Lyra

"Horrible, ugly little primal." The first words he heard as he hatched from his egg. An only child, and his parents had no love to give. He was just one of their many offspring, doomed to a lonely life. "Spines of murky green... silly sparkly wings... and ugh, those eyes!"

His mother turns to his father. "Are you sure this is one of ours?" She questions him, but laughs before he can respond. "Send him off, Queen Pyxis will know what to do with him."

His father doesn't defend him, and the Unnamed starts squeaking in protest. But Algae picks him up with one paw and takes him someplace new. His squeaks turn to yells, fear morphing into fury. Put me down! he wants to say. Take me home! I want momma!

The bigger tundra is determined not to listen, and eventually dumps him off somewhere dark and quiet. A door is slammed in his face before he can even try to escape. The clicking of a lock follows.

He wails and wails for hours, in some futile attempt to get his parents to come back. It's pure instinct, but he does it with far more vigor than most others his age. Newly hatched dragons tend to tire quickly... but not him, never him.

An immeasurable amount of time passes before something changes. Light fills his prison and a tall, regal Skydancer walks serenely through the door.

His cries only get louder at the sight, but the Queen only begins to circle him curiously. Her wings are tucked against her side, her front claws clasped.

"My, my... where most children who are left here grow quiet after a few hours, you have been at it for far longer," she says. "What makes you so different? Apart from the obvious, of course."

She doesn't wait for a response--after all, he cannot give one. She stops and picks him up, her hold surprisingly gentle. That finally shuts him up.

"Hmm... I think you'll do nicely, my darling Lyra. The [NAME] clan finally has their prince."

With that, she takes him from the darkness and leads him to the light.

[to be continued?]