Hatching and first hunt

The egg lay snug  amongst its siblings, warm amidst the cenotes hatching sands; around the clutch the crystals gleamed a faint silvery blue and seemed to pulse in time with the slow rocking of one of  the eggs... all under the watchful gaze of the dens owner. The egg in questions suddenly rocked hard, rolling away from its siblings and further into the warm sands, the shell cracked and black hand appeared pushing at the shell as it tried to break free. With a hiss, and an unusual display of strength the egg shattered and a writhing wyrmlike dragon sprawled out, its chest heaving as the heat from the sands started to dry its wet fur.

The hatchling gazed around, hunger at the foremost of his thoughts. He twisted his head and froze at the large creature watching him, its long navy tail cutting through the sands around it. The wyrmling swiveled never once taking his eyes of the other, his paws scrambling for purchase in the sands, his own tail sweeping as he hissed trying to make himself look bigger. The navy creature chuckled at the hatchlings antics and moved to grab something throwing it in the wyrms direction. Soon the wyrms hissing ceased, the smell coming from what was near him overwhelming his instinctual reaction to the threat, and he lunged the food soothing that craving that had been nagging at him, Several more pieces came his way and he devoured them all, the heat lulling him into a doze… he stirred to watch as the larger creature vanished into a passageway, the crystals shifting to green-black hue that lulled him further into sleep. 

A sound startled him awake and he hissed, 6 limbs tensing as he watched the navy guardian re-appear, this time balancing on his hind limbs. "IF yourrr'rrrre asss independent ass you seem, you'll need to learn to hunt." they spoke and the hatchling understood fully as the gryphon let go of something in its claws... a rodent like creature ran off, squeaking in terror. The wyrm didn't hesitate, small wings flapping as he charged after it, churning the sands as he did so, the navy beast didn't interfere, except when his hunt took him too close to the remaining 3 eggs, and it scared the rodent into a different direction. Tirelessly he chased it, sometimes getting caught up his long body, and tripping over his tail. all the while learning. Finally his four front talons trapped it, his feathers rising as he curved his neck proudly, before killing it swiftly, its small body vanishing down the hatchlings neck. He sprawled out to look at the navy creature a few moments, no longer quite on edge as the crystals shifted back to the blue silver. 

The gryphon tapped his talons on the sand before pointing at the walls of the cavern. Curious the hatchling wriggled across the sands, all his limbs dragging his body forward, until eventually he stood on them ... still a bit wobbly. Approaching the earthen walls he spotted a crack, and peered though, air tickled his nose and a breeze lured him onwards, away from the safety of the sands. His mind was made up as he spotted several mice darting about beyond, at the moment oblivious to the presence of the newborn dragon, still he looked back at the navy creature before slipping out, pouncing after the mice eagerly, if a bit clumsily.

Meiron watched the hatchling slip out the hatchery, his dragons under orders to let the independent wyrm make his own way out and not to chase him from the cenotes grounds. This wasn't the first independent dragon that had hatched, but usually they were gone by the time he checked on them. Only time would tell if the hatchling thrived..