1500 years prior...
“You’ve no place here,” Suntrap’s mother growled toward him, her teeth flashing into view. She was impossibly large and her inky scales cast an orange glow across the cavern walls. “You were fortunate to have been considered my son, but you have failed me for the last time. Leave.”
Tears gushed from his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak, but no words uttered forth. “I’m sorry,” he managed, choking on his own breath.
“Pitiful mutt,” she replied callously and swung her lumbering tail in his direction. Dust was swept off the floor toward him and the impact made his insides shiver. Her coal-black eyes watched him bitterly.
Then she struck him. Once. Twice. Her claws tore through his scales and flesh so effortlessly with the power that a fully-grown dragoness could muster. Blood instantly poured from the fresh wound that marred his neck. Suntrap instinctively reached his talons for it, fearfully watching the wine-red liquid spill onto the ground.
He looked toward his mother again, searching for some morsel of regret or love or anything at all but hatred. He found nothing.
Thus, he began to run. Large leaps and bounds from the exit of the cave to the mindless nowhere of the rainforest. The young dragon’s heartbeat thundered against his eardrums and his legs seemed to move by themselves, though aching terribly, he knew that he could not stop because someone was trailing him. Someone impossibly large with two dark abysses that no light could pierce through.
Though Suntrap did not understand the concept of hatred, he knew that was the emotion that described his ire for that wretched dragoness.
He whipped through the leaves, tossed aside branches and twigs and bushes, leaped across huge logs that stood in his way. He did not stop his trek until the footsteps faded into the background ambiance of birds, wind, and other forest noises. Beneath a long-dead moss-infested log, he decided to rest. The little dragon dug his way underneath the fallen limb and snuggled himself beside a nest where a spider had burrowed not long ago.
Suntrap began to weep. Another tsunami of tears trickled from his eyes, down his cheeks, and to the moist soil between his claws. He muffled his cries into a web of moss, shaking uncontrollably. Why am I so pathetic? He interrogated himself. Why am I not competent? Why did I let myself slip? Why? The recent death of his father had driven his mother to insanity and a once-beautiful and benevolent mother had led the tragedy consume her.
Subtly, a voice rang from behind him.
“Hello, little one,” it said and he glanced up with a terrified expression on his face. “Are you lost?”
The dragon’s scales were the same color as his and he wore an emblem around his neck, glancing down at him with a friendly smile.
“N-no, sir…” Suntrap gulped, shutting his eyes tightly, “W-who are you?”
“A friendly necromancer, small one,” the dragon responded, letting the little dragon tumble to the floor, “So, what happened to you? You seem troubled.”
“I… uh, p-problems with my…” Suntrap swallowed hard, “my mother…”
“Poor little thing,” the necromancer frowned, “how about I give you a gift to cheer you up?”
“A g-gift?” Suntrap questioned, a glint of wonder in his eyes as he stared up at the old dragon.
“Why yes, of course,” the dragon smiled while he pointed towards the pendant, “Perhaps it’ll make you feel better.”
He took the necklace from around his neck and handed it to Suntrap. It was in the shape of a viper with what seemed to be a dark red liquid inside of it. Anxious to see what it was, the young dragon took the charm from the necromancer’s claws and stared down at him.
“Think of something you want and it will come true as long as you wear this,” the old dragon told him, patting him on the back with his wing.
“Why are you giving me this?” Suntrap asked curiously.
“I have a good heart, young one, now go wish away,” he ushered Suntrap back into the forest, sending him stumbling through the bush.
He waddled forwards, taking curious glances down at the pendant as he put it over his neck, oblivious to what powers it would give him. Suntrap felt a strange aura surround him and the pendant began to glow a deep orange.
Dark swirls revolved around him and he dizzily collapsed to the floor, blackness swallowing his vision as a cackle was heard in the distance.
The young dragon awoke with a pounding headache and groggily opened his eyes to see his surroundings, surprised to see himself in the same place that he had fallen unconscious.
He rubbed his eyes sorely and picked himself up off of the ground, wondering if he now held the power of the amulet.
I want that rock to float, he thought to himself and began to concentrate on the small stone in front of him. Within moments, it was sent into the air and his eyes became wider than ever before.
“I wish for the rock to approach me,” he whispered and the stone slowly moved towards him.
Surprised by the amulet’s power, he had a sudden idea. I could get revenge on my mother with this.
His talons dug into the earthy ground and he began to rush towards his mother’s den, determined to give her a taste of her own medicine. His eyes scanned the forest, watching for anything suspicious.
The scenery around him whisked past him as he saw the faint figure of a huge, lumbering dragon curled up at a cave’s entrance, Skybolt curled up in the coils of her tail.
“Amulet,” Suntrap breathed deeply, shutting his eyes, “I want you to slash my mother across the snout with that twig.”
Suddenly, the stick from beside him levitated and slowly advanced towards Suntrap’s mother. He opened one eye, hesitant to watch. Its sharp end began to rip a tear in her scales and she woke up suddenly with a loud roar of pain, standing up immediately. She growled and watched for who had slashed her, her eyes landing on her son.
“Suntrap,” she hissed menacingly, her tail uncoiling from her other offspring and her wings unfurling, “How dare you show up in my den…”
“Slash her across her left wing,” Suntrap demanded, getting ahead of himself as a crazed smile awakened in the corners of his mouth.
The twig followed in his command, slashing a wound across her wing and creating a tear. He kept commanding it to cause her harm until her body fell limp and she collapsed to her side, the lights in her eyes dying out. She let out a final cry of agony and gave Suntrap a look of hatred, her heartbeat slowing to a stop.
“No!” Skybolt screamed in agony, rushing towards Suntrap in a hurry.
He felt a sudden jab of guilt and tears trickled down his cheeks, washing over the old stains. His brother slashed him across the face and he accepted the wound, doubling over. Skybolt kept scratching at him, ripping tears in his scales.
“I’m sorry, brother,” Suntrap stated, letting Skybolt rip a finally wound on his side before he muttered, “Twig, impale Skybolt.”
His brother let out a final cry before the stick skewered him, sending him flying backward into a tree where he coughed up blood. His eyes were filled with fury and he gave out a final phrase, “I hate you, pathetic… excuse… of a brother…”
Suntrap wiped the tears from his eyes and ventured off into the woods, away from the company of other dragons in fear that he’d kill them too. He kept wandering for days on end, only stopping to hunt or take a drink.
Wherever he went, there were traveling dragons asking if he needed a ride back home and he ignored them each time, afraid to speak.
One day, he attempted to take the amulet off but instead found it forged into his scales. There is no escape, he realized, this is my consequence…
His travels got lonelier as the days went on and he felt weaker and weaker until his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the forest floor. There, he permitted himself to cry with his wings wrapped around his head. He kept sobbing furiously, unable to breathe.
“I’m so sorry,” he wailed with a loud cry of guilt, “Skybolt… mother… I can’t undo what I did…”
Suntrap lied on the ground for hours on end, crying until he could cry no more and the tears stained his cheeks.
Cold, lonely and guilty, he pleaded to the pendant, “Amulet… please… give me a friend that won’t leave my side no matter what…”
Within seconds, a dragon formed in front of him with copper scales and friendly eyes, waiting to greet him. Suntrap gave him a pitying look and covered the amulet with his claws.
“My name’s Welkin,” the dragon greeted with a bow, “What’s yours?”
“Suntrap…” he sniffled quietly.
“Hello then, Suntrap, what’s the matter?”
“I…” Suntrap hesitated, “k-killed my family…”
“Oh,” Welkin said in surprise and curled up beside Suntrap, “Well, it’ll be all right, what made you do that?”
“T-they got angry at me and my mother sent me away… I didn’t mean to, I was driven by fury…”
“Poor, poor Suntrap,” Welkin frowned and patted Suntrap’s back with a hopeful smile, “Well, I’m here now and I won’t leave you. We’ll be best friends forever!”
Suntrap slowly uncovered his amulet and thought, I’ll try to make things better. From now on, I’ll help dragons all across Akurma Mountains and beyond. I’ll be known as Suntrap the Helper.
Suntrap gave his new friend a hopeful look and crawled closer, closing his eyes, “Welkin.”
“Yes, best friend?” he had a curious smile across his face and tapped his talons together in a friendly manner.
“Can we go on adventures together? And help other dragons that we come across?” Suntrap asked, hoping that his friend would agree. I’ll be such a good dragon with him by my side, it’ll be great.
Welkin grinned, “Of course, dear Suntrap, but how will we do that? Help them hunt?”
“With this amulet of mine,” the dragon looked down, “I can wish for anything to appear and I’m going to be a good dragon from now on.”
“Sounds like fun,” his friend exclaimed and gently patted him on the back with his wing, “We will be the most helpful dragons that Akurma Mountains have ever known.”
Suntrap laughed and draped his wing over Welkin’s back with a brilliant smile, “It will be and trust me, we’ll become heroes in the eyes of everyone that we meet!”
Little did the two dragons know, they’d grow up to be the most notorious dragons to ever live, wiping out a whole race and becoming monsters in the eyes of every dragon who’d stand in their way.
