Wings of Fire: Nighthawk

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

He woke up in an alley, it was dark, cold and filthy. An immense pain in his stomach throbbed and he felt a warm wetness down against his scales. Now alarmed at the new feeling he jolted up and groaned in pain as he glanced at his black blood soaked talon. "What the hell.." He then lifted the other to glance at it. "..No.. what's going on.. agh.." he coughed a bit and tried to stand up only to collapse on the ground.
"Dove.." he choked out. "Pine- keh.." he coughed again. His vision faded slightly and he heard talons approaching. Then he felt a warmth smoothness touch his shoulder and back. It caused him to flinch. "..Get off me..!" He roared as he pushed up and back. He saw a sand dragon. "Dragon!" He yelled while reaching for the closest thing he could find to use as a weapon. He reached for a discarded bone which he guessed was from a lizard before swinging it.
"Calm down!" The dragon was female with pale sandy scales and dark eyes. He couldn't tell if she was pretty or not, unaware of any dragon standards. She grabbed the bone and took it away. "I'm helping you. You're bleeding, and you will die if I don't." She stated as she took his talons. "Up. Let's go. Now before they find us."
"What the bloody hell..who are you-?" He was surprised to learn he could understand her. Humans couldn't understand dragons, but he wasn't a human anymore. He coughed again and slowly got up, wincing.
"I'll tell you soon, we need to leave. Now." She said. She put his large black wing over herself and carried him down the alley. "Moons what a mess.." she sighed. "Try to walk please."
The male stayed quiet, walking as best he could. Occasionally he coughed as they walked down the alley, staying in the shadows. He could smell and hear all sorts of new, interesting things. Baked camels, dates and small coal fires roasting food. He heard dragonets playing and scampering about and dragons chattering All around. All new to him, for the most part. Eventually they arrived at a hut.
He was led to a bed and the female helped him in it. The hut was clean, neat and well maintained. A small oil lantern rest on a table to light the room. "Who are you.?"
"I am a healer, my name is Aloe. Like the plant." She said quietly. She brought something to clean the wound, a bottle of a clear liquid and some bandages. "Hold still. It's gonna sting."
"Right-" He recognized what she was doing. Sanitizing the wound and wrapping him up. He held still and took a deep breath. He was in shock at the moment, trying to remember the events in detail and order that led to where he was now. He remembered a large sand dragon with a gold necklace, two on either side of him. His wife and son trying to get to him while being locked in a cage that was ultimately brought to what he assumed was a kitchen. He shivered, fearing they were killed and eaten by dragons.
As the wound was cleaned he hissed in pain but held still. "..They're gone.. aren't they?" He asked, despair in his voice as he looked up at this mysterious dragon.
"Who?" She asked as she glanced at him. "The gang? No. But we are safe here." She worked on stitching the wound. "That was a big dagger that did this. You're lucky I got here in time." The heat from her talons helped soothe the pain slightly as she cleaned and closed the wound. With the added light, he could definitely see she took care of herself because her face was clean as if she had a daily routine for scale care. The Nightwing blinked and took a deep breath.
"My wife and son..gone, they are them didn't they? They were.. Humans.. I know dragons eat humans.." He said as he looked down. "God they're gone!"
"You were.. married to a human?" She tilted her head a little. "That's weird-"
"No, I was a human. Those bastards did something to make me like this! Now I'm a big, clunky dragon." He said with a small, spiteful growl.
"Wait.. what?" Aloe seemed shocked at this. "That's..wow, okay. Some freaky magic going on there.. are you insane? Did you loose too much blood to your head?" She then recoiled a little, since she saw that was the wrong question to ask.
"NO!" He yelled. "I was a human, they transformed me into a dragon!" He said, finding a tiny ring on his claw. "This is human sized. Wedding ring." It was bent and broken open to accommodate for the sudden growth and change. "My family is gone.."
Aloe took a deep breath, shaking her head. "Alright.. alright. Take some deep breaths. It's going to be fine. We will figure it out. Maybe they weren't eaten yet. Do you have a name?"
"No." He said. "Not a dragon name. It was Oak." He said. He took some deep breaths like she said, laying on his side. He rubbed his eyes. "I need one? Do you have a mirror?"
"Yes. Here." Aloe handed him a small round mirror she could use. And she saw his shocked expression as he looked into it.
"Fuckin hell.." He said. He had mostly black, clean scales. No scars anymore. The top of his snout and muzzle were a crimson color, and his eyes a dark red. "This is who I am now.." he sighed. He took another deep breath before setting the mirror down.
"You're gonna need a name then." She said. "Do you want help? You are a Nightwing, so you could do something mysterious or something based on what you're good at."
He thought for a moment, listening to her as she gave suggestions and such. He then shook his head. "I'm going to go by Nighthawk."