She felt pressure and motion then heard a voice say, “Hand her over then teleport out. Odin, once he’s gone, have this room scrubbed of all foreign matter that might contain his scent within 100 feet of this location and any location we passed near.”

  What was he, what was a scent? Then the voice spoke again, “It’s okay, you’ll be okay. I am Adaline and I am your mother, welcome to the world. The voice, her mother’s voice, drew her to raise her head until she was able to slowly open her eyes and focus her vision on her mother. Images of beating wings soaring over open fields filled with trees. So many memories of prey, the hunt, and her father. The human, though not human anymore, how could that be? The not human who had tamed her mother’s heart and had caught her as she was born. She committed that scent to memory, She would never forget him, or her mother, never. She learned the concept of languages and knew that she could speak Dragonese, Common, and English with little effort.

  Before she could get lost in the flood of memories, they slowed and her mother leaned back as she smiled and said, “I name you Pandora, the All-Gifted. I dare say that if anyone ever gains your ire, they will wish they’d never done so. Odin, if you’d please open a portal to somewhere on Earth a temperate sunny climate?”

  A shimmering curtain of energy appeared before them which she knew to be a portal, something her father created at will. Mother led her through the portal, and she found herself in a forest, “Not a forest dear, this is a park in the city known as New York on your father’s Earth. Let’s walk around and look at the sights before we see if you have the ability to transform into a proper dragon, “she said as she held out her hand and they began walking through the forest.

  Pandora would look back at the few moments she had with her mother as the happiest moments of her, at the time, very short life. Mother showed her various types of trees flowers and animals. While she had them in the memories her mother had gifted her, she still needed to experience each for herself. They walked as her mother spoke and pointed, Pandora enraptured by her mother’s knowledge and the blissful ignorance of a newborn. There were so many things to see. So many things to do, She didn’t know where to start.

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  Their pleasant day in the park was shattered when a voice called out from everywhere, “Odin! Get everyone back to…,” before the voice cut off. Mother picked her up and started to take a step towards the portal when the world around and beneath them exploded. Mother expanded, as she pulled Pandora into herself and became a dragon. Shadows enveloped both of them and suddenly Pandora was held against the chest of a beautiful and magnificent dragon. Mother closed her wings, tucked her head, and held her tight as the world was obliterated.

  Pandora felt part of her father’s essence in the earth, that wasn’t Earth as it wrapped around them in a protective shell. She couldn’t see the layer of protection, but she felt it through her mother’s wings at her back. They were bounced this way and that, as chunks of Earth smacked into them until they broke away and passed through a barrier of some sort. At that point, something happened to Mother, and she was gone as a kaleidoscope of colorful energy surrounded Pandora and she felt herself go elsewhere as everything went dark.

  As she worked her way back into consciousness red flashing lights filled her vision. Her mother’s memories let her know that they were messages and prompts that had information for her. While they were probably important she ignored them for the moment and sat up to find herself sitting in an orange pool of liquid energy that had surrounded her and was hovering over her skin like a protector. She also realized she was nude and could see that her body bore a tattoo that resembled a dragon.

  Pandora had no idea where she was, what she was doing, or who could help her. Mother was gone, ripped away by some force that even she couldn’t fight, and she was naked and alone. From her mother’s memories, she knew Mother cared nothing about clothing though the bipedal races, like humans, thought being nude made one vulnerable. Against humans and elves Mother had used this idea of theirs to lure them into their demise, something her memories referred to as playing with her food.

  Pandora looked around one more time just to be sure. Yes, She was truly and utterly alone.