Gunshots rang through the air, disrupting the peace of the wetlands and causing a flock of birds to rise out of the vegetation, screeching in fear.
Ryu-Lung, a female dragon of the East tore through the wetlands carrying an egg, the hunters at her tail. She could hear them coming and she feared the worst. Many of her kind were hunted and slain before but she was determined to not be one of them.
Ryu couldn't fathom how those beings could traverse through the wetlands so easily. She was born and bred in the land so she knew where to step and where not to step, but these hunters were strangers to the wetlands.
Ryu continued running. The hunters could get her but she couldn't permit them to get her unborn young. The single egg that many hailed as a magic pearl that gave her kind powers beyond reckoning. The many paintings of Ryu's kin almost always shown them carrying the allusive pearl when in reality it was an egg, not a magical object.
The dragon could fly away from the hunters or make herself as a big as a mountain to scare the hunters or as small as a mouse to sneak away quietly. She could if only the gods had not taken the Eastern dragons power away.
It had started in the West; the great crusade to kill all dragon kind. The Western dragons had all perished and now the hunters were coming to the East. The Elder dragons had encouraged their kin to hide instead of fighting humanity. The West had lost their war against mankind, the Elders feared the East would lose as well.
Ryu spotted a river ahead. She could hide her egg there.
With new found determination, she bounded to the river bank and dived into its waters. The world above became muffled as she drove deeper into the depths of the river.
Ryu swam some leagues upriver and finally surfaced, looking around her for a safe hiding place. She found a small burrow by the river bank. It was shielded by reeds and had long since been abandoned.
Ever so gently, she placed the egg within the burrow. "Goodbye my xiao hai. You will be safe here until I can return."
With that, Ryu fled the burrow and the hunters passed over it in their pursuit of the dragon. She bounded across the land feeling more and more exhausted with each step.
With a frustrated roar, Ryu halted in her tracks. She spun around and charged back in the direction she came from. She was going to meet the hunters head on. She was unafraid.
When they came into her sight, Ryu leaped into the air and dove at the hunters, talons outstretched.
Her roar was answered by the chorus of angry human voices.
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Note: This is rather short but it's all I could come up with but it has inspired me to write another story involving Asian dragons.555Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi66ZLeHXEa
Also, xiao hai means child in Mandarin
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