For the first time in many days, the man did not stir in his sleep, waking instead to the movements of the small whelp in his arms.

He looked upwards to the treetops above him, seeing the sunlight of the dawn reflecting off the swaying leaves.

The small whelp snored softly between his arms, his tail twitching away from his body occasionally.

The man faded back into unconsciousness, and unbeknownst to him that decision would change much.

Shortly after this, the small whelp awoke in the man's arms, and with a little effort, wiggled free from his grasp. Now free, the small dragon decided to explore alone.

Wondering where to go, the small beast crawled out of the hovel in which he called home, and began wandering about through the forest.

His eyes roamed through all the sights of the forest as he trotted along, every flower and insect something to stop and inspect.

He wandered, oblivious to the presence of a larger creature tailing him through the dark wood. The small dragon, unknowing of this, continued to sniff and pad at every new experience.

Following the natural paths in the forest, created by the many creatures that had traveled along them in the past, the small whelp came across a watering hole in a small clearing.

He stopped for a moment, bringing his snout low to the surface, and inspecting the water. A minnow shot out from the edge of the small pool, moving to investigate the strange creature above it's home.

The tiny fish fled suddenly, a large shadow shrouding the watering hole in darkness. The small dragon turned around out of curiosity and let out a terrified squeak.

He blinked awake later on and looked around. The small creature saw nothing familiar, but he appeared to be in a cave of some sort.

Suddenly his mother appeared through the cave entrance, speaking words he did not understand. He attempted to run to her, but all he could muster was a small movement of the large creature's claws.

It was not until he looked at his talons that he noticed that he was not himself. The whelp tried to let out a squeak of alarm, but he could not speak.

His mouth opened a moment later on it's own and spoke a response that he could not understand.

"What do you #### now?"

He waited, viewing this all through eyes that were not his own.

The large dragon scoffed, having not gotten a response. He spoke once more.
" Have you come to #### me like the ######?"

The female put her head down in shame, not answering, instead taking a step closer.

"I'm sorry......"

She spoke words that the whelp understood, and this response seemed to shock the large dragon, as he continued to stare in her direction.

"I know.... You are #####, and i'm sorry.... For the ######"

The whelp tried to understand what they were talking about, but he did not understand some of the strange words that they spoke.

The large dragon stood, and while releasing a series of clicks, moved around the cave to another large grassy mat.

She watched him with curiosity, gagging as he tapped his own eyes gently with his talon, showing his reasoning for the noises.
With a swift movement of his claws, a bubble of water floated out of a clay jar in the corner of the cave, and into a large pot in above a roaring flame.

She continued to watch his movements with intrigue, wondering how he could guide water even in his condition.

The male began to speak again, but the whelp's view of the world was returning to darkness. He only heard a small part of the question.

"What are you ####### to ####?"

He felt chilled, opening his eyes to a sheet of a clear substance.

Panicking, he thrashed about, shattering the thin layer around him.

He was in the watering hole, encased in ice. He shivered in alarm and began walking back the way he came.

He wandered for a while, seeming to go in circles along the many branching paths interlaced throughout the forest.

A growing sense of fear within him grew stronger and stronger, forcing him to the ground, trembling. He laid on the side of this path, and began to cry out.

His cries echoed through the forest, but never receiving a response. This carried on for many minutes, before the whelp hung his head low and began to whimper.

He laid whimpering for what seemed like an eternity. He began to shiver heavily, feeling cold even in the warm summer air.

Standing slowly, the grass snapping like small branches under him, he began to creep slowly forward, his right wing running into a tree as he went, causing a small gash to form.

A dark violet blood ran down the leathery flaps of his wing as he crept along, leaving a trail behind him.

Soon he came upon the same pond that he had crawled from the hours prior.

Defeated and tired, he drooped his wing into the water to attempt to quell the pain radiating from the deep gash.

The water around his wing began to solidify, chilling the leathery flaps and stemming most of the bleeding.

The small beast laid low to the ground, his eyes beginning to droop and his head swaying slightly.

The whelp closed his eyes, and began to feel his breathing slow, but opening them slightly, he had returned to the strange cavern he had seen before.

Peering around a bit, he noticed how spacious and spread-out the cavern was, containing only a few possessions.

The dragon was a matted white, with deep black claws and seemingly unused wings, rigid and stiff.

"I can #### your ######## here." Spoke the dragon from which he was viewing.

"You were here ####### too, were you not?" He said, pausing as if waiting for a response.

The beast sighed heavily, before speaking again.

"I will ###### that you do not know what I am saying, but do not be ######, for I am a ######"

He breathed in deeply, before revealing one more statement.

"Your mother, she is ####### for you, and is ######### for you as we #####. Find me, I will ###### you."

The whelp began to fade once more from this state of possession, and only heard one more thing.

"Follow the ####### of the ####."

The small beast woke by the small pond in which he had laid beside before, his wing now having ceased bleeding.

He stood slowly, still trembling from the loss of blood prior, and the chill of the water of the pond.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted an eerie glow emanating from within the brush, and becoming curious, moved towards it slowly.

Moving through the bushes, he noticed a small walking path that had been hidden among the overlaid branches from the outside paths.

Above this path, floating carefully through the surrounding air, were little sparks of light, leading along the winding route in front of him.

His curiosity growing, he crept forward, following the little glowing trail that they had made before him.

He traveled in the night, resting as he had to, but pushing on out of curiosity. He slept under the boughs of the many trees above him.

The path began to slope upward, becoming more open to the elements. The trees more sporadically placed on the landscape.

The whelp began to breathe more heavily now, climbing higher and higher along a path that continued to slope upward.

Nearing the crest of the momentous climb, he collapsed, falling into a sleep atop the dry landscape.

For the third time he found himself in the cavern, now being greeted by the dragon almost immediately.

"I see you have ########, I do hope that you ####### to take my ######, and find me."

The large dragon stood, and clicking again, moved to the entrance to the cavern, allowing the whelp to stare outward.

The stars above illuminated a large opening in a forest. This area had many shrouded figures moving throughout it, but he could not make any of them out.

"When you ######, I will ##### you all you must ##### about us."

The whelp looked around once more, spotting a glow from many holes within the stone faces of rocks, and through the dense tree cover above.

Listening closely he heard whispers as many eyes began to peer through the darkness towards the large dragon.

He felt each and every one's feelings towards the larger creature individually, though he seemed unfazed by the grand number of glares he was receiving.

As the beast began his walk back into the cavern, he released a few more of his signature clicks, which continued to confuse the whelp.

Laying down, the beast sighed heavily, seeming to be in a state of deep thought as to what he would do next.

"I'm sorry, I know how all of this #####, ##### me, I was once like you ######.

He laid his head into his talons, and sighed once more, letting tears roll down from his large eyes onto the stone floor beneath him.

The whelp began to fade from the vision for the third time, now expecting it to happen as suddenly as he had entered it.

The small beast's curiosity was restored as he woke up, standing valiantly and continuing to follow the path of bright, shimmering lights through the darkness.

He carried on far into the night, occasionally stopping to rest or to study a new plant or smaller creature along the path.

One such animal was a small wolf pup, one that had strayed from its mother and was sniffing the ground around itself to try and find her scent.

Once it had picked it up, the small animal's tail swayed from side to side happily as it bounded off into the brush towards its own blood.

The whelp pushed onward through this encounter, returning to the trail in which he was enthralled to.

He came to a small field at the base of the small mountain, the trail of lights beginning at the other side of it, seeming to avoid it in general.

Very cautiously, the whelp stepped out of the brush which had shrouded him from the moonlight into the field lit by moonlight.

Hearing an eerie noise in the distance, the small dragon began to move very quickly across the small plains, keeping to the trail cutting sharply across the tall grass.

It was in moving so quickly that the pain from the injuries in the prior days returned to him.

He collapsed from the sudden rush of pain, landing on a jagged rock beneath his ribs. The whelp felt the stone bury itself deep under its scales.

He cried out in pain, which caused the noises of the night to cease, and for complete silence to radiate across the field.

Continuing to cry out, the small beast muffled the sound of large wings heading in his direction.

He was suddenly and very quickly torn from the ground, before looking above him to see a flash of pointed teeth and glaring eyes.

His eyes went wide in terror, and ignoring his pain, began to thrash around in an attempt to escape.

"Oh, ###### one.... You are mine now."

The large creature grinned with a terrifying smile, before continuing to fly higher and higher in the sky with the whelp struggling in it's claws.

The small dragon's capturer looked around in intrigue amidst flying, pausing in it's forward movement and flying in place, listening carefully to the wind.

"I ##### that I heard....."

They paused again after speaking, but after listening for some time they continued flying forward.

"Must have been my ###########...."

Before they could finish speaking, they were caught in the neck by a strong force, causing them to release  their grasp on the small dragon, sending them hurtling towards the ground.

"No! My #####! I can't return to the ##### without you!"

They shrieked, plummeting towards the whelp with terrifying speed, before being knocked off course by another strong blow from an unknown source.

"Tempest. I will find you #### more!"

The dragon yelled before crashing into the treetops below.

The whelp continued to plummet towards almost certain death below, having no control over flight like the dragon which had taken him.