SHD 101, 2nd Assignment

Cain plopped down heavily in his chair. It was clear the vampire was mildly irritated about failing his last assignment. However, Cain chose not to beat himself up over it and endeavored to make sure he did better in that course. He turned his attention to the front of the room as the teacher began to speak.

"Your second term has arrived," Professor Moritz said, a touch of bitterness in his tone. Cain guessed it was from a dislike of Valentine's day, as he had heard the same tone several times when in high school, mainly from his best friend Abel, which had nothing to do with the fact that "Abel" and "Ladies-man" were antonymous (It totally did). "And it is this term that you will decide whether you impress me or not. This is the term that determines when many of you will fail, because if you did not complete your previous assignment, then this one is required." At this, Cain leaned forward ever so slightly. "Naturally, I would prefer not being completely disappointed by the majority of my students. If you would care to impress me, by all means, do so." The professor continued, before weaved his fingers together as he leaned back against his desk, studying the students that were in front of him.

"This second term is for learning about shadow animals. These are creatures that are entirely or partially made out of shadow, and they are capable of manipulating it," he said. "Some of these include the shadow hounds of the realm, which are long, sinewy beasts with a proboscis at the end of their snouts. You can also find many species of shadow spiders that make use of tendrils instead of silk to build their webs. They have a much longer lifespan than physical spiders simply because they can manipulate the world for their webs instead of producing it inside themselves, reducing the amount of energy they must expend to hunt."

He moved to the back of the classroom, where he pulled two large black eggs from the cabinet, each about the size of an ostrich egg. Each egg had pulsing red veins coating it, and it was slightly slimy to the touch. He placed one egg on each student's desk. "This is the egg of a shadow monitor lizard." Moritz explained. "They are closely related to lesser shadow dragons and look much like flightless dragons, however they lack the high intelligence that such beings would have. Keep this egg incubated with warmth for the next month of class time and then when the creature hatches, bring it to a cavern in the mountains and let it go. Shadow monitors are not good familiars, so if you attempt to keep and tame it, you will find yourself wasting your time." Cain nodded in understanding of the instructions. He recalled having to hatch chicken eggs in elementary school, but the vampire guessed that this would be a far different experience than yellow chirping fluff balls.

"Be sure to carefully maintain the heat to a range of a hundred degrees to eighty degrees, and ensure you do not leave it in an area with poor humidity for too long. In the event that it hatches early, you may take care of it for upwards of one week, but bear in mind that all of us reptiles are born self-sufficient and capable of living on our own. And that means it can, indeed, take off your hand if it wants to." Professor Moritz continued. His yellow eyes flashed in the darkness, reminding Cain that the teacher was still incredibly dangerous. "This is a wild animal, not a pet, so beware your fingers."

Cain briefly examined the egg in front of him. The veins pulsed under his touch and felt vaguely warm. He made a mental note to do a little more research on the animal and wrote down the incubation instructions (briefly asking the teacher which temperature scale to use, and getting Fahrenheit in reply), before setting the egg and paper aside for his next lesson.

After class, Cain took the egg to his dorm and began considering how exactly to bring the egg up to the requisite heat. Eventually,  he decided to set up a home-made incubator from anything laying around, primarily a fairly large tupperware with holes poked in the lid.

He filled it with hot water and a light before placing the egg inside. Making sure it was set up right, he turned his attention to Eddy and worked out a schedule.

Every few hours, Cain would rotate the egg unless he was in class, in which case Eddy would do it. After flipping, Eddy would help Cain practice his Shadowmancy. They learned that if the egg's pulsing was too fast or slow, then something was wrong, like the humidity being too high or low.

After a month of careful care, Cain returned from class to find the egg wobbling slightly. The two watched as the infant shadow monitor lizard pipped its nose out and took it first breaths. For a moment, Cain was tempted to disobey and keep the creature that was inside, but quickly discarded the plan as worthy of a Darwin Award. He had no intention of risking Professor Moritz's wrath and/or his hands.

Instead, the pair watched in silence as the shadow monitor lizard slowly pushed its way out after a moment of waiting. As the shell had suggested, it was mostly black with small red spots. A fairly large lizard, it looked up at Cain, and he could see a patient sort of intelligence, primal and cold, in its eyes, as though determining whether he was edible.

"Aww..." Eddy cooed. "Are you sure we can't keep it?"

"Sure we can," Cain replied in a sarcastic tone. "We can donate our bodies to the Necromancy or Medical departments and then proceed to commit suicide." He added flatly.

"Okay, okay, I see your point!" Eddy pouted for a bit before gesturing at the animal. "Need any help taking it out to the mountains?"

"Nah, I got it." Cain answered, picking the tupperware up. Inside, the lizard was licking off the film it was covered in.

"Alright... don't get eaten!" Eddy commented, grabbing up a comic.

Cain waved off his roommate's comment and carried the creature out to the mountains. Eventually, he found a shady area and stopped. "This looks good." Gently, Cain tipped the lizard out. It looked back at him for a moment, before scuttling off. "Well. That was mildly fun." he commented before heading back.