Far away in a distant land lies the world of Reon. It’s a place full of mystery and magic. Ah, magic; the people have discovered it long ago – Creating water from the moisture in the air, starting fire from nothing, and healing wounds that would kill if not treated by magic. Magic has become part of Reon in such a way that if it were taken away, it’d be like taking away the air they breathe.

The people have created guilds for magic, dotting all across the world. Each different in their own way. Each with different morals. They take jobs. Others are known for their research, discovering new magic and new ways to use them on their own jobs. They’re all different but the same.

Though, with all this research, no one has been able to explain why a species known as dragons exist. Though few have ever been seen, word had spread quickly of a large creature with wings had been spotted by a wizard out on a job. When it wasn’t found, people began to believe it was a rouse, just so the wizard could get attention. But few people still see them, just before they fly away.

Still, people believe dragons are a fake species, but some still believe, creating stories of this strange beast.

That was until a trader went exploring on the mountains one day and stumbled upon a small cave. It had a large opening. It was pitch black, so it must have enough space for a group of wizards to meet up and camp. He stood outside and looked into the black cave before summoning a small flame in his hand. All at once, the cave lit up. It was almost completely empty.

His eyes fell upon a cluster of rocks and grass at the far wall. Curious, he ventured forward. Once there, he removed a large leave from the top. He stepped back in shock and his flame flickered. There, on top of the rocks (he guessed was a nest), was a large egg, covered in blue and silver scales. He stared in awe as it glittered in his flame’s light. It couldn’t be just a rumor then, he thought. This must be a dragon’s egg!

With haste, the trader grabbed the egg and ran out of the cave. He had a plan for it, and it wasn’t good news for dragon-kind.

So the story brings us here, one year later. The egg was no longer an egg, but a dragonling. Just as her egg, her scales glittered in any form of light. Her body a bright blue with silver under-scales (her wing membranes being the same silver) and a crystal pink mane. She was about the same size as a full-grown dog.

She was lying on the cold metal floor of the cage she was trapped in, staring off into the blackness of the room the trader kept her in, not bothering to make her eyes glow as there was no use to it.

The same trader that found her had become famous just off of her egg. He became more confident of his plan and opened up an actually jewel shop. He kept her in the back room for people who pay just to see her. Over time, he stopped treating her as a special dragon and more of a show animal. He started giving her leftovers from his own meals (which were getting smaller as he himself grew). He didn’t talk to her the way he had when she was still new, he rarely ever talk to her at all anymore.

But what she hated most of his changes were his tests. When she hatched, the first this he noticed were her eyes. Her left eye was a beautiful jade that glittered almost like the gem itself. Her other eye, though, was completely black. Her iris was a pink in place of her black one. He was intrigued, as the stories he’d heard about dragon said they had the same eyes, but he decided to explore that later.

Only a month ago did he start messing with her eyes, trying to figure out why they were both different. He had to strap her to a table to keep her still as he inserted needles in and around her right eye. He forced them to glow – her right eye glowing pink and her left eye glowing green. He stopped messing with her left eye a while ago, as he didn’t see any need to research it anymore, but he still played with her right, causing it to swell and turn red. He had permanently scarred this dragonling with everything he’d done to her.

He recently put her up for sale, but no one ever had enough to buy her. She felt she’d be stuck here in this cage forever.

The only way she knew that not all humans were like the shopkeeper was when few people came in to see her and gave her a sad look of pity, like they wanted to buy her and care for her, but just couldn’t. No one had the money.

She sighed and sat up as she heard humans enter the shop, no doubt wanting to see her by the tone in their voices. She learned quickly when someone wanted to see her. She slowly lost hope for being bought, for even then there were people who just wanted to use her, all because she was a dragon.

She sat, hunched slight, and faced where she knew the door to be. The footsteps getting louder until the door opened, letting in a wave of blinding light. She flinched and shut her eye, opening it slightly more every few moments to let it adjust. When she looked up again, she saw a very muscled man crouching in front of her cage. He wore a plain, dark shirt and pants, his hair coming down into a pony-tail. Scars decorated his arms.

The next moment he reached in between the bars and took a tug at her wings. A lot of people did this, mostly researchers. She knew they didn’t mean any real harm – unlike her captor – so she stayed still. He looked in her mouth, a few shard teeth was all that was in there, the rest still needing to grow. He told her to try breathing fire. All she could muster was a bit of smoke; she was glad he was happy with just that. He looked at her eyes, helping the hurt one open, and even told her to try to make them glow.

He looked pleased with what he found. He stood back up and faced the shopkeeper. “I’ll take her.” He said. The dragon looked up at him in shock. No one’s been to see her and said that they want to buy her! He does know her price, doesn’t he?

The shopkeeper looked at him and her, and back to him. “Are you sure? From what you’ve told me, I’m not sure she’d be worth it.”

“Don’t worry about that. She’ll grow up and be able to fight with the right training. She’ll be strong enough.” The man looked back down at her and gave her a grin. She didn’t like that look. He had something in his eyes that sent a shiver up her spine.

What she didn’t know was that this man had plans for her. He’d have her trained to be a weapon to kill. People don’t know much about dragons, but when reports come in saying that a group of wizards or solders either disappear or the place they were sent to was burnt – or just plain destroyed – they had to assume it was the work of a dragon. This man believes that this dragonling can gain that strength and can wipe out a whole nation if given the chance.

The man pulled out a large sack of gold and the shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. The shopkeeper grinned and took the bag before handing him the keys to her cage and a long, thick chain. “Alright, make sure she’s chained up for your trek home. Make this nation proud.” He started to run out of the room when the man stopped him.

“You’re not going to help me chain her up?”

“Nah, it’s harmless.” The shopkeeper replied and ran out through the shop and up the stairs to his room.

After a moment, the man opened the cage and pulled the dragonling out. He then proceeded to wrap the chain tightly around her neck. She let out a whimper, but didn’t struggle. Afterward, he started to drag her outside.

Everything hit her at once. The sunlight shone in her eye, forcing her to close it again. The smell of the fresh air flooded her nose, along with the smell of food and the earth. She’d never been outside, or really even seen the outside before.

The man watched her for a moment, frowning. He knew very well that she’d act like an excited child, but he’d rather get moving. At least his cart wasn’t too far, as the shop was at the edge of the city. He gave a small tug to get the dragon coming and set off.

But she couldn’t help sniffing every flower or left-over fruit they came across. Heck, just sniffing the grass was great! For her. But it wasn’t for the man. He had started growing impatient at the little dragon. He needed to be getting back. He gave a hard tug on her chains. She gave a cry of pain as her scales had not fully matured and could not protect her fragile skin and muscles.

The next thing he knew, a large shadow had flown over them and landed right in front of them. Both the man and dragon stared in fear and shock as they watched the dragon in front of them spread her wings and roar at them. Why was she angry? The dragonling started to back away, but the chains still held.

The man had recovered quickly and drew his sword. The dragoness looked at him then moved her orange eyes to the dragonling. Her red eye and chains around her neck only got her angrier and she ran at the man. On instinct, he dropped the chains and ran out of the way, leaving the now terrified dragonling.

She couldn’t move; she was scared in place. All she could do was close her eyes. But nothing happened. She felt a shadow fall over her and heard a loud roar that made her ears ring. She

opened her eyes and saw the dragoness standing over her. Her claws were out and extra blades came from her foreleg. By this time other wizards had come to the edge of city to fight the dragon before she destroyed their home.

The dragoness spread her wings and started to growl. Smoke started to spill from her mouth, threatening to turn to fire. This left some of the wizards hesitant, but none backed out. Then the fight broke out.

It was mostly magic, since none-magic solders were away somewhere else. Magical arrows and swords and spears slashed at the dragon, but only a few managed to break through her tough purple scales. But none of it was enough to stop the beast for she was much bigger than all of them combined.

She roared and breathed her fire; very few of her targets didn’t get burnt. She slashed at the wizards with her claws, painting them and her paws a bright red. When they had her surrounded her she swung around and hit them with her tail, which had its own set of claws. Blood pooled over the ground by the end. Most of that part of the city had moved further into the center to avoid getting caught in the massacre.

She turned back to the dragonling; her pupils were like slits, but gradually grew bigger and rounder. Her blood covered claws and foreleg blades retracted as she slowly made her way to the dragonling. She tried her best to look smaller by hunching over and folding her wings. She left prints of blood on the ground she walked.

It’s not like the dragonling could run away, though. She was still frozen with fear.

The dragoness stopped walking once she was only a few feet away. She looked her over before resting her eyes on the chains. She opened her mouth and blew out a small flame at the chains. The next instant the chains fell away and melted to liquid on the ground. The dragonling lay down quickly, suddenly very dizzy from the smell of blood.

Everything was silent for the next few moments. “I’m sorry for frightening you.” The dragon said. The dragonling looked up at her, both eyes open. She had a concerned look in her eyes. “I just heard your cry and I came. I couldn’t let a dragonling get hurt.” She sniffed. The dragonling didn’t have the scent of other dragons, “And you must not have parents…”

The dragonling couldn’t look away; blood fell from the open wound on the side of her head. The dragonling kept staring, afraid that her protector was hurt. The dragoness noticed this and wiped away some of the blood; more fell down her face anyway. “I am alright …What happened to your eye? Did they do this to you?” She asked, her voice gaining a low rumbling sound. The dragonling shook her head.

The dragoness come forward and started to nuzzle the baby, trying to comfort her. “My name is Mage. I’m going to take you away from here. And I will take care of you. You will have no reason to be afraid anymore.” The dragonling let out a sad-happy whimper. She tried to stand but fell back down again, getting dizzier. “Poor darling. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” The dragonling was suddenly hoisted into the air and laid on the dragoness’s back. “Hold on, alright?”

She did as she was told and latched onto Mage’s mane. They took off into the sky, leaving a very bewildered city behind them.

****

Mage sat outside her cave by a river, washing her claws and face as she thought. The dragonling doesn’t have parents. She doesn’t even have a name. How horrible can these human creatures get? Getting kidnapped from her own home. Don’t they know it’s like taking one of their own? She watched the clear water become a misty red as it washed away. As she thought she always went back to the dragonling’s eyes. Both of them were different, but dragons never had different eye colors, let alone pupils too. She turned and looked back at her cave. She smiled “Well, I can’t worry about her eye now.” She said to no one, “I have to take care of her first.”

She stood and walked back into her cave. She walked down the long, dark entrance – her eyes glowing a bright orange – until she made in back to the main area where she found the dragonling sleeping on a bed of grass and leaves. Mage sighed and laid herself onto the earth beside the dragonling.

“You needn’t worry anymore…Krysta. As long as I am here, I will be sure no harm comes to you again; I promise.” Mage said softly. What came after was not what she was expecting, though. The dragonling’s – Krysta’s – eyes started to glow from under their eyelids. It was not strong, but bright enough to see. It was a sign that she was very happy.

Mage smiled and laid her own head down to sleep.