3 Chapter 3

This time when the midnight drake woke, his knowledge had grown, he knew the dragon tongue and many others. His ancestors had had contact with many of the different races. This world, Lythra, was home to many different types of beings, but they've only had problems with one, humans. All the humans he saw in the visions were greedy, selfish, cruel, and cunning. His head turned as he investigated his surroundings.

"Where am I now?" he wondered. His eyes widened as his gaze landed on the visage of a dragon. Dark blue, metallic scales that shone in the sun, gold eyes that seemed to burn through the victim. Razor sharp claws that sunk into the moist soil, wings tucked neatly into his side.

But what made him noticeable was the aura that glided around him, dangerous, intimidating, and fierce to most, but to the hatchling, all he could feel was the unconditional love, protectiveness, and pure joy he felt back in the cave. "Or maybe I should say, when am I," he murmured, awe coating his voice as he saw his fath- no, here, this was The Ancient Dragon King of NightBlade, feared throughout the realms of Lythra as Hell's Wrath. The vision disappeared and another popped up. This one was a lot more recent as he could see the toll age took on the great blue as he walked to a cave, a very familiar cave. There, he stopped, watching an orange-red dragon gaze lovingly at the eggs she was wrapped around.

"They're almost ready to hatch," his father's deep voice rumbled.

"Yes, after all that time, it seems the young ones are finally ready to face this world," she said. She nosed one of the eggs toward him, "This will be the firstborn, your heir. As per custom, the king will decide the name. If it isn't beneath you of course," she said, a playful glint appearing in her ruby-red eyes.

He drew himself up, puffing up his chest, "I will name the whelp," he boomed, "be honored!" But his words were barely made out as he burst into laughter in the middle of his sentence. The female smirked, lip peeling up to show her sharp teeth, amused. He walked up to the egg, inspecting it carefully. "I think... Rykirus, yes, your name shall be Rykirus whelp! Your enemies will fear your name and the heavens will shake at your might!" he roared tail lashing behind him.

His mother opened her jaws to reply, but a shout cut her off.

"Kill the dragon and take his treasure! Extra gold for whoever grabs that demon's spawn!" Cheering broke out outside the cave, the clang of metal hitting metal reached their sharp ears.

He bristled as he heard the calls, lips pulling over his teeth in a ferocious snarl. "You take care of the eggs, I'll take care of the trash," he growled, whirling. But before he could step outside, a wing shot in front of him, blocking his path.

"No, I'll go," his mate murmured, "The NightBlade need their King and the hatchlings need their father to teach them how to fight and survive, because this is our world. This world is cruel, and they need to learn to live with it or they will die," she glared fiercely at him before charging outside without waiting for a response. She took to the air immediately when she stepped outside, head swiveling to survey the situation. There were thousands and thousands of those pesky termites crawling all over her home. She growled at that thought, HER home. They both liked private places where nobody bothered them. The NightBlade respected their King's wish and left them alone most of the time, but that resulted in what happened today, they had no backup in the upcoming fight.

She broke out of her thoughts as she dropped, wing curling, and rolled, avoiding a hail of arrows. The sun glinted off the tips, revealing the green liquid coating the surface, poison. Her eyes narrowed and she swooped down, maw opening and spewing out the black fire special to the royal family, well known as the flames from hell. Screams exploded in the air and many catapults caught on fire, but not before releasing their load. Rocks wreathed in flames soared toward her, arrows, spears, and even swords flew to her in all directions.

She dipped and weaved, but couldn't avoid them all, a spear pierced deep into her shoulder blade, right at the junction between the shoulder and wing. She let out a furious, pain filled roar as she crashed into the ground. A human stepped forward, sneering.

"Die beast," he snarled, lips pulling up into a vicious snarl. His halberd descended onto the prone dragon and everything went black.