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The creature moving made Carl tense, immediately regretting his decision to kick it. Seriously, hadn't he learnt by now not to touch things that could kill him? Survival 101, Grimes. Before he can think of his next move, the beast was teetering towards him - teeth bared and pupils narrowed and it roared.
Carl flinched backwards, boots slipping on the mud beneath him and losing balance. The teen ends up on the cold, wet floor, the impact momentarily winding him. His knife had fallen, landing somewhere in the mess of foliage and wet dirt beneath him. It was difficult to focus on that when there was a... dragon? An actual DRAGON holy shit -
Unsure of what else to do, Carl throws up his hands defensively. Hopes that not having a weapon anymore would make him seem like less of a threat, less like someone who was worth killing. Especially when nobody knew he was out here.
" I'm sorry, I didn't - I wasn't going to hurt you, I swear, " the world's fall from the teen's lips before he can stop them, eye squeezing shut and hoping for some form of mercy.
The massive, shadowy beast groaned softly in response to the slight pressure against one of his rear legs. He could feel the monotonous pattering of rain against his scales, but the sensation of some wet, leathery object was a stand-out stimuli.
A striking green eye cracked open, pupil slitting as it focused on the figure beside it.
It was a....they didn't have a name for them where he came from. His flock, in the times before they disappeared, had always warned him that they were dangerous. The other creature standing over him didn't look dangerous.
But then the glint of a knife caught his eye.
The dragon's lips pulled back, exposing sharp teeth that glinted dangerously with each flash of lightning overhead. Self preservation was all the motivation he needed to shift his body around and raise himself back onto all fours.
His head was throbbing with pain from his fall and his tail felt...strange, but all that mattered now was protecting himself.
The Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, took a wobbly step towards the boy and roared.
The weather had ruined any chances of going beyond the walls today. There was meant to be a supply run, their food stock starting to run low as they drew closer to the colder seasons - and the storm outside only proved how close they were to a difficult cluster of months. It left all of them antsy, but going out in this weather would make searching for supplies impossible, let alone defending against any stray walkers.
Carl had been holed up in his room, watching the storm with a bored expression when he saw it. A flash of thunder, something shooting through the sky and bringing down a fair few amount of trees with it, couple of miles away. The teen immediately straightened, eye widening as he tried to process what he just saw. It had been way too big to be a bird, and he was no expert but it didn't seem like it'd come from space either.
With little hesitation, Carl had gathered his backpack, a raincoat and his boots and slipped out the house. Using the back way over the walls, it was fairly easy to sneak out of Alexandria without being seen. Navigating to where the thing had landed wasn't as easy, boots slipping in the mud and rain making it even harder for the teen to see – but after some time, he'd made it.
Squinting through the downpour, Carl wasn't exactly sure what he was staring at. In the low light, it almost looked like a huge... rock? But as he stepped closer, the shape seemed to shift slightly. Up and down, over and over. Like... like it was breathing.
With a sharp exhale, Carl pulled his knife from it's place on his belt. Held it tightly in his grip as he crept closer to the thing, until he was hovering a few steps away from the form. Up close, it almost looked like some sort of lizard.
With a wary glance around, Carl reached out with his boot and tapped against what he assumed to be a scaly leg. Waited with baited breath, hoping he wasn't about to be eaten by some sort of giant lizard that fell from the sky.
@fracturals
It started with the storm.
Dark clouds had gathered in the sky, a precursor to the wrath of nature that would soon follow. Most of the residents of Alexandria had decided to coop up in their houses in preparation, and just in time. The torrential downpour started within minutes.
Thunder rumbled above and lightning flashed, illuminating the sky with a unearthly blue glow.
This is where the offspring of lightning and death itself resided, banking between the clouds with scales as black as the night. No one could see it, didn't know it was there at all. And this is the way it had been for many years.
A bellow of thunder and another crack of lightning, this one striking the side of the dragon's face. It yelped in surprise, loosing its even glide. It descended in a downward spiral, crashing into a few trees on the way down.
It was only a few miles from Alexandria that the beast laid in the dirt, chest heaving with pained pants.
This is the beginning of the story where people without hope learned that dragons were real.