Outcast

I was ten when my father fed me to the Dragonborn. He found me in the yard, petting a small lizard and playing pretend, acting as though the creature was my best friend. It wasn’t the playing my father had a problem with. It was what I was playing with.

My people hated Dragonborn. Snakes, lizards, and other reptiles were considered vermin, even more disgusting than rats. I never understood this philosophy, and repeatedly got into trouble for treating lizards with kindness. 

While other kids my age stomped on and terrorized these creatures, I offered them sanctuary. No matter how many times I was disciplined, I never understood why we had to hate them.

That day I learned why. It was tradition and old grudges that kept me from these scaly creatures.

“Why can’t I play with him,” I asked, holding the lizard close to me.

“Because they are monsters. Your ancestors fought them centuries ago to stake a claim on this land. They cannot be trusted and they do not belong here”

“But he’s not hurting me right now,” 

“The second you let your guard down he’ll rip out your eyes and crawl through your ears”

“But he’s friendly”

My father had heard enough. He grabbed the lizard from my hands and smashed it against the wooden counter, killing it in one move. He casually wiped off his hand on his pants

“He’s not hurting you because he’s small. You’ve never seen a true Dragonborn before. They’ll kill you without even thinking about it. Why can’t you accept these truths and be like everyone else.”

He paused for a moment and then sighed.

“You’re a disgrace to this family,” 

I trembled for a few seconds and then began to cry. I’d been disciplined before, embarrassed in front of the entire village even, but I’d never seen my father like this. His face was bright red, his breathing ragged. 

But his message was completely clear.

“I’d rather be eaten then live in a house with you!” I cried out of anger, stomping my way towards my room.

He grabbed me by my collar and stared at me, his eyes threatening to pop out of his head. I’d never talked back to him before, and I didn’t know what he would do next.

“You’d rather be with them! They’ll be much meaner than I am! I’ll feed you to them myself!” he yelled, dragging me outside and into the forest around our village. I screamed and uselessly fought back, unable to escape his iron grip. 

I’d been to The Well before. Everybody had. The legends said that it was where the Dragonborn had made their final stand before retreating into the Earth. It was almost completely closed off, but a small opening had been made long ago on the dias that covered it. Parents would take their kids here to teach them about how terrible the lizards were.

It was typically a family bonding experience, with the children enjoying the power The Well gave them, taunting invisible enemies from the surface. It was considered an honor to be born even near The Well. Festivals were held to celebrate our victory over the Dragonborn yearly.

And I was being taken there to die. The walk wasn’t long and I struggled the entire way, but to no avail. 

“I didn’t mean it I swear! I’ll try to do better! Please-” 

“I’ve given you too many chances. You’ve been a nuisance for far too long to try and get pity out of me. I’ve had enough of you!” He spat, almost foaming at the mouth.

My father dragged me to the opening that had been made in The Well. Tears were rolling down my face, making it hard to see, but I knew he was smiling. 

I heard a few seconds of maniacal laughter and then his grip on my collar lessoned. 

“Nobody is going to miss you,” He sneered, before shoving me down the entrance.

I don’t know how long I fell for, but I screamed the entire way down. My face flushed, my body shook. The wind ripped at my clothing as I plummeted down into the depths of The Well.

Then I hit the water. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and for a moment my body couldn’t process whether I was alive or dead. 

My arms woke quickly as I began to run out of air and I paddled myself to the surface of the water. I was still crying as I swam around in the dark, searching for a rock to crawl onto until something came from the darkness to eat me. 

I couldn’t see anything. The opening high above me did little to brighten the crater I was stuck in. Eventually, I found a jagged rock to climb onto, and I painfully crawled my way out of the water and onto the platform. 

A voice spoke in the darkness.

“Hey, Bjorn. Wake up the others, we’ve got one,”

“Really? It’s been years since a human has been down here,”

I shivered, and not just from the cold. The Dragonborn could speak, and it felt like I was about to become dinner. I tried to scream or cry but no sound came out.

Groans came from all around me as other dragons continued to move in the background. Sometimes their shadows moved in the background, but none of them were ever fully visible. One of them yawned and woke up. 

“You two need to be quieter, you’ll scare the poor thing. Sagira, could you give us a little light please?” 

A shape to my left was suddenly engulfed in flames and I got my first view of a Dragonborn. 

Sagira was smaller than I thought, about the size of a fully grown person, with a long snout and bright eyes. Her wings were large in comparison to the rest of her body, and they were currently held above her head to provide the most light possible since she’d set herself on fire. Her body was covered in dimmed-out color patterns that danced in the flames.

I heard a loud splash in the distance, and a second shape came into my field of view. The second Dragonborn was much larger and fatter than Sagira, with small sleepy eyes and an extremely large mouth that opened like a snake's jaw. 

He yawned, giving me a glimpse into a mouth with wide yellow teeth, and a large flat tongue that looked like a river stone. He sleepily rolled onto the jagged bank I was sitting on. 

“Little guy, don’t cry. We’v-” his sentence was interrupted by another massive yawn, which sounded more like a roar. 

“Bjorn please be quiet. Can’t you see the poor thing is scared,” came the third voice.

Before the third creature came into view, I got a glimpse of everything around me.

Huge rock formations jutted out from various parts of the pool, with Dragonborn sleeping on almost all of them. Caves had been carved along the wall and I could see bodies rising and falling as they breathed. None of the others were awake, or if they were, they were content to let these three handle the situation. There had to be hundreds of Dragonborn, each one a vision of nightmares.  

I remained huddled in a shivering ball as the third Dragonborn approached. It was much smaller than the other two and had a thin body much like a snake. It had a small pair of wings coming from just behind its head, and it fluttered about like a hummingbird. 

It was the least imposing of the three.

“Now now, listen to me child. We are not going to hurt you,” she said, remaining a reasonable distance away. 

I looked up and wiped my face with wet hands. 

“You’re lying. You’ll eat me while I’m sleeping and play with my bones like they’re toys,” I said accusingly, remaining in my defensive ball. 

“If I wanted to eat you I would’ve done it already,” she said. “My name is Cloud,”

I didn’t answer, but being eaten alive was no longer one of my primary concerns. Cloud was being intelligent with her discussion. If I was going to be eaten, they would’ve done it already. 

I was shivering, wet, and hungry. I wasn’t going to last long in The Well without help, and Cloud was my best shot at staying alive or escaping. 

“Are you cold?” Cloud asked me, gingerly reaching out with her tail. 

“I want to go home,” I mumbled, still curled up into a ball. 

“Sagira can take you to the entrance but you’ll have to climb onto her back. She’ll be gentle,” Cloud promised, motioning for Sagira to come closer.

The flames coming from Sagira’s back died down a bit as she moved closer. I wasn’t 100 percent sure I trusted the Dragons, but my willingness to go home outweighed my fear.

My father was cruel, but I at least thought he wouldn’t kill me and that it would be safe in the house, and I wanted to return home where I thought it was safe. 

I slowly made my way over to Sagira, and the flames disappeared completely.

“You’ll be ok, just climb onto my leg and wrap your arms around my neck. I’ll move slowly” she promised, lowering herself to the ground so I could get on. 

I mounted her and immediately closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around her neck and waiting for the touch of sunlight. 

It came sooner than expected. I opened my eyes and saw that we were hovering just above the opening, with Sagira’s wings flapping rhythmically to keep me near the entrance. I sat up and crawled my way off of her back and out of The Well. 

“I will make sure you get home safely,” she said, squeezing her way out of the pit and revealing her blood-red scales. They danced in the sun, a kaleidoscope of beauty. 

She then disappeared into the woods nearby, to avoid being seen by anybody who could be nearby. 

As I walked home, I got a few curious stares from the townsfolk, as though they were surprised to see me. None of them saw Sagira, who was darting between trees and houses, remaining out of sight. 

I reached my house and knocked softly on the door. I heard grumbling from the inside, which meant that my father had been drinking. 

“What do you wan-?” he asked, coming to a stop when he saw me standing at the front door. 

His face twitched and slowly began to turn bright red. He moved to grab me, probably to punish me for returning to his house, and Sagira stepped in. She whisked me away from my father, snarling at him and putting herself between us. 

“You disgust me,” she snorted, maintaining her defensive stance near me. “How could you hurt a child? This is your son!”

My father gasped and fell backward, crawling away from Sagira, whose skin was beginning to glow like the embers of a dying fire.

“You’ve corrupted my son! Filled his head with delusions that you can be caring and loving. You’re the monster!” He yelled, reaching for a crossbow that was mounted on the far wall. 

Sagira darted inside and snapped the crossbow in half with her mouth. 

“Your kind has always been backwards. This boy did nothing to hurt you, and you tried to kill him! You’re not fit to raise a child.” She snarled, as my father cowered in the corner. He looked at me, pain in his eyes. 

“Son,”

“No,”

That was the last thing I said to him. I hoisted myself onto Sagira’s back and let her fly into the forest, where the others met us. I’ve lived twelve years since that day alongside Dragonborn, and I’ve never once contemplated returning to humanity. 

Their world was backwards and unable to accept anybody different. They clung to traditions that didn’t make sense and held grudges for no reason. I didn’t miss the world I left. I was excited to grow in the new world I’d found.