Automatonic

From his hatching, Automatonic was different from his siblings Wintermane and Malware. Instead of playing their dragonet games, he liked to sit by himself in a corner, tinkering with gears and scraps of metal.

His mind was different from most. At first, his parents Draugr and Zeeva tried to get him involved in social gatherings and family time, but they soon gave up trying. He was awkward and shy around others. When he did speak, it was normally something that no one could understand.

Being unable to communicate with others, Automatonic spent much time in any sort of knowledge that he could get his talons on. He loved science, but his favorite subject was math. He loved seeing how math tied to the real world, and began applying his understanding of mathematics to metal. Before long, he started creating things, little robots and devices to make life easier.

His favorite creation was a bird made of green scrap metal that could hop and make tinkling sounds in its throat from rattling gears. Automatonic loved his bird and called it Evergreen, and from that point on he was never seen without the metal bird on his shoulder.

Unlike others, his mind was abstract. He struggled to socially interact because he was on a different level of thinking altogether. While he could grasp the most difficult mathematical algorithms, simple things such as understanding that his mother wanted him to come out by the desperate tone in her voice completely slipped his mind altogether.

Automatonic became more and more removed as he got older. He spent most of his time in his den, building new machines. He continued to upgrade Evergreen, giving his little robot friend interesting new features, such as camera eyes and a beak that could also serve as a knife as well. His brothers started calling him "Mech" for his fascination with machines, and he was soon well-known by the nickname.

If anyone ever had a technical problem, they brought it to him. He spoke to machines with such a comfort and ease as though they were his own family. Automatonic never realized he was growing distant from his real family in doing so.

Despite his technical genius, he was very innocent and confused around other dragons. He couldn't communicate at all. He was left feeling disconnected from the real world, and sometimes he wished he was a normal dragon. Being a genius and different from everyone else, although it gives you respect, often leaves you feeling lost and alone. Automatonic had grown so absorbed in his escape from his weaknesses in life that he forgot his life altogether.

Reality was jarred back into him when his brothers were exalted and his father left the clan. It hit him deeply, although he never expressed it. He couldn't understand. He thought he'd done everything right, but now he felt empty. He had never realized that he'd left behind the most important things in life: his family. Automatonic couldn't speak to his father or brothers anymore, and so he retreated to his den. He didn't come out for weeks, struggling with his grief. He'd never had such trouble with his emotions before. The Mirror talked his heart out to Evergreen a million times, hoping for comfort when he brushed the bird's metal wings with his claws, but all he felt was cold, hard metal.

Evergreen had no heart. It was just a crutch, something Automatonic had held on to and in doing so forsaken those he truly loved. His living, breathing family felt as though he was never around, and they were right.

When Mech finally emerged from his den, troubling news greeted him. His mother Zeeva had been captured by a rival clan that held her hostage. They needed someone to infiltrate the group and be a spy so that they could organize an attack and bring her back.

Automatonic made the biggest decision of his life when he volunteered. The words blurted out of his mouth. It was the first time he didn't have to think and ponder and worry and strategize. He volunteered, and he headed straight for his mother.

For the next two days he labored in perfecting the machines he would need. He hooked up Evergreen's eyes to a monitor so that the dragons back home could watch and listen to him.

The clan didn't live far away, and he asked to become one of them. They watched him carefully, assuming that the bird on his shoulder was his familiar. Mech tried to act as inconspicuous as possible, like a normal dragon.

Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at acting normal. The Clan Leader, a Snapper, caught Automatonic talking to Evergreen and asked why. Mech fumbled to explain, and the Leader recognized him, for the strange mechanical genius had become well-known for his inventions. The clan leader said that they had captured Zeeva because they wanted to lure Automatonic there. He told Mech to that he would build his famous inventions for them.

Automatonic refused.

The Leader grabbed Evergreen and destroyed him. He demanded Mech to be thrown in with Zeeva until Automatonic agreed to build inventions for them. Mech refused.

The dragons at his old clan, however, had seen enough to act. Using the information they had gained, they organized an attack and stormed the clan to rescue Mech and Zeeva.

When the Leader saw the dragons attacking, he ordered his dragons to surround Automatonic and his mother and not let them escape, with orders to kill them if necessary. The dragons from Mech's clan engaged the leader and all but one of the dragons surrounding Mech and his mother. The remaining dragon, a Skydancer, attacked, pinning Zeeva down and readying himself to slash his claws across his throat.

In that moment, Automatonic felt anger that he never had before. Protective rage blasted through him. With a roar, he lunged at the Skydancer and soon the two dragons were locked in fierce battle.

The rest of the battle went by in a blur. When he finally faded back into conscious thought, he was staring down at the Skydancer's body. Mech had killed him. Cold shock shook his bones and blasted through his body.

The Snapper his face bloody and half of a horn snapped off, was snarling angrily. "Take them." He growled, before stalking off with a noticeable limp in his back right leg.

The dragons looked at each other in silence before hobbling off together, unspeaking.

Automatonic tried to talk to his mother when they got back, but she was upset. She yelled at him. Mech was never around. She said that if his brothers had been there, this would have never happened. That it was all his fault.

And deep down, Mech knew that she was right.

Her words hurt him, cut him right down to his heart. He gave up trying to be normal. He would be different, like himself. It was fine that way.

Now that he finally had time to himself, the mirror allowed himself to mourn Evergreen. He had been wrong. Maybe the bird hadn't had a heart, but it wasn't what that bird was made of that was special.
It was what it stood for, what Evergreen had meant to him.
And it was gone.

After that fateful day, Automatonic never left his den. His machines grew more and more complex and advanced. He tried hard to rebuild another bird, but found that no matter what features he added, no matter how neat it looked, it was never the same. It didn't contain the imagination and innocence of a young dragonet excited to find his way in the world. It held the reserved and removed feel of a dragon who had lost everything and was reluctant to try again.

Finally, he knew that he didn't belong there anymore. He was ready for a new life. Automatonic packed up his machines and his gizmos, along with his new red metal bird Fiero (who had laser eyes), and got ready to leave.

It was a big leap for him, to travel into the unknown, but he didn't have anything left back there.

Before long, his journeys led him into a land absent of light, a land of shadow. There he was greeted by a mysterious female mirror who invited him to join his clan. He agreed and now lives a new life, inventing to his heart's desire. While he remains removed, he has a newer outlook on life. As the sages have said in ages past...
"Family is not those related to you by blood,
Family is those you love and love you back."

Now he has found family. Although his family may have never truly accepted him for being different, he's fine with that. He has learned that he would rather be himself and never fit in then wear a mask and have shallow relationships.

For such is a secret of life, which means much more than the lengthiest math algorithm or neatest invention. Automatonic was forever changed, and while he may wish to go back and do some things differently, he knows that without those difficult experiences he would have never become the dragon that he is now.