Wings Of fire: Shadowstalker

Prologue: Hatching Night

Darkstalker looked down at the egg, no moons were showing and it was a dark chilly dusk in the city of night. He watched his egg closely, waiting in anticipation for it to hatch. He glanced down at Moonglow, folding a large wing around her gently. He was actually nervous, something he didn't experience often.

"Your very tense my love." Moonglow spoke gently, slowly stroking his arm as she watched their egg. "I know you'll be okay, you're smart." She commented and then she glanced at her egg. Her neck and back scales were black and her eyes a dark shade of blue. The underbelly was a dark grey color. Her claws were neat and sharp, and her scales polished and clean. She relaxed and hummed softly in her gentle calming voice to soothe her husband's worries. Soon the egg began to twitch and shake a little. She tapped her claws together in anticipation as she waited. "You can do it little one.."

Darkstalker watched it, his tail moving slowly. He took a few long deep breaths. 'It's happening, this is it. I'm about to be a father.' he thought. 'I will not make the same mistakes Arctic did. I won't hurt him like that.' He craned his head down to their egg, watching as it shook. Then he held his wife gently. Soon he heard a light tapping coming from the egg.

Soon there was some pounding. The egg was larger than usual, and he knew his wife didn't have a good time laying it. Soon a claw punched through the black shell, and it started moving and wiggling as the dragonet inside tried to break free. Soon a talon broke the shell open and there was a little squeak as the dragonet poked the end of his snout through the broken hole in the shell. Then he pushed his head through and the egg flopped over, breaking apart due to the weakened structure. He looked up at his parents with a curious chirp. Soon he flopped over when he tried to get up and go over to them.

"My son.." Darkstalker said gently. He walked over, but saw his wife walking over to the dragonet. He took a deep breath and let her go first, for he had a basic understanding to how important this was for a mother. He watched as she picked up the baby with a slight grunt.

"He's quite heavy but he is perfect. I love him." The queen held her son close to her chest, using a small towel to wipe off some of the mess that came with the eggshell. After he was cleaned she cradled him and nuzzled his snout with hers. She let out a low coo as she cherished her new baby. Now glancing up at her husband she gestured him over. "You don't wanna miss this do you?" She snickered a little.

Darkstalker carefully moved his snout down. He sniffed them carefully before looking at his newly hatched son. Despite being enormous he was as gentle as ever because he didn't want to hurt his son. "He is perfect.." he said gently. "I.. I can tell he will be a powerful Animus, and I'm proud to teach him how to use it properly.." he spoke quietly and softly to not scare him. However the young prince still seemed slightly frightened at his father. He could tell it was caused by his size. "Oh, moons I should've fixed this." He shrunk himself, then he looked at his wife. "May I?" He reached for his son slowly.

"Yes love, you may." Moonglow handed the large hatchling to her husband. Watching them with a happy smile she looked at the dark starry sky. "It's such a wonder there are no moons tonight. I don't mind though, because I love him, powers or not." She let out a soft happy sigh before curling her tail around herself.

"Yes.. but he has magic. He is going to do great things with it. I also suspect he might be a giant, just look how big he is now. I never seen a hatchling this big. Hah, he is quite heavy." Darkstalker cradled him gently with a soft happy chuckle. "Now the question remains, what do we name him?" He asked.

Moonglow turned to him slowly. "I think I have the perfect name." She said as she looked at the two. Both looked very similar. Shadowstalker had his father's eyes, jawline, and overall was just like a mini him. "We will name him Shadowstalker."