Ronin

He was barely alive. Wheezing miserably, Ronin looked down at his mother's body. Blood soaked the cave floor. His two brothers and sisters twitched a few times, and then stopped moving entirely. Ronin's breath came in short gasps. He was bleeding too, his skin still soft and vulnerable. The other dragons of his clan watched angrily, their eyes narrowed. Ronin was against the rules. Him being born was against the rules. It was for the better of all dragons - an omega must never give birth.

Ronin's small clan had different rules then most. Their leader Scarr, was selfish and cruel and killed any dragon who got in his way. His clan had a hierarchy. The strongest dragons ate first, got the most treasure, and were assigned the best mates. The weaker dragons were left to fend for themselves with no treasure or food. The omega was the worst position in the hierarchy. They would have to clean after the other dragons, sleep in the coldest weather, and eat only scraps if they were lucky. If a dragon was born with a disability, they were ranked omega immediately. Omegas were forbidden to mate because the other dragons feared that they would kill themselves and their hatchlings trying to give birth. Omegas also had strange things happen to them if they did happen to disobey the laws and give birth, such as birthing hatchlings live instead of in eggs. This was what had happened to Ronin and his siblings. They had come out too soon, birthed live. Ronin was the only one who had survived. His mother had bled to death.

Scarr stood in front of the group of dragons. "This is disobedience to our laws!" He snarled to the rows of dragons lined up to watch the drama unfold.

Slowly, slowly, Ronin backed away until he disappeared into the night. He wasn't needed in Scarr's clan. He flew for years, almost dying many times over, until he bumped into a young mirror named Clockwork. They grew to know each other, and eventually she asked him if he wanted to start a clan with her. Ronin told Clockwork of his sickness, but the mirror didn't mind. He told her he could never have hatchings because of his sickness, but Clockwork said the rules would be different in their clan. "You don't understand!" Ronin protested. But Clockwork didn't listen. She bore him two eggs, and they hatched healthy and perfect. But Ronin only got worse and worse. When a sickness began eating at his soft, unscaled skin everything went downhill in their new clan. He was the leader! He couldn't be sick!

Out of pain and desperation, Ronin submerged himself in lava to take away the pain. His lavender colored body turned bright red, but his skin no longer itched. All day, all night, he stayed in the lava. It seemed to help, but now he knew must he must stay in the lava until the day he died for if he got out his skin and bones would wither and crumble. He retired from his leadership to let his bold second-in-command, Mayan, lead the Darkest Shadow.

He then closed the book of Shadows forever. He put a lava proof hood over his face so no one would see the rashes. He called the lava that supported his life a gift, but really, he knew it was a plague.