Nacreous's back slammed against the ground, sending a shockwave throughout his entire body, forcing all the air from his lungs. Talons jabbed into his arms as they forcefully kept him down — even if he were two times, three times, even four times as strong, he wouldn't have been able to get up anyway.

The same guard that ripped the piece of paper in half stepped forward, dragging the wooden handle of a spear against the stone floor. The sounds of him being dragged into his demise. The sounds of death. "P-Please!" Nacreous pleaded, tears running down his face. "I'm not bad! I've only used my magic twice before!"

The guard kept walking forward with his spear until he was staring Nacreous down. Compared to Nacreous, the SkyWing may as well have been a mountain, one paw half the size of his body. "Please…" Nacreous begged weakly, although futile; almost all hope was gone. "I-I can-"

"Will someone get a muzzle on him already?!" Queen Phoenix roared from atop her throne. "I don't want to listen to his vexatious begging any longer!" she said dramatically. "Besides, I can't have this little devil spitting fire at me."

Another guard came from behind and as Nacreous looked up, a muzzle — that was many sizes too big — was clamped around his snout. It was quickly tightened as much as it could be before he heard a click in the back.

The guard released his grip on Nacreous leaving his head to hit the floor with a thump, his neck too weak to support the heavy muzzle. Queen Phoenix stepped off of her throne and moved forward. "Don't kill him. Not yet anyway." She pushed the guard with a spear to the side as she moved towards Nacreous. Her eyes burned his scales wherever they landed, his muscles tensing at the feeling. "A SkyWing animus…" she trailed off. "What a rarity that's been brought to me today. To think I've been this stressed over a dragonet." Nacreous tried to plead, tears soaking the metal muzzle, but he couldn't open his mouth more than a few centimeters.

"I've heard it all before, save it," she continued. "…Well, not like you have a choice," she chuckled, raising her voice to a mocking pitch. "'I won't cause any harm', 'I'll leave and never come back', 'Save my family, it's me you want' and this and this and that. But unfortunately for you, Nacreous, the animus gene must die. It's nothing personal, you have to understand the danger of such a gift. The power they hold — the power you hold — even Stratosfera doesn't have it. It's dangerous; it can and will corrupt anyone and anything it touches. I must eliminate the gene. For the Sky Kingdom." She sighed, rubbing her talons against her forehead. "You," she pointed to a guard out of sight. "Find out where his family lives and kill them. And you," she nodded over to the guard next to her. "Now you can kill him. Don't make a mess. And be quick about it — I don't have all day."

She turned around and got back on her throne, watching her entertainment unfold. The guard in front of him readied his spear and took a few steps forward until his shadow fully obscured Nacreous's body.

Nacreous tried to struggle but the talons around him kept a firm grip. Tears poured down his face in waterfalls at a time and dread flooded his chest. The guard put both of their wings to the floor for support and got on their hind legs, bringing the spear high in the air.

This was it. He was trapped. There was nothing more to do. He shut his eyes, waiting for his demise.

Is this…really my ending?

"What are you waiting for?!" Queen Phoenix roared in her usual menacing voice. "Do you want him to think of a spell that could kill us all? No? Then do it!"

Fog obfuscated his thoughts, suffocating him. The feeling of dread and rushing blood faded into the background; he could no longer feel the talons pinning him to the ground, the feeling of Phoenix's scorching gaze, or the slight chill of the room. Instead, it was replaced by the sound of bustling dragons outside, the sweet smell of fresh pastries, bread, and donuts, and the warmth of ovens blasting dough. It pulled him into another time when everything was just…peaceful.

"Nacreous," he heard a familiar voice call his name, sounding much like his father's. "Nacreous," the voice said again as if they were trying to get his attention, but he wasn't responding. "Nacreous, are you there?"

His eyes shot open, and instead of seeing razor-sharp spread heads pointed at him, warm, soft sunlight shone through the window, energizing his scales. He looked around, putting his talons on the counter in front of him. A cash register lay flat, still empty as the sun sat low in the sky while he and his father were tasked with opening. Tables littered the open room beyond the counter with the entire bakery pale pink with white undertones.

Behind him was a kitchen where many gas-powered stoves and stovetops lay, mixing bowls were scattered across flour-caked cutting boards, and plain cooked dough sat out, yet to be decorated with frosting and sprinkles. As much as Nacreous wanted to hurry and decorate them, his father told them they had to actually wait for someone to want it first.

"Hello? Pyrrhia to Nacreous," the voice continued. He looked over and saw his father staring back, waving a talon before his face. "You alright?"

"Oh, sorry," Nacreous apologized, rubbing his eyes with a yawn.

"Tired?" his father asked. Nacreous gave a little nod. Suddenly, the sound of a bell chime rang from the doorway. Nacreous looked over and saw another SkyWing walking inside, scales as bright as ever. "Here, I'll mix the batter for you, you can take their order instead." He picked up a notepad and pen from the counter, bent down to compensate for Nacreous's miniature height, and placed it in his talons. "Just write down whatever they say and I'll do the rest."

"Okay!" Nacreous beamed. The sky suddenly rejuvenated the energy that once drained from his eyes, his scales lighting up with readiness. As his father turned around toward the kitchen, Nacreous grabbed a stool twice his size and dragged it over to the counter where the SkyWing stood waiting. After some struggle, he managed to pull himself atop the stool. "Hello!" Nacreous said to the SkyWing.

"Awww," the SkyWing gushed, her wings drooping a little and her head tilting to the side. "And how old are you?"

"One and a half!" Nacreous said proudly. "Dad brought me to work today because there's no school and Mom's out working. I could stay home by myself but I'd rather help Dad make stuff." This warranted a chuckle and smiled out from the SkyWing. He readied his pen and paper. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Hmmm," the SkyWing thought momentarily as she gazed up at the pink menu. "I'll get a dozen…chocolate donuts, half vanilla, with…" she paused for a moment and Nacreous took the opportunity to sloppily scribble her order onto the notepad. "chocolate cream filling in the vanilla donuts only."

As Nacreous scribbled his last notes down on the order — that looked more like drawings than anything — he picked it up and turned it around to show the SkyWing his latest creation. "Is this good?" he asked her.

Her face turned from confusion to a smile. "Uh… Y-Yeah, that's perfect!" Nacreous smiled, jumped down from the chair and ran back to his father who was mixing dough.

He jumped up and put the notepad on the table next to him. "I got her order for you!" Nacreous smiled.

His father chuckled. "Thanks, Nacreous," he responded. "Can you clean up that mixing bowl and cutting board?" He nodded to the side, pointing at an unused mess of flour and bits of wet dough stuck to a bowl beside it.

"Okay!" Nacreous agreed. Grabbing the stool from before, he pulled himself onto the counter and picked up the bowl and cutting board, and dragged them over to the sink where he could narrowly push them over the edge. Once he was done, he turned around to see what else his father needed him to help with. His eyes skimmed across the bakery and he recognized familiar scales in the window just as they passed the door.

The familiar dragon turned and pushed the door open, peeking her head inside. Now that Nacreous could see her more clearly, he immediately recognized her. "Mom!" Nacreous shouted excitedly, feeling the urge to hug her again even though he'd done so just half an hour earlier.

Acting on instinct, he ran through the kitchen and kitchen door and barreled directly into his mother's welcoming embrace. "Hey, Nacreous," his mother greeted him. He couldn't see her face but her smile was clear enough through her grip.

"What're you doing here so early, Arcus?" his father asked, still standing behind the kitchen counter. "I thought the whole "bring your son to work day" was supposed to last more than half an hour?" he joked.

"Oh, stop. I just passed by on my way to work and figured I'd stop here and see how Nacreous was doing one last time before I won't be able to." Her gaze redirected down at Nacreous. "How is it? Having fun so far?" she asked him. Nacreous looked up and nodded his head, mirroring her expression. His mother peeled him from her scales and took a step back. "Good. If you get hungry, I packed some snacks and sandwiches in your bag, and if you're tired, take a break."

"Okay!" Nacreous said happily. His mother turned around and began heading for the door.

"Alright, have fun you two!" she began, turning around and walking towards the door. "And don't forget," she started but paused before finishing her sentence.

After a few moments of standing there, Nacreous tilted his head. "Don't forget what?" Nacreous questioned.

She smiled in the usual warm sunlight she emanated. "Don't forget that I love you."

The fog surrounding his mind cleared. The warmth of the bakery disappeared in an instant, instead replaced by the chilliness of the metal muzzle around his mouth. The feeling of talons pinning him, the thumping of his heart begging to explode from his chest, and the feeling of his scales about to be pierced by a spear all returned.

The feeling of resolve burned bright in his chest, replacing his beating heart. I won't let them die…I…I can't.

He opened his eyes to the sight of a spear coming down straight on his forehead.

He took a deep breath.

Calmly, he commanded, turn that spear to water…

For a moment, he thought his spell wouldn't work. But it had to. It had to.

The next second, instead of his face turning wet with blood, it was instead wet with a familiar clear liquid.

The guard stumbled forward, tripping over Nacreous's leg and tumbling into one of the guards holding him down, sending them both to the floor. With only two guards keeping him restrained, he knew it would be easy to get out. He just had to cast the right spell.

He looked up at them, their eyes full of shock, caught off guard that Nacreous would actually retaliate. Blow them away! Nacreous commanded once again. The wind around them picked up, spiraling in a circle for merely a second before sending them flying across the room and into the wall with a thud. The four guards on that side of the wall stared in disbelief.

He pushed himself to his feet, the relief of finally being able to stand again washing over him like a cool bath on a hot summer day. "Get him!" Queen Phoenix roared. The mind reader that was once in the room could be seen bolting through the throne room door without even giving a glance behind her.

Eight guards — four from either wall — began surrounding him. The two on the floor pushed themself to their feet and joined the others.

Ten guards, nine of which were handling spears and swords, all trapping him in the center, slowly advancing. Nacreous spun in circles, checking every angle in case anyone made a move. But even if they did, what would he do? He couldn't cast — or think — of spells fast enough to fend them all off.

He stepped forward in any direction the guards were getting too close, causing them to backtrack further, but it wasn't enough; every time he was focused on one side the other got nearer. The muzzle around him restricted his breathing, making it hard to get air as he moved around.

After scaring one set of guards away he whipped his head around, only to see steel coming down on his face. The blade connected with his muzzle, sending him tumbling to the floor. The imbalance with the muzzle made his face slam against the ground with twice the weight of his head. When he looked up, he swore he saw twenty guards instead of ten.

Giants towered over him, threatening to step on him if they got too close. Nacreous acted quickly, though, crawling blindly in any direction. Seeing double he relied solely on feeling and memory rather than vision. His scales painfully scratched and scraped against metal, but he kept going. All he could do was keep going.

He looked back and a sword slammed down right where his tail had been moments before he tucked it in. With even more motivation than before, he moved faster.

It took him a few moments to realize that he'd somehow managed to escape the crowd of dragons, but that was far from solving his problems — it only delayed them by just a few seconds. He hoped it was enough.

The guards turned around, realizing that he'd escaped the enclosed area they had him cornered in. They didn't waste any time continuing to advance, but neither did Nacreous.

Survival instinct took over, and strangely like a reflex, his talons gripped around his muzzle. I enchant this muzzle to come off! He thought. The same tingling in his talons he felt earlier kicked in, and with a click, the muzzle unlocked, unclipped, and fell to the floor with a clank. He could finally breathe again, finally speak, finally yell. But most importantly, he could finally use his fire.

He didn't have time to think it through. None of the worries he'd normally have managed to process in time as he built up the fire in the back of his throat, hotter and harder than he ever had before. For a moment, the fire was so hot he thought he would char his own throat.

The guards that did manage to react in time were too late, and the ones that didn't got it worse as bright orange light engulfed them. Roars of pain could be heard echoing throughout the room. As the fire dissipated, to Nacreous's horror, the six guards in the front's scales were burned to a crisp in the places their armor didn't protect them.

Red and orange scales turned black as the guards stumbled backward, falling over each other onto the floor.

He took some steps back and as much as he wanted to look away, he couldn't. "I-I…" Nacreous stammered. He couldn't look away from the pain he'd just caused, or the lives he may have just destroyed. "I di-didn't m-mean t-to-" Guilt slammed into his chest, replacing the resolve that once burned fiercely.

His talons stopped. Time felt like it froze. How many guards had he just killed? How many were going to be in the hospital? How much pain had he just caused? Did they even deserve it? Was Nacreous really as evil as Queen Phoenix thought he was?

The string of thoughts cut off as a guard tackled him, slamming him against the floor. His weight crushed Nacreous, looking almost four times his size and feeling ten. But Nacreous hadn't even finished registering what happened before, so as the guard took out a spare dagger and attempted to bring it down on his neck, he didn't react.

Steel stabbed into the floor next to his face. He didn't know if it was the thought of killing a dragonet weighing on him or if he genuinely just missed, but it managed to snap Nacreous out of his trance.

His thoughts raced, but he managed to form a coherent string of words in his mind, and that was all he needed. Get me out of here! Nacreous thought. Get me out of this palace!

The air around Nacreous began feeling as if it was pushing against him — no — crushing him. For a brief moment, he felt as if the biggest MudWing in the world was laying on top of the dragon already above him.

And then, everything went dark. His senses dulled to nothing and for just a brief moment, he felt as if he wasn't even alive. Just existing. Dead, but still conscious.

All of a sudden light flooded his eyes once more as all his senses sprung back into action. The warm morning sun soothed his scales, the smells around him brought him back to reality, and the sounds of distant bustling dragons made him alert.

He took a deep breath, and it was only then that he realized he was starving for air. He fell to the ground, disoriented but alive. The first thing his eyes did was dart around the surrounding area, even as his head spun from the jarring relocation. It took a few moments to orient himself to the environment before finally assessing where he was.

The front of the palace… Nacreous realized. He spun himself around, still dizzy and with a headache to see that the guards at the front of the palace had since dispersed, probably looking for him somewhere inside.

That was when it hit him like a boulder. My parents! Nacreous panicked. He spun around, his feet leaving the ground before he'd even fully turned causing him to have a turbulent takeoff. He flew high in the clouds, trying to catch as many jet streams as he could. He pumped his wings hard, searching for his house in the thousands crammed together until finally, he spotted it.

He crashed into the gravel path, sliding at least fifteen or twenty feet before he caught himself and immediately booked it towards his front door. A plunge of fear hit him in the heart when he saw his door wide open, wood splintered and cracked on the sides as if someone — or multiple someones — had kicked it in by force.

When hisfeet finally met the footsteps of his house, he was greeted with a sight he never wanted to see.

Blood. Staining the floors, staining the walls, staining the tip of a spear. "N-N-No…" Nacreous stammered, taking a step back. The SkyWings hovering around the room turned their heads before recognizing him. They turned around, spears and swords ready.

"Nacreous, run!" he heard a feminine voice yell from inside the house. He peeked past the guards and saw his mother. Badly hurt, but alive with a stab wound to her side and cuts all over.

His eyes panned over a little to the right and he felt like puking. His heart sank, realizing the source of the blood from before.

Red poured from an open cavity in his father's chest, his head slumped to the side and his eyes lifeless as he lay propped against the wall. There wasn't an inch of floor or wall around him that wasn't painted as red as his scales.

"Go!" he heard the voice say again, which he now realized was his mother's. But what would happen to her if he listened?

The answer was simple: the same as what happened to his father.

He felt as if the world wasn't real like he'd just been plucked from reality and was living on a higher plane of existence. Time slowed down, tears fell from his eyes hitting the ground in boulders. A fire burned in his chest, bright and hot. Enough to burn his heart straight out. Enough to set the sky on fire.

He looked up at the guards, their towering figures inching closer to Nacreous, but he didn't move.

Reality crashed back into him, bringing him to the present. Time sped back up tenfold, feeling faster than it had before.

"NOOOO!" he screamed, pure rage exploding through his voice. Hatred for the guards. Hatred for the law. Hatred for Phoenix.

The weapons in each of their talons were ripped out and instead began hovering in the air — a spell he didn't remember casting. They turned around and shot at them all like bullets, causing them the same fate as his father.

Author's Notes: That's it for part one! I hope if you've gotten this far, you're enjoying the story! For now, though, it's time for my mental health break. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but a good range to expect is 2 to 4 months from here. But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you empty-taloned, though.

Part 2: A Twist of Fate - Settling Down:

(Note this part is NOT proofread yet, the final product will likely slightly differ)

…

Red streaks flowed down the wall before Nacreous's eyes, the blood of five different guards mixing in a pool on the floor. But strangely, the guards didn't cross his mind at the moment, merely a backdrop of guilt overshadowed by the maroon-scaled dragon lying against the wall. Nacreous's talons picked up, sliding across the floor quicker than he meant to.

He fell to his father's side and gripped his arm, trying to shake him back to life. "D-Dad?" he tried desperately, hoping he'd wake up to the sound of Nacreous's voice. "Dad, g-get up…" Tears welled in his eyes, and as much as he tried to hold them back, he couldn't. A soft sob broke out through the house that once held joy, and Nacreous's head fell onto his father's shoulder as all the warmth from his body began to disperse.

"Nacreous…" he heard a voice from behind him say. Talons gripped his shoulder from behind. "He's…" his mother started, hesitating. "He's gone." She sounded almost defeated, like she'd given up hope. But Nacreous wouldn't just give up, he couldn't. He…couldn't.

Nacreous's sobs turned into wails. "N-no! H-he's not gone!" he tried to deny. His head shot up from his father's shoulder, leaving a wet spot of tears. "I-I can bring him back! I can make a spell!"

"Nacreous-"

"No!" he interrupted, batting her talon from his shoulder just as her grip tightened. "I can bring him back! I just need to think of the right spell and he'll come back-"

"Nacreous!" his mother shouted, tears falling down her face. "He's gone…you need to accept it. Magic can't bring dead dragons back, you know that. I know it's hard, but please…" her voice faltered, her eyes leaking like a faucet. Somehow, though, she kept herself composed enough to speak. "Please, just stop making this harder than it has to be."

Silence.

Nacreous's eyes wandered around the bloodied arena. They jumped from guard to guard, to his mother, then his father, and then his blood-stained talons. His breath caught in his throat, dread filling his chest. The weight of what he'd done fell onto his shoulders and he collapsed to the floor.

I… Nacreous hesitated, struggling to formulate a sentence. She was right…animus magic corrupts…

He turned his head away, gagging at the sight. His claws dug into the wood, leaving marks in the wood and chips under his nails. "We have to go…" his mother told him, wiping tears from her eyes. "We have to go now."

Nacreous turned back to his deceased father's corpse, and gave him a hug tighter than ever before, back to sobbing. But he was only before he felt talons grabbing his shoulders, ripping him off by force. "I'm sorry, Nacreous, but we can't stay here any longer!"

"N-No!" Nacreous protested, attempting to fight her away; his attempts were useless as she easily restrained his arms. "Let go! Dad!" he yelled frantically.

They struggled and wrestled for a few moments before finally, his mother opened the backyard door and practically threw him outside, sending him to the ground. She slammed the door shut behind her.

Without a moment to spare, Nacreous pulled himself up to his feet and sprinted to the door, but his mother barricaded herself in front of it, creating an immovable block. "Let me in!" Nacreous protested. "I-I can bring him back! I have to!" he tried, desperate.

"Nacreous, stop!" his mother shouted. "Guards will be here soon, and if they see us, we'll-"

"I can do it in time!" he continued, still fighting to get past her and reach the door. "I can make a spell and bring him back, please! He can come with us if I just-" Suddenly, his mother grabbed him by both of his shoulders, forced him in front of her, and sent a talon smacking across his face.

"Your father — my husband — is dead, Nacreous!" his mother shouted, but Nacreous was still too shocked to respond, holding his cheek with a talon. "You can't bring him back, and if we stay here, you or me could be the next ones to join him! It's hard, but right now we don't get the luxury of grieving, so snap out of it!"

Nacreous stood there for a moment, still shocked and frozen. He looked at his mother's eyes, drooping and watery and scared all at the same time. She was struggling to keep everything together, and Nacreous knew he wasn't making it any easier.

She held out a talon. "Let's go…" she pleaded, on the brink of snapping. "Let's leave and never come back."

He looked at her outstretched talon, then to the door behind her, then back to her talon, and then to her eyes. He inhaled, reaching his talon out, clenching his claws in hers.

Nacreous nodded.

…