Chapter Text
"Stay in the cave, I'll try to lure it away!"
Those were his last words.
I didn't agree, who would have been, but the egg. I have to take care of it, there's nobody else left.
"Don’t worry! Daddy is here, daddy will protect you, I promise!”
Gen held the egg gently to his chest and felt the warmth radiating from it. Everything was all right, he hoped.
But he had to move on, find a warmer place, a bay or something. He wouldn't make it to the dragon's nest anyway. Especially since he was all alone in waters filled with danger.
His stomach was rumbling, he had been in this hollow for three days. The bag they were carrying had been lost in the commotion…the commotion. He could barely remember what happened. Everything before that three days was in a thick fog and as soon as he tried to remember there were those yellow eyes.
Everyone of the Dragonian - the people of the sea dragons - knew this beast. It is said to have once been a sea dragon itself, but lost its mind after transforming into a full dragon... Now the beast roams the still plains, waiting for a day when the sea rises and it would destroy the nest of the dragons.
At the edge of this plain lays the Labyrinth Canyon, a haunted place full of caves and seaweed. The sea dragons had to traverse this labyrinth to reach the nest of the dragons.
Only there could they raise their babies in peace until they were strong enough to swim the perilous voyage back to their home.
Gen and his partner were also on their way, but they misjudged the time. They had no choice but to continue traveling with the egg, not knowing if the cold sea would harm it.
"We've almost made it, just the labyrinth, then we're at the Emerald Fields." Gen saw the other's face blurred in his mind's eye, the only thing that seemed sharp was the encouraging smile. Then the other one looked up, sand falling from above, the light fading as the monster's head stretched over the edge of the cliff.
Gen's eyes filled with tears, his ears were ringing and he couldn't remember the other's voice.
A moment later he crouched in an alcove.
"Don’t turn around! Don't turn around!” he recited. "Everything will be fine!"
...
"I'm so hungry. I need to get out of here." He picked up his egg and crept to the edge; a storm had brewed up and was stirring the currents on the still plain. "I don't want to leave it behind..." full of fear he swam towards the sea surface. "I have to get to the surface, it can't follow me there! I have to find an island so that at least we are safe.”
He kept swimming, again hoping the egg wouldn't take damage from the water pressure, on and on, leaving the plain behind. Once he thought he saw a shadow but nothing happened. Eventually he broke the surface, taking a deep breath before leaping through the waves like an arrow until he finally spotted an island on the horizon and headed for it.