The Story of Dante

[Megaguirus]

I wanted to fly to Kyori right when I woke, but I decided to be kind and hunt breakfast for Dave and myself. He didn’t thank me with his words, but I saw it in his eyes. He appreciated it. I smiled back at him before vanishing deep into the trees, going through all of the questions I’d ask and making sure to remember them all.

The dragon was at her cave, as I expected. She seemed to be staring intensely at something on the ground and I landed to see what it was.

“Stop!” she commanded in the same tone she used for Dragon King and raised her claw. I froze in my tracks, my heart racing as I thought about what I did wrong. She looked up at me and shook her head. “Sorry for shouting, you were just about to step on some ants I’ve been observing.”

I looked down and lo and behold, there was a line of tiny ants crawling in front of my claw. “Oh!” I exclaimed and jumped over them. “Sorry, I didn’t realize. I forgive you for shouting.”

“Nobody realizes when they are above such tiny and precious things,” she mumbled and went back to staring at the ants. Curious as to why she was so fascinated, I stood beside her and watched too. I never did think to ever watch ants, I never saw them in The Circle of Mountains, but they were everywhere in the forest.

They didn’t seem to interesting, though. Just tiny little things carrying other tiny things and walking on an imaginary trail. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the interest with these things?” I asked her.

“Every is interesting about them. They live in a large colony of females, all sisters and working for the queen, who lays the eggs that eventually hatch into larvae that eventually hatch into pupae and then into ants. They can lift things many times their size with ease,” she paused and glanced at me.

“Imagine trying to lift Dave or even Dragon King. Impossible, but not for these marvelous creatures. They are resourceful, able to create a new path if they reach an obstacle. And they can kill any sized prey by swarming it and tearing it apart. Yes, a lot can be learned from these insects.” she finished explaining.

My head was left spinning as I started to regret coming here. Fighting was so much easier to understand. “That’s interesting,” I simply replied. “So why take an interest now, I’ve never seen you watch them before.”

“Because they have moved in near my cave, so I get to observe them so much easier. Aren’t they just fascinating to watch?” she replied.

I went back to staring at the many legged black things and shook my head. “To be honest, not really.”

She sighed and looked at me for once. “That’s okay, we all have our different interests. “So,” she began and fully turned to face me. “How is Dave?”

“Old, grumpy and murderous, as usual.” I replied with a chuckle. “I’m doing fine too, by the way. But I didn’t really come to talk about Dave, or my training. I actually have some questions that I know you can answer.” I told her.

She leapt into the air with a chirp and bounded to her cave. She took place right in the center and sat down on her haunches. Her smile beckoned me closer.

“Well, then, dear, ask away, I am ready,” she told me gently.

“I met with Solstice a few weeks ago, and she told me about her ability to glow, and I was wondering, if you have the ability to do that, why can’t you fix her wings?” I asked.

“Oh dear, well, I don’t have that power, Father did. You were a lucky fluke, there was a large chance of you being a failure since I am bad at magic. But even if I could, healing such big wounds like that is very difficult and she doesn’t even want it. I brought it up years ago, and she replied that she needs the scars to remember. I honestly think she likes them in a strange sort of way. Kind of like the way Dave flaunts his, as if they’re trophies of their own.” she shook her head, her fur making a rustling sound. “I will never understand them.”

She smiled. “I hope I gave you your answer.”

I nodded and smiled back. “You did. Another question I have is, will my grifflings be freaks like me? Solstice is unable to have hatchlings because of her power, is it the same with me?”

“Ah, see, this is where I prevailed over Father,” she said with a quick raise of her claw. She stood up and walked over to the wall, pulling out a scroll and flattening it out on the ground. “This, my dear, is the spell I used. Well, parts of it,”

I stared at the scribbles and illustrations. It was all lost on me.

“Anyway, yes, you are able to have grifflings. Whether or not they’ll be like you, I do not know,” she replied with another shake of her head. She rolled up the scroll and put it back in the wall. “There is about a fifty percent chance you will have a half-dragon griffling. However, since your mate obviously won’t be half-dragon, the genes will be less, therefore, your offspring will have less dragon in them. Scales are a definite possibility, but more likely your offspring will only have the extended lifespan.”

I smiled at her reply. “I have no problem with that. It sounds nice actually.”

She smiled back. “Good, I’m happy to hear that,” she settled back into position and looked at me with excited eyes. “Anything else?” she asked eagerly.

I loved that she was enjoying this. It was nice to have someone truly appreciate questions for once. “You’ve told me a little about your connection to this island, but can you explain further? Just how connected are you?”

Her grin grew so much I feared it would split her head. “Well, as I think I’ve told you before, my soul is the soul of the island. As long as the light in my soul burns, the island will stay safe from any damaging weather and humans. Islands don’t sleep, therefore, I don’t either. Strangely, I used to when Father was alive, but when he moved on and I took his role, I no longer needed it. This doesn’t bother me much, because there is so much to do. I must constantly manage the wildlife and make sure the populations won’t die off. This is a very delicate ecosystem, and I am unsure if I’ll be able to send anybody to collect more animals, if they’re still alive.

“I also constantly make medicines from the herbs that grow here, and I use these medicines to heal the injured creatures. If I see a population drop, I give them medicines that increase fertility. So far, I haven’t encountered any issues with it. Most dragons and griffins don’t overkill, even the most wicked dragon usually won’t because they fear me. I’m not as supernatural as they believe, but I’m in no hurry to change it,” she chuckled.

“Thankfully, I am not connected to a point where the moods I go through affect the weather. Do not blame the rains on me.” she laughed and sighed, pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts. “Well, I do believe that is everything about my connection. I do wish I had the ability to sense the presence of every life form that lives here, so I can know who is injured and find them and heal them. Then again, since a lot of hunting goes on, there will be a lot of death to sense, and I wouldn’t be able to handle that. I hate it when things die, even if they die to sustain another.” she said and cast and sympathetic eye at me.

She seemed to fall silent and my brain hurried to gather all these thoughts. She still spoke too much, but all of her information was truly fascinating. “Thank you,” I told her with a smile. “That was very informative,”

She smiled back. “I’m so happy to hear that. You know, when you become king, maybe you can appoint me a teaching role. I love teaching, I love it so much.”

My thoughts from last night were still echoing in my head, but I replied hopeful, since I saw it in her eyes. “I will be sure to do that.”

Silence fell again, but it didn’t last long. “So, do you want to hear more about ants?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I have nothing else to do,”

She smiled and trotted back over to the insects. I slowly followed and listened to her go on and on about seemingly pointless insects. Some information was intriguing, others were boring and some were very strange. I left that morning knowing so much about ants. She was right, you can learn a lot about ants.

When she stopped for a breath after explaining how ants sleep, I was reminded of another question I wanted to ask.

“Hey, can I ask another question?” I started.

She turned away from the ants and focused on me. “Sure,” she replied with a smile.

“What is it like to not sleep?”

She sat back on her haunches and let out a tiny sigh, putting a claw tip to her chin. “Not many have asked this question,” she mumbled. “I guess it’s like not ever getting tired,” she replied with a shrug. “Sure, it can get lonely at times, but I am friends with the animals and the stars, I always have someone to talk to. I’ll even talk to ants,” she explained and pointed to the insects.

“But it isn’t something to be envious of. To never be lacking energy, to never need sleep. If you don’t know how to manage your time and keep yourself busy, it can get depressing and boring.” she shook her head and smiled. “I’ve fought it off, though. My father taught me how in preparation, just as his father taught him. And just as I will teach my hatchling one day.”

She sounded a little sad at the last bit, which raised another question. “Speaking of your hatchling, why don’t you have one yet? And are you immortal?”

She shook her head. “I am not immortal, I will grow old, I will die if I don’t have a hatchling to continue my legacy. And if I die before then, this island will be lost. As for why I haven’t chosen to find a mate and build my legacy,” she took a deep sigh, “it is because I am afraid. I have many hundreds of years ahead of me, years my hatchling would cut short. I know I’m being selfish, but I’m not ready to go to the stars. I’m not ready to leave everyone behind.” Tears started to build in her eyes and she fell back down to four legs.

“Especially with you!” she exclaimed, extending her claws towards me. “I was waiting for you, I didn’t want to miss you.” she sighed and shook her head once again. “But to be honest, dear, truly honest, I haven’t found anyone. I am afraid of Dragon King, I am afraid to enter Dragon’s Land and look for mates. And since my cave is hidden, it’s not like many can find me.”

I inched forward to give her a comforting nuzzle. “I’m sorry for asking,” I apologized, it was the only thing I could think of.

“Oh no, don’t apologize!” she exclaimed and pulled me to her chest. “You’ve done nothing wrong! It’s been awhile since I’ve faced that fear, thank you for reminding me of it. I should never forget. Oh my dear,” she said, locking eyes with me. “Nothing I do is your fault, nothing I feel. It is all my own issues. I do thank you for being concerned, but I do fine.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “Okay, I won’t apologize. And I promise you that when I become king that you will have no reason to fear and can walk about the island freely.”

She laughed and nuzzled me. “Thank you so much, Dante. You will be a great king.” she looked up and sighed, pulling away from me. “Well, looks like you should be getting back to Dave now. The sun is starting to rise.”

I looked up and the lightening sky proved her point. “Yeah, looks like that.” I turned back to her with a smile. “Thank you for tonight, it was quite fun, though a little boring, hearing about ants. And thanks for answering my questions.”

She smiled back at me. “Not a problem, dear. As always, I will be here to answer any questions you have and bore you with any facts I’ve come to learn. I love you,”

“I love you, too,” I replied and spread my wings, taking off into the dawning forest. My increased mood quickened my flight and in no time I was back at Dave’s cave. The grumpy drake was already settled into his nest fast asleep and I silently crept into mine. I stretched and yawned, pleased with my visit and excited for tomorrow.


I woke early, right at twilight, on the cusp of sunset. To my surprise, Dave was already awake, laying with half of his body in the pond. He watched me with dreary eyes as I approached him.

“You’re up early,” he grumbled.

“I’m excited!” I replied.

“For what?”

“The third month, where I combine the attacking and the defending, like you said.”

“Oh right,” he grumbled. “Glad to hear your joy before you come to regret these months.”

I gently bumped him with my claw. “Hey! Don’t drag me down with your morning depression.”

He grumped and shut his eyes. “I will get up once it’s night.”

“But it is night!” I said, looking around at the darkening forest.

His eyes cracked open just a bit to scan the forest before they promptly shut. “Nope, still twilight. Now go chase some bugs and leave me alone.”

I huffed. “Fine, see you in a bit.” I told him and trotted off. I was about to go deep in the woods until I heard a rustling in the trees. I smiled. I hadn’t run through the trees in awhile. With a single snap of my wings I launched up into the air and grasped onto a tree branch. The game, one that Kage and I made up, was to scurry through the branches without using your wings, like a squirrel.

So I did. Every now and then flinging a nut at Dave to see his reaction. His deep growling hiss was a satisfying enough reaction for me to do it a couple times more. The third time he snapped up and launched a small fireball in my direction. I dodged it with a yelp and watched as it snapped off a branch.

“Alright!” he roared, fire burned in his eyes as he stared up at me. “Get down here and fetch us some breakfast.”

I laughed. “Okay!” I said and soared down, smacking him in the nose with my tail before I landed.

He simply huffed as he began to walk, causing me to chase after him, as always. My excitement filled me with energy and I quickly brought down a deer for us. This time I encouraged for Dave to eat with me. He inclined without a fuss. I allowed him to have the best bits, and though he didn’t thank me, his eyes did.

Once finished we headed to the training grounds. I took my place and kept my eyes and ears on him eagerly.

He shook his head at me. “You better drop that smile kid, ‘cause this won’t be easy.” he shook his entire body and yawned, showing off his tattered teeth. “Okay, kid, now we fight. Don’t go easy on me, ‘cause I won’t go easy on you. First you must learn how to defeat me. Then I will use all of Brimstone’s tactics and you must learn to fight that. Only then will training be over.”

I dropped my smile just for him, though I was still smiling on the inside. “Okay, that’s fine, but what if I finish early?”

He laughed raucously. “Oh that’s cute!” His laughter abruptly stopped and he glared at me. “This won’t be easy, kid. This ain't a game, this ain't play fightin’. If you do, somehow, finish early, then I will tell Kyori the number of bears I’ve killed!” he yelled. “But, ‘nough talk, fight me. Try to strike first and try to keep up.”

I saw the determined fire in his eyes and knew that we really were done talking. He charged first with his mouth open wide. His speed took me for surprise and I barely dodged him. He curved his head to follow me and almost got my tail. I took into the sky and looked down at him in surprise. Just as I was catching my breath a fireball was shot my way. I squeaked and dodged it.

He wasn’t going to let up, so reluctantly, I attacked. I used every swift move I knew of, every swift and careful move he perfected in me. But he was always quicker, always sharper. I knew it wasn’t a game when his tooth glazed my thigh. I hadn’t been hurt like that in awhile and the cut stung. But he wouldn’t let me rest, I had to keep dodging.

Even though he said my stamina had increased, and I perfected every type of dodging and every type of fighting, he was beating me. He truly was a great fighter. I tried to strike at every time I could, but he never fully opened any area to attack. The worst part was the pure joy in his eyes. He loved every minute of it, every minute of my torment.

Eventually, he wore me out and to my surprise snapped me in his jaws. I froze as I felt his teeth rest on my belly and back. He laughed and dropped me, sitting back to stare at me in victory.

“Gotcha,” he chuckled.

I was shaking from the terror and stared at him in amazement. My cut was still bleeding slightly and I was bruised in a couple of places. I was speechless as I stared at him as he sat there, not even tired.

“When you catch your breath, we will try again. Obviously, you haven’t built up enough stamina.” he said and walked towards me. “While you rest, let me tell you where you went wrong.”

He sat down beside me as I stayed laying on the ground. “I can see why they wanted me to train you, now. I caught you by surprise, and you weren’t able to recover, I didn’t give you time. That is exactly how real fightin’ is like, kid. The enemy will catch you by surprise and you will need to retaliate with force. They won’t give you time to catch your breath. You need to be just as relentless as them.” he lectured.

“Also, you forgot the primal rule. Anger,” he emphasized through his teeth. “You need to remember your hate for me. I know it is still in there. It always is,”

I listened to every word as it passed through my tired ears. The night was still young, and I still had some energy left in me. I slowly stood and shook my feathers, ignoring the pain in my cut. I glanced at it and then back at his unforgiving face.

“Anger,” he repeated and walked back to his spot. “Now fight!” he bellowed only a second after.

This time, I was ready and I forced my tired bones to move. I fought a little better this time, but he still won, this time locking his jaws over my head, forcing me to choke on his horrendous breath.

“Dead,” he said and let me go. He laughed at me. “You will see the joy in this soon enough. It is just like attackin’, only better.” he turned and started to walk away. “C’mon, now, time for bed. Another fightin’ day tomorrow.”

With a tired huff, I followed the drake on sore bones. This was going to be a long month. I wondered if he would kill me before Dragon King. If he kept this up, that would be a huge possibility.

[Ranger of the North]

#Dantyori

[Megaguirus]

(No)

The same thing continued for a couple of days. Fight after fight, fail after fail. Each fail ended up with me being caught in his jaws. I was quickly wearing down from the intense training, but he wouldn’t let me catch a break.

“Not ‘til you beat me,” he said as he dragged me out of the nest.

“But I’m so bruised I can barely move! Please, just one day’s rest!” I pleaded.

“No!” he refused sharply. “Now come, kid, the night’s wasting.”

I was growing sick of it. I was so tired that I ignored Glory, I felt absolutely horrible as I watched him fly away. It was on the seventh day, a week into this that I broke.

“Dead!” Dave exclaimed as he spat me out of his mouth. “Dead, dead, dead.” he repeated. “You have died so many times, kid! You are a disappointment.”

I could barely flinch at his words as I laid there limp.

“Do you hear me, kid? You are a failure! A disappointment to everyone, especially your parents. Their deaths were for nothing!”

They were the sharpest words he’d ever flung at me for awhile, and my skin tingled from the rage.

He stepped closer and shoved me with his snout. “You don’t deserve your name!” he yelled.

That was it. The last straw. An old familiar feeling built up in my chest. I had felt anger before, especially towards him, but this was rage. Pure, ceaseless and violent rage. The rage Blackbird awakened in me those months ago. A blood-curdling screech left my beak as I flung myself at Dave. I still have his look of shock in my mind as he watched me fly towards him with fire and fury.

I moved so fast he couldn’t dodge in time and I raked a claw across his face. I grabbed onto one of his horns and tried to pull him down. He retaliated and shook me off. This time I didn’t smash into a tree. I caught myself right before and pushed off that tree, speeding straight towards him. But it was a trick. As he moved to avoid me I lifted off into the air and dived down at the base of his tail.

My claws and beak struggled to get through his hide and I leapt off before he struck back. He roared and launched a fireball at me, but I dodged it easily. I spun around him, keeping just out of his reach and teasing him with my tail. I wanted to make him dizzy and it seemed to be working until he caught on and stopped.

I flung myself at him and tried to pull him down by the horns again. He roared and shook, but I was determined to stay on and dug my back claws into the base of his head. I flapped my wings and fought with him as I tried to pull him backward.

He charged towards the forest to get me off, and I grinned as I hatched a plan. I stayed stuck as he charged, but just as he passed under the first tree I lifted up my front legs and grabbed onto the lowest branch, keeping my back paws gripped tight. He was too strong for my paws and continued his path, ripping off my claws.

He let out with a painful bellow and I looked down at the blood dripping off my paws. I grinned and clambered in the tree. He turned and ran back, looking for me. I whistled and I glanced up at me in the tree. A burst of fire was shot forth, but I dodged it and landed back in the training area.

He ran at me with all the skill he did before. But I was learning him. I dodged and took back to the sky, sending him spinning in circles yet again. He moved slower, I was finally wearing him again. I took the third attempt to knock him down, this time digging my claws into the opened wounds on his neck.

I put all of my weight into my attack and slammed my rear into his neck. Finally the great drake came tumbling down with a tired bellow. I kept my claws in his neck as I held him to the ground. We were both panting heavily and my grip started to loosen as my adrenaline and rage wore off.

My eyes widened as the battle filled back into my mind. I quickly pulled off of him and scampered to the other side of the clearing. I was back to my senses and almost let an apology slip from my tongue when I remembered his rule. But I wondered if those were still in affect.

I looked down at my blood soaked claws and feathers, the same sickening dread rising up in my stomach. I glanced back up at Dave to see if I killed him, and to my relief he was still breathing. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, I felt like sobbing.

Slowly, the drake sat up. He dragged his bloodied body up onto his sore legs and stared at me. His expression was unreadable, and I wondered if I did something wrong. Then his laughter broke the silence.

“Now that’s more like it! That was exactly what I wanted to see!” he congratulated with raucous vigor. He stopped laughing but still had a large grin on his face.

I couldn’t believe it. I almost killed him and he couldn’t be prouder. What was this drake?

“Oh stop starin’ at me like that, kid, I’m okay! Sure, I’m bleedin’ a bit, but that’ll clot. I still can’t believe it, you did great! Remember that, kid, you’ll need it for Brimstone.” he laughed. “Oh, I can’t wait to see that beast’s face when you slash his neck right open!”

I was still shocked, keeping perfectly still.

He shook his head and limped towards me. His limp was even worse now, the pain that showed in his eyes with every step was now clearly visible. Nevertheless, the grin stayed. He was now standing right over me and my eyes slowly turned to meet his.

“I-I almost killed you,” I whimpered.

He laughed. “You weren’t even close! Don’t get so down on yourself,”

“B-but Blackbird, I killed him. I felt your heartbeat, I smelled your blood.”

“Yes, and wasn’t it just delightful?!”

I stared up at him, now more scared of him than myself. My eyes were stilled peeling wide, my heart was still beating. I still found it hard to speak. “Give me time,” I panted. “Just, give me time.”

He sighed and backed away. “Right, okay, that’s fine. I’m too sore to walk home anyway,” he limped to another area of the clearing and threw himself down with a huff. “I’ll be here, restin’.”

The reality of everything came crashing over me. Why was I letting Dave do this to me? Why did Kyori and Solstice think this was a good idea? All of the horrible things came flooding back. The sound of Blackbird’s skull, the smell and warmth of his blood. All to familiar, all to frightening. I didn’t care what he said, he was lying, I did almost kill him.

Finally, the tears came. Because of my rage, because of Blackbird, Kage and I got banished. Kage died. Dimidas hates me. The griffins hate me. If I killed Dave, I knew the dragons would hate me, too. They would hate me if I killed Dragon King. He can’t train me to kill, he can’t. I don’t want to kill. I didn’t want this. I didn’t ask for this. I just want to go back. I miss Lofty, I miss Trinity and Erion and Kage. I miss what Dimidas used to be. I missed the joy that came with being a griffling.

I didn’t realize my thoughts were being spoken when I felt a figure brush up against me. I flinched and realized it was Dave standing beside me. He looked at me with sad eyes and shook his head. He didn’t say a word and lifted me up with his snout. Still being awestruck, I let him and limply slid to his back.

The drake then started walking. His slow painful walk. It was well into sunrise by the time he set me down in my nest. He rubbed his snout on my head and hummed a wordless song. The deep rumbling was just what I needed and I finally started to calm down. My tears stopped, my heartbeat returned to normal and sleepiness started to fill my veins.

The last thing I saw before my eyes shut were his orange eyes. Those gentle orange eyes.


I woke from a rough sleep. My bones ached, but I was sure it wasn’t from the dreams. Yesterday seemed like a nightmare, but as I looked at my blood covered talons, I knew it was real. I glanced over at Dave’s nest and unsurprisingly he wasn’t there. I wondered if he got any sleep at all.

But I didn’t linger on my wondering and stepped out of my nest. I smiled as I remembered Dave’s humming just as I was about to fall asleep. I walked a little faster and stopped at the edge of the pond, first taking a drink of water before diving in.

It took awhile, but soon the blood had been washed off. The entire time I didn’t wonder why Dave wasn’t there, but when I stepped out to dry off, his absence hit me. I wondered if I should call for him, or if he’s okay.

“Oh good, you’re up,” his voice came from behind me. I flipped around and smiled as the old drake approached. He had washed all of his blood off too.

I smiled sheepishly at him, still wanting to apologize.

He sighed and sat beside me. “If you want, you can apologize, though there’s no need. Last night was hard on you, I know.” he was slow to his words. They seemed very difficult to him. “I promise I won’t have you do that to me anymore, kid. I didn’t know you were so messed up.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“No problem, kid. This doesn’t change anythin’. I’ll still fight hard, and I want you to fight as hard as you can, too.” he stood and walked away from me. “Now, are you ready for some breakfast?”

I sighed and stood. “Not if I have to catch it.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, it has already been caught, follow me.”

I followed him and studied his steps. “You didn’t catch it, did you?”

He laughed. “I ain’t that dumb! No, a friend caught it for us.”

I was about to ask another question when we came upon the catch. “A unicorn!” I exclaimed, running to it.

“Yeah, seemed ‘bout time we had another. You can eat first if you want,”

I looked down at the mouth-watering carcass and then back up at him. “Let’s eat it together,” I suggested.

He hesitated, but finally complied after shaking his head.

I had never eaten that much in months. All that fighting had me starved, and unicorn was just so good. Dave ate a fair amount too, and between the two of us, the bones were picked clean.

I was so full that I didn’t want to move and rested by the skeleton. I eyed Dave cautiously as he sat there, watching me with expressionless eyes. “What?” I asked after a minute.

He looked away and laid down himself. On the opposite side, of course. “You have a lot of dragon in you,” he replied.

I blinked and studied myself. During this past week I had lost many more feathers, especially on my wings, and my dragon scales peeked through. I didn’t think too much of it, I thought I still looked like a griffin. “How so?” I inquired.

He smirked. “You fight like one,” he simply replied.

“Well of course I do, you taught me,”

“No, you always have. I know you’ve wrestled with both dragon and griffin, you know what I mean.”

Now I thought back. Way back. Back to the first game I played with the grifflings, where I crushed that skull and scared them all. I won nearly all the wrestling matches, which scared them even further. Then there was Blackbird and his shock. I sighed, the memories bringing sorrow and homesickness.

“I miss them,” I mumbled, changing the subject.

He let out with an audible sigh and stood. “Since last night was so horrible, I am allowin’ one whole day of rest. Tomorrow, the usual will resume.” he said, changing my subject, and turning to walk off. “If you want to spend the day mopin’ about old times, don’t do it ‘round me.”

My eyes stung as the tears rested in them, as if they were scared to come out. I was in shock as he limped off. “Wait, where’s the comfort?” I automatically spat out before snapping my beak shut. I wanted to think that, not say it.

He chuckled. “I give no comfort to crybabies,”

I stood and trotted after him. “You’re the crybaby, I know you spend the evening’s wallowing in your sorrow.”

“I ain’t gonna deny that, but I don’t go beggin' for sympathy.” he replied.

“I wasn’t begging!” I defended.

“‘Course you were. I was givin’ you an old fashioned compliment, and you turned it into a pity party.”

“You asked me to remember when I wrestled with the griffins, and that just brought things back. I’m sorry,”

He stopped in his tracks and I realized that I had apologized. A chill ran down my spine as I prepared for the worst. “Why do you miss ‘em so much?” he asked.

I blinked, that wasn’t at all what I expected. “Because I grew up with them. They were my family. I spent all my time with them.”

He nodded. “Thought so,” he said and continued walking.

I continued as well, looking at him curiously.

“You have a new family now, cherish that one. Those griffins have probably forgotten about you anyway, dumb bird brains.”

“Hey!” I squawked, “I take offense to that!”

“Don’t know why,”

That was it, I was done talking with him. I was also done walking with him and fly up into a tree.

“Where’re you goin’?” he asked.

“I get a day of rest, right? I’m going to do some flying during it.”

He shrugged. “Okay, doesn’t seem restful to me, but it’s your choice.” he replied and continued walking.

I shook my head and took off once again. I flew in and out of branches, up and down, chasing the occasional owl. It brought me back to racing through the trees with Kage. Dave didn’t know how easy it was to fly, it was the perfect rest. I broke the canopy and soaring up into the night sky.

I twirled and spun, dancing among the stars. I rested on currents, floating above the earth with ease. It smelled different up here. I closed my eyes and fell through a low lying cloud. I chased some bats and danced with moths. It was beautiful up there, I could’ve stayed there forever.

The ground below me was more alive than ever. From my height I could see half the island, all the way to The Circle of Mountains. I watched as some dragons hunted and played. I hadn’t really watched them before, and to my delight, they were not too unlike griffins.

Curiosity pulled me further, over The Circle of Mountains and towards Dragon’s Land. I watched as a couple of young dragons rolled about in ash, coughing tiny licks of fire at each other. Solstice was watching them and even got up to join in. They loved her and eagerly invited her into their play.

Throughout the games she kept an eye on the flowers, guarding them as she should. Soon, Cobblestone and another dragon came in and all five of them started to play. I could see Cobblestone pull himself towards Solstice, and my heart stung for him. She loved him too, but didn’t want the chance of getting turned down. I felt like I didn’t know Cobblestone enough to assure her that he would accept her.

Eventually they grew tired and the young dragons ran off. Solstice curled back around her flowers, and Cobblestone bid a farewell to the other dragon as it took off. But he stayed and sat beside her, nuzzling her gently with his snout. She didn’t flinch, but she didn’t reciprocate either.

I sighed, this had gotten too depressing and I turned around to head back home. I let out with a yelp and almost forgot how to fly when I saw the toothed grin staring back at me.

“Hello,” the teeth bellowed with vicious sweetness. “You seem a little too far from home, Little King,”

My heart beat instantly increased as the face pulled back to show me its full glory. I recognized the color and horns, this was the cruel dragon that was attacking the unicorns. The one Dave beat up. In other words, a coward. Those thoughts didn’t make my heart beat any slower. I slowly backed up and lowered myself, hoping to run to Cobble and Solstice.

He caught on and flipped behind me in a single flap of his wings. “I don’t think so, Little King,” he threatened.

That was fine, I had other ideas. I sped forward, toward the forest, leading him on a chase. His cackling echoed behind me.

“I am the fastest flyer on this island, do you really think you can avoid me?”

I glanced down at The Circle of Mountains. “Nope,” I replied and dove down to the pillar, landing right on top of it.

He stopped and hovered above me, just out of The Circle.

I stared back at him with defiance.

He shot a determined glare back at me and landed on the side of The Circle. “Neither of us want to start a war. Come now and stop hiding.”

“No, but I don’t want to solve this in a fight. You aren’t supposed to attack me, anyway, Kyori forbid it.”

He spat. “That Guardian doesn’t make the rules.”

“So did Dragon King send you just to break those rules?”

“He didn’t send me, I am just doing this as a random favor.”

I grinned. “Oh, I see, well then, as a random favor, I challenge you to catch me.” I taunted and launched off the pillar, speeding back towards Dragon’s Land.

He let out with a roar of frustration and followed after me. He may have been faster, but I had a head start. “Solstice, Cobblestone, someone is breaking the rule!” I called down to my friends.

Both of their heads whipped up at my voice and I could see the anger seething in Solstice’s eyes as she watched me fly down with the dragon on my tail. Cobblestone stood and spread his wings, his eyes fixated on the dragon.

I landed right in front of them and looked up at the dragon as he hovered, snarling with frustration.

“Pretty petty, hiding behind your friends,” he called down.

“You started it by attacking me when there was a direct rule not to,” I called back.

He glanced between me, Solstice and Cobble. He seemed unsure of what to do and eventually peeled away, back towards the mountains of Dragon’s Land.

My heart beat finally slowed down and I looked back at my friends with a grateful smile.

“That bully, I swear he has something wrong with him.” Cobblestone grumbled.

“He does,” Solstice replied with a chuckle, “He’s a follower of Dragon King.” she shook her head and focused on me. “Are you okay, child?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I would’ve fought him, you know, I just had a full belly and Dave’s been wearing me down.”

She nuzzled me. “I’m glad you didn’t, he would’ve played dirty. I’m glad you came to me, it warms my heart to know you trust me that much.”

“Of course I do,” I said, nuzzling her back and glancing at Cobble. “I trust both of you,”

The sky was starting to lighten and I let out with a yawn. “Well, I would love to stay, but Dave wants us to resume training tomorrow.” I said, pulling back.

“Has he been treating you well?” Solstice asked, now glancing at my featherless spots with concern.

I nodded. “As well as a grumpy old beast can.” I replied and spread my wings. I looked at Cobblestone with a playful smile. “And when you’re ready, maybe in a day or two, I would love to wrestle with you again.”

He smiled back and nodded his head. “Sounds like fun!”

I took off into the air and slowly pulled myself up. “I hope to see both of you very soon!” I called out as I soared higher and higher.

“Same to you!” they both called out at the same time.

I flew as fast as I could, but it was well into the morning by the time I reached Dave’s cave. Thankfully, I flew fast enough to dodge the griffin’s morning hunt. I settled down into my nest, giving a glance towards the sleeping drake. When my eyes closed they were filled with images of my time of dancing in the sky. Before that nasty dragon spoiled it. Despite Dave’s cruelties, despite Dragon King’s looming threat, despite being apart from my griffin family, I was home.


“Did you have a good rest?” a growling voice asked, waking me.

I opened my eyes at the voice at saw a scarred red face and orange eyes glaring back at me. Instinctively, I rolled backward with a yelp. Laughter filled my ears as I shook the sleep off of me. I looked up to see the drake was the source of everything.

“Whoops,” he said, casting me a wink.

“I know that was intentional,” I told him as I strutted forward.

“Not entirely, but I did enjoy it,” he replied.

I watched as he walked behind me. I smiled at him. “I like it when you’re happy,”

His smile instantly dropped and he quickened his pace to get in front of me. “I’m not happy, I just thought you getting scared was funny,”

I laughed and quickened my own pace to get in front of him. I walked too fast for the old drake to catch up, so eventually, our race ended and he stayed behind. After we caught and ate our deer, training resumed.

“Now remember, you said you would go easy on me,” I reminded him.

He shook his head as he prepared himself. “I didn’t say easy, I just said I wouldn’t encourage you to kill me!” he said and sprung at me.

He didn’t lie. He did not come at me any easier, but for some reason, I was fairing a little better. I remembered the dragon that attacked me, which reminded me of why I was doing this. I was doing this to end Dragon King’s tyranny. A grumpy old drake wasn’t going to kill me before then.

As we fought, I remembered the vow I made months ago to dethrone Blackbird. I kept that vow, even if it didn’t end how I expected. I repeated the same vow as I dodged and attacked Dave. This gave me enough energy to carry out longer. He still won, but I didn’t end up in his mouth.

I looked up from under the claw of the panting drake. “I want you to tell Kyori how many bears you’ve killed,” I told him with a wink.

He shook his head and lifted his claw off. “That ain’t gonna happen, kid, nowhere near that point yet,” he replied and sat heavily on the ground to rest.

I was panting just as hard and sat beside him. I looked up at the sky. “Looks like we can fight just a little longer if we take a short break,” I told him after my assumption.

He first glanced up to double check and then looked over at me. “If that’s what you want, I can go one more time,”

“Then it’s settled, in a couple of minutes I will try again, and I will win.” I agreed.

“Doubt that kid,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Tell you what, if you do, I’ll hunt tomorrow’s deer.”

“I’ll agree to that.”

I, sadly, lost the bet, and had to catch the next day’s deer.

In today's chapter we have the scene that got a lot of compliments, Dante sky dancing, a dragon that comes out of nowhere and way too much talking. In other words, one good scene with a lot of filler. Pointless? No, but it still feels like filler. The timeskips will come in the next chapter. I'm getting sick of this drake. Speaking of, his nickname seems to be "grumpy old drake".

[Ranger of the North]

(Yes)

*shakes finger* You and Dante are so mean to Dave, name-calling behind his back like that! He's hurting, man. All he needs is a hug c':

Not pointless. Character development! ;D

[Megaguirus]

Halfway into the second week, almost like clockwork, Cobblestone came by just as we finished our meal.

“Oh not again,” Dave moaned as the dragon landed between us.

“Nice to see you, too,” Cobblestone greeted the grumpy drake.

“I’ll leave you to it, see you tomorrow, kid,” he said as he lumbered off.

“He seemed happy,” Cobblestone observed as the drake disappeared into the forest.

“He actually has been happy, lately,” I replied as I stood beside him. “I think he’s excited that we’re nearing the fight with Dragon King,”

Cobble smiled and glanced down at me. “That wouldn’t surprise me.” he replied and stretched his wings. “Anyway, I’m ready to take you up on that offer to wrestle.”

I stretched mine as well. “Good, because I’ve learned a lot that I’d like to share with you.”

So we flew to our usual spot in the great forest and wasted no time in getting into the fight. He instantly noticed my change in fighting and accommodate to it the best he could. I also observed his fighting style more closely, and wondered if it was like his brother’s. The sooner I defeated Dave, the sooner I’d find out. I could also just ask him.

Dave had trained me so well in just the past one and a half weeks that I was barely breaking a sweat as Cobble slowed down. I went easier on him when I noticed his fatigue, and eventually, he surrendered to me.

“Wow,” he panted. “That was amazing,”

“Thanks, but are you okay?” I asked.

“Fine,” he replied and tried to slow his breathing and catch his breath. After a minute, he let out with a relaxed sigh and looked at me. “It’s so strange, you fight a lot like him, with the chaotic power, but you also fight like a griffin, light and clever.”

“Really? I fight like a griffin? Dave said I fought like a dragon,”

“Oh no, you do, that’s why I said you fight like him, but there is a lot of griffin to you. Which is a good thing, makes you unique.”

I sighed and rolled on the soft grass. “Funny, ‘unique’ used to be a bad word. I remember back when it meant there was something wrong with me for being ‘different’,” I mused.

“Still homesick?” he inquired, obviously not sure how to reply to my musing.

I paused, laying on my back and watching the stars. “I can’t not be, I spent my grifflinghood there. But not as much, no. I have so much family here, and it’s hard to miss someone when you’re trying to not get slaughtered by a crazy drake.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I can understand that. How is that going, by the way. Are you any closer to defeating him?”

I rolled back onto my feet and nodded. “Yes, actually. He’s noticed it as well. Not verbally, but I can see it in his eyes. The more I beat him up, the more he gains respect for me.”

He laughed. “That sounds like him. He was like that when he was younger, too. He’s always seemed to like pain, and the grumpier and older he got, the more he welcomed it.”

“I won’t deny that. I remember when he triggered me to go crazy on him and he shrugged off the cuts in his neck like nothing. I would’ve been in absolute agony.”

He shook his head. “Goodness, anyone sane would. But I think everyone can agree that dragon can’t be called sane anymore.”

We both had a hearty chuckle at that before resting at the lakeside. We looked up as a shadow passed over us, causing me to jump a little. I thought I saw Cobble jump too, but he should be familiar with dragons flying overhead.

“Goodness, that just reminded me,” he said, looking over at me. “Some dragons are thinking my brother might be flying sooner than we expect.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Oh, don’t panic too much, some believe it to be a week sooner. But then there are others, like my brother himself, who say that he can fight just fine without his wing being completely repaired.” he replied.

My panic was quickly overthrown by the violent thinking Dave had hammered into my brain. “If he chooses to fight be with a still broken wing, then that means I’ll have a weak spot. Good. I’ll just mention it to Dave.”

Cobble cast and concerned glance towards me. “Right, that’s true.” he said before letting out with a tiny sigh.

I cocked my head at him. “I don’t want to hurt him, Cobble, you know that. But I have to hurt him to win. He’s brought this upon himself, I didn’t want to fight him in the first place.”

“I know, I know,” he said. “I just wish that he didn’t make that choice. That he didn’t make all of the choices that led up to that. I miss my big brother.”

I sighed and nuzzled his shoulder. The sky was beginning to brighten, marking the end of our talk. “Well, I have to be going. Another long night of fighting Dave is ahead of me.” I told him, pulling back.

He shook himself from his sorrow and stood. “Yeah, you need as much rest as you can get for him.”

I sighed and stretched out my wings. “I guess I’ll be seeing you on the day I fight your brother,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t think Dave would be okay with two visits a month.” he chuckled.

I took to the sky. “I promise, Cobble, I won’t maim him, and I won’t kill him. Dave made me promise to give him a scar, but I can make it minor. I know you love your brother,” I assured him as I hovered there.

He nodded and smiled at me. “Thank you, Dante. My future king,” he said and bowed to me.

I simply smiled back and took off. I made it back to Dave’s right at daybreak and eagerly settled down in my bed. Another night would be here in no time, and I will defeat Dave.


As Dave ate, I decided to tell him that Dragon King might be flying soon.

“What?!” he spat, causing the deer blood to fly everywhere. I just barely missed it. “That blasted beast. Then we’ll just have to try harder, you will just have to try harder.”

I flinched. “I thought I was trying hard enough,” I replied.

He swallowed his last piece of meat and started walking to our training grounds. “Hah, you haven’t even beaten me yet, kid! You are never tryin’ hard enough,”

I followed after him. “What if I beat you tonight?”

“I will tell Kyori ‘bout all the bears I’ve killed,” he repeated.

We finally reached the area, and immediately started fighting. Wrestling with Cobblestone seemed to have done the trick, and I grew closer to defeating Dave. I was learning him. He may have been chaotic, but he had a pattern.

He laughed as he lightly crushed me under his claw. “Close, very close. Notice how you didn’t end up in my mouth,”

“Yes, I did,” I replied with a wink. I got up and we took our moments rest.

He glanced up at the sky. “Good, we can definitely get one more fight in. You’re fast, kid. Looks like fightin’ with that copy was a good thin’.”

It took me a moment to realize we had he spoken about. “That’s mean!” I defended.

He let out with a heavy sigh, casting me a sideways glance. “I’m mean. Insults is what I do. You should be used to it now.”

“Why are you so accepting of it? You can change,” I told him.

“Why are you in such denial about it? ‘Course I can change, but that doesn’t mean I want to. Now c’mon,” he said as he stood. “Try a little harder this time,”

I sighed and got into my position. Fighting continued as normal until I made a change happen. I started to use my wings more, and launched into the air, giving him a solid slap in the face with one. He tried biting for it afterwards, but I pulled back as he continued with his bite. The moment his jaw closed I managed to fly and duck beneath his short legs. My goal was always to knock him down, and I would accomplish it without being angry.

The moment he noticed I was under him, I grabbed a usually well defended leg and leapt upwards. I used all of my strength and was able to get that foot off the ground. He let out with a exclamation of pain, and I foolishly ignored it, continuing with my fly into the air. A loud pop, along with the most painful roar I had ever heard, caused me to drop it and land, eyes wide with terror.

He was slow to pull his leg back under him, but when he did, the foot softly touching the ground, a pleasant look appeared on his face. He moved it again, quicker this time. He smiled and let out with a laugh. He looked at me with joy.

“I can’t believe it, that leg ain’t hurtin’! My gods kid, you fixed one of my legs!”

I was taken aback and stepped closer to him. “Really?”

He laughed, his face couldn’t have been happier. “Yeah, now c’mon, let’s finish this fight. Maybe you can fix another leg, too!”

I laughed nervously with him and resumed the fighting. But since I had already worn myself out from pulling on his leg, I lost quickly. Neither of us were too upset about it. Especially Dave, who couldn’t be happier. He still limped, but not as much in his back legs.

“That leg had been causin’ me pain for fifty years. I can’t believe you fixed it. And don’t worry ‘bout the loss, kid, after tonight, you’ve shown me you’re closer than I thought. You’ll defeat me before you know it.” he said as we walked back home.


His word proved true at the end of the second week. It was the second fight of the night, and I was intensely into it.

I did the same wing slapping tactic, but this time I used it to disorient him enough to fly right into his side. And it worked. For the third time in three months, the beast came tumbling down. I danced on top of him, laughing victoriously.

“Yes, I did it! I defeated you without any bit of rage! I’m strong enough to defeat you!” I exclaimed.

He snorted and slowly stood up as I jumped off him. “Don’t go proclaimin’ that just yet, kid. Tomorrow you will fight me just as you did before. If you defeat me both of those times, then you can start braggin’.” he told me.

I smiled. “I don’t have any problem against that.”

“I like that tactic, kid, the one where you slap me with your wing. It works well,” he complemented as we walked home.

“Thank you, Glory taught that to me.” I replied.

He paused a moment. “That eagle? It taught you a move?”

“Yes, he did. We were wrestling, as we usually do, and he slapped me with a wing. I learned how disorienting it was. I was glad to find it worked on you,”

“Wait, as usual? You’ve been meetin’ up with that eagle?”

“Yes, once a week, in the early morning.” I replied reluctantly, afraid of how he’d reply.

He laughed, causing me to jump. “You’ve been meetin’ up with a bird behind my back once a week? That is devotion.”

“You’re not mad?”

“It ain’t hurtin’ your trainin’, is it? No, ‘course I ain’t. Rather proud, in fact.”

We made it to the cave at dawn, and both walked to our respective nests.

“Thank you, I guess.” I told him as we settled down.

“Not a problem. See you tomorrow,” he replied before turning away.

I closed my eyes with a pleasant smile on my face. I was starting to like him again, and I wondered if that was truly a bad thing.



The next day I was so proud that I actually caught a bear, breaking Kyori’s rule myself.

“Now there’s some guts,” Dave praised as we dug in.

I simply smiled back at him. Once we finished the bear, I decided to fly ahead of Dave, swerving in and out of branches. I didn’t care if it made him jealous, if it was a tease, I was happy and wanted to fly. I landed in the training ground and got into my position, staring at him as he limped out of the woods.

He laughed and charged at me, starting the fight. It went smoothly, more than I expected, and I beat him once again, this time by pure strength and few tricks. After a rest, Dave seemed to get into it more. He bit, and I feared he actually intended to bite me. He blew fire, not caring if it hit me or the trees. He even leapt up at me as I took to the sky a couple of time.

The fight lasted longer than most, I was started to grow tired, but seeing his fatigue encouraged me to keep going, push myself even further. With one final trick, one final attack, I charged into his side and knocked him down with an earth-shaking thud. I laughed triumphantly as I stood proudly, resting a claw on his belly.

“And with one final strike, the old giant came tumbling down,” I said.

He let out with a heavy sigh and slowly got to his haunches. He was breathing heavily and somehow looked even older. A chill went down my spine as I remembered what he said to Solstice, how he wouldn’t make it much longer. I was hit by a huge force of guilt, I was killing him. But I didn’t show it, I didn’t want him to know about what I heard.

The old beast managed to place a smile on his scarred and worn face. “Good job, kid, you have defeated the ancient drake. Now, I will use the moves of Brimstone, and you will try and defeat me again. Or should I say, him.” he congratulated.

“And I have two weeks to do that, right?” I asked.

He nodded as he dragged himself up on his sore bones. “Yes. But first, at twilight the next night, I want to take you somewhere. It’s ‘bout time I tested you, kid.” he warned.

My eyes were wide at the thought of a test, at the thought of going to an unnamed somewhere. “Test? But haven’t these three months been tests?”

He smirked as we walked back to his cave. “I want to see if you have it in you.”

“What? Have what?” I asked again.

He let out with a deep growl. “No questions, it will be revealed tomorrow.”

I know now why he kept it such a secret, why he didn’t tell me until we were up to it. I would’ve turned it down if I knew.


“Alright kid, wakey wakey!” a rough voice sounded in my ear, jolting me awake.

My eyes were met with a scarred face I should’ve been used to waking up to by now. It was still light out, the type of light that wasn’t quite day or quite night. Twilight. I yawned and stretched, crawling out of my nest.

“Don’t worry about your tiredness, that’ll wear off on our walk.” he told me as he started to walk.

I scrambled after him. “We’re going now? But what about breakfast?”

“I want to give you somethin’ to work for. If you pass the test, we’ll eat unicorn.” he replied.

That was menacing. I continued to follow him silently, my thoughts drifting as we continued on this long walk. He mentioned unicorns, so we were obviously leaving the forest. We were also walking in that direction, I knew by glancing up at the few stars I was able to see. But why? Was there a dragon waiting for me there, a dragon for me to train with? A dragon that was a lot like Dragon King?

I shook that thought out of my head. No, impossible. He hated dragons. I wanted to ask him questions, but I always pushed my luck with those, I didn’t want to push it any further. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, as we walked out into The Plains. A vast an open land, that felt very frightening after living in the forest for so long. I felt so exposed.

I kept my senses sharp and moved a little closer beside him. I didn’t want any dragon to attack me. I fear some where stupid enough. The full moon shone down on us, making it appear as day. I stretched out my wings in its light, imagining Solstice’s gentle glow.

Solstice! What if that was where he was taking me? Maybe he had some test planned with her, a secret one, and she was going to test me. But no, we were walking in the wrong direction. Just where was he taking me?

I froze as my eyes noticed something familiar. My heart started to race, and I slowed my pace. “No,” I murmured with a shake of my head.

“Yes,” Dave barked, nudging me further with his snout.

“Why are we here? Why here? Why?” I pleaded, digging my claws into the ground as he pushed me forward.

“‘Cause I need to test you, kid,” he replied. “I need to see if you’re ready,”

We were now fifteen feet from the dreadful thing, the thing I tried so hard to forget. Just looking at the calm blue waters brought everything back. He had led me to The Cove. The place where that sea dragon took Lofty from me. The place that started it all. The place that robbed me of my innocence.

“Test me for what?” I quivered.

He gave me a solid slap with his tail, waking me out of my frightened stupor. “For vengeance! You know what lurks in those waters, you know what it did to you. It caused you a panic attack at The Great Waters. Lure it out of the water, teach it a lesson.” he replied.

I was quick to recover from his smack and stared out at the water, listening to his words carefully. “I can’t,”

“Yes you can,” he whispered into my ear. “Hunt it, like you’ve hunted before. Focus on that anger, that violent energy burning inside you. I want to see your fire.”

His whispers were tempting, his whispers were invigorating. They shook my ear, they ruffled my feathers. He needn’t say anything else, the seed was planted, the accursed words flashed in my mind like fire. It killed my mother, it caused me to kill Blackbird, which caused Kage and I to get banished, which led to Kage’s death, which led to all of this. It was the start of everything, and it would be the end of everything.

I took to the sky with a snap of my wings and hovered over The Cove. The moon was behind me, casting a shadow of myself over the quiet blue waters. A large winged figure. I dove down and tapped the water with my tail, hopefully waking the beast. I flew back up and hovered over the water, closer now. Something in the deep seemed to move, churning the water, causing waves. I grinned and dove again, slapping the water this time with my front claws. Faster now, I turned and hovered over The Cove. Every sense was awake, this was a hunt, and I was ready to catch my prey.

With a leap, just as fast as the one that stole Lofty, the beast surfaced, showing its ugly face. I was expecting it, though, so I swerved out of the way and pushed into its neck, actually pushing it backwards, just as I knocked down Dave. I made sure to give it a couple of scratches, too, its hide was incredibly soft.

Knocked off balance and surprised, the beast fall backward, only half of it falling back into The Cove. Its head smacked into the shore with a painful thud. The thing wailed in an unearthly cry as I landed on top of its head, staring into its eye with pure hatred. I expected to stare back into something animal, something that was only half aware, like the deer that I struggled so to kill.

But this eye was different. It was smart, it was aware, it was scared. A chill ran down my spine as the entire world seemed to have stopped. It was smaller than the big one in The Great Waters. It was a baby. It was lost. It didn’t know, it didn’t intentionally kill Lofty, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could’ve grabbed anyone. The poor thing was just hungry.

“Go on, kid! Deliver the final blow! Avenge your mother!” Dave yelled, but his words sounded hollow.

I was about the size of its head, maybe I could drag it back home. The Great Waters weren’t too far, I just had to drag it close enough for it to finish the rest. I wrapped all four limbs around its thick neck, and it let out with another frightened wail. “It’s okay, I’m not going to kill you,” I whispered to it.

“That’s it, kid, dig those claws into its flesh, make it bleed!” Dave encouraged.

I ignored him and lifted up the creature’s head and neck with all of my strength. I dragged its long neck over the small and shallow pathway that gave The Cove its name. It seemed to catch onto what I was doing and thrashed about, crawling in that direction. It let out with a whooping squeak and I let go, hoping it would finished the rest.

“What’re you doin’?! Kill it before it swims away!” the old drake snarled.

I watched the creature slowly wriggle back into The Great Waters. The long neck led into a thick body, with four clawed flippers instead of legs, and at the end of it all was a long tail, rimmed with leaf-like fleshy flippers. Its entire body was a crystal blue, just like The Cove. I marveled at its size, and wondered how on earth it fit in there in the first place. With one last whoop, the beast was free.

Showing a joy I thought only griffins and dragons could express, the beast leapt out of the water, showing its entire body. I might’ve imagined things, but I could’ve sworn it was smiling. I smiled back, and slowly lowered myself to the ground. But before my legs could touch the soft sand, a large and heavy force charged into me, slamming me into the ground.

“You fool!” the voice bellowed as it stood on top of me.

I struggled to catch my breath as I stared up at the monster.

“Haven’t you learned by now? Will you ever learn?! You just saved one of those stupid monsters, saved it. Is that how you’re goin’ to be with Brimstone?!” Dave snarled, getting off me and smacking me so hard with his claw I was sent tumbling.

I coughed and choked, my head with spinning, my sides ached. I wondered what I did wrong. It felt so right.

“What happened to all of that rage you had just two weeks ago? The rage that nearly got me killed! Where was it for that monster?!” he continued to yell.

I struggled to my feet and stared at him. “It wasn’t a monster! It wasn’t even an animal. It was aware, it was scared.” I replied.

“‘Course it was scared! It was ‘bout to die! And we’re all animals, kid, just some are greater than others!” he spat back.

It hurt to breathe, so I wasn’t in any mood to yell back. “It didn’t mean to kill Lofty. It wasn’t malicious like Dragon King. It was just hungry.”

He scoffed. “Where’d you get that crazy notion?”

“I didn’t get it anywhere. It was trapped in that place, it was alone and scared. It was like me.”

“Like you?! How?”

“It was apart from its family.”

He laughed bitterly. “How can a beast like that have a family?”

“Maybe because it isn’t a beast. Who are you to judge what is and isn’t a beast?”

“A beast is somethin’ that kills for no reason, a beast is somethin’ that takes everythin’ you love away from you. A beast is every wicked creature upon this wretched earth!” he replied.

“Then maybe you’re the beast,” I mumbled.

He charged up to me, forcing me to look into his burning orange eyes. “What did you say?” he threatened, baring his rotten teeth.

My sides ached a little less, so I breathed in and kept my eyes with his. “Maybe you’re the beast!” I yelled.

He roared louder than ever and attacked, but I took to the air. “That’s it! I’m done. I’ve tried, day after day, week after week, month after month to get you prepared for Brimstone. To get it into your thick head that in order to fight such evil, you need to be just as evil! Fight fire with fire you stupid griffin!” he yelled. “And to think that I was startin’ to like you, that I was startin’ to be proud of what you were becomin’. But you are still the soft hearted weaklin’ I met three months ago!”

His words stung. Even though I should’ve hated him, I hated to think that I would lose him. “But you can’t just quit! I’m so close to completing my training!”

“Not even close! ‘Cause you still don’t get what’ll save you in the end. Go run to Solstice, or Kyori, see if I care. I quit. You are impossible.” he growled and walked away.

I landed, holding back tears. “Please, I’m sorry, I can’t lose you now!”

He roared and turned, charging right at me. I expected him to stop, so I held my ground, but instead I was sent flying backwards, meeting the full force of his anger. I landed on my back with a squeak as every last bit of air was forced out of my lungs. My vision blurred as the stars spun.

“Then maybe you should’ve thought of that before you let that sea dragon go!” he roared.

I coughed and gasped as I struggled to regain my breath. My sides burned with pain, a pain I hadn’t experienced. It was enough to knock me unconscious. My ears rang from being smacked around, my head hurt and my vision was blurred. I could barely move as I laid there in pain. I didn’t know what to think at first, all my mind could focus on was pain. But as I slowly recovered, the full situation came into view.

He hated me, he attacked me, for doing the right thing. For giving that creature a chance at a full life. I remembered the first deer I killed, and how sorry I felt for it. Dave is right, we are all animals, and therefore we all deserve the same respect and treatment. But he didn’t believe that.

Breath entered my lungs, and though it hurt to breathe, I was happy to. I slowly rolled over onto my feet with a groan. I tested each limb and was glad to see that they all still worked. Though I doubted how well I’d be able to fly with the pain in my chest. Where would I fly to? I had been living with Dave, and now he was done with me.

It hurt to think that it was over. I was really starting to like him, and I was able to forgive all the other times he snapped at me. But this was the last straw for the both of us. I hated him. Yet again I wondered why they chose for me to train with him. Sure, they had given me reasons, but I needed to know more. I looked out towards Dragon’s Land looming in the far distance. It was time to see Solstice again. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry, but I needed a shoulder to cry on.

Ugh. To be quite honest, I am not too happy with this chapter. It took me nearly a month to write it, as I forced myself through a massive roadblock known as apathy. But, here it is. Dave's breakdown would've had more impact if he hadn't already had a better one in the earlier chapter.

[Megaguirus]

I decided to fly there, and just as I thought, with each stroke it felt like there were claws digging into my sides. Somehow, though, I persevered, pushing through the pain to get to Solstice. Perhaps it was because of all the rigorous training from Dave, or maybe I wanted to see her so badly I ignored the pain. Whatever the reason, I safely made it to my destination.

The gentle dragon was alone and appeared to be sleeping as I softly landed next to her. However, the moment my feet touched the ground, her soft red eyes opened and she greeted me with a smile.

“Dante!” she exclaimed, lifting her head and looking down at me. “What brings you here?”

I suddenly found it very hard to keep it all together as I stood in front of her. The tears flowed and I ran to nuzzle her chest, whimpering from pain and sadness. “He beat me,” I cried.

“He what? Dave beat you? Why?” she asked softly, gently bringing a claw to hold me.

“Because I wouldn’t do what he wanted. I wouldn’t kill the sea dragon. I wouldn’t avenge Lofty’s death,” I replied after a sob. “But that poor thing didn’t intentionally kill her, I saw it in its eyes.”

She cooed. “Oh my child, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I didn’t know he would do that. Are you alright, though? Did he beat you hard?”

“No, it hurts to breathe,” I replied.

She let out with a long hiss. “That is unacceptable, he wasn’t supposed to hurt you that badly. I didn’t allow him to break your ribs. I’ll give him a stern tongue lashing to make sure he’ll never do it again.” she threatened.

I pulled back from her a bit, having finished with most of my crying. “There’s no need, he doesn’t want to train me anymore. He quit. I’m a failure to him. And this was just after seeing him act so proud of me.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t fail him, child. You passed with flying colors, he just doesn’t want to admit it. He does like you, he’s told me time and time again. In fact, I think that’s what made tonight horrible. He doesn’t want to lose you, and he’s got it into his head that the only way to defeat Dragon King is by vengeance and violence.”

“I want to believe that, but I just can’t after tonight. Someone wouldn’t beat up someone they loved like that.”

She sighed. “No, someone wouldn’t. And back when the only things he loved were alive, he didn’t. But after they died, he snapped and became the thing he hated the most. He knows it, too, he knows what he’s let himself become. He’s never said it, but there’s only so much he can hide from his best friend. Oh child,” she said, caressing my face with a claw, “He’s in pain and doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

“Yes he does, he knows to take it all out on me! This isn’t the first time. He’s lashed out at me many times before, this is just the first time he physically hurt me. Why, why did you allow me to suffer with this abusive drake for nearly three months?” I asked, tears forming in my eyes.

She looked to be on the brink of tears as well and looked at me sympathetically. “Because I thought you could handle it. I thought he still knew how to treat a child. I also did it for him. You are such a great griffin, Dante, I hoped you’d do good for him. And you did! You brought him out of his shell. He laughed more, smiled more, he spent more time out of his lonely cave and he even talked more. Sure, not as much as before, but it was enough for me to feel happy for him again. If I know him, he probably regrets lashing out at you now, and is probably waiting for you to return.”

“Waiting for me to return? I’m not stupid! I’m not going back to that monster just to suffer more abuse.”

“I know, you have every right to be angry at him. But he’s angry at himself, and if you return to him, he will probably apologize. Not outrightly saying he’s sorry, he’s too prideful for that. He will show it in another way.”

“I’m not going back to him,” I refused. “And what about the tongue lashing? Give him that tongue lashing, tell him that he hurt me and that he should be sorry. And apologize right to my face, actually say that he’s sorry. I don’t care if he’s too prideful, he can swallow it just this once!”

She just stared at me with her gentle eyes. “That was an impulse reaction before I remembered that it would only hurt him more. He’s beating himself up right now for what he did to you. Goodness, Dante, you don’t know what goes on in his head. He’s put up this wall of viciousness to keep everyone out, and he’s fooled himself into thinking he’s doing the right thing.” she replied before taking a long breath. “But I understand that you are hurt, I will not force you to do anything.”

I sighed and leaned into her, every breath still burned. I looked hopefully at the moon flowers. “Can those heal me?” I asked her.

“Sadly, no, they are only made to cure illnesses, not injuries. If they did, Dragon King would’ve used them by now. Kyori can help you, though, I’m sure she can whip together some type of magic or potion.” she replied.

“I don’t want to go to another dragon. I’m tired and hungry. We didn’t even have breakfast! He just led me to The Cove right away.” I complained.

A deep rumble came from her chest and she suddenly stood, causing me to stumble a little, no longer having that great chest to lean on. The rumble turned into a bellow that vibrated the earth. She had focused her bellow towards Dragon’s Land, causing me to wonder. She laid back down with a sigh, giving me a kind smile.

Next thing I knew, Cobblestone came flying in, landing right in front of us. “Solstice, goodness sake, keep it down! You don’t want to scare everybody.” he exclaimed before his eyes fell on me. “Dante, why are you here?”

Solstice lifted her head up and looked at him. “He had another fight with Dave, a big one. Please, Cobble, be a dear and get this child some food. Then carry him to Kyori so that she can heal him.” she ordered.

He paused a moment, looking back and forth between us, before shrugging and spreading his wings. “Anything for our future king. Be back soon,” he said, lifting off.

I gave Solstice a puzzled look as she rested her head back on the ground. “What was that about?” I asked.

“Cobblestone has been my wings for years, that’s what it’s about. If I could I would hunt for you and take you to Kyori. Yes, he doesn’t always do it completely willingly, so I don’t ask much. But I had to call him just this once, for you, child.” she replied.

“That’s what that noise was?”

She laughed. “Not always, it varies from dragon to dragon. Some use it to mark territories, I use it to summon my friend.”

He soon came back with a few small rabbits, promptly setting them in near me. They looked so tender and juicy, I couldn’t help but approach them. “Thanks for the rabbits, I don’t remember the last time I had them.” I thanked and dug in.

“Not a problem,” he replied. “Well, I don’t just want to stand here awkwardly while you eat. Just call again when you’re ready to see Kyori,” he said and flew off.

I ate slowly, careful to not move my chest that much.

“I should’ve expected this,” Solstice muttered. “He was reaching a breaking point. While I’m disappointed, I can’t say that I’m surprised.” she paused and let out with a sigh. “I know I shouldn’t tell you this, but the reason he hates kindness is because that is what killed his mate. Long story short, she challenged Dragon King without violence, and he slayed her with ease. That was it for Dave, that was when we really lost him.”

I stopped eating my rabbit and turned to look at her. “So that’s why he thinks I’m going to get killed. Because I’m too kind, I’m not violent enough. Thank you for telling me, that makes it a little clearer.”

She smiled at me, though she was hiding something else in her eyes, and I wondered if that was the conversation she had with Dave about his age. But I wasn’t supposed to know that. “You’re welcome, child. Are you planning on seeing him, now?”

I blinked. “Why are you so insistent on that?”

“Because he needs your forgiveness, child. He needs your grace, he needs your kindness. I’m the only one who shows true kindness to him, and maybe if you do it, that will give him enough of a reason to change.”

I sighed and looked at the last rabbit. “Okay, I’ll go,” I told her reluctantly. “But only after Kyori heals me. I do, after all, still need his training.”

“Thank you, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

“I’m not doing it for him,” I told her and quickly gobbled up my rabbit. “Okay, Cobble, I’m ready!” I called out at the top of my lungs.

It didn’t take long for him to come and land, allowing me to climb onto his back. I smiled, reminded of the good old days of learning how to fly with Kage. I looked over at Solstice, who still held that melancholy disappointed look, but managed a smile. She gave me a nod, and after I nodded back, Cobblestone flew off, heading back to The Forest.

We flew in silence and soon came upon Kyori’s cave. As usual, the dragon was bustling about, messing with all sorts of things, and was so distracted, Cobble’s interest spooked her, causing her to drop a bushel of leaves.

She laughed. “Cobblestone, what brings you here?” she asked as she picked up her leaves.

I climbed off his back. “He’s actually here for me,” I told her.

She looked up at hearing my voice and almost dropped her leaves again. “Dante! You’re even more of a surprise. Why was he giving you a ride?”

I chuckled painfully. “Dave kind of got mad at me and hurt me. It hurts to breathe.”

Anger, worry and sympathy flashed in her eyes all at the same time, and she dropped her leaves for the second time. But she didn’t pick them back up, she was focused only on me and quickly rushed in. “Alright, hold still, this’ll hurt a bit,” she said and started to touch my chest.

Hurt a bit was an understatement as I let out with painful squeaks. She moved quickly, though, and was soon done. Without a word, she rushed back into her cave and gathered all sorts of things, dashing about here and there randomly. I walked closer and watched her work as she took all of the bits and ground them down in a small dish with her claws. She took a bottle of pink liquid and poured it in the dish, stirring it all about.

She slowly walked towards me on two legs, the dish held tightly in her claws. She set it down in front of me with a smile. “This will taste very strange, so please don’t spit it out. Once you drink it, you will feel like your insides are burning. But the pain won’t last and once it is over, your ribs should be healed. Praise the gods that your ribs were the only thing that stupid drake broke.” she told me.

I glanced over nervously at Cobblestone, who had been standing in the background silently. “Why are you looking at me?” he asked. “I didn’t make the stuff.”

“I need you to be the witness if I end up dying.” I told him.

“Dante!” Kyori scolded. “Sometimes the healing can hurt worse than the injury. Now drink, please, it won’t stay fresh long.”

Reluctantly, I bent down and lapped it all up as quickly as I could. She was right, it did taste very strange. Bitter and salty, it reminded me of one of the times Dave made me eat dirt. Then came the burning. It actually didn’t hurt at all, in fact, it felt good. I closed my eyes peacefully. The heat felt like fire was surging inside me. “Is this what being a dragon feels like?” I asked, my eyes still shut tight.

“I guess,” Kyori replied. “You actually like that feeling?”

“It feels like I’m actually fitting my skin for once.” I replied and opened my eyes as the burning went down. My eyes were met with the concerned face of Kyori.

“Right, okay,” she said, turning around and rushing into her cave. “That is something to write down. Maybe I can make something of it later.”

I shook my head, not really thinking about it. For the first time in hours, I could actually breathe normally again. “Thank you for the medicine, Kyori, I can breathe again!” I told her.

She looked back over at me. “I’m happy to hear it. Now, are you going to tell me why Dave beat you?”

I looked up at the sky. Night wouldn’t be here much longer. “I would, but I have some forgiving to do. Ask Solstice, she’ll explain it.” I said and spread my wings. “Thank you both so much. I really appreciate the help.”

“Not a problem!” they both cried as I took to the sky, heading back to the cave where that drake was most likely still dwelling.


Just as expected, I saw him moping in the pond. He was laying so still in the water, I feared he was dead. I slowed my descent, still unsure of what I was going to say. Should I just go ahead and forgive him right off? Or should I look for an apology? These thoughts were never cleared up during my flight.

The moment I landed, though, he slowly walked out of the water. He didn’t look at me as he started to walk into the forest, but I had the feeling I should follow. He was headed in a direction we had never gone before, and my curiosity was piqued.

“Once upon a time, there lived an ancient beast.” Dave began, speaking in a gentle tone, different to his usual gruff one. “The beast lived all alone ever since that which he loved most was taken from him. He was angry and bitter and pushed everybody else away. He hated it, but also loved it. Those he once knew had grown to hate him and despise him as well, which he didn’t mind. He deserved it, ‘cause he was a beast.

“One day the beast went a walkin’. Headed nowhere in particular, just walkin’ the pain away. It was durin’ one of these walks that he heard a commotion from not too far away. Ever the cruel one, he grinned, knowin’ exactly what this was. Someone was fightin’. He rushed to the scene, not only to watch the fight, but also eat the carcass of the loser. Huntin’ was so very hard, after all.

“A pair of eagles were fightin’ a large snake, which made the beast wonder, ‘cause the eagles always nested together, in large groups. But these two were alone, protectin’ their single egg from the serpent. Birds were ever so tasty, and the thought of eatin’ the losers made his mouth water. That was when he recognized the birds. He had heard rumors of eagles who dared to do the unthinkable. Not only raise their egg away from the others, but also make the egg a special one.

“As these thoughts swam in his old mind, the eagles were quickly losin’. One had already fallen, causin’ the other to let out mournful cries as it clawed at the snake. The beast wondered if he should jump in now, and save the mother and the egg, but hesitated when he realized that he was as much of a predator as the snake. The eagle would also be after him. He wasn’t in the mood to fight a bird, especially one that he couldn’t think of killin’, so he held back.

“With one last attempt of a strike, the second bird fell down dead, leavin’ the snake victorious and alone with the egg. This was it, the beast couldn’t watch any longer. He roared and charged at the tree, shakin’ it and causin’ the snake to fall. Frightened, the serpent slithered away before the beast could kill it. He turned back to the egg, which was about to fall from the shakin’ of the tree. The beast ran to catch it, savin’ the life that laid inside.

“The beast didn’t know what to do. The parents were dead, the snake got away, and he held a very special egg. He quickly decided to take it to one of the kindly lizards he knew, before remembering that they wouldn’t know what to do with an egg. He couldn’t take it to the eagles, they would kill him, if he could even reach ‘em. He was about to walk on and find someone who would adopt it, when he felt somethin’ inside it move.

“It was hatchin’, there was no way he could take it now. But he couldn’t have it imprint on him, he had no idea how to care for an eagle. The eagles often hunted in this area in the mornin’s, maybe one would hear the chick and save it. He gently set the egg on a bed of leaves and started to walk away, when somethin’ suddenly awoke in him. He couldn’t just leave it there to hatch alone. A parent had to be present to encourage it out. Reluctantly, the beast turned ‘round and curled ‘round the egg.

“All through the night he stayed and sung to the chick as it slowly pushed its way out. Somehow, the little thin’ timed everythin’ perfectly, and by the time it was out, the sun had risen and the eagles would be huntin’. The beast slowly walked away from the featherless creature, hidin’ in the trees and watchin’ the skies. As if by some miracle, an eagle did fly by, and it did hear the chicks desperate cries.

“The beast ducked further in the trees and watched with a smile as the eagle came upon the grisly sight of the dead parents and the lonely chick. The large bird took pity on the chick and with gentle coos carried it off, hopefully back to its nest. Somethin’ came alive in that monster that night. A feelin’ he only knew once when his youn’ was born. He thought he’d never see the chick again and continued with his usual life. For once in his long life, he felt like he did somethin’ good. He saved a life, somethin’ he failed to do twice before.”

I didn’t pay attention to where we were going as he spoke, I was too enthralled with his story. Something about it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place a claw on what that was. The beast sounded an awful lot like him, and the eagles sounded a lot like my parents. Was he the one who saved me? Solstice and Kyori did wonder why the dragon didn’t kill me. Was he the miracle?

He stopped walking when the story ended, so I stopped as well. He was looking to our left, and I turned to follow his gaze. I gasped at what I saw.

It was a small cave, barely big enough to fit Dave. It would even be too snug for two griffins. But there, right in the back, was an old griffin nest and all around it were scattered pieces of golden eggshell. I slowly walked towards the scene, it all felt like a dream.

“Solstice and Kyori thought it a miracle that the egg was unharmed. They never suspected that there was someone who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Dave explained as he stood back, watching me.

I turned to look at him. “You? It was you?”

A genuine smile curled on his lips and he nodded slowly. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be here.”

Tears built in my eyes. I was beyond thankful to him. “But why? Why didn’t you tell me?”

His smile faded and he stared at me seriously. “If you knew, would you have really fought me like you did?”

I looked back at all of our fights, all of our training. “No,” I replied honestly. “But then, why tell me now?”

He sighed. “‘Cause you needed to know.” he threw himself on the ground with a huff, staring off in the distance. “I do care for you, kid, more than you know. I just hide it ‘cause I don’t want to lose you. Damn it, kid,” he used a word I had never heard before, and I wondered if he was using a human word in our tongue, “Brimstone is goin’ to slaughter you, and I just can’t let that happen. I’ve allowed myself to love again, and again, I’m goin’ to be reminded why I shouldn’t.”

I felt for him as he spoke and took another step forward, unsure of how I should approach him. Would he be open for comforting?

“Even if I could extend your trainin’, it would be too late for me.” he winced and let out with a hiss. Tears welled up in his eyes as he turned from me again. “I’m dyin’ kid, I might make it to your fight date, if I’m careful, but even then, I don’t know. I don’t want my last memory to be your death! I can’t watch another son of mine die!”

I took another tender step closer. “But he won’t kill me,” I assured him. “I’m not going to make it a fight to the death. I can get another chance. Maybe Kyori can find a medicine to extend your life, just like she found one to heal my ribs!”

He laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Brimstone is a rule breaker, that isn’t an assurance at all. And that Guardian has already tried. I’m tried of tryin’. I don’t want to live longer, I want to die. I just don’t know how to do it.”

I was now only two steps away from him. I so wanted to comfort him, tell him everything was going to be alright. But I didn’t know how.

He let out with a long sigh and shook his head another time, standing up to look at me. There were no more tears in his eyes, and I could see him fighting to keep that same tough and angry expression. “Kid, if you’ll have me, I can finish out your trainin’. There may not be enough time to complete it, but you’re not going out there completely inexperienced.” he said gruffly.

He seemed to have forgotten his crying, but I struggled to do the same. I managed a gentle smile, even though I still wanted to nuzzle him affectionately. “Of course you can finish my training. I’ll do my best to learn all that you have to teach me.” I replied.

He nodded and started to walk away. I guessed we were heading back to the cave, after all, the sun would be rising soon. “Thank you for taking me to my nest, and telling me that story. I am sorry I couldn’t kill that sea dragon, though,”

“You’re welcome, and don’t apologize for that, kid. It wasn’t your fault. I can’t make you me, and I should be okay with that. Remember the rule? No apologizing. Not to me.” he said.

“I try to remember, I’ll try harder,”

We then fell into silence, and I was okay with that, because I was chewing on all that had happened. This night felt so long. I had learned so much, I finally realized how tired I really was. I was no longer upset that he wouldn’t straight out apologize, because Solstice was right, he did apologize to a point. I couldn’t believe that I saw my nest, something I wanted to see before I could even fly. I had forgotten about it, with all that was going on.

And that story, it lingered with me. It all made sense. I wanted to ask him if I should tell the others, but I answered the question before it even left my beak. No, this one would stay with us. If he didn’t tell it to them, then they weren’t supposed to know. The sun was halfway into the sky when we finally made it to the cave. I rushed to my nest and curled tightly up in it, watching Dave as he moved by and rested in his.

“What was that song you sang to me, the one that helped me hatch?” I asked him as we laid down.

He looked at me with his glowing orange eyes. “A lullaby. An old drake lullaby.” he replied.

“Could you please sing it to me?” I asked.

He smiled. “You already know it, you’ve heard it before.” he replied and turned to face the back cave wall.

His riddle was solved instantly in my head as I quickly shuffled through the few songs I had been sung. Then I remembered that one time he sang to him, humming a wordless song with his deep voice. I smiled, I knew I had heard it before. Deep in my bones, I felt it. I remembered it. As my tired and heavy eyes closed, I focused on his gentle song. His lullaby.

[Megaguirus]

There seemed to be a different mood in the air when we both woke the next morning. We seemed to know each other better now, and I saw him even more as a father. I nudged into him affectionately as we walked to get that unicorn he promised me, and he didn’t growl. He still lacked a smile, still had a painful gait, and didn’t talk much. But after being with him for two and a half months, I knew there was no changing him.

Once we reached the area, I caught the unicorn and we feasted beneath the moon. Dave still didn’t say a word, even when I spoke. But he didn’t seem unhappy. I wondered why. Did sharing that story upset him and he just wasn’t showing it? Or did he just use up his talking quota? Maybe there just wasn’t anything to say. I decided not to press him or test him and stayed silent myself on the way back.

He didn’t speak until we got to the training area. It reminded me of when I was first being trained.

“I am goin’ to mimic Brimstone’s moves now, so that you can learn to defeat him. You have two weeks to learn the moves before you fight him. I want you to beat me in one. Are you ready? Let’s go,”

He sprung at me roaring like a monster, giving me barely enough time to finish comprehending his words and react. I retaliated the best I could, but he moved quicker and seemed to be fighting completely at random. I was quickly defeated.

“Brimstone may be quick and random, but soon you’ll learn the pattern he uses. It’s very predictable. He will play dirty, look out for that. Let’s try this again,”

We finished out the rest of the night like that. he advise me on Dragon King, beat me, and educate me on his fighting style. I was exhausted by the time the sun rose and collapsed on my nest.

“Don’t worry, kid, you’ll get this,” he encouraged me as we fell asleep.

It was unlike him, but I didn’t question it for fear he’d stop.


“He will use his wings to try and get the upper hand. You must also fly and jump to match him. I can’t teach you, but I can tell you,” he advised after another failed fight.

We started again, and again, and again. But I continued to lose. These moves were hard to learn. I was slowly increasing the length of our fight, which I hoped meant something. But deep down, I knew it didn’t. He also used fire more, causing me to tap into that old lesson. But these flames were more sporadic and random. A fireball came flying towards me, giving me barely enough time to roll to the side to avoid it. I let out with a yelp as I rolled over on my wing, causing a sharp pain to run though my body.

I froze on the ground, panting from the pain. The pain slowly subsided, giving my vision time to clear and look up at Dave watching me from afar, eyes showing slight concern. I looked at him with a smile and tried to pull my wing back to my body, but yelped again when I moved it. I slowly stood to my legs and looked at my right wing hanging limply at my side. Everything about me was fine, except for that wing.

Dave stepped closer to me. “Can you move it?” he asked, his voice tight with concern.

He actually cared for me now. I wanted to smile, but I didn’t want him to stop showing concern, so I hid it. “No, it hurts.”

He grimaced. “Then it’s either sprained or broken.”

“Broken?!” I exclaimed, eyes wide. “I can’t be broken again,”

“I’m sure Kyori can use the same stuff she used before. C,mon, lets visit her again.” he said and started walking.

“Really?” I asked, surprised he’d suggest such a thing.

“Yes, really. We can’t fight if you’re hurt.”

I watched him limp as we walked, and remembered the healing potion she used on me. “Why haven’t you asked her for help for you?”

He laughed. “I like the pain, kid. I need the pain to remind me.”

Remind you of what? I wanted to ask, but bit my tongue before the words came out. I would only anger him if I asked, and I knew he wouldn’t give the answer.

He made the walk to Kyori’s quick, surprising me and causing me to catch up. Every step seemed to pain my injured wing and I silently cursed myself for being so stupid to let something like that happen. I always tucked in my wings when I rolled, but this time I didn’t. What if it happened during the fight with Dragon King? He would surely kill me.

We caught the Guardian curled in a circle in her cave, reading happily. She looked up in surprise to see us walking towards her.

“Oh, hello, I wasn’t expecting you.” she said, dropping the book and getting to her feet.

“The kid hurt himself durin’ our trainin’ and we want you to look at it.” he told her simply and nudged me forward.

I looked up at her with a smile and turned my wing to her.

She frowned when she saw it. “Oh dear, can you move it?”

I shook my head.

She put a claw to her chin. “Hmm, well, can I touch it to see the problem?” she asked me.

I nodded and closed my eyes, grinding my beak as she messed with my wing. It was only a minute before she let go and smiled at me.

“It’s not broken, just dislocated. If you let me, I will pop it back into place.” she told me.

I flinced. “Will it hurt?”

“Only for a moment, then it will feel all better.”

I swallowed. “Okay, do it.”

She touched my wing again and with a quiet pop it slid back into place. I let out with a sigh of relief as the pain subsided and smiled when I moved my wing painlessly. I squeaked and leapt up at her with a peck of appreciation.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” she said.

“Alright, kid, we gotta get back to trainin’. If we leave now, we can have one more go.” Dave spoke up.

I sighed and pulled away from Kyori. We locked eyes and she bowed to me. “You’re welcome, Dante. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, see you later.” I said before turning around and following after Dave.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Dave asked while we walked.

“Yeah, I rolled over on my wing,”

“Do you know how to not do it again?”

“Tuck in my wing when I roll,” I replied, looking at him curiously.

“Good, ‘cause you can’t let it happen again.”

“I know that! If I hurt my wing when I’m fighting Dragon King, he’ll kill me.”

He smirked. “You learn quick, kid, always have.”

Just as he thought, we arrived in time for one more fight. Afterwards I was exhausted and collapsed on my nest. I wished that our fighting could be over now. I was sick of this. The repetition was killing me.


Another long and repetitive week passed with little progress. I could see he was growing frustrated with me. It put a lot of pressure on me, and I wondered if it was one of the causes of my failures. I tried to understand where the old drake was coming from, and why he was frustrated. I tried to remind myself that he cared about me. But it was so hard to believe when he barely said it.

“Get this next one, kid, there’s not much time left. You gotta do this.” he encouraged before we began.

I tried, and succeeded closer than ever before. I had to push my limits and use all of my tricks, but I nearly defeated him.

He laughed. “That’s the spirit kid! Come at me again!”

I did, but it ended quicker than ever before. “I-I can’t do this anymore. Too tired,” I panted, my entire body limp.

He looked down at me. “Yes you can, kid. Your life depends on it.”

I shut my eyes. “I don’t want to die. I wish that beast followed the rules.” I whined, holding back tears.

I heard him let out with a huff. “You won’t die, kid. I promise you, that ain’t gonna happen.”

I opened my eyes and stared up at him. He stared earnestly back. I was too exhausted to realize what that meant, and didn’t even question it. I just smiled, taking it as a way of him telling me he cares. “Thank you,”

He huffed. “Not a problem,” he said as he sat down.

I pushed myself back up on wobbly legs and sat beside him. He stared out at nothing, the only sound was the heavy breathing of his chest. I studied his scarred and old body, remembering what he said to Solstice. Sighing, I rested my head on his shoulder.

He let out with a grunt of surprise and turned his head to look at me for a moment before going back to staring at nothing.

Eventually, the sky started to lighten, causing us both to rise and walk home. “Give me your best shot tomorrow, kid. And never give up,” he told me as we laid to rest.

I nodded and closed my eyes.


As the days passed, Dave started to grow more sentimental with me. “You know, kid, I would probably be dead by now if it wasn’t for you.”

I looked up from my meal, surprised. “Really?” I inquired. “Why?”

“Huntin’ is very hard for an old beast like me. Most of my kills got away from me. The one you saw me catch was my first in weeks. But now with you to hunt for me, I never go hungry.” he told me briefly.

I smiled at him. “I’m glad you appreciate my company,”

He shook his head. “Didn’t say that. I just like your strength,” he stood with a grunt. “I’m headin’ to the fightin’ grounds now, see you when you get there,”

“Okay!” I called back as I watched him walk away.

Just as I finished with my kill, a familiar voice called from the air. “Dante!”

Surprised, I looked up to greet my scaled friend. “Cobble! Nice to see you again!”

He flashed a smile before getting serious. He glanced around, “Where’s Dave?” he asked.

“He’s headed off to the fighting grounds, I was just about to meet him. Why?” I replied, head cocked.

“My brother was testing his wings. I give him another week before he’s ready to fight.” he told me.

My eyes widened. “Really? But I’m not ready!” I said, shaking my head.

“You know my brother doesn’t care about that. Oh Dante, I’m glad you can’t hear the words he says. He’s been waiting a long time to fight you, and he wants blood.”

“Of course he does, that’s all that beast ever talks about,” Dave’s voice said from behind me.

“Dave? I thought you were at the fighting grounds.” I exclaimed.

“I was until I saw that copy’s shadow fly overhead. I rushed back ‘cause I thought he was gonna talk with you. We don’t have time for that.” he replied.

“Oh no, I know, Dave, I normally wouldn’t have come. But I knew you two had to know.”

“So what do we do?” I asked both of them.

“Train harder, fight harder. You are so close, kid, you can do it in a week. No, less than a week.” he assured me.

“You really think so?” I asked him.

He nodded with a grunt.

“Okay, well, since the news in delivered, I guess I’ll be going now.” Cobblestone said, shifting a little.

I smiled and ran at him, nuzzling his chest. “Okay! I’ll see you in a week,” I said, holding back my fear.

Dave, naturally, said nothing as we watched him fly away. Then he looked over at me, pointing his nose in the direction of the fighting grounds. “C’mon, no time like the present,” he encouraged as we walked away.

The news didn’t fill me with fighting spirit, it actually crushed it. I felt like I would never get this, I had tried, day after day, and kept failing. And if I couldn’t fight Dave pretending to be Dragon King, how could I fight the actual Dragon King? Dave, however, seemed to have a spring to his step, and this scared me. He was going to train me that much harder, that much quicker.

“C’mon, kid, you got this. You have to do this,” he told me as I readied myself.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, focusing my attention on my claws, wings and beak. Fight, I had to fight. And so, with a screech, I charged, using all of my energy to power my muscles and weapons to fight Dragon King.

I failed. Once, twice, three more times I got beat to the ground.

“You tried, kid, tomorrow is another day,” Dave simply told me and walked off, forcing me to drag my bruised body after him.

I couldn’t sleep at all that day. There was no comfortable part of my body to lay on, every bit was bruised and beaten. And my head was swimming with doubts and fears. I was going to die, and fail everyone. The worst part about it was my friends back at The Circle of Mountains had no idea. Erion, Trinity and even Dimidas all probably thought I was dead. I snorted at that thought. In a week, I will be.

I rolled over on my back with a huff. If only Kage was here, and if I squinted hard enough, I could imagine Lofty watching me from the back of the cave. Her gentle eyes giving me that silent encouragement that helped me grow. They were taken from me. Killed before my eyes. By that monster, that disgrace to dragons.

That thought, the thought of anger, was finally enough to lull me to sleep.


It stayed with me through the morning, and Dave noticed the determined stride with a grin. It scared me, his murderous suspicious grin, but it also comforted me. In the same way Lofty rewarded my kindness with a gentle smile, Dave rewarded my anger with a vicious one. By the time we had eaten and made it to the hunting grounds, I was more than ready to train.

I came close this time, and made sure my anger stayed with me for the next day. But it wasn’t enough. I had lost count of the days I was so focused on fighting, but Cobblestone’s arrival gave me the date. It was time.

He interrupted a training session with concerned eyes. Dave glared at him, eager for the news. Cobble prepared himself, taking a deep breath.

“My brother has healed,” he said slowly. Just those four words were enough to make hot smoke billow from Dave’s nostrils. Cobble naturally backed away, afraid Dave would kill the messenger. “He also said that if you don’t challenge him tomorrow night, he will scour the land for you and kill you before you get the chance.”

Dave turned to me as I was just standing there, taking it all in and fighting my conflicting feelings. I looked Dave in the eyes and cowered from him. There was so much anger in those burning coals. He took a slow and smokey exhale.

“You did good, kid, if that monster gave you four more days, I know you could’ve done it. Do you remember what I taught you?” he told me.

I nodded.

“Good, then that is more than enough. I have no regrets, I taught you all I knew. Good luck, kid.” he said and started to walk away.

It took me a minute to realize he was leaving, I was still processing everything, and I called after him. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Home, kid. This is your last night before you fight Brimstone for the throne. I don’t think you want to spend that with me.” he said before vanishing in the trees.

I looked desperately at Cobblestone, terrified and abandoned. It finally hit me that my training was over. Did that mean Dave was done with me? After having him push me, and teach me and beat me for almost three months, I was at a loss.

“What do I do now?” I asked Cobble, desperately.

He smiled at me. “What do you want to do?”

His question made me realize what I wanted to do. If this was my last night alive, who did I want to spend it with? Who did I want to say goodbye to the most? I smiled at him.

“I want to see Trinity,” I told him and spread my wings.

His eyes widened. “Trinity? Your griffin friend?” he asked.

I nodded, a confident smile on my face. “I know Dimidas said he’d kill me if he saw me there again, but he doesn’t have to know. I know she’s sleeping, but if I can just slip in and tell her goodbye, then I know I can fight.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “Okay then, go. I’ll see you in Dragon’s Land,”

I tried to hold back tears, because what I was planning to do now was enough of a death wish. “Thanks, see you then,” I told him and took off.

I broke through the treeline, expecting to see The Circle of Mountains up ahead, but instead all I saw was The Great Waters. I shook my head and turned around, there it was, my old home. I sped toward it without a second thought. Half of the night was already gone, I didn’t have much time left.

The closer I got, the slower I flew. My fear was creeping up on me, and I fought away its paralyzing whispers. Blackbird’s skull shone in the dim moonlight. The sun had polished it a glimmering white, but that didn’t make it any less uglier. I softly landed on the Pillar and looked down, trying to remember where Trinity slept. These caves were such a mess, and I hadn’t seen them in so long, I forgot which one.

Suddenly, some movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to freeze. I was sure it was Dimidas, or some terrified griffin ready to sound the alarm. But instead, to my delight, it was Trinity. She blinked a few times, probably believing herself to be dreaming.

“Dante?” she whispered.

I nodded.

I heard the tiniest little gasp escape her beak. Tears started to run down her face. I could see her hesitation. She wanted to fly up and greet me, but she was also terrified.

“I haven’t changed, Trin, it’s still me.” I assured her.

With a shuddering breath, she slowly flew her way up to me. She landed on the Pillar, still keeping her distance.

I was taken aback by her beauty. She had matured, too.

We were both frozen for a moment, taking each other in. Even I was beginning to doubt if this was a dream.

“W-why did you come here? If-if Dimidas finds out,” she stuttered.

“He won’t, Trinity, not if we’re careful. And I came to tell you that I’m going to do it, I’m going to knock Dragon King off his throne tomorrow.”

“W-what?” she squeaked. “B-but, isn’t he their leader?”

“Not once I’m done with him,” I boasted, puffing my feathers. I felt stronger with her in front of me.

“I guess that’s possible, you have grown. But why are you fighting him?”

“So that I can become the leader of the dragons. Fulfill that prophecy.” I realized all that I was telling her sound crazy, and it was. I shook my head. “Look, Trin, I’m not trying to make you crazy by explaining all of this. I just came here to invite you to the battle. The dragons aren’t at all like you’ve been told. Only Dragon King fills that roll. I need you with me, I need you to give me encouragement.”

Her fear increased when I asked her to come. I knew this was a bad idea. “B-but, Dimidas will know, and he’ll banish me. I can’t leave my parents, I can’t leave this safety.” she started to back up.

“Once I become king, Dimidas won’t matter anymore. You can live with me, with the dragons. And eventually, we can convince Dimidas and you can see your parents again. Please, Trinity, I need you.” I begged her.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Dante, but I can’t take that risk.” she was visibly shaking, which made me feel horrible.

I sighed and shook my head. “You’re right, I’m sorry. But since this is probably the last time you’ll see me, can we at least nuzzle, one last time?”

She hesitated, it looked like every bone in her body wanted her to run. But slowly, she crept toward me, and touched her beak to mine. Then her beak slipped down to my cheek, before burying itself in my neck feathers.

I turned to reciprocate, letting out with a comforted purr as I breathed in her soft scent. We pulled back after a minute and I could see that she had calmed down a little. She started to back away again, causing my heart to sink.

“Goodbye, Dante,” she said and spread her wings.

“I’ll come back once I’m king, Trinity. This isn’t goodbye,” I told her. I wouldn’t admit it, because if I did, I was digging my own grave.

She flashed a tiny smile before flying back down without a word.

I gave myself a minute to soak the scene in before flying off myself. I tried, and I didn’t blame her for staying. She was always a fearful griffin, it was wrong for me to ask her in the first place. I only gave up that home because I was forced to. I didn’t belong, I was half dragon. But she was all griffin, she belonged there.

As I flew, the cool breeze ruffling my feathers, I realized I had nowhere safe to sleep. Kyori didn’t sleep and moved around too often, Cobblestone lived with the dragons, and Solstice was stuck with those flowers. I knew Dave had already said goodbye, but I didn’t. I lowered myself into the trees, where everything was a little more familiar, and flew to Dave’s cave.

The old drake was always predictable, because I found him soaking in his pond. He wasn’t sleep, though, because he spotted me right away. He didn’t grumble or growl, he didn’t even scowl at me. Instead, he flashed a simple smile.

“Nowhere else to go?” he asked.

“Nowhere else that felt safe,” I replied and joined him in the pond with a sigh.

“What did you spend your last night doin’?”

“I tried to convince Trinity to come with me.”

“Who’s that?”

“A friend of mine, a griffin, actually.”

He looked around. “I’m guessin’ he didn’t come?”

“‘She’ and no, it was a failure.”

“Well, they are very simple-minded creatures, can’t say I’m not surprised.”

Tears started to form in my eyes. “But I needed her, Dave, I needed her to be there for me. To cheer me on. She’s my last true friend from there, but I guess she wasn’t a true enough friend.”

“You’re talkin’ like you’re gonna die tomorrow.”

“That’s because I am!”

He growled at me. “No you ain’t! I told you I wasn’t goin’ to allow that! Listen, kid, even if you fail, I won’t let him kill you and you’ll get another chance. Ask your friend again then,”

I looked at him with tear filled eyes. “How can you promise that?”

“I have my ways,” he replied. “Listen, how old are you, six, seven months?”

“I think I’m close to seven months, now,”

He grinned. “Then you’re halfway to maturity!”

It took a minute for it to occur to me what he said. “Maturity, I know that. That’s when griffins get golden beaks and do a mating dance.”

He paused for a moment, probably thinking on the mating dance, and nodded. “Ask your friend again then, I’m sure she’ll have a different opinion.”

“Really?”

He chuckled. “My mate and I were friends for twelve months until somethin’ kicked in and we both saw each other differently. I don’t doubt it’ll be the same for you.” he stood up from the lake. “Well, kid, looks like the sun is risin’, time for bed. I suggest you get it, you’re gonna need it tomorrow.”

“Of course,” I replied and walked off to my nest. “Thanks for the encouragement, Dave.”

He smiled at me. “Not a problem, kid,”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this chapter is a little rushed. I couldn't help it, I haven't written in this story for months, I had to rush through this chapter in order to get my muse back. Also, hi Trinity, how's it going? Long time no see.