The ebony-coloured dragon wrapped her tail around the newly-hatched dragon pup and pulled him close to her. Her tongue ran over his soft grey scales, cleaning the pup and removing the soft, predator-attracting baby scent.

His eyes were shut, as they would be for the next month and he appeared to be entirely disproportionate. His head was too big for his neck and his wings were far too big for his body. But soon he would grow, and proportion himself correctly.

She knew he was important. Males were only born one in four billion. And a female could only lay eggs once every three years. Ebony knew she had to protect him. Only one in ten Ender Dragons survived to adulthood. Thank Notch a female did not need a male to produce fertile eggs.

Here was the struggle. She'd only thought of Female names. She hadn't been expecting a son. 'What should I call you?' She whispered lovingly. The little dragon opened his jaws, revealing a set of teeth that were big and sharp, even for an ender dragon in general. Upon seeing the fangs she thought of a temporary name. 'For now I'll call you Sharpness, until you have matured enough to earn your true name.'

Time passes…

'Hey guys! Come on! Wait for me!' Sharpness shouted as he charged after the two dragons in front. They were bigger than him as female ender dragons usually were, especially as he was smaller than most.

How they loathed Sharpness. To them he was just an annoyance. They would put up with the stupid runt just because Mother made them. They detested how Mother favoured the runt even though they all knew that the dumb baby wouldn't reach adulthood. Whenever they could they would distance themselves from him, and try to ignore the runt's desperate urging to play. He was the youngest, with the exception of the egg Mother was guarding, and a male! HOW could she let a MALE in the pack?! As far as they were concerned, he could take a dive into the void. Come to think of it…

'Hey Sharpness!' Alysia said with a grin. 'I and Sicily were going to do some flight and diving training off the edge! Right Sicily?' She nudged the smaller dragon.

'Yeah!' Sicily lied. 'I'll go first, little brother.' Sicily dove off the edge of the sky island, waiting about ten seconds before pulling up and landing on the island once more. 'Your turn, Alysia. Beat that!'

'Oh yeah? Just watch me!' Alysia dove off the edge of the sky island, waiting about twenty seconds before pulling up and landing on the island once more. 'Sharpness, your turn.'

'I can beat your times easy!' The little dragon threw himself off the edge.

'Any longer than twenty seconds before pulling up and the runt with his weak wings will be in the void.' Sicily smiled ominously.

'Five, four, three, two, one… And the runt is in the void!' Alysia cheered before a thunderously loud flapping filled their ears. 'What?' Before their eyes Ebony rose up from beneath the island, carrying Sharpness by the scruff.

'Mum! We were just, um…' Sicily was silenced by her mother's cold look as she put Sharpness down on the island.

'Don't try lying to me, Sicily. Sharpness would not have thrown himself over the edge and almost died without some encouragement. And you two are strong enough to fly down, catch him and pull him up. Why did you tell him to throw himself off?'

'Erm… well… uh…' An explosion stopped Alysia from answering.

Ebony looked to the direction of the explosion. 'We will continue this conversation later. But don't think you two aren't in trouble!' She turned to Sharpness. 'Get home, hide yourself, and don't come out until I say it's safe.'

'But mama…'

'GO! Alysia, Sicily, go find somewhere to hide as well!' The three young dragons bolted away, following their mother's orders. She watched to make sure they truly were going to hide. She saw Sicily's claws cutting through the endstone as Alysia dug beside her. They soon had their own little tunnel. The endstone was thrown back up to hide the hole and Ebony knew they would be safe. She saw Sharpness reach the cave and leave her sight. She didn't know if he would be safe but she had to take care of something else.

An arrow whizzed by her ear and she replied with a furious roar. Her wings spread and she took to the air. Tears flowed down the spines on her cheeks when she saw who she was facing. But she had to fight. Even though she knew she was soon to die.