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The world was a very cruel place, especially for mythical creatures like you. Although the existence of fairies, mermaids, goblins, elves and dragons was known, they were still very rare creatures, rarely seen by the ordinary human eye. This, however, made them not only a target for the curious ones, but often a greedy trophy for the less humane ones, who longed only for their heads as a bloody vaunt in their throne room, or as a boast and attraction for their friends.

And that were you for as long as you could remember. From where your memory went, you were dragged from place to place, like an animal, to which added the way how, on a chain. You knew no other place to sleep than the cage, no other treatment than the constant human dirty hands, whichhad nothing good in mind and in the end they didn't really have.

When you were a small child, smugglers caught you playing on the outskirts of your native land and that was the beginning of all this. It had been so long that you had no memory of where you came from. That only added to the feeling that this has been happening all your life. You didn't remember any beautiful castle, the great wild gardens where fairies flew and goblins ran around, you didn't remember the dragons who were the protectors of this land, along with the royal dragon family, who ruled this kingdom, or the elves who were gifted with magic.

You only knew people. Human lands, full of wars, full of hunger, full of filth and hatred that they sent to themselves, and especially to creatures like you. You didn't know how looked warm smiles. How sounded kind words. You knew just fear, pain, and cruelty.

The last person who bought you, sold you to the pirates for a few quid because he couldn't handle you anymore. There was never anyone, whom you give something for free. Although fear was the most familiar feeling, it never overcame you and you always defended yourself. Your hot dragon blood has never let you down, never left you without the slightest resistance. Therefore, the man ended up with deep scars from your fangs and claws, which, like the small horns and spines on your tail and wings, grew back, even though a terrifying number of people tried to polish them or even get rid of them altogether.

You could thank your strong, though not entirely fast, regeneration, which was another great quality of your kind. Black horns and wings, claws and a reptilian tail that grew from your spine, which was dotted with golden scales, as well as on top of it with golden spines. The golden scales that also dotted your spine, shoulders and hips. And finally, sharp canines and golden irises, in which there was a lens that was able to shrink into a narrow vertical line like other reptiles have, when it was dark, or when you were in danger, which was constant.

You had been with the pirates on the ship for a week, which you were able to find out when you count how many times the night turned into a day and vice versa. You were chained to the wall by your neck and wrists. You couldn't even eat or drink properly when they hadn't forgotten to bring you something. Your wings were painfully tied to each other by ropes, from which you could sense, just by smell, that blood was constantly dripping from them. You could only thank your body that the wounds could not become inflamed.

You licked your dry lips with your even drier tongue, you were dehydrated at such a level that your body could not produce any tears or sweat, and in all horror, with your eyes down, you listened as the door to the hold opened. You hoped that it was again just someone who had gone to the warehouse, which was just the door of your tiny cell, that he would only take ammunition or something else, but instead the steps continued closer, to your door, where a bundle of metal keys rattled for a while before it opened wide.

"It's fucking time to you pay for all that food and water you get, you disgusting creature." You saw the man untie the heavy belt of his pants. You didn't need much to figure out what this meant, what he wanted from you.