The King's Dragon

Chapter 3

Days. It was days and days. Eijiro wasn't sure how long he had been there alone. His stomach felt as if it was attempting to swallow itself. He was hungry, lonely, and scared. The darkness began to play tricks on his vision. He swore he could see someone else across from him in the cell now, though he knew he was still alone.

No one had been down to check on him. The sludge he had been fed, now days old, seemed to taunt him as he couldn't reach it. The chains restricted his movements too much in order for him to reach and grab it from where he had kicked it out.

He snarled, roared and growled, banging himself against the bars in an attempt to get to the meal he was given. Clawing at the ground, at the walls, the chains and eventually himself. The scent of blood only furthering his spiral into a more animalistic mindset. He licked at his opened wounds, hoping to somewhat satiate his hunger.

It felt like months had gone by, before he finally heard footsteps. And caught a familiar scent. The man was back.

The man paused as he reached the cell, chuckling a little. "I figured it wouldn't take too long." He glanced to the plate on the ground and pushed it back into the cell. Immediately the half dragon devoured it, cracking the plate as he did so, tempted to eat the shards.

As he licked the remains of the disgusting slop up, the man whistled to get his attention. A cruel smirk coming across his face. "Wasn't enough was it?"

Eijiro shook his head, eyeing the man up as if he was his next meal. He licked his lips, not even realizing it. A growl built up in his throat as the man stayed silent for a bit, simply watching him. And his behavior.

"Good job," the man remarked, "you're done with the first part of the training. You'll start your more brutal training tomorrow."

The half dragon growled, jumping at the bars like a rabid dog. "Give me food." He snarled, his already rough voice seeming much deeper now. More broken. Exactly how the man wanted him.

"You'll be rewarded with food, actual food, as long as you behave and cooperate. If not, you'll be in here for another few days until you're ready to work." The man spoke coldly. This was it. This was how they had broken so many half dragons, made them pure animals. Who will always obey an order.

Eijiro felt tears come to his eyes, but he nodded. And slumped back down, if he wanted to eat, if he wanted to live, and get out of this damned cage. He would obey.

~~~

The next day he was fed a chunk of meat to keep him from attacking his new trainer as he was led out of the dungeon. He looked around the area as they walked up, they weren't in any castle of some sort, this just seemed to be a building for housing captured dragons. They walked through a dizzying labyrinth of cells, some with dragons inside, some barren and some he couldn't tell. He knew which ones were starting to break though, the ones who were begging and pleading for food.

Soon though, they reached a door, and pouring through the cracks, was sunlight. Sunlight, that he felt like he hadn't seen in years. Despite the bleak circumstances, he felt his tail start to wag, he would get to feel the warmth from the sun, and would be able to see clearly. He smiled a little as the trainer opened the door.

He winced at the sunlight for a moment, before immediately rushing out. Well, as much as he could with his wings, ankles and wrists still chained. He practically cried, purring so loud, he could almost pretend that he was back home.

Crack

Almost.

A sharp sting hit his back hard, making him fall over in his already weakened state, he cried out in pain.

"Do you want to eat the next few days or not?" The threat was barked out at him. "I said kneel."

He hadn't heard him the first time, but the threat of not eating again was enough to make him bite his tongue and kneel down. He kept his eyes on the ground not knowing what the trainer was wanting from him, he shook a little as he could feel blood dripping from the wounds on his back, luckily what had hit him had missed his wings.

The half dragon whined quietly, keeping himself tensed up, waiting for another strike as he heard footsteps around him. "You're weak now, but those who would buy you for any worthwhile price won't pay for something so pitiful." The man spoke. "You'll be trained enough to impress any royal we see fit. You will be obeying any orders given to you, understood?"

Eijiro nodded, only to feel the sting of the whip slash down on him again with the sickening crack. He whined, his body shaking due to the impact. "You will answer me verbally, and refer to me as your master from here on out. Understood?" The trainer cracked the whip again as a threat.

The words caught in his throat, he tensed once again as he tried to force the humiliating and degrading phrase out. "Y-yes, Master..." he felt tears slowly fall down his face. He resigned to be obedient, he could find a way out eventually.

The man came around him, threading his hand through the half dragon's hair, as if to comfort him. But it was really to pet him, like one would a domesticated animal. Eijiro pulled back a little, only to immediately regret it as he was smacked with the handle of the whip. "That was supposed to be a reward for you. Ungrateful animal." he swore.

Eijiro couldn't help it, he sobbed quietly. The blood dripping down the marks on his back, the horrible headache that was slowly getting worse from the smack, the lack of food or restful sleep. It was all too much, he wasn't sure how long he could handle this. Or if he could handle it at all.

"Up now. We're going to begin your training."

Despite everything, Eijiro sniffled and slowly stood up once again.

"Yes, master."