Ferat

Name comes from Nosferatu.

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Ever since he hatched, there was something not quite right about Ferat. He had an insidious streak, even fresh from the shell, and seemed incapable of fully understanding suffering in others. Shortly after he hatched, his clutchmates died, and Ferat alone was ever healthy among them. Dragons who stayed near him quickly began to lose their vigor, while Ferat remained energetic and happy. When he got older, he would play tricks on other dragons: tricks that put their lives in danger, such as luring them into deep bogs, or tricking them to go places where dangerous, wild animals lived. He was even amused when a dragoon died, and by the failing health of others: something that scared his parents.

Ferat was taken to a mystic, who quickly identified the problem: Ferat was not a normal dragon. He was the cause of the other dragons' loss of vigor, draining their energy and taking it into himself. He also had a dark heart. And so, he was sent away to a place where dangerous dragons were quarantined. Not every resident there wanted others to suffer -- some couldn't help the afflictions they caused, and had hearts weighed down with sorrow for the pain they caused.

Ferat, however, who now had lost his connection with the playthings of his childhood -- that is, his family and the other dragons who lived nearby -- forgot his past, deeming it as largely unimportant, as a child gets bored with a toy. Instead, he was filled with wonder at these dangerous dragons. The more deadly, the more he admired their power, and the more he aspired to win their favor. Though he is curious about the ones who do not use their powers to inflict harm, unable to relate to why using their abilities makes them so sad, that is the extent of his compassion.

In some strange way, Ferat has found where he truly belongs, and is happy there. He is particularly enamored with the lord of the castle: the first -- and by far, oldest -- resident. He aspires to grow as strong as him one day...and all lessons of the sanctity of life simply fly over Ferat's head.

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One night, Ferat was wandering near the castle in the forest which surrounded it. Though he didn't typically stray too far, he really wasn't allowed outside of the castle walls. Even so, this was something he did every now and then. The forest in this part of the Tangled Wood was still and quiet. The trees were dead, black-trunked, and bare. Everything around was wrapped in soft, gray tones, like ashes after a fire. There was no one for him to be a danger to. The only living creatures nearby were in the castle, or further into the forest, where life grew, fluttered and scurried once more.

...Or so it usually was.

Ferat halted in his tracks as he heard movement. Curious, he quietly and carefully picked his way towards the sound. He had no fear. Some of the most dangerous dragons in the world shared a home with him, and he was one among those dangerous dragons.

Soon, Ferat came across a grey Wildclaw. Her back was to him, and she was twisting her head about, looking this way and that. The corners of Ferat's mouth pulled back in a hungry grin, revealing the sharp points of his white fangs. She was as yet unaware of his presence, and his mind was overcome by a giddiness at having someone's life force to play with. Sensibility was gone in the face of this opportunity. For every half-second that went by, a sense of mindless hunger grew in him. It had been so long, so long... And then, she turned.

Her pink eyes were wide and fearful, like a rabbit's. Her movements thus far had been short and sudden, but now she stared at him. Ferat's mind cleared enough for him to draw himself up, grin still on his face. In an unhurried calm, he strode toward her.

"What is wrong, frightened one?" he asked as he studied her, circling. "Why are you in such a dangerous, lifeless place?"

"I..." she began to respond. She was clearly nervous. "I'd heard about this place...I didn't know such a place existed, and..."

"You wanted to see it for yourself?" Ferat's grin widened. It was always the curious ones, wasn't it? They were the ones who fed the tales...and fed those the tales warned about. The female nodded. A subdued, gleeful giggle rolled around in his throat before he commented, "How foolish of you."

"I suppose," the female replied as Ferat's energies reached out to take her own. He halted, however, as she looked up with a shaky boldness and half a grin of her own, adding, "but nothing fun ever happens to those who don't take risks. I came to meet monsters."

Ferat's smile was gone. He blinked in a stunned stupor. She was here...to meet monsters? A corner of his mouth twitched back up, before rapidly falling again. This repeated a couple of times as a quiet laugh began to bubble up, eventually becoming an uncontrollable fit.

"And what's so funny about that?" the female challenged, baring her fangs.

"You've met one!" Ferat proclaimed before drawing himself up again, his laughter brought under control, a wild look in his eyes, and a toothy grin stretched out over his face. "I am Ferat: one who feeds on the life force of others! See me: the monster you sought out! And tell me, am I what you expected? Are you glad you went to such a dead and dangerous place, only to lose your own life?!"

"I could tell you were a monster when I first saw you," she quickly replied, piquing Ferat's curiosity and forestalling his attack.

Ferat's grin persisted, eyeing the female carefully. "Hmmm curious. How is that?"

"I'm...not sure. Not exactly. It wasn't your beastlike behavior. It was more like I could...sense it," she responded, unease shaking her voice a little bit.

Ferat chuckled as he casually began circling her again again. "How odd, how odd..."

"Are you still planning on consuming me?" she asked.

"Hmmm... I don't know," he answered, only realizing his indecision for himself just then. "You intrigue me. If you're telling the truth, that is..."

"I am." The claim was resolute and unshaken. Perhaps others had doubted this ability of hers before, and it was something that she absolutely knew to be true. "The reason I came here is because I wanted to prove it. I wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to tell when someone is a monster. I needed to know that this feeling in my heart was the truth...and, meeting you, I now know that it is."

"And now that you have discovered this, your life is complete? This nagging mystery has been solved, so you can die in peace?" he questioned.

"No. If possible, I would like to continue living. However...it was something I needed to know, even if it meant risking my life." Her fear was gone. "In a sense, I suppose I, too, am a monster...though, perhaps, not a dangerous one. Not to dragons."

Ferat was absolutely enticed by this female. She was grim and unafraid now, but there was no regret within her. She spoke to him not quite as a monster and not quite as a dragon. She gave such astute answers, stirring something like hunger within him. He craved more. He wasn't sure exactly what of, but he needed more of her.

He settled where he was, regarding her with a calm smile and curious eyes. Her expression shifted into a somewhat confused one. Then, Ferat told her, "You intrigue me. I want to speak with you more."

"You...do not wish to consume my life essence anymore?" she cautiously asked.

Ferat gave a laugh at that. "I do not know! Maybe I will, maybe I will not, but I have decided that I like talking to you. I like you. And you...do you still find me fascinating, as a monster?"

The female smiled. "Yes. ...Though, I think that I am beginning to find you fascinating as an individual, too."

Ferat's smile turned into a grin. "I like that. Yes, let us talk some more. Much, much more!"

---

In secret, Ferat and the female Wildclaw, whose name was Azalea, continued to meet in the woods. Their fascination with one another was selfish and academic, but it still became physical. Eventually, this resulted in offspring.

Ferat, however, should never have become a parent. His first child, a daughter who was never named, he took the life force of. Azalea was stunned into disbelief. It was a long time before she returned to the woods, but she did return. She wanted answers...and the simple answer was that Ferat held no value for life. He didn't see what he did as wrong. It became clear to Azalea that she should have known better. She knew what Ferat was, but had dreamed up a fantasy of him, and had imposed it upon him. Even so, Ferat coaxed her. He bade her not be sad...and something, perhaps a desperation to revive the fantasy of Ferat, caused her to become intimate with him again. She wanted to forget their lost daughter, and believe in a false narrative about their self-serving love.

Azalea was stricken with terror when the two had their second child: a boy. The realistic side of her was terrified of showing him to his father. The one who required she remain in her fantasy, however, wanted to show him his son. Perhaps things would be different this time. If he could accept his son, they could be a family, even if Ferat had to remain at the castle. It would be like their daughter's death never happened. It never happened. This would overwrite it. She had to show him.

When Ferat met his son, he was giddy and intrigued, curiously observing the little one. Meanwhile, the child's mother watched, terrified of what may happen. She could do nothing when Ferat reached to his son with his energy to take the little one's...but something odd happened that made Azalea's eyes widen. Her tiny son, Kite... She suddenly sensed a monster when she looked at him. Ferat jumped back in surprise at the change. Kite looked the same to the passive observer, but Ferat had taken the child's life force...or at least, as much as he was able. Something inside the child halted the extraction...and what filled him now was something else.

Kite was no longer filled with life energy, but with another kind of energy similar to undeath. It was hidden by the life energy he'd previously had, but that was gone now. At first, both parents were stunned. Then, Azalea began sobbing in relief that her son would remain with them, and Ferat became overcome with curiosity and giddiness at this intriguing turn of events. He was obsessed with his unusual child, even to the point of telling the entire tale to his fellow castle residents when he returned home.

The castle lord was beside himself, too filled with dismay, shock, relief, unease, and many other emotions to know how to respond. The child may or may not become dangerous... He would have to be monitored, for sure. Ferat was also put under strict watch. Obviously, he had disobeyed the rules of the castle, and would not be allowed outside for a long time. Though that meant separating Azalea and Kite from Ferat, the castle lord wondered if that would be for their ultimate benefit. Ferat, after all, was a monster...and not only because of his abilities.

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April Fool's Day 2022: "There is a traitor in your clan." Yeah, I don't trust Ferat either.