Reflection of a Fallen Mate
Writing is not only my greatest passion, but also my primary source of income, so please consider supporting me by getting a commission(click for info) or pledging on Patreon(click for link) to help more awesome stories come to life ^^I'm also offering a bunch of exciting YCH story + Art packages! Ever wanted your character included in a premade adventure? Some of my very own characters stand ready to serve your needs, be they clean or naughty! Click here to find out more: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1095541*This story is a commission*Description: Darris sets off in search of his brother, but the journey isn't quite what he expected. Failure, famine, and lust lead the dragon on a dangerous path that might just separate him from his beloved mate forever. Reflection of a Fallen Mate Darris traveled effortlessly upon the flow of energy that bound hundreds of different worlds together. He had been to so many worlds already, without learning so much a hint of his brother's whereabouts. Was he so bent on escaping the law? So clever as to avoid leaving any sort of clue in his wake? Darris knew only one thing. He had to find him before others did. When the flow stopped a shimmering gate opened. Another world awaited his arrival just a short distance away. Darris peered through the portal like he always did, nares flaring, tail twitching. He hated this part but with a sigh resigned himself to the fact that there was simply no avoiding it. He stepped through the gate without so much as a pause and immediately felt it, the same dizziness and nausea he'd experienced the previous times. He coughed and gagged, the contents of his stomach prostesting heavily against the mystical forces that transported Darris to his destination. The journey ended within seconds. Darris wobbled away from the gate several paces before collapsing into a sprawl, panting. The dizziness intensified to the point where the forest surrounding him was spinning out of control, and all he could was lay there with his eyes closed, head swaying and panting until the crippling weakness passed. His tongue lolled from the side of his maw, a string of drool stretching from its tip. He managed a weak growl, his upper lip twitching in a defiant snarl. He could only imagine how pathetic he looked and was thankful there was no one else around to see him in such a compromised state. Gradually his head cleared and the dizziness in his belly subsided, enough that he was able to slowly roll to his feet. Darris dug his claws into the ground for extra support, then looked around, taking notice of his surroundings. From the look of the trees around him it appeared the gate had opened onto a grassy knoll, situated on the outskirts of what appeared to be a city of some kind. It appeared the crystal's magic had chosen a more advanced civilization, this time. Darris looked about cautiously then, satisfied it was safe, walked away from the line of trees to the far edge of the clearing, his eyes narrowed, studying the city in the distance. With his keen vision he could see the small shadowed figures of flying creatures circling about the tops of buildings, or flying from one to another. The longer he watched the figures the more he could make out the details of their form, even from such a far distance. They appeared to be some manner of dragon-like creatures, or possibly dragons of a species different from his own. And these dragons built cities spanning like a forest of stone upon the land. If they built this one, it was reasonable to assume they built others. There was no telling how many he would encounter. Darris rumbled, lifting a paw to scratch his chin as he studied the towers of stone. With so many concentrated in one area meant more opportunities to obtain clues of his brother's whereabouts; but it also meant increased risk of trouble. Darris was the stranger in this world. He had no desire to incite trouble so soon after arriving (a lesson hard-learned from one of the previous worlds he'd ended up in). No. Better to lay low for awhile, observe and take time to get a better idea of what else was out there. Decided, Darris spread his wings and with a single leap took flight away from the city; west where the trees grew tall as mountains and shadows blanketed the land in constant twilight; what appeared to be the edge of the dragon's territory in this world, as far as Darris could tell.. It was also the territory of the avians, who opposed Dragons even to this day. Though the last skirmishes took place more than fifty years ago, there was still a lingering feeling of dread shifting beneath the canopies of the giant trees. Darris had left the knoll at nearly sunset and by the time he reached the tall nightfall fell upon the landl. He could barely see anything in the gloom. The trunks became outlines, and branches wicked talons that reached to grab him. He wasn't afraid though. The same darkness that shrouded his senses also protected him from being spotted, and from would be his enemies. With each flap of his wings, he pierced closer to the heart of the avian flock. Everyone slept, aside from the guards. They flew in pairs or groups of four. Darris sensed them through the ward surrounding him and knew how to avoid them. The colony was built on top of the husk of an elder tree. Crafted from pearlstone, impervious to any kind of magic or physical harm, the ivory behemoth stood as a beacon of hope for the owls, eagles, and gryphons training underneath its berth and as a sign of oppression for the few rogue dragons hiding inside the darkness of their forest. The finest sky chasers came from the training pits spread around the ivory colony. With such close proximity to their enemy, spell weavers and warriors alike had plenty of chances to hone their skills. Darris was fortunate no overzealous avians lusted for blood tonight. He did a short sweep around the inner establishment, then flew away with the coming of morning. The next day took him north, towards the jagged cliffs of a region that earned its name from its proximity to the ocean. MistShore was renowned for its gentle winds, thick smells brought from the ocean's heart, and the settlement that was erected inside the heart of the humid jungle. The Heart of Unity deserved its name. Darris quickly learned he had no need for subterfuge here. He flew around in broad daylight, sailing past other dragons without as much as a growl. Tolerance was the main weapon here, and everyone, from dragon to two-legged beasts wore it with pride. Darris checked the rookeries. These were among the largest in the colony, housing tens of thousands of eggs within their chambers. Still, the life contained within gave no answer to his dilemmas. Where was his brother? Nobody knew. Not dragon, not lizard, not dog or horse or anyone. Anger churned within the dragon's chest. How many more worlds must he search? He'd searched so many already, that last several of which had yielded nothing. Darris was going on sheer will by this point, but his patience was wearing thin, his will to continue chipping away bit by bit!Darris relaxed for the night, feasting on bovine meat and sleeping on the beach with the song of the ocean growling inside his ears. * When dawn came, he was on his paws again, trading the heat of MistShore for the bitter sting of snow and ice. The Howling Mountains were as ruthless as the beasts they sheltered within their frozen bosom. The warm air couldn't climb past their jagged peaks. The mountains were too tall, too stubborn to let the weak inside their circle. So they made life a daily struggle. Darris had to use a special mixture of oils he got from MistShore to prevent his wings from freezing stiff. Though the sky was clear, each breath expelled vapors of snow from his stinging nostrils. This cursed land was the only part of the nexus that was completely free from the clutch of the united dragon races. That's where the Keep of Defiance stood. It was a fortress built from ice and dark stone made to endure both the weather and the constant attacks from the many indigenous creatures that were unhappy about the scent of dragons. Darris stayed far from the staging grounds. All those warriors trained by the avians flew here as a final test of courage and skill. And as the brother of an exiled dragon, he wasn't extremely eager to chance an encounter with those he'd come to learn were dragon haters. He hid inside a cave during the better part of the day and emerged at night when the frigid currents of a blizzard drove motes of hardened ice through his wing membrane.Darris barely managed to flap his wings a hundred times before he turned back to his cave. He wasn't made to endure such savage cold. All he could do was wait and hope that the one lead he did obtain would result in the discovery of his brother, and a swift end to his wretched quest he was forced to endure. The location he was given was said to be the Pit of Anguish, a desert region whose heat was warm and accommodating; a region with a rugged span of ruins strewn along the dusts of a dead world. Word said that it had more towers than any other keep, and its prison chambers extended deep under the ground to accommodate for any creature that defied the laws of those brave or crazy enough to still lay claim to this world. When he arrived, Darris did a short sweep around the outskirts during the night, only to feel the same barren emptiness he felt before. His heart sank. If his brother wasn't here, then he felt little hope of finding him. The nexus was too big a place. Too broad for a single dragon to conquer. Darris flew, suddenly yearning for his fallen mate. He felt spent. All he wanted to do now was to retreat back in the embrace of the dragon he'd loved. He wanted so desperately to lick alongside his mate's jaw, feel his warm wing draped over his back along with the hot spurts of seed rushing inside him. Oh, he wanted that very much. After weeks of fatiguing search, Darris yearned for nothing more than the tightness of his mate massaging around his swollen knot. He sailed along the winds of nether, helplessly entranced in his desires until his cock threatened to poke out of its engorged sheath. Darris landed back in the forest world, his wings too fatigued to keep going. The dragon curled around himself and closed his eyes for the night, thinking of his beloved mate with a mournful, pining whimper as a drifted off. No matter how badly he missed and wanted Meragor, Darris knew he would never know the pleasure and warmth of him again. Meragor had been murdered, taken from him, and he swore that when his brother was found he would seek out and rip apart the ones responsible. For now all Darris could do was dream. And dream he did, an erotic dream; one that left his member completely exposed. Darris sleepily picked himself up, growling in annoyance as his member rubbed along the dew-laden grass. His musk already permeated the surroundings. Darris dared not lick himself out of fear for a premature release, but the dream left his senses so bare even his own scent aroused him to no end. Darris growled in frustration. He had to run. To hunt. Do something to distract himself from this pestilent heat. He just about flared his wings when a thump distracted his attention. Darris didn't make out much of it until a jolt of familiarity surged through his spine. His eyes widened, nostrils flared. There was someone out there. Someone he wanted to see with all his heart. Was it...his mate? He had all the right colors. The right scent. He even walked like him. But it couldn't be him! Meragor was gone, buried beneath a pile of rubble. Darris had seen what was visible of Meragor's broken, lifeless body himself. This dragon had to be a stranger. "Greetings," Darris straightened his back, trying to at least appear presentable to the stranger that approached him with measured steps. "I greet you too, stranger from beyond the veil," the dragon tilted his head for a moment, then stared back at Darris. "Had a rough night?" "It was ... bearable," Darris brought his tail around, well aware of the drops of liquid musk dribbling from his exposed tip. The dragon dipped his head. He took another step, and another, each bringing his striking form closer. He looked just like Meragor, with inspiring spikes running along his back and two proud horns that gently curved towards his cerulean wings. And his eyes. His eyes were the warmest shade of flame he ever saw...almost as warm as the breath rolling upon his head, and the friction caused between two sets of rubbing scales. "Graaaarrrrr..." a long, lustful growl washed over the blue dragon's neck. Eyes closed, muscles tensed with desire. Darris knew this dragon wasn't his mate, but slowly the line began to blur. He missed Meragor so much, wanted so much to have him again that it ached. He'd never suffered such loss, and now before him was a living, breathing opportunity to have Meragor all over again. It was like a dream come true and Darris began to let go, to completely and uncharacteristically surrender to this stranger's touch. The blue dragon took in his scent, then rolled further, going towards his wing, his warm tongue so wet, so pleasing to his ear... "Ruuuurrrrr..." Darris drew back. "En...enough." He couldn't let this stranger have his way with him. How could a stranger he'd just met replace what he'd had with his fallen mate, even if he did look like Meragor? "I should apologize, but I don't feel like it," the dragon said as he nuzzled along Darris' reverberating neck. "You are the most unique dragon I ever met. Where do you come from?" "The capital," Darris stammered as the dragon's prodding snout made it infuriatingly hard to focus his senses on the task at hand. "I am on an important mission to...to find a dragon." "Seems you found one." "I don't need...it's not you I'm after," Darris stumbled back. "Please. You don't have to get so close. I traveled across many worlds to-" The blue dragon suddenly pressed his snout against Darris' nostrils. "Traveled?" his warm breath rushed forth, a stream of moistened delight.
"You don't wear the armor of the scale-guards. What secrets hide beneath these striking scales of yours?" "No secrets. Just a crystal. Now please leave me alone. I'm starting to get really-" "Hard?" The blue dragon rubbed along Darris like a feline in heat, passing under his trembling wings, sliding his lengthy tail along the underbelly in a way that completely paralyzed Darris. "Your smell is as delightful as your mane, piercer of the veil. Soft. Silky. Warm." Darris let out a soft growl. The dragon's tongue rolled along the back of his neck, then washed over his ear-holes like a tide of shivering pleasure. "Pl...please..." "Just a moment longer," the blue dragon whispered. "I want to fully admire you before you depart, as the jewel you carry pales in comparison to the vision that graced this forest. I never met, saw, or smelled a dragon such as you." And that was how it all started. A simple string of compliments coupled with the right amount of licks unraveled Darris bit by bit, until all he felt was the stranger's tongue upon his neck, his breath coursing along a wing, sometimes even between his legs. The line between dream and reality blurred until the stranger's enticement pushed Darris over the threshold, the world of his dream merging in that moment with the world he was in now. Darris blinked. He wasn't home, but it didn't matter. He was once again with the dragon he loved, with Meragor. All would be well again, brother or not. Darris couldn't hold himself back any longer. His sheath felt so wet, his balls so tight. It'd been so long since he mated. It'd been so long since he'd been with his-- "Meragor. Oh my Meragor. I-I've missed you so much ..." "A beautiful name for a beautiful dragon," the blue said as he seductively traced his tongue around Darris' head. "I'll bite your neck if you keep doing that. You know what happened the last time we mated," Darris closed his eyes, shivering from how pent-up he was. "The way you squeezed around me when I burst into you...all the roars and the heat...it almost seems like..." Something pressed against the base of his cock, forcing an intense shiver to course along Darris' rippling mane. "Grarrr...you want me, Meragor?" "Down to the last drop," the blue dragon pressed his tail harder, enraging Darris' eagerness to breed. "Find us a cave then, rarrr...or I'll take you right here in the open." The blue dragon quickly led the way to the nearest mountains, making sure his clenching pucker was none too visible. The smell of his musk kept Darris in a constant state of arousal, feeding the earth with drops of oily precum until the dragons found a cave. It was a hole in the ground, but to Darris nothing else mattered apart from his mate's inviting tailhole. "This is it. Doesn't look like much, but I quite expect your warmth to make up for it. You are by far the best, most beautiful dragon I met, and there is nothing else I want than to have you inside me." Darris was overtaken by an intense feeling of affection upon hearing his words. Meragor probably felt this, for he pushed against Darris with a flurry of wings and paws, licking with his tongue, nuzzling with his head, gripping with his paws. Darris was restless. He too enjoyed his mate in any way he could. Pushing underneath his wing, he licked his soft membrane before he pushed between his legs to sniff at the source of his scent. It was so intense. So mesmerizing. With a quick push, he sank his tongue halfway through the dragon's moistened slit. Meragor growled with lust. Heated juice fell upon Darris' nostrils, enraging his overstimulated senses. He lapped, quick and hard, giving his no reprieve, and Meragor kept growling and trembling before this tormenting assault. Darris thought he had him; that he was all but ready to give up and reward him with a few squirts of his honey. But he quickly realized his mistake when something unbearably soft and incredibly warm slid along his ballsack. He choked, surprised and stunned by how hard his member pounded. When did it come out? How? It didn't matter now. Meragor coiled hard around Darris' cock head, then yanked the slimy erection hard towards the ground. Darris eyes bulged, then squeezed shut when his cock was bathed by the intense heat that could only belong to a dragon's salivating maw. Meragor took him -all of him- inside that prison of heated flesh, clenching around him like a snake killing its prey. With his mate's musk fresh upon his tongue, Darris was infuriatingly receptive to stimulation. He pulled his tongue out to growl and shudder as Meragor sucked on his cock like a meaty bone, tongue holding tight while waves of saliva soaked Darris' spaded head, his seed hole, and everything from the tip of his cock to the knot that already ballooned into a painfully hard formation at the base of his stretched sheath. "Nrrrruuuuhhhh," Darris mewled. Waves of heat shot through him with every pump of his great heart. He was going to cum... definitely going to feed his seed to his mate's hungry maw. Was that what he really wanted? No. His mate needed that precious seed inside him. That was the testament of true love: to share everything with your partner. Darris tried to pull away, but his legs were weak, and his wings limp with fatigue. What could he do to free himself? His distracted mind could form no answers to such dilemmas when waves of intense pleasure traversed his body. Growling and trembling, Darris turned back upon Meragor's slit. No. Not his passage, but the tense protrusion that hid between the fleshy walls. He wriggled his tongue around until reached the cock, then rubbed and nuzzled it with all he had. Meragor's tongue immediately unraveled as a tremor of heated bliss froze him stiff. Darris licked, licked, licked, pressing upon his special place with the hard coils formed by his muscular tongue, burying the naughty dragon under the same heat he used on his cock. Meragor panted once, twice, then slammed his wings and tail down, roaring with orgasmic might. A tense squirt of aqueous pre-seed slammed into Darris snout, hot, sticky, and more arousing than anything. The dragon almost collapsed with desire at tasting such rich liquor. He licked Meragor's spurting cock once, twice, thrice, then plugged his leak with his maw, slurping, suckling, downing all the fluids spurted by cock and slit alike with feral eagerness while Meragor spasmed, flapped, clawed and roared. A male dragon couldn't release his seed without becoming fully erect, but they could ascend into an early climax. The fluid pumped into Darris' maw wasn't cum; just ample amounts of sweet lubrication meant to facilitate the penetration. Darris swallowed everything, every jet of that delightfully hot essence. And when his mate's oversensitive member finally started pushing out of the slit Darris finally pulled back, his lips rising above his fangs with lustful intent. He didn't see the snout that approached to lick him, or the paws that grabbed around his neck to push him down. Darris only wanted the empty space above the dragon's growing cock. Growling with animalistic need, he directed his mate around until the dragon rolled on his back. Then, Darris straddled him, thrusting for his tailhole with rough strokes. Meragor kept trying to lick at his snout, but Darris brushed his maw aside to bite around his neck and push him into total submission. The dragon's tongue fell back into his maw, and his limbs stopped being such a pest. With those distractions out of the way, Darris fell upon his mate with all the lust he harbored within him. His cock dripped with pre-cum. Veins bulged along its surface, and his spade was hard and wide, too eager to sink into something warm and tight. Darris thrust quick and mindlessly under the influence of his instincts. He met Meragor's cock several times, but that wasn't what he wanted, what he needed to quench his desire. Each frustrating failure increased his determination to breed. Darris poked scales time and time again. Then he felt heat. With a sharp thrust, he plunged himself through a passage tighter than anything he braved so far. Hard muscles formed a fortress around his spade, trying to hold him out, but Darris stubbornly fell upon them with all his might, obliterating their pesky resistance. Meragor growled with desperation, splattering saliva between his bared fangs. Darris should have paid attention to the resistance he met. Instead, he pushed himself halfway through the dragon's fleshy passage, mesmerized by how tight the muscles felt around him. The walls grabbed around him with restless fury, only serving to enrage his lust as Darris sunk his cock deeper and deeper. He snarled when his fattened knot touched the rim of the dragon's tailhole. It felt so incredibly amazing to be inside a dragon. Darris spent weeks without relief. Weeks of fantasizing about his mate. Weeks of restless nights spent growling his desire. No more. He was going to breed now. Going to spill everything he held within his ripe balls. "Grarrrrr," Darris clawed forepaws tightened their hold on the dragon's hind legs. Meragor too growled at him, a fierce snarl draped over his snout. Darris thrust, again and again, savoring each spurt of slickness gushing out of his cock. Every time he plunged himself in, that corridor became wetter, warmer, better...up until a fierce thrust sent his knot ramming against the entrance. Darris squeezed his eyes shut. Being so deep inside such a narrow hole broke him. He no longer spurted beads, but squirts of precum. His desire to cum was great. He could do it now. Unleash everything he had in the depths of this unreasonably stimulating crevice without even knotting his mate. With a heavy growl, Darris pushed himself out, having a hard time braving through the horrendously powerful muscles. It felt as if his cock lodged itself between rocks, and only strong pulls could wrench it out. Darris pressed the ground with his legs, breaking out in a storm of translucent droplets. Meragor moaned, writhing on the ground, while Darris hissed and huffed, his rock hard erection bobbing against his belly. The air was cold, uninviting, and he was much too close to release. After a short break, Darris slammed himself back through the same glorious hole, shuddering with need as he sank all the way up to his knot. It felt too good. Too hot. Too tight! This was the perfect place to spend his seed into. Darris rearranged his limbs, flared his wings, tensed his cock. With bestial vigor, he began pounding that narrow hole in his earnest, coming down like an earthquake upon the restless dragon. He was too tense, too restless. When a splash of warmth met his belly, Darris knew what happened. His mate was liberating himself all over his scales. Meragor's growls turned into proper, desperate yowls, the sharp bites applied on Darris' front leg fueling Darris' flaring instincts. His hard cock mercilessly drilled through the muscles, which already dribbled from the amount of ooze he leaked with every throb. Slowly yet surely, the spasms became harder, quicker, tighter. Instead of a hard and unyielding hole, Darris turned his mate's tailhole into a dripping haven ready to be impregnated every time he slammed down upon his mate. He thrust, thrust, thrust, hard and fast, pounding the squelching tunnel, filling it with heated ooze, igniting it with his heat. His balls swung up and down with the momentum, slamming against his tail base, then crashing down upon an equally hard surface for a fickle moment before the momentum carried his knot past the wall of gripping flesh. The heat became unbearable. The slickness too much. Darris' jaws hurt from how hard they tightened. He felt his cock bloating with a ravaging stream of fresh, heated seed, and he had but a moment before he spurted it out. Darris ripped himself out, dashing an arching line of cloudy fluids that fell along Meragor's chest. Though his mind was hazy, his instincts knew how to preserve the precious seed churning within his balls, just like they knew how to guide him back to that slick paradise. Darris aligned himself with his mate. Within one hard thrust, he found himself fully inside again, his spade stretching the muscles in a sharp line before his knot went in, smacking sheath and ass together with the lewdest of squirts. "Raaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!" a crackling sound erupted from the maws of both dragons. Darris cried out in bliss. All the pressure he held within finally broke loose, flooding Meragor with a mighty riptide of sticky goo. His savage hiss turned into a mellow growl, and his teeth lost their strength as he licked and moaned his great delight. His paws raked along the stone, scratching softly while his walls spasmed with orgasmic might. He was overtaken by complete bliss. Wings trembling, tail coiling around anything it could find, the blue dragon panted, moaned, and squirted his seed out of his cock harder with every spasm. Darris came all the harder as his own essence wrapped around his cock like a blanket of living heat. It entered his cock hole, bathed his knot, engulfed him with the most sensual kind of heat. Every bit of him was sensitive. Darris balls quivered, sending all they had to his cock, which spasmed with lewd squelches before every spurt of seed. Meragor's tunnel quivered harder and harder, until he just froze stiff. Breath stuck in his throat. For a moment, Darris thought time had stopped, just like his mate's anal muscles. Then, with a tremendous roar, Meragor burst in his earnest, his hot seed spurting like a geyser straight into Darris' dripping scales. The heated riptide of that spurt, the fresh smell of his mate's essence, his eager roar worked along with the tremendous tightness to send Darris' own pleasure into frenzy. Darris fell upon his mate, applying a stronger neck bite to the indomitable scales of the blue dragon's armored neck. Ferocity always spurred his pleasure, and Darris gritted his teeth, preparing to unleash yet another heavy spurt. The pressure in his loins picked up. The seed gushed in rampant waves. Darris squeezed his eyes shut. Stars danced before him a moment until his cock bloated with fresh cum. Darris shoved himself inside his mate yet again, making both Meragor and himself yowl in the process as his knot pressed upon that certain part of a male's anatomy. Hot riptides of seed rushed out of his cock to invade his mate's passage. Meragor's muscles were more than eager to taste fresh. They spasmed fiercely, pounding Darris' own seed against the pounding tightness of his cock. Such raw pressure increased his bliss to new heights. His cock felt on fire, his balls filled with molten lava. With each throb, he erupted harder and heavier, forcing Meragor to squirm and moan like a helpless hatchling. Locked with his beloved mate, Darris gave everything he had, pounding the fertile essence out of his cock until his great spurts transformed into a feeble trickle. They both panted in the aftermath of the climax. The tie lasted longer than usual. Darris' spurts filled Meragor's tailhole to the brim, batch after batch of fertile essence pushing deep with the intent to impregnate. Meragor too ejaculated copious amounts of his essence. His cock alone created a hefty pool that washed around exhausted forms of the two dragons, and his tailhole worked itself through multiple contractions, each squeezing Darris' knot hard and fast. After three orgasms, Meragor was too tired to even move. He laid there on the ground, growling tiredly. "Inside...remain inside a bit longer..." Darris was more than happy to oblige, treating his mate with all the love he harbored within him until his erection subsided. After that, he cleaned Meragor's cum flooded tailhole, then cuddled up with the dragon, with a wing protectively draped over the blue dragon's form. Darris only planned to rest for a little while, but when his heavy eyelids closed, only the warmth of that wet tailhole remained in his mind along with the suave scent of fresh dragon seed. * Morning came along with a series of growls. Darris didn't know what was happening until he found himself snout to snout with a snarling black dragon. "Mer...Mera..." he managed to stutter before a heavy paw sent his head into a rocky wall. "That's your second warning, you filthy thief. Find your own cave to stain." Darris managed to crawl out before the dragon became more violent. He looked around the cave's entrance, unable to make sense of what just happened. One moment he cuddled with his mate, and in the other a dragon almost killed him for...invading his cave? But that couldn't be. His home was here, in the... Darris' maw hung. The hole he stared at was nothing like his home. He paced around, shaking his head, snorting the strange scents out of his nostrils. "What have I done? Who did I mate?" Darris stopped. "Mate. My mate. How could ... Meragor is gone which means..." Cold dread washed over Darris. Everything made sense now. He didn't have to break his beautiful necklace to confirm the crystal's absence. No. He just needed the spite to whip his wings into a frenzy. For several days Darris soared through the forested world in search for the thief that grieved him. He didn't eat, didn't mate, barely closed his eyes at night. There was no way to continue his search without the crystal. Without it he remained stranded, unable to travel to other worlds, even to return home to fulfill his vow to avenge his mate's murder. So He pushed himself as hard as he could until, on a misty morning, he finally caught the right scent. Darris crashed through the trees. Relentless branches broke upon his scales and scraped at his wings, but Darris knew no pain until his claws tore into the soft earth. "Are-are you mad? You could've broken your wings by-" "Give me what you stole," Darris growled at the blue dragon. "What? Seed? You want that back after you turned me into your female? I could barely walk after-" "Grarrrrr!" Darris cut through the thief's bumbling words. "Don't attack me, please. I'm sure we can work something out, see? The crystal, that's what you're after, but it isn't in me or on me." "WHERE?!" Darris thundered. "In a safe place. Just let me lead you to it," the blue dragon flared his wings as if to defend himself from the snarling menace that came after him. "Fly...but if you deceive me again, there won't be just branches that I'll break." "Y-yes, yes. I understand, stranger. The mountain is just ahead. Just let me find us a clearing, alright? I like my wings more than I like you at the moment. Don't want to see them torn to shreds, like-" "WALK!" Darris' snarl put the thief's paws to purpose. They walked through the tangled vegetation for quite a while. The blue blamed the forest, but Darris knew better than to trust the word of a thief. The bastard was just trying to wear him out, and when he tucked his wings to dash deeper into the forest, Darris was more than ready to rid that blue of his wings for good. The EndThank you very much for reading! I love writing stories for a living, you will have my undying gratitude if you reward me by: A) Commissioning your own story: https://www.sofurry.com/view/717455B) Spoiling your favorite feline with some money so that he, in turn, spoils you with stories: https://www.patreon.com/cheetahs?ty=h