The Hidden Glen seemed like the perfect place to go camping as a single shooting star fell over the night sky, adding a more surreal view to the already peaceful and dreamy setting. But the dark forest, despite its appearance and stillness, was a place that never truly slept, as many animals were just now starting to hunt. From tiny black ants to hungry fish, winged bats and grub eating hogs, the forest may have seemed quiet, but it was actually teaming with life. If someone was quiet and still for long enough, they might even be able to hear cracking sticks and swaying branches moving in the dark forest from the many stealthy animals that passed through the area on a regular basis. There were snakes slithering about in search of nesting birds, which had settled in for the night. A wood turtle was drifting afloat in the middle of a large pond, as water beetles waded along the surface, causing little V-shaped ripples in the water. A spider was busy spinning its web between two trees, and the dew which had collected on its silky strings began to shine in the moonlight. A wolf's long-winded howl could be heard in the far distance, followed by what sounded like a great horned owl as it called out to other owls using a series of hoots.
Despite its tranquility and peacefulness, The Hidden Glen was a very dangerous place for the unwary and unprepared. Bears and panthers or wildcats lived in the forest, along with coyotes, large alligators and other predators. While most of these animals were very skittish and usually afraid of humans, incidents have been known to happen, and it wasn't uncommon for tragic deaths to occur in the woods, especially at night during a full-sized moon like tonight. Everything was on guard in the dark forest. That is, everything except for a single large egg which suddenly fell from the sky, as if it had been dropped from the air by a large night bird, slipping from its talons in mid-flight or perhaps dropped on purpose due to its weight. The large egg fell through the trees, bouncing and rolling over several branches as it tumbled to the ground. The egg rolled along the grassy leafbed before hitting the trunk of a huge willow tree and coming to a dead stop, nestled within its thick winding roots among the foliage. Miraculously, the egg didn't even crack or break, and apart from three parallel scratches along its surface caused by the talons of whatever had dropped it, the egg appeared to be unscathed.
As the moonlight hit the egg's surface, it quickly became apparent that this was no ordinary egg. The most noticeable thing about it was its size. The egg, although having a typical oblong round shape like most common birds and reptiles, was about the same size as a 60 gallon wine barrel and weighed nearly 600 pounds. It had a very thick, dark grey plated surface covered in diamond-shaped rocky scales which overlapped similar to fishes scales and helped it to blend in with the rocks and foliage. An egg which had scales, now that wasn't something associated with most reptiles and birds, especially among the species which lived in the surrounding forest. This could only mean one thing. The egg must have come from somewhere else. But from where? And how did it get here? Was it still alive? And if so, what kind of embryo was it carrying inside? Was it a bird, a snake, or maybe a large crocodile? Could it even be a fish of some kind? Or perhaps the creature that dropped it did so after realizing that it wasn't an egg at all, but just a very large rock. Only, if that were the case, then it certainly did look like an egg of some kind. Rocks don't usually look egg-shaped or have thick scaley armor around them. Nope. This was almost certainly a dragon egg. But where did it come from? And what kind of dragon laid it? With nobody around to hear it fall, see it land, or stumble upon its well hidden roost in the dark forest, the perfectly quiet little egg kept its secrets. At least for the time being as it sat completely motionless between the tree roots, resembling a fallen seed pod or dark fossilized fern on the leafbed...