Side Story: Black Dragon

Somewhere in the Mountain range of Agres that divides Omamen from Perdomo, inside a cave a pair of eyes watched with sadness over the last of its eggs. Bright yellow reptilian eyes belonging to one of the most powerful races in this world were slowly losing hope. The last of her eggs had yet to hatch even after two months have passed since the others did.

The golden dragon knew that this one egg wouldn’t hatch at all no matter how much she waited. To tell the truth, it’s already a miracle that four of the five did hatch. For dragons it isn’t unusual for at least half of the eggs to never bear life. Even more so for golden dragons. However, even as creatures that have immeasurable power the love of a mother for her children is still the same.

With a heavy heart the golden dragon looked away. Her cubs were happily playing in one corner of the cave. Some had her golden scales while others had taken after their father with flaming red scales. She knew that it was time to leave the cave. Staying any longer would jeopardize her cub’s development.

Slowly, as if still hoping for that one egg to hatch at the last second she took her cubs and walked outside the cave. One final glance at the egg to confirm it was still unmoving was all she did before taking flight with her young on her back. As she flew through the skies something was happening within the cave.

A black fog like thing floated inside the cave. No normal creature would have been able to see it much less discern what it was. However, it’s existence was undeniable. It slowly floated towards the egg. That thing had been searching far and wide for a long time, at the beginning it knew what it was and what it was searching for. Now it didn’t know a thing.

The black fog slowly floated its way besides the egg before submerging itself into it. The surface of the egg rippled as if it had been made out of water before going back to normal. A few minutes passed and the once golden egg slowly turned into a murky yellow. A few hours and it had turned into a deep dark gray. Days after the thing had turned black to the point close to no light was reflected from it.

After a few months the egg shook. Its black surface looked like a black hole threatening to swallow everything. Yet on it one could rarely see an orange ring for a moment before it disappeared. The egg shook once again and this time it had managed to fall sideways before rolling for a while. Dangerously close to the caves entrance the egg shook and fell out.

Surprisingly at it may sound after falling from the cliff where the cave had been the egg didn’t break. Now it floated on the surface of a river as it carried it to gods know where. The egg continued its journey as it slammed against hard rocks and other debris that were on its way. Soon enough it found its way to the shore of a lake.

No scratch marks could be found on the egg’s surface despite all that it had gone through. It was as if something had been protecting it all the way. Now in the soft sand with warm sunlight hitting its surface the egg shook for one last time as it broke from the inside. Foul smelling black goo dripped out from the crack as it grew. As a piece of the shell finally broke off a chubby black scaled paw could be seen.

The small black dragon was putting its all into breaking free from the egg. Finally, after a few minutes it had managed to claw itself out. The sun felt hot on its scales and the warm sand felt comforting. With a cute yawn the chubby dragon stretched its small wings before waddling its way into the cool lake’s water to take a drink. There she saw her reflection for the first time.

Her body was covered in soft black scales with fluff all over them. A pair of black orbs where her eyes should be with an orange ring as the iris. Two small horns adorned her forehead alongside a feathery mane that went all the way down her back up to the tip of her tail. Sharp teeth and claws were her weapons or at least they were as sharp as they could come for a just born dragon cub.

Her first instincts soon kicked into gear which were to look for her parents. To her dismay there was no dragon around. With clumsy steps she walked around in search of her parents to no avail. After all, she didn’t walk more than a meter away from her egg shell before dashing back in fright. She repeated this action over and over until fatigue set in. Against her will she slowly closed her eyes drifting off into dreamland.

As she opened her eyes she found herself in an unknown place. Under her small paws she felt something hard and cold. Listening to her surroundings she could hear the rattle of things colliding against each other. The place is dark and smells a little which made her feel uncomfortable. Frightened by the odd place she did all a dragon cub could do in such a situation. She began calling for her parents just like she had done before.

Soft cries escaped her over and over. She continued to cry for her parents until her throat felt sore. She continued even after her voice had gone out. Finally, she gave up. Her parents hadn’t come. That’s when she came to the conclusion she had been abandoned. With teary eyes she curled up into a ball. The world suddenly felt so much colder than before.

The days continued passing by until finally the sounds stopped. Then, they were replaced by different ones. Suddenly the place she had been became bright, blinding her for a few seconds. When her sight had finally adjusted she saw a weird creature. It stood on its hind legs while its front paws held something that looked like meat. At that moment her stomach rumbled, she was very hungry.

“Looks like I came just in time, hehe. You are going to make me filthy rich!”

She didn’t understand any of the sounds the weird creature had made, but she had a feeling that they meant something. Either way, it didn’t matter to her. What did matter was the piece of meat the creature had given her. With delight she began biting it only to discover her soft cub teeth didn’t put a dent on the hard meat.

Not long after the place became dark again leaving her along with her new foe. She bit and clawed at the meat over and over again barely managing to break some tiny pieces off. Soon enough the effort had drained her of her energy and sleep claimed her once more. The next time she woke up her stomach rumbled even louder. It was more than obvious that the previous few bites were far from enough.

The day flew past as she continued to relentless attack the hard meat with little to show for it. Every time she grew tired she fell asleep only to wake up hungry again. As the place she was currently in was dark she didn’t know if it was day or night outside either. Soon enough she had lost her sense of time.

Only the gods knew how long it took her to finish the meat only to continue feeling hungry. Thankfully some time later that weird creature came again with another piece. This one was just as tough if not tougher than the last one. That’s when she couldn’t help but feel miserable. Her parents had abandoned her and this creature only fed her hard to eat meat. She felt hungry and cold but there was something else there. Something she didn’t truly understand. All she knew is that, that feeling made her feel bad.

This very same routine repeated itself many times. Each time she felt more of that strange feeling. Until she couldn’t take it anymore. She began biting and clawing at those strange poles that imprisoned her to no avail. Her teeth hurt and her claws broke but she continued. Suddenly she understood what she was feeling.

She glanced at her bloodied paws as the pain traveled through her nerves. She felt despair but above that anger, no, what she felt was hatred. Hatred towards her parents for abandoning her. Hatred towards that creature for feeding her hard to eat meat. Hatred towards these damned polls that imprisoned her.

Her hatred burned in her heart like a bright red flame that refused to die down. However, the thing she hated the most was herself. She hated herself for not being able to chew the meat. She hated herself for not being able to break the polls. She hated herself for being abandoned. After all, there had to be a reason why her parents left her.

The pain brought by her injuries was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her heart. On the contrary, the pain her injury caused her felt releasing. She forgot her hate when her nerves flared up in pain. She forgot her hunger when the blood of her broken teeth filled her mouth. Like that she began seeking more pain and more release. She began seeking death.