NAU-054: Lyonsia

Larry stared into the burbling, black water swirling with an eerie tranquility. Weight flocked to his chest. Surely, he would be fine? It was a straight shot from point A to point B, and he was a crocodile, after all—crafted by nature to reign in the water. So why was it that fear gnawed at him so tenaciously? “I’m a crocodile,” Larry muttered under his breath, clenching his grinning jaws in a futile attempt a...

Lyonsia clambered out from the salty ocean waves, from the deep abyss as if awakened from a dreamless sleep, each droplet cascading off her shimmering scales like liquid silver. Seraphine followed. A plume of mist curled around her talons, and the land beneath them, frail and crooked, was stripped of the vibrant life she’d dared to imagine. The beach stretched before her, an expanse of golden sand, deceptively inviting beneath the smog sky. Yet, when she takes a he...

In the heart of a serene underwater realm, far below where sunlight danced upon the lapping waves, Lyonsia nestled within her secluded cave—a sanctuary made for raising a hatchling. Tucked into the belly of the cave was a giant clam cradle, near it a jar of bioluminescent jellyfish as a nightlight, and all around were squishy sponges cushioning sharp edges (for both Lyonsia’s and the fry’s safety). She stared out the small slit of the cave’s mouth, curtained with wisps of seaweed. The...