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Author's Forward:

For those who've taken the time to read my other works, welcome to my newest fic. And for anyone who's here for the first time, a warm welcome too.

I've mostly been writing on Fanfiction Net until now. I've actually thought about doing this before, but my fellow writers and readers have been a great inspiration for me to really get into writing up my own, original world.

Prologue: Bound in Darkness

By nightdragon0

The flash of lightning pierced the blackness of the night like a knife, illuminating the path for a few seconds…enough for me to see that it wasn't good.

The accompanying thunder drowned out the squelching sound of my left foot sinking into the muddy patch, almost causing me to fall. Fortunately, grappling blindly managed to get my claws against a tree, which I used to support myself as I pulled my talons out of the mud.

It didn't help either that the storm had the rain pounding against my scales, or that my heart was pounding wildly within my chest. I was nearly out of breath and already dizzy with tension.

However, I couldn't afford to stop, especially having lost those precious few seconds freeing my foot.

Branches I couldn't even see slapped me painfully in the muzzle, but still I forced myself to ignore the pain for now as I chanced a look back.

The flaming torches of my pursuers had long since been doused by the rainwater. That probably meant that the ordinary townsfolk had given up the chase, leaving just the elite guards to worry about.

My mind raced frantically for a plan. Flying was out of the question in this weather and I was far too disorientated to know were I was going. Literally speaking, I was running blind.

So absorbed was I in my thoughts that I almost missed him.

A single guard, most likely a tracker, had gotten in front of me somehow. He thrust his arm out at approximately my head level and I was seconds away from getting it in the face when I jerked my head backwards.

Using my tail for balance, I bent my back further, flipping into an inverted position with my hands on the ground and kicking my legs upwards. My opponent grunted as the attack connected with his face, throwing the Dragonier off his feet.

The sounds of the others were very close by the time I leapt back to my feet and I knew I had no choice.

My right claw instinctively went for the sword in the brown sheath at the left side of my waist and drew, swinging it in a wide arc to deflect the incoming blow. Genuinely surprised, the guard hesitated as a flash of lightning allowed me a second's examination of him.

Like me, he was a Dragonier. Only he was green-scaled and slightly taller than myself.

The four horns at the top of his head pointed backwards and were arranged in a frill, giving him some protection at the back of his head. His upper body was covered in a light, sleeveless chain mail which also served to identify his status as a guard.

Even before the lightning faded, my left fist was already well on the way and caught him beneath the chin, sending the guard to the ground.

Immediately, I twirled around, deflecting a blow from below. My other hand went for the second sword, strapped by my right side, and whipped it out with the blade pointed downwards in my grasp.

The rising motion was just in time to deflect a fourth attacker's sword, distracting both enough for me to pull away.

Another burst of lightning allowed me to see guard duo more clearly. One was of the Red Flight and one of the Brown Flight, although both were clad in the same chain mail as the others.

The closer one, the Red Dragonier, attacked with a forceful backhanded stroke that I ducked under. I thrust my right sword upwards, just missing as he twisted to the side.

Next thing I knew, his knee was in my chest, delivering a blow that knocked me off my feet. However, I managed to spin my body as I fell, whipping my opponent's face with the tip of my tail.

The guard cried out in pain, but I felt a sharp sting at my tail as well. The cutting edge of his blade must've nicked the tip of my tail somehow.

Unfortunately I now had to deal with one more opponent as I hit the ground face first. Still holding on to my blades, I rolled over while making an L-shaped motion with my right hand, drawing from North to East.

It was an enchantment for a simple fireball spell, one that caught the unwary Brown Dragonier in the chest. Although the spell's power was greatly reduced in the rain, it stunned him enough for me to make a getaway.

I sheathed both blades while in a half crouched position, got to all fours and starting running again. Only this time I didn't get very far as I went right off the edge of a slope.

Tumbling head-over-heels, branches and plants snapped in my wake, some even bruising the exposed scales of my body. By digging both claws and talons into the dirt, I managed to slow my fall till I hit level ground again.

At the base of the slope was a small stream that I ran alongside, stopping only when some of the trees and grasses begun to give way to rock formations. By good timing of the lightning in the sky, I spotted a cave partially concealed by shrubbery and dragged myself into its mouth without even thinking.

Probably not a very wise choice, but it was the only one I had at the moment.

The leather doublet I wore beneath my jerkin was completely soaked, as were my breeches, gloves and ankle guards. Mud and dirt clung to both my armor and scales, with even more added on as I dropped chest first to the floor of the cavern.

Wet mud rubbed over my chin and neck as I pressed my head close to the ground while ducking into a large crack.

Then, I waited.

Once or twice, I thought I heard the sounds of my pursuers amongst the pouring rain. But those were soon drowned out and forgotten amid the howling winds of the storm.

After an hour or so, there were no more signs of life and I assumed they'd finally given up. However, I still didn't dare light a fire and risk detection. Instead, I brought out my twin blades and cleaned them with the rainwater that was leaking in through the roof of the cavern.

Both were identical, silver-colored short swords with two sharp edges and a gilded Y-shaped hilt. That gave the impression of a claw with the blade attached to its palm.

By waiting for flashes of lightning, I was able to look over my reflection on the broad edges of the swords.

And my black-scaled self hadn't changed the least. At times, I just find my mind drifting…staring off into my own reflection…and wishing I could've been of a different Flight…

To describe myself, as a Dragonier, would be an upright, bipedal reptilian. Dragoniers were originally half-breeds of a Great Dragon, or Wyrm, and another species. I heard they were known as humans.

'Were' is the word, because they're long dead now. Extinct…gone from the face of the planet forever.

We have draconic-shaped heads and elongated snouts, exactly like our Wyrm ancestors, and are completely covered in scales.

I'm one of the Dragoniers that have horns and no mane. Two of my horns were long and thin, ending above my eyes to form what seemed like a V-shaped crest. The center part of the 'V' was right at my forehead while the sharp ends pointed backwards.

At the back of my head were two shorter horns, which also pointed backwards. Nevertheless, they were as sharp and white as my main horns.

I carefully ran my tongue over my fangs, feeling if anything was broken. It didn't really matter, for any broken teeth would eventually be replaced.

I blinked as a flash of lightning momentarily blinded me.

Yeah, my eyes…

They were a rarity among Dragoniers, being red tinted without any pupils or iris visible as opposed to the usual colored pupil against white sclera.

My wings were built like a standard dragon's, consisting of the main wing radius and a white wing thumb, a small 'hook' at the top. Long bones known as wing phalanges ran from the joint of the wing thumb through the wings themselves, the ending bones protruding from the bottom of the wings as white spikes.

I had three of these phalanges on each wing, a pattern you'd see on practically every Dragonier.

As I examined my wings, all seemed fine. The inner, gray wing web tended to be more prone to rips.

Like all Dragoniers, I had five-fingered claws and three-toed talons. We have double jointed knees, much like the Wyrms or our distant Dinosaur cousins like Velociraptor. That allows us to run pretty well on all fours, especially if we use our tails to balance it out.

Speaking of my tail, the last three inches of it or so had been nicked off, but that was a minor wound and would regenerate eventually.

Unable to take my wet armor any longer, I set about getting it off.

The main piece was a jerkin, a gray jacket which I had to unfasten by reaching for the straps between my wings. The shoulder pads, with three spikes decorating each one, came off together with the jerkin as I tossed it onto the ground.

Beneath that was a white doublet with short sleeves that I unfastened in the same manner.

Doing so revealed my white underbelly, the only white scaled part of my body other than the bottom of my chin and neck.

I loosened the leather utility belt around my waist and threw off my gray breeches as well.

Finally, I un-strapped the last of my armor, my gray fingerless gloves and ankle guards, dropping them in heap.

Armor and clothing for us is primarily for protection. But even without any armor, a Dragonier is by no means defenseless. We have claws, talons, fangs, thick scales…every thing to make each one a living weapon. And we always have our elemental breaths, much like our Great Dragon ancestors.

The only thing is, our breaths are far more limited than our Great Dragon ancestors.

These are created by a complex set of reactions by chemicals stored in special nodes in our throats. Combined with a varying triggering agent in the craw, the reaction creates a different breath for each flight.

The Red Flight has fire for example. Sand for the Brown Flight, high pressurized wind for the Green Flight, Thunder for the Yellow Flight, chilling ice and water for the Blue Flight, scalding steam for the White Flight and finally acidic flames for the Black Flight.

Black Flight…I thought grimly, looking over the night-black color of my scales. Yeah…that's me…the source of all my troubles….

How often did I find my mind simply glancing over my own appearance like this? Running over each of my features and repeating them to myself. Perhaps being alone for so long has that kind of effect.

Still, it should've been the least of my priorities at the moment. I should've been considering where my next meal was coming from, or which direction I'd be headed from here.

I scratched at an itch on my forearm, accidentally pulling off a few of my black scales in the process. I clutched a fist around them, before releasing and tossing the loose scales aside. Our scale color reflects the innate element we're hatched with…the Flight we belong to…

No, being of the Black Flight isn't the main cause of my problems. It's…

I stopped myself, not wanting to think about it for the moment.

Alone again, as always…

In the darkness, I curled up. Unarmored, shivering, miserable and wet…with nothing I could do but wait out the storm.

To tell the truth, this was actually one of my better nights…