Kiran laid in his usual spot as he did for the past hundred or so years. He had changed a lot, physically and mentally.

His eyes opened slightly as he felt a small tug on his tail. He moved it without looking and closed his eyes.

Then his eyes opened again as he felt another tug and let out a sigh as smoke came out of his nostrils. He knew what it was, or exactly who it was.

He turned his head to find his tail in the mouth of a tiny dragon. Its scales just like his father was dark blue.

The young dragon soon noticed that Kiran was looking at him as he froze in place, it was only until Kiran’s tail moved once again that he chased it like a cat would a feather. Once again Kiran closed his eyes, but his tail still moving side to side as his brother, Iste, chased after it.

The two dragons that were born last year was Iste and Isla. The former being a male dark blue dragon much to the delight of his father since dragons of a lightning nature were much rarer than the other elements. Or any race for that matter.

The latter dragon was a female pale blue dragon bordering on being completely white. Its light blue eyes was the only sigh of her relation to her father.

Iste was, by every definition, a child. He was energetic, lively and unafraid of anything. Especially Kiran.

It seemed strange as Isla was terrified of Kiran, she had never stepped anywhere remotely near Kiran since her birth. Unlike his sister, Iste was all over Kiran. He would chase Kiran’s tail, climb on his back, sit on his head, anything.

Once or twice Kiran even had to save him by expanding his wing to catch the young dragon falling off his back. Which only made the young dragon laugh as he pranced about for Kiran to open his wing more. He was restless.

One day, Kiran stood up as he walked closer to his parents and laid before them. The two young dragons who were up till this point playing, stopped. Isla quickly retreated back to her mother. Both parents could only look at their daughter with a sigh.

What could they do if she was afraid of Kiran. Iste on the other hand was scrambling on Kiran’s paw and grabbing his claws.

“I want to go.” Kiran said as he looked at the two dragons in front of him.

“Where?” The mother asked as she stood up, concern in her eyes.

“Are you sure?” the father replied before Kiran had a chance to speak. He knew that Kiran would not be bound by the usual practice. Even though he was still technically a child, he was far from acting like one.

Kiran nodded. By now the mother had caught on that Kiran wanted to leave, and not for a brief period. Her eyes welled as she looked at Kiran pleading him to stay. She was worried, despite whatever Kiran’s growth was, he was still her child who was no more than a kid.

Suddenly a noise drew all three of their attention as Iste bit on Kiran’s claws creating a sound that echoed around them. Unknowingly, he broke the awkward silence.

Kiran lifted his hand and placed it softly on top of Iste. Iste was now on his back with a large hand over him, he did not cry out, instead he was enjoying it as Kiran carefully used a claw to distract him.

He didn’t want Iste to distract them, this was a serious time. He felt anymore meditation would not gain him more powerful, he needed real combat. He needed it to further familiarize himself with fighting as a dragon as well as get used to the powers he now possessed.

His mother looked at the father as if to say ‘don’t let him go’, his father sighed in return.

“10 years.” He said after a while. “10 more years and you may leave. At least have some time with these young ones.”

It wasn’t as if he was leaving forever, but he knew it would take a long time.

Kiran nodded in reply as he lifted his paw off Iste, who immediately got onto his feet and growled at the paw that had held him down. He jumped on it in an attack but obviously did no harm, with a single flick Kiran sent the young dragon skidding a few metres back to his father. It was all done very softly. It did not discourage the young dragon, just as he was ready to go another round, his father stepped in and shook his head. He stopped and soon began to mess with his father.

Kiran walked towards his mother, Isla who was under the mother backed away even further as she looked at the shadow that he cast over them. He gently nudged his mothers face for a few seconds hoping to calm her down and then left back to his spot.

The years passed by quickly, but not without incidents.

A few years later, the family all left and flew into a large opening as they settled in wait. For what, Kiran did not know. But soon they’d find out as dozens of dragons flew to the gathering as well.

A total of 10 dragons, well fully grown ones and 5 tiny little dragons varying in size. But Kiran estimated their age to all be around 40 years from each other, not too much of a difference in dragon’s age.

He finally knew what it was, just as he had met Orsc when he was a child, it was a gathering for newly born dragons of similar age to bond together.

Although Kiran was not that much older than them, he slumped beside his parents and closed his eyes for most the time. His parents let him be.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He could sense some gazes headed his way occasionally and opened his eyes to meet them. He could feel some caution and animosity within them, they didn’t trust him. He made a mental note of which dragons and paid no heed.

For about a month, they stayed and then left back to their own place. But perhaps due to the reason that it was rare to have so many young dragons born around the same time, they were allowed to meet quite often on their own.

Nothing major happened except for that one time. The two young dragons now slightly bigger came back in to the opening. Iste carefree as usual but Isla, as soon as she saw her mother, cried her eyes out and rushed towards her.

All three dragons immediately turned their attention towards her in concern and question.

Soon, from the account of Iste and Isla it was evident what had happened. Some of the other dragons were making fun of them for having a weird dragon brother and mocking them about it. Isla took it quite personally.

Kiran sighed as he walked back towards his spot and laid down. There was nothing he could do in this situation.

The mother tried to calm her down as the father listened to the tales of his son, who seemed to not be affected by any of this.

“Why… why is he here?” a soft voice came from Isla.

Immediately the place fell silent as the two adults looked at Isla, one look at their face and you could tell, they were not happy.

“How dare you speak like that!” their father’s voice boomed across the opening as he stood up and stared at Isla, anger in his eyes.

Iste froze in place and Isla shivered as she cried again. Never had they seen their father so angry before, not even Kiran could react.

Their mother also felt angry, but did not have enough in her to shout at her child that way and looked to her husband to calm him down.

By now, Isla knew what a stupid thing she said, she didn’t mean it. She was just upset at the other young dragons making fun of her family.

Yet, the anger in the father would not subside, just as he was about to push further, a small nudge came from his side. As he turned he saw Kiran nudging him as if to say, ‘its okay’.

Only then did his anger slowly die down, but he still was not happy. Kiran, even though he was different and not born from them directly, was their son. He gave them joy, especially the mother, who at the time craved a child so desperately that everyday her health and mind deteriorated.

Their lives before were grey, and only after Kiran came along was filled with colour.

Kiran could feel the two parent’s rage and in it, the love that he never had. He was grateful and glad. He made a little promise to himself, that nobody will bring harm to them.

“Never. Again.” The father uttered, his voice still discontent as he walked away back to his place.

Isla, eyes still filled with tears looked to the mother for comfort. But she would not find one there, even if Isla was her precious daughter, Kiran was also her son. He had brought much joy into their lives and she too was angry at that outburst. She was scared that Kiran would feel ostracised because of his birth and colour that he would leave them.

She could not bear the thought of it. So she too was giving Isla the cold shoulder. Only Iste, who probably did not know what happened, went over to pat Isla’s head as it had been done to him numerous times from his father and brother and laid with her.

Soon of course, it didn’t continue long as the mother could not stand seeing her daughter upset and alone, opened her wing to the two young dragons and shielded them in. No doubt, there was more crying.

Days passed, seasons flew by and years drained away. It had already been 10 years since Kiran asked to leave and it was time.

As he stood outside the cavern, the 4 dragons stood slightly behind and beside him. He turned to see the upset eyes of her mother. The playful eyes of his brother. The slight tinge of uneasiness in the eyes of her sister. And the expectant eyes of his father.

“You know where you’re going. Take this with you.” His father said as he handed Kiran a large dark blue scale. It was obvious it was from his father. The scale was something all adult dragons have, shed every thousand years. It could allow the dragon to sense where it was and a stress signal if needed. They had already discussed before what Kiran’s plans were, and his father had directed him to a large island full of powerful beasts. That was where Kiran was going to train, the forbidden isles.

He bid farewell to the family, and with various emotions between them, he flew off with determination to his destination.

The world he was in now, was vast. Much bigger compared to earth. He had been flying for about a month now. He once saw a land off in the distance. A continent his father told him about but for most of the time, he was in open water. A few little islands passed by here and there but that was it. Once he saw a ship below on the water, far above the clouds his eyesight could see the people on board.

They were not humans. They were Meriks. Half human half beasts, or just lower beasts that came into human form. Technically, dragons could be classified as Meriks too. They are Pure Meriks.

Beasts were separated by blood, the purer and high class the blood, the more powerful one becomes. This is also in addition to being able to transform into human form. The purer are able to transform into a full human, whereas lower bloodlines are unable to transform fully and may have their tails, fur, among other features still with them on transformation.

Soon, Kiran could see it. The forbidden isles, shrouded with a dense mist. The isle is a kingdom of wild beasts, its leader as told by his father, was a A class monster. Make no mistake, a beast of A class is much more powerful than a human of the same power band. A beast has its instinct and body along with experience in survival in the wild with its senses as compared to a human. Generally, humans would even tread carefully to avoid engaging in a beast that are on the same level as them.

Ah, the power of beasts are recorded as such, F – S class, then above are the same as the chi user classification. Each class correspond to the chi user and magician classes, apart from F class which are below Apprentice.

Kiran was currently a D class, so encountering an A class monster would mean the death of him. He knew well enough to stay clear of such a thing.

Finally, Kiran landed on the outskirts of the Isle, its arrival erupted various roars and howls in the forest in protest of him.

He looked at the large thick forest in front of him, in it laid dangers that he didn’t even know. Back on human, he did not have many adversaries who could beat him in a one on one. But here, there were plenty of beasts that could crush him with a twist of their thumb.

It made his blood boil, it was thrilling. Unconsciously, his bloodlust (killing intent) seeped through his body forming a dense air around him. He grimaced a smile as he walked into the forest.

If anyone were to lay their eyes on the sight, a large black dragon’s wicked smile whilst letting off a stream of killing intent (bloodlust). They’d probably shit themselves.

As Kiran’s back disappeared into the forest, silence engulfed it as if the forest itself was a predator. Lying in silence, awaiting to pounce on its newcomer.