Brambles twist and writhe beneath his flesh, some bursting out to entangle his wings and torso, an unfortunate side effect of his father's sick experiments. They cause him agony every day as more and more emerge from his body, tearing through his scales to wrap around him in a vice grip.

As a hatchling there appeared to be nothing wrong with him, Father believed his experiments had failed thus made no protest when Mother took him and Brother away. But little by little things started to go wrong. His baby teeth never fell out, instead, his adult ones grew in front of them and now permanently rest outside his lips in a macabre grin. His antlers turned brittle and crumbled away within mere days after his birth. The brambles only made an appearance once he reached adolescence, burrowing out from his chest after engulfing his heart and forming thorny branches where his antlers used to be.

He guards the exposed glowing blue core of his heart fiercely, hiding it beneath his shirt so a scarce few know of his weakness, he trusts no one but Mother and Sister. Nobody knows how long his body will last under the strain of the ever-growing brambles.

He doesn't fear death. Mother says he's beautiful.

Written by: QuanTea