The night was quiet on the island of Kyrat aside from the chirping crickets, and the waves washing up on the beach a little down the hill from where Lore sat. The dragon hatchling sat there for hours every night just looking up at the stars and listening to the waves, occasionally so long that he fell asleep and his father had to fetch him to bring him inside. Though it was almost impossible to see him at nighttime due to his black scales, his bright, baby blue eyes were a dead giveaway. He had two silver horns that just started to protrude from the top of his head and his wings, although not big or strong enough to support him in flight, were black with silver membranes.
Usually most nights were calm, and still; however, this night was especially windy, blowing the tall grass blades against his fine scales. He lay down on his perch and swing his tail back in forth, cutting the grass blades behind him with his silver tail blade that cut out of the side of his tail and curved to a tip like a sickle, which is where his nickname "Sickle" comes from. The nickname came from an old friend of his from school that later moved away to a different isle for unknown reasons, or at least reasons Lore didn't understand; but then again, there's not much hatchlings his age do understand.
"Lore!" Came a voice from behind him. Lore turned his head to see his mother in the doorway to his home,
"Coming mother!" Lore responded as he stood up, let out a long stretch with his paws pushed forward like a cat, then trotted happily home. As he came to meet his mother, he rubbed his head and side against her side lovingly as he walked into the big and only room of the house. His father was already asleep in his bed and Lore came up to him and licked his cheek goodnight before curling up in the corner on the adjacent wall. His mother came up to him and licked his cheek and Lore giggled as it pushed him over to his side. His mother returned a silent chuckle and curled in a ball next to her mate. Listening to the silent crackle of the fire, Lore slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Lore tossed and turned in his sleep; grunting and whining and moving his legs as if trying to run away from something, and gasped as he shot awake. The room was pitch black. Lore breathed heavily, sweat dripping down his scales.
"Mother!" He shouted looking for comfort, but there was no response. He waited a few moments, then tried to shake her awake.
"Mother? Please wake up. I had a nightmare." He continued to shake her, but she wouldn't wake up. He then got up and carefully maneuvered himself around her to his father and tried waking him up.
"Daddy? Wake up!" He pushed his head hard against his dad's side but to no avail.
"You two are deep sleepers." Lore said laughing and trotted over to the fireplace.
"Maybe the light will wake you up." He stated as he tried to push out a flame. Nothing came out though and he only coughed on the smoke.
Come on, you got this! He thought to himself. He reared back and let out one more try and a small flame came from his mouth, just enough for the wood to catch and illuminate the room once again.
"There we go!" He said with a triumphant smile and turned to see if his parents were waking up, but what he saw horrified him. Both his mother and father's throats have been slit in their sleep and blood covered the floor they were laying on. Lore screamed and backed away from them, crying uncontrollably and shielding his eyes with his wing.
"No! This can't be happening!" He yelled still wailing.
"I'm dreaming. I have to be! Wake up!" He yelled as he slammed his head against the wall.
"Ow!" He said rubbing his head. He looked over to his dead parents and cried.
"Please... please don't be gone. You can't be gone. Who's going to take care of me? Who- who's going to tell me to come inside when I'm out for too long. Or if I fall asleep on the hill... please wake up. Wake up!" He screamed in their ears. He fell on them and cried hard covering his face with his paws.
"It's a shame really..." Lore quickly picked up his head and gasped.
"Who said that?" Lore shot back. A navy-blue dragon with piercing red eyes entered the room. He had a scar across his left eye and his wings had many scratches.
"It's a shame that such... terrible things, happen to good people. Especially hatchlings." Lore, still crying, tried to enter a defensive state but was very sloppy. The dragon chuckled sinisterly at this.
"You have much to learn young one." He said as he started towards Lore, who tried to back away too quickly and fell on his back.
"Please don't hurt me!" He cried. The dragon snickered and sat on his haunches in front of him.
"I'm not going to hurt you. That's not what I'm here for." He responded calmly. Lore took a few moments to process the situation.
"Then what do you want? You already killed my parents... what else do you want?!" Lore shouted at him, barring his teeth. The dragon seemed intrigued by this.
"Impressive... even in the face of danger, you still have the balls to threaten." Lore was puzzled by this.
"I... I didn't threaten you."
"Not with your words, but expressions. Most dragons don't show their teeth like that unless they plan to use them. That is... most impressive. Name's Khan." Khan put a small smile on his face even though it was plain to see that it was forced.
"What's your name lad?" He asked the hatchling, still quivering before him. Lore thought about it for a few minutes.
"Come on, you must have a name young one. Let's forget about that mess in the corner for a second and pretend to be civilized." Lore struggled for a few more moments, thinking if it was a good idea or not, but eventually gave in.
"It's Lore." He said shyly, darting his eyes between Khan's and the floor.
"Lore. It's a nice name." Khan responded nodding his head.
"There... I told you something, now you tell me something. Why are you here?" Lore asked him. Khan grunted and puffed another flame into the fireplace for more light.
"I'm here to take you to a very special place. A place where hatchlings, like yourself, grow up to be powerful, intelligent dragons like me." Khan said with a smile. Lore sneered at him.
"I would never want to be like you!" He told him, tears still filling his eyes. Khan smirked and put his head down toward Lore's who backed up further to the wall.
"The way I see it," he took a glance over at Lore's dead parents then back to him, " you don't have much of a choice." Lore looked down at the floor, then over to his parents. He sniffled and looked up to Khan with wet eyes,
"It didn't hurt did it? They didn't feel any pain?" Khan shook his head.
"Quick and painless, I promise you." Lore walked around Khan towards his parents and put his paw on his father's side and licked his cheek.
"Goodnight..." Lore whispered in his father's ear and gave his mother a lick on the cheek as well.
"Okay... I'll go..." Lore said defeatedly. Khan sighed heavily,
"Hey kid," Lore looked up at him, " it gets easier. I promise you it does." With that Khan kicked out the fire in the fireplace and led Lore outside to the hill above the beach.
"Can you fly?" Khan asked him, glancing down at him. Lore shook his head no.
'Course not. Khan thought to himself and lowered his body down to the ground.
"Climb on." Lore did as instructed and laid on Khan's back between his wings.
"It's going to be a long flight, so get comfortable." With that Khan took off quickly into the sky. Lore almost got knocked off but he steadied himself. He closed his eyes and held on tightly with his paws, trying not to claw into Khan's back. After a few minutes passed the flight became steadier and Lore opened his eyes a little and picked his head up; and what he saw mesmerized him. A vast ocean beneath him and a clear night sky above, and endless possibilities in between.
"Wow..." Lore said, his eyes full of wonder. Khan laughed,
"Yeah, one could get used to this."
"Yeah..." Lore responded, "Wait, where are we going?"
"To my master's. He's a great teacher, he'll teach you everything you need to know to survive out here on your own one day."
"What s his name?" Lore asked curiously. Khan had to think about that one.
Should I tell him? Eh what the hell? Not like it'll matter.
"Malefor." Khan responded, waiting for the hatchling to remember the name.
"Malefor?" Lore asked. Khan nodded.
"That sounds cool!" Khan gasped silently in disbelief. Could it be that this kid knew nothing about Malefor or the great war? Most curious.
"I'm sure you're going to get along just fine." Khan said with a sinister smile. Lore just curled up on his back and fell asleep.
Lore awoke a few hours later to notice that the ocean had changed to mountains of fire, and the night sky clouded by smoke.
"Where are we?" Lore asked wondrously, looking at his surroundings.
"This is commonly known as the Burned Lands."
"And this is where we're going? Where's Malefor?"
"He's at the Dragon Temple. A little further. Easy on the questions kid." Khan said kind of annoyed.
"Sorry..." Lore apologized shyly, curling up again and putting his head on his paw. As they went further into the Burned Lands they slowly became surrounded by other flying creatures, some of which snarled and barked at Lore who covered his face with his wing.
"Khan? I know you said no more questions, but who are those scary creatures?" Khan chuckled.
"Don't worry. They won't hurt you." Khan assured him.
Soon enough a large building came into view, and Lore's eyes were fixed on it. A great building with scriptures written on the outside of the doorway. What really got Lore's attention was the fact it was floating on a giant piece of rock.
"Welcome to the Dragon Temple kid." Khan said as he flew towards the building and landed on the rock and walked up the steps to the door. Lore hid behind Khan's head shivering.
"Scared?" Khan asked him, looking up at him. Lore nodded yes and buried his head in his wing again.
"You should be." Khan whispered to himself with a grin. The doors opened inward to allow the dragon to walk in, and closed behind him.
"Rides over kid," Khan said as he bumped Lore off his back on to the floor.
"Ouch!" Lore said he stood up, "What'd you do that for?" Lore said to Khan, but he wasn't there. Lore looked around for him but he had vanished.
"He's not there..." A loud, dark voice boomed in the large room. Lore jumped at this and hid behind his wings again.
"Stop cowering! Come forward..." The voice the commanded. Lore slowly took his wings out of his face and took a few steps into the center of the room.
"Now!" The voice boomed at him, and he darted forward and tripped into the center of the room.
"Good. Now, what's your name child?" The voice asked him.
"L-lo-lore..." Lore responded with his head low to the ground. Out of the shadows stepped a huge purple dragon with three long horns protruding from his head; two on either side and one on top of his head. He had sinister yellow eyes that could stare directly into your soul and tear it to shreds.
"Why do you cower?" Malefor asked condescendingly.
"I-I-I..." Lore stammered out but he couldn't form a sentence. Malefor groaned in annoyance.
"Silence!" He boomed and sent Lore running away from him and cowering in a corner.
"You'll never get anywhere with him like that master." Khan stated as he too emerged from the shadows.
"You brought me a whelp. A weakling!" The word resonated in Lore's mind. 'Weakling'. Every fiber of his body hated it.
"He has potential master." Khan returned.
"Yes, my student. Potential food for the Grublins!" Malefor shot back.
"Stop it..." Lore said quietly. Malefor heard this and turned his attention to the hatchling in the corner.
"What did you just say?" Malefor asked menacingly.
"Stop it!" Lore shouted at him. Malefor sneered and growled at him as he started towards him.
"You're mean! And hateful, and rude! You're the weakling for picking on a child!" Lore shot at him. Malefor walked up to him and lowered his head down towards Lore's who still shot a fearless sneer back at him. Khan was surprised by this. No one had ever stood up to Malefor like that, and lived.
"Say that again..." Malefor threatened him. Lore gulped but kept his composure and shot back,
"You're weak..." Malefor snickered at this.
"You have guts kid," he said as he pushed his head closer to Lore and pushed him against the wall, "I like that!" Malefor finished and laughed.
"Finally! A student with fire! With promise!" Malefor said laughing but Lore wasn't sure if this was good or horrible.
"I told you sir. Potential. Shall I train him?" Khan said with a grin.
"No. I will train him," Malefor said smiling menacingly at the hatchling, " Khan show him to his room."
"Yes sir." Khan said as he walked to get Lore and led him out of the room and down a dark corridor lit only by a few torches on the walls.
"He seems to like me." Lore said to Khan, looking up at him.
"You showed him that you can handle yourself. That you're not scared to fight."
"I was terrified..." Khan laughed at this.
"Yes, I could see that. And Malefor could too. No matter who your opponent is, never show that you're scared. It gives them power. Got it?" Lore nodded his head. Soon enough them came to small room on the side of the corridor. The room was much brighter than the hallway; there was torches on the walls a little fountain in the corner of the room to get a drink and two beds. One of which taken already.
"I'm sharing a room?" Lore asked curiously. Being an only child, he never had to share anything growing up.
"Sure do kid. Better get some rest. Big day tomorrow." Khan said as he shut the door behind him, leaving Lore alone with the strange dragon in the bed next to him who awoke due to the door closing.
"Mind being a little quieter?" She said annoyed.
"Sorry I didn't mean to." Lore responded shyly. The dragoness only groaned in response, her head pressed against the pillow. Lore crawled into his bed and curled up, putting his head on his pillow.
"My name is Lore." Lore said, then put his head down to rest.
"Cynder."