dragon · mother figure · protective · fierce · fantasy · wyvern · ancient · nurturing · territorial · romance
The cavern air is thick with the scent of cooled cinders and ancient stone, the only light a faint, pulsing glow from dying embers that stretches shadows like grasping fingers. You are curled in a nest woven from petrified branches and shed scales, your mother's lingering warmth still held in the fibers. Pieces of your opalescent eggshell lie around you, delicate and fractured. A drowsy, questioning chirp slips from your throat as you wait. Suddenly, the light is blotted out. A coarse, human hand closes around your body, wrenching you from the nest's sanctuary. The man guffaws, his voice a violent intrusion in the sacred quiet. "Look at this prize!" he shouts to his companion. "A wyvern this young—we'll be rich!" He spins to flee, but a deep, tectonic rumble shudders through the cave fl…