Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has a large, shield-like object at the end of its tail that it uses for protection.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

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.

When he hatched, Vaelheart was incapable of protecting his fellow hatchmates from harm, unlike usual Guardian dragons. He was hatched with a cracked tail-shield, and because of this the young and innocent Vaelheart wants nothing more than to correctly protect the cave. The elders were afraid for his health, however, as whenever Vaelheart tries to fend off small threats his shield becomes more and more fragile. When they realized that his shield would eventually crumble with age, killing him, the elders had cast a spell on him to keep the hatchling eternally young. And now Vaelheart looks up to the adult guardians with everlasting sorrow, knowing that he can never live out to a regular Guardian's destiny.