The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 68

As he ate, Aiden stared down at the sands. The minutes ticked by, but the desert below remained quiet.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The sound of bone being pulverized echoed from the mouth of the lair. The meat was gone. Now it was time for the skeleton. Looking at the last remaining piece, the head, Aiden's maw opened wide and he swallowed it whole. His long, sinuous red tail swept across the ground in front of him, whisking the pile of viscera off the cliff's edge.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH…

As he chewed the skull, he felt a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. He wanted more. His tail began to snake back toward the food pile inside the lair.

Rustle…

His tail froze. The sand below was stirring again. His red pupils narrowed. One, two… five. Five separate patches of sand were moving at once.

Five at a time? I hope a big one shows up.

He stared intently at the ground. The sand rippled a few times, but instead of emerging, the disturbances flowed like water toward the pile of corpses at the base of the mountain.

Hiss…

The moving sand stopped. Five sand worm heads poked out of the ground. They were all different colors, but their rank was the same: high-tier. They did not fight amongst themselves, each locking onto a different corpse and immediately beginning to feed.

He glanced beside him. Azure's blue head was lowered, her eyes fixed on the feeding worms below, her body already tensed to spring. Aiden's gaze then shifted to the other side.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH…

The sound of chewing was incessant. Bianca was still completely engrossed in her meal.

Aiden's long, sinuous tail snaked over and gently poked the only part of her that was still clean: her white tail.

SMACK!

Her white tail whipped around and slapped his away.

Aiden paused for a second. Then, his red tail coiled around her white one. He tightened his grip and yanked.

Bianca, deep in her meal, felt something was wrong. Why am I moving backward? Something is dragging me! She lifted her head, the half-eaten carcass still in her mouth, and looked back. Her crystalline white pupils widened into perfect circles.

She was met with a pair of red eyes, burning with molten fire. Their gazes locked. Bianca froze, her eyes glued to Aiden's tail, which was now raised high in the air like a scorpion's stinger. Her white maw fell open.

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PLOP.

The half-eaten Aridfell dropped to the ground.

Aiden was satisfied. The foolish dragon didn't cry out. Good. His tail slowly lowered.

“You can eat later. Prepare to hunt.”

“Okay, aow…”

Aiden's eyes narrowed slightly. That was strange. The fool seems much more obedient. What caused such a big change? The question floated in his mind for two seconds before he dismissed it. It wasn't important. He turned his head back to the sands below. The five worms were still feeding.

No longer under the gaze of those fierce, fiery pupils, Bianca padded over to the cave entrance. Aiden glanced from side to side. They were both ready. He lifted his red claw.

“The three clustered together are mine. You two take the other two.”

He looked to his right. The blue head gave a slight nod. He glanced to his left.

CRUNCH.

The sound of chewing. She was sitting there, holding half an Aridfell in her claws and gnawing on it. Their eyes met.

Aiden was speechless. His long, sinuous tail lifted high into the air. This fool is truly asking for a beating. But if he hit her, her shriek would certainly startle the worms below.

Bianca saw the red flames in his eyes burn even brighter. She immediately tossed the meat from her claws and began to nod her head frantically.

Fine. I'll beat the fool after this is over. Suppressing his urge, Aiden gave the command. “Begin the hunt.”

With a powerful push from his hind legs, he launched himself from the cliff, his wings spread as he dove toward the base of the mountain. The three sand worms, halfway through their meal, were completely oblivious. They didn't react until the red shadow was less than twenty yards away. Seeing the diving figure, they felt a primal sense of danger. But having already swallowed half their meal, they couldn't spit it out, nor could they swallow it down. They were trapped.

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!

His two foreclaws plunged into the heads of two worms, while his long red tail simultaneously impaled the skull of a third. A gushing spray of black and white slime erupted. His heavy, scaled eyelids and membranes snapped shut. As the cold goo splattered across his face, the familiar, foul stench filled his nostrils.

Aiden opened his eyes. The red flames in his pupils burned not with heat, but with an icy coldness. His claws twisted. He ripped them free. He opened his palms. Two white, circular magic crystals rested within. He yanked his tail forward, dragging the still-struggling worm before him. Staring at the writhing blue body, he pinned it, thrust his claw in, and twisted. With this three-part combo, a white, diamond-shaped magic crystal was in his grasp.

He placed all three crystals in one palm. He opened his maw and exhaled a gout of red fire. When the flames subsided, the crystals in his claw were pristine. He opened his mouth and tossed them in. CHOMP! As his throat worked to swallow, he turned to look for Bianca and Azure.

The blue figure was already soaring into the sky, a long, writhing red sand worm clutched in her claws. As brutally efficient as ever. And Bianca?

Aiden turned his head to the other side. A pink-and-green dragon was sitting on top of a green worm's corpse, digging for something. She was looking for the magic crystal, no doubt. If only Bianca were half as smart as Azure.

Shaking his head, he looked down at the worm bodies he had killed. He grabbed one with each claw and pierced the third with his tail. With a beat of his wings, he launched into the sky. Only when the worms were completely free of the sand did he release his claws and tail. Three writhing bodies plummeted to the ground below. He angled his body and flew toward the lair. Time to finish my meal.

As he neared the cave, he saw Azure's form already lying at the entrance. He landed, folded his red wings, and settled down in his usual spot. A blue claw was extended toward him. She said nothing, but he understood. He took the magic crystal from her.

“I'll clean them together in a bit.”

His long red tail lifted, became a red blur, and stabbed backwards.

SQUELCH!

His tail froze. He hadn't missed. He was certain he had pierced an Aridfell corpse. But then, a horrifying fact suddenly occurred to him.

His tail, which he had just used to impale a sand worm, was covered in disgusting slime.