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Zakerin learned three things during his first week in Hades Canyon. First, When things were 'small' here, they were roughly the size of a full grown horse. This excluded only the insects, as there appeared to be none in the entire region.
Secondly, The only 'neutral' territory was the lake, as it was a free standing source of water- a gigantic mountain of Ice, larger by far than most cities, sat in the middle of what could have been described more like an inland sea, chilling the water and making a natural barrier from the next area in the canyon. The lake had a schedule that was followed like clockwork- Dragons and the Herbivores drak at the beginning of the day and end of the day. Kills and defecation were forbidden, probably to keep the water as pure as possible. When the sun reached its highest point, the carnivores would drink, and ignore the remaining herbivores, then lounge about until the sun began to fall, some laying down to sleep on the rocky outcroppings that Zakerin eventually made his home.
The third thing that Zakerin learned was probably the most important- food was what you killed. At first, He realized that the fruits were probably edible- and tasted like dung. Few herbs and fruits he recognized dotted the area around the lake, but that was about all.
During his second week, he'd learned that Dragons often didnt finish their burned kill, leaving it for scavengers and the like. For six days, his pride had won out, stopping him from eating any portion of the dragon kills. Then, in the end, his hunger won out- he took the kill to a small cave and feasted on the strange creature that must've come from further in.
The kills were almost schedule-like as well. It was a rotation of three creatures every two days. At the beginning was large animals, things that were the size of a good house, resembling Ekshuant, A large woolly creature often used for heavy labor. After that were lizard-beasts with tough skin and jagged teeth. Their webbed feet made him guess that they were at least semi aquatic. The final creature was almost always a mess, unrecognizable and winged. The meat was not eaten by the dragons or scavengers and just left to rot.
Nearing the end of his first month, Zakerin knew he was getting physically stronger, and faster, tiring less often and being able to do more. As such, he began traveling further away from the lake, only during midday, as most of the carnivores slept. It was then that he realized what the third creature was.
The sound of a great battle resounded through the crags of the area, drawing him closer until he spotted three Great Dragons, probably more than six hundred years old, Battling amongst themselves. He recognized two from biology books he'd read in class- the Royal Black, a species that was on the emblem of the Mage King's line, and a Siskerian Nightbleeder, A dragon from the northern wastes that was rare enough to see as an adolescent, much less an adult of this size.
The third was a Dragon of much, much more power than the other two, with silver, stone-like scales and wings that would make him believe day was night if they unfurled.
Strangely, the unkown dragon was being beaten back by the two smaller dragons, who appeared to be working in tandem. Looking away from the spectacular fight, he noticed the ground was littered with bones of dragons, picked clean by sharp teeth. Only one creature he knew of ate dragons, but he'd never heard of one so large...
"Its a Drakan..." he whispered to himself, not believing his own deduction.
Drakans were dangerous beast resembling dragons, though they were often much smaller than their chosen prey- this meant nothing however, because Drakans worked in hives, and possessed a terrible weapon when hunting. A single Drakan is actually extremely weak, however that weakness was its strength. Drakans, when their body comes into contact with a certain enzyme found in the stomach, explode violently, causing the predator to die almost insantly. The remaining Drakans either divvy up the corpse, or carry it back to the nest.
As he saw no other creatures than the three, he assumed that either the Large Drakan was the guard, or the Queen. The Dragons had continued a relentless assault on the Queen, continuously attacking until it was driven further back, and finally, in an amazing dive, punctured through the heart with precision.
The battle had been almost scripted in appearance, the dragons looking practiced in this to the point that they were old hands. Watching as they flew off at high speed, he realized that the corpses that had been dropped were Drakans that had been killed. Standing and watching the dragons fly deeper into the canyon, Zakerin realized the sun was falling, and rushed down, back to the lake. Barely making it in time, he stopped at the lake edge when a huge force knocked him to his knees, rattling the canyon in such a way that it seemed as if the world was ending.
The next day, the lake was eerily quiet, no creature left for the one day, as if to make sure that the tremor would not occur again....
 Azzy Rael · Fri Apr 16, 2010 @ 04:19am · 0 Comments |
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