Not much time passed before the knocking from the first egg woke up all the others. Very soon in three spheres young dragonlings were working hard, breaking their way out.
With a sharp click, the shell of one of the eggs cracked and a long bone protrusion stuck out. At first Lev thought it was a claw, but further observation proved him wrong.
Another blow and the horn located in the center of the wyrmling's muzzle further widens the hole, allowing the young dragon to fully stick out its muzzle.
"More precisely, young dragoness," Dumov corrected himself when his dragon essence easily noticed the characteristic softness of the skull's cheekbones and much more graceful shape of horns: "A blue dragoness."
Meanwhile, the bright blue wyrmling clearly didn't notice her brother located nearby and continued breaking the shell with quiet growls, though now using only her paws.
Lev noted that the horn on the nose turned out to be more than a useful tool, and he was even a bit sorry that he didn't have one himself.
A particularly loud crack marked the dragon's victory over the barrier and, throwing all her weight, she finally got out to freedom.
Lev watched almost with tenderness as the blue one almost exactly repeated his actions, spreading her wings. Due to her exit position, she emerged in such a way that she still hadn't noticed him, standing with her back turned.
But this couldn't continue for too long. The stretching wyrmling bent her long neck in pleasure and with shock saw a stranger standing behind her!
"Hsss-s-s-s!" — Lev almost screamed himself from the angry hissing unleashed on him by the dragoness who, turning in a jump, spread her paws wide and arched her back maximally, beginning to resemble a terrified cat.
Perhaps by this terrifying action Dumov should have been scared to death, but looking at the dragoness fiercely flashing her bluish-white eyes, he only laughed loudly, which in his new body was something between hissing, short growls, and, actually, laughter.
Stunned by his reaction, the blue wyrmling awkwardly froze in her threatening pose, not knowing what to do next. Probably, she began to understand that right now no one was going to attack her, but the pride inherent to every dragon prevented her from just backing down.
Letting out another short warning hiss, the little dragon independently lowered her back and pretended that the red dragonling standing opposite her was well, completely uninteresting to her. If it weren't for the quick glances thrown at Dumov now and then, he might have believed it.
Snorting mockingly, Lev sat on his hind legs, surprisingly habitually wrapping himself around with his tail. Involuntarily he noted that he was very glad for the instincts built into this body, allowing even just-hatched dragonlings to not be completely helpless.
Dumov lightly scratched the scales with a claw and noted their durability. Of course, he doubted they could compete with adult dragons' scales, but if you remember human babies with their tenderest skin, the competition would not be in humanity's favor.
Lev became embarrassed. Once again he looked at humanity as if he no longer belonged to it. The fact that he's now in a dragon's body, does it change his human essence, or not?
Distracted by thoughts, Lev involuntarily lost sight of the blue dragoness, which was clearly a mistake.
Clack! — the tip of his tail barely managed to dodge the grip of two rows of sharpest teeth. The Blue who had snuck up behind him almost successfully landed a treacherous blow.
His paw flew literally at her muzzle, but the little dragon still managed to dodge and now predatorily-playfully bared her teeth, circling around Lev like some defenseless prey.
"Prey?" — from the depths of Dumov's chest came a growing growl, making the little dragon freeze and become wary: "No one dares to consider me prey!"
Something in his throat hissed and tickled, but nothing happened. However, this sound made Blue tensely move away, not taking her intent gaze off the other dragon.
Standing at his full height, Lev involuntarily noted that he was a little bigger than his opponent, who, it seemed, also noticed the difference in size.
The red wyrmling tilted his head and looked straight into Blue's eyes from under his brow, sending her just one message: "Try, if you dare!"
Blue instantly bared her teeth, but Lev didn't miss her uncertainly fidgeting figure. Though she tried with all her actions to show that she was the boss here, but the moment was lost. Had Blue real confidence, she would have attacked already.
Lev turned away haughtily, making it clear that the matter was closed. Of course, she could try to attack now, but he doubted it.
Besides, they both had another reason to postpone the conflict, as the third egg also acquired its first crack.
Whoever was inside, the new wyrmling turned out to be more than determined and if he had woken up before Blue, he would have been second in seniority.
A heavy blow and immediately a large piece of shell bid farewell, releasing...
Lev felt his breath leaving him, and a red haze appeared in his eyes.
It was a white dragon. His scales shone with perfect whiteness, having no flaw. If Blue's body shape was more bony, even despite being female, then the white wyrmling had a streamlined body shape and a sharp, long crest on his head that smoothly flowed into spikes going along the spinal ridge.
It would seem, what's the problem? Why did Dumov's feelings angrily cry that there would be huge problems with this brother? Maybe his dragon senses were wrong?
One look into White's eyes was enough for Lev to realize the erroneousness of the last thought.
As soon as the white wyrmling understood who he saw, pure anger flashed in his gray, seemingly blind eyes.
And Lev shared this feeling too. Almost everything about White just incredibly angered Dumov. The very shape of his body, color, and even smell screamed that peace wouldn't resolve this.
The blue dragonling somehow smoothly moved aside, understanding that she was superfluous here, while Lev and White slowly began to approach each other.
Both opponents carefully evaluated each other. Each of them was a dragon, and therefore possessed impressive and deadly instincts that now whispered to each of them information about their opponent.
Thus, Lev immediately noticed White's powerful forearms, which in thickness even surpassed his own. Thankfully, in pure height at the withers he still exceeded his opponent, but this didn't mean at all that White was weak. Yes, he was shorter, but he was very solidly built.
Opening his mouth wide, the white wyrmling announced to the surroundings with a prolonged howl. Perhaps someday in the future this would become a fearsome roar, but for now it more resembled an ultrasound attack.
Lev wasn't going to retreat an inch, so now from his throat burst forth an no less threatening howl.
In the same second White rushed forward with all his might, crossing the distance with powerful jumps coming one after another. The white tail quickly fluttered behind.
Every particle inside Lev demanded to do the same and meet chest to chest. He couldn't refuse the challenge thrown at him. But who said he had to act just as recklessly, as if he were some beast?
Oh no. Despite the fury tearing at his insides, Lev didn't move from his spot. He allowed the White rushing at him to be deceived by instincts screaming that the prey is so scared that it's paralyzed with terror. Now it seemed to the icy dragon that this was the perfect moment for his attack.
But he was wrong.
The white wyrmling made a daring, long jump, intending with all his weight to crash into his enemy and knock him to the ground.
Were Lev really paralyzed, this would have been an excellent plan for victory in one blow. Unfortunately for White, his opponent wasn't an ordinary dragon.
The tail of even a small dragonling is a long, heavy and very armored whip, whose purpose is to stabilize the rest of the very large body.
Lev understood that he still controlled his body very poorly, so getting into a long fight wasn't worth it at all. His chance of victory was high, but the risks of losing were also great, so Dumov decided to act a little differently.
The red wyrmling's body swiftly spun in place and the tail compressed until now sharply straightened, accelerated also by the very fact of spinning.
White's icy eyes had time to open in shock as the heavy, armored tip of the tail hit him right in the eye with all its might.
Judging by White's frantic hissing and how he collapsed like a pile of rags, the blow was quite painful. However, the fight wasn't over yet.