BURTHR (Birth) The Inheritance Cycle

It had been four years since Thaylor had departed from the Spine.

It had been four years since Xelena saw another elf.

It had been four years since Xelena had felt loved.

Those four years had been difficult. Every winter got harder and harder. With scarce vegetation, there had been several times when Xelena had almost been forced to eat the animals of the Spine, who were her only companions.

But she would stay strong, like her mother did. She would continue to believe that one day, her mother would come strolling back to her, arms open, hugging and kissing her little girl, saying she was sorry for taking so long.

She could always dream.

Xelena walked carefully through the Spine, knowing where to step and where to avoid, where to run and where the jump. She knew which path leads to berries on trees, and which path leads to venomous snakes.

On her back, she shouldered a makeshift backpack. She could not sing to the trees, like her mother, so she collected twigs off the ground until she could weave something to carry the black stone on her back.

It brought her a sort of comfort, having its warmth always against her. Sometimes, if she closed her eyes, she could pretend the warmth was coming from her mother, and she could pretend to be sitting in her mother's lap, listening to stories and having her hair braided.

Ugh, hair.

Xelena looked down into a puddle on the ground that was left by melted snow. She examined her reflection. Her eyes were baby blue, like the flowers she sometimes found in the Spine. Her long blonde hair cascaded down onto her shoulders and onto her backpack, golden like the sun. It was a little unkempt, but she did not mind. Her fair porcelain skin was covered in light patches of dirt on her face and all throughout her body. She wrinkled her nose. Her mother would never have allowed this messiness.

She turned away from the puddle, mixed emotions settling in her belly. Mostly, she felt sad. She missed her mother deeply.

But she also felt a great deal of anger. How could her mother have left her so easily? The Spine was dangerous. Did she not care that Xelena could die?

She scowled, kicking at a rock. No matter. She did not need her mother, she decided. She could do this on her own as she had for nearly half her life.

She had been wandering the Spine for a few hours now, bored, but the sun would set soon. She could tell by the silence that had begun to settle, ever so gently, over the forest.

And so, she turned and began to make her way back to her home.

Step, step, step, breathe. Step, step, step, breathe. The steps she repeated over and over, day by day. She had never felt so alone.

When she reached the hut, she slung her backpack off her shoulder, careful not to damage the stone, and sat down with a hmph outside the hut. 

Alarm jolted through her as she looked at the stone and noticed a thin crack in it. No. No, no, no, no. I told her I'd keep it safe, I- Her thoughts were panicked, jumbled.

She lunged forward, grabbing the stone, and examining it desperately. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the stone cracked more and more. What was going on?

I don't understand, why would the stone be cracking? No, not cracking. Hatching. Realization hit her like the sharp blow of an Urgal's fists. This is no stone. This is an egg.

Her alarm was still in the back of her mind, but now curiosity took over her as she peered down at her. What animal could possibly be hatching from such a large egg? Some kind of exotic bird?

Tiny pieces of obsidian shells fell to the ground as the egg crumbled. She set the egg on the ground, backing away from it wearily. 

Suddenly, she could see a tiny black snout peak out from the egg. It thrashed in its shell, forcing the egg to break apart. Soon, the snout was joined by a pair of electric green eyes that almost seemed to be glowing. It had two tiny fangs popping out of its jaw. They looked extremely sharp. Its head was roughly triangular.

A feeling of both fear and something like respect washed over her. It was a primal feeling, something she couldn't explain. Something that told her this creature was powerful and important.

The creature's entire head popped out. It had tiny horns, and it was clearly some kind of reptilian creature. It could be nothing other than a dragon. The dragon was about as long as her leg, yet it was stately and impressive. Its scales were as black as a starless night, about the same color as the stone. The dragon broke free of its egg, flopping onto the ground before quickly recovering from its fall.

It flexed its wings, spreading them out as wide as it could. Its wings were several times longer than its body and ribbed with thin fingers of bone that extended from the wing's front edge, forming a line of widely spaced talons. The green spiderweb pattern that was on the egg, could be seen on its wings. Bright green veins ran through them, though Xelena only noticed them when she squinted.

 Its claws were as white as its fangs, like polished ivory, and slightly serrated on the inside curve. A line of deep green spikes ran down the creature's spine from the base of its head to the tip of its tail. A hollow where its neck and shoulders joined created a larger-than-normal gap between the spikes.

The dragon looked around curiously, its eyes fixed on Xelena. Xelena felt herself freeze. It was only a baby, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that it was intelligent, judging and analyzing her with its cold gaze.

 Its scales were like hundreds of small gemstones. The dragon was stunning, and Xelena couldn't help but be amazed. She had heard stories of dragons, and their riders, but she had never imagined that someday she would meet a dragon.

Without realizing what she was doing, she reached out to it. The dragon pressed its head against the palm of her right hand, and suddenly, agony erupted inside of her like a wildfire in a dry forest.

She fell back onto the ground, her body wracked with tremors of severe pain. She gasped for air, shaking. 

Eventually, the sensation faded. Her vision cleared, and her breathing started to slow. She gripped the ground with her right hand, and then looked at it, realizing there was now a white oval on her palm.

She looked up and saw the baby dragon staring at her still. It almost seemed concerned as it slowly crept forward. She sat up, frightened. She did not want to feel the pain she had just felt again. And yet, as she looked into the dragon's eyes, she almost felt a kind of comfort, despite staring down one of the most powerful creatures in the land.

She reached forward again, muscles tensing as she prepared for the pain to explode inside her again. The dragon slowly took a step forward, craning its neck to reach her. It touched the tip of its snout to her hand, and though she was ready for the pain to come, it never did.

She sighed with relief. Then, she gently scratched the dragon's nose.

"Now what am I going to do with you?"