You really think, that you can protect my hatchlings on this madman quest of yours?" Father growled.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" Yato cried. The hominid's voice sounded terrified.

"He was only suggesting but how about...ready...training," They heard Mother say.

"Very well, they do need to see the world at some point. Yato," The hominid let out an audible squeak of fear, "I will leave you responsible for them. If anything happens I'll hold you responsible," The hominid stuttered unintelligible words, at least from inside the cave. "Use your sword if you have to in order to protect my hatchlings. Come into the cave we'll talk to them."

"Did you hear Father?" Scatha squeaked fearfully. "He was furious! And what did he mean by us, going on a quest for that hominid? What does he mean he can't keep people from entering the forest?" Questioned Scatha, her voice quivering with fear.

Tiera thought to herself "What does he mean by they need to see the world at some point? And what's ready and whose training?"

Shortly after, Mother showed up in the mouth of the cave. "It's ok my hatchlings; It's safe to come out now," Mother said, ushering them out of the cave.

Tiera walked out without needing any more information. She wanted to see this human Yato for her many questions. Except her other siblings were another story. The next hatchling to come out was Ember, walking as if he had saved someone, after he figured out that mother wasn't worried, which he was proud to boast. She also figured that a part of it was to help his ego, but she didn't care about him. After that was Abraxas. He fearful at first, but warmed up to it later. Scatha would still not come out, even after Mother's urging.

Father greeted them, the man Yato standing next to him. Yato only nodded toward them as they came out. He seemed uneasy, so she spoke to him. "You seem very uneasy. I can see it, why?" She then recalled the quest she had heard him speak of. "Also, what is this quest you talk about? I'm curious," Tiera asked.

"You are very observant, and a very good listener, for one of your age," Said Yato, amazed at her talent of speech. At this point, Mother gave up trying to get Scatha out of the shelf. Eventually, though, Scatha started to very slowly crawl out of the cave. Then she started to talk to Tiera, using mind speech, "Is it ok to come out? Is it dangerous?"

"You really think Father or Mother, would let someone in that would hurt us. Especially after Father's outburst?" Tiera responded. Mother was bewildered, apparently overhearing their conversation.

"They're already talking to each other, using mind-speech! This is impressive, my hatchlings." Then she turned to Father, seemingly starting another conversation with Father.

Then Father spoke, "This is Yato an old friend of mine, we have decided to bring all of you to the real World, with humans, elves, dwarves and other dragons. We will be there to protect you." At this point Scatha was out with the other hatchlings listening, bewildered and amazed. "You can't trust everyone out there hatchlings, be safe." Father was looking very broke and lost.

"Tiera, follow me my hatchling," Mother glanced at the man. "Yato, you to." Mother brought them to a different part of the cave away from her siblings "Yato, can you tell Tiera about the quest you're going to send her on, if you would?" Tiera was stunned at what she was hearing.

"Very well, I have lost a very good friend of mine, she is a black dragon, and her name is ..." He started crying it was strange because he had a very dirty face, and had some scars which made him look like a warrior. Here he was crying in front of a hatchling. "I'm sorry, but when she was holding back another group of thieves and bandits, she did not come back I believe they have captured her. I need your help." Yato looked very sad.

"And what do you expect me to do?" Tiera questioned.

"I can't do it alone, there's a small opening in their fortress, I might be able to fit, but I can't trust, that I can take a whole fortress, without a distraction. But when the time comes, the least you can do is distract them. I would ask no more of you. They have taken other dragons, but whatever you feel up to would be fine."

Tiera, understanding, now responded, "I see... It would be nice to know her name, though."

"Yes, of course. Her name is Shadow," Yato said, facing her.

"Thank you," Tiera replied, happy to finally understand what was going on.

"Alright I think that's enough for today. Tiera, please go back to your Father, my hatchling." Mother said, wrapping her tail around Tiera.

"Yes, Mother." Tiera said, walking to the part of the cave where Father was. He had stopped talking, but there was a lot of chatter from her siblings now. She walked up to Father, laying down next to him.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Father said, almost as if he was pleading for her not to go.

"I know, but I have to, that's who I am. I'm sorry."

"Very well." Father got up and started toward the opening of the cave. "Follow me hatchling, Yato you to."

"Yes my Lord." Father brought Tiera and Yato out to the Over world.

Father stared out at the land. "I need to know that you can keep her safe ... Yato i'm putting a lot of faith in you." father said in a calm voice. He sounded almost desperate.

"I understand my Lord."

Father spun to Yato, "Don't be weak, there are other dragons unlike us and yours. They will notice that then you may end up a servant to one."

Yato stood there in a daze but snapped out of it enough to respond, "Yes Aranthis."

"There you go Yato. I don't need anything happening to you, or Tiera"

As Tiera was about to leave after not seeing a need for her to be there, an area in front of her stomach contracted ejecting its contents. The liquid had a foul smell she recalled the same smell from bat urine.

"Don't worry hatchling that's a sign that you're becoming a draka. It's called a foua, the first flame."

Three days of mindless tasks given by father, and endless talks between Yato and father that Tiera normally left after a while. At this point Tiera was almost as long as Yato.

"You're ready Tiera, you go with Yato on your quest tomorrow, but before you go I have something for you, and one final test." Father said well entering their cave and came out with something in his mouth. He dropped coins on the ground. "For you my hatchling, there good for your scales, they help your scales grow strong." He insisted she eat them so she did. The metalic taste of the coins were amazing, causing her mouth to water at the touch of them. "What is your final test, Father?" Tiera asked.

"Yes, the final test, though not hard it's more for my sake, is to take down a deer."

"Yes Father."

"I will watch from above." Father took off and hovered so he could see her. And she began following the smell of a deer that had passed through shortly before. She followed the scent to a meadow she could see the deer at this point. But there was a slight lingering smell when she got close but she didn't pay attention to it. It was a strong deer. She was watching it to anticipate its movements, she slowly crawled out into the open the deer hadn't seen her yet. But just before she was going to attack it darted off to the side of her she knew something had scared it but what? Then she heard them she tried to hid but it was too late. Three hominids saw her; they were armored and had swords, though they weren't the shining one that Father had told her of in images and stories. They drew their swords she remembered her training.

"It's only a hatchling, this can't be it," The first one said. Tiera was watching them ready to strike at the slightest movement. Father could only see Tiera, not the hominids.

"It seems to be challenging us," The second one said, pointing his dull sword in her direction.

"We'll kill it anyway. It's worth much, and when there's a hatchling usually there's a dragon not far. We'll take this one, and then we come back with help," The third one said.

The three moved towards her, their shields up and swords outstretched from their body. The first one tried to strike her but she jumped out of the way then she jumped toward him she bit on his throat crushing his windpipe he died. The second and the third attacked at the same time so Tiera knocked one of them over with her tail and clawed the one on the ground in the back of the neck with her sii, tearing some flesh off with her claws killing him. The last one tried to tackle her. He missed, and clawed violently at the back of his neck, killing him as well. She glanced at her blood coated sii, noting how they had just killed two.

Father landed with a loud thud. In a panicked tone, he asked, "Is everything alright?" Then he noticed the bodies. He glanced around, his eyes settling on Tiera. "Very good, Tiera. I'm sorry my hatchling, I should have come here sooner."

"It's ok Father. I shouldn't have ignored their smell."

"Let's bring them back to the cave," Father said, looking very depressed now. He probably blamed himself for her getting attacked.

Mother walked over to her, blocking her view of Father as he walked away. "You know how hard this is on your Father," Mother said, well watching him attempt to sleep uncomfortably. "Go to your siblings. They are very curious on where you have been," She glanced at Tiera out of the corner of her eye. "You should say good bye."

"Yes Mother, I think that's a good idea," Tiera said. Walking to her siblings, knowing they will have endless questions.

"Tiera, where have you been the last couple of days?" Scatha asked, tilting her head in that odd way of hers.

"Don't think we didn't see you going out into the Over World, with Father," Ember said scoldingly.

"Yes, I know. Father had me training in a way," Tiera responded.

Abraxas glanced at her, and asked, "For what?"

Tiera responded after a second, "Yato's friend has been captured, he needs my help."

Scatha spoke as she was glancing at Father as he strutted through the cave, "That would explain Father's behavior lately."

"It will be rough on him, at the least. Probably even harder on all of you," Tiera said.

"When do you leave?" Ember asked.

"Tomorrow in the morning, I think," Tiera responded.

"Stay safe, ok? I'm counting on seeing my sister again," Scatha said, worried, yet with a hint of sarcasm.

"She'll be fine. Tiera has already killed three hominids. That's more than we can say. You know Father couldn't have killed them like that. There would have been burn marks, and a lot more flesh missing," Ember said, a little annoyed.

"I know that she will do it, and that she'll be back," Abraxas said.

"Thank you, Abraxas. I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep, do not bother me," Tiera said tired. She started to curl up, in a comfortable spot, and started to doze off.

"You're going to sleep already?" Abraxas said, purposefully loud, disturbing her sleep.

glared at her brother, "Yes," Tiera replied. "Now why don't you do the same before I make you?" He scurried off to the egg shelf then settled down.

She was in a fortress with cages. It was not very warm, then a voice spoke to her, in very fluent draken. Quite obviously, the creature was a dragon. It said, "Tiera." Tiera shifted, surprised that it knew her name.

"What are you, and how do you know my name?" Tiera asked startled. She started to inch backwards, confused.

"Come closer," The voice said. She inched closer, until she could see in the cage. Inside of the cage, there was a small gold dragon her size, but even more surprisingly, it had wings! "Yes, I know I have wings, but this is not the time or place," The dragon said, shifting under her searching gaze.

Tiera glanced around the room, noticing the hominid structuring. "This is a hominid fortress, isn't it?" Tiera asked the dragon, waiting patiently in front of her.

"Yes, you would be correct."

"Where are the guards? They wouldn't leave dragons unattended, would they?" Tiera asked.

"You killed them already," He said. As she glanced down at her sii, and noticed that it was coated with blood, hominid blood, by the smell of it. "We don't have much time, so I'll make this quick." The dragon shifted again, then put his head near to hers. "When I heat the lock with my flame, you hit the cage inwards, with your tail. Remember that, it will be important. We're out of time," It finished, glancing around. Tiera saw the vision of the area slowly fade away. "Wake up Tiera."

"Wait-" Tiera said, as if to stall the vanishing of the dragon. "Who are you?" Tiera asked frantically, confused even more now. Who was this?

"Soon Tiera, soon."

With that the dragon and the fortress faded away, and Tiera woke.

___________________________

Part Glossory

Sii- The front legs of a dragon. The claws are shorter and the fighting spur on the rear leg is closer to the other digits and opposable. The digits are more elegantly formed for manipulation.

Foua- A product of the fire bladder. When mixed with liquid fats stored within and then exposed to oxygen, it ignites into oily flame.