Authors note: Hello and welcome if you're reading this please be aware that I tried to write this store before and then I gave up on it and writing for a few years, but I'm back now and I'm hoping to try again so for anyone who enjoyed the original story I hope you'll enjoy this version. I've grown a lot since then. So please read and enjoy and feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like.

Chapter 1

The crashing of thunder and the flashing of lightning illuminated my cell, overshadowing the gray and black stone with a bright purple glow. The light faded just as quickly as it arrived, but I had gotten used to navigating my cell in perfect darkness. Ten years or maybe less, I wasn't sure, but I had been here long enough to recognize the patterns. The footsteps of my jailers were familiar to me, and I could tell who was there just by listening.

I had been laying down when I heard them approaching. My head snapped up and I listened intently. Each footstep, each scrap, how fast they were walking, and how far each step was from each other. Everything sounded similar, but if you listened, really listened and paid attention, you could distinguish one person from another. My eyes lit up with glee as I slowly stood and made my way to the cell. They had brought me someone new to play with.

The cold steel door had a small barred window so my jailers could peer in on me. It allowed only a small beam of light to enter my cell and only when my jailers stood stationed outside of my cell. Every few days one of them would stand outside of my cell. They were ordered not to speak to me, and to always be careful when looking into my cell.

"Avoid the eyes." I heard from the other side, it was a trembling whisper. A new recruit? Or maybe someone screwed up and this was their punishment. Or maybe his buddies were just screwing with him. Whatever the case I would enjoy what came next.

"Whisper, whisper, in the dark. Hide your face or bear my mark." I said in a low cracking voice. My throat was dry but it helped to add to what I was doing.

"W-what?" my prey asked. His feet shuffled across the stone. He was skittish and I was going to take advantage.

Placing a paw to the steel door, I smiled as I dragged my claws down. The metal screeched and whiled under my touch filling my cell and the hallway with its sharp cry.

'S-settle down in there!' I could hear the panic in his voice as he shouted at me. My smile widened and I chuckled as I dragged my claws down the door again.

"Settle down? Well maybe but you have to bring me a lady." I said with another chuckle, this one with genuine amusement. I had made a joke, something I didn't know I could still do.

"I said to shut your mouth," the voice shouted.

Just then I saw him, the one behind the voice. He had turned around to look inside of my cell but it was his mistake. My eyes flashed and glowed a deep red, the shadows concealing all but my eyes. Instantly his eyes locked in on mine. I saw his pupils grow in surprise but it was too late. The moment our eyes locked he was paralyzed and I saw the fear grow in his eyes. My nostrils flared and I could smell his fear rolling down his leg.

I took the opportunity to memorize his face, and make a note on how long I thought he would last before it would start. He was like every other jailer who had come before. He was an ape covered in fur with a dim expression and a body odor so strong it would burn my eyes if I hadn't gotten used to it so long ago.

Then just as our staring contest had reached a minute there was another flash of lightning, and my cell was illuminated for a brief moment, but in that moment my guard would see me. I had no mirrors or pools of water to see my reflection but I knew my scales had turned black as night and my eyes a deep red. Maybe it was my claws or even the sharp spear on the tip of my tail. In the ten years I had been here my cell had grown smaller and smaller until I only had enough room to sleep and walk around in a small circle.

"Ahhh! Get away! Get away from me!" the ape shouted before dropping his weapon and his torch he started to run before running right into a cell door and tumbling onto his rear

His shouts grew louder and louder as he picked himself up and tried to run again. I listened as his shout faded only for him to scream again and run the other way. I had learned long ago that I had certain…abilities, of course I knew dragons had abilities, my mother had taught me about my powers, how I could control wind, but I hadn't been able to use my wind since I came here. Now I could make people see all their fears, I could make them believe that their worst fears were chasing them.

The others had warned him not to look into my eyes, had told him what would happen, but he hadn't listened, or hadn't believed them. It didn't matter, because he had looked. His screaming went on for several minutes. I waited for the screams to stop, no one was coming to save him, I doubted anyone could even hear him screaming other than me. His screams turned into whimpers, and I smiled. The only entertainment I got was when they were stupid enough to look at me, my only complaint was I didn't know what they were seeing.

Losing track of time as I tried to imagine what had him so scared, my attention was drawn to the sound of scraping. My guard had returned to his posting. I grinned as I started up a new round of torture.

00000

Morning never rose where we were, or at least, if it did I never saw the sun. Sure the Darkness would subside but there were no shining rays of light to banish the Darkness that had become my life. Nevertheless I knew that it was day because I could hear my guard shuffling away. He said nothing but I could smell his fear fading the farther he walked away. I had grown bored of tormenting him halfway through the night, and when his screams quieted I laid down and curled into a ball to sleep, only to remain awake as I struggled to keep old memories buried.

I could never let myself fully sleep. When they had first put me in this cell, they would bang on the door and wake me up. It went on for months and I was nearly mad with exhaustion. They would taunt me and laugh. In the end I think it was their laughing that had made me snap. I swore I would silence all their laughter. That's when I discovered my abilities.

That first night when the guards laughter had turned to screams I slept for so long I had forgotten where I was. It was only when three apes stepped into my cell that I was reminded of where I was. It took weeks for the aches to fade. When they tried it again though I was ready. Pretending to sleep I waited until they were too committed to back out and then I struck. All it took was one glance and one of my tormentors turned and struck his allies instead of me. They brawled and beat each other.

That was also the first time I tried to escape. It was the only time I had tried, because it was the only opportunity I was given. I didn't get far. I didn't even get out of the castle. The closest to freedom I got was getting to a window that overlooked a sort of crystal forest, but the window was too high, and jumping would lead to my death. Everything they had done to me and not once did I want to die.

I had been caught and dragged in front of an ape who stood larger than all. He was a creature who tried to pass himself off as a king. He sat on a throne, carried twin scimitars and wore a poor excuse of a crown with two large horns of polished black steel. I could smell his foul rotten breath as his wicked laughter echoed around the throne room.

"Did you really think you could escape, welp?" he asked as his hoarse voice grated against the inside of my skull. "You will never leave this place. Even on the day that you die, your corpse will remain in your cell to rot!"

The memory faded and I uncurled and began to pace around my cell. I may not have been able to run or fly, but I could walk around my cell and keep my muscles from decaying. I did plan on leaving this place one day but if i couldn't walk, If I couldn't run then any attempt at escaping would be short lived, and then I might actually die from the attempt.

I spent a good portion of my morning walking, and stretching. After that I worked on my wings. It had gotten harder to open them and it seemed every day I had to find a new spot to fully stretch them. Like my legs, my wings needed to be stretched and flapped. I have never once been able to fly, and when I had first found that window, they weren't strong enough to hold my weight, but as I grew they did to and I needed them strong.

Any moment not sleeping and not tormenting my jailers I would do this, but it was more than just staying in shape. I needed a routine, something to keep my mind on, so I didn't lose my mind, so that when I had my chance to escape i didn't want to screw it up by being too insane to realize I was walking to my death, or worse, not even realize the opportunity was there to take advantage of it.

When my limbs grew sore I walked to a corner where I could hide from the view of the doors window, and curled into a ball. I had learned that if my jailers couldn't see me, they wouldn't look inside for long, or even come in, at least not for the first few hours. If they didn't see me the second time they'd get more guards and storm my cell. For now I was able to get some sleep.

00000

I was in a large circular room. I was with my mother. She was smiling and I was so happy to see her. She would teach me things, play games with me, she even told me about my siblings. They weren't here yet, but their egg was going to hatch soon. It had become our routine to come and check on their egg.

My mouth would take the time to talk to the egg. She said she had done the same thing with my egg, that she wanted us to know how much she loved us. She even let me sing with her. I wanted my sibling to know how much I loved them. I wanted to be the best big brother I could be.

Looking up at my mom I saw her speaking, but there was something wrong. I couldn't remember her face, couldn't remember what her voice sounded like. A felt a frown cross my face as I stared at her. Something was seriously wrong.

"Mom?" I asked, my voice trembling. " Mom, what's wrong with you?" I watched her start speaking again but nothing, I couldn't hear her. I felt tears running down my face. Blinking, I tried to clear my eyes, but when I opened them she was gone.

"Mom!?" I shouted as I looked around trying to find her, what I saw however terrified me. The nursery where my sibling's egg was being held, was in ruins. The banners that held the symbols for the elements had been torn down and were burning. I saw fragments of broken shells littering the floor.

I saw apes running around the room grabbing eggs and smashing them. My eyes widened in horror, and I turned around trying to find my siblings' eggs. Instead I saw the hulking form of the largest ape I had ever seen. His eyes were full of hate and he wore a dark steel crown with horns. In his hand I saw him holding my siblings egg in his hand. It was so tiny, he could crush it if he wanted.

"Don't smash it!" I begged tears streaming down my face. " Mom? Help!?" I screamed as I looked around trying again to find mom. She needed to stop this; she needed to get the egg back. As I looked around for her my heart sank.

00000

"NOOOO!" I screamed as I jumped to my feet. My scream rang out, shaking my whole cell. I was panting hard. My body was trembling and I could feel my heart beating so hard against my chest it was painful.

Then I heard screaming from outside my cell. Looking around I saw a plate of food sitting on the floor.a thin soup with a single piece of meat too small to be called a morsel, and half a loaf of stale bread. Turning to the door I peered out the window and saw an ape lying on the ground screaming in fear and terror.

Lying back down, I pulled the plate to me and ate what food they gave me. Every day they would feed me something, usually it was different but was never enough to fill me up, just enough to keep me alive.

For all the time I spent in here the one thing I could never figure out was why they kept me alive. They chained me in front of a dark gem, let its dark influence corrupt my body, and then for some reason, they threw me in this cell and kept me locked in.

Chewing on the stale bread, I began to think, the guards' screams having subsided. I heard his panicked steps running down the hall. He forgot to take my plate, maybe I could use that, but first why was he screaming. Thinking back I remembered I had been dreaming.

I had seen the nursery being destroyed, eggs being destroyed. My siblings egg. I never knew what happened to it, but they had smashed it I was sure. I was looking for my mother, pleading with her to help and then…

I stopped chewing as I felt my body trembling again. I took a moment to calm my breathing as I focused on remembering what happened after I had woken up.

"I screamed at the top of my lungs…and then the Guard started to scream." I muttered to myself.

Could my abilities have expanded? Before I needed to look into someone's eyes to make them experience terror, but maybe by hearing me scream I could get the same effect?

"This could be just what I need to to finally get out of here."