He stared at her, reviewing the thought that he had understood a growl
He was surprised but not frozen
"I don't know"
He growled back
A literal growl, while thinking about what he wanted to be said, it was how he assumed she had communicated. He had done something extra as well. When thinking he isolated the words he wanted to say and detached from his feelings. To put it into words it was as if he had built two rooms. One where he said what he wanted to, and the other where he felt. He wasn't sure if it would payoff
He was right
She responded with a snort and looked away towards the warm light at the end of the cave
Waiting
He watched her for a moment but she made no more movement
Laying her head on her paws and waiting for her mother seemed all she was interested in
He wasn't sure if had needed to do those mental gymnastics, separating his thought into two rooms, but it was better to be safe than incompetent
He changed his attention from the light blue dragon which was obviously what she was.
Assuming she had emerged from an egg in the red pond just like he had would make him a dragon as well
He wondered if there would be more of them
'Of us'
He uncertainly self corrected
More dragons?
As unreasonable as it sounded he played by his gut
He wasn't going to stop now
When he had now idea of his surroundings
And of what physical and moral laws this place plays by
He dismissed the thought while wandering over to the crude hide bed beside the pool
He was very large by human standards
If someone were to see him they would most likely be petrified
yet he was dwarfed by this massive bed that surely belonged to whatever dragon had birthed them
He was around 2 meters tall standing on four legs and very long because of his tail at 14 m yet when he curled up on the bed he was slightly less than a 1/4 of the bed
Another thing to note is that the bed was warm
No doubt due to these green stones
'I wonder how-'
Glub glub
He heard bubbles pop and snapped his head to face the pool
'Guess that answers that question'
In the middle of the pool swimming towards the stone floor was a silver grey scaled dragon: about the same size as nonchalant light Bluey as well as a deep brown scaled dragon slightly bigger than the other two but not as big as himself, probably at about 90% his stature compared to the other two at 60%
Silver reached the stone first and climbed out easily
The bed wasn't too far from the pool and after having had sensed Blue he could tell Silver was a female as well
Silver turned to look at slow Brown as they struggled to swim
She had something of a contemptuous look with a raised chin flared wings and a proud posture
Slow Brown paddled quickly with a strong focused gaze yet traveled a humorously minuscule distance
What had taken quick Silver a few moments was taking big brown a minute or two
Nonetheless throughout the struggle Brown matched Silver's gaze more than a few times
Brown would look at Silver every few moments though never for long because they'd start to sink
Nevertheless big Brown made sure to spare a few moments to make sure Silver knew her prideful demeanor was less than appreciated
When Brown reached the stone edge three things had become very noticeable
Slow Brown was a male
He also had dark black scales in a v shape around his neck
Except now that he was seeing it on somebody else it wasn't a v shape
It was a diamond in the place of a mane
There was a v on Brown's back that connected with the v on brown's chest leading to the neck completing the diamond
Lending to Brown's uniqueness was that he didn't have any wings or even a tail!
Instead Brown had a mighty jaw with massive hands that jarred the ground when he moved
Silver in comparison resembled waiting Blue
Except for a slight difference in build
Whereas mother's curious little Blue seemed well proportioned, a mix between a bear and a tiger that all the dragons shared
Silver instead seemed lankier with a small body yet exaggerated legs and a tail that seemed too long for her small body, their wings were no exception; they stretched unnaturally far from her body.'
'She's insect like with her lankiness… she might be the only one of us to be able to fly out the womb, or out the egg I suppose.'
His thoughts wondered thinking over his new siblings
'Presumably the same mother and father and yet we all have different builds … hmmm?'
One look at the scene playing out before home and a small smile began to play on his lips
He was comfortable on the hide pile
'I even have a show'
He thought
He glanced over to look at his oldest sister
She had shifted her gaze from the cave entrance and was watching as well
For at that moment Brown approached Silver
Different from the way nonchalant Blue had approached himself
A mischievous look on Brown's face portrayed his intentions
There wasn't much distance between Brown and Silver to begin with and with Brown being significantly bigger than his opponent he had covered that distance deceptively quickly
Within a moment Brown was charging
Silver was either caught off guard or was simply slow, they tried to roll left towards the pool to dodge but had been clipped by a massive shoulder and launched back into the liquid
Brown slid to a stop and turned their neck to where Silver fell in
Brown promptly lumbered over to the edge closest to where Silver had fallen in and still had not surfaced
Brown stood up on their hind legs and spread their forelimbs as if showing off their wingspan,mocking the pose silver had while having watched brown struggle in his swim, chin held high
Brown had a grin that spanned the entirety of their face when the liquid rippled and silver flew out
One moment the pond was calm with a brown dragon looking as if they were going to give a ghost a massive hug and the next moment Silver had flown past brown's head while snaking their long tail around Brown's neck
Silver gave a massive flap of her wings, combined with her momentum from launching out the pool she pulled big Brown off his feet and released the grip her tail had
Brown slammed back first to the floor and cracked the brittle cold stone beneath
He rolled to the left to get back on his feet
Brown glared at silver flying above him
Then he noticed blue
Blue stared back
He tilted his head slightly as if observing then raised his chin
Blue matched for a moment then glanced at the oldest, sitting on the hide bed, then back at Brown all within a half breath
Brown understood and shifted his gaze to the storm gray dragon who had made himself comfortable on the mother's hides
The storm gray dragon matched his gaze.
Intelligent unwavering red eyes that stared through Brown made Brown slightly uncomfortable
And that discomfort made him excited
Brown who understood he was here to dominate. To be the greatest, the strongest who had ever lived had his first rival
And who more fitting than his oldest brother? Who even seemed to be slightly bigger
Brown felt a smile play on his lips
"You dare look away?!"
Silver cawed as she dived
Brown had tensed and in the next moment jumped higher than anybody would have guessed him capable
As if the earth had aided him
He reached Silver as she dove and reached out
Like a tiger who jumped and slapped at meat in the air his right paw landed straight on Silver's chest right as her legs smashed into brown's shoulder
Silver crashed
Swatted out the air she hit the far wall and collapsed to the ground. The area on her chest where she had been swatted was gaining a purple hue
Meanwhile Brown crashed straight below onto the plot of land he had jumped from
Except now he had blood flowing from his shoulder and a dazed expression from hitting his head on the stone as he had plummeted
Blue spared a glance to the oldest and they shared a small grin
That grin didn't last long
The cavern shook
Dust fell from the cavern ceiling
Rocks that had fallen into the pond sent ripples across the surface
And a boom was heard outside
Blue and Gray both stood and faced the cavern entrance
Gray had the wherewithal to hop off the hide bed and just in time as a massive wide scaly sunset orange head peered inside the cavern
The head came from above the cavern and yet the jaw faced the ground and the eyes faced upward just like it would if a being was in front of the cavern
Gray and Blue watched intensely as the head stayed focused on the 4 dragonlings in the cave
The neck moved counterclockwise
As if the being was moving
Yet the head stayed in the exact same place in space not moving even a little.
Eventually the neck hit 9 o clock and a body appeared from the left as if claiming ownership of the invasive head
The massive dragon stood 16m tall from jaw to floor and was so long Gray couldn't see her whole body from where he was
The orange dragon entered the cave and crossed the hundreds of meters within a few moments
Appearing now Gray who had no doubt this was his mother could see her enormous being reaching a length of slightly over a hundred meters
Considering that you could fit about five of her along the cave the cavern had to measure around 500m long ~30m tall and 150m wide
'Definitely a tight fit for such a large dragon but I'm sure she spends time somewhere else instead of here'
In the next moment the orange dragon shrunk down till she was 7m tall and around 40m long
Gray blinked
'Well that solves that'
"MY CHILDREN!!!"
Squealed the orange dragon with an excited toothy smile
'Storm gray has a creepy gaze… how lovely he'll ward off any threats!'
She smiled
'Blue has a relieved expression… I'm glad you found what you wanted!'
She smiled
Her smile wavered and a cold face replaced it
She sniffed the air
Gray flinched
Blue tensed
Moments passed and nobody moved
A slight smile played at the Mother's lips as she disappeared from view and appeared infront of knocked out Silver
In the next moment they both disappeared and reappeared next to sleepy Brown
Gray watched as Mother dragged Brown and Silver to the red pool and threw them in haphazardly
She lingered there a little more
At the edge of the red pond
Standing on weathered cold stone
Gray got a good look at her
She had the standard dragon build
2 very large wings
1 very long tail
4 legs
The exceptions were two
She had an exceptionally long powerful neck
And that unlike Gray and his siblings
Their mother had two sets of horns
2 on each right above her eye acting like an eye protector
Stretching from the start of her eye to the top of her skull
She watched the pool contentedly and called her two conscious children near
Still staring at the pool she said,
"I had wanted to name you when everyone was here but I suppose it won't do to have you roaming around like namElesS birDS!"
She cackled towards the end of her sentence and her voice cracked with laughter
As if she had made the greatest joke ever
About dragon children and nameless birds
'Am I really in this situation?'
Gray pondered
His mother was still laughing at her own joke
and that made Gray chuckle a little bit
'What a peculiar woman'
He smiled inwardly
He glanced at Blue
She was unamused
Merely blankly staring at their mother
As if astonished at her behavior
"My name is Ashmael, children, but always call me Mother"
Ashmael hummed lightly
She moved on
"What was the order in which you emerged from the pool?"
She took a more serious tone
Blue responded quickly and respectfully
"It was Gray first mother, then myself, then sister, then brown brother"
Ashmael stared emptily at the pool
And continued to stare
"Gray is the oldest, then I, then silver sister, then brown brother, Mother"
Blue said loudly
"I understand" Ashmael replied in a quiet tone
In the next moment however a bright smile bloomed on her face
With a beautiful expression she proclaimed
"As the oldest your name shall be Verchall
Boom!
The second will be Yansa
Boom!
The third will be Ophern
Boom!
The fourth Merkhan
Boom!
And the fifth Enlilion"
Boom!
Silence lingered and reigned for sometime
Gray or Verchall now as his new mother had declared wondered when his late bloomer of a brother would surface
He didn't need to ask to figure one more egg had been expected to hatch
Instead he had another question
"Ashmael, what was that shaking when you named us?"
The orange dragon merely stared at the pool
Verchall faced Yansa
She chuckled at his blank face before asking
"Mother, what was that shaking when we were named?"
"Well Yansa, that was recognition from Order"
"Or-"
Ashmael's smile grew
The pool's surface broke and out emerged
A dragon
One with their neck surrounded by a diamond
Large wings
Scales so dark you'd mistake them for black if you didn't notice a purple sheen where the light grazed
And two very long tails
Both ending in a blade
"I am here!"
Enlilion circled the top of the cavern before crashing into a wall
He had tried to stop abruptly on the rock
But had gone too fast and hit his jaw
Verchall, Ashmael, and Yansa all stared with emotionless faces as he slid down the wall into the pool
Splash