Ebonia was perched on a mountain ledge outside the dwarven city. Several other black dragons were perched in the valley with her, although none of them wanted to get too close. Ebonia had made it quite clear she preferred to be left alone after an over-friendly drake got a face full of dragon fire.
Ebonia didn't care - or at least, she didn't want to care. But oftentimes at night, she'd dream of finally finding someone who she could consider a friend instead of a stranger or an enemy. She remembered that once, she and her clutchmates had been close friends, snuggling together and telling little tales and playing together. But those days had gone when Deathwing carried her away.
Speaking of the Aspect, Ebonia wondered if she'd ever see him again. He'd disappeared after dropping her off at the volcano, but now he'd summoned her here to guard one of his lairs. She knew she was technically a part of his flight, but it irked her to think he could just give a command and she'd have to follow it, especially since she didn't like him in the slightest.
Not after he'd taken her from her nest and given her those nasty burn scars.
Down below, Ebonia spotted some orcs moving crates of supplies into the hold. They were large gray humanoids, with big teeth and muscles. Ebonia had learned that these ones belonged to a clan called the Dragonmaw, and they and the rest of their nation, the Horde, had made an alliance with her father. Ebonia had learned that they managed to capture the queen of dragons herself, which was the 'captive' Nefarian had told her about.
Ebonia watched as more orcs dragged out some chained drakes, but unlike the ones she had known, these ones had bright red scales. Many of the red dragons struggled, but the orcs simply brought out some clubs and beat them until they stopped struggling. Ebonia winced at the brutality, glad that she wasn't down there with them.
As the orcs worked on disciplining the unfortunate drakes, Ebonia looked around her new home. Mountains loomed around her, beyond which was a verdant hilly forest and then the vast blue sea.
Ebonia had never seen the ocean before, and she marveled at its size. Anything could be out beyond its waters, and someday Ebonia wanted to know everything out there. She had never seen much of the outside world, and wondered if she'd see it all from the perspective of a conqueror. Deathwing seemed to be planning such a thing, befriending the Horde like this.
Ebonia wasn't sure she wanted to conquer the world, or at least, serving her father as he did so. She didn't see the point of it, besides a display of dominance. And there were less drastic and more possible ways of doing that.
But she was young and inexperienced, so perhaps there was a reason for it she was unaware of. But it still seemed somewhat unnecessary.
After a few minutes of sitting on the ledge and doing nothing, Ebonia declared herself officially bored. She decided to start experimenting with her powers again.
But this time, there was no magma to play with, so she decided to mess around with the nearby rocks.
She started with a few pebbles, moving them around in the air. She then spotted an orc, sitting on a crate and doing nothing. Grinning maliciously, Ebonia threw one of the pebbles and bonked him on the head.
The orc grunted, rubbed his noggin and looked around to see where the attack had come from. Ebonia tossed another one of the pebbles at a location opposite hers. The orc whirled around at the sound of it hitting stone, and scratched his head when he still saw nothing.
Ebonia tossed another one and hit the box with it, causing the orc to whirl around again. While he walked over to investigate, Ebonia threw another one and hit him in the behind.
The orc yelled, grabbed the box, and raced inside, causing Ebonia to chuckle. But she couldn't torment him any further, so she decided to do something else with the nearby rocks.
She glanced at a boulder, and started using her powers to chisel it into the shape of a dragon. She wasn't trying to mimic anyone she'd seen, but when the statue finished carving itself she realized with horror that it looked like her old enemy, Tethrion.
Growling, she used her powers to conjure up streams of fire and charred it. Remembering how she'd killed him, she then cut three huge gouges out of its throat, and then made it fall over and shatter into a million pieces.
Then she realized all the red dragons were staring at it, horrorstruck. The orcs seemed confused, then realized their opportunity and told the dragons that this was an example of what could happen to them if they did not obey.
Well, that was not what Ebonia had intended to do. Especially since she noticed the red dragons staring at her, the looks on their faces suggesting that they'd figured out who'd done the magic.
At least Ebonia hadn't been trying to befriend them, because it was pretty clear they were scared of her now.
She felt uncomfortable as they continued glancing at her and muttering during the rest of her vigil, and she was quite relieved when another black drake flew over to take the next shift.
As soon as her shift ended, Ebonia flew off into the mountains to find something to eat. After a few minutes, she spotted a herd of goats, and ambushed it from behind, roasting one before they even realized she was there.
Claiming her kill, Ebonia flew to a secluded ledge to eat. As she dug in to her meal, she suddenly heard wingbeats heading towards her from her blind side.
With a snarl, she whirled around with fire at the ready, causing the young red drake who'd been flying towards her to yelp and fly backwards, holding his talons up in surrender.
"Don't kill me!", he cried.
Ebonia held down her flames, glaring at him with her good eye. "What do you want?", she growled.
The red drake took a deep breath to calm himself. "I, uh, saw you earlier today, and was curious. I've never seen a black drake like you before, one who isn't mindless and insane like the others."
Ebonia smiled slyly. "What can I say? I'm unique."
The red drake nodded and said, "I suppose that's true."
Ebonia asked, "So, really, what are you doing here? I'm not the friendliest dragon."
The red drake replied, "Well, other black drakes would just kill me on sight. Anyways, I saw you and your signs of actual sentience, and just...wanted to know you better."
Ebonia rose a brow. "Really? No one's ever just 'wanted to know me better'. What does that even mean?"
The red drake seemed confused. "Well, uhhh...it means that somebody wants to learn more about the other and maybe even...become friends?"
"Friends?", asked Ebonia, "Why would you want to be friends with me?"
The red drake answered, "You're different, and interesting. You are a black drake who is not bound by your Aspect's corruption, and therefore you could...well, help my flight."
Ebonia smirked triumphantly. "So you do have a motive."
The red drake quickly added, "Of course, I want to know you as a friend as well. Not everything has to have a selfish reason, you know."
Ebonia frowned. "Really?"
The red drake replied, "Well, of course! Why, you mean nobody's ever done anything for you just to be kind?"
"No.", Ebonia stated bluntly.
The red drake looked surprised. "Well, I'm fixing that now! If you show up here everyday, I'll do my best to be there. It's time you learned a few things that your flight would not teach you."
Ebonia glanced up at the sky, and snarled. "I need to get back to the fortress. But I will...consider your offer."
The red drake nodded. "Very well."
He spread his wings, and prepared to take flight. But before he left, he said, "By the way, my name is Devrialstrasz."*