[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/iiI1Zoy.png[/img][/center]
[i]Signian Calendar, 3rd Megennium AA, Year 8471, Winter.

Cygnea Godworld, White Continent, within the Eternal River Wilderness.[/i]

A deer whizzed through the shrubbery with impressive speed. With eyes opened wide, it ran past the trees and into the forest ahead, when suddenly, a frightening roar thundered its ears as a golden figure bolted through the bushes in close pursuit, with the deer doing everything in its power to escape. Zigzagging movements, sudden acceleration, running into tall grass so as to lose its stalker, you name it. Alas, the golden figure was locked on to the deer and would not let the opportunity slip away.

Time passed, and they were soon located deep within the forested area. Panting and on the verge of mental collapse, the deer had exhausted itself trying to escape from its pursuer. It had been grazing all by itself when it felt a frightening pressure locking on to it. The killing intent emanating from within the pressure made the deer's fur stand on end, and it's fight-or-flight instinct had immediately activated to try and save itself. Who would have known that the pursuer would be able to keep up with the deer? Mind you, this was no ordinary deer.

[url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9f/19/c8/9f19c80e80abb6c1b899b3abf1ef9cfd.jpg]Yellowhorn Deer[/url] could be considered formidable. Due to the worldly essence permeating the Cygnea Godworld, all animals had experienced some sort of mutation. These mutations had many variations, with the most common being of the physical kind. In places where the worldly essence was dense, the mutations of the animals living in that area were more pronounced, such as in the case of Yellowhorn Deer. Originally, these were ordinary deer one could easily find in forested areas, with no particular uniqueness to them.

However, as the years passed and as the worldly essence was continuously and unknowingly absorbed by the deer, it triggered a change inside them. A change which finally revealed itself 300 years ago with the birth of the very first Yellowhorn Deer. The size of the calf was twice that of ordinary deer fawns, resulting in the death of its mother. During the years after the birth of the first Yellowhorn Deer, more and more were born carrying the mutation, and eventually, there were no more ordinary deer grazing the eastern reaches of the Eternal River Wilderness.

The deer had been exhausted, and thus was slowly losing speed. Even with its mutated physical body and increased strength and speed, it still couldn't escape the golden figure. Furthermore, its movements were starting to get sluggish, enabling the golden predator to slowly close in. It let out furious growls as it continued to chase after the doomed-to-die deer.

This endless pursuit continued for a couple of minutes until the deer finally found itself in a dead-end. Four hundred meters ahead of it was a cave. To its right and left, the rocky surface of cliffs extending hundred of meters above ground. The chase had actually brought the two to the foot of a towering mountain.

Frightened out of its wits, the deer turned around and laid its eyes on its pursuer for the first time, a massive, nearly twice its own size, [url=https://cdna2.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/001/886/954/large/devin-elle-kurtz-sabertoothmed.jpg?1454274666]golden-furred tiger[/url]. The moment the two made eye contact, the tiger took a step forward and let out a deafening roar, barring its nearly half a meter long and razor pointed teeth at its prey as if rejoicing in finally cornering it. 

The deer backed up while simultaneously jutting out its antlers in an attempt to threaten the tiger into retreating. Startled for a moment, the tiger paused, the threat of the antlers known to it from previous encounters with similar prey. Nonetheless, it remembered all the effort it had expended in chasing the deer, quickly came to its senses, and once again started inching closer while growling.

When the two were but a few feet away from each other, the tiger got ready to lunge at the deer. However, just as it launched itself forwards, bearing it's sharp claws at it, a foreign, guttural roar reverberated the entirety of the small canyon they were in. Both animals, predator, and prey froze in their tracks. The roar seemed to have pierced its way into their very souls, awakening inside of them a feeling of unspeakable fear. A primal fear, a fear one would only have when faced with someone they knew could easily crush them with a single thought.

Of course, instinct demanded from them to forgo any thoughts of fighting and simply escape, run for their lives, much like the deer had done before. Unfortunately, both of them were stuck in place, their fear overriding their very instincts. No matter how they tried, they couldn't even muster the strength to breathe properly, much less escape. It was at that moment, that a peculiar, dull sound echoed from within the cave. Faint tremors, slowly increasing in magnitude, followed soon after, rippling through the ground below.

It didn't take long for the origin of the sound to show itself, and show itself it did. At first, its horned, serpentine-like head protruded from the cave entrance, its two beady, green eyes staring at the two animals in front of it. It raised its spiky head over the two and looked down at them with a curious look as if asking the reason why they had willingly brought themselves to their deaths.

For the dragon, everything weaker or dumber than itself was nothing but food in its eyes, and it had encountered very few beings that did not fall under the food category.

The dragon didn't tarry for long. After a few seconds or so, it opened its maw, revealing set upon set of razor sharp teeth, and tore at the food in front of it. The two animals died before their magically enhanced brains could process the pain. Bones that could very well be crafted into very sturdy weapons were crushed to bits under its bite, with blood and gore splattering the sides of the narrow canyon. After it had eaten, the dragon walked out of the cave. Its body, almost one and a half times the size of a fully grown horse, was rippling with lean, powerful muscle. Brown-tinted, snake-scales, tough and harsh to the touch, covered most of its upper body and back. Spikes protruded from its spine, running all the way to just before the end of its tail. Its neck, chest, and lower body were covered with thicker scales, stacked one on top of the other and slightly slanted. With a flap of its leathery wings, the dragon shot up the cliff and towards the peak of the mountain, where it perched itself.

It had made it a habit of sitting on that specific mountain peak and looking ahead as the land unfurled itself before its very eyes, seemingly endless. Aside from allowing it to scour for food, it also doubled as a resting spot. Having just eaten, it could spare a few moments to simply gaze at the view below. All sorts of thoughts passed through its mind, mainly about its origin and purpose. It truly did not know the reason why it existed, and that baffled it like nothing else.

The dragon was still inside its egg when it first gained consciousness. By sheer instinct and an innate drive to see the world beyond its shell, the dragon used its breath weapon for the very first time. Flames instantly punctured the, by then, fragile outer shell, spewing outside with great force. That, coupled with a few powerful strikes of its claws, allowed the dragonling to burst out of its egg.

The beaming light of the sun temporarily blinded the young dragon, but it soon got used to the change in luminosity. It was at that moment that it saw the world as it truly was for the first time. It saw an alien but beautiful blue sky above, and an endless grassland stretching as far as the eye could see, filled with lively forests and towering mountains. It squinted its eyes as it turned its head towards the blinding sun, and could not help but let out a shrill cry as if greeting someone very dear to it.

After that, the young dragon explored the land around it. At first, it could not fly properly and needed to practice flapping its wings correctly before it was finally able to take off into the skies, where it found that it was most comfortable. Flight, however, requires energy, and thus, the little drakeling had its very first hunt.

As one would expect, it failed. Not knowing a thing about hunting or its supposed "prey," the dragon accidentally attacked one of the deadliest animals inhabiting the Eternal River Wilderness, a [url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/99/28/09/992809bfbc7d7ee3d9ef6be73a44e2de.jpg]Rhop[/url]. Rhops descend from regular rhinos, but somewhere along the line, the worldly essence of the Cygnea Godworld mutated them, much like Yellowhorned Deer. Their skulls became larger, and two additional long horns grew from them. Their skin became thicker and coarser, and their spines transformed and strengthened, allowing them to stand on two feet. This, along with a set of other physical changes, turned them from bulky herbivores with a temper to one of the most powerful animal species in that part of the land.

Fortunately, they retained their previous intelligence, and as such, do not pose an actual threat to those who mind their own business. However, once angered, Rhops do not show mercy, charging with surprising speed at their targets and ramming them with their powerful horns.

The young dragon barely escaped with its life from the sharp horns of the Rhop. That encounter changed the dragon's whole perception of the world, acting as a tough lesson to not mess with those stronger than itself. As it grew stronger and more familiar with the environment around it, the dragon found itself capable of fighting those that it previously saw as undefeatable foes. Up until the day it killed its first Rhop, it did not think much of this fact. Only then did it dawn to the young dragon that it was something unlike those animals that it hunted and fought with. It was stronger, faster, smarter, could fly, and could wield the power of fire. The list of beasts that could rival it grew smaller by the year, and it felt that it had a long way to go still.

Looking back at its speedy growth, the dragon sighed. Was it alone? Was it the only one? It had flown all the way to the west of the continent and had seen an endless mass of water, extending as far as the eye could see. Where there similar lands hiding in the mists beyond the boundaries of its home? And if yes, were there similar beings like itself over there?

The dragon had many questions, but no way of finding out the answers to those questions. There was this particular feeling tugging at its thoughts from time to time, though. A kind of... instinct, hidden deep inside its very soul. It instinctively knew that if it just focused on that feeling and then waited for a bit, all of its questions would be answered. However, whenever it thought about trying to concentrate and find out if its instincts were right, it found itself strangely questioning if the reason was dire enough, for it to evoke that feeling. In such a fashion, the dragon had never gone through with its thoughts.

Its indecisiveness made the dragon swell with anger. Anger at itself and anger at whatever had created it and then leaving it to fend for itself. It started breathing heavily, and wisps of flame slithered out of its nostrils as its anger threatened to overtake it. It suppressed the feeling as best as it could, closing its eyes and taking in deep breaths, before exhaling puffs of smoke. Only after it had calmed down did it open its eyes once more. Yes, the anger had subsided, but all that energy had been diverted towards one single thought.

[b][i]"Time to see how large this piece of land is..."[/i][/b]

The dragon gathered its strength, and with a powerful flap of its wings took off from the mountain peak and flew towards the northern parts of the White Continent.

[hider=Summareeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]Phew, rusty Vec is rusty. First post in AGES :sick
However, I'm here at last with the much-talked dragon post. Surprisingly, not much happens. This is a simple worldbuilding post, detailing some stuff about the animal life and how Ull'Yang's post-awakening essence affected life and its evolution in the White continent of Cygnea. Oh yeah, I took the liberty to name it a Godworld, because you know, a God created it #duh Felt much more fitting than "demi-plane"

Anyhow, our first dragon also appeared in this post, albeit having only one line, and even that being a thought  of all things XD

If you find this enjoyable to read, thanks. If not, prepare for draconic DEUS VULT.

DISCLAIMER:
- 1 megennium = 10^7 years
- AA = After Awakening
- Signian Calendar = made up calendar starting from the time Cygnea was first created, all the way to present time. Anything before Ull'Yang's awakening is labeled as BA, while anything after it is labeled as AA.

EDIT 29/4/17: Changed some minor things like the banner of the post and the name of the Calendar.[/hider]