Acrterr

    This is the story of an outcast, a misfit, a freak.

Among the dragons, Acrterr was always the odd one out. No one wanted to associate with a flightless dragon, of course, but that wasn’t his fault. Hatched with large, heavy spikes and bones and hardly any wing webbing, Acrterr was even named after his inability to fly.

One day, it came the time of year for young dragons to leave their hatching island. As his siblings flew off into the distance, Acrterr watched longingly as his siblings’ silhouettes disappeared into the early morning sun, wishing that he could join them. Unluckily, Acrterr was born with a thirst for adventure. He wished to go on some grand journey, but, with no wings to carry him away, he could do nothing to fulfill his dream.

Hanging his head, Acrterr walked back into the forest of the island, looking for something to fight. It was the only thing he could do, and, if he couldn’t go somewhere else to get strong, he’d do it there.

Sadly, there was a reason that it was a hatching island.Nothing dangerous lived there, and there were shallow waters for miles. No matter how hard he searched, Acrterr could find nothing to practice against.

Years passed, and, one day, Acrterr had an amazing idea. If he couldn’t fly with his wings, maybe he could do something else. With high hopes, he set to practice. Little did he know, he was being watched from above.

~~}:|:{~~

“Ehem,” a man cleared his throat, looking towards the woman in front of him. “Anything to report with your blessed one?”

The woman looked up from the crystal-clear pool in front of her, waving her thin fingers above it and swiping away whatever image had previously been there. “Not really. I’m starting to believe this was a mistake; a dragon blessed with the power of the earth, by nature, is destined to fall.”

The man nodded, his electrick blue eyes flashing. “Yes, I expected as much. Even the power of water is more compatible with a draconic soul than earth.”

“What should we do? His unfortunate soul has experienced chaos because of our unfortunate decision,” the woman asked, blinking her large, green eyes in curiosity. She was not interested in the wellbeing of the soul, barely any higher beings cared about trivial matters such as that. She was asking for the sole purpose of keeping her conscious clear.

“I have a vague idea,” he said, looking ponderous. “I will tell you if I see an opportunity to put it to use.”

~~}:|:{~~

Acrterr held his breath. He was not attempting something risky, no; he was holding his breath simply to hold his breath.

For the past two years, Acrterr had been practicing his swimming endurance and lengthening the amount of time he was able to hold his breath for. He had a plan.

There were many islands in the ocean, and most were treacherous. That was exactly what Acrterr wanted, but he lacked a method of transportation. Eventually, he reasoned that, if he couldn’t fly to them, then he’d swim to them.

He had determined himself to be of the earth element, and was, he assumed, the first dragon to have it. This made him great at tunneling and let him go for long periods of time without water, but, living in the tropics and being surrounded by ocean, those were practically useless.

A bright, sunny day, Acrterr reached his goal. Finally, he was able to hold his breath for ten minutes, twice as long as your average dragon. With high hopes, he set off into the ocean.

~~}:|:{~~

Acrterr was getting tired. He had been swimming for a day, and still, he had not seen a single island in the distance. The waters below him were so deep that he could not see the bottom, and that made him nervous.

The next moment, he noticed something. Though he was not swimming, instead choosing to float for a moment to catch his breath, Acrterr was still moving forward.

The young wyvern jumped as his mind caught up with his body; it was a current. He did not know what to do. Some currents lead to land, but most away or along it. He had a limited amount of time to decide, the current was accelerating.

Finally making the decision to continue without the current, Acrterr swam to the side, hoping to, eventually, swim out of the current’s path. It did not work.

He was panicking. No matter how hard he swam, the current would only push him forwards. There was nothing he could do to get out of it.

An hour dragged on, and the pull only got stronger. Eventually, Acrterr’s eyes caught on a shape forming in the water ahead of him. He gasped;it was a whirlpool! There was no escaping.

His last, futile attempts at swimming away died into nothingness as exaustion weighted on his limbs. He wished that his wings worked stronger then than any other time he had wished it, but w
That didn’t mean that he’d never see starlight.

~~}:|:{~~

With a gasp, Acrterr awoke, looking around. He didn’t recognise his surroundings in the least.

All above and below him, twinkling lights shone. Purple, blue, and orange stars clustered over the black, inky depths around him. Acrterr was amazed, he had never seen anything so beautiful.

Looking down at himself, he was shocked. Where, previously, there had been plain spikes, there was webbing; where, previously, there had been bare bone, there was membrane! Somehow, Acrterr had wings, and they worked!

He floated in the emptiness, looking amazedly at his front limbs. Relying completely on instinct, he flapped them, and was off.

To this day, Acrterr soars in the night skies above, tirelessly enjoying the wings he got as a gift from the gods.