I ended up waking up when a ray of light hit me directly in the eyes. I complained softly, squeezing my eyelids shut. For a second it was hard for me to remember where I was, where that light was coming from, or why the ground beneath my body was so wet. After opening my eyes, the landscape returned to me: the forest covering the mountain, the damp earth, the fresh sap, and the leaves rustling in the cold wind of the heights. And I, a newborn dragon, had just begun to live there as just another creature. My second day alive, newborn, and I was already living on my own—a quite notable achievement. I guess it wasn't so bad. My body, clumsy and shaky, didn't want to move. I would have preferred to keep sleeping in the cave where I was born, small and damp, where the water sounded softly and everything was quiet. It was comfortable. Perhaps I would go back later... if I could manage to find it in this enormous forest.

Why did I go out? It was much better in there

My stomach growled, and the sound, deep and low, boomed with a disproportionate intensity in the quiet morning, like the dry crack of thunder on a clear day.

Right, that's why I went out

Hunger again. A dense, painful hunger that seemed to eat itself from within, a dry pang that started in my abdomen and demanded to be satisfied. It was the call of nature, the elemental instinct that pushed me to survive and grow. I got to my feet as best I could, staggering as my hind legs refused to obey, moving like poorly assembled springs, without the fluidity of movement my mind already longed for. It was frustrating.

Still, I had to eat. I needed to eat. The roaring of my stomach was an urgency that surpassed any fear or doubt. The forest wasn't going to feed me out of compassion, although I would be eternally grateful if it did. I walked for a while, pushing my way through bushes, trying to ignore the excessively loud sound of everything around me. My ears hurt from how sensitive they were. Everything sounded too loud, louder than yesterday. I could hear the steps of deer several meters away, the crunching of branches in the distance, even the buzzing of insects flying near my snout. Everything was too much, a concert of natural sounds with the volume turned up too high to be enjoyed or appreciated. Every time I took a step, some animal ran away, frightened. I couldn't see them yet, but I knew they were there. I smelled them, I heard them, I felt their steps vibrate through the roots of the ground. But catching them... that was another story.

I barely managed to see a shadow move before it escaped. Some squirrels disappeared climbing trees with humiliating speed. A fox, whose disgusting smell of wet fur had reached me unmistakably, saw me from a distance and slipped between the trunks before I could even lean down to chase it. Even a group of birds took flight, dropping feathers on my head as I tried not to slip on my own paws. It was humiliating. I was faster and stronger than them, I knew it, I could feel it in the way my tense muscles vibrated under the scaly skin. But strength was useless if my legs wouldn't obey. Balance was still an enemy, and the forest roots seemed to have the personal mission of knocking me down with every step, causing my wings and tail, those new and strange extremities, to get tangled in the vegetation. I growled, annoyed, I had that feeling of when the whole world is against you. After a while of failed attempts, I finally managed to locate a hare hidden behind a fallen log. It was similar to yesterday's: small, agile, with those always alert eyes that seemed to know exactly when I was about to jump. I prepared myself and took a deep breath.

I ran. Or at least, I tried.

The initial impulse was an explosion of potential, but it didn't last long. The hare shot off through narrow bushes that I couldn't cross so quickly without the risk of stumbling and falling with a crash. It slipped through gaps that my still-clumsy body couldn't follow without sliding on the moss or crashing into the trunks. Branches tangled in my tail, that scaly balancer that now felt more like a nuisance than a help. The roots made me roll, and every time I thought I was reaching it, it zigzagged between trunks and stones, using the entire forest as if it were a shield that I, with my excessive strength and lack of precision, couldn't penetrate. When I finally lost sight of it, with one last, resounding sound of frustration, I let myself drop onto the ground, breathing in short gasps, the hot breath coming out of my long snout. Honestly, I wanted to cry. I thought that after catching that hare the day before, everything would be much simpler. That hunting could even become boring because of how easy it was. But perhaps it had all been luck. Perhaps that hare was old, or the terrain didn't allow it to hide as well as the one that had just escaped. It was irritating.

I lay on the damp grass, looking up at the treetops as the sun filtered through the leaves, leaving warm patches on my body. I tried not to think about how useless I had just proven to be and how much I wished to return to the protective darkness of my cave. The warmth of the sun ended up being more relaxing than I expected. Life seemed much quieter lying there, without worries about eating or similar things. I breathed deeply, and each new breath was accompanied by the sounds of the wind stirring through the branches and leaves. Tranquility had completely invaded my body. I no longer cared about continuing to hunt or look for any food, when I could be lying there feeling the breeze enveloping me. Little by little, it was as if the wind was cradling me. The sensation was gentle, too gentle, almost imperceptible. And for an instant, I felt it. Something strange, as if the wind were pushing me from within. A cold, unexpected jolt, too strong for my body. It was very strong, so strong that I couldn't bear it anymore. I got up suddenly, startled, gasping from the fright.

But what...?

I looked around, agitated. Nothing had changed. The forest was still the same: the tall trees, the fresh grass, the old trunks covered in moss. But I knew I had felt something. Something that had been there just moments ago. Something that had passed through my body, entering and leaving naturally. Something that had deeply surrounded me.

I tried to repeat it. I took a deep breath. I stayed still, tensing every muscle and concentrating my vision on the pattern of the leaves on the ground. I tried to concentrate on the sensation, forcing my mind to evoke that invisible flow.

Nothing. Another deeper breath. I tried to remember it, to recover even a little bit of that strange sensation... but it didn't come back.

Nothing. I shook my head, desperate.

What had that been? Why did it only last an instant? I tried to remember it, but it was like trying to catch smoke with my claws. The more I thought about it, the more it slipped away. Despite having been an oppressive sensation, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Finally, frustrated, I growled again and let myself drop , except that this time the need to find food ended up overcoming the peace and tranquility. I found a fruit lying on the ground next to a tree. I picked it up and bit it lightly.

Maybe I could start feeding on this.

The taste was the most horrible thing I had ever tasted in my life, and well, I had only tasted two things in my life, but without a doubt that fruit was the worst.

Then I heard it.

A light sound. Short steps. Clumsy movements, as if something was pecking at the ground. I slowly sat up. Very slowly. Among the leaves, not far away, a fat bird was walking calmly, oblivious to my presence, its plumage blending with the ground, pecking at one of the disgusting fruits. And I prepared to pounce on it.

One last attempt before deciding whether to die of hunger

¡FWOOSH!

A hawk shot out from a nearby bush and caught the bird without it even letting out a chirp. It was so fast that I could barely follow the movement with my eyes. One moment it was on the ground and the next it was already rising with its prey in its claws. Its silhouette was lost against the clear and clean blue background of the sky.

I was paralyzed. My own ears, so sensitive moments ago, hadn't been able to hear that hidden hawk.

How did it do that?

There was the answer. My advantage—it wasn't enough to be stronger. Or faster. Those were physical gifts. What was really needed was to be smarter.

And I could learn. My mind could be a much more powerful tool than my claws. The hawk hadn't been silent; I had been too focused on the external chaos and the roaring of my stomach. The creature had waited, hidden, using cover and the precise moment, with predatory patience. I crawled until I hid among some rocks, where the shadows were deeper , my dark skin of polished gems merging with the gloom. I placed the remains of the fruit I had bitten minutes earlier in front of my hiding place as bait. My body trembled, whether from hunger or excitement, I didn't know. I controlled my breathing, making it slow and deep, trying to emulate the strange calm that had flooded me when I woke up. I tried to calm my muscles.

I opened my ears and listened, calmly, without focusing on any specific noise, but on the orchestra of sounds that the forest played. I had to be attentive but not too tense. I had to be calm and hide my presence. The outside world became fainter, as if reality was blurring, ceasing to be a diffuse shadow and becoming something tangible. My breathing, slower.

And for an instant, very faint, just like before...

There was that sensation again. A slight tingling ran down my back and tail. As if the air vibrated both inside and out at the same time. Softer than before, less strange... but equally impossible to understand. This time it was weaker, shyer. But it was there. This time it didn't catch me by surprise. That overwhelming sensation was turning into something more natural to feel. I could feel it all around me, enveloping everything. I felt that vibration moving through my body, changing according to my breathing. The calmer I became, the softer it got.

And then I heard it, and I felt it. A small sound, right in front of me. The creature's heartbeat. The sound of its breathing. The movement of its feathers. All of it became evident.

I carefully opened one eye. A bird, very similar to the previous one, had perched less than a meter from my hiding place. It was pecking at the fruit I had placed, trying to get the seeds out of its inside. It hadn't seen me. It hadn't heard me. And I held my breath, feeling the tension in my lungs, so as not to ruin the opportunity. My body acted before my doubts.

I leaped.

An explosion of muscle in a finally coordinated movement. The bird tried to flap its wings. I released all the air at once, a clumsy and sharp roar that more surprised the hawk than intimidated it for a second. It was thanks to that instant of confusion that, by the time it began to rise, my claws had already trapped it.

This time there was victory. I started laughing and jumping around my prey, proud of my achievement. The bird was big, bigger than yesterday's hare. I held it proudly above my head as my chest swelled, satisfied. Finally, a hunt of my own.

Maybe I'm not useless, maybe, I'm the best hunter this mountain has ever seen

Pride and vanity took hold of me.

HAVE YOU SEEN THAT, HARES?! YOU ARE NEXT

Finally, the hunger was completely calmed , giving me a warm sensation of fullness that I had never experienced before, a temporary relief from the voracity of my constant growth. As I finished the leftovers, I thought again about that strange sensation. Whatever that was that I had felt... it was still lingering in my head. In that moment, when I was hidden, I thought for a second that I had not only heard the hawk but that I had...

But in the end, what did it matter? I had food. And as long as I had food, I could keep living. I would think about those strange sensations when hunger returned.

I had lived another day. Tomorrow would be the same: look for food and not die. That was the only thing I needed to know for now.

I was just a newborn dragon with a hawk between my teeth. Tomorrow, perhaps, I would learn another trick, before hunger struck again, relentlessly.