For the next week I tested my new ability. The first thing I needed to know was if I could get the same results. The next guard who stood outside my cell had heard about the last guard who had brought me food, and had grown curious. Peeking into my cell, he tried to spot me, but like always I jumped out, only this time I screamed in his face as loud as I could.

The results were almost immediate, as the guard jumped backwards his screams filled the hallway and my cell, and I watched as he ran screaming. The next guard to bring me food was smarter. He quickly opened the slot at the bottom of my door and slipped my food in before shutting it and running away. I frowned at that and chewed on my meager meal. What I really needed was a guinea pig.

So I formed a plan, but the greatest factor was going to be my timing. So I waited and I planned, and I hid. When the next guard came I saw me curling in a corner, when the one after that came. I had hidden. As expected the guard moved on quickly. When the next guard came. I was still hidden, but when he left, I knew his steps were panicked.

I could hear three guards rushing down to my cell, but I quickly moved to be visible from the door, and turned my back to them. Then I heard them stop outside my cell. I could feel their eyes on me, watching me as I pretended to sleep. Then I heard the keys jingle and I waited. When the door opened I still waited until I was sure all three were in my cell.

"Close the door." I heard one of the guards say.

I smiled as I heard the steel door shut. Lifting my head, I turned to face them. I knew my eyes were glowing in the dark, because the three guards covered their eyes with a hand and raised their clubs. I laughed as I felt a warmth spreading in my chest. That warmth quickly turned into a burning as I took a deep breath and screamed as loud as I could.

Immediately all three of the apes turned and rushed for the door. They were so caught in their fear that they forgot about the key hanging from one guard's belt. As I watched them scream and shove each other aside, banging on the door and screaming for help. I watched it go on for a few minutes and then suddenly they all stopped. They looked confused and then one turned to see me, before he realized where he was.

"The key!" he shouted and began to look around his waist.

Frowning I stood and took another deep breath before letting out another scream. I wasn't going to let this chance go. Again they started to scream and bang on the door once again forgetting about the key and trying desperately to flee.

Moving forward I found the guard with the key. Standing on my back legs I placed my paws on his shoulders and pulled him backwards. Landing on his back I could see the wide eyed terror in his face. Curiosity got the better of me so I leaned down and inhaling again I screamed as loud as I could for as long as I could. When I felt all the air leave my lungs. I stepped back and took another breath.

Looking down I saw the ape completely paralyzed his eyes looked up and I could see the panic in his eyes, the terror. I stared and looked him over, making note of the effects. But then I felt my rage returning. The more I looked at him, the more my rage built. I wanted to hurt him, kill him like his kind had murdered those unhatched eggs.

Lifting a paw I placed one of my claws to his throat. I was going to slit his throat. I was going to plunge my claw into his neck and draw it across to the other side. It was only when I heard the banging stop that I pulled my claw away and looked up. I saw the other two guards staring at me with just as much terror as if they were under my abilities.

Grinning, I took another deep breath before letting out another scream. The looks on their faces was priceless and I committed it to my memory. Returning to the guard on the ground I found his key on a loop at his hip and I took it. Snapping the ring off of the key I had to bend the loop into a hook and quickly secured the key to it so that it wouldn't fall. Afterwards I moved to the window leading outside and secured the hook to one of the bars before I returned to my three victims.

My rage was still as hot as ever, and I still wanted to kill them, but I still didn't know why they kept me alive and I didn't want to risk it by killing one of theirs so for now. I would practice, I would experiment, and I would learn.

Timing was everything for my plan to work. I needed as much time as I could get with these three. I had timed it so that my next guard wasn't going to come in until the morning.

When the next guard came to check up on me. I was laughing in my cell. It was an act on my part…mostly, but I wanted the guard to get curious. I wanted him to look in and see his friends lying on the ground crying and barely able to speak. It took three more apes to drag them out of my cell and I laughed the whole time.

For the rest of the week I toyed with the apes. I was still planning on escaping, but I didn't feel I was ready yet so I had to keep myself busy. I had learned with my three guards that scream induced a state of general terror, flooding the mind with a sense of dread. In contrast, making eye contact seemed to make my victims live their worst fear but in combination the effects of both were increased to such a degree that it paralyzed them completely.

Of course using my scream for an extended time paralyzed them as well, but they wouldn't live out their fears, plus screaming until I couldn't, hurt my throat too much.

00000

It was just another day to me. I had laid down to nap and had fallen into a deep sleep. I had grown confident and let myself relax. Maybe that's why I didn't hear them coming down the hall, maybe they got smart and snuck down to my cell. Whatever the case was I didn't realize that they were there until I was suddenly woken. My head exploded in pain, and I felt my body being pummeled. I tried to scream, but the moment I opened my mouth. I felt something hard shoved into, and felt as they slipped something over my head and eyes.

I tried to stand, tried to fight back against them, but there were at least five of them in my cell. It was almost too small to fit us all but they managed somehow. I felt them placing shackles around my feet and neck and even my tail. I could feel them wrestling my tail to curl backwards before something clipped it into place. So I couldn't use it.

Once they had restrained me and beaten me until it was painful to move they finally relented. I heard a chain being attached to my neck, before I was forcefully pulled to my feet. I could feel myself being led down that long hallway. None of my guards spoke and the only sound I could hear was the clinking of the chains they held me in.

I didn't know what was going on, where they were leading me, or what they were planning to do. All I was sure of was I wasn't going to die. If they were going to kill me they'd have done so in my cell and left me there. As we walked I had to bite back grunts of pain. I was limping, and each step was another surge of pain, but I endured through it.

I heard the sound of a large door being opened. The groan of rusted steel being forced open was clear as day, and I had heard it once before. Seething rage bloomed in my chest again and I growled around the bar they had shoved in my mouth. I was rewarded with a fist to the back of my skull.

"Stop Squirming or you'll get another beating!' one of the guards yelled at me, before I was dragged forward into the room.

I was forced to walk into the room before my legs were hit and I was forced onto my stomach. I growled and glared at the inside of the hood over my head.

"It's been awhile since I last saw you." I heard a voice speak up from in front of me. I had heard this voice before and I hated him. Gaul the "king" of the apes was standing before me.

"I like your new accessories but I hope you don't mind. I got you something, Call it a gift from my master. " He chuckled

I could hear someone running up to me, his steps were frantic. I turned my head to the sound and gave a growl. I heard the steps falter for a moment which made me smile, but then I felt something touching me neck. There was an odd sensation of something slithering around my throat before suddenly turning ridgid. A moment later and the sensation as well as the weight of whatever had been put on faded.

"It's a good look for you. I think you don't need all that other jewelry."

I froze as I heard that. Something was wrong, and it was setting all my alarms off, but I wasn't going to take it sitting down. The moment I was free I was going to fill this room with my loudest scream, and scream until my throat was bleeding raw.

I went completely still. I didn't fight as my tail was released. Letting it rest on the ground I waited as they removed my shackles and the hood on my head. I kept my eyes closed and waited as the bar was finally removed from my mouth. Opening my eyes I stared up at Gaul as he sat on his throne, staring down at me, with a cruel grim on his face.

I Smirked and took a deep breath, staring him down with all the malice and hate I could muster. The moment I started to scream however, I felt my throat being constricted. A paw went to my throat, I could feel something snaking its way around my throat, but I couldn't pry it off. It felt just as solid as the shackles they had placed on me.

"There will be none of that in my throne you little bastard." Gaul said his tone turned harsh and full of disdain. "Three of my men can't speak anymore, they can barely feed themselves, and it seems one of your cell keys have gone missing." He finished clearly upset, a moment later and I was able to breath

Taking in deep gasps of breath I stared up at Gaul fury all I could feel as I stared at him.

"Threw it out the window when they trapped themselves in my cell. I didn't want the fun to end too quickly!" I spat my tone laced with as much venom as I could muster.

"Well it doesn't matter, you've proven to be a nuisance and a drain on manpower. I've housed you for ten long years and you have spat on my generosity."

"I'll do more than spit on you, if I ever get my claws on yo- urk!" I tried to say, however my throat closed again and I fell to the ground trying to suck in air.

"Insolent whelp! You've had it too easy, and it's time you started paying me back for all I've done for you." Again I was able to breathe and I began to cough.

"The only thing I'll do for you, is rip your throat out and…" I was choking again.

" You can sit and suffer for a little bit." he replied as he looked down at me, as I struggled to breathe. It wasn't until my vision started to go black that I really began to panic. I didn't want to die, I didn't want Gaul to be the reason I was dead. I still wanted to live. I still wanted the apes to pay for everything they ever did.

Just when I felt myself passing out my throat opened again and I took a deep breath. I had never felt so close to death before. Beaten, tortured, corrupted, but in all my time here I never felt like I was going to die, until now.

"You are not in control here, and you have no choice. You will do as I say and you will serve my master."

"I would rather you just killed me." I growled. The words shocked me. I didn't want to die, but the thought of helping Gaul made my insides writhed with disgust.

"Oh you'll serve." He said with a chuckle.

Just then I saw something moving in the shadows behind his throne. Spending years in darkness I knew when something moved in the shadows. My eyes were drawn to them and as I tried to pierce the veil of shadows. Then it stepped forward into the light. My eyes widened in horror as I saw her standing just behind his throne.

Her scales were a deep reflective black, her throat and chest a deep red, Six white horns adorned her head and her eyes, deep green. They were full of malice but I recognized those eyes.

"M-mom?" I whispered in disbelief?

Suddenly my head was spinning. Images of my mothers face suddenly flashed through my mind. I had forgotten what she looked like but I remember what her eyes looked like. They were so clear and so vivid, but I…I saw her die. Didn't I? Was it my mother I had seen? No no it was definitely my mother I had seen dying so long ago, but then who was this I was looking at?

She began to laugh at my confusion. It was a cruel and hateful laugh. Hearing it seemed to rip at my heart for some reason I couldn't understand.

"Foolish big brother" She spat as her features turned harsh.

I couldn't breathe again, but this time it was because I was trying to make sense of things.

"Big brother? No ...no, my siblings' egg was smashed. It had to have been smashed." I thought, but the more I thought about it the more I realized I had never actually seen the egg smashed. Her eyes looked too much like my mothers.

"Aw look at him struggling to understand." she mocked before stepping out of the shadows completely. She was fully grown.

"Y-ou can't be my sister, You're older than me." I rebuked her. Both Gaul and Cynder began to laugh.

"This is what you should have become a fool. My master gave me the knowledge and tools to turn your sister into my General. Molding the mind of a newly hatched welp is easy, twisting her body to serve my master's will was trickier, but compared to you She was easy to break." Gaul taunted. Turning to look at Cynder again I tried to deny it but I knew they were telling the truth, it was the sort of cruel thing Gaul would do.

My sister was alive. All these years I had thought her egg had been smashed, my whole life I wanted nothing more than revenge for her sake, so that the ones who killed her would pay, but now that I know she was still alive, that she had been tortured like me.

My mind swam with memories of the past of how I had been chained next to a dark gem. I remember how Gaul had used a staff to pour magic into the gem, and I remember how the magic channeled through the gem and struck me. The agony I felt as my body was corrupted. For days I was subjected to pain that covered every inch of my body, inside and out, until my scales blackened and my eyes filled red like blood.

They had done all of that and more to her. Too my sister. Before I thought I had felt rage, that I knew the depth of hate that I had for Gaul and his kind, but it was only the spark that ignited the inferno in my heart. I felt heat spreading throughout my whole body, I felt myself panting heavily as I fixed my gaze on Gaul. I opened my mouth and screamed louder than I had before. The whole throne room began to shake as my voice reverberated.

I could hear the apes who had led me here begin to scream in terror while clawing at their faces. My tail flicked in anger and I felt it connecting with something. I felt a warm liquid over my tail and a shout of pain and surprise, but I didn't pay any attention to it. Gaul was my sole focus.

"I'll kill you!" I roared in fury and lunged at Gaul.

Then I went flying and slammed into a wall. Landing with a heavy thud I groaned in pain and lifted my head to see Cynder approaching me, Gaul was laughing in the background. Why wasn't he affected? She looked so angry, and I should have hated her. Should have wanted to kill her too, but she was my sister. And I loved her. Ancestors I loved her just as much as I loved my mom.

Stopping in front of me, she lowered her head to stare into my eyes. I saw a flash of green and suddenly my back writhed in pain as I felt my wings being crushed and torn from my back. Tears of pain and shock washed over my face as I lost control of my body and flailed against the floor and wall.

The pain lasted for a few minutes and then suddenly it disappeared. I was still sore from hitting the wall, but I could feel my wings still attached and still functioning. I could feel them flex and strain against my body. Cynder still stood over me, satisfied clearly on her face.

"You'll serve my Master, or you will spend the rest of your days locked in your own fear." She said and then she walked away to return to Gauls side. They began to speak to each other, but I wasn't paying attention, I was contemplating my next move, but I knew what I wanted to do. I needed to save Cynder.