(My application for the rare egg! :>)
I Grunt, my withering hiking boots catching on yet another tree root, making me stumble and nearly face plant into the dense grass for the umpteenth time. To put it simply, I was sick and tired of this day. It was supposed to be a quick hiking trip, just to clear my head from the stresses of everyday life, and I ended up stuck. On a mountain. With no service. Accidentally off the trail. I huff, trudging along as I keep an eye out for any sight of trail.
A few more hours pass, and I am growing increasingly more tired. I am hardly even able to even drag my feet, pathetically groaning from my aching muscles. “Why did I do this”, I complain aloud to myself, not even bothering to watch where I’m heading anymore, hoping that somehow my broken internal compass would lead me to the trail. Whilst distracted by my parched throat, I successfully end up tripping and falling, too tired to even bother to break my fall, landing with an “oof”. I slowly raise my head, blowing stray hair out of my eyes, a look of tired frustration clear on my face. I push myself up, turning around to glare at the culprit of my inevitable falling, before pausing.
An.. egg? I blink stupidly at it, contemplating moving on and forgetting about it, before cautiously crawling over to inspect it, curiosity taking over. It looked relatively normal at first glance, the same oval like shape to it, the colouring the typical cream of a chickens. Except, it was -Huge-, and pretty darn sturdy, maybe the size of an ostriches egg, and had a peculiar gold like detailing on the front, which glinted in the sunlight of the slowly lowering sun.
I drag my eyes away from the weird egg, glancing around to see I was near a dark cave, the darkness from the inside rather intimidating. Looking back at the egg, I contemplate rather I should bring it back (if I ever find my way off of this blasted mountain) and maybe do some research. But an egg this size? Surely it must’ve came from a pretty large animal. I shiver, not quite in the mood to be mauled by an angry mother.
I push myself up, wiping the dirt off of my ruined jeans, looking back down at the egg. I think for a moment. Eggs usually aren’t found on their own, or outside of a nest, so maybe this one was abandoned? Or fallen out of a nest of sorts. I look up in the surrounding trees, only spotting the odd nest, but all of them being much too small to harbour an egg of this size. I conclude it maybe must have been abandoned. Looking at the egg, I feel almost bad. I had tripped over it, and maybe it was cracked because of it. I sigh, untying the hoody from around my waist, leaning down and picking the egg up.
“God- you’re heavy-“ I grunt, wrapping the egg in my hoody and re-tying it around my waist, a makeshift carrier. I huff, looking down to inspect it for any cracks, gently touching its surface, feeling an almost… warm aura from it. Thankfully, no cracks. “You’re quite the tough cookie.” I chuff, beginning my journey to try and find the trail again, keeping my hand rested carefully on top the eggs’ surface, feeling more energised and determined to get this tough egg back to my home.
Another submission for the gilded egg!
