Life Seed by Albert Nothlit

Author:Albert Nothlit [Nothlit, Albert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64405-919-7
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2021-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

THE CAVERN is not far from our nest, but the going is tricky. The ice is slippery underfoot in places—treacherous. As the slope we go down becomes sharper, I am forced to dig my claws into the ice to prevent myself from losing my footing. I go carefully, always making three feet secure before moving, and most of the males imitate me. Some of them are too foolhardy, though. Three of them tumble to their deaths while trying to rush over treacherous terrain. With an inner sigh, I forget the names I gave them. A shame, really. One of them had been the first to hatch.

The danger only adds to the delicious freedom that is life, though. As I use my muscles and exert myself, I feel the giddy rush of excitement that comes from facing a challenge and overcoming it. Faint echoes of my forebears whisper of similar challenges and others much greater. I push them to the back of my mind and think only of the moment. I want my memories to be pristine, shining clear in every instant, so that my daughter and her daughter and her daughters for generations will remember my life and seethe with envy at what they will never experience firsthand.

The sunlight on my skin is electric, a hint of lightning caressing the folds of a cloud. I feel myself grow stronger every minute I spend under the sun, and I know my scales will be even more radiant in the brilliant light that engulfs us. I long to simply lie down and bask in the warmth of the light, but there is something that must be done first. It is the one thing that drives me, whether I want it to or not. It is the one thing I hold in greater regard than my own magnificent self.

As I enter the cavern ahead of all my brood-brothers, I see it: a breathtakingly beautiful Flower, blooming in the shadowy depths of the gigantic space. Its petals have the same prismatic iridescence as my scales, white and pink and neon green, always changing, always new. It towers above me in its magnificence, even though I know that one day I will dwarf it when I am fully grown. For now, though, I feel… respect. It is grudging but undeniable. This is the soul of the planet, the essence of a world given shape. It is power given form, a focal point for the spirit-lines that bind us all in a unique mesh of existence.

I come to a stop in front of it, and a quick glance back shows me that the males are all quivering with fear, spread out as far away from the Flower as they can get. I growl dismissively. They can never understand the beauty that I behold. They can only sense in their simple instinctive way that here is something much greater even than I. Much older and much deadlier.

I lean my head forward, nearly touching it, close enough to make the Flower glow with inner light and the scorching heat that is its energy.

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