Strings of Sin

Chapter 2

The older, nightwing dragonet spoke up and confronted Stardom. "Are you afraid of our music, Stardom? You don't like our toys and dances? You and your rich dad have it so easy compared to all of us, but it looks like you were thrown out again."

"I don't care about you guys and your stupid trends! Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone, Provoking!" Stardom shouted back.

"I think you're the stupid one, thinking our trends are bad! You have bad taste, and because of that, we'll make you suffer!" Provoking shouted and raised her wooden sword like she's seen many nightwing soldiers do.

Provoking jumped down, and Stardom had nowhere to go. Stardom leaped off the wooden tower and fell back into the crowd of Idiot dragonets. They all waved their toys and screamed, and the adults watched from the balconies of their houses, unsure of what to do because they were just as dumb and selfish. The dragonets attacked Stardom, and he refused to fight back. Provoking followed Stardom through the angry crowd and pressured the others into fighting with her.

"Come back here, you stupid coward! You can't ignore our suffering families! Give us money! Tell your father to tell the queen to feed us!" Provoking pressured the other dragonets into chanting with her.

Stardom ran through the lowly town as dragonets grabbed his tail. They pulled him back as Provoking waved her wooden blade. She charged at the smarter, nightwing dragonet and hit him on the head. Stardom screamed, but still, he refused to fight back. He let the enemies hurt themselves by dodging and letting the dragonets run into each other in the dense mob. Stardom broke free of the Idiots' grasp and ran past the nightwing bar he previously saw. He caught sight of a drunk nightwing knocked out on the porch and stupid dragonets jumping on top of them; they cheered and were pressured by Provoking into joining the angry mob. The stupid dragonets got their hands on beer bottles and threw them at Stardom.

Provoking neared Stardom once again and struck at his wings. "You can't run away from the truth!"

"And you can't run away from that truth being that you're stupid!" Stardom shouted back as his anger rose, but he would never fight back.

Stardom caught sight of the mountain where his mother died as he neared the final homes in the town. The angry mob was right on his tail as began to run up the steep slope to his home. Idiots began to box Stardom in from the sides as their adrenaline grew. His mother called him from the peak of his birthplace; he heard words of protection and safety. Her warm touch guided him up the steep mountain next to his father's home, and for some reason, he believed that she was still alive up there to save him from this poor world. He went to the top of the mountain with false beliefs and crazed thinking as shouting overpowered his thoughts. Stardom thought he saw his mother at the top of the mountain waiting for him. He jumped into the ghost's arms and flew right through her. His mother's strings couldn't save him and pull him up to fly like in his wildest dreams, and he fell off the cliff.

Stardom crashed to the ground below like the trident that fell from his father's claw. And the stupid dragonets laughed and came with their toys and wooden swords raised high to beat him. Provoking slammed her wooden sword into Stardom and tried to smash him to bloody pieces.

Stardom didn't move.

The lowly dragonets and their stupid trends struck down the strong as one huge mob. And Stardom's anger grew: he wanted to fight back, he wanted to breathe that raging fire breath in their faces.

And Merciful stopped him.

***

"Don't ever hurt another dragon. Don't ever be like him and his cold-turned heart. He is not the same dragon I once knew, and I know that you will grow up to be a thoughtful, strong dragon no matter what," she whispered.