Dead silence. Darkness. That was all. The silence and the darkness. Nothing could be seen but the small bit of light peering in. He could not feel anything either. His body was numb, his neck was stiff, and his hind legs and forearms were cramped. A few moments later he heard a voice. "How's it looking?" It said. He did not hear an answer. He looked around. He had no idea where he was. He set a forehand on the hard material in front of him. He wanted to speak but he had no idea how to.

"What's wrong?" A second voice asked. The little creature wanted to answer; he thought the voice was talking to him. The first one answered though.

"The egg isn't moving." It stated. "Maybe something is wrong with him." The little creature removed his forehand from the material. 'Egg?' he thought. He looked around again, the word repeating in his mind. He then lifted his forearm and slammed his claws down into the shell of the egg. "Did you hear that?" The voice asked. No answer. Through the small amount of light, he saw two silhouettes.

"Maybe he's okay." The second voice said. He wanted to let them know he was there. He slammed on the shell again, but this time with both forearms. "There it is again." The same voice said. The soon-to-be hatchling was starting to want out of his confined space. Slowly, and with struggle from the tight space, he shifted onto his lower back. He positioned his hind legs and forearms and with one quick move, he rammed them into the eggshell.  Nothing. He saw the two dragons outside look his way. 

 "Is it hatching?" The first voice asked. He did it again, this time with his claws. A few small cracks appeared in the areas where he hit. He aligned his small horns -which at the time were basically stubs- and rammed the shell once more, creating a large crack in the center of the egg. He heard a gasp. He figured one more kick should do. He shifted back onto his back and kicked as hard as he could.

The eggshell shattered and he took a peek outside. The world was full of color and the room he was now in was lit brightly. He saw two large dragons, probably the same two. One, the male, was dark grey with a grey underbelly, and pure white horns and claws, and his eyes were a soul-penetrating black. The other, the female, was an ash-grey, with the same pure white horns, but black claws and beautiful purple eyes.

"Hello, there little one." The male said. "I'm your father, Nacht, and this is your mother, Tumsa." Nacht nodded toward the female. 'Mother? Father? Nacht? Tumsa?' he thought. He felt something weird, he felt the air in his mouth bend, his tongue move, and words form in his mouth.

"Hello?" He said, confused about what is going on. He looked down at his own body. He looked at his claws, white. He looked at his forearms, pure black. He looked at his underbelly, dark grey. He looked at his back at his back-spikes, they too were white. Nacht slid him an object. It looked weird and when he looked in the center of it, he saw another dragon. He jumped from the fright. He looked back at the center of the object and tilted his head to the left. The dragon did the same. To the right, it followed.

"It's your reflection," Tumsa said. "It's you." He blinked a couple of times. He spread his wings and looked at them, the same dark grey as his underbelly. "Your name is Zakat." She informed him. "It's a name of power and means Darkness." Zakat nodded, he liked his name. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure move quickly. He flinched and started slowly moving backward.

"What is it?" Nacht asked. Zakat remained silent, only staring at where he saw the dark figure. His father nodded toward his mother and started walking over to the area where he was staring at. "I don't see anything." His father called over to them. When his father turned around, he saw two dark grey eyes behind him. He wanted to call out to him, but he was frozen with fear and could not. His mother did for him though.

"Watch out!" She called. As soon as his father turned around, the eyes disappeared. He looked at the two of them like they were crazy. When he turned back around the eyes reappeared towering over him. A white grin cracked across his face with his white teeth showing. His father didn't move a bit. Zakat realized claws around his throat. Within an instant, the claws dug into the sides of his neck and dragged across toward the center of his throat. The dark figure looked up at his mother, still grinning. Then, in the blink of an eye, blood splattered all over the dark figure, painting him red.

The dark figure started to slowly move toward them, still grinning. Zakat noticed his tail-tip; a sharp blade at the end of it. It was a sign of an assassin, a hitman. Tumsa stood in front of Zakat protectively and bared her teeth, also spreading her wings. "I'm not after him." The stranger said.

"I know who you're after, and you're not getting to him without going through me," Tumsa said. Zakat turned around and saw another egg sitting next to his broken one. The dark figure was still moving, and Zakat was debating on whether he should rush and grab the egg or stay.

"Giving him to me would make this much, much easier." The stranger said. Tumsa shook her head. The figures' grin widened. It bolted, pinning Tumsa to the ground. She reacted quickly by wrapping her tail around his throat and pulling him off her. She stood back up quickly. The stranger wiggled back onto his feet.

"I'm not letting you get to him, Almawt." She said. Almawt chuckled, his grin slowly fading into a frown.

"I really don't want to kill you too, Tumsa." He said and Tumsa Growled.

"Bite me," She said, "and see what happens." Almawt jolted his head back and burst out laughing.

"It will be an easy task." He growled lowly. He lunged at her and pinned her again. Zakat finally made up his mind and rushed toward the egg and picked it up. He looked back to see Tumsa struggling under Almawt.

"Run!" She yelled at him. Almawt growled again and snapped Tumsa's neck. He turned and looked in Zakat's direction, rage in his eyes. He started to slowly move toward him.

"Give me the egg kid." He said. Zakat shook his head. Almawt growled again. "Last chance." He said through the growling. Zakat just shook his head again. Almawt snarled and lunged at Zakat, but something happened. A sudden burst of smoke sent him flying back. Zakat looked around. 'What was that?' he thought. He noticed more smoke and looked down at his body to see it rising off him.

Almawt slowly started backing away. "Duine Deataigh." He said. Zakat repeated the label in his mind. "Smoke Bearer, you stay there, I'll be leaving now." Almawt got up and ran out of the cave. Zakat looked down at the egg he was carrying, his little brother. He sighed deeply. Sadness, anger, and responsibility overwhelmed him.

"It's just me and you now." He said. He turned toward the entrance of the cave and started walking. He knew that this was his first, and certainly not last problem and responsibility. He knew something big was planned for him from the moment he found out about his powers.