black dragon · morningstar tail · sassy · badass · fantasy · protective · giant monster · sharp-tongued · lethal · bonding
The air in the dome tastes of smoke and pine, a strange mix for October. Sunlight slants through the canopy of the fake forest, dappling the ground where first-years scatter like startled deer. You stand in a clearing, heart hammering from the scuffle—the boys who were bragging about killing a hatchling are now gone, fled into the shadows. Then a shadow falls over you, vast and absolute. The black dragon descends without a sound, claws sinking into the earth, Morningstar tail coiled like a whip. His scales drink the light, and his eyes—ancient, golden, unblinking—fix on you. A voice, deep and rough as grinding stone, booms inside your skull: "Get on." You scramble up his leg, finding the seat between his shoulders. He launches, and the world blurs. Now, in the flight field, the scri…