Aquis flew low, the branches of the endless forest swaying like a forest of lime. In her arms she clutches an egg. The egg was the deepest black, and the shell shifted in colors without pause, the black flickering with a soft yet violent red. She felt worry while she flew. This was something so important. The warm glow of the unborn dragon in her arms spurred her forward. Unlike her friends and fellow future guardians, her species is one of the 2 species that can fly from birth. Oceanic dragons use their wings as a tool for swimming along with flight, so they need them from birth in order to be able to properly swim. Their bodies are built to need the wings in order to properly move. However, she also had far less stamina flying compared to swimming. She could fly the rest of the way to the water, but then she would swim the rest of the way.

  An oceanic's wings are the thickest wings of any clan, and she is lucky for it. With her stamina, she swears she would have lost the damned things by now if they weren't so thick.

  “I wonder how they're doing.” She said to herself. She had nobody else to talk to, and nobody was nearby, so there shouldn't be any problem with talking to herself. She shouldn't make a habit of it, though. She didn't want her friends thinking she had… quirks, to put it gently.

  Far off, she could see a line of grey, then blue. The sky had long turned dark, but as a creature fo the sea, she could see in the dark. Her low level night vision couldn't see in blackness, but in darkness, and with the full moon shining above, that was doable. However, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was watching her.

  BOOM!

  Something shot clean through her wing at sonic speeds. She let out a shriek and began to hurdle to the ground. She smashed into the canopy, branches ripping into her underbelly and wings as she crashed down to the ground.

  For a moment, all she could hear was ringing, all she could see was black. Then her vision slowly cleared. Slowly, she stumbled to her feet. Her left wing was blown clean off. A wrecked stump spewed blood, chunks of bone and organ hanging out. Pain. Her whole world was pain. She could here movement all around her. All four legs dug into the dirt as she pushed herself up.

  “I don't want to die.” She whispered to herself, yelping from the pain everywhere. wait. If all of her claws dug into the ground, then…

  “The egg!” She whipped her head from side to side. There! The egg rested on top of a large bush. And beside the bush, a large, 2 legged monster of metal and electricity. Behind the monster, other monsters stood with humans, all rushing for the egg.

  “No!” She shot forward towards the egg. But the pain slowed her. She wasn't fast enough to get to the egg. The monster leaned down and picked up the egg in one large hand. Then, the hand began to squeeze.

  Crack!

  Slowly, the egg began to break. Aquis screamed.

  Water bolt

  Jets of water set to a whip thin edge launched toward the monster. The first bolt slammed into an arm, denting it but not breaking it. The second and third, though, hit the same spot, blasting the arm clean off. The final 2 bolts hit 2 humans behind, who barely made a sound as their heads were quickly evicted from their shoulders.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Thats when the metal began to fly. Humans aimed strangle blocky shapes towards her. Guns, she remembered. They began shooting just as she reached the metal arm. A l0ng, jagged crack was along the edge of the egg. She scooped it up. A bullet hit her horn and she yelped. Another hit her tail and that yelp transitioned into a scream. She turned and began to run. Another bullet hit her, then another and another. By the time she was out of their range, she was fatally wounded, over 20 bullet holes marring her form.

  Freeze tide

  She used ice magic to freeze the blood and close the holes. The internal bleeding is bad, she knows that. She needs real healing magic. Her wing is completely gone. She likely won't be able to properly swim ever again. That chilled her more than even the ice covering her wounds.

  “There!” A voice far behind called out, pointing in her direction. She whipped her head back. The large group of humanoids and steel monstrosities were making their way through the dense forest which she had just crashed through, smashing trees to the sides to catch up to her. No, not to her. The egg. They wanted to destroy the egg.

  Without a second thought, she turned to leap into the water. She didn’t see the blade coming. A harpoon slammed into her tail as she tried to slip into the water. She screamed in pain as the blades of the harpoon extended within her, hooking into her and keeping it from being torn out. Her heart stopped, her panic spiked. She thrashed and pulled. She tried to scream, to shout, to roar, but before she knew it, the harpoon pulled her back. A huge metal hand clamped down on her jaw. Then it started to squeeze.

  CRACK!

  Her final thoughts were of the egg, and of Smokewind. Please, liv- And then her skull collapsed into her head, and she died.

  <{(0)}>

  The soldiers surrounded the body. Several broke off to secure the perimeter, ensuring nobody got away and nothing was hidden.

  “What do we do with the body, commander?” A voice asked. The commander turned to the speaker. A mask was over their face and full battle armor covered their frame. The commander was disappointed.

  “Leave it to rot. Smash the egg and gather the remains. Make sure nothing is left behind.” Commander Jensen spoke. The soldier gave a salute and left to spread the orders. Now, the disgusting lizard was dead. That pleased Jensen. He store down at the corpse. The corpse of a small blue dragon with a crushed head. He watched as soldiers pulled the egg out of the claws of the vermin, raising it up to the MECHA closest. The mechanized hand closed around it, then squeezed. And squeezed. And squeezed. Until- A final crack. The egg collapsed in its hand. A tiny, nearly fully formed corpse, mangled by the pressure, fell out and into the bag held below. The cracked egg was dropped in along with the corpse and loaded onto large floating mana disks, then flown away back to Camica. The laboratory would study it. Hopefully, they would be able to make something of it.

  “Commander, word from the first team.” Comes a voice behind him. He turns to see one of the scouts, a tall and wiry woman, holding a clipboard behind them.

  “Speak.” The commander looked down at her.

  “The egg escaped into a large hole. Soldiers tried to enter, but something stopped them. Powerful magic protects it, tier 4 at the very least. Nobody could locate the second egg either.” The commander began to laugh.

  “Those bastards couldn’t kill a damn gecko for an egg! Oh, this is golden. Perhaps I will push for a promotion. I might be able to remove Commander Eleiya from power.” Jensen was grinning from ear to ear. Nobody could see it under the mask, save for a select few elite scouts with skills and mutations in the eyes. However, they knew better than to bring it up.

  “Pack up! Time to move!” The commander shouted to his soldiers. They moved like a well oiled machine. Most either got into MECHAs, or gripped onto special joints on their backs. The MECHAs turned and began to run away from the lands, through the forests, weaving in ways that their sizes would not suggest they could. In but a moment, all were gone. All save for the commander.

  Jensen stared down at the corpse for a long moment. He leaned down, gripped one of the lizard's horns, and with pure brute force, snapped it off. Now he had himself a prize. He removed the mask for the sole purpose of spitting on the corpse, then turned away. He took off, grinning like the cat that got the cream.