Chapter Text
He doesn't really remember what happened. The flash of light and some loud noise startled him, and he did what any being would do - found a narrow dark space and hid there. The noises weren't stopping, the floor vibrated with someone's footsteps, and he hissed in displeasure, hiding deeper into the darkness.
The noises intensified, everything vibrated, many new smells filled his nose, it was too much, too much, he tried curling up into a ball, clawing at his scaly head, but it just didn't stop. He wished he could be somewhere quiet...
...and suddenly the world turned on its head, and he was somewhere else. It was quiet there, well, mostly. Sometimes the nearest stone path vibrated as something big run past the bushes he was hiding in. These things smelled bad and were too big to hunt them, so he ignored them for the most part. He waited.
Finally, a loud four-legged being run past, too close to his bushes. One strike, and the long fangs sunk into the tender flesh, body curling around the prey. Content with his dinner, he spit a piece of hard leather and metal out and curled back, digesting.
Sometime later, familiar sounds caught his attention. Familiar vibrations. He didn't like them, but watched through the bushes, as if he understood what was going on. When the humans left, following some strange instinct he crawled closer to the small sleeping being they abandoned. Prey?
No, not prey.
Forked tongue touched the scar on the little being's forehead. If not prey, then what?
He tried to think, but it was too hard, this being didn't fit any of the categories his mind worked with. He sat there, staring at it, for a few minutes, and then retreated back to his bushes, to finish digesting.
He didn't count time, not that he could, but since the first prey he managed to capture two more and digest them. The strange instinct kept him from leaving that place, he only left the bushes when he needed to hunt or when the nature called after a good meal. But more and more big vibrating things passed by, more loud two-legs walked past, he didn't like it. He didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but a lot of them smelled angry.
When they started looking through the nearest bushes, he felt it was time to move. When darkness fell, he slipped out of the bushes and through a narrow opening, down into a dark place where the instinct told him to go. The place felt long abandoned, so he curled up in a corner and fell asleep.
For some time he lived there, mostly sleeping, sometimes crawling out when he needed it, but always coming back. That place was nice. Dark, secluded, nobody bothered him there. It started smelling like him soon. Sometimes the slit was closed, but he always managed to claw it open. Sometimes he felt something vibrating above him, but it never got to him, so he relaxed.
Until one day he was woken up by some vibrations far too close to his den. Someone was breaking in, and it was already too late to run. He hid deeper into his nest, hissing in anger. When some big being, too big to eat easily, looked into his den, he lunged at it, hissing and spitting venom. The big being screamed, slipped on something and fell into the heap of his shed skin, what made it scream louder. Extremely displeased, he slipped out, into a dimly lit corridor, and then crawled up the stairs and hid in the only place which looked appealing at that moment - under a bed in a cupboard under the stairs.
It was a little complicated to hunt from there, but he managed to find good time to crawl out, when everyone was asleep. Sometimes, when there were no ways of clawing the transparent walls open, he raided the big white vibrating box which smelled of food. He also found where the toilet was. Surprisingly, the inhabitants of the place never caught him, although they sometimes smelled very angry when they walked past his hideout.
And once, when he was calmly digesting his recent meal, the door to his hiding place opened wide. He wanted to strike at whoever dared to disturb him, but the strange instinct flared up. Not a prey was here again, and he smelled very sad. The small one curled up on the bed right above him, and was making some strange noises. Unable to resist, he tried to touch, to grab that small being, but when he laid his hand on it, instead of being afraid, it grabbed his long clawed finger.
- Stay...