Twilight's Journey

A young hatchling is born in a family of creatures different from her. She vows to find her kind and her true self... Rated T for violence and minor sexual content.

Before the Story
Some dragons call it "The Night of Shattered Eggs" or "The Night of Spilled Mixed Blood" or "Death of the Elements." It was pretty much all of those things. Eggs were shattered. Dragons of all elements (called elemental dragons) were killed, and those who survived died of their wounds later on. But two eggs, just two eggs, survived the deadly attack, and were able to grow old with a mate and have hatchlings of their own. But getting to that road wasn't easy.

(In the midst of battle) The she-dragon stared horrified at the spilled blood and dead dragons on the ground. The she-dragon felt sick at the sight of shattered egg shells. She dashed into the bushes only to almost smash two eggs. They were not so far away from a bloody nest, with two dead dragons lying over the nest protectively, as if to protect the eggs. Egg shells were scattered all over the ground and around the nest. The she-dragon grabbed the two remaining eggs and flew off, terrified of what she was doing. She fled into human territory. ''They'll never follow me there. ''The she-dragon saw a good sized nest and gently dropped the two eggs with the other eggs in the nest and flew away, not wanting anything to find her. She flew back into dragon territory when she saw an enemy patrol of dragons. "Kill her!" snarled the biggest one. Before the she-dragon could think, her throat was torn open and her wings ripped apart.

Chapter 1
(Author's Note: The Eagles have British accents, plus their names all start with A, which is a family tradition in their paticular family, such as another eagle family in the area's names would all start with C, etc.)

The young hatchling popped out of her egg, slimy and wet. "Ew, mummy, what's that?" The hatchling heard a small squawk. "Oh my goodness, it's just like the other one!" a more lady-like voice answered. "It has no feathas!" another small voice piped up. "Acilino! Adler! Hush!" the motherly voice shushed. The hatchling blinked open her eyes. A large, brown bird with a head of white feathers was looming over her. Smaller, gray, fluffy hatchlings were around her. The hatchling looked over at the hatchling next to her. He was black, had no feathers, tiny buds were spiking from his head, and his wings had sprouted out of his back, and they too held no feathers. Do I look like him?

"Welcome to our humble nest of the greatest bird, the eagle. May we introduce ourselves." The mother eagle put her wing on her chest. "I am Akulina, but you call me mother, or mum." Akulina nudged the gray eaglets. "I am Acilino." One said. "I'm Adler!" another squawked. "And I'm Anne." the last, a female unlike her brothers chirpped. Akulina narrowed her eyes. "Alerio, whom you will call father, or da, is hunting. He will see to you when he returns." Akulina cawed. "I'm going to find Da, so be good." Akulina flew out of their hollow in the fir tree.

"Your ugly." Anne looked disgusted. "Yeah. You should go crawl back in your egg." said Acilino. Adler didn't say anything, but he kept hitting the other weird hatchling over the head. "Stop it!" he wailed. "I'm getting out of here." The hatchling said angrily. He spread the wings on his back.... "No!" the she-hatchling cried. But the black hatchling was screaming as he fell out of the nest, which was nearly one hundred feet in the air. "Heeeeeelp!" he screamed as he pummlted to his death.

"Oh no! Mum's going to be mad!" Anne fretted. The she-hatchling huffed. "Well, yeah!" she snorted. Acilino came over and held the she-hatchling by the neck over the edge of the nest. "Do you want to fall too?" he growled. "No! Let me go!" The she-hatchling wailed. Acilino dropped her in the nest and she layed panting.

"Acilino! Adler! Anne! Where is the second weird one?" Akulina cawed angrily as she dropped into the nest, another eagle behind her. "Oh no mum! He tried to fly!" squawked Adler. Akulina did not show pity, but she was pretty upset that Acilino, Adler, and Anne could have died too. She showed no concern for the she-hatchling. "Oh no! What if that happens to my other normal hatchlings?" Akulina fretted. "Now, now, Akulina, where is the other weird one you talked about?" Alerio comforted his mate. "There! Over there!" Akulina pointed her wing in the she-hatchling's direction. The she-hatchling whimpered and hid in the shadows of the nest. "You will be called Shadow, for you are as black as night, and also that you will live in the shadows of my normal children." Alerio growled. He went over to Akulina and soon the eagle family was asleep, leaving Shadow on the far side of the nest. Shadow cried a little as she curled into a ball. She looked at the full moon. How long will this last?

Chapter 2
Shadow sighed as Alerio began the flying lesson. "When you begin flight, you always must...." Shadow started mouthing Alerio's words. "Quit being rude to da!" Anne squawked. She pushed Shadow over the branch and she started to fall. Shadow screamed as she fell but then she felt a new strength and suddenly she was flying up towards the branch were Anne had pushed her. The other eaglets huffed when they saw her. "We're better than you!" Squawked Adler. "Yeah." cooed Anne. "Don't forget it!" Acilino spat. "Shadow. Go back to the nest." said Alerio said sternly. Shadow sighed and drifted into the nest. Why couldn't her family like her? Juts because she looked differenet didn't mean she was evil or anything. Shadow sighed and watched the clouds drift.

Later that night, Alerio was out hunting and Akulina, Adler, Anne, Acilino, and Shadow were preparing for night. "Tell us a story, mum!" begged Anne. Akulina sighed. "Alright, once, there was a species of winged creatures known as dragons. They could breath fire and had the most beautiful wings..." Akulina sighed. "One time there were a rare breed of dragons called elementals, and they lived a little while aways from here, too! But on the most beautiful twilight, they were all killed, slaughtered by other dragons. Now they are dead and no one knows if any survived." Akulina's voice had urned into a whisper as she finished the story. I can breath fire. Shadow bragged to herself. ''That's cause I'm special. ''Akulina settled the hatchlings for bed, and Shadow curled in her side of the nest, trying to sleep.

About an hour later, Shadow was still not asleep, but the others were. Suddenly she heard a whooshing sound and looked up to see a big, white winged creature with blue stripes flying over the nest. Shadow started to scream, but the thing grabbed her mouth and held her till she quieted. "You!" the thing whispered to Shadow. "Your... a dragon, right?" he asked. "Dragon?" Shadow tilted her head. "Mum says dragons are dead." The thing rolled it's eyes. "What do you think I am?" he asked. ''He must be a dragon! And if he asked... then I must be a dragon, too! ''"Am I a dragon?" Shadow excitedly asked. "Yes, you are." the dragon smiled. He picked Shadow up and carried her on his back. He was bigger than her, but not a full grown dragon by the looks of it. "Where are you taking me?" Shadow franticly asked as the fir tree got smaller and smaller. "You want to go, don't you?" he asked. Well... he is sort of right... "Yeah... I guess...." Shadow muttered. "Good. I'm Drayden. And you?" Drayden tilted his head. "Um, my name is...." ''Shadow isn't a nice name.... how about.... Twilight, from mum's story. ''"My name is Twilight." she told Drayden. "Cool name. I've been looking for Sky Rulers, a dragon tribe. My father used to be one before he left to be with my mother. After my Da died, my mum drowned herself in the lake by our nest. I wanted to find Sky Rulers so I can live with them." Drayden explained his story. "Won't you come along?" Twilight pondered the possibilites, and then decided to go. "I would love to." Drayden nodded and headed towards the valley cliffs.

Chapter 3
(Warning: Some hints of sexual arrousal, you have been warned.) Twilight started flying on her own when Drayden got tired. "Do you want to stop?" she called to him. Drayden panted with exhaustion. "N-no-" he cried out as he fell to the ground. Twilight rolled her eyes and followed him.

Drayden was already asleep when Twilight landed. She sighed and curled a little aways from him. She almost fell asleep when she felt something hot behind her....

She whipped around and saw blue flames enveloped around her. She screamed. Drayden breathed fire in his ''sleep? ''Drayden heard her cry and awoke. He didn't look suprised, but he picked Twilight up in his talons and moved her to another area where they wouldn't be scorched.

"What the (beep)?!" Twilight hissed when they were safe. "You didn't tell me you breathed fire in your sleep!" Drayden snorted. "Watch your language." he scolded. "Your not my parent! I don't have to listen to you!" Twilight snarled. "Well I don't have to take you to Sky Rulers, either." Drayden huffed. Twilight sighed. "Look,why don't we keep flying? We'll cover more land." "But I'm so tired...." Drayden picked up Twilight in his talons and started flying. "Hey! Put me down!" she complained. "I can fly!" "Good, because you are really heavy." he huffed. She smaked him over the head with her wing. "LIf you're so tired, we can rest in these cliff caves." Drayden landed at an entrance to a den. "I'll take this one, you take the one above it." Twilight nodded and flew upwards. She entered the cave and brushed around a little bit before settling down on the stone.

.................................................

The next morning, Twilight yawned and padded out of the den, her talons clicking on the boulders. "Drayden?" she called. He wasn't anywhere. "Drayden?" ''Has he left without me? ''Twilgiht gasped as a cow was dropped next to her feet. "Got us some food." Drayden said as he settled down next to her and began to eat.

After they had their fill of food, Twilight stretched out on a rock and let the sun warm her full belly. She liked it here. Maybe they could stay here instead of heading to Sky Rulers? Drayden seemed happy, too. He was snoring quietly as he let the sunlight envelop him.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Twilight nudged him. He snorted. "Wha?" he opened his eyes. "We have to get going." she told him, a hint of regret in her voice. Drayden frowned. "Let's wait at least a couple days... then we'll decide...." he yawned. Twilight flew down into the gorge. The sun was shining, and a large river was running through the sand at the bottom. Twilight dipped her head and drank, and then smelled something funny.

"Hey, do you smell that?" Twilight sniffed. Drayden sniffed too. "Smells like smoke... let's check it out." the two flew over and investigated.

A large, black and red male dragon was burning a slaughtered horse. He tore at it's burnt meat and gulped it down. "Hey! What are you doing?" Twilight called. The dragon lifted his face, which now had blood on it, and growled at Twilight. "Don't touch her." Drayden hissed and stood protectivly next to Twilight. (A/N: Drayden is seventeen as of now, and Twilight is fifteen.) The dragon laughed. "Weak little hatchling. I could easily take her if i wanted." he chuckled, almost evily. "I am not a hatchling! I am seventeen, to be exact!" Drayden hissed. The dragon suddenly lept at the two and grabbed Twilight in his talons and flew up to he highest cave in the gorge. "Hey!" Drayden snarled. The dragon shot a beam of dark magic (his element) at Drayden and flew into the cave.

He pinned Twilight down in the cave. "You will be my mate, and you will do everything I say, understood?" he snarled. Twilight gulped. "Please, sir, let me go!: she pleaded. The dragon didn't listen and licked Twilight's neck. Twilight looked away. She didn't want this to happen, she wanted this to be with someone else. Not some sick, dragon. "Drayden!" she cried as the dragon started to lick her stomach. She felt tears slide down her cheek. The dragon smirked. Suddenly Drayden burst into the den and flung the dragon off of Twilight.

"Get the (beep) away from her!" Drayden snarled. The two clashed for a while before the black and red dragon was on the ground, his lifeblood flowing out of him. He was half-dead.

"He tried to... he tried to..." "Let me carry you in my talons for a little while." (A/N: Even though they are not that long apart in age, Drayden is still big eough to carry her.) Twilight was shaking so hard Drayden swerved a little bit. "Calm down. Just rest." he soothed. Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, hoping to forget her terror.

Chapter 4
It was night when Drayden and Twilight landed. She was well enough to fly now, but pretty shocked. The landed on the shore of a lake. "Let's stay here for the night." Drayden said calmly. Twilight nodded. Drayden made a hole just big enough for the two of them and the curled inside it. Twilight sighed and rested her head on Drayden's back.

The next morning the two flew out again until about noon, when they landed in a forest. "I'll find some prey, you stay here." he told Twilight to stay by a tree.

Twilight curled up by the tree and looked at a small bird. She zapped it with lightning and swallowed it whole. She sniffed. Something smelled like salt. She flew over to a cliff when she heard water and voices.

Dragons were everywhere, running, playing, fighting, eating. Twilight gaped in awe. She immediantly flew down onto the Sandy Shore.