Aftermath stood atop a cliff, standing at the edge, staring down at the valley before him. A vast land of mountains, that is what this place was. The Sky Kingdom. The place of his hatching, his exile . . . the beginning of his life.

He was a SkyWing, only hatched differently. His parents were SkyWings as well, but were shocked to find that their son had three eyes. His whole life, everyone has always looked at him with a face of disgust. His own parents would give him this face everyday of his life, and refused to name him. Dragons have always made fun of him when he was three, spat at when he was four, and bullied at five, insulting him as, "Three-Eyes the Nameless Dragon."

The age of five was when he decided to abandon his parents and leave home - he knew they would do so at some time. He saw no other point in staying at the Sky Kingdom either - every other dragon his age, younger and older would tease and bully him. Thus, Three-Eyes left, flying off into the night, going wherever his wings may take him. It was cold that night, and he forced himself to go on, eventually ending up at a mountain pass. He landed and trudged on, letting his wings rest for a while. The path was rocky, and hard to walk on, but pushed on, ignoring the pain.

When the sun was beginning to rise, Three-Eyes took flight once more, and entered the Sand Kingdom. He flew until mid day, all the while the heat had not bothered him whatsoever, nor did he acknowledge the temperature, but thirst was inevitable. He stopped by a small pond, which was littered with sand, but did not mind that, only drinking the water he was craving for. Once he lifted his head though, he noticed a dragon on the opposite side of the pond. Three-Eyes started to back away, but when the dragon saw him, he stopped. They locked eyes. The dragon walked towards Three-Eyes, and examined him. The dragon was a SandWing, and introduced himself as Desolate, which in turn Three-Eyes introduced his name as the one he was insulted with. The SandWin smiled, and asked if he would want to be friends, offering his hand . . . the one with six claws. In that moment, Three-Eyes saw this dragon as a friend . . . someone who was different, just like him.

One could say it was a surprise to Three-Eyes that his new friend was a part of Queen Oasis' army. Fighting was not much interest or pleasure to him, but eventually, Desolate convinced him to join, saying that it would be nice having someone like him around. They grew closer as friends, soon becoming two of the queen's best fighters, and she had announced them as generals.

Early one morning, when the sky was still dark, and was four hours away from the rising sun, Three-Eyes had wanted to talk to the queen, tell her how great she had been to him and his friend, and was glad that they were accepted into her domain. He walked through the corridors of the Stronghold, an eerie and somewhat uncomfortable silence traveling across the hallways, along with shadows that loomed over Three-Eyes. He found the door to the queen's room - it was open slightly. He walked up to the door, lifted his arm to knock . . . then something made him hesitate.

There was screaming inside the room - it was the queen's voice. At first, Three-Eyes thought she might be in some danger, but knew well enough to not burst in on sight. He decided to peek in through the crack, and see what was going on. . . . What he saw will change his opinions about the SandWing Queen forever.

An hour and a half later, Three-Eyes sat in the hallway, not believing what he had seen was real . . . but it all was. Desolate came up to him, and asked what was wrong. Three-Eyes stayed silent, not daring to speak, not moving, only sitting, head tilted to the side, staring at the wall. Finally, after a moment, he moved, slowly turning his head towards his friend.

He said: " . . . What kind of loyalty did we pledge to serve?"

Only a few minutes after he said that sentence, something happened. Guards and soldiers started running frantic through the halls, sprinting towards . . . what? They did not know what was happening, but Three-Eyes and Desolate had a gut feeling that something very bad was taking place. They got up, and followed the soldiers, trying to ask what was going on. One of them said Scavengers had somehow gotten into the Stronghold, and were stealing some of the treasure collected over the years.

As Desolate continued to follow them, something in the back of Three-Eyes' mind compelled him to stop, and stay until everyone was gone. He turned, and walked down another hallway, face blank of emotion. Through a glassless window . . . he saw Queen Oasis, standing out in the open. She didn't seem to be doing anything, just standing there, staring into the night. Three-Eyes stood for a moment, then walked outside.

He walked up behind the queen, who said: " . . . Whatever you saw, was nothing of what you thought it was."

" . . . Was it?" Three-Eyes said coldly.

"I do whatever needs to be done for my citizens . . . and for my kingdom. Do you know how much of a problem it is to have dragonets?"

" . . . No. But I know how hard it is to live with parents who don't love you."

Oasis spun around. "What you saw was simply discipline."

"That so? I think I've heard that kind of phrase before."

"My daughters all plan to take my throne."

"I know how it works in the world."

"Don't interrupt me, Three-Eyes."

Three-Eyes glared up at her. " . . . You say that as if it's an insult."

"Do you honestly think anyone ever loved you? You think I took you and your friend in because I saw purpose in you? That's what everyone thinks. That's what everyone says I am . . . but, as a queen, I must do whatever I can to keep my kingdom standing, and to keep me on the throne."

" . . . Yes. You sit there all day gnawing on the sins you committed, hoping no one would ever doubt your ways of royalty."

"You think I care about my treasure?"

"Do you think I ever cared about your kingdom?"

"What do you plan on doing? Killing me and making yourself look like a hero and save my daughters from me? I can easily command my entire army to go after you, and watch you die in my arena, because I forced my daughters to do so."

Three-Eyes stared, then smirked. " . . . Queen Oasis . . . everything you have said, and everything you have been hiding from me is everything I lived through my whole life. I am young, yet even I know that murder is wrong - at least, to some dragons. For me, however, I like to imagine I am something more than what everyone around this continent thought me to be." His smile faded. "I lived through abuse as your daughters have. I live in a world that hides cruelty from everyone around them; even the nicest of dragons do the same thing. I'm tired of suffering, and I'm tired of being looked down on. It has come the time that I raise my own claw . . . and fight like the dragon I was hatched to be."

Oasis scowled. "And how do you suppose you can defeat me? You know there can only be queens, not kings. What do you think will happen to me if you kill me?"

" . . . Well, Oasis, I could imagine a world painted in blood. Thus, with the skills you have taught me to fight . . . I look forward to watching the aftermath of war."

Then, with almost no effort, and without giving Oasis even a chance to fight back, Three-Eyes drove one single claw into the queen's chest, right where her heart was. She paused, stared, and felt blood trickle down her body. She tried to fight back, but the pain was so quick, so immense, it paralyzed her.

Three-Eyes pulled his arm away, and watched the queen fall to her knees. She twitched, convulsed, her eyes glaring into his as he watched her bleed. Three-Eyes looked around to make sure no one was in sight - there wasn't. He looked at his claw covered in red, the one he used to murder the SandWing Queen. Soon, she rolled on her side, reached an arm out to grab him, but was too weak. Queen Oasis . . . was dead.

Three-Eyes then thought of what the queen had said. Guards and soldiers would be looking for him. By now, they had probably killed all the Scavengers that invaded the Stronghold just for one piece of treasure, and were returning to her. How could he escape without anyone finding out it was him that killed the SandWing Queen? That was when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. There, stepping out of the window, was one, single, Scavenger. It looked wounded, but had escaped the dragons with one sack, probably filled with treasure.

Then he thought of something: The way Three-Eyes had killed Oasis was the perfect puncture to the heart. Maybe, it could look like someone, or something stabbed the queen with a small knife or blade . . . a Scavenger's weapon to be exact.

Three-Eyes smirked, and flew towards the Scavenger. It shrieked when it saw him, dropping its weapon. Three-Eyes instantly breathed fire down on the little creature. Soon it was scorched, burned to a crisp. He wanted it to look like the Scavenger killed Oasis with its little blade, but with her dying breath, the queen burned the Scavenger alive. Three-Eyes picked up the charred body, and set it beside the dead SandWing Queen, taking the blade and driving it into the wound where he had stabbed her. Another thought came to his mind: The Eye of Onyx.

Three-Eyes stared at the trinket of great power - the aftermath of the death he wanted to be alive for. Without any hesitation, he grabbed the Eye, and hid it under his wing, right when he heard soldiers come flying towards him. He turned and saw a soldier look out into the night to see the body of his queen, and called for his group members . . . but Three-Eyes disappeared into the shadows right before the dragon saw him.

Two and a half hours had passed, and everyone in the Stronghold had heard about the death of their queen. They buried her right after her daughters fought one another for the throne. Burn was the one who stood triumphant, but her younger sisters, Blister and Blaze, swore that they would return to take the throne, and flew away in separate directions.

Everything was quiet now, and Desolate sat alone in a hallway. He could not believe what had just happened. How could a Scavenger, of all creatures, kill Queen Oasis? It was impossible, but . . . was possible as well? Desolate now felt lost in thought, lost in everything. He saw no other purpose to fight on anymore. He sat there for about thirty minutes until deciding to stand up and go see the spot where they buried the queen - next to her statue. Once he got there . . . out the window, he saw two figures standing outside next to the statue. Desolate stood in silence, watching the figures.

A hole was dug where Oasis was buried, and one of the figures said: "This is what you wanted, isn't it? You should be glad that she is gone. She deserved to die, and you deserve . . . something to remind you of her."

The figure lifted its arm, and gave it to the second. Desolate couldn't make out what it was, but looked as if whatever was given to the other figure was a red lump as big as his hand, and appeared to be . . . covered in blood.

The second figure stared at it, then asked: "What happens now?"

By the voice, Desolate thought that was Oasis' first daughter: Burn.

"Whatever you want to happen now. The battle has only begun."

"What battle?"

"The battle for succession. Everyone wants power, don't they? You have it, take it. Do whatever you can to have it all . . . no one is stopping you now. You're free."

Burn was hesitant, then growled, and stomped off.

The first figure stared after the second, then turned to the hole. It reached into its cape, and pulled out something. It glowed an orange color. The Eye of Onyx! They couldn't find the queen's treasure, they thought a Scavenger took it, but now . . . Desolate realized it was a dragon that killed the queen! In the small light of the Eye, he could make out the figure's face . . . revealing Three-Eyes.

Desolate's eyes went wide as he watched Three-Eyes bury the Eye of Onyx with Oasis' corpse, and cover the hole right when the sun was about to rise.

Cold air blew through the corridors for the first time in many years. It was very quiet, but the silence was interrupted when guards stomped across the halls, carrying Three-Eyes by the arms. He was written up to be a general, but was not there to save his queen, nor help the soldiers fight off the Scavengers. Because of his actions, he was being brought to the dungeons, where he would rot under Burn's orders.

Desolate ran up behind them, trying to talk to Three-Eyes, but the guards persisted. Desolate had to push his way past the guards, and walk in front of them while talking to his so-called friend. He told him that he saw what he did last night, and wanted to know why he did it. Three-Eyes didn't answer him however, and seemed to not know what he was talking about.

The guards shoved past him, and Desolate could do nothing now but watch as they dragged who was once his first and only friend off to the dungeons.

Three-Eyes had been in the Stronghold's dungeon for about seven months, sitting alone, smiling wickedly. He and Burn had agreed to work alongside one another for a period of time, and that his actions must be kept secret from the world. Burn had sent him to the dungeons so dragons would forget about him, and not think of him as a suspect for the murder.

Seven months since Oasis' death, and Three-Eyes sat wondering what was happening in the world while Burn's two siblings roamed Pyrrhia. He stood up, scanning the cell, trying to find a way to escape. The bars that led to the outside. He could use his claws to cut through the bars and leave, so that is what he did. Once he was outside, he flew away, unnoticed by the guards, even Queen Burn herself.

Returning to the world was very overwhelming for him, and encountered many conflicts throughout his life. He got into fights with every tribe on the continent. He was attacked by an IceWing, a RainWing, another SkyWing, SandWing, one dragon from every tribe, and in every fight Three-Eyes used his right arm to defend himself. Because of this, his arm became infected, but he tended to it enough so that it would not spread to his entire body.

While alone, he heard dragons talking, about the return of Blister and Blaze, that both sisters had allied with a tribe, and were going after each sister to kill them. Three queens had challenged the world, and that a supposed Prophecy foretold this. Once hearing this, Three-Eyes had finally lived to see the day of what his consequences of killing Queen Oasis had led to: War.

Thus, he had decided to rename himself: Aftermath.

Now here he stood, staring down at the world, where he was hatched into, where he was raised, where his life made him turn for the worst . . . he looked down at the war. It had gone on for fifteen years now, and at this point nothing could stop it. He wanted revenge and he got it, and witnessed the aftermath of death.

With a deep breath, Aftermath lifted his head to the sky, and roared, seeming to be heard around the entire Sky Kingdom.