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To say that Damian was worried for Wiggles was an understatement, over the past four months he had been growing fatter and fatter, so much so that his scales were even separating, showing the skin beneath and between them. He knew obesity in pets, and animals in general, came from their owners overfeeding them, since most animals were opportunistic eaters, and would take as much food as their owners gave them. However, Damian hadn't fed Wiggles in three months; not because he was neglecting him, but because he was refusing food. The very last time Damian fed him, he had given him a goat, which Wiggles took and ate, but then regurgitated it. And while normally he'd just ask Wiggles to turn into a snake and take him to the vet; Wiggles wouldn't or couldn't turn into a water snake. He couldn't even ask for anyone else's help. Raven was away in a different realm, as was Zatanna, he'd rather die before calling Constantine, and Suren was also unable to come, due to issues in the Lu'un Darga.
"I thought you were magic as well" Jon had pointed out, after Damian told him about Wiggles' behaviour.
Damian huffed, and glared at him.
"My knowledge is still basic, Raven has yet to teach me about dragons" He explained.
For the remaining three months, Wiggles kept refusing food, even refusing a sturgeon, which was his favourite treat. Goliath also behaved weirdly, he kept snuggling with Wiggles down in the cave, even though he preferred staying in Lazarus Island. He kept bringing him food, even if Wiggles didn't eat any of the meals he brought for him, he was also becoming more and more protective of Wiggles, even hissing and screeching when Damian approached him one day. The young heir to the League had decided to study on dragons, trying to find any answer to his questions regarding the strange behaviour his Chinese dragon and Dragon-bat exhibited. However, he hadn't found anything yet, in the two and a half months he had spent studying them. It all culminated one night, when Wiggles kept huffing and hissing, twisting so much that he made the cave shake; the bats hanging from the ceiling kept screeching and flying around, trying to escape from the danger of what they assumed was an earthquake. With a screech, he flied up from his hide, and flied out of the entrance specifically made for him and Wiggles. Flying off into the night.
The morning after, Damian whistled as he walked into the batcave, his earphones playing one of his favourite songs, which he heard in his childhood back in the League; he carried a body bag with a Burmese python, which had passed from old age. He hoped Wiggles would at least take it, he could give it to Goliath too, but he'd prefer it if Wiggles took it. He stopped right in front of the railing that protected them from falling into the cliff underneath the cave's liveable area. He paused the music, taking out his headphones, as he opened the bag with the thawed out snake inside. Despite his vegetarian diet, he wouldn't deny his animals of a proper meat based diet, as long as the animals he fed them weren't mistreated, so normally he'd feed them animals that died of old age or were euthanized quickly and painlessly. He even raised his own rodents to feed his boomslang, Hemlock.
"Wiggles!" He called out, putting on his feeding gloves. "係午餐時間!"
He stood up, holding the python by its head, dragging it towards the edge of the cliff, getting ready to throw it into Wiggles' maw. However, where he'd normally see Wiggles' brown eyes looking up at him, was now just an empty pitch blackness. He frowned, letting go of the python carcass.
"Wiggles!" He called out back again, leaning on the railings.
He frowned, though he could feel his fear slowly grow every microsecond that went by with Wiggles remaining hidden; He took off his gloves, grabbing his flashlight, before jumping over the railing. As he fell, he conjured up a strong wind, which surrounded his legs, and allowed him to float down, landing softly as he finally reached the ground. He turned on his flashlight, looking around anxiously, only to find the place empty, Wiggles was nowhere to be seen. He cursed, looking around, running around, hoping to at least find something that could explain where Wiggles was, perhaps a cavern he had made with his water destroying the rock or something of the sorts, maybe even finding him in his snake form. However, he found nothing, nothing but a large shed. He cursed, grabbing a large chunk of shed skin, large enough to cover the entirety of Damian's form, even with his growth spurt after he turned thirteen, three years ago. He looked up, conjuring more wind to fly up into the platform, landing next to the Burmese corpse; he'd just tell whoever he bumped into to put it back into the animal food freezer.
"Goliath!" He called out, knowing he'd hear and come to him.
He climbed up the stairs, bumping into his own father.
"What's wrong?" He questioned, as Damian practically tackled him our of the way in his rush.
"Wiggles is missing!" Damian yelled as he continued to go up the stairs. "There's a burm carcass in the cave! Put it back in the freezer!"
He ignored whatever his father said afterwards, focused on leaving to find Wiggles. He entered the hall, ignoring as Tim left his bedroom, even if it was one p.m already. He didn't even go down the stairs, instead jumping off the second floor, conjuring another gust of wind to soften his landing; that was the easiest non verbal spell he could do, for now. He ran off to the kitchen, practically kicking the door open, just in time to find Goliath landing in the yard, hissing, as he sensed Damian's distress. He held out the shed skin for Goliath to sniff, his long curls flying behind him as Goliath exhaled, his nose ring, matching Damian's nose ring, jingling, as his green eyes met Damian's green eyes. He let out a loud roar, leaning down, allowing Damian to jump onto his back, holding onto his saddle. Giving him the signal to take off. With a loud hiss, Goliath took flight, going southwest; it wasn't until four hours later that Damian realised where they were going. Lazarus Island.
After hearing Goliath take off, Tim frowned, he had spent the morning in the manor, having crashed in his old room after having come back from a gala with Bruce at five a.m. He headed towards the entrance to the batcave, behind the grandfather clock; just in time to see Bruce exiting the entrance, dragging a large black bag behind him.
"What's up with the demon brat?" He questioned.
Bruce huffed, as he dragged the bag with the python out into the hallway, face frozen in disgust.
"Wiggles went missing" He explained.
Tim frowned, tilting his head.
"How do you lose a thirty something feet long Dragon?" He questioned.
"I don't know, but I'd rather get rid of this thing before talking" Bruce groaned out, before practically dashing towards the room Damian took as his "Pet room", full of different animal food, snake hooks, the freezer for frozen animals, racks for his rodents and other stuff for his twelve pets.
Tim looked after Bruce, shaking his head and raising his hands; he honestly didn't have the energy to deal with a missing dragon and whatever the fuck was in that bag. He just left to go down the stairs, he just wanted a soda or something to eat, or both, the ten vodka red bulls had done a number on him.
Flying over the clouds, Damian looked down, trying to see if he could find Wiggles, having absolute no luck at all; meaning he had escaped the cave many hours before he noticed, or even woke up. He was also regretting the fact that he hadn't worn something to protect him from the cold during the flight, but he couldn't think of his outfit while worried about Wiggles. His jeans and turtleneck were helping, but it could definitely be better if he was wearing something longer, maybe a leather trench coat. Thankfully, he always carried a hair tie with him, so he could tie his hair back once it started flying all over his face. Lazarus Island was more than two thousand miles away from the shore of the US, so it normally took four to five hours to reach the Island on dragonback, which was way faster than planes; however, considering how slow Wiggles seemed with his weight gain, it wouldn't surprise Damian if he found out he had taken almost seven to eight hours to reach the island. He could feel how empty his stomach was, having eaten breakfast at seven a.m, almost seven hours ago; however, he had trained under starvation, so he knew he could withstand an entire week before feeling hungry.
Goliath let out a loud wail, firing out his sonic scream, something almost all dragon-bats had, with a very small handful having fire; or well, a small handful had fire breath. Damian frowned, looking down, finding he had fired his scream to nothing; there were no attackers, no ships, nothing at all. He frowned, as Goliath remained silent, as if listening in on something, awaiting for a response. After three minutes of silence, he roared again, before diving down, picking up speed in order to reach the Island faster; at ten years of age, Goliath kept growing, and he'd keep growing until he was seventy years old, according to the sacred texts explaining the dragon-bats. Given how much bigger he had gotten, his wings were larger and stronger, allowing him to fly at higher speeds; which he was apparently now showing off for Damian, as he quickened his pace. Damian tightened his grip on the handles of his saddle, leaning down to keep his body as close as he could to Goliath, to ensure he wouldn't fly off and fall into the ocean. They managed to reach the Island in three hours, instead of the expected four hours. Damian looked down at the inhabitants, as it had become another base for the league to keep animals safe from extinction.
"Brother!" He yelled down, finding Respawn, or Hasim, as he now called himself, training along with Connor and Rose.
All three of them looked up at him, waving and calling out for him. However, Goliath did not land, flying deeper into the island, looking down at the homes of the assassins and the people Damian and Connor rescued, people that were like Colin, who had been kidnapped and experimented on, metahumans, children with special abilities; it was like the Garden of Eden, the island Damian put all his brothers in to save them from the tragedy of the League. They flew over the trees, before Goliath landed on a clearing, a river running down it, a large waterfall falling down the wall of a cliff, which fell into the river. Damian jumped down from Goliath's back, looking around, trying to find Wiggles; he opened his mouth, ready to scream and call out his name. The roar Wiggles had let out, however, showed him where the dragon was; right behind the waterfall. Goliath reacted quickly, roaring back, and flying off towards the waterfall, passing right through it, before disappearing; his roar echoing, almost as if he was in a cave. Damian quickly conjured up a gust of wind, making the water from the waterfall stop momentarily, showing the entrance to a cave, the stone around it looking as if it had been melted and solidified. He landed in the entrance to the cave, the water flowing back into the river the second he landed.
"Wiggles?" He called out, taking out his phone, and opening the flashlight.
He quickly found just how big the cave was, some crevices were extremely deep; if he had to guess, from what he had seen with Wiggles in the past, he had melted the rock using the water he spat out instead of the fire that most western dragons breathed out. The cave was full of these crevices, which looked too much like tunnels. A loud wail made him turn around to the main tunnel, where he could hear Wiggles and Goliath; having learned from his past mistake, Damian muttered out a soft spell to disguise his presence and smell, making him practically invisible to Goliath and Wiggles. He slowly made his way down into the tunnel, hearing as the wails grew louder and louder; he finally looked through the exit of the tunnel, finding the main camera of the cave, where Goliath and Wiggles laid. His hand slapped on top of his mouth, as he silenced a gasp at what he saw. A large egg. A large black egg, sliding out of Wiggles' cloaca.
"How could you not know your dragon was a female?" Connor laughed, as Damian ate his lunch, even if it was almost five p.m.
Damian swallowed the last bit of the salad Hasim had made for him, as he turned to look at Connor.
"Well, sorry, I missed the lesson on how to sex dragons" He huffed, drinking some water, his hair now free and falling down as he tilted his head back. He swallowed the water, and wiped the remaining bit from his lip. "Besides, I never even realised they had mated"
"How do you-"
"I don't monitor the sex life of my pets" Damian interrupted Maya "And besides, I didn't even know how to recognise the signs" He groaned, putting his glass down.
He pushed his hair behind his shoulders, rolling up his sleeves, as he leaned back to lay down. Sighing, he closed his green eyes.
"At least you'll be able to have some cool protectors around here" He chimed in. "I think they'll enjoy the island"
"Okay, you're just trying to turn this into Dragonstone" Rose hummed, twirling a knife in her hands.
Damian frowned, looking at her.
"What?" He questioned, resting his weight on his arms.
Rose sighed.
"I'll explain later" She waved her knife around, before stabbing it into the ground. "So, why not take them back to Gotham with Wiggles and Goliath?"
"I barely mastered the magic to get an amulet to make Goliath shapeshift" He explained. "I won't be able to do the same with God knows how many more amulets. And even then, I won't be able to get I don't know how many baby hybrid dragons back to Gotham without being seen."
"Makes sense" Hasim hummed, shrugging, as he agreed with his half twin brother.
Maya looked at Damian, tilting her head.
"Why not send some to the Garden of Eden?" She asked. "Wouldn't your brothers love them?"
"I put them there so they can be free and live in peace" He explained. "Placing a dragon or more with them may make them more noticeable or susceptible to danger. Besides, their island is already protected, so it's not necessary"
Maya nodded, before she looked where the clearing was.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to see how to care for baby hybrid dragons"
Damian smiled, looking at his friends.
"Thank you"
A silence overtook the group, as they simply sat in peaceful silence, basking in the sun. Until Rose broke it.
"I still think you're just trying to make this either Dragonstone or Valyria"
"I don't know what either of those are, so therefore, I take it as an offence."
"How many times have I talked about those books?!" She exclaimed, slapping her half brother's half twin brother's arm.
"Hey!" Damian grumbled, though clearly entertained. "Not my fault you recommend more books than we can read"
"I recommended two" Rose pointed out.
"Series" Maya grinned. "Besides, if you wanted Damian to read fire and blood, you shouldn't have told him about wings of fire"
As everyone else got to talking, Hasim leaned towards his brother, whispering in his ear.
"I am so confused" He spoke.
"Just sit and watch" Damian smiled, leaning on his brother. "I'm mostly waiting to see if anyone starts trying to fight"
Somehow it turned into Maya and Connor play fighting, while Rose just laughed and watched.
Wiggles wouldn't lay her entire clutch until the morning after. Damian had stayed over to sleep, sending a text to his father explaining everything, what happened the morning Wiggles went missing, why he left so quickly, and the discovery that Wiggles was both gravid and a female. After explaining it all, he had gone to bed, sleeping in the main quarters in the main castle of the island, where newcomers slept in as their permanent housing arrangements were arranged; he woke up at eight a.m, a bit later than when he'd usually wake up, and went about his morning routine, brushing and braiding his hair, brushing his teeth and washing his face. He looked out the window as he drank his morning tea, looking down as people started to emerge from their homes; he smiled, as he watched as his dream for Lazarus island had come true. It had become what he hoped for, a sanctuary, people like Damian and Hasim, people who were different, magic users and metas, ex assassins. It was beautiful.
Suddenly, a large shadow covered an entire road, people looked up in confusion; while Damian looked up with joy, Wiggles had laid her entire clutch, and was currently heading for the sea, perhaps to hunt for a meal, given the three months she had gone unfed. Damian quickly dressed, wearing the clothes Hasim had lent him, a simple shirt, pants and shoes; he practically ran down the stairs, giggling as he dodged some people who were also residing in the castle. He managed to get out of the castle, before he looked at where the clearing where the eggs were laid, Goliath was flying over it, perhaps monitoring it to ensure nothing tried to harm his eggs. While he could do as he had done previously, and simply fly towards the clearing, he preferred to just cast spells to do so, since he didn't think it was a good idea to approach a protective dragon-bat's eggs by flying towards the territory. He whispered a spell to hide his scent and very trace, to make him practically invisible; before using a spell to teleport through the shadows. Appearing right underneath a tree near the clearing.
He slowly approached the stream, walking along the side of it to approach the waterfall, his eyes always on Goliath; he wouldn't stay for a long while, just enough so he could see the eggs. He paused a small bit of the waterfall, just so he could enter the small space between the waterfall and the wall of the cliff. He managed to climb up the wall by using a gust of wind, pushing himself near the entrance to the cave, climbing the rest of the way, just in case. He groaned lowly as he climbed into the main tunnel, standing up, and looking into the tunnel. He extended his hand, and spoke up.
"lliw-o-psiW" He chanted, and small floating lights bathed the cave in light.
He followed the lights, able to see everywhere around him, the rock was completely smooth, except for the few tunnels and waves made by the boiling water Wiggles used to create the caverns and tunnels. He slid down the tunnel, and entered the main chamber of the cavern, where all the eggs were. The clutch wasn't as big as Damian had thought it'd be, he could count only nine eggs that he could see, even if they were quite large; he picked one egg up, the black one he had seen Wiggles laying; Damian's head was half the size of the egg, which was pitch black, as if Wiggles had taken a bite out of the ocean at night and solidified it into stone. It was soft to the touch, almost like processed jade, and was warm, very warm, Damian was sure if he put a glass of water on top of the egg long enough, it'd boil. He softly picked it up, and looked at it, now that he had it close to his face, he could see soft shimmers of blood red under the many layers of black, the light from his lantern making them come to life. He put the egg back in his spot, wishing to check up on all of them, just to see if they were fine; the next egg he picked up was a soft dusty pink, with spikes of pearls that pointed upwards, Damian couldn't imagine what that felt coming out of Wiggles. It had soft ridges that took the shape of scales, almost like those of a saw scaled viper. It was definitely the most beautiful egg of the bunch.
The next egg he picked up was a half and half coloured egg, one half blue with specks of gold, and the other half a dark forest green, which formed waves in the middle, like two candles had melted and fused to form a single candle; he wondered if perhaps the dragon born from the egg would also be half and half coloured. He put the egg down, making sure to leave them in the same place and position he had found them in; the next egg he picked up was dirt like, a muddy brown egg with splotches of black, cream and even bronze. It looked rather messy, and completely unlike all the other eggs from the clutch; t was also much bigger than the others. The egg's messy look was even more obvious thanks to the egg laid right next to it, a pure bright pearlescent white, it looked like an actual pearl, with some soft highlights of lilac and soft pink. When he put the egg down, he let out a silent gasp, as he spotted a baby dragon-bat; the baby, or hatchling, was laying on top of what seemed like a half formed egg, it reminded Damian of the infertile pseudoeggs ovoviviparous snakes birthed. The baby looked similar to Goliath, only, his wings were more bat-like, starting from his waist, instead of his shoulder blades; and his fur was a dark purple colour. He cursed silently, as he made sure to finish checking over the eggs silently, not wanting to awaken the pup.
He picked up the most brilliant and radiant egg of the clutch, it seemed to be made out of nothing but pure gold, it was just as shiny as gold, but lacked the weight and texture of it; next up, he picked up a blood red egg, with specks of orange that came and went, as Damian moved it around, letting it catch the light from the will-o-wisps. The next egg was a pure blue, nothing but shades of blue, specks of turquoise and navy blue, but most of it was a bright blue colour; it looked almost like a rough blue gemstone inside a rock. Next, was the final egg, a bright ruby red, with stripes of hot pink that clawed their way through the egg in lighting shapes. He saw as the pup began to stir up, his eyes opening, revealing his pure silver eyes; immediately, Damian was brought back ten years to the past, when he murdered all of Goliath's colony. He saw Goliath in that pup, who looked up at him with pure curiosity, he tilted his head; and Damian wondered if he could still smell the blood of his ancestors in Damian's body and hands. The pup let out a soft and high pitched sound, Damian knew Goliath heard his baby even if he was far from them. With a flick of his wrist, the will-o-wips disappeared, and with a quick mutter, Damian appeared back inside his room in the castle, underneath the bed.
"You okay?" Maya questioned, as she sat next to Damian, who sat at the beach, looking out into the ocean.
Damian had told his friends of his discovery, about the nine eggs and the pup, he had tried to be excited, but he couldn't lie about it. It wasn't all fully joyous, especially after he had seen the purple pup; he had sat down after the news, needing some time alone, of course, Maya knew what to do when he needed to be alone. She sat down next to Damian, looking into the same direction as Damian, no follow up question needed. Damian sighed.
"I am" He nodded, tucking some hair behind his ear.
Maya nodded along, letting the air be filled with nothing but the waves crashing and the birds chirping; every once in a while, Wiggles would jump off the water, after sneaking up on the fish she was hunting to eat, she'd be full soon. It was still weird calling her a she, having called her a he for the past three and a half years; he wondered if maybe he had been wrong about the sex of any of his other reptiles, such as Hemlock or his Greek Tortoise, Khelone. He'd need to check with a vet once he came back to Gotham. He wondered if perhaps any of his other pets were sexed incorrectly, even if it was quite easy to tell the sex of his dog, cats, pigs and chickens, plus his rooster and peacock. He heard a high pitch roar, making him look up, right above them, Goliath flew along his pup, Goliath's supersonic scream was loud, creating a large crater in the water; the wave formed when the water went back to normal seemed to push a fish out of the water, letting Goliath catch the fish, before he sunk underneath the water, fish in his mouth before he got into the water. His pup let out a soft rumble, before he cried as well, though his scream didn't even make a small circle where it hit. Goliath jumped out of the water, a fish in his paw, which he threw up into the sky, letting his pup catch him.
Damian's smile immediately fell, as he looked up at the pup, a sad expression upon his face, as he let out a cheerful screech, chirping, as he tried to gnaw on the fish, though it was clearly hard for him, since the fish looked almost twice the size of his body. He wondered if that's how Goliath was when he was a pup, if that's how his first hunt and meal was like, or if his sire and dam hunted for him until he was older; did he even know how to hunt when Damian orphaned him? Did he hunt along his sire? Or did he hunt by himself? Did he have siblings like his pup did?. He looked down, frowning, as he felt his skin start to burn, his skin burning and burning, burning away the layers of skin, slowly revealing the red underneath; but it wasn't his own. The blood of the Guardians of Bialya, the blood of the very few people he regretted killing, since he normally killed criminals, traitors and dictators; among the people he regretted, was Maya's father. Her hand laid on top of his, she rubbed his hands with her own, as if scrubbing the blood away; Damian wondered if she was afraid of the blood staining her. His eyes met hers, and somehow, he didn't see any sort of judgement nor resentment; unlike what he saw when he looked in the mirror, no matter how many dragons hatched, how many days he volunteered at animal rescues and hospitals. No amount of lives he saved could wash the blood that stained his hands.
"It's okay" She spoke up. "You've saved more than you've taken." She hummed, holding his hands softly. "You made me become who I am, and I went on to save others, who helped others, and others. You took in Goliath, and now you've helped create guardians for the island, and guardians for Bialya. Stronger guardians too."
Damian sniffled, feeling as a tear slid down his face, and hit the sand.
"I still am the reason why the first guardians are gone"
"You were six" Maya pointed out, wiping away the tear. "You can't do this to yourself forever. Someday, these guardians will guard Bialya longer than the first ones. But you can't wait until that day comes, to finally rest in peace"
Damian looked down at his lap.
"I can try"
Mara forced him to look up at her again.
"I won't let you"
The ground rumbled, as Goliath and his pup landed right next to them, it seemed as if Goliath had become less weary of every living being that got near him and his children/eggs. The pup approached Damian, having finished his fish, and sniffed his leg, before nuzzling against it, plopping down in order to sleep with his belly facing the sky. Damian smiled at the adorable pup, and slowly reached down to scratch his belly, looking at Goliath for approval; which he gave him. Damian smiled, as the pup chirped and cried at his scratches.
"What are you calling him?" Maya questioned, leaning over Damian to look at the pup, smiling as she laid her head on Damian's shoulder.
"How do you know it's a male?" Damian joked, even if he could also see the pup was male.
Maya simply snorted, and slapped his arm; Damian hummed, contemplating the name, before speaking up.
"Dawud" He answered, as if the pup himself had given Damian his name. "His a tiny version of Goliath... Plus, they match now"
Maya smiled, seemingly content with the name.
Damian did have to return to Gotham, sadly, mostly since he had to go back to his internship and volunteering, but he promised to come back as soon as the eggs hatched, having told them all to check every so often, to see when the eggs would start hatching. He also made his own research, trying to see when Enhydris chinensis eggs started hatching, only to find out they were viviparous, meaning that Wiggles, despite turning into them when injured or simply hiding as a snake, did not have their anatomy. He then tried other snakes species native to China, but he couldn't find much information that was helpful for him; some eggs hatched in around two months, other in three months, so it was just all hope that they'd hatch in between those days. He did manage to take some short trips, after all, internships were only five days a week, and almost a quarter of the hours doctors had to attend. And his volunteering in the animal shelter also was during the weekday, especially since Damian decided to just get his GED (Behind his father's back). They did have an argument, but considering Tim dropped out as well and became shareholder of WE, Bruce couldn't really tell Damian anything, especially since he already had a PhD, unlike his brother.
Thankfully, he had tested Hemlock and Khelone, and discovered that Hemlock was indeed a boy, as Damian had assumed, and Khelone was a girl, which Damian had also correctly assumed; he did feel better about the fact that he was only wrong about his dragon's sex. When he let the others know about the eggs, he did get a request to adopt one of them; Damian didn't understand why Jon wanted a dragon when he could do about three quarters of the things they could do, to which Jon said that it'd be cool to have dragons. He had also asked Suren if he had books on Chinese dragons, which he brought in when he had to help Damian with his magic; only to find out there were a total of nine massive books, for the nine different types of dragons. After a total of sixty-three days, Damian got a call from Connor.
"Dude, they're hatching"
He was thankful for his advancement in teleportation, as he managed to teleport to the island almost immediately.
"Jesus fuck!" Connor yelled out, as Damian appeared right in front of him, causing the older boy to fall on his back, his phone laying on the ground next to him. "A fucking warning!"
Damian rolled his eyes.
"Okay! I'm teleporting in front of you right now!" Damian yelled into his phone, before he practically dashed away to the clearing.
Goliath and Wiggles had become less protective of their eggs when it came to Damian, so they didn't attack him when they spotted him running towards the waterfall, using the water to propel himself up the waterfall, entering the tunnel, and quickly sliding down, grinning, as he spotted one of the eggs cracking. It was the blue one, and Damian managed to spot the moment the hatchling broke through the shell, his front legs allowing him to push out of the egg, revealing he had no hind legs, instead, just a tail, no wings at all. A lindwyrm, with bright blue scales, spikes of navy blue running down his spine and specks of turquoise covering his entire body; as he came out of the egg, Damian could see he was gigantic, whenever he visited, he noticed the egg kept ballooning out, so he already figured the baby would be huge. He seemed even larger than a feet tall, he kept coming out, until he was finally out, measuring up to three feet tall; Damian stepped aside, as the lindwyrm crawled away. His tail was also flattened vertically, almost like a paddle; he watched as the lindwyrm (Which he had already named Khan in his mind) crawled rapidly to leave the cavern, gills on both sides of his torso, as he used the waterfall as a slide. Falling into the river with a loud splash.
It seemed as if him coming out was enough for his siblings to do the same, even if all the eggs were already cracked and almost completely destroyed. Over the past few weeks he had come up with names for the eggs and hatchlings, wanting to make sure they were all named, and so they wouldn't have to call them baby 1, baby 2 and so on. He made sure to make the cave light up enough to look at the hatchlings; the next to hatch was the pink and pearl egg, from which a wyvern with pink saw scaled viper-like scales, spikes and markings of pearly white, and large wings with white wing bones and chest; she quickly flied up, just as Damian assigned her the name of Heka. After heka, came the half and half egg, from which two dragons crashed out of; one of which was a dark forest green Chinese dragons, with bright vermilion eyes and emerald spikes running down her back. The other was an amphiptere, with a dark blue body, full of golden star-like spots covering her body; he named the Chinese dragon Basillea and the amphiptere Elytheia. As the twins flew out of the cavern, the black egg burst.
The black egg gave away to a dragon-bat, however, unlike Dawud, looked a whole lot more like a bat, with black fur, bat wings and a bat head, however, she possessed the same spikes that Wiggles had running down her spine, her eyes were a deep blood red and her lower jaw was split in the middle, allowing her to open her mouth in a snake like manner. Trailing behind her, was a long spiky tail, which elongated her body to make her seem much bigger than she was. She cried at Damian, and flew away from him, he'd name her Nyx. The remaining five eggs trembled, before two practically exploded for the dragons to emerge; one of them was the pearl egg, from which a pearlescent white wyvern emerged, with soft highlights of lilac and pink in her wings and entire body, her eyes were pure pink, and her horns were a soft lilac colour. Damian barely had time to call her Aliya, before he had to pay attention to the other hatchling, who burst out of the ruby egg; this baby he named Melisande, after his grandmother. Melisande was a dragon, with four legs and two wings, her entire body is a bright ruby red, with spikes in her scales that resemble tufts of fur. Her body is covered in red markings, one of which crosses with multiple others to form a heart like shape in her hind left leg.
Following the two, came the gold egg, from which a pure gold amphiptere hatched from, it truly looked like a gold dragon statue had come to life; Damian named him Shams. And finally, hatched the last two eggs, almost simultaneously, the blood red egg and orange egg, from which hatched a pure blood red wyrm, lacking legs and wings, with veins of orange and a forked tongue. And finally, the dirt egg shivered, and Damian could barely name Falak, before the egg hatched; from the dirt egg, hatched a drake, with his body going from black to cream, his crest, the dorsal section of his tail and the outer part of his arms and legs were brown, with the sides of his torso becoming black, before his chest became cream, as well as the ventral part of his tail and the insides of his arms and legs. His eyes were two pots of molten bronze, and his horns and spikes running down his body were made of pure bronze. He named the drake Haidar.
Given where they were, Damian would have to carry him out, which he knew the drake wouldn't allow; thus, Damian decided to just face the consequences of his actions. He picked Haidar up, letting him bite his arm, as he teleported the both of them out of the cave; letting Haidar go, as his other siblings all flied off to do their own thing, except for Nyx, who stayed near Dawud and Goliath, as her nature told her to stay with them. Haidar roared at Damian, before running off to climb up a mountain, escaping them; he sighed, healing his arm, as he now realised he'd have to train and tame these hatchlings, to make sure they wouldn't attack the people of the town. He smiled, looking up at the hatchlings, before laying down on the ground, his hand falling into the river, as he watched all the dragons fly above him. Khan managed to sneak up on him, touching his hand with his snout, making Damian jump; he smiled, as Khan allowed him to pet him, just as the other dragons, minus Haidar, approached him. Damian smiled, as he was surrounded by hatchlings and their parents. He giggled, as they all seemed to fight for his attention.