I passed out in the middle of the tunnel. The pain had finally gotten to me. I did not know how long I layed there. I felt only the feeling of my flesh and scales being burned by the acid. When I passed out, who knew, but by the time I awoke again the burning had stopped but half my scales had been burned off. It hurt to move. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to stop but I have to go. I have to continue moving forward. If I stop now then i’ll die, so I got up and started walking and the tunnel continued. I didn’t know how far I had gone but I just felt as though I was close to the end. I could feel the flesh on my back scrape every step of the way. the earth was rough and rocky. Blood soon started to pour out of my new wounds. My feet started ache and I finally reached the end. There was a small rabbit with a slight horn poking out. This was probably a young horned rabbit that had only built one entrance and exit. this was probably a new burrow as well. It looked terrified but I only could feel my hunger and pain. I let out a breath of electricity, it fell over twitching. I walked calmly and with a swift bite I ended its life. I ate the rabbit but I couldn’t even taste it. I felt as though my entire body was on autopilot just so my brain could keep the pain at bay. When the last piece of flesh had been swallowed I felt my body hit the floor unable to sustain my own weight, my eyes closed. When I awoke I could feel the warmth of the sun flooding into the burrow. I began to move towards the exit however my body had not recovered and as I moved through the tunnels once again my wounds festered open. When I finally exited the rabbits burrow my blood had soaked my entire back and it had dripped down my body all the way down to my feet. I felt groggy under the sun. It was hard for me to tell left from right so I continued to walk with no destination in mind and nothing to fuel my efforts forward. I could not even feel my own hunger. I continued to walk, my conscience fading, I collapsed on what seemed to be a path. I could not even hear the horses or the footsteps of men from the merchant caravan that was heading my way. I could hear something, it sounded intelligent. I could not even stand to defend my pitiful self as I was picked up and joceled around as the boy that was carrying me ran to the centre of the caravan. I could hear more voices now but everything was getting more and more fuzzy my thoughts blurred together and I felt the warmth of the darkness envelop me. When I awoke I was in a wooden cage there was a thin piece of animal hide under me. I looked up to see a young boy no more than 16 sitting across from me. He was a toned boy and tall his muscles were not defined or large but gave off the feeling as if he could lift a horse. His eyes were a deep blue, it was almost as if you were staring into a calm lake. He had a common hair colour for a human; a deep blue almost purple. If

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I remember correctly their hair colour represents what element they are closest to. He sat on a box and stared hard at the floor as if trying to remember something. I let out a squeak and he snapped out of whatever trance he was in and turned towards me. I could tell he was the same boy that had brought me to the caravan. He spoke as if I could understand him. Well, I could but he didn't know that.

“Hey little guy, hungry?”

And of course, as if on cue, my stomach makes an unthinkable sound in front of this human.

“Ok little buddy i’ll go get you some food”

My tail began wagging behind me, excited by the promise of food. ‘I swear to god tail I will eat you if you betray me again.’ No matter how hard I concentrated it would not stop moving. The boy returned with a giant smile plastered across his face with a plate of meat in hand.

“You hungry little buddy? Huh. Huh.”

“Yes! Shut up and give me some.”

Of course all he heard was some cute squeaking noises and my tail wagging 100 km per hour. Oh well, I got the meat in the end so all is good and forgiven. As I finished up my meal another man walked into the room. The boy noticeably stiffened up and the man spoke in a haughty voice as if he were some rich noble. Oh, wait, that's probably what he is.

“This fine specimen would fetch a pretty penny if it weren’t so damaged, can't sell damaged merchandise now can we. So you’ll keep it and you’ll make sure he heals up nice. We could buy an estate with just his tiny little hide.” greed was leaking out from him. It made the small makeshift room feel stuffy and the air toxic. He left only as the boy responded to him. The noble had a wide grin that stretched from ear to ear.

“Yes sir.”

The boy let out a deep sigh. He looked towards me with guilt and sorrow in his eyes for what was to come.