Faster.
I must go faster.
No matter how hard I strained, my weary wings refused to propel me forward any quicker. Instead, they screamed in protest, weighed down not only by the water pouring out from the belly of the storm but also by the hatchlings I clutched in my claws. My hatchlings. Even as my gut filled with dread and turned to stone, even with the odds stacked against me, I tried to push myself harder — in vain. My pursuers' wingbeats gradually got louder, the ominous sound harmonizing with the rumbling thunder. They were close. Too close. I snapped my eyes shut, knowing, and already regretting, what I must do.
"I'm so, so sorry my young one. I can carry you no longer."
His wide, inquisitive eyes peered up at me in confusion. "What's happening, mother?"
I snapped my gaze away, unable to bear answering his innocent question. And to think the others claim him a monster ripe for the slaughter! They themselves are monsters!
Without replying, I let the clawed foreleg holding him relax, releasing him to the mercy of the wind.
"Fly, my child, fly! Do not let them get you!"
His screech reached me through the widening gap between us, his screech of confusion and anguish, a screech that would forever be seared into my brain. It went against everything in me to do what I had just done, and even more so to continue flying. His sister screamed at me to go get him, save him, do anything at all, and I could not bring myself to respond. However, the sacrifice was not entirely in vain, as now I could fly even just a little bit quicker. I soon struggled to hear my pursuer's wing beats as I put more distance between us and a tentative tendril of hope began to push through the dread.
Maybe we'll make it. She might hate me, she might not understand, but she’ll have survived. If I can just make it to Myrvath...
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Then I saw it. A looming shape materialized in the darkness, illuminated by an occasional flash of lightning. Jagged peaks rose high in the sky, higher than any dragon could fly, but I did not need to fly to the top. Instead, I careened forward into what seemed to be a solid wall of rock, but I knew better.
3...2...1…
I snapped my wings against my sides and used my tail to pivot myself to the left, narrowly dodging certain death. I fell into a dark even darker than the one I had just left, dropping further and further the longer my wings remained clutched at my sides. Finally, I tasted a breath of fresh air, and moments later I saw a gap that led to the storm outside. I flung my wings open, slowing my fall and landing on the ground with a small thump. I set my final hatchling down, leaning toward her so she could see the urgency in my eyes as I spoke.
"You must stay here, where you'll be safe. Do not leave this cave, I will be back, and if I'm not..." I took a deep breath, my throat tightening of its own accord as my eyes filled with pain, "If I'm not, then no one will. You must avoid anyone you see, no matter the species. Even the elves will likely wish you ill."
Her scared eyes stared at me, full of terror. "But why, mother! We have done nothing wrong!"
"I cannot say why any more than you can, Nemyra."
Deep down, I knew the truth. She was a hybrid, an anomaly, hated by her own kind even though it was her parents who were at fault, not her.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear my mind. "I must go." I pressed my forehead against hers one last time, before spinning around and loping forward until I built up enough momentum to soar into the sky.
~~~
She eluded her pursuers for weeks, hiding in every nook and cranny she stumbled upon in the wilds. Occasionally she would lose them for days at a time, but they were hungry for victory and always caught up. She had no true chance against their passionate devotion to the hunt, yet still she tried and very nearly succeeded until she made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
The scorching sun beat down upon her scales, drying them of their previously healthy shine and leaving her looking ragged as if she had traveled through these dunes for weeks, not days. Any dragon would eventually tire in these conditions, but Nytheri was even worse off seeing as she was a dark element who had lived in cold conditions her whole life. Despite this, she plowed onwards, eventually finding what looked to be an abandoned human town. The cracked, and sometimes crumbled, adobe buildings were much too small to house her, but there was a source of water, so she stayed there to rest for a few days, thinking herself safe.
It was the third day of her stay when they found her. A violent, unnatural windstorm had formed, chaotically throwing up sand and blinding her. She managed to make it to a small cleft of rocks, isolated against the sea of sand. There she made her stand, facing off valiantly against unconquerable odds, and ultimately meeting her end.
For years her remains lay there, slowly rotting away, a reminder to all of the consequences of harboring hybrids. Her bones remain there to this day, unburied and unmourned, leaving her broken soul to roam the dunes in which she was murdered for all of eternity.