Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Ever since it hatched, the sky has been full of very dark clouds.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing. It’s learned to use its new wings quickly and you now have a hard time keeping it on the ground.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

In one of the far reaches of this land, there is a place where humans have discovered the power of steam. There, sprawling buildings higher even than the dragons have arisen, and dark smoke is belched out upon the once immaculate sky. In this land of ashes and machines lives a small dragon, permanently coated with dust, whose yellow eyes serve her well in navigating the bleak sewers and tunnels of that place. Adapted to eating rats and extremely small for her age, only time will tell whether she is a new, city-dwelling species, or whether she will one day soar through the heavens, and remind those who dwell there of the beauty of nature...