Flying out of that hell hole was a cinch. There is almost nothing beyond my land except the mainland and forests, so I have to fly for half a day to actually get to land that I don't know. It's weird being here.

I don't know what to do here, so I quick eat a deer that was passing by. It was old, and I gave it a special ceremony before it died, where it told me that its noble meat would sustain me. And I thanked it gratefully and finally killed it. I also said "Godspeed to heaven." Before it died. Yes, I believe in a better place after this one, and I call it heaven. It died and made its way safely on the star ladder that leads to heaven. I believe in that, too.

Why did I have to tell you about my last meal? Because it was my first real meal. At the nest, we never killed meat and gave it the ceremony. It was always just "some food", not "noble meat". I needed noble meat, and it tasted like my first meal. So I decided that every animal I killed needed this ceremony, so it wasn't a killing anymore, but a calm separation of body and spirit. At this ceremony, I'd honor every noble animal that I caught to eat and give it my respect before I finally ate it. And the animal would be honored. It felt as if for the first time in my life, I was caring for something other than myself. I was part of some other animal's life. Mattering in the life of someone other than myself. And Night Furies.

I continued on for the rest of the day safely, and found a small hole to hide in that night. I had trouble falling asleep, because dragons are nocturnal, but I fell asleep eventually. I woke up to find a small terror trying to burn me awake. I wave my paw at it and hiss, and it chickens away. HA! That's the way of a Night Fury, the true dragon master!

And when I say dragon master, I mean dragon master. At the top of the food chain. Above the alpha, or at least the Night Fury should be at the top. Because the Night Furies have special powers, they made everyone weary of them. They could challenge alphas and win. They were more powerful and deserving of a throne than an alpha, who was just there to ride on everyone else's tail. That was proved in a fight before the killing morning. I'm pretty sure that's what caused the killing morning. The alphas wanted to be the best, so the Night Furies had to be eliminated from the equation. Why wasn't I killed? Not a pure bred Night Fury. No powers. Just another worker bee.

So, my pink paw does mean something. I can't win against an alpha, as my ancestors could. Before some pink dragon came into the mix. Stupid pink dragon.

I fly out of the hole to a nearby large rock form. It is huge, and unusual. I've never seen such large rocks, I'm used to long forests and the occasional human traveler. Not large, rocky landscapes with small islands everywhere. It's new. I think I'm nearing the ocean. I don't know what I'll do after I hit the ocean. Fly across it, maybe? Scour the coastline for other Night Furies? I have no plan, no idea, and I'm free.

I can do anything I want, I have no schedule, no life planned out for me. No expectations from anyone else, I'm free. For as long as I want! I can do anything I want, wake up in the morning! Cook fish! Whatever! It doesn't matter, as long as I am free of an alpha, I'm free of my duties. The word "freedom" rings through my brain and I can't help but express my excitement.

"EEEEEEIIIIIOOOW!" I shoot a fireball up above me, and it quickly burns out. I shoot up a few more just to watch them burn out, and then I shoot one in front of me. I fly into it and its heat, which covers me in a perishable blanket that gets caught under my scales. I love that feeling. I fly down and into the water below me.

I flail around in it for a little, and I lick my pink spot. I feel special, and I only wish my family were here and free with me, with no duties. They always told me that they'd play and have fun if they ever were free of their duties at the nest. I decided I'd go with them if that ever happened. So here I am. Doing whatever fun things I wish, for fun and myself and my family. The freedom drives me to do the impossible. But I don't really know what that is. I make another happy noise to release my excitement. "ARGH ARGH ARGH UGGGH!" I smile in my own way.

I hear voices of people nearby, and I realize that its daytime now, and humans are around. I quickly get up and fly to the giant rock figure I saw earlier. I quickly scour its surface and find a cave. I squeeze into it and make no noise. The voices fade into oblivion as I fall asleep.