Shining

(by Winterone)


Wings stretch out under the warm sun, the beautiful skydancer grooming the feathers of his body. Shining admires the way light causes the blue pigment to shine, just the tiniest hint of purple in his handsome plumage. Truly, he muses, he was one the most attractive dragons. Who else had such well kept wings and a velveteen robe to match! Who else could stand out like him in a clan?

He allows himself to change his position, basking in the sun further. While water may be nice, it was enjoyable and pleasurable to lay in the sun’s light. The deep, dark depths are cold after all and besides, Shining also enjoyed being away from his clan. He snorts, displeased with himself for thinking of them. They were below him, or so he believed. Merely simple beasts in his eyes, destined to live a life of boredom before being exalted to their oh so powerful Tidecaller. The all powerful deities. He doesn’t care about them at all. He scans the empty beach around him, taking in a deep breath.

He wished for more. So much more than this. He wanted an extravagant life, full of the finest foods and the most luxurious fabrics. To have the greatest treasures possible surrounding him and to be friends with some of the most exotic dragons. Maybe even find himself a mate amongst one of them. But he was stuck with this life, and it bored him to an almost painful extent.

However, this was safe. Safer then he had been before and probably the safest place for him now. And besides, he was sent away not long after he was was hatched. His parents knew all too well what was to befall their same child when they saw the mark. And he could not blame them, it would have made their lives so very painful if they had chosen to raise him themselves. Shining harbored no hate towards them, no ill feelings. But he couldn’t remember their faces. Only his mother’s soft voice, full of unspoken pleas. He wondered, sometimes when he found himself in a dark place, did the consider exalting him? Would they have sacrificed him? And fear filled his chest when he thought of this

And, a thought he would never admit to having, would his children suffer the same fate if he did not complete this so called destiny? Despite his generally cold and uncaring attitude, he couldn’t bring himself to wish anyone else this fate, this path in life. Of course, most had been exalted.... But it was a waste, in his mind, to long for things of the past. You can never get them back so you must look forward.

Eyes drop down to look at the strange mark on his right paw. The tiniest of marks, but it had so much meaning. Shining suddenly snarls, disgusted with himself for letting his train of thought turn towards such a ridiculous thing.

But he does remember the old guardian’s face. Her skin etched with age lines and the dullness of her eyes. How dull her teeth were and how rough her voice was. A dragon that had lived well past their prime, and now only clung to life.

“It will happen,” she told him, Shining merely snorting at her prediction, “Whether or not you believe me.”

And then, he didn’t. Now? He was afraid it would come true. A catastrophe of untold multitude and he would be the cause of it? Shining wouldn’t allow that to be true. He would keep running from it, moving from clan to clan until the time passed or he found an unfortunate demise.