First Flight
First Flight
A Short Story By: G'lek
Svem hummed contently to herself as she trotted between the trees of the forest. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept her Uncle in view. In truth, he was her adoptive father, but he didn't like her calling him Father, so they'd settled on Uncle. They were an unlikely pair. She was a dragoness and he was a human. On the surface, at least.
Concorde Unit, or Concorde, or simply CU depending on your preference, was a nanite hive residing over top of a simple metallic skeleton. The brown haired, 6 foot 4 individual was almost always happy, enthusiastic, and hard to faze. He had found Svem's egg after an earthquake shook it loose of it's resting place in a cave up in the mountains. The egg had fallen into a river and floated downstream until Concorde Unit found it on the riverbank near his cabin. The cold temperature of the river had determined Svem's gender.
Being the kind soul he was, Concorde Unit took the egg to his cabin and, with some spare parts, made an incubator for it. You see, Concorde Unit was also an inventor, working on all kinds of contraptions night and day. As such, he had a lot of spare parts to make into whatever he needed.
It took several days, but eventually the heat roused the young dragoness within her shell and she decided that it was now or never. She emerged into the world in the afternoon hours, the sun drying her out and revealing the bright ruby color of her scales. From there, the adventure truly began. Concorde Unit took Svem in as his own daughter and raised her.
There were many funny moments over the next year and a half, during which Svem grew from the size of a cat until her shoulders came up to Concorde Unit's waist. From her constant fliching of the silverware to feed her need for metal (you see, metal ensures that a dragon's scales grow in healthy. This is why they always seek out treasure. Not from greed but for good health!) to the many morning where she slept in, telling Concorde Unit she was too "slugga-blood" to get up (slugga-blood referring to the fact that dragons need to get their blood flowing in the mornings before they can do anything. This is why it is advantageous to attack dragon's in the morning. Dragons aren't actually cold-blooded, they're just slugga-blood!).
Concorde Unit did his best to teach Svem everything she might need to survive in the wide world. Except for one thing. Being a nanite hive in a human shape, he couldn't fly, nor did he know how to teach her. Which is why they were out in the forest now. Concorde Unit had found a large clearing that Svem could run around in, flapping her wings to help build up her flight muscles.
They were headed there when Svem perked up.
"Uncle! I hear people nearby," She said, swivelling her head in the direction of the sound. Concorde Unit walked over to her, having being following a bit behind. He looked in the direction she was and his mechanical eyes focused onto the smudges of people in the distance.
"Oh no..." He breathed. "Hunters..."
"Hunters?" Svem asked, trying to confirm. When Concorde Unit nodded, she looked over, worried.
"We'd best get out of here. Your scales are like a beacon with how clean you keep them and the last thing we need i-" He was cut off by the sound of ATV motors roaring to life. "Crap! Run!"
Svem did just that, her powerful muscles rippling under her hide as she took off through the undergrowth. Concorde Unit did his best to keep up, but she was much faster then he was, having been training for a while now.
Suddenly, an ATV jumped out of the bushes to her left, the hunter riding behind the driver aiming his rifle at her. Svem jumped to the side and headed away from them. There was the sound of a shot and the thok of a bullet hitting a tree trunk. That spurred Svem on at even greater speeds.
Concorde Unit realized what was happening, however. "SVEM!" He shouted. "They're driving you to the cliff!" She looked back over her shoulder, but she had nowhere else to go. More ATVs were joining the chase, cutting off her escape routes. Suddenly, the trees parted, revealing a stretch of rock and then open air.
Svem looked at that edge and set her jaws. Before, she'd had lots of time to practice and train. Now, however, it was sink or swim. Or rather, fly or fall. She took off across the open ground faster then ever, wings spreading in preparation. The hunters were shouting to each other and Concorde was watching with horror as he ran after her.
She timed her steps just right so that her hind legs ended up planted on the edge of the cliff. The muscles in her hind quarters bulged from the effort as she heaved herself up and over the edge. Concorde Unit could only watch as she seemed to arch up and the down out of view.
He skidded to a stop, eyes staring at the cliff edge. She hadn't been ready! There was so much more she needed to learn, so much more training she needed to do! Now, none of that would ever happen. He stood there stunned as several ATVs pulled up, the hunters looking disappointed at their loss.
Without warning, there was a loud whoosh followed by a blast of air as Svem soared up the face of the cliff and over the top, wings beating steadily to help her gain altitide. Once she reached the tree tops high overhead, she levelled off and circled once before swooping down in front of the cliff edge, roaring in pure and unbridled joy.
The hunters were stunned. No man, no matter how cruel or jaded could deny the beauty and majesty of a dragon in flight. The way the sun caught her many scales like they were a million tiny mirrors, the way the wind caught the scale-feathers that coated her wings, causing them to ruffle with life, or the apparent ease at which she glided on the air currents, master of the sky and everything under it.
Concorde would have wept if his body had been capable of it. Svem was alive and she was flying. She was in her element, completely at home in the sky. It was perhaps the best day of his life, to see his daughter finally achieve the dream that had evaded her for so long.
In the air, Svem roared again, telling all the world to prepare for her coming.
Just a short story I dreamed up while on my vacation. For those who don't know, Concorde Unit is a friend of mine over on F-List (http://www.f-list.net/c/concorde%20unit/). Svem is one of my characters (http://www.f-list.net/c/svem/). The first half of the story is background on the role play we've been doing. The second part is the actual story I came up with. Enjoy!