DracoStryx Artemis, a comming of age story

Hatchling Artemis, trust training

It was late in the evening and Scyleia was laying on her bed in her wooden hut, her eyes darting to the egg laying in a nest of furs and close to her fireplace. It had been days after that dreadful encounter with her father's murderer during patrol but it was still ingrained in her memory. She still hadn't completely forgiven herself for not saving the other egg. She wanted to go after it but couldn't do that by herself, it was too dangerous. The Queen hadn't allowed to send other Amazons with her to get it either, it was too risky just for an egg. Amazons didn't seek trouble, only protected what was theirs to protect. Scyleia understood but her personal feelings made her disagree. However, the Queens will was law and she had to obey her, she didn't want to perform insubordination. She took comfort in the fact she at least saved one of the two, the same egg that was now staring at her. The Queen had allowed her to keep the egg, for now but was hesitant too. The Amazons didn't know what would crawl out of the egg and what it would do to the Nation. Was the creature inside an asset, or trouble?

A knock on the door took Scyleia out of her inner thoughts and she answered to come in. Her best friend Shelala stood there, smiling at her.

'How are you and how is the egg? Has it showed signs of hatching yet?' the blonde asked curiously.

'I'm good but I don't think it showed any signs yet' the brunette answered. 'I have no idea if it's even still alive, and if so, when it's supposed to hatch or what's inside it' she added.

'Well whatever it is, it should grow big if this is the egg size' Shelala opted.

There were speculations on what could be in it. There always have been stories of creatures, it even reached the outskirts of the Amazon territory. Stories of creatures like gryphons, dragons or more recently, great feathered beasts. Some Amazons grew weary of those stories with the egg being in their possession but others, especially the younger generation, were pretty ecstatic on what might be inside the shell.

Shelala saw Scyleia was in her inner world again, probably thinking of Kyon again and wanted to distract her.

'Lets go spar for a bit, alright? Blow off some steam before going to bed? I know you'd like that' the blonde friend winked and a small smile crossed Scyleias mouth. She was about to agree but her attention went to some movements in the corner of her eyes. Her hazel green eyes veered to the egg and Shelalas grey orbs followed suit. The egg was moving!

'It's hatching!' Shelala called out and both friends scouted closer to the egg. Cracks started to appear across the pale egg and it kept moving. The cracks became bigger in size and small pieces were starting to fall down. As the cracks heightened in size, a horn like structure seem to pierce parts of the egg, nails probably. Then another horn like part was seen higher up the egg, it was a different structure than the supposedly nails or claws and sound were heard by now too, it sounded like small shrieks. More heartbeats went on and the egg cracked completely, revealing a form covered in egg slime still and therefore covering the body itself again some more. Scyleia and Shelala held their breaths at the miracle in front of them, the hatching of the mysterious creature inside the saved egg. Than the baby shook its body, expelling the egg mucous from it and opened its eyes. Deep forest green orbs locked with Hazel green and also grey and it squeaked. The Amazons now could see what was inside. The inhabitant of the egg had a bird like body, but more so owl like than any other bird. What was even more strange was that its anatomy veered from the usual owl. Its legs and neck were longer, it had an elongated tail along with the usual bird tail and even a claw like finger on each wing as thumb. Its body was also more developed than the bird hatchlings they had encountered before. It was white with wings, tails and part of the legs dipped in silver along with an auburn colored circular marking around the head. Its beak and claws had the same auburn color as its head marking. It already had feathers but not at all flightworthy yet.