JESSICA PACE

Those golden eyes were wide and full of such fright. He couldn't help it, fleeing for his life and trying his hardest to not look back. The thunderous thuds behind him faded and were soon replaced by massive flaps from the crimson beast that hunted him. This was supposed to be the small blue dragon's first hunt. Now he was the prey and the predator was the much larger red dragon that soared overhead. Khellendros broke from the forest and entered the meadow, gaze darting about in desperate search for cover. Quickly he went straight for a badger burrow, but as his chubby belly became stuck in the entrance he cursed himself for having not watched his weight. A loud horrible roar of pain came from the yearling as his back left leg had rows of teeth sinking into it. The bone crunched and shattered under the pressure as he was tugged free from the burrow. In the distance, Khellendros's pack could hear his screams of agony as he dangled by his mutilated leg. Everything went black... The next thing he knew, the small dragon hit an earthen floor of gravel and glass. Those golden eyes opened just enough to look upon his dangling left leg. Then the glint of pearly whites stained in his blood was seen... Again, all went black.
Such a sight was seen within simple opalescent bubbles that floated about another cavern in another place, in another time. There stood three forms in the darkness surrounded by these bubbles and the one with the orange eyes, form smaller than the rest, was first to speak but the gender could not be heard in the voice alone. "Are you sssure that isss the one you ssseek?..."
"Positive. That will be the one." Another figure, male, with violet eyes took on a commanding tone.
"What sssay you, brother?..." Those orange eyes turned to the one who had jade.
That being with the jade eyes merely grunted in response, but from the motion could be seen nodding.
The violet eyes grew bright and as he spoke his words, their forms and gaze seemed to fade into the surrounding darkness. "Then so be it..."

DRAGON DIARIES: KHELLENDROS

Time had gone by and like all dragons, Khellendros grew. He wasn't the same dragon that had left his pack for the rite of passage into dragonling status. Still seen as a hatchling, they took one look at him and of that metal brace upon his left leg, and he was shunned. Drastic had his life changed. Khellendros found himself without a pack, and for a while there was raised by man due to not other alternative. They were who rescued him, a man and a boy seeking adventure. The two found it, and they found him. His leg was beyond repair, but a specialized brace allowed his hips to grant limited movement and prevented his foot from just dragging upon the ground.
Khellendros had grown even chubbier now, unable to run at all. He couldn't even hunt, so the food of man was what he ate. Worse yet, those wings of his were not tattered and from lack of use, never grew quite right. Stunted they were, for without the ability to run he couldn't pick himself from the ground. Most likely, the dragon would never fly. Due to such disabilities, no wonder his pack didn't want him. He could hardly even be considered a dragon anymore.
In the positive ways he had grown, A lump of flesh was sitting upon his snout, between the nostrils. It was an inherited trait of his father and few would get the horn which would one day split the scales. Khellendros also gained a protective headcrest, made of bone and cartilage that rose from his head and curved backwards, connected to his upper jaw. Such would one day come in handy for headbutting and battle.
Khellendros found his braced leg to be quite the hindrance. With a desperate need to be independent, he took leave from the lives of the men whom saved him and cared for him. It was by no means a tearless farewell, but it was one that had to be made. Dragons were not pets for children or men. In a steady permanent limp, Khellendros made way through the forest. Disowned by dragon and not wanting to be a pet, it was now up to him to find his place in the world. The first thing he needed, was a meal.
Rabbits were far too swift, easily outrunning him. Squirrels could pick up the clanking of his leg with ease and flee, right up into trees and fling nuts down at his small form. Khellendros dared not go for a deer, for they were too big and too fast. He was positive that they too would have heard him anyway. Ultimately he scavenged, coming across partly eaten meals discarded by other predators. Some were often much larger, the sort of kill one of his larger kin could make. He ate what he could, then would move on as the colored leaves began to fall from their trees. He didn't know where he was going really, only that he didn't want to stay where he was or head back. It was as if he wandered without reason, but something instinctual in his gut told him it was right.

Then it happened.

The woods were quiet, but Khellendros's thoughts clouded his mind too much. Eerie silent were the trees.. No wind blew. No bird chirped. A massive yet all too hauntingly familiar roar sounded off and a crimson form then graced the sky. So stricken with terror was he, that Khellendros would only freeze in place with his jaw agape and entire form trembling. Those golden eyes locked upon that much larger form with those wings spread and giving off thunderous flaps as it grew near. It was the dragon who ruined his leg, who ruined his life.
Just as he thought it would be over, out from behind him came a much, much larger roar. Shocked, he could only turn his head slowly and it was just in time for a large blur of white with violet wings to kick off from the earth and intercept the incoming red dragon. Talons sunk deep into flesh and the white dragon with the violet wings seemed to know exactly how to fight, by going for the weak points under the scales and where the flesh was soft at the joints.
Blood splashed the earth as the red found itself with a gash to the neck. This had it curl up, as was intended by the white. Violet clawed hands reached forth for the right crimson wing, just at the opposite sides of the main joint. A solid snap was heard and the wing went limp, tendons and flesh torn as the bones were shattered. With a roar of pain, the crimson beast turned and quickly made an escape to the trees, tattered wing dragging and growing bruised by the rocks and trees it hit along the way. Only when the red was out of sight, did Khellendros dare lift his gaze to his savior.
"Inferno..." He spoke his name with a certain eloquence to his voice. He was about 50ft long, easily plenty larger than Khellendros who was just nearing four feet. Inferno's form was white with black stripes resembling thunderbolts tracing over his scales. The stripes at his violet eyes looked as if they made a mask of sorts, but what stood out most were the violet wings and the contrast to the large neon orange spikes that covered him from head to tail. He resembled his name due to his colors.
"P-p-p-pardon?.."
Inferno gazed down upon the stuttering blue dragon before him, and a rather kind smile without the show of teeth was offered from that narrow snout of his. "Inferno... It is my name little dragon. And who might you be, so brave as to venture so deep into these woods alone?"
"I-I'm not alone... My f-father is just r-right off.. uh.. th-there... some... where..." Well it was a tad obvious Khellendros couldn't lie very well. So when Inferno gave a toothy grin, Khellendros gave a small sheepish smile back and let his scaly brows knit. "Khellendros..."
"Greetings Khellendros" A rather courteous bow of the head was offered from the colorful dragon. Those violet eyes gave forth a pulse and after a moment, turned from the blue dragon to the woods.
"Thank you... For.. saving me..."
"Quite welcome, I assure you. Now then, just where were you heading in woods as dangerous as this?"
"I-I-I... I don't.. know. And.. You don't understand.. Really, thank you... That dragon has--"
"Has attacked you before?" Inferno interrupted, head remaining turned from the blue dragonling, but violet gaze slowly moving back to him. Or rather, back to that metal brace upon the leg of Khellendros.
This caused the small dragon to shift to the side a tad, as if somehow he could hide that contraption that granted his leg stability. "...Yes... How did you kno--"
"I know far more than many would like... You included, Khellendros. But what I know is not in question. What is in question, is what are you looking for?" When there was no answer from Khellendros, Inferno lowered his arrow-shaped snout lower to the small blue dragon, voice speaking lower as if there were a secret in his words. "I think I can help you with that... I come offering you a choice. A simple choice really, a proposition if you..."
Khellendros took the bait with a curious, "What's that?" being asked. He seemed to perk up, quite intrigued. How did this dragon know so much?.. Khellendros seemed to forget that he feared dragons larger than he, but then again this one did rescue him.
"What I offer you is protection, a home, food in abundance, and the knowledge of ancient wyrms born millennia before your time and mine."
As Inferno spoke, the golden eyes of Khellendros seemed to grow larger as if he could imagine such things, but truly he couldn't even fathom it. "What's the catch?.." A smart young dragon was he, having learned from man just how deceptive some creatures can truly be indeed.
"Catch?" Inferno chuckles, "Dragonling, you are wise... The catch is, you will have to face trial to deserve the spoils of the life offered to you. You will not be permitted to travel into the world of man for a long time to come. You must also take to the customs and ways of life in the world in which you will be going."
Khellendros had no reason to not trust Inferno and well, he had nothing to remain here for. With a bit of contemplation, the dragonling found himself nodding. "I.. I would like to take that challenge..."
Inferno could only give a toothy grin. He knew the blue would. "Then climb aboard.. Where we are going, we must fly swift and high." He lowered himself down, right elbow resting to the earth at an angle that allowed Khellendros to clamber his way up.
The dragonling took note of a dangling piece of jewelry, a white stone with black stripes hanging by a chain about the neck of Inferno. Nothing was asked, for once Khellendros was settled between the shoulder-blades of the larger dragon, a rather drowsy feeling swept over his form. In moments, Khellendros was sleeping soundly as Inferno took flight and a blinding gray light grew from that stone, encompassing them both like a star rising to the heavens, then streaking across the sky at a speed which was impossible for any mere mortal, dragon or not.
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