Cinder

The Pestilent Monster
unstable / unpredictable / cursed / quelled / silent

No one is quite certain from which Cinder came. One moment, the clan was in its relative peace, and the next there was an onslaught of destruction. Several dragons fled, screaming of the contagion that had infested their scales; others fell beneath the claws of the huge menace that had wandered into their safe haven. Some said that he was a curse from the Plaguebringer; others said he was one part of a fallen Emperor that had been cast away. Regardless of what he was, his rage was unstoppable; even Blitz was left with scars from their encounter.

There was only one force that proved enough to stop him. Through his blind rage, he stormed through the tunnels, caving areas in behind him, and emerged to a clearing, bubbling and snarling and spewing mucus. Eggs were safely nestled in the back; the hatchlings stared at him with great eyes and let out blood-curdling shrieks. They ran to their shared mother; a dragon somehow larger than him, with wings that shone as bright as the sun. With a single claw, she might have stricken him down. But she did not.

Drawing close to the abomination that confronted her, Pyre spoke softly and quelled the monster's rage. Not even the hatchlings knew what she said to stop him, only that she did. His eyes were hidden, face always concealed, lest he catch sight of another dragon and fly back into his frenzy. He seldom speaks, and only Pyre and Leif have ever truly heard him. His wounds have never healed, always leaking blood and ooze if left unattended. Despite Rune and Kara's insistence, he was not allowed to be studied. Cursed he may be, it was not something to be tampered with.

None other than Pyre may ever know the truth of a home before this one; of a land full of resilient life which allowed him happiness; of a family that grew and flourished before the overgrowth came and pierced them straight through. His darling mate, gnarled and twisted among branches that shot through her bright and brilliant wings, her dark flesh; his small hatchlings, nothing but leaves on twisting vines. And him, a monster reborn for vengeance, mind consumed with rage and regret - only to be calmed by a soul he recognized, by a pair of dazzling wings as bright as the morning...