Woe to the Days of Fire & Death

Alone

It was a late evening in early July of 2007, the sound of a faint pattering against the stain glass windows could be heard throughout the large office. The cold rain was persistent tonight and would not let up.

The fire was crackling and in her comfortable, yet decorated lounge chair sat Larissa Weems. The Headmistress of the infamous Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts and supernatural beings. She flipped through the pages of an old yearbook that read, 'Nevermore Academy Yearbook Class of 1991,' while she sipped on a glass of pinot noir. The shade of wine could almost match her lipstick.

As the sound of a page turning could be heard, there was a ping that notified her of anything that went on in her school. The tall woman set her wine glass down before getting up to check the notification, for there was nobody at the school but her. The school would not start until September 1st and she had already had most of her preparations done and ready for the new school year.

She sat down in her office chair and logged into her laptop. What she saw next shocked her as her hand flew to cover her mouth. Before long, the Headmistress quickly stood from her office chair and ran around her desk and towards the large double doors. She opened them quickly before turning and running out and down the stairs, making sure she did not trip, but did so in the utmost haste.

As she reached the front entrance she caught her breath before unlocking the doors and pushing them open. Laid in front of her was a rather portly sized egg. Standing at 2 feet tall and almost 3 feet wide was a black scaled egg that shimmered an iridescent green in the moonlight.

Immediately, Weems noticed a letter taped to the back of the egg as she brought it in and out of sight from the outside world. She locked the schools front doors and carried the large egg back to her office. It felt cold, hard, damp, but was heavy, like the weight of a baby.

She set the egg on her lounge chair, in front of the fire, ripping off the letter. Carefully opening the letter, it read:

'Larissa, I hope in good conscience that this letter and this egg finds you, safely. It breaks our hearts, but you are its only hope. Its last hope. We wish we could be there for it but life has a funny way of bringing things up. As its Godmother, it is up to you to keep it safe and away from the outside world full of dangers.
                -Take care.'

With a shaking hand, Larissa searched the letter, the envelope, anything to tell her whose egg this could possibly be. There was nothing. She set the letter down next to her as she kneeled in front of the egg which sat comfortably in the lounge chair. Reaching up, the egg was slightly warm from the fire behind her.

'Take care. Who says that as they dump their baby on the doorsteps in the rain? How do they know my name? Godmother? I didn't know I was a Godmother to anything.' Larissa thought.

"Come here little one." She lifted the egg and sat down in the chair, placing it in her lap. This was the first time anything close to a motherly nature approached the tall woman. She put her ear against the rough scaled egg and listened. She could almost hear the faint beating of a heart, but wasn't sure.

Weems had never taken care of anything before, so the fact that she ended up with a giant egg, was way out of range for her. She had no idea how she would take care of it, whatever it was. There was only one person who she thought may be able to help her on this endeavor.

The dial tone on her phone was subtle as she called an old friend. After two rings, he picked up.

"Hello Lars."

"Hello Mace. I have a predicament that I believe you are better equipped to handle or at least help me with." Larissa smiled as she rubbed the tough egg with her free hand, like a mother playing with her baby's hair.