Hello, everyone!

I'm excited to post this week! It's strange to be back with new updates, but in a good way. I'm exhausted all the time but I always look forward to posting and seeing how you guys react!

I want to thank MysteryWriter175, Crowfood, Samateus-Taal, toothlessgolfer, NomexGlove, Nacktgranate, Echolotal, Athnay, CallMeUrmo, VigoGrimborne, AdamantJackal, JustAnotherRandomPoster, Zerac, and all anonymous reviewers for all of your wonderful reviews! I truly appreciate all of them!

Without further ado, I hope you all enjoy and have an excellent day!

Chapter 4

nameless

A gentle nudge pushed me out of my sleep. I jolted awake, pressing my wings down over the swimlings and letting out a rapid array of sight-sounds.

The shape of my species bounced back: ears and frills, four-legged, two wings, a fin that ran down the spine from neck to tailtip, and tailfins that fanned at the base, tapered along the length of the tail, and fanned out again at the tailtip. Their scent was of female, older, sea-stones, shrubs. When I squinted to see her better, her face swam into view, her frills stretched out in a calm posture and flat snub-nose twitching.

"I'm here to take over responsibility," she said in a formal tone. By her scent and voice, I recognized her as Fought the Leader.

"Oh!" I yelped. "T-thank you!" I disentangled myself from the swimlings, careful not to disturb their slumber. I kept my head, ears, and tail low as I did, all too aware of how long I was making her wait. When I was finally freed, I slunk back and away.

To my astonishment, Fought the Leader bobbed her head at me. "Thank you. Anything new?"

"I taught them about the first ones," I whispered. My belly pressed into the cold stone below. The sting on my side still burned. "A-and sight-sounds."

Fought the Leader settled down over the swimlings, nestling them close to her and humming. "That's good. They need to learn soon. I'll teach them some swimming and breath-holding in the pool down this tunnel."

I stammered like a fool. We were in the crystal-light; there was no mistaking who I was, and she was being so nice to me. "R-right," I finally said. Casting my eyes downwards, I added, "I think they'll like that."

She looked over at me, the stark green of her eyes a blur against her dark, mottled gray scales. The reflective, deep blue scales on her neck flashed cyan in the rosy glow. "I haven't seen you on the surface in moons. You seem to like it down here."

I flicked my eyes towards hers and back down again. "Yes."

"Is it because dragons can't see you in the dark?"

"I-I like the swimlings," I lied—badly. When Fought the Leader said nothing, pressuring the truth out of me, I relented, "And...that…"

"You'll get your name someday," she said, her voice just as blunt as ever. "But not by hiding in the Under until Killed the Sea Serpent takes pity on you. Which she won't. You need to do other things, too. Have you tried sporing?"

In the Above, where the underground tunnels and rivers opened up to the surface, the Shell was separated into several different vertical levels. Because the Above was littered with giant crystal pillars, mountains, buttes, and plateaus, that meant that the spaces between them sunk very deep. For example, there was a level that opened directly from the Under, which was almost always covered in the dense shadows of the forests and structures around it. As a dragon ascended towards the sky, many levels made themselves available, whether they be stony formations, outreaching cliffs, or crystals. From all the way Above, this made the Shell's surface look like it was a crashing wave of greenery, crystals, and mountain formations, which each swelled and plummeted at random intervals.

The mushrooms of the Shell, which glowed just like the crystals, huddled in any shaded space they could. This meant the bottom-most level was covered with them, and many of the levels above it as well. They were less common near the sky, where the sun pierced through the shadows and the canopies, and Under, which was almost entirely underwater.

I hated the mushrooms. As a new flightling, their sting-smell had given me piercing headaches and sent burning, shooting pain from my heart and down my limbs. I had made every effort to avoid them since. A few seasons had come and gone since I'd even gone near a mushroom, besides the odd one here and there in the caverns.

Sporing was one of the responsibilities that dragons could take up on any given day. It involved tending to the mushrooms of the Shell, rooting out dying patches and seeding them with healthy, new growth. Sporers also spent some time ripping up mushroom patches that strayed too close to the sky levels, so that they would not take over all of the foliage.

Even the thought of it made me wrinkle my nose. "It hurts to breathe near the mushrooms."

"Odd." She tilted her head, studying me. "Well, you are so very different. Regardless, you could still at least try sporing. Or hunting. But a nearly blind dragon would make a truly terrible scout. You couldn't even patrol the outer rim of the Shell. Hm…"

She thought to herself as I winced at the casual insult. Yes, the world was a chaos of blurred colors to me—but my sight-sounds and nose more than made up for it. I hesitated, my mouth dry, and then said shakily, "I can still smell...and use sight-sounds."

"Good!" Fought the Leader praised me. I gawked at the smile in her voice. "There is merit standing up for yourself, you know."

Of course she would say that. The aches of old fights—although they were not true fights, since I would surely be killed if I tried to defend myself—told me otherwise. I still nodded to be polite.

She leaned forward, hesitated when I jolted with fear-scent, and then took a look at the sting on my side. She gave it a small lick and retreated.

Oh, how my heart swelled! I wanted to throw myself at her, curling up against her side like all the others got to do. Just before I did just that, I forced myself to a stop. I couldn't. I was nameless, and Fought the Leader had drawn away. I quivered there, blinking rapidly with joy and sorrow both.

"Try going Above," she said. She laid her head down over the swimlings.

I bowed my head in acknowledgment. "Thank you," I whispered. Then, before anything bad could happen, I spun and padded away.

o.O.o

Like the levels of the Above, the rivers and caverns of the Under created an entire network of heights that a dragon could travel through. The deeper one went, the darker and safer it was. Because the ocean fed into the Shell, however, it was possible to swim upwards in some places. These tunnels were the most difficult to travel through, since they were filled with powerful currents and stinging brine. I was one of the very few dragons who used them regularly, mostly to avoid surfacing on the lower levels of the Shell, which sank deep, deep below the ocean's surface. If I used an easier river to get to the Above, I would emerge surrounded by mushrooms, which I hated.

I had selected a crystal cave to emerge in. Saltwater bubbled into it from an outside cavern, forming a lake that then plunged as a waterfall into another lake far below. The lake also had a cave in its center that swept into the Under. This was the pathway I took. It was a difficult trip up. Most dragons only used it to go Under.

I emerged from the tunnel into the lake, used my sight-sounds to find a ledge, and popped my head up into the air. All at once, the scent of dragons, green plants, the ocean breeze, and—ugh—mushrooms struck me. The sheer, diffuse bright of the sun jabbed at my eyes. I squinted and curled my lip, already missing the Under.

"Woah!" a dragon yelped.

I startled as well, spinning towards him with my sight-sounds. He was a younger male of my species and his scent was very familiar; I had helped raise him as a swimling. He didn't have a name yet, so he was friendly towards me whenever we came across each other.

That would end soon, though. It always did.

The current towards the waterfall was starting to drag me out, so I clutched the ledge with my claws and pulled myself up. "Sorry!"

"Did you just swim up the underground waterfall?" he gasped. When I nodded and began to groom the sea-salt off my scales, he let out a disbelieving noise. "You're one of the only dragons I know who does that. I'm glad you taught me swimming!"

I couldn't help it—a small grin settled on my lips. "I do spend most of my time Under," I said softly.

"Is that why your scales are white?" he asked with the rude innocence of a flightling. Nearly adult-sized, but still very young.

"No," I said, keeping my voice empty of emotion. "I have always been like this."

He padded over and sat down next to me. It was about as close as my dragons ever came to me. I yearned to lean in so that our sides brushed or maybe offer him a lick on the forehead. I kept my wings clamped to my side and shifted my tail away.

"Do you have responsibility up here?" he asked. "I just got done with mine. I was sporing. Then I got covered in the stuff, so I went to the sunny pool to clean, but Hunted a Whale made me leave so he could hunt. So I ended up in this cold crystal cave. And the water in here is salty, too."

"Mhm," I said, still cleaning the stinging salt off my scales. In the Under, there was a mixture of freshwater and saltwater. I generally tried to stay in the freshwater, which was much less corrosive and didn't need to be cleaned off. But since this lake was fed by the ocean, I'd had to bear the salt.

It was also why this male was the only dragon here—freshwater was harder to come by Above, so most unnamed dragons got shooed away by named dragons.

"I almost fought him, too," the male went on, unperturbed by my non-answer. "But he's so much bigger, and there were other named dragons there, too. One day, I'll say, 'No, you go swim in the salt-water!'"

"And then you'll get a brand-new scar," I warned him in the same voice I used on naughty swimlings. I directed a glare at him, which wasn't hard because I was still squinting from the sunlight.

"Or maybe I'll get a name!" he said.

I couldn't hold up my stern look when he said something like that. With a soft giggle, I asked, "Wanted the Fresh Water?"

He lowered his head in embarrassment. "Yeah...I do want something better." He perked up. "Hey! Do you want to go hunting?"

I stopped grooming, surprised by the sudden shift in subject. "In the Under?"

"No!" he said. He craned his neck to the sky, catching the sunlight on the sunset-luminescent scales on his neck, and moaned longingly, "Like them!"

I couldn't see who he was pointing at, but still cringed under the vastness of the sky. It was so, so big, with nothing for my sight-sounds to bounce off of. Even worse, it was blue, just like the ocean. I had only gone out flying a few times, but it had been terrifying. Everything swam together in a blur, and it was all I could do to fly upright.

"We don't have an escort," I said weakly. Nameless dragons were not allowed to fly above the Shell by themselves, for fear they could not yet defend themselves. It was one of many restrictions that made living Under so much easier.

"I'll find one! Come on!"

And with that, he opened his lofty gray-blue wings and tailfins and sprung into the air.

I crouched on the ground, my wings twitching. He'd invited me to come with him. He'd been so nice and friendly...but if I grew attached now, it would hurt even more when he got his name. With drooping ears and wings, I lied down.

The ground vibrated with a huge thump. "Come on!" he cried, nipping me at my scruff and hauling me to my feet.

I squawked in mortification. Nameless as I was, Iwasn't a swimling! "Hey!"

He let go and batted at the air in front of my nose. "Catch me!" he cried, and then tore away, dissolving into the vast chromas of the Shell.

I knew I shouldn't. I knew it would hurt all the more later.

But it had been so long since I'd been friendly with another dragon…

I opened my wings and jumped, flapping clumsily against the thin air. Using scent and sight-sounds, I had no difficulty finding him. He flew up ahead of me, darting between great pillars of crystal and stone and enormous trees. Emerald hanging vines made flying more difficult, diffusing my sight-sounds and forcing me to depend almost entirely on scent when the leaves grew too dense.

Up ahead, he let out an excited squeal and doubled his speed, trying to lose me. My heart sang with joy, and though I tried to stifle it, it was a song that could not be hidden. I slowed for a half-second, then pushed my wings down in a powerful burst of speed.

The Above was full of lush foliage, with all their smells: trees, flowers, grass, moss, shrubs, vines, bushes, fertile earth, and, of course, sharp-smelling mushrooms. But even with all the distractions, I had spent my whole life learning to find my place. I caught up with him and, with a small grin, nipped at one of his tailfins. He laughed, twirling in place.

"How about this?" he shouted. His wings snapped in and he dove towards a sheet of hanging vines. Without hesitation, I increased the frequency of my sight sounds and raced after him.

Just as we passed under the vines, he let out a blaze of fire up towards them.

I had only a moment to think before all the vines came tumbling down on top of me. With an indignant cry, I slowed into a careful hover, ripping at the clinging plants even as they threatened to tangle in my wings and tailfins. Changing positions only made it worse, though. The vines were sticky and cloaked my every scale in a thick, sweet musk. Their soft leaves and little white flowers clung to me from all the sap. With each flap of my wings, the vines shifted and wrapped tighter and tighter. Within moments, they would clamp my tailfins shut and I would plummet.

Disappointment swept through me. Why hadn't I simply tried to throw them off? We had only just started playing, and already I had done something to bring it to an end.

I reluctantly landed onto a mid-level cliff covered in grass and little bright flowers, sneezing and twitching my sides. After a firm, full-body shake to get the easy ones off, I rolled around in the soft wildgrass. That just made it worse; the blades stuck onto the sap. My scales were much more green than moon-white now. With a resigned sigh, I sat up and got to work ripping the plants off of me.

A thump announced the male's return. He pounced on me, nipping at my ear and then darting away. "I got you!" he crowed.

"You did," I said with a soft grin. He cackled.

A stupid, impulsive thought came to me. Before I could think, I swung a vine in my mouth and flung it. It smacked into him and wrapped around his neck and shoulders.

He abruptly stopped laughing. Fear raced from my heart through my limbs. I sunk into the thick, tall grass. The blades whistled against each other like softly hissing dragons.

Stupid. Stupid. I shouldn't have done that. He was friendly, but I was still nameless, and worse, he was old enough now to know that I was cursed—

"I guess I deserved that!" he chuckled. "Here, let me help you."

I held stone-still, belly on the ground, as he stepped over and began chewing through the vines. Almost immediately, he gagged at the sticky-sweet taste. It was enough to draw me back into comfort. I inched myself upwards, heart still pounding in my chest.

"I-it's the least you can do," I tried at a joke. Badly.

A shifting of the air caught my attention; a whistle of air racing over wings. I turned towards it, sight-sounding, just as another dragon pounded into the cliff in front of us. The grass trembled and the ground vibrated with his enormous weight.

He wasn't a dragon of our species. I didn't know him at all. He was huge, towering above in a great red, pointed blur. I crouched low, arching my spine. The male I'd played with shrunk against my side like a frightened swimling. Without thinking, I put a wing up over him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, fighting to raise my voice to a normal volume.

The enormous dragon sniffed us and grunted. "This is our territory. This is where we hunt. Leave."

His words struck me: first with shock, and then with frantic anger at myself for my own stupidity. Every flock of dragons in the Shell had their own territory within the Shell, though their borders were usually not so jealously guarded. After all, many territories needed to be passed over to go to common areas. But I hadn't even considered other territories! I had spent so long Under, where our species had ample territory, that I had forgotten about the other flocks.

"I-I-we're sorry," I stammered, crouching low, forcing the nameless male down with me.

The nameless male tensed and strained his legs, lifting himself higher. "But we weren't going to that lake! We were just stopping here to get the vines off!" he protested.

I hadn't even known there was a fishing-lake nearby. The bigger ones were valuable, so it didn't surprise me that this dragon's kind had taken one over. "We're very sorry!" I rushed. "We'll go once we get these off of me." I shook my wings to emphasize that they were coated in sap and vines and leaves and flowers. Oh, first ones, why did this have to happen now?

"No," he growled. The scent of smoke wafted over me with his rancid breath, sending my heart thundering. "I recognise you. Leave now!"

"I can't fly," I said in a hush, sprawling on the ground as submissively as I could. "Please, let me get these off and we'll be gone."

"It'll only take a little while!" the male said, still crouching but holding his head up.

The interloper's voice dripped with disgust. "I said no! I know of you. You're that nameless white dragon. And I suppose that makes you nameless, too, if you're bothering to spend time with her." He leaned in so close that even I could see the fire-orange of his eyes. "You're the cursed one."

"N-No," I gasped, staring into the joyful malice shining in his eyes. Even a dragon of a different species had heard of me? I'd never done anything!

But then again, I was an old nameless for a reason.

"I am the leader of my flock, Defeated the Outsiders," he snarled. "And I will do whatever is necessary to protect my own, especially from something like you. I ought to consider you an Outsider and treat you like one."

I skittered backwards, my heart pounding, tripping and tangling my paws in the vines. "We're leaving!" I yelped. "I promise, we're leaving! Come on!" I told the male. For emphasis, I nipped at his tail with my teeth sheathed and tugged him towards me.

"But—" the male began.

My terror made me reckless. "Now!" I growled. I stumbled away without waiting for an answer, and he reluctantly followed.

A shadow passed over me. Then sharp pain in my rump. I squealed and hopped away while Defended the Outsiders and several onlooking dragons laughed. He'd taken the opportunity to bite at me, just to drive his point further, even though I'd done what he wanted.

"Hey!" the male hissed, springing around and baring his teeth and gums. "We're doing what you said! Leave us alone!"

And then—then—the stupid, hothead, barely-above-a-fledgling—!

He gathered his fire and sent his flame above Defeated the Outsiders.

The damning explosion echoed and echoed and echoed...

He had fought back.

...the fireball was still reverberating...

He, a nameless, against a leader.

….dragons were gathering, alarmed by the sound...

And he had used his fire.

Dread froze me into ice, rooting me to the ground, incapable of moving. Several onlooking dragons gasped in a mixture of horror and fury. Defeated the Outsiders never even flinched, staring in outraged silence.

The male was nearly adult-sized, but still very young, after all. He knew better, but not really. He had never been punished for stepping out of his place, not like me.

Nameless dragons can never, never, never fight back.

Especially against the leader of a species, the strongest of us all.

Oh, first ones...!

"Please wait!" I shrieked, cowering with my entire body sprawled on the ground.

Defeated the Outsiders lunged for the male. He snapped at him with enormous jaws and swiped his savage wing-talons. The male backpedaled away and let out a cry as something struck true. Then the dragon rose up onto his two hind legs, spread his wings wide, and drew in his breath.

But he didn't turn towards the male. He swung his neck to me.

"Maybe you hatched here, but you are a curse!" he roared, and let loose his flames.

First confusion, then despair, then helpless anger—I remember those warring in my heart in that precious heartbeat before it hit. The realization, as the fire grasped at the air towards me, that the male had only given Defeated the Outsiders the excuse he wanted. A reason to attack me and pretend it was provoked.

Intense heat washed over me, consuming me in maleficent agony. The vines and sap caught fire, little white-hot islands peppered all across my wings and scales. I spasmed on the ground, screaming and praying for help I knew wouldn't come. Somewhere, far away, I heard the male shrieking as well.

Everything in the world came to a sheer pinpoint of the roiling thunder eating its way across my body.

It burned, it burned, it burned and I hadn't done anything wrong!

But I had—I had been friendly with the male, I had played chase with him, I had trapped myself, I had let him speak up against a leader of another species—and now—now—!

I cried out in a different kind of pain now.

The seconds stretched on.

And then...

Finally, finally, it was over.

I didn't wait. The moment the torrent dissipated—Defeated the Outsiders had merely paused for breath—I turned and sprang into the air, flying as fast as I could back to the crystal cave. More flames licked at my back, but I tucked my wings and dove to avoid them.

Each movement sent newfound pain through my scales, my wings, my tailfins. Dragon scales could only handle so much fire, and that dragon had intentionally pushed past that point. I wheezed uncontrollably, barely able to sight-sound. Through memory alone, I clumsily sprinted back to where we'd came.

I was vaguely aware of wingbeats following me, and maybe even the male calling out.

I reached the crystal cave, tucked my wings in, and dove. The sudden cold and salt came as a second wave of fire. I clenched my eyes shut and bore through it, clawing my way through the water towards the tunnel below. The currents took me up and pushed me Under, and I swam and swam and swam until the blessed dark and cold enveloped me.

I made my way to my own private nest, so deep and dark and cold nobody ever came, and hauled myself up onto the measly bed of moss and leaves I had collected there. I curled up among them, whimpering from the tugging, blistering heat still radiating off of my scales.

It smelled cold and lifeless and lonely here. The only sounds were the trickling of the water and the roaring of my heart in my ears. Exhausted, I slumped onto the cool stone.

Only then, when I knew I was safe and alone, did I draw in a ragged breath and begin to weep.