3113 A.S.
The dragonet wiped his tear-filled eyes with a loud sigh, staring down at the remnants of his family. One single daisy lying at the foot of the stones in front of him.
"I'm sorry, grandfather," he whispered as he bowed his head.
"He went this way!" a voice called from outside the open door of his home, the sound of talons crunching the sand on the beach growing louder.
He quickly flung himself up towards the roof and buried his way into the thick fronds he had laid for cover just a few days before.
Several armed SeaWings burst into the center of the room, some of them bleeding from various places but all of them breathing heavy.
"Here lies Prince Fathom...Princess Indigo...what a clownfish!" one of the guards laughed, tapping his spear against the stone. "I didn't know monsters were allowed a proper burial.
The dragonet's muscles tensed up from those few words.
Monsters? Typhoon is the monster! I didn't send for my own family's execution!
"Hey, hey, quiet down! We're going to scare him off again!" one of the other guards whispered with a set of talons clutched to his bleeding neck. His expression was full of worry, almost as if he felt like he was going to bleed out right on this beach.
Would serve him right if he did. The dragonet thought mischievously, pressing back further into the shadows.
His tail weaved its way through the other side of the fronds, scaring of an albatross that had landed nearby.
"He's here..." several of the guards whispered before the largest one, the one who laughed, stepped forward.
"Rivulet, by order of Queen Typhoon, you are to surrender yourself to the crown and await your imminent execution!"
The guards started to fan out around the main room, poking different objects with their spears while their eyes trailed over the room and over his dark scales.
"If not, we will simply execute you here and now, and we will destroy any memory of you and your family, starting with Fathom's grave!" he continued with a sinister smile.
"No..." Rivulet whispered, drawing attention of the guard closest to him.
Her eyes glared straight into his and he couldn't help but notice how young she looked; how beautiful she looked.
"Auugh!" he screamed in pain as she flashed the fluorescent scales along her entire body, temporarily blinding him.
"There! He's in the roof!" she shouted before lurching at him, he claws coming just shy of his scales.
Rivulet tucked his body in and rolled backwards out of the roof and onto the beach below. He gathered himself up on his feet, galloping quickly towards the ocean as several other SeaWings pursued quickly.
He dove into the dark ocean, quickly immersing himself in the waves. Three guards dove in after him, their bodies streamlined as they swam after him. He quickly banked towards the island, swimming down further until his dark blue scaled blended in with the water.
Only one of them followed him, his scales lighting up along his body to shine way through the dark waters and drawing the attention of several large, aggressive fish. Rivulet slowly paddled toward the side, trying to tear his eyes away from the writhing SeaWing as he was pulled apart limb from limb. The red-tinted water floated up towards the other two guards, sending them scurrying up out of the water.
