Chapter Text
Flying was fun. Ever since Branzy’s wings first grew he was always flying, begging his parents to take him to the tallest tower in their village. But they had always said, ‘don't fly over the void without us!’. Branzy didn't understand why then, but never questioned it. They were his parents after all, so why should he?
When he was 16 years old, his parents had told him about a trip he would have to take. He and all the other dragons his age would have to fly across the void to meet the queen dragon. The one the other-worldiens feared. It was a great honour to meet her, but it only happened once for every dragon.
They had warned him that if any other dragon were to fall into the void, that he would continue on without them. They warned him that if he went after them, that he might get swallowed by the void.
But Branzy had always been a caring and curious dragon, so when he saw another dragon begin to fall into the void, he followed suit.
It truly was a terrible feeling. The void pulled at his skin in all directions as he followed the other. And suddenly, there was nothing. No sounds, no colours, no objects, just nothing. It felt as if an eternity had passed before he felt something again.
And it was not a nice thing.
All he felt was wind rushing around him before objects began to pass him quickly.
Towers. Those were towers. He was falling. Branzy turned himself over so that he could see where he was falling too. The ground was an odd colour he had only seen before in eyes, and gems. Green! That was the name of the colour.
Branzy opened his wings and caught himself before he hit the ground, and landed gently.
There were so many new colours and things that he had only heard in stories. Branzy looked around him, seeing so many new things to be discovered. But a singular question popped into his head.
But where was he?
He wasn't in the end, no. The sky was blue so it would be impossible. He didn't make it to the queens island, he could distinctly remember falling into the void.
Branzy decided that asking someone was a smarter decision. Maybe the other dragon was here somewhere? He looked around but could not find the other dragon.
However there were two people gawking at him that looked to be around his age. The shorter of the two was wearing a hoodie and had orange hair with ears sticking out, while the taller looked to be a demon of some kind, with a black eye patch over one eye.
Branzy approached them with a smile on his face. When he got close enough he began talking, without staring them in the eye for too long.
“Hello! My name is Branzy. I'm a little lost, would you mind telling me where I am?” Branzy made sure to keep his tone happy and light-weight, despite the nervousness of meeting new people.
“Hi.” The shorter of the other two began, “im Vitalasy, and this” Vitalasy pointed to the taller one, “is Subz.” Subz gave a small wave at the mention of his name. “You're in Lifesteal.”
Branzys eyebrows furrowed together. Lifesteal? That wasn't a place in the end.
“Are we in the over world?” Branzy asked, hoping he was incorrect. If he was in the over world, then he wouldn't be able to get back home, possibly ever.
The end portal had been sealed away thousands of years ago when the other-worldiens had come to the end and attempted to kill the queen dragon. Since then there was no commonly known way in or out of the end.
“Yep.” Vitalasy said, popping the ‘p’ as he spoke.
Branzy stood there, shell shocked at his worry being confirmed.
What should he do? Where should he go? Where COULD he go?
The others seemed to sense a little of Branzys panic, and feeling sorry for the dragon they offered him to stay with them for a bit.
Branzy, of course, accepted.
They went back to the appartement of the two, where they exchanged more information away from any prying eyes.
Vitalasy was a fox hybrid who never met his parents, while Subz was a half demon who hailed from the nether. The two had met a few years back and stuck together to lead their lives.
Branzy, in turn, shared where he came from and how he was stuck in this realm.
“Wait, so the end is a real place? Not just some dangerous land where endermen hail form?” Vitalasy said as he handed Branzy a glass of water and joined the other two on the sofa. “And you're a dragon? Are you related to the ender dragon?”
“Mhm.” Branzy conformed as he took a sip of water. It felt cool as it ran down his throat, cooler than the liquid from a churros fruit. “But I'm not related to the ender dragon. I was actually on my way to meet her when I fell here.”
“And you're stuck here?” Subz asked, one of the first words he said since they had met.
Branzy sucked in a breath. He knew he was stuck in the overworld, but he tried not to think about it too much. He couldn't stand the thought of never seeing his family again.
Finally, Branzy responded.
“Yes. I am.”
The room went silent and Vitalasy and Subz looked among themselves. They both knew what it was like to live without family, and they understood what Branzy was going through.
After what felt like forever, Vitalasy spoke. He made an offer for Branzy that would change his life.
“Would you like to live with us?”
***Bzzzzzz bzzzzzz bzzzzzzz***
Branzy awoke to his alarm clock buzzing at 6:00 am. 3 years ago he accepted Vitalasys offer. He had lived with them since, almost like a brother.
Branzy slid out of his bed and slipped into the bathroom to get ready for his day. He was taking steps to become his dream job, a redstone engine for the heros. All non-humans that aren't villains, or that didn't work for a hero were treated very poorly. Every day they took back roads to avoid the public's judgemental glare.
So Branzy had to work hard, to get a job that he and his ‘brothers” would be safe with.
Branzy looked at the clock ; 7:00. On time. Perfect. He slipped out of the bathroom, careful not to disturb the others. He grabbed a piece of bread and was out the door, into the streets of lifesteal.
In Branzys experience, Lifesteal wasn't the best place to live. The laws were tilted in the favour of villains, the heros only dealt with crime when they wanted to, and the public hated anyone who wasn't famous, or human.
Branzy turned left from the apartment building doors, down a back alley that would lead him to a smaller city bus that was run by non-humans and that would take him to central park, close enough to where he needed to be.
But Branzy would never make it there. Or, at least, not in the way he wanted to.
He was so busy munching on his piece of bread that he didn't see the group of people coming towards him.
One of them wrapped a wet cloth around his mouth. Branzy tried to fight back and escape, but everything was too foggy…
Branzy tried to stay awake but couldn't, and slumped against his attacker, fully passed out.
Finally regaining his consciousness, Branzy opened his eyes. He felt loopy and could not remember what happened. The room he was in looked to be something like a surgical room. The bright lights that glared down at him were incredibly white and blinding. In an attempt to not go blind he averted his eyes, and looked around the room, quickly spotting the surgical tools laying on the counter to the left. One of the items was large and made of metal. Only when he squinted did he see the sharp teeth on the side of it. A bone saw. They were going to cut off his horns!
Branzy panicked and tried to move, only to fail. He looked down at his body, no restraints. Just lying on the table in what was something of a medical grade hospital gown. He tried to scream, but his mouth didn’t open and he didn’t make a sound. His eyes darted around the room once more, looking for what was preventing him from saving himself.
On his right, no more than 2 feet away was a IV bag labelled as benzodiazepines. Branzy followed the IV tube down into his arm. He searched his memory, trying to find anything related to the name of the drug.
Before he could remember anything, four doctors came in through the door. They were talking but Branzy couldn't focus on what they were saying. Everything was pure static.
One doctor began to walk over to the left of the surgical table that Branzy was laying on. He tilted his head at Branzy. Out of nowhere, two more hands appeared and floated down to Branzy’s horns. The hands began touching and inspecting the horns, an extremely uncomfortable experience. A third hand appeared and retrieved the bone saw.
The doctor looked over to the other three, who were standing on the other side of the table. He began talking to the three of them and began pointing to Branzy’s horns.
Thankfully, Branzy could hear more than just static and actually managed to make out more words.
“... valuable… black market… heros…”
Before Branzy could piece together what was happening, a horrible screeching sound was all he could hear, followed by mind-numbing pain. All he could think about was how much pain he was in. His eyes began to get blurry and his brain began to feel as if they were cutting into his skull.
Then the sound stopped, but the pain continued. His head felt different somehow. Despite being in pain, Branzy tried to make noise, to object to what the doctors were doing.
The one with extra hands looked him in the eyes, and did what Branzy assumed was a smile. But it was hard to tell with the mask. And the pain. And the sound.
The doctors had begun to cut off his other horn. Branzy wanted to throw up because it hurt so bad. But he couldn't. He could only sit in pain as they removed his horn, his crown.
The sound stopped again, and the doctors stepped back. The three doctors on the right left with his horns on a tray. Branzy could only watch in pain as they left. The doctor that remained leaned over him and spoke.
“It's a real shame. Your horns were so beautiful. But the heros need money, and dragon horns are the best way to get money.”
The doctor walked to the other side of the table and swapped out the IV bag for a different one. Branzy was too tired to read it. Maybe if he closed his eyes the pain would go away…
There was a terrible smell. It smelt like a mix of rotten cabbage and rotten eggs. Branzy face scrunched up, and tried to move away from the smell.
But there was pain. Oh so much blinding pain. Directly on his head. Which felt lighter then it should have been.
Branzy saw a piece of broken mirror and grabbed it, anglaning it at his head.
And there it was. (Or rather, wasnt)
The pride and joy of all dragons, their crowns, their horns, were gone from his head. All there was was bandages.
He gagged and vomited in disgust, fear, anger -everything.
But what could he do? They had taken his horns, and he would never see them again.
Could he go back to Subz and Vitalasy? Would they recognize him? What would society think if they saw him? What would his family think?
Branzy was too overwhelmed. He needed to get out, to get away. He recalled a town not far from here, Echocraft. If he could get there, he could start over.
Branzy got up, despite the pain, and began making his way to Echocraft. He was leaving behind his friends, his den, his life. All because of those stupid heros, Branzy had to start over. Again.