" Hehe . Lets explore the Emerald forest today . I have a good feeling i will find something interesting today . Then again , i always do . Hehe . "

  And so Aira flew towards her destination , in search of todays entertainment . As young dragons always are , she is a curious creature . Always exploring , always searching for new things to learn about . At mere fifteen years old , she should be accompanied by a couple of her peers , but Aira was always tricky when she wanted or needed to be . And so today happened to be one such case , when her group wanted to play in the Grand den , but little Aira was tired of always being inside her home mountain range . She wanted to explore instead , so she sneaked out by herself .

  As she flew towards the forest , she deliberated about where to begin .

  " Hmmm , where will i start today ? " ...

  " I havent been to the river in some time , so lets start there today . Yeah ! That sounds good . Hehe . "

  As our inquisitive dragoness flew above the sea of trees , she felt both excitement and trepidation in equal measure . As is often the case , she sneaked out again , but whether she will be found out or not , remains to be seen . After all , whether she will be able to sneak back into the nest , or someone will notice she is missing again and go to look for her , that is the real question . Adults are somehow able to track her down any time she is missing after all , so she needs to keep it quick today to not be found out and scolded again .

  " Hmmm , i am here now , so which way to go ? Erm , that a way ! Yeah ! "

  " Lets see , being sneaky will help me to not spook out any animals and maybe i will be able to find something new ? Yeah ! "

  " Maybe i will even find something tasty to hunt ? That would be nice ! Hehe . "

  And so our little Aira begun her exploration of the Emerald forest quietly . Well ... quietly for a young dragon anyway , so she blazed her own little trail through the Green sea . But even if she wasn't the quietest creature around , she quickly crossed paths with a golden buck native to the forest and after a second of shock for both creatures , the chase begun . Golden bucks are after all really delicious and this one was both alone and kinda small . So a perfect breakfast , no ?

  As she chased the little buck deeper into the forest , her instincts guided her forward , towards her prey . Ever closer , ever faster . Her agility and reflexes were being sharpened with each hurried step and taking her closer to her prize . As such , her victory was all but assured and only after a couple of minutes , with a powerful and graceful lunge forward , she had her buck in her claws and her jaws clamped down on her quarry's neck .

  " Haaaah , haaah , haaa . Well that was a fun hunt ! Hehe , yeah ! I am the greatest hunter in the Emerald forest ! Hehe . "

  " Now , onto the spoils of my hunt ! Lets see , where will i have my breakfast today ? Somewhere nice would be ... well , nice . Hehe . Hmm , where though ? "

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  And so our little dragoness , with her prized breakfast in her jaws , went in search of the perfect place to eat . Just as excitable young dragons tend to do , she happily pranced through the woods without a single care . Not noticing that she herself , was being stalked like some innocent little buck . And just like the prey of a true predator , she didn't know that she was being watched .

  As she found herself a nice clearing and dug into her breakfast , Aira didn't see the eyes in the shadows of the forest watching her every step , every move , with silent determination of a wild and dangerous beast that found something new , yet somehow familiar . Nevertheless she happily ate the spoils of her successful hunt and lounged about the clearing for a while , but she is after all a young dragoness , so she quickly got bored with the little meadow in the woods and got back to he exploration , never noticing the shadow stalking after her .

  " Hmm , what do we have here ? Yep ! Its a tree .... boooooring . "

  " Oh ? What do we have here ? A little cliff ? In the woods ? That is strange , i never saw this place . I wonder what lives down there ? Hmmm , its not that deep so i should be able to get down somewhat easily . Lets first try to circle this big hole in the forest , since it seems to be cliffs all around . "

  " Hmm , such an interesting place . I really wonder how did this place came to be ? Did a part of the forest collapse into some kind of a hole ? Looks like it , but it must have happened a long time ago . There's stuff growing everywhere , so it must be old , right ? "

  " Well , lets take a closer look and figure out a way down there . "

  As our inquisitive dragoness leaned over the ledge to look down , she found her way much faster than she wished for . With a resounding crack , the stone under her crumbled down , taking her considerable weight with her . She would normally just fly up , but unfortunately in her startled mind , she got her right wing tangled in a liana hanging from a tree above her . And as such , she slid down the steep slope , not able to control her descend properly . The clumsy dragoness landed on her right side with a resounding crunch , breaking her tangled wing and dislocating her right leg .

  " GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA . HURTS ! GRAAAAAAAAAGHHHH . It hurts ! My wing ! Aaaaaaaah , it hurts so much ! "

  " /sniff/ ... It hurts , this is not how i wanted to go down here ! ... OW ! My leg too ?!? WHY ??? ... How am i supposed to get back home now ? /sniff/ At least there isn't anything dangerous down he...."

  /crunch/ " Grrrrr "

  " Of fucking course ... "

  As our dragoness just found out , there was something dangerous living here . A very big brown mauler . Creature similar to an earths brown bear , but almost twice as big . A dangerous predator , that is not above taking advantage of our mostly immobile and injured young dragoness . As the mauler crept closer , little Aira scrambled away from it as best she could , but soon her back was pressed against the cliff that betrayed her twice now .

  " No no no no , i am not tasty at all ! See ? I Am a dragon , you cannot eat me ! Yea , you will get a stomach ache ! See ? DONT COME ANY CLOSER ! "

  / SLAM , CRUNCH , RIP / " ROAR "

  Suddenly , something bigger than even her slammed into the mauler from above and promptly started ripping the unfortunate predator to shreds . It was so quick , she just stood there and watched , mesmerised with the carnage on display . It was so brutal , so efficient , so ... primal . She simply couldn't move and almost forgot to even breathe .

  " GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH "

  When the deed was done , and the huge being that saved her from being devoured turned his head her way , she finally snapped out of her mesmerized state and realized , that the being in front of her was a dragon . Sure , he was filthy and somehow seemed like the real danger just arrived , but he was not as big as most of the adults back home . Plus she didn't recognize him at all , so he must be from somewhere else . After all , she knows every dragon living in the Grand den and the way he is looking at her ... Does he not recognize she is a dragon too ?

  " Ummm , hello ! "

  " grrrr "

  " Ok ! Ok ! I am Aira ... emmm ... who dis ?