I just finished the prologue and first chapter of my first serious vore story that I've named "Birth to Fire." It's set in a continent that I've named Drinder, that's part of a bigger world. (I've made a map of it that I'll post a bit later.) I hope you'll all enjoy this first part, feel free to criticise it as much as you want, and do ask questions about the world and such if there's something you feel that's left out or unclear.

*chapter 1 contains a very very mild vore scene, other than that, nothing for the time being. More will come in later chapters though ;)*

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Prologue:
The province of Drinder was known for its unnaturally quiet nights. While war waged on in most other parts of the continent, this land, dominated by humans in the east and dragons in the west, enjoyed an armistice of sorts, saying that no battles should take place during nights between the two species. In one of the caves to the west, an elderly serpent told stories to two youngling dragons. The dark cave was lit up faintly by the moon's shine, as the two young dragons eagerly sat, listening to the old one speaking.

”Have you seen the towers of fire in the human city, little ones? A long time before I was born, we dragons could bellow such fire from our throats”. The little dragons giggled after that sentence. They had heard this story so many times before. One of them was a red scaled male with a dark red scar along his chest that consisted of golden coloured belly-plates. The other was a female, dark purple scales covered her body, except the belly-plates that were white, and almost glowed in the dark cavern. They looked at each other and grinned, before pouncing at the other. They clearly had lost focus on the story already. The elder tilted his head a bit, wondering how to get their attention back without sounding angry or frustrated. He remembered an item that he kept among his personal hoard, and swiftly moved his head over, dragging out a human-made tome. The first image in the book that he showed them was a sketch of a dragon hovering above a village, letting fire rain from its maw down on the houses below. The young dragons watched in amazement as the elder showed them several similar drawings. He continued part of his story:

”The humans were afraid of the dragons' fire, as their city is made of wood. This caused conflicts, and our species to... argue. So to calm the humans, we dragons gave up our power to breathe fire. It is not as the others say, the humans did not steal our fire”.

The elder dragon yawned and closed the book, causing a dust cloud to build up above it and around the curious hatchlings' bodies. ”Now, we are at war again, and this time, the fire is not on our side”. This concluded story time for now, as it was already late, and the two young dragons had been away for far too long.

Chapter 1: The red thief

Twenty-five years later, a red dragon with a scar across his chest crawls among a small series of tunnels under the mountain where he and his kind lives. The tiny crooks and narrow passageways reveal conversations between many of the different grown dragons. Currently, the passageway he is in is so narrow that he has to tuck his wings in, lining them with his body fully. He learned of these tunnels when he was much younger, and had often snuck away here to listen to the grown-ups talking. Right now, he wanted to hear a particular conversation though, and struggled to reach the area he tried to get to. After some shoving and pushing himself through, he could finally hear the voices of the dragon king himself and his advisors.

“For every one of us who is killed in battle, a hundred of the humans die. We're not los--”

It was not the voice of the king, but one of the advisors. Soon, a bitter voice snarled back at the lower ranked advisor, now the king spoke:

“That's not enough! Besides, we're not winning anything since we're not at war. This is just a petty dispute that's gone on for too long”

The voice of the king had always troubled the young dragon who is now eavesdropping on him. It was not the voice of someone strong. According to many other grownups, he did not always sound like this though. He knew his fair share about the war with the humans, and it was not what he was trying to learn out of this conversation.

“Your experiment failed. I'm afraid we will never learn where the sacred dragon fire is. You shouldn't hold out in hope of uncovering that mystery. We have many warriors, let us fight in a total war, instead of these small skirmishes” That was the voice of the king's oldest servant, who was far from afraid to sound a bit insolent against his leader.

Experiment? The young dragon had finally learned what he had come here almost every day for a year now to find out, a confirmation that the dragon torch existed; an artifact that was left behind when the dragons gave up their ability to breathe fire. What the advisor meant with the word *experiment* though, was beyond him. Deciding not to listen any further to the conversation, he swiftly slid back out from the narrow tunnels. Outside by the opening of the dark caves stood the silhouette of a young female dragon. He could only guess who it was, but he was pretty sure that his guess would be correct. He even spoke to the figure before seeing her fully, as he was walking out from the tunnel and into the light.

“The red thief strikes again, haha”

The female just shook her head in response, now he could see her. It was his childhood friend Elda, a purple dragoness with white belly-plates.

“One day, you'll be buried in there, and then I'll have to pull the meat shreds that are left of your body out of there,” she said teasingly to her friend while she struck an upright posture.

“I don't need to go back in there anymore, Elda. The red thief's mission was a success. I heard your dad talking about the dragon torch. I'm gonna find it, steal it and bring it back to everyone so we can beat the humans” He walked past her cockily, and intentionally let his tail slide along her neck at first, then along her side. She shivered from it and couldn't regain her proud pose all too well.

“Speaking of your dad, what does he think of his daughter, the *princess,* sneaking out from her cave?”

Elda didn't mind her friend teasing her a bit like this. She merely grinned a bit and moved her head closer to him to speak:

“Kean, is your name. That red thief thing is just sooo childish. We're not little hatchlings anymore. That dragon torch, I couldn't care less about. If it really exists, and I still doubt it does, then it's probably so well guarded by the humans that it will just be easier to eradicate them all instead, not saying that's what we should try to do though”. She was quick to add that last bit, as the princess had always tried to be as neutral as possible when it came to the war between the two species.

“And for your information, my dad lets me out of the cave during the days, you know that.. Uhm.. I think maybe I should go back now though, not that I have to or anything..” The dragoness then said her goodbyes and headed off to climb the mountainside and return to the biggest cavern that could be seen in the dragons' domain, her and her father's home. Neither Elda nor Kean had yet grown strong enough wings to enable them flight; the dragons in this land did not get strong enough wings until they were around fifty years old. The wings was the last part to fully evolve on the dragons though, their bodies were not like the ones hatchlings had. The two did look like young adults by now, and while sitting perched, they were both around ten feet tall from talon to the head if it was raised fully upwards.

Kean watched as Elda walked away from him. He couldn't help but take a few peeks at her strong hindlegs as she walked, which made him grin faintly, before sitting down to contemplate what he had heard during the king's meeting. He did not have any father or mother to come home to after all, so he stayed in the grassy area right under the great cliffs. He turned his view east, over the great planes that laid between his species' kingdom and the human city Palisade, as it was called even by the humans. The view of the city was obscured by the many hills and simply from the great distance it was to that part of the land, but he had seen the city many times before in his life. The young dragon knew of the legend, he knew now that the dragon torch existed, so what more did he need to learn before setting out? Of course he needed to get back to say farewell to Elda though, and to some other friends he had among the caves. So he went back. The sun was setting during his climb. He was looking forward to getting something to eat, then get some sleep before venturing out on his big search.

The cave where he lived was quite small, and he shared it with a group of other young orphans, most of them had been made without parents due to the war. Kean didn't know all of them, even though they were only around twenty living there. He only used the place to sleep and get his food rations anyway. He returned to his little home, and sat down on a bed of soft materials, mostly cloth pieces found after battles with humans that the warriors would bring with them home and share to their society. The young males in the cave barely spoke with each other. There was one of them who Kean enjoyed the occasional company of though; Erak, who was also the youngest of them all, basically still a hatchling, so the others in the cave saw it as a responsibility to take care of the little one as best as they could. As Kean rested on his makeshift bed, he nodded towards Erak, asking him to come over to him. Of course, the little red dragon did as he was asked and crept up to Kean, looking curious about what he could possibly want to talk with him about.

“Hi, Kean. You want me to run you an errand?” Kean nodded. To human eyes, only a pair of faintly glowing eyes would be seen nodding up and down in the very dark cavern. There were no fires in the dragon caves, so they mostly lived in darkness. This wasn't a big problem to the species though, as they had decent vision in the dark, but still far from perfect.

“Ah-huh. I need you to sneak over and ask the princess to come here. It's really important, okay?” The little one nodded back at first, but then hesitated.

“What do I get for doing that?” The question made Kean smirk a bit. He had taught Erak not to run errands like these without trying to get something for himself out of it. Apparently, Erak was indeed learning.

“You'll get, Uhm.. You'll get half of my food ration, alright?” Erak didn't even bother to respond to that offer, and set out immediately to deliver the message to Elda. Meanwhile, Kean glanced over to see what the ration for today actually was. A slab of raw meat laid on the rocky ground close to him, just as he expected it to be. It was rare that they would get anything cooked as it was far from easy for his species to arrange fireplaces and cook their food. They weren't like animals, after all, and appreciated roasted meat over raw like almost any human would. For now, he let the food be, and instead just tried to focus on what he would tell Elda when she arrived. It was really getting late now, and he found himself yawning wide before resting his head and eyes for a bit. Without intending it, he fell asleep, snoring faintly with his head tucked in close to his chest. The only other sounds that could be heard in the cave now were the occasional whispers between the other dragons.

Elda had went home right away after her encounter with Kean. Even though her father often seemed troubled when she spent time with the young male, she simply couldn't stay away from her old childhood friend. She knew there was something special between them. The way home was not completely easy, as it means taking a winding path upwards along the vertical wall that formed the cliffs of the dragon kingdom. The paths had been clawed and smashed out by the warrior’s centuries, or perhaps even over a millennium ago. The path was not made to support lots of traffic, merely to make it possible to visit the caves for traveling humans and young dragon such as Elda, who hadn't developed their wings quite yet. She knew how to take care of herself though from all the dangerous climbing she had done with her friends as a hatchling.

The domain of the dragons was an interesting sight to behold. To someone new visiting, it would almost look like a giant beehive from all the holes spread out among the wall of pure mountain rock, stretching out several kilometers wide. Very far up waited the cave entrance she was heading to. She spotted the usual airborne guards during her climb, but wasn't very bothered by their presence. Eventually she was back up on the plateau where she had climbed down from earlier that day. No one stood waiting outside the cave as she arrived. She was only greeted by a chilling wind as she took some time admiring the view from the high mountain. The first snowflakes of this year could be felt against her hide. Winter was clearly arriving, and soon the sky was filled with snowflakes pouring down. Elda wanted to stay, her father could wait inside, and she knew he was too busy anyway to care if she returned or not. War was more important to focus on than taking care of one daughter, even she could understand that. Many did not know, not even her closest friend Kean, that her father was weary, and that their soldiers had suffered and fought much harder these last year than in any war before. She sat down, letting her paws rest in front of her chest while snow was piling up around and on her. The lights from the human city could be seen shining faintly from where she sat, and she focused on them as almost a full hour passed.

A sound of someone light running could be heard coming from the right, where she had come from only moments ago. It was Kean's friend Erak, who seemed to be wanting something with her.

“Hey!? You tell Erak to go fetch me, then you're asleep when I do show u--?” The female's voice was cut off, as Kean had localized where it came from while he was waking up. Drowsily, he had raised and pressed down his paw over Elda's snout and pressed it into the ground while she was talking into his ear to wake him. Some laughter could be heard from Erak's corner in the cave. He was chewing on the piece of meat that was over by Kean earlier; he had helped himself to all of it, and was currently in the process of swallowing it down into his stomach before Kean's eyes. It was too late to try and get his food back now, as he could see a great bulge slide down along the hatchling's throat, then finally landing in his hungry, awaiting belly. Elda didn't react all too well to Kean's treatment to shut her up, and was quick to pull away her head, then press her own paw down firmly over Kean's head, locking him in place.

“Ow! I was tired and your.. majestic voice was too much for this lowly dragon to listen to while he was just trying to get some rest.” She let go of him, and watched as he sat up, shaking his head some and trying to rid himself of the drowsiness you can feel right after waking up from a short nap. If no one woke him up, he could have easily slept for several hours. The dragoness seemed content, like she got back at him enough for what he did. Some cool winds crept inside, making her shiver a little bit, and also causing Kean to sit up on his haunches and shake his head once more.

“I can feel that winter's arrived, heheh. Anyway. I asked you to come here so I could tell you about my secret plan!” Elda then paused the eager male by holding up one of her forelegs in front of him.

“Hold it. Let me guess. You want to find that damned relic? Don't tell me you're gonna leave. You know that it's not allowed. And besides, you don't know how to survive out there,” she said, before creeping up a bit closer to the perched male. He tried to say something, but she interrupted him again.

“You're the only real friend I have here.. Why would you leave this land? What about m...” She was about to say me right then. Of course she did not finish that sentence though. The princess was known for trying to be as selfless as possible. She could not let her own desires get in the way of what could be best for everyone. But still, it hurt a lot to think about her childhood friend leaving, perhaps to never come back again to keep her company. Kean reacted when she suddenly stopped speaking, moving his head down to hers and rubbing his red snout into her snout.

“Elda.. Winter's coming. The humans tend to stay inside their homes during the cold nights, I heard that from one of the warrior dragons. I'm gonna be careful. I won't let them get me. I'm strong.” Elda only shook her head now. The black, long thin spines along her back shook with her movement.
“You can't go.” And with that, Elda ran outside, looking up at the guards hovering around the perimeter of the northeast section of the dragon kingdom, where they currently were. She spread her wings out, and shouted at the guards to come down. She was a noble dragon species after all, and was above roaring or growling, as she had been told by so many while growing up. She had never even tried to roar. The soldier dragons above though, each let out a loud shriek and came diving down towards her, turning their bodies upwards when they were just about to crash into the ground next to her, making their wings unfold fully and get caught in the stream of air they created from diving. It looked so natural. Barely a sound could be heard when their talons gently landed on the ground. First there were only two of them, one getting behind her and blocking off the cave entrance, while the other crept up closely to ask the princess what was wrong. The huge dragon had to lean his head down as much as possible as he sat perched, looming over her. She only whispered some, and glanced over at Kean who now stood by the other guard, trying to hear what she was saying while also trying to pry himself past the guard who stood firmly as a brick wall, barely bothered by the young male's pushing. Soon one more guard glided down and landed by the princess. Kean could hear speaking about him leaving, and that he needed to be kept in the cave. He did not make out the rest, but when she took off on one of the dragons' back, who hurriedly lifted and flew up towards king's cave in the distance. Kean was sure now about her motives. She was going to reveal his plans to her father, and then he'd make sure that Kean gets locked up in some place to make sure he couldn't escape. He needed to get out now. Only one of the guards was left outside, he quickly surveyed his surroundings, hoping to find something of use.

Before the guard could land, Elda leapt off the back of the much bigger warrior-dragon, who roared in anger when she so carelessly left the security of his back.. He calmed as he could see her safely land on the mountainside though, and just watched from above as she made her way inside the cave. He could just as well wait outside, clinging onto the mountain's wall and blending in with it quite well. Most warrior-dragons were copper colored, and were better on foot and definitely climbers rather than flyers. They did not understand things as well as the noble-dragons, but they knew how to protect, and how to fight, making them ideal soldiers in the kingdom's army.

Inside the cave, Elda's father was waiting. He had actually wondered where his daughter had been all day. The first section of the cave was where he held his audiences, and was where he currently waited for Elda as well. It was a grand hall, where dragons had even hollowed out sections to make it more symmetrical. In the far end, stood the dragon king. His scales shone a deep red as he just stood there facing his daughter who came up to him. To almost any human, walking up to the great creature would be a horrifying experience. Elda had nothing to worry about though, as she just sat down next to her father, who glanced over to her.

“Kean.. He tried to leave. H-”

“He wants to find the torch, of course. You've told me before about his plans of finding it.” His expression did not change after what either she or he himself had said. He only stayed completely in place, Elda even started wondering if he was the least surprised.

“I told a guard to make sure he didn't leave! He's being kept in his home right now, aren't you gonna do something!? He'll leave as soon as he gets the chance.” Elda no longer stood next to her father, and had now moved over to stand right in front of him. Her voice trembled now while she spoke.

“So what should we do about that? You know we don't have any prisons here. We can't guard him forever, Elda.” The great creature lowered his head and looked into his daughter's black and golden eyes, which were indeed tearing up while he continued to speak.

“You've told me so much about him, Elda. You told me that he has no parents. You told me about his longing to explore and learn about the world. I only wish that he would have made this choice when he was a little older, and his wings could fully bear him. I think your blessing and farewell to him will be enough to keep him strong though.” And with that, he raised his head back up, gazing out at the entrance of the dark cave while he left his daughter pondering in front of him.

A loud crack sound could be heard inside the cave where the orphans lived. An old animal skull was crushed under the red dragon's paw, smashing it to pieces.

“Damnit! Why did she do that to me?! She knows I can take care of myself, right!?” Kean was walking back and forth with heavy steps on his spot in the cave, talking to Erak who was curled up over at his own spot. Before the little hatchling could even answer, Kean made a frustrated snorting sound and turned his back to the little one again to look into a dark corner of the cave. He needed to think up a way to escape, and quick. Only one guard was outside, but he needed to get him distracted by something else, to make sure he wouldn't be followed when he made his escape. The guard was carefully watching him, but there were a few good, dark corners in the cave that his watcher probably could not see too well into. Kean decided to take a chance at least, and clung onto the darkest wall, and climbed up close to the roof of the cave, disappearing from the guard's view, which made him seem a bit uneasy. The great warrior dragon stayed by the entrance though for about ten minutes, until he started seriously doubting that the young male was still clinging onto that dark spot. He took a few steps inside, not bothering to look at any of the other smaller dragons inside that were mostly resting. He could hear some of them scurrying around close to him, so he took careful steps to make sure he wouldn't trample any of the smaller ones.

“Are you in there? I saw where you climbed up!” The guard shouted, but he got no response. While he was taking his tiny steps, closer and closer to the spot where Kean had crawled up before, Kean had managed to drop down among the shadows when the guard looked away, and crawled past him, staying as low as possible to avoid the guard's gaze.

There was no need to stay in the cave any longer. He prepared his body, lowering himself to a pouncing stance, and then ran out as fast as he could. His claws made a faint scratching sound against the rock underneath him, but the guard was too focused to notice it. As Kean took the leap out into the night and out from the cliff's edge, he could hear a female's voice nearby, gasping. It was Elda who had been on her way to say farewell to her old friend. Kean turned his head at her as he was falling forward through the air, and gave her a wink, as if saying “You couldn't keep me here,” then he unfolded his young wings. No one except him knew it, but they were strong enough to let him glide safely through the air. When Elda saw this, her body became less tense, and she couldn't help but smirk a bit from her friend's wink. When the guard came rushing outside to stop him, Elda just ordered him to stay. She was filled with a sense of relief, that maybe he could take care of himself out there. She only regretted that she never got a chance to say goodbye.

As Kean was slowly gliding away from his old home, he only took one more glance over at the female who was looking down on him from the cave, then he turned his head forward and set his eyes on the horizon instead, on the almost endless fields that were slowly turning white from the falling snow. He grinned and thought to himself “The red thief strikes again.”

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