A Dragon's Story

Sunrise

The first time Ezekiel disappointed his family, he was three years old, or at least that was when he knew he had disappointed them. He could've been doing it the whole time, he was born a light elemental dragon, an element which wasn't hereditary from either of his parents, one being dark and the other earth. Anyway, from a young age it was evident that his parents weren't willing to put the effort in to know him, that in the end, he'd never be enough. He would try, try so hard to the point he'd come home from hunting with plenty of rare prey and cuts and bruises, and it was never enough.

Was it worth trying with anything if even his parent couldn't love him? He didn't know the answer, and so he left his mind drift, seeking an answer as he moved forward.

The storm ahead blared it's agonizing cries as it's snow howled repetitiously towards the hazy and concealed ground as if a fog of snowflakes made it unclear where to step next. The snow was hardened, eddies of water frozen below and mountains of soft wool condensed down to a firm layer of snow. As vigorous and as rampageous as the storm was, far beyond mere flurries, there wasn't many mounds or humps, it was a landscape of pure smoothness, a smoothness that made it easy to slip.

THUMP!

"Ouch..." Ezekiel mumbled, rubbing his right talon over his black scaled head and blood horns as he then deflected the gusts of snow from his white eyes with the other. He winced and felt his eyelids rapidly twitch as he tried to look down at his collapsed body, observing his dark black scales, burgundy-colored belly and claws, as well as the odd white strip of scales which covered his neck. He flicked his wings, the outlines all jet black while the insides were a wine and currant mix. He then flicked his tail to see the ruby trail of spikes which followed from the top of his head all the way to his scarlet arrow tail spike all to be fine.

Ezekiel sighed in relief, letting his shoulders drop a bit. "Few, nothing is hurt." He groaned exhaustingly as he began to get up, his blinking slowing down as his head throbbed back and forth wearily. I just want to go home... Ezekiel thought, feeling his head get heavy as he stood up and looked longingly towards the camouflaged trail ahead, yawning softly as his eyelids twitched from exhaustion.

 Suddenly, he saw a silhouette of a tall dragon in the distant path. He immediately widened his stance and leaned his neck forward, squinting to make sure but couldn't tell if it was just the exhaustion or if there was really a dragon there.

Then, there was laughter, but not a grown dragon's laughter, it was a child's.

Ezekiel felt a rush of pain hit his head, clenching onto the sides of his head and rocking it in agony, grumbling painfully. It was as if his head was being hit with two different realities, one of imperfection and struggle, and one of want and desire.

The dragon ahead then seemingly was acquainted with two younger dragons from out of the blue, both laughing with particularly joyous tones to their laughs. The taller one spoke of something of love and care, but Ezekiel could barely hear it through the storm, let alone retain it with the tiredness lurking over his shoulder. As the three dragons ahead seemed to all be communicating gleefully, something startled them, forcing them all to lift their heads, all towards the direction of where Ezekiel was standing.

Ezekiel froze, unable to move. He intended to say something, but nothing would come out, it was as if the cold air had frozen his vocal cords shut. Who were these dragons? Were they from... Paradise? He thought, softly moving one step forward.

Suddenly, and ever so slightly, as Ezekiel moved ever so slightly he saw the older one's tail wag. It was a strange detail for Ezekiel to notice, in fact, it seemed almost out of character for it to catch his attention. He breathed, something like fire within him, it was like he could feel the light in him, for the first time in... forever. He uncontrollably lifted his talon slightly up, his mind flashing images of his broken family, and now looking at this happy one, it made freeze, stagger breathing.