[Earthborn candidate #254726, Function increase level 5 cluster]

  Name: Finn Race: Human Class: Mage Subclass: None

  Level: 13 Experience Energy: 138% to next level

  Strength: 17

  Stamina: 21

  Endurance: 23

  Dexterity: 22

  Intelligence: 36

  Wisdom: 33

  Charisma: 18

  Health Points: 364 Mana Pool: 276 Mana Regen: 3.512 MP per minute

  Carry Weight: 492 lbs Potion Sensitivity: 22 (level 4)

  Survivability Index: 15.9824%

  Skills: Tracking level 11, Enchant Item level 2, Craft Spell level 2, Surge level 1, ????, ????, ????

  The cave was littered with the shells of large eggs. Some of them sat in what looked like a raised campfire circle of stones. Only larger, with many, many more stones. Like a nest. The shells in the stone nest were more intact than those strewn around the cave, but someone had clearly broken them. I lifted my foot to see an old, broken shell beneath it.

  Druzzik cried out in horror and pain at the sight of the broken eggs. It was heartbreaking to hear his pain. I could only assume that he felt for the owner of the eggs. Though I didn’t know for sure, the kobolds that I had encountered all seemed like they would come from eggs themselves. So maybe it was like seeing broken and empty cribs in a nursery or a bombed children’s hospital. Something that any person would see and immediately feel empathy at the loss.

  “Great Dragon! Egg Clutch!” Druzzik sobbed and staggered forward. He knelt next to the stone nest and picked up a broken egg, cradling it to himself.

  What the actual fuck? It’s not just empathy, I thought. This is the clutch of his Great Dragon! I didn’t see it at first. He had likely recognized what the tracks were. Even his constant insistence on my completing the quest. It wasn’t just out of friendship or respect, but because his quest was directly connected to mine.

  “Finn. Help. You must help. Please. Fix!” Druzzik pleaded, his eyes filled with tears. He still held the broken egg close to his chest.

  “Druzzik, I can’t. I don’t have the power to do that. I’m so sorry,” I replied softly.

  The look in his eyes broke my heart. Like he understood I couldn’t do anything, but he had hoped he was wrong only to have everything dashed upon the ground. I wanted nothing more than to make his pain go away.

  He just nodded and looked at the wall, gently rocking the former shell of a murdered baby dragon.

  “This can’t be it,” Harper said. “The tracks led here to this clutch. There has to be something here.”

  “Harper, I know, but the trail just stops. There is no dragon here, and the eggs are all destroyed.” I replied.

  “Wait, Finn, did you just say dragon? A gold-hoarding, damsel-stealing dragon is supposed to be here?” She asked.

  Jerseil stood there, nodding slowly. “Of course it was a dragon. That’s the only thing that makes sense. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out what could be so large and not have been killed by the dragon years ago. We would have heard about it from the kobolds otherwise. It has got to be the dragon… it’s the beast the Voice sent us after. Damn, why didn’t I see it before?” He said, excited.

  “Don’t you see?” Jerseil exclaimed to the rest of us. “This is big! A dragon after all this time? No wonder the mages had never gotten that far. Even the ones who didn’t take the deal until later never got this far!” He chuckled. “I’ll be damned. Finn, we have to find the dragon! It’s the key to everything. For you to become more powerful, even getting the Light! Let’s get to looking.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The bard’s excitement was enough to get Druzzik’s attention, and he put the broken egg gently back in the nest. He was more present than he had been a moment prior, which was a relief. Jerseil surprised me with his enthusiasm. But he was right. Maybe not everything was lost, and we could find some clues as to the whereabouts of the dragon.

  Carefully, so as not to drive Druzzik catatonic again, we examined the nest and the eggs within it. The top of each egg had been broken open, which I found odd. But it wasn’t the only odd thing. “The shells on the ground are older than the ones in the nest,” I stated.

  Druzzik nodded. “Old shells good. Babies eat, get stronger. Kept between clutches.”

  I let go of some tension I didn’t know I was holding. The shells I had stepped on were not an issue for the quest or for my kobold friend. There were eleven eggs in the nest, and each had been left there after it was emptied. Was it a message? A clue? I didn’t know. But it seemed like there should be more. The bottom of the nest was rock and gravel, probably more comfortable for baby dragons, but I started digging through to see if I could find anything.

  And I did. I found a bag of coins buried in the nest. I pulled it out and set it to the side. It wasn’t really a clue, but loot was loot. I kept digging as Harper and Jerseil examined the floor around the nest.

  “Why dig, Finn?” the kobold asked. He had watched me going through the gravel and moving rocks with curiosity.

  “Looking for clues. We have a saying where I’m from: whatever you are trying to find is always in the last place you look. So, I’m starting with the places I wouldn’t look until I have checked everywhere else. Like in the nest’s gravel,” I replied.

  Druzzik smiled a little. “Like lost things. Me dig, too,” he said and dug in on his side of the nest, carefully sifting the pebbles through his clawed hands.

  The two of us systematically dug through the gravel, moving around the nest. My hands ran into a clump of gravel right near the edge, and I picked it up. One of the rocks pushed up against the edge of the nest and came up with it. A very light rock.

  “Hey Druzzik, do you have any super-light rocks down here in the caverns?” I asked. His eyes widened at the rock connected to the clump of gravel.

  “Finn. Look at it. Not rock.” He said, astonished. Hopeful.

  I turned it over, and a little gooey liquid poured onto my hands from the hole in the rock. No, not a rock. It was an egg. And fluid came out of it. “Uh, guys? We may have a live baby dragon in here!”

  Druzzik rushed over and examined and sniffed the egg white covering my hands. “Fresh. Maybe week old?” he concluded.

  Everyone had crowded around to look in wonder at the hatched egg. And Harper had gently taken it out of my hands so that Druzzik could examine the stuff that had coated my palms.

  It was a surprise that it didn’t stink and wasn’t dry. I could feel it drying on my hands, but the inside of the shell was still moist. Harper was looking at the egg, careful not to get any on her hands or damage it.

  “Why is this egg a different color, Druzzik? Shouldn’t it be white like the rest?” she asked.

  The excited kobold grinned. “Don’t know. Maybe like Kobold. White when old, different before hatching. Many colors.”

  “What color do you think this dragon will be?” Jerseil asked. “In the stories, there were several different colored dragons, with different strengths that seemed connected to their color. But that could be artistic license. It’s been a long time, and the beings that know aren’t sharing.”

  Druzzik looked thoughtful and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know, friend Jerseil. Don’t know color Great Dragon.”

  Harper looked around the cave, well-lit by our lamps. “Finn, are you sure the dragon’s tracks led here and then stopped? Does that mean the dragon’s still here? I don’t see anything but the nest, shells, and the walls of this cave. There’s not even another way out. Nor anywhere for an adult dragon, let alone a hatchling, to hide.”

  “I know that there aren’t tracks leaving here, and I don’t see any sign of the body.” I replied. It seemed like there should be more. Is the dragon still in here, waiting? No, it disappeared at least a generation ago, I thought. And something that big needed a lot of food.

  What were we missing? The nest was checked inside and out. So were the walls. I took another look at the nest, looking for footprints or crawl marks of a baby dragon. And there, on the side of the nest where I had found the egg, was the slight glow of tiny footprints.

  I crouched down on my heels. “I think I have a set of tracks here,” I said eagerly. Focusing on the small track, I carefully followed its hectic path first around the nest, stopping here to munch on a shell. Then to the entrance to the clutch space, where the baby sat for a while, like it was waiting for something.

  My friends watched quietly, so as not to break my concentration. But I was so in the zone that I doubted they could have. The hatchling’s tracks continued wandering almost aimlessly around the room. I almost lost it twice as it crossed its trail repeatedly.

  Finally, it stopped at the back of the cave. It seemed to curl up and sleep there. I didn’t see any tracks leaving the spot. I sat down, watching the spot.

  “What’s going on, Finn? We’re all tired, but we can’t leave without finishing the quest,” Harper asked, concerned.

  I kept my eyes on the spot where the baby dragon had scraped the floor in a circle and laid down. “It curled up and slept here. I don’t know how long or why I’m not seeing its tracks go any further. So, I’m waiting for a change,” I replied.

  “Okay. This is way outside my knowledge base. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this. I guess we wait,” she said as she sat down, back to the nest.

  “Can we do a second dinner, then? Since my stomach has settled, I’m very aware of how empty it is,” Jerseil asked. As if on cue, Druzzik’s stomach growled in agreement.

  “Second Dinner. Agree with friend Jerseil,” he said, rubbing his stomach.

  “Nothing’s changed yet, so you might as well,” I said with a shrug. “We’re going to be waiting a while.”

  So instead, ya'll got a regular chapter. Which is for the best. Even if there is a "gift" in it. There's a baby dragon!!!!!!

  As I am writing this note on Christmas Eve, I'm going to go enjoy some eggnog. Cheers!