"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if the thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness." - Anonymous.
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"Cold...why is it so c-cold...?"
A voice whispered in the howling wind in the tundra as he hears the mountains whistle, shivering in the harsh, stormy blizzard as he struggled to keep himself down from the blizzard that was trying to grasp him. Death loomed in the corner of the little dragonet's eyes, preparing to approach him before he reached maturity because of the cold. With him all alone...
His name was winter, his name is simply who he is right now. Not a prince, or a mighty warrior that'll bring peace, or a mean jerk. Just the name winter and that was it.
Nowhere to go, no home to come back to, no childhood friends to come to rescue him.
He stumbled onto the snow tripping as he cried, feeling as if he was caught in flame as pain soon whelmed him in the frigid temperatures of the blizzard. Frostbite in his talons and feet, his vision blurred through the dead of night.
With crystals liquid slipped down his face as far as it could before freezing under his chin, making his face covered in sparkling teardrops as it broke off to hit the ground when the wind blew against his face. Trying to make his way through the thick snow.
His body left behind a small trail of thick snow, which was quickly blown back by the blizzard, for there was no longer a trance to be found. No way home...
It was awful, and it was cold. Very cold, colder than an icewing can handle, blizzards are dangerous no matter what dragons they are, like Sandwings with sandstorms or seawings with whirlpools.
Except in this society, no one will like him. No one in this frozen kingdom, not a single soul. And if there were someone, somebody who has talons open wide for him to reach, someone to guide him to safety in their wings. But no one will, as they would instead close it in fear and pull it away. As if they were afraid of losing their reputation, their future, and their place on that stupid wall. The gift of order, the wretched curse.
To get rid of the weak.
The royals think it's a gift just like any other animus touch objects, a gift that benefits them as well the dragons who serve them. But for many of them, it doesn't and suffers the consequences. Just like his father, the father with hopes of making him proud. But no matter what he does he always fails...
And even though he's two, it started happening when he was months old...
~*~*~
*Crack* *Crack*
A little head started poking of a shell, with scales like snow as his body started to appear as he the tiny dragonet tried to wiggle out. It felt small, so he started kicking.
And after a few minutes of doing this, he finally burst out.
When he did, he saw himself in a room, with weird batches of soft cushions around him, as the walls are beautifully decorated with art. At the time he didn't think much of it because well... he just hatched.
But as his eyes started to wander, he found himself staring at two white disoriented figures standing in front of him.
So without a second to think the dragonet tried to speak but ended up being cute. "Mrrrrp?"
The two figures approached him, with their faces starting to form for him, and spoke in a deep angry voice, "oh another male..."
But before they could reach him, there was another sound cracking, right beside him.
It was another head, barely out of its shell, and when it was in clear view, it was a girl. And for some reason, they decided to go to her instead.
"A Female!" The left white disoriented figure spoke, in a much happier voice than before. "Finally, an heir to the throne, she will be our successor." A male dragon spoke to the right of him, and the female dragonet yawned.
"Yes... and we could finally be in the first circle forever... but the other one?" The female on his left asked, he stared at them not knowing what they were talking about.
"Leave him," the right immediately said, "he is no use to us, and hopefully some other pathetic family would take him. We already have a son..." he growled. "We will train her, and will change our future..."
And with that, they took the other one, and left, not knowing fully what they look like as they slammed the door, leaving the other dragonet in the dark with one candle lighting the room.
He stared at the door, confused and a bit scared, all alone.
"Mrrrp...?" He tried to say again, but no one geared him, "Mrrrp...?" He tried again, drawing out of his shell onto the soft cushion below.
Then the door slowly opened again, and a dragon appeared. He wasn't that big compared to the two disoriented figures from before, but it didn't stop him from entering. And soon he was right next to him, and this time he could see his face.
"Hi, little brother," he smiled at him picking him up, the dragonet purred, embracing the random dragon-like if he's like his parent. "I don't know why our parents left you, but I'm taking you home... um, brother..." He spoke, finding his voice very comforting. "I should name you... spike, no... um, Crystal! Wait that's a girl's name, and you certainly aren't a girl," he playfully grins.
Making the dragonet giggle.
"What about winter? Yeah that's a good name, isn't it?" He asked winter, who nodded. "Well, winter... my name is hailstorm, your big brother..."
As he walked out, his big brother...
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He could still remember all of it. Soon discovered those two disoriented white figures were his parents.
During the first day of the hatchery, the first hour when he and his sister first hatched, the royal one, as all dragons with royal blood hatched to be a prince or a princess. Both of them make lower or any normal icewing dragon dream to be them, not in their hatchery where they have to suffer every day outside the castle walls because of this stupid system called icewing society that demands it.
So when the royals hatch they will grow up, get special training, and face the glorious battle ahead of them, but some aren't as lucky, some never got that training, and in reality, it wasn't glorious in the slightest. It was horrible, exhausting like daggers pierce into his limbs, and death and pain onto his scales, and soon he will be too if he couldn't survive the harsh blizzard.
So cold...
Tiny winter couldn't think straight, too cold even for icewings. He felt his inside freezing which he thought was impossible, but it is. And soon found himself collapsed on the snow, unable to move for a second.
And closed his eyes, wishing to think of something else, but all he could see is darkness and snow.
While growing up in his early childhood, he was not like the others, not speaking that he had a disability or had this special thing that is too special to be like the others you see in those horrible stories. He spun a wheel based on life, and out of the many options, he could be loved to be happy, or he could have friends, but the option that landed on him rather screwed him over.
With their voices making words came to him like sharp icicles sliced through him...
"What a pathetic prince," "Why can't you be like the others?" "Useless!" "You're a disgrace!"
Over and over again, yet he still gets up. But fell right back down on the snow.
As no one was willing to teach this prince, he couldn't fight like the others, he couldn't live up to the expectations that the other princess got, he lost chances, he couldn't even hunt his prey without others getting his prey before him. All those words he wished that weren't real were true, he was pathetic, he was useless, and that's what everyone saw, including his parents. The brother of the queen, and the mother of the future queen.
Who he so desperately wanted to please, because they are his role model to look up to and the only dragons to do so. Even when they did nothing for him, nothing at all. No teaching, no dad talk, no help, just shaking their heads. From the very start they just gave up on him when he failed at what others could do, they basically avoided their son who wished to at least see their smile or say something that others say to their dragonets...
And kept failing, and failing. And it wasn't his fault.
He didn't wish to be like this, he just wanted to do his best, but his best wasn't enough, and was soon compared even more to him to other dragonets who bathed in the education that winter had not.
Winter thinks they still love him, but in reality, they didn't even love him at all but never showed it and walked away... and that made him feel... lonely.
He was a prince in this world. They don't matter, not to them anyway.
They tried desperately to help him, seeing him suffer for no reason at all, reaching out their talons to help, but they pulled them right back. As their reputation to help him was on the line, their family, their entire career, their own life! They just couldn't risk it, they just couldn't do it, so they did what was laid out for them. Leave him, for him to learn from his failures.
As yells of pain in their words hit him even harder.
It got so bad his parents started giving him punishment to be better, horrible push-ups after training hours, locking him in his room for him to feel sad or cry, and leaving him on the outside of the palace walls to teach him a lesson. It was unfair, it was not right, it was life.
The only thing that kept him going for some time was his brother... his dearest brother in the whole wide world. And the closest thing to a friend, since he never got to know well about his sister, she was always so distant from him and his brother and he doesn't know why. She was just always somewhere else even though they were hatched in the same hatchery with her a little bit older. But he does know that she is already too busy plotting to overthrow the queen, and she was icicle. And nothing else.
But he didn't care.
Hailstorm was important enough without her and was there when his parents weren't, where he gave as much as he could to winter, who wanted to give as much back to him but got the chance.
Before his failures... because back then, he would help him when things felt too difficult for him. Where actions felt impossible to achieve or get to, he was the father he could never have, someone that he looked up to, someone he could love as a family.
He wished being with his brother would never end, but then he was called into the war. And needed to go, so he packed his things, said goodbye to winter, left to fight in the war, haven't heard from him for weeks, then... the terrible news came, and he was confronted with his worst nightmare.
It was reported that he was missing in action.
...and winter fell apart.
This left an impact on him, the only dragon he loves is gone... and hearing that news scared him, making him cry for days every night when training was over.
The thought of never gonna see him again, can't blame him...
And with no one to help him he started to fail once again, and then his parents had enough, they were tired of him failing all the time, they wanted to get rid of him. So they left a dragonet who was lucky to be hatched, to certain death in the deadly blizzard to teach him a lesson. As all parents do... in Winter's world.
Weeping, suffering in the wind, and wishing never to have hatched. Left all alone in this blizzard.
What a life...
After roaming endlessly in the snow, his body started to become weak and stiff, as the coldness started to take effect on his small body much more than he could ever handle for a dragonet.
It felt harder to move, harder to breathe as he struggled to pass the deep, white snow. As the wind came howling down into the landscape of snow, it was getting harder to even keep his eyes open for a second before his vision started to blur. It felt horrible, it felt cold, but he is helpless against the blizzard overwhelming him.
His small body started to shake a lot more, as the temperature decreased.
With steps after steps, it started to become slower and slower. With each pull from the snow felt weaker by the second. And after a few steps, no one was there to look, nowhere to hide, only the total darkness of the dead of night.
He felt his body completely fall into the snow, couldn't take it anymore, there was nowhere to go, and he started to freeze up.
Is this how it's going to end? Letting death wrap its wings around him as he lets go?
Never seeing the ones he loves? Just to die the most dishonourable way, to freeze as an icewing! And let the great ice dragon wrap its wings around him, as it'll be the last wings he'll ever be under...
"...No..." He whispered in the whistling wind.
No, he will not, not yet not now. He thought the best he can, shivering as he got up once more. Bringing all the strength he could to stand as a gust of wind blew against him while trees got ripped from the ground. Even though he has nothing to lose for...
Nothing to love for...
However... He still wanted to see the world, he wanted to experience life outside the ice kingdom, he wanted to see his brother again, and... he still hasn't made his parents proud, so he won't give up, not this time, not again.
And with his small confidence, the flame sparkled inside of him once again. With all his small muscle strength in his small body. He slowly and weakly got back up again, raising his right talon to block the wind to get a better vision of his surroundings. A lot of snow got in his eyes when he was on the ground, and it was stinging a bit even hurting him when the wind blew hard in his face past his small paws.
But still, he protects the little flame in his heart called hope. The last thing that can give up is will keep the flame going until it dies out.
Looking around for anything or something to shelter him. He wondered about the blurry wasteland full of snow leaving a small trail behind him. Every time he takes a step, it feels as though he's about to crumble like a block of shattered ice.
But he can't, he won't let himself.
After shivering for ages, he manage to make some distance from the last time he collapse, and while during so he started to see better, and that's when he spotted it... a black, shadowy hole on a side of a steep hill, with icicles hanging in the snowy entrance... could it be?
A-a cave? He happily thought as he tried to smile with the wind against his face. I guess it isn't the end after all...
With a new objective in mind, he carefully makes his way to the cave. Several times, almost being sucked up again by the blizzard, he coughed as he dragged him through the white snow. But he held his ground, not now, not again, and eventually, he got to the cave.
And fell into it, and he crumbled making bruises everywhere on his body as he fell into the tunnel of the cave. He closed his eyes the whole time while falling, as the numbness of the cold on his body already stopped the pain. Afterwards, he immediately tried to warm himself while covering every inch of his small body with his small dragonet wings.
He sighed with relief and felt a chill of death beside him as he still held onto his hope.
It was still cold, but it was far nicer than outside, with the fierce blizzard where he could hear now roaring like the wind passed by. He opened an eye and could see trees, many of them ripped and lifted in the air in the distance. Luckily he wasn't there when it started.
But the weather was still cold and he didn't think he would make it.
"N-No, I will survive, I m-must... so cold..."
He whispered again, he's not gonna give up, he reminded himself, not now not ever. Even after shivering, the clattering between his teeth in the cold blizzard of the cave. The wind blew hard against his frozen wings from the outside. He is determined to never give up until the very end...
Not if the many dragons are facing him, not when the world is diagonal, not when he feels like he wants to run away from this life...
He won't give up... no matter the cost.
With help from his sweet lullaby, the hope that his brother gave him. A lullaby that makes him love his brother the most, something that he treasured deeply in his sweet and innocent heart... along with a promise. A promise that will change everything that he knows, a promise that gives him a new purpose... another purpose in life.
I'll be better Dad... and mom I promise... I'll be better... and promise to make you proud, I'll try to make you proud...
I promise...
~*~*~
Calm brother, they think you're unworthy...🎵 They say things that might give you, a bad heartache...🎵 But that's when I'm not here, those dark voices will disappear...🎵 Oh little brother, you're my snowflake...🎵
When the snow melts, and the ice beneath us falls...🎵 I'll still be here with you, you'll always hear my calls...🎵 I love you, even if the world around us breaks, because sweet brother, you're my snowflake...🎵
They say love makes you weak, and if that's true, I don't want to be strong anymore...🎵 Because I love you. I think your heart is, so warm and true...🎵 I can't wait to see, the legacies you will make, because little brother, you're my special friend, you're my little snowflake... And I'll always love you🎵
This is the author and I wanted to make this clear, I did not make some parts of this song, some parts I found from the internet so I won't get most of the credit. And I hope you'll enjoy my story! -Keztnah