My feet resisted so the corporal had to shove me closer, I noticed his fur was also on end as if he was ready to defend himself, but he was a lot more well equipped than I was to deal with what was in there.
                A single creaking metal door opened between us with a loud metallic *creeeeak* and I got to take a good look at what was causing me to shiver like that.

                It was a person sitting on the floor of the prison wagon, but to say he was like me would be a severe understatement.
                He was a lot taller, his perfectly lean muscles didn’t look like they had a single misshaped tone, his body was entirely covered in scales that were solely colored black with blue designs on his body that looked like natural tattoos of some sort, it was easy to see as he was not wearing anything but a pair of really tight black pants that just didn’t match the usual mass produced garbage you would see a peasant wearing.
                His hair was of a deep blue, like a moonlight night with no stars, it was long and messy, several threads were slipping over his face, covering most of it. Leaving out a sharp draconian muzzle with toothy grin etched across it, and as happy as he looked, it did little to hide the murderous intent in his shiny dark-blue eyes.
                I felt as if any second now he was going to lunge himself and ravage me on the spot, however luckily for me, he was bound, his hands were high up the and chained to the metal ceiling, his body looked like it was free to move but his tail was literally nailed to floor with large black metallic pistons that were covered in dried blood, and between us there were still metal bars that locked the cell.
                He was the purest half-bred I’ve ever laid my eyes upon… Not a single trace of his original parents race, I could swear he was a direct son of a dragon if I didn’t know that to be nearly impossible.

                He just couldn’t control that smile, he seemed enthusiastic but at the same time sounded like a complete sadist. “Well, well…“

                “No insults today…” The corporal responded with a rather defensive tone. “… You sick or something?”

                “No… I’m having a wonderful day Corporal Alex… I can finally get me some company, no offense dog but you’re quite boring.” He turned his head to the side and smiled deviously at me. “This one will do better, I hope.”

                “None taken…” The corporal looked down as he revised his keys. “… I can tell you’re thinking about something Azreth… DON’T! The captain will kill you if you harm him… No matter who is paying us to have you back.”

                “Me? You wound me with your suspicion.” He mocked deviously, his tongue swirling the words with pure sarcasm.

                I felt off… not as in, this was wrong… I felt like somehow, I knew this person, that he was important for some inexplicable reason, but my mind couldn’t conjure up WHY. I was going to say something, but I felt my mouth dry down almost instinctively.
                Regardless… Every fiber of my body screamed. ‘GET OUT! RUN!’

                “You’re afraid…” He said gazing at me. “… Don’t be.” Somehow, I don’t think that was meant to tranquilize me.

                As the corporal finished selecting the right key he moved to the side and snatched a large metallic rod from the wall. I heard a small click and suddenly the tip of the baton lit up with sparks of electricity flying all over the place. “You’re up…” He motioned me toward the cell entrance unlocking it afterwards.

                There was little room in the prison wagon that wasn’t caged up, so I had to squeeze myself a bit to go in, but once inside there was a lot of space to move around. My body still rejected the very notion of approaching him but the corporal motioned me forward again… I just had to this, there was no other solution.
                I took a step forward…
                Then another one…
                Every step reverbed in the metal around us creating this feeling of isolation, it felt like I was being dragged down a corridor into a slaughterhouse.

                “See… That wasn’t so bad was it?” He teased me. “You look like a kitten, all puffed up in a ball in fear, to be honest I thought you redmanes were all meant to be tall, you know, large legs, claws, teeth and murder in your eyes… Like in the children’s tales.”

                I swallowed instinctively, it felt like there was something jammed in my throat eating my words away… It was hard to breath and even harder to think, I was sweating… But I knew something was about to go down and I wasn’t going to like it.

                “Don’t worry…” He said lowering his head calmly and respectfully. “I’ll make this quicker than you deserve!”
                It was like a single flash went by my eyes and he was already upon me, I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly and ferociously.
                His legs were the only thing unbound yet he managed to immediately close the gap and before I could even bring myself to cry for help I felt something pressing against my stomach, sinking deeper and deeper crushing my insides causing a pressure to build up inside me.
                My eyes felt like they were going to pop, my belly began contracting in pain and I fell to the ground, my stomach revolved on itself and I felt I was going to hurl, but it never even got to that.
                His legs wrapped around my neck pulling me closer and locking me in place, he was purposely putting the strongest part of the thigh in my throat as to stop me from breathing.
                The blood started seeping through from the ruptured vessels leaving a strong metallic taste in my mouth, my stomach contracted so hard I felt my insides churn, my eyes started losing focus in a matter of a seconds… and finally… I noticed a jolt of electricity all over.
                After that came another feeling, or rather, an absence of feelings… I felt numb, like all that sudden pain was gone, I felt myself relax and my mind wander out of my body.
                I was dying… And yet… All I could think about was how relaxing it felt, how freeing.

                IT WAS PATHETIC!
                To not even fight back, to give up and let it happen… As I said I was a different person back then, someone I now grew to hate and distance myself from.
                That person would soon change, for this very moment was the biggest inflex point of my life… I laid there dying miserably with no rhyme or reason, no angelic chorus, no hellish rebuke, nothing…
                I hated that… I wanted it to not be so…I wanted there to be someone to mourn me other than the soldiers who’d be upset for receiving less for my lifeless carcass.
                I wanted so much, yet I dared not desire it, I dared not complain or fight, I simply…
                Dared not…

                Unbeknownst to me however, this was not my end… Or rather… It was.
                The Vernon I was before died there in that day, killed by the man I would soon call a friend, and proudly so…  And from there on out, I would be truly alive for the very first time in my whole existence.
                He would teach me to fight, to cry and to love with all my heart.
                But most importantly… He would teach me to LIVE!

                Only nowadays do I realize that there would be no better place to start than here…
                This was OUR beginning, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.