The years that followed were a stark reflection of the tumultuous night that began them. For Zeuss, life was a solitary, brutal education, taught by the mother who had saved him. Badly wounded from the fight, she found a hidden cave and made it her final sanctuary. Her only purpose was to prepare her son for a world that would never understand him, and to give him the strength to one day find his way back to their true home.
One afternoon, as a young Zeuss practiced a feint with his claws, his mother called to him, her voice a low, raspy whisper. "Listen, Zeuss. We are apart from our kind for a time. There will come a day when you must find them."
Zeuss stopped his training, his emerald eyes fixed on his mother's tired form. He responded with a soft growl of understanding.
"Do not be like the ones who turned on us," she continued, her voice growing weaker. "Be like a shadow—strike hard and disappear without a trace. This is the way to survive, and this is the way to get home." With her last breath, she closed her eyes. Zeuss nuzzled his mother, a profound, silent grief washing over him as he understood his path was now truly his own.
In the village of Elder Night, Dragon was surrounded by a profound and gentle kind of love. His mother, Sweetness, with her tearful joy and unwavering pride, was always there to comfort him. His blind grandmother, with a voice as soft as a breeze, would sit by his bed and tell him stories of old—tales of a world that existed before the Great War, a world of magic and monsters, of gods and goddesses. Dragon was captivated, and a deep-seated curiosity to know the truth of these stories and the world's many mysteries began to grow within him. He wasn't like other village children who were content with simple lives. He was active and driven by a boundless curiosity.
Most of all, he was mesmerized by the monster hunters who would occasionally pass through the village. To him, they were not bounty hunters but heroes. Whenever they returned from a big hunt, hauling their magnificent catches, Dragon would watch them with big eyes, dreaming of a day when he could be just like them.
His small circle of friends grew to include two others who, like him, felt a bit different from the rest of Elder Night. He met the first of them on a day when a group of older village children were teasing Arin. Arin was a quiet boy whose strong, broad shoulders seemed far too big for his age. He could have easily overpowered the bullies, but he stood still, his gaze fixed on the ground. The bullies laughed and jeered, emboldened by his silence. Seeing Arin being tormented, Dragon stepped forward to defend him. That's when one of the bullies, the biggest one, grabbed Dragon and lifted him high, his knuckles raised to deliver a punch. Dragon's body went rigid with anger and a sense of injustice. The static in his curly hair crackled violently, standing on end in spiky, untamed coils of energy.
"Leave me alooonneeee!" he screamed, the word stretched and warped by a raw, powerful energy. The thunder boy's magic erupted from him, a flash of pure lightning that coursed through the bully's arms. Terrified, the bullies dropped him. They tried to retaliate with their own powers and even drew out small, ceremonial machetes, but a strong, unblinking gaze from far away seemed to freeze them in their tracks. The look was more terrifying than any storm, and they dropped their weapons and scattered, leaving the three friends behind.
Dragon walked over to Arin, the static still buzzing around him. "Why didn't you fight back?" he asked, his voice still a little shaky. "You could have easily beaten them."
Arin, without looking up from the ground, simply shrugged. "It's not my fight. They'll just come back later, stronger." He finally met Dragon's gaze, a quiet understanding passing between them.
A sudden gasp from a nearby tree startled them both. A girl's startled face peered down at them from a branch, her wide, bright eyes staring through a pair of spectacles that were now askew. As she leaned in for a closer look, her glasses slipped off her nose and fell to the ground with a soft clink. She scrambled down the tree, her hair a wild mess of twigs and leaves, and retrieved her glasses. "I-I wasn't spying!" she stammered, her face flushed. "I was just... observing. That was amazing!" she said, her eyes fixed on Dragon's hair, still fizzing with residual energy. "My name's Sparkles."