He had always been smaller. His egg had been tiny, he had been born petite, and he hadn't grown but a couple of feet. Now, he was miniature adult dragon. "Not much of a dragon" He huffed to himself, "More like an overgrown lizard." He had left the other dragons when he knew he would not grow to be their size. No, he would always be as he was now. Small.

He opened his ragged wings and hopped into the air, letting the breeze lift him farther and farther. At least he had the joy of flying. He closed his eyes and imagined he was a bird, one of the beautiful exotic ones he saw flying through the forest. The wind started rushing faster and faster against him, and he opened his eyes.

He was falling. He beat his wings pathetically trying to gain altitude, but to no avail. His wings were tangled messily from the wind whipping them about. He turned his attention to the ground, which was quickly growing closer. He had only one chance... the creak. Even if he did manage to maneuver himself towards it, it might not be deep enough to cushion his fall, but it was worth the chance. Better than being mangled by tree branches. He fell sideways, trying to push himself towards the water.

Closer. Closer... the wind was howling in his ears, the green of the forest becoming bigger and bigger. He leaned harder towards the water, and suddenly he was rolling. All he could see was a smear of blue and green. He closed his eyes and curled in a ball. He wouldn't make it. He wouldn't make it. He wouldn't... there was a huge explosion around him as if the ground had swallowed him up. He felt pain in his legs and head, then a second huge impact on his whole body. And then everything was still....

But he was still alive. Or at least he thought he was. He opened his eyes, winced, and closed one of them again. He lifted a paw to his forehead and felt a large lump right above his left eye. “That’s going to leave a mark.” He tried to say, but he couldn’t. Instead he started gagging, trying to breathe air. He choked silently and wreathed in pain, lights starting to pop in his head. And everything went black.