《Finding Home》 Prologue Rushing. Running. Not daring to look back. Breathing heavily he continues to run, in pain and in fear. The pain started halfway from when he started to run and it was getting worse, crawling through his body and strongest at his back and head. The fear . . . the fear the child knew where it came from. It has followed him since his mother left and was brought to a new "home." At first, his new life wasn''t so bad, but then the children decided to toy with him. The beatings never helped and though he was in pain then, it seemed like a joke compared to what he feels now. Finally looking back to see his persuers, and the dogs, closing in, failing to see the root in front of him. He screams as he feels jolts of pain surge though him, one starting from his legs as he trips on the root and one from his head. The light in his eyes dim as he falls unconcious after the rock his his head - the children decided to through rocks at him again while in persuit. As the small, bruised, and dirty child falls and crumples to the ground on the other side ofthe root, a hole opens, swallowing him up and vanishing without a trace. The persuing children finally caught up to wehre the child fell, but could find no sign or trace of him. One of them furiously hits a tree with his fist before the group returns hom to tell the Master, their father, what transpired. ---------------------------------------- Laughter and light surround him as he fuzzily sees a woman tickling him. A flash of light dazes him before he can get a clearer picture of her, but he then sees the woman again, clearer this time - it was his mother. He stumble runs to her feeling sad, but no tears run while she smiles encourigingly.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. More flashes speed through, each bringing up a new memeory of his and each one slowly getting darker. The first of these seems bright as he sees the children who were chasing him before. This time they are obedient and looking at someone in his direction, but much taller than him. He looks up and sees a man he recognizes as the Master, but he sees no sign of his mother. Next he sees only flashes of dim light for he is trying to protect himself as he feels the children beat and kick him as they yell and curse him. Another flash. Dim light shows chains are on him, bidning him from moving to far. The child looks at the puddle of water next to him and he sees his warn face. Footsteps are heard, getting louder as they approach him, with laughter not far behind. Looking up the child sees the Master''s children. One comes up to him and unlocks the chains. He fears to move. "Run, little twerp!" the child yells. Laughter from the others resound as he freezes before scrambling toward the dark forest near the property, rushing to head to where he normally hids when they decide to play "tag'' with him; he does not want to be stoned, again. Dogs start to bark as some of the children come chasing after giving him a head start, the rest had decided to wake the dogs in glee. Laughing some more, another child sneers and yells, "It''s tag again. Let''s see how far you can get this time!: As he runs in the dim forest everything starts to fade. The child wakes up with a start in the night and he realizes it was just a dream. Just as he was starting to stand, a sharp pain races through him and he falls curling up on himself as he faints again from the quickly growing pain. This time though his past does not flash through while he fitfully sleeps through the pain. All the while a glow strengthens around him as time passes in the night. 1. Waking Up Breathing softly and his eyes fluttering, the child slowly wakes up with tears still streaming down his face. He curls up as he shivers from the cold and remembered pain until something soft covers him. He stops shivering in surprise and opens his eyes only to see darkness and something obstructing his view. The child goes to push away what was blocking his view, but his hand snags on it, making him yelp and sit up from the sudden pain. The obstruction, that he now sees are silvery-white and blue wings, fan out as he jerks up. The child feels slightly heavier than he remembered as well as movement from his back as the wings move and he reaches behind to try to figure out why. He feels something strong and feathery smoothly attatched to his back around his shoulder blades and in panic, frantically scrambles to find water. He suddenly stops mid-run, stumbling a bit from the unfamiliar weight on his back, realizing how bright it was when he swore it was very dark the last he rmemebered, with barely any light coming through the forest canopy. Eyees wide, the child slowly looks around and sees a bright, but unknown forest surrounding him. Fear and surprise clash in his eyes trying to dominate one another, but before fear could settle fully a warmth starts to spread throught him. Surprise settles in because he feels no pain, not even from his previous scars. He looks down at himself and even though he still wears his ragged and old clothing, his skin is a smooth unblemished white. He looks up again to seef if he can spot water, but remembers he''s in a strange forest. This time, instead of frantically running in fear, he slowly wanders in wonder and confusion. "Where am I?" ------------------------------------------- In another part of this new strange land the child now finds himself in, a large mountain stands . It looks the same as the others in the range, but inside it and a few others closeby, lies hidden a race that has decided to stay away from the others unless for a few reasons, such as mating or finding their fated partner - and no, this is not a lover type soulmate, but still one that is a strong bond and hard to find, let alone feel. Except for a certain young morph dragon that excitedly pops it''s head up for it feels the energy so similar to it''s own. A concenpt it heard about many times from it''s family and peers, but had never felt until now. Just as it was about to go scamper off to find the source, a large foot lightly, but firmly traps it in place.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "And where are you rushing off to, young one?" A deep and ancient voice asks. The young male morph looks up at the owner of the voice,Hokulani, and an elder of their race. Morph dragons have similarities to the Western dragons of Earth, but they have two pairs of wings, two tails, can shrink as small as a teacup piglet or growas large as a normal dragon of their age, and have scales that change color as they age or grow in strength - something that tends to grow hand in hand normally for dragons, but other factors can get them stronger if they tried. This elder herself, is a magnificent royal purple that is not only a grand color, but an attest to her strength. Although it is hard to know if one of these morphs are strong, but with her size it would be hard to miss her strength and age. Hokulani''s wings lay neatly in rest with her tails coiled around her neck as she takes up a large space with her forefoot holding the oddly silver-white and blue, a rare color set, welp in place awaiting his response. Eager to get going, but still respectful of his elder, images of when he was learning about the energy companion flew through his mind to her. Just as odd as his scales, his voice seemed broken, with only growls and such voiceing through. The only way for him to "speak" is through these images he shows to others for his words are always lost whenever he tries to thought-speak with others. Chuckling at the eager youngster, with a flash of worry coming and going through her eyes before he notices, Hokulani says while lifting her foot. "You can go, but youmust be cautious andrmember the past, for there is much evil mixed and hidden beneath and in the good. There is little greed amongst us that have lived for so long, but it is ever present amongst us all." The unnamed welp nods seriously, though excitment and mischeif twinkle in his eyes, and decides to shink to stay better hidden in his very first excursion to the outside so others will think he is nothing special. His coloring of course, will be troublesome, but he can always try to conceal himself while he searches for his bond, one he can feel is lost with some pain in their heart.