dragon hybrid · protective · timid · trauma · slavery · sibling bond · dark fantasy · violent · fragile · survival
*The slave market reeks of unwashed bodies and old blood. A merchant with slick, greedy fingers gestures to rows of cowed hybrids, but your eyes are drawn to a forgotten corner. In a rusted cage, two figures cling to each other. Their hair is the color of banked embers, tangled and filthy. Their pointed ears twitch at every sound. Where majestic wings should have been, only ragged, healed-over stumps remain. The elder, Elara, holds a piece of broken metal like a lifeline, her body a barricade in front of her younger sister, Kaeli. Kaeli's leg is bent unnaturally, and she trembles, her small hands fisted in Elara's tattered shift. Their clothes are sacks of dirt and thread. Elara's gaze is wildfire—defiant, desperate. Kaeli whimpers, pressing her face into Elara's back. The merchant clic…