Festering Hatred

    Darkness. No light, just the dark. The chilling air that sometimes crept in through a door or anything else with an opening. The constant clanking of chains. Those were the first things she remembered. The hand that feeds her once a day, ever since she first hatched from her egg. They always spoke a command when feeding her. ‘Eat Nabal.’ Those words were first lost on her, but as time went on she began to catch on. She wasn’t stupid. This cruel world brought questions. Who was she? What was she? Where did she come from? Was there anything else besides these same things everyday? Besides the stone walls and the darkness? There were words she could make out now and understood as time went on, Nabal, dragon, food, eat, chains, hurt, bad, no. Those words always seemed to be spoken when they spoke about her or to her. There was few thing she knew for certain; they were scared of her, more so as she grew. They called her a dragon, whatever that meant and she supposedly belonged to them. She had a name. She knew that she hated them; these small beings that walked on two legs, she hated that they kept her prisoner, that they knew more than her. They always seemed to be one step ahead, it brought anger and fits of rage; like a baby throwing a tantrum. As she got bigger they became more cautious, they no longer fed her with their own hands. They would drop it in from above, and when it fell she ravaged the food until not even the bones were left. One feeling she always knew was hunger, she was always hungry, whether it was for their death or for food.

    They began to teach her things, telling her what to do and when not to do it. Of course she refused to cooperate most of the time, instead giving them a bellowing roar, straining against the chains in attempts to rip them apart. The moment she discovered she could breath fire they began another phase of training. One would always be there to direct her to things, pointing and speaking at a given target. He was always out of her fire’s range. “Ixen, Nabal.” He would always say when fire formed and was spit out of her jaws. Mainly aimed at him. “Ixen is fire Nabal.” She caught on pretty quickly. This continued for a couple more days before they moved on. “Irlym, Nabal. Irlym is Enemy.” This was continued over and over while pointing at various creatures, all except what her captors were. It didn’t help their case, she still saw them as an enemy, an Irlym. “Ixen irlym, fire enemy Nabal.” She didn’t follow the command. Nabal went into another fit of rage. Struggling against the chains, setting anything flammable on fire. Roaring and bellowing. Whenever this happened she would be left alone until she calmed down or sometimes a few hours later, maybe even the next day if she was lucky. If she was unlucky they would lose their temper too, coming in with weapons of their own making, sticking her with them until she gave up fighting them. Her hate for them only festered even more. Like an infected wound.

    Nabal doesn’t even remember how long she has been here, these humans as she learned their name had come and gone, some even got older before leaving forever, some she had even finished off herself. Nabal grew and the need for bigger chains grew too, it was one of the only times she could effectively fight back, and now these humans could fit in the palm of her hand, she could swallow them whole if she had too. They’ve learned to expect the worst from her, to always assume she was pretending to behave. Her eyes were always filled with burning hatred and anger, the longing to rip them apart. A few always died when they had to change the chains, but this time Nabal was certain she would escape, and this time she did. Nabal had faked sleeping, a first time for her. Still they were wary but it was known that she could be a heavy sleeper. She kept still until they fixed new chains on her, right when they were beginning to connect the chains back to the floor and walls. Her massive head snapping around to catch a human between her jaws. Thrashing her head around, teeth ripping into it’s flesh. Claws seeking out anyone close enough to grab. Smashing her clubbed tail into anything that dared be in her way, even the walls, the floor, everything. Those that escaped her flailing only got burned alive. More humans sounded the alarm, flooding into the only home she has ever known. Nabal screeching at them, flapping her massive and certainly weak wings in a display. She could smell the fear rolling off them, but they held their ground. It made her furious. She charged them, head down and ready to ram them. Some got hit in the crossfire while others moved out of the way, countering with their own weapons. Cutting into her scales and flesh. Nabal shrieked in pain, whirling around, swiping her claws around. She missed them. This was the farthest she’s ever gotten and refused to be trapped her any longer. She rushed towards the only exit she has ever known, a door, she wouldn’t fit but she could break out. Smashing into the stone she made her own door. The stone and weight of her feet crushing anything unlucky enough to be in it’s path.

    Nabal stormed the stone halls, smashing and fighting her way out. They were prepared to kill her now as she got closer to her freedom. Nabal sustained more wounds along the way, until finally she saw real light for the first time. She felt the grass below her feet, she could smell everything so clearly. Nabal felt the urge to fly for the first time, her wings stretching out instinctively. Looking back she saw more humans rushing her way. Wasting no time she hurled herself forward, wings flapping as she ran. Eventually it was enough to lift her off the ground. She dared not look back, only forward. Towards her future, towards her freedom. She was free! Now she only had one goal from here on out. Nabal wanted to destroy every last human she could get her claws on. She was going to kill as many as she could, she was going to eat their livestock, destroy their homes. She was going to teach them a lesson or she would die trying. But first she was getting as far away from here as she could, even if she had to cross the great seas, to fly day and night. Little did she know a few years from now she would find herself coming to appreciate a human. To like that human, so much that she would destroy anything in her way and to forget about the goals she set the day her freedom was achieved.