Fear kept you frozen to the spot. You knew that wild dragons have aggressive behaviours, and you certainly did not want to scare this beast in fear for your life. The massive dragon's eyes were trained on your own, almost seeming to stare deep into the fabric of your body and reading your soul. They seemed calculating and hard. Your body senses were on overdrive: the need to run and stay put, to remain calm and panic. While your mind and heart were racing, your eyes remained stuck to the dragon's eyes. It was only when it breathed on your skin again when you snapped out of your self-induced trance and really looked at the dragon.
It's eyes were differently colored. One starlight silver, the other a piercing blue. This struck you as strange, yet captivating. Reluctantly, you peeled your eyes away from the eyes of the dragon and looked at the rest of it's face.
The scales were a deep blue, like the ocean in a storm, or the sky during the last moments of dusk. White dusted the deep blue, similar to that of the dusting of stars at night. However, the only noticeable pattern that drew your attention was a claw shaped mark on it's forehead, shining a soft silver color, like the color of the moon.
The feel of something moving around your feet captured your sudden attention. Looking down, the dragon's tail had wrapped around your feet. In surprise, you tried to step back, but instead caught your foot on the tail and you stumbled back, the back of your knees hitting the railing of the ship. You knew what would happen, and you desperately grabbed the air, trying to find something to steady yourself on. Before gravity could catch up with you however, the massive head of the dragon reached out and grabbed the front of your tattered shirt in between it's teeth.
Pulling you in, it set you right and released it's gentle hold on you. Your brain seemed to stop functioning correctly as you realized what had just happened. The dragon had saved you from falling a rather unpleasant distance, instead of just letting you fall. It also hadn't decided to set you aflame yet. Given these observations, and the way the dragon's eyes now looked gentle and caring when it looked at you, you concluded that, at the least, it did not want to kill or eat you.
Several moments of silence passed, and the dragon made no other sudden movements. 'I wonder.' Your hand moved towards the dragon's head. The dragon's eyes flickered to your hand as it came up, but it remained still as a stone as the hand got ever so closer.
You reached out, but paused at the last second, your palm only inches from the nose of the dragon. You didn't know if the dragon would turn on you the moment you touched it. But if the dragon saved you from falling, then it's most likely good. But what if it was faking you out?
During the time that your mind was racing with these questions, the dragon had pressed it's nose into your palm, and scared you back into reality. It was gentle, and warm, in contrast to the cool colors of it's scales. The dragon's skin vibrated, and a sound almost like that of purring reverberated from within the dragon's chest, and shook your own.
It was a pleasant feeling: your chest and the dragon's chest vibrating in synchronization.
The moment was ruined when the dragon pulled it's head back, looking you in the eyes again and seeming to almost chuckle, it's chest bouncing and a deep throaty sound coming from it. Looking at it more closely, it looked like it was smiling: mouth pulled back to reveal rows of sharp teeth. You couldn't help but smile too.
You both stood like that, staring and examining one another, until the dragon decided to move towards the side of the charred ship. It looked down at the forest floor, then back at you. You understood it. Moving towards the railing, more cautiously this time, you judged the distance between your position and the floor. It was quite a ways down, but it wouldn't be a problem if you went down more carefully than last time.
You stripped yourself of your jacket and tattered shirt, revealing leathery wings which had been carefully folded and wrapped around your torso and tucked slightly into your loose pants. Giving them a good stretch, you looked over at the dragon in confirmation, and you leapt off the broken boat with the dragon. Using your wings, you softened your fall to the ground, landing delicately on the earth.
You had to keep your other self a secret. This… half of you. This is why you had run away. No one else could know. What would happen if they realized that someone they had put their trust in turned out to be one of the creatures that killed them? That is exactly what had happened last night, and your last resort was to escape. However, the night became a blur at a certain point. The ship, the slaughter, the new island. You had no memory of it.
The dragon beside you let out a purr, nudging your arm with it's nose. You smiled and reached out to pet it's muzzle after you had folded up your wings again and replaced your shirt and jacket.
"What to call you?" The dragon looked up at you curiously. "You look like the night sky, so a name with 'night' in it seems the most appropriate." You replied to the dragons expecting look. "How about Nightfire?" The dragon snorted. Obviously it didn't like that.
"What about Nightflight?" The dragon's glare told you that you would probably get burned if you said that again. "What? Just asking. What about Nightmare?" This time it's massive head shook back and forth. "You have to like something. How about Nightsong?"
At the sound of that name, it's eyes lit up, and that grin from before came back. "Alright, Nightsong it is." You smiled and laughed as Nightsong's head nudged your hand gently. Pulling your attention away from the affectionate dragon, you looked around you. The forest was painted in orange and yellow and red from the early morning sun.
However, even though it was the same light you have always seen at home, this light seemed foreign. It showed before you a different land. Looking back at the scorched boat, you let out a breath you had been holding. Turning away from it, you took your first steps into the unknown land before you. "Let's figure out where we are, shall we?" You murmured to the dragon at your side, and you both walked off into the forest, hoping to find some kind of landmark to help aid you in figuring out where in the world you were.