Steelspawn

Destined to join his siblings, Steelspawn knew this was wrong. He had been told that serving The Stormcatcher was an honor. That there was no greater destiny than to stand eternally for his deity. He may have been born to a lightening clan, but he didn't feel the same loyalty and pride that his siblings did when they lined up on exaltation row. He was afraid. He was just a baby. He didn't know what life had to offer, but he knew it had to be more than where he was heading. ♥∙ • ° ♥ ° • ∙♥ "Exalt Fodder..." he heard their whispers. Exalt fodder? Was that all he was? Had he been born just to serve a deity he had never met? Was he really expected to have no greater purpose than eternal isolation? His knees buckled and his heart began to race as he headed to the auction block with his siblings at his side. Was he not even going to be given the honor of serving his birth clan? He had heard the gossip- hatchlings that were taken to the auction house weren't even given the dignity of serving their own deity. Some were never even given a chance to prove their worth in the coliseum first, to be respectable warriors when they left their clans. They were purchased cheap as babies and cast away just as quickly as they were bought. Dispensable, stripped of their honor.

No. This couldn't be it. He was so young, he wanted his own life! Not this predestined arrangement. He tried to run, but was held in place by one of his elders. Before he could voice his protests, he had been purchased and was ushered to a clan in the Shadows. He followed the clan's representative that had purchased him, a stunning nocturne named Rave. It was unsettling how relaxed she made him feel, but he knew he couldn't let her calm demeanor fool him. He knew he had to make a break for it. She never left his side, but the first moment she turned her eyes away from the little skydancer he snapped ather heel to catch her off guard. She yelped and turned just in time to see the hatchling running as fast as his slender legs would carry him. He was still too young to fly. Rave smiled and took off after the hatchling. She batted him softly and he lost his balance. Desperate, he sat down and hissed. He knew he couldn't fight her off, but he had to try. He couldn't be exalted, he just couldn't!

For the first time, he heard a dragon speak to him and not just about him. She spoke to him as an equal. "What's your name, little one?" When Rave smiled it felt genuine. This made the hatchling even more nervous.

"Steelspawn. My parents named me Steelspawn."

"Well, Steelspawn, you know I could kill you right? Your bones are still so fragile, you know. It would take nothing to stop your breathing." She brushed a razor sharp talon across his cheek. He gulped, mustering up any remaining courage and shouted, "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Oh, you aren't?" Rave chuckled. "It's okay to be afraid. You handle it well. There's something about you, little one." She nodded, as if answering her own question. "Yes, there's something... special about you. Don't worry. You won't be exalted today. Our matriarch, Aries, isn't going to like this. But, you let me deal with her."

And so he was allowed to stay. Steelspawn was allowed to remain a resident of the Glass Shatter Clan. Rave became his mentor, but he longed to join a flight of his own. He was ready to see the world and make new friends. He had been given a second chance and he refused to waste a minute of it. Rave had showed him that every dragon had a story of their own to tell, that everyone was unique. He was ready to hear the stories of new dragons. He had been so close to serving eternity in isolation, just another creature sacrificed for the will of a god. Steelspawn was never truly destined to live for a deity, he was destined to live for himself.

A place to call home. Steelwing tried to pretend that he wasn't afraid of the darkness in his new clan, but in a matter of days it drove him away from the place he'd been... allowed to stay in. But he didn't feel welcome. Screwing up his courage, he stole away one night, trying his best to fly with hatchling wings. He found himself at the largest expanse of water that he had ever seen and his heart sank; he didn't have the strength to fly or swim across this. He padded along the edge of the shore, digging up trinkets here and there as he thought.

"Are you alone?"

He jumped at the sound of a voice. Warily he turned, remembering his encounter with Rave, but the dragon he saw was looking at him with wide, concerned eyes. A pearlcatcher. He stared at the mysterious orb in her claws and nodded slowly.

"No home? No parents?"

He shook his head, pawing at the sand anxiously. The pearlcatcher shook her wings. "Ungrateful," she said angrily. "How could a couple leave their hatchling to himself like this? Come with me. "

Steelwing followed her--along the way he found out that her name was Whisper, and that she had found a home in the Fletching Clan on the Windswept Plateau. As she described the bright skies and the open fields to fly in, he began to grow excited. He was surprised when the patriarch of the clan was a fae, smaller than him. Steelwing could barely understand him, but Whisper shared an exchange with him and then turned back to the hatchling.

"You can stay here, if you like," she said gently. "There are many skydancers who would gladly care for you."




Previously:

(with Iri)




sand/umber/chocolate
Evraine


blood/berry/sanguine
Jezren