Chapter 1
The Dragons of the Dragon Domain are all gathering in one place. A huge dome, enough to fit all of the Dragons who live there. They all seem curious about what is going on, none of them really sure why they've been called here. The members of the Dragon Ring are seated in the East end of the dome, all of them with serious looks on their faces. The Dragon Elder sits next to the leader, watching as the Dragons entered.
"There was no need to bring such an audience, Striker. You do not even know if it was he who committed the action," the Elder said, Striker looking over at him with lightning sparking from his eyes. "Do not let emotions cloud your judgment," he warned him, noticing how his yellow scales were conduction electricity as well.
"I know he did it, there even dragons who saw him do it. You can't say he's not guilty," Striker pointed out, very agitated. The Elder only sighed, silence filling the dome. The only thing that could he heard was footsteps and something heavy being dragged along the ground. Everyone looked to the only entrance to the bottom part of the dome, seeing a black Dragon being escorted by two guard Dragons with large chains around his entire body.
As he walked to the center, all the other Dragons started mumbling, and wondering why he was the one who was called here. The Dragon looked around, his scarred eye paying close attention to the Dragon Ring Members.
"Ryuu, I believe you're aware of why you have been called here," a Dragoness that sat beside Striker said, Ryuu's view moving over to her. Her ice blue scales were bright, making it hard to miss her. He told her no, sitting down. He didn't want to keep carrying the weight of the chains, though he didn't feel like trying to break free from them either. "You have been called here because you killed many innocent Dragons for no good reason," she said calmly, the Dragons gasping and gossiping from the reveal.
"Like hell I did. I haven't killed anyone," Ryuu said calmly. "I won't lie and said I didn’t hurt them, but I didn't kill them. As for no good reason," he stopped mid sentence, looking over at some of the Dragons in the audience. "You should ask those who 'reported' it why I attacked," he said, not really giving proof that he was speaking the truth or not.
"You have shown violence before, and intent to kill is not something uncommon from you," Striker pointed out, Ryuu doing his best to not growl at him. Since that would just make the situation worse. The Elder was also trying to seem calm, but he seemed to find something more than what they saw. "We have already decided that you should take one of two options. Based on what the Dragons choose, you'll do one or the other," he explained, asking a white Dragon to tell everyone the options.
"The first is that you are let go with guards watching your every movement, or that you face execution," he said, though his voice sounded very timid. Ryuu narrowed his eyes at them, knowing already what they would choose. And it didn't take long before almost all of them roared at him, telling him that he deserved to die. He only closed his eyes and ignored their roaring. Striker was about to execute the punishment, but the Elder let out a loud roar and everyone quieted down.
"Do you all truly believe this young Dragon deserves to die? After what he has done for your safety?" he asked, making them question their opinion. "I cannot disprove the fact quite yet, but I cannot let him be executed without proof of guilt either. Instead, to make you all feel safe and until we are been able to prove one or the other, Ryuu will be exiled to Kaltik," he said, the one Dragon who hadn't said a word looking horrified at him. But there was no room for arguments here, the Elder leaving.
Later the same day, Ryuu was lying in the field, taking a look at the scenery near his home. He was kind of glad that he wasn't killed because of lies of the other Dragons, but he doesn't like the idea of having to leave here. He's heard nothing good about Kaltik, which won't be good for his temper.
"I thought you might be here," he heard the Elders voice, turning slightly to see the old Dragon walking towards him. "You should be glad, my boy. You get to live,"
"With everyone thinking I'm a killer. That's such a good thing. Why did you butt in, Agros?" he asked, Agros knowing that Ryuu was feeling mixed feelings about the situation. He told him to rest for the day, and that he hoped for his safe return. He left him after that, Ryuu letting out a sigh and decided to get up in a sitting position. He heard some voices nearby, sounding like someone struggling. He got up completely and walked over, seeing some adult Dragons holding a struggling young Dragon. There were other young Dragons around as well, asking them to let him go.
"When he apologizes for what he said," they said, the young Dragon yelling in their faces that they should be the ones apologizing to Ryuu. Though he didn't know what was going, he didn't like the fact that they were treating someone so young like that. And he also knew who the kid was.
"Let him go," he said calmly, though his deep voice made it sound like a threat. The two adult Dragons froze, quickly letting him go and got out of there before anyone could say a word. Ryuu didn't bother with them and went over to the young Dragon. "Are you hurt, Kaler?" he asked, Kaler using his tail to get some leaves off his silver scales.
"Why didn't you attack them? They wanted you dead even after what you've done for the Dragon Domain!" he asked after he was done getting himself fixed up. "You always protect the peace here, and you've been taking care of us where our parents failed. Why did someone say you're a killer?"
"Hard to say, but it doesn't matter. You and your gang need to stay out of trouble while I'm gone. Whether it's to stay or get killed, that's something I don't know yet," he said, not wanting to hide things from them. He had always taken care of the younger Dragons who were seen as 'failed children' by their parents. He taught them to fend for themselves, and also help them get the nutrition they need to survive.
"Do you really have to go? What about the things you do here? All the Dragons in the area will be in danger if you leave," the young female Dragon pointed out, Ryuu saying that it might show people just how much danger there is within the Dragon Domain. He told them to go home for the day and rest up. He didn't want to get them involved in this, and he wanted to sort some things out before he left. The young ones did as they were told, Ryuu looking at a rather tall mountain. He spread his big, dark wings and took to the sky, soaring towards the mountain.
When he arrived at the summit, he slowly descended and walked towards the edge. There were a pile of stones put on top of each other with a black rose on the top, frozen. He sat down in front of it, looking at it.
"Seems things only get worse here, huh Sal?" he spoke to himself looking at the stones. He closed his eyes, and remembered why they were here, growling lowly and feeling his anger burning up inside of him. "Why the hell did they involve her?" he growled, hearing someone behind him. He turned around and saw a Dragoness walking towards him. She seemed timid, and wasn't here to see him. "You're Getras, right?" he asked, making her flinch. "I'm done here, so you can be here in peace," he said before she could say a word, getting ready to take to the sky.
"I know it wasn't you, Ryuu. Sal wouldn't have trusted you like that if you were capable of something like that," she said before he flew off, not getting any response from him.
Ryuu flew to a small cave near the river, looking down into his reflection. He could clearly see the scar over his right eye, though some of his black scales around the scar were still hanging. But he knew they wouldn't be for long. He closed his eyes and walked towards the cave and went inside.
There wasn't much there, just a small bed, some food and a few old maps of the area. There were also some notes there, written in an ancient language that Ryuu had been trying to decipher. And find out what wrote it. He just closed his eyes and went over to some of the maps and looked at it for a long time. He breathed a little shadow from his mouth, which moved towards the map and erased a mountain like area from it. And according to the map, it was close to where he was earlier.
"No point in having something on a map that doesn't exists anymore," he said to himself. He moved from the map and quietly went into his bed and closed his eyes. He fell asleep quickly, waiting for morning to come.
As the sun rose into the sky, Ryuu was very abruptly woken up. He felt his entire body turning to ice, except his face. He opened his eyes and saw Cyril looking down at him. He told him that he had overslept, and everyone was getting anxious because of it.
"And that's a good enough reason to wake me up by freezing me?" he asked, not caring what the other people thought right now. He told him he was being cautious, since he knew next to nothing about him. "If you paid more attention to the others living out here like me you would've," he said in a harsh tone, making Cyril angry. He lifted his head up, and something black started moving around inside the ice. Two seconds later, the ice broke and he walked normally out.
They were heading towards a big gate, so big it could
be seen from the furthest end of the land. However, the only way to get to it
was going through the main part of the land, where everyone lived. There were
huge walls that blocked each side, made of a stone that sucked the strength of
a dragon if it were to fly. So it's impossible for someone to get out without
at least someone seeing them.
Ryuu walked calmly towards the gate. He could hear the murmuring and insults of the other dragons, but he couldn't care less. He even felt someone throw something at his wing, but he still didn't flinch. He noticed the young dragons he saw yesterday, along with the dragoness who he met on the mountain cliff. They all looked sad that he was leaving, but he only smiled a little, hoping to reassure them. He was just by the gate, seeing Striker along with Margma, Farenhe, all the members of the Dragon Ring except Cyril, and Argos.
"Ryuu, I'm sure you remember why you're here," Striker said, Ryuu only closing his eyes and continued walking. He didn't feel like hearing the same lecture as yesterday. So he just continued walking towards the gate. He could tell he definitely hit a nerve of the lightning dragon, but he thought he should be allowed to choose whether or not he should be lectured. When he felt him get closer to him, he quickly turned towards him with a sly look.
"You wanted me dead earlier. Would you lecture a dead dragon?" he asked, taking Striker aback. He turned his had again and went onto a platform and sat down quietly. His wings were dirty from food the others had thrown on him earlier. As he sat down, the gate started opening. A strong wind blew into the area, making any dragon that hadn't folded their wings soar right into the air. While the ones who had them folded had trouble being stable.
Ryuu, along with the other dragons of the Dragon Ring and the Dragon Elder, had no problem being calm. And without another second of hesitation, Ryuu got up and leapt into through the gate. Down into Kaltik.
