Icarus

The first thing Icarus saw when he opened his eyes for the first time was the sun. From that moment on, he was obsessed. The other clan hatchlings would play with one another or their caretakers Boris and Serah, but Icarus had no interest in other dragons. His only love in life was that giant ball of light in the sky—it was the most beautiful thing he knew he’d ever see, even if he lived to be the oldest dragon alive. Serah and Boris were deeply worried about Icarus—he had never attempted to communicate with any other living being, he barely ate, and they were worried that he would be forced to live alone. After all, what clan would take in a dragon who just stared at the sun all day? And that’s what Icarus would do. He woke every day exactly 5 minutes before dawn and ran to his favorite spot—a large rock jutting above the tree canopy, allowing him an unobscured view of that glorious ball of light. He would sit on his rock all day, slowly following the sun’s path through the sky and adjusting his position accordingly. Food would be brought to him by another clan member, but even when he ate, he never took his eyes from the sky. When the other hatchlings began learning to fly, hunt, and fight, Icarus remained sitting on his rock. He may have remained sitting there for all of eternity if it weren’t for a fateful storm…

The storm lasted two weeks, devastating the landscape. Rain cascaded down for days on end, completely submerging the clan’s territory. But none of this mattered to Icarus except for one thing: he couldn’t see the sun. He walked around for two weeks with his eyes glazed over, almost like a ghost. He wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t interact with any of the other dragons (not that that was unusual). Finally, on the dawn of the fifteenth day, the storm ceased, and the sun rose. Icarus ran to the top of his rock and watched the sun rise, a joyous expression on his face as if he had been blind and was finally given the gift of sight. Serah and Boris watched him go, shaking their heads in exasperation, and turned their attention back to the other playful hatchlings, knowing Icarus would watch the sun all day.

But those two weeks without sunlight had finally snapped something in Icarus. When the sun was at the height of its ascent, directly overhead, Icarus was gone. He pushed off his rock with a mighty leap and took to the skies. While it wasn’t unusual for a dragon his age to be able to fly, Icarus had never flown before, and even dragons his age were unable to fly as he did on that day. He pierced through the sky, wings beating rapidly and steadily, shooting straight for that great shining orb above him. His speed and rhythm never faltered, mile after mile, up and up, he kept flying. Finally one of the hatchlings on the ground saw him and called out, alerting nearby clan members to his peril. Hector, the strongest clan male, immediately took to the skies, but it was clear that Icarus was the faster flyer. Hector kept flying, refusing to give up on the hatchlings even though it seemed hope was lost. Then, a grey blur shot past Hector, speeding like a bullet towards Icarus. It was KucKuc, the alpha female of the clan, and the fastest of them all. If KucKuc couldn’t catch him, the clan knew that no dragon alive would be able to. Although Icarus had a head start, KucKuc’s eyes flashed with determination and her muscles strained as she pushed faster and faster. Steadily, she gained ground on Icarus, getting closer and closer with each wing beat, the entire clan watching intently from the ground and the sky. Icarus had flown so high now that it became hard to breathe, the air was getting thinner, but still he pushed on, determined to reach his goal. Even though KucKuc was gaining ground on Icarus, she was still miles below him, and he showed no signs of tiring.

Then Icarus felt it. The sensation of a thousand pinpricks all over his body. He flinched from the pain but refused to stop flying, his determination to reach the sun never dwindling. His vision began to blur, the pinpricks on his body began to feel more like knives, and he was gasping for air that wasn’t there. Finally, his vision went dark and Icarus blacked out, his wings finally ceasing their frantic motion. Below him KucKuc’s eyes flashed in terror as she realized what had happened, but she pushed on. The distance between them decreased faster and faster as Icarus began plummeting through the sky, away from the beautiful sun he loved so much and towards the cruel earth that would likely be his grave. But not if KucKuc could help it. A vicious resolve shown in her eyes as she continued hurtling upwards, her eyes locked onto the falling dragon above her. The clan below held their breaths until… WHAM! Icarus landed heavily into KucKuc’s waiting talons, her flight muscles straining with the force of impact. But now that she had him safely wrapped in her arms, she would never let him go. The two dragons returned safely to the ground, immediately overwhelmed by clan members desperate to know if Icarus had made it to the ground alive.

Izrea, the clan’s healer, pushed her way through the throng of dragons, hurling obscenities at those who didn’t move out of her way fast enough. After a thorough examination, she announced that Icarus would live, but not without severe alterations to his physical appearance. His previously monotone skin had become flecked with dark splotches covering his entire body. After several weeks, when his wounds had healed, large, raised black spots covered his body as well, scars left over from the damage caused by the sun’s harmful rays. Upon regaining consciousness, Icarus was unfazed by his new appearance, wearing his scars like badges of pride, much to the shock and amusement of the rest of the clan.

Icarus’ fearless journey to the sun went down in dragon history, and his own clan members weren’t the only ones that noticed. Several days after the incident, a stunning male Imperial named Celyn visited the clan. He was impressed by Icarus’ unfaltering passion for the sun, and offered Icarus a place in his own clan—a clan where he would never be judged for his obsession. Icarus never officially accepted the offer, but when Celyn announced he was returning to his clan, Icarus left with him. At home in his new clan, Icarus unintentionally began a sunrise vigil. Every morning, a small group of clan members would rise with Icarus and follow him to the top of large mountain in their clan’s territory. They would sit next to Icarus and watch the sunrise, learning to appreciate the beauty of the sun that had captivated Icarus since the day he was born. Eventually, after the sun had risen fully, they would make their way one by one back down the mountain to attend to other clan duties. But Icarus remained, a contented expression on his face, basking in the rays of that glorious sun.