Questions continued to swim in the dragon’s head as the days passed and the routine continued. The early morning, the formation flights, a meal, combat training, a second meal, and then a run. And all done so quietly. Few words beyond what was necessary for instruction were shared. Everyone pursuing their routines, their duties. All of them known, repeated day after day. Never changing. Maybe skills were improving. Maybe bodies were growing more fit. But that was all. And the day always ended with the visit to the cave.

One day, Izixs asked the leaders why they went to the cave. Why they went there to meditate and sing the song. The answer was simple and about as expected. “That’s how it’s always been.” The hooks holding his wings itched at the thought.

That evening, the dragon paused on his way to the cave and turned to look at the setting sun. The cool air of the plateau filling his lungs as he delayed. And he asked himself a question, why was he here?

The answer, the direct answer, was obvious. It was tradition. There were the technical issues of his father asking him to end his time at the school to train himself. To be ready for the trouble brewing. To perhaps take on the role that the elder dragon had as a defender of the realm. And that meant spending a minimum of two decades training with the order. There was indeed trouble brewing. And might hit before even his second year was complete. Let alone second decade. So the notion that he’d be able to act as a tool of violence at the ability that his peers there were already mastering was laughable.

And he also realized he didn’t want that to be his path. That he didn’t want to be simply a tool of destruction covered in a veneer of honor. This way was what was expected of him. The routine was the beat of a life that was not his own, but one enforced upon him. With his consent. As he looked out at the desolate land, hesitating entering the cave, he decided that this would be the last time he song in harmony with the others. It was time to begin a new song. And maybe the rigidity and the violence that he was being promised could be and would be avoided.

He turned back to the cave, smiled, and joined the others. As their voices rose up, Izixs’ pushed himself a little more. He had learned much there, and he would miss some of them. And so his song was not of the glory of the order that night or its accomplishments of valor and the praise of the philosophers. It was a thank you, and good bye.

He never returned to the cave. The next morning his teacher found his medallions hanging near where he usually slept. Searches were made to find him, but the trainee had escaped to begin his own life.

---

A fantastic creation of  Eyrich featuring Izixs and some of his people as he dreams of a better way of being. An escape from the path he had been cast upon.

I'm overwhelmed by how awesome this is! Much thanks to the artist, and if you like, make sure to favorite the original here: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27399528/