Andy was spying on Alex.

He knew it wasn’t a very friendly gesture, but he wanted to know what he, Aether, Alastor, and Sapphire were talking about this morning. Jade had announced that they could have a few hours of rest before continuing.

Pathtalon had agreed to come with him for moral support.

At first, Andy’d had mixed feelings about Pathtalon. All his life, he’d been told by everyone else how dragons were slobbering, fanged monsters that needed to be wiped off the face of Terrarestria—especially SpineDragons, considered by humans to be the most unpredictable, violent tribe that they knew of. At least BloodDragons had a code of honor. SpineDragons killed for fun.

His village, which he had long since left behind just under a year ago, was in the SpineDragon Kingdom. The people there were starving, sick, dehydrated, and terrorized by the SpineDragons every year. They had to toss a bunch of food down a hole in order to “satisfy the dragons”, although Andy had always thought that was a bunch of shizernoodles.

And his village was depleting their food supply rapidly.

Thinking about it made Andy feel guilty. He'd promised to return to his mother, to get more food for her and the village. He’d run away, and so far he’d done nothing to get food for them.

He was tired of running.

Now that he was here, with his new friends, Andy felt better. He would return to the village, with a bunch of crops to grow. It was a rule that no one could grow anything in the Barren Wasteland, for risk of attracting the attention of dragons. But Andy didn’t care. It was a stupid rule, anyway. Plus, after they stopped this war, saved the world, and did whatever else they were supposed to do, maybe it wouldn’t be a law anymore. Andy hoped against hope that they could somehow change the SpineDragons into better dragons.

He was fighting for a higher cause now. Not just his village, but the whole world. Thinking about that made him feel small and insignificant.

“Andy,” Pathtalon whispered into his ear. Andy resisted the urge to duck and reach out with his sword, but he turned his attention back to Alex and his companions.

“My whole life, I thought the world was like a book,” Sapphire was saying. “A story. There was a clear villain and a clear goal that I needed to reach. I wanted to explore and map out the Caves, find whatever secrets I could, and write them down to pass on to a later generation. I wanted to improve the school so that they actually taught real information. And I wanted to change the way the Elders rule the people.”

As she said this, Andy noticed that Alex looked guilty. What was Sapphire talking about, anyway? Alex had explained to him a little about the caves, but told Andy that he’d never gotten deep into the politics of the Caves. From the way Sapphire put it, it was pretty terrible.

“Sapphire,” Alex chuckled. “What are you getting at? There are no true villains in the Caves. Sure, people can be horrible, but not that bad. Plus, life isn’t a book.”

Sapphire sighed. “I realized that when Pyrite, Turquoise, and I were kidnapped,” she confessed. “I started thinking, ‘this is real. It's not just fun and games anymore.’ the thing is, us—our group—isn't like any story I’ve ever read.”

Alex frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m saying,” Sapphire continued, “that in other books—the books that I read and loved—the characters always fought for a reason: family, friends, the villain captured a loved one, something like that.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Alex nodded. “I read some of those stories,” he remembered.

“But we’re too noble,” Sapphire said. “In the other stories—like the ones where kids got powers—they never wanted the power in the first place, and that’s what makes them such good characters. They don’t willingly volunteer on death missions, they do it because there are lives at stake—loved ones, best friends, and sometimes the world but they never get caught into adventures on purpose.”

“We are noble! What’s wrong with that?” Alex protested. “We fight for the whole world! Plus, we technically are fighting for loved ones, because our parents and relatives are also in danger. If we don’t, we won’t have any home to go back to.”

Sapphire took another deep breath. From where Andy was crouched behind a bush, he could see that she looked deeply disturbed, like what she was about to say might kill her.

“That’s the thing, Alex,” she went on. “I don’t have anyone to return to.”

She let that message sink in.

Alex turned his head to look at her. “W-what?”

Slowly, Sapphire explained her past. She explained how her family hated her and threw her in dungeons, sometimes putting heated chains on her arms and watching her scream, laughing at her pain, scourging her with whips and throwing her against stone walls. She poured out her life at Alex’s feet, from simple things such as being grounded for a few days to things Andy never would have imagined a human being could do--things he would never want to think about ever again. When she was done, tears were pouring out of her eyes like rivers, getting her glasses wet.

Aether curled her tail around Sapphire’s arm.

“Oh, Sapphire,” Alex murmured. Andy sympathized with him. What was a guy supposed to do in a situation like this, where a girl just completely opened up? The only thing Alex could do was hug Sapphire. Alastor licked Sapphire's nose and whined.

“We’re here for you, Sapphire,” Alex said. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

“Oi!” Tanzanite protested. “What am I? A pet rock? A piece of moss on the bottom of your boot?”

Sapphire giggled.

“I just CAN’T BELIEVE it,” Aether snorted. An icy plume of mist drifted from her nostrils, crackling slightly. From where Andy was in the bush, he could smell electricity charging through the air. “What humans can DO. I mean, some dragons are the same way, but EVEN I haven’t heard or seen of ANYTHING like that before.”

“It’s okay, Aether,” Sapphire reassured. “I don’t live like that anymore. I’ve been living away from home for a long time now, and I’ve forgiven my family.”

“How?” Alex asked. “How can you forgive someone that terrible?”

“Forgiveness is one of the hardest things a humans can do,” Sapphire answered. “It’s easier to demand vengeance than to let go of your hatred. But hatred destroys lives even worse than war. In fact, one of the primary causes of war is hatred. As I grew up, I learned that once you let go of grudges, you are free. And the person you forgave is free, too.”

Andy thought about that. Could he forgive every bully, every destructive dragon he’s ever met? Could he forgive his father, who’d left his mother alone in the village to take care of her baby son?

In his village, a man led the household. All marriages were arranged, but the people were happy—because love is a choice. The father was responsible for how much food the family salvaged, where they lived, how big their house was, and if one of his children should get married. The mother took care of cooking the food, educating the children, and keeping up relations with the neighboring houses.

Andy’s father, Rowanwood, was terrible to Andy’s mother, Angel. He hated having arranged marriages, and no matter how hard Angel tried, he refused to accept her love and care. They had one child before Rowanwood had decided that he hated crying babies and messes and left one night without saying goodbye. Left a widow, Angel had been shunned by the rest of the village. She was only allowed to have the scraps of the food (if there were any), and no one ever talked to her. Because of Rowanwood, Angel was a widow.

Andy was an extra mouth for her to feed, so one night he’d had a talk with Angel. “Mother,” he’d said, “I’m of no use to you. I’m just an extra mouth to feed and an extra body that gets in the way. I’m going to leave the village, Mother. But I’ll come back, I promise—with lots and lots of food.”

Angel had reluctantly agreed, and Andy hadn’t seen her since.

“GUYS!” A breathless Turquoise—helmet on but visor up—ran up to Alex and Sapphire. “...being....attacked....StealthDragons found us!”

“Oh no,” Sapphire said, her eyes wide. “No no no no.”

Sapphire and Alex ran off to their camp, their dragons and Alastor following. Turquoise remained standing. She put her visor down, then turned to where Andy was hiding. Chills went up Andy’s spine. Could she see him?

“Come on, Andy!” Turquoise gestured with her hand to follow her, then ran after her twin. Andy and Pathtalon exchanged looks, then fled in that direction also, towards the chaos. Andy looked at the ground, biting his lip as he ran.

Would it ever end?