Light of Forgiveness: Anthro Dragon ARx2

Light of Forgiveness: Anthro Dragon ARx2

by Kit-The-Wolfy and Wolf-Prince-Leon

~~~

Dragonia, a world where dragons live side by side with humankind. It was a strange, beautiful place, full of life. (Actually, it was a lot like our own world. Except with dragons who don't think humans taste good with ketchup.)

At first, dragons were giant, monstrous beasts (who could have either fur or scales) who despised humans. However, when one human managed to befriend a dragon, the dragon species changed, becoming more humanlike in mannerism and size, until it was common for dragons to live with and love humans. The romance between human and dragon produced a bizarre sort of offspring: dragons that stood on two legs instead of four, and had human features. They were known as anthro dragons, from the word "anthropomorphic", meaning human-like.

One decade ago, a certain anthro dragon with black fur believed that humans were bad- that they had poisoned dragons into becoming weaklings. He began to attack humans, destroying villages, wrecking worlds. His notoriety grew, until his name was only spoken in hushed whispers: Mordird, the Devourer.

For nine years, other anthros feared this menace, for while he showed mercy to his own kind, he would brainwash them into joining his cause, turning them against their own, human parents. Occasionally, one of his followers would escape the brainwashing and run home, trying to forget what they'd done.

Mordird would have made humanity extinct, if a human boy had never gathered his courage and stood against him. Mordird's final mistake was when he decided to be impressed by the child's courage, and took him for his own, using forbidden magic to turn the boy into an anthro dragon and enslaving him.

Enraged by Mordird's enslavement of the brave boy, dragons, humans, and anthros could no longer stand by and watch this menace do as he pleased. An army attacked Mordird, freeing his slaves, especially the boy, and bringing Mordird's reign of terror to a crashing halt.

As punishment for his crimes, Mordird was stripped of ALL his dragon powers and magic, and sentenced to eternal poverty.

It was one year after this point where our story begins.

~~~

Mordird had finally had enough. He'd learned his lesson, and after some human children took pity on him and played with him occasion, he realized how wrong he was about humankind. But the damage was done. The scars were too deep. Mordird was now a helpless, homeless, worthless anthro, barely able to survive.

"No use..." he sighed, succumbing to his fatigue. "...I can't go on... I'm as good as dead." Then, just like that, he was out like a light, though still alive.

He would have died if a blue anthro boy and his dragon father hadn't come to his aid.

"Papa, who is this?" the young boy asked, looking over the black dragon.

"That's the biggest disgrace to grace the face of dragonkind," the father replied coldly.

"Um... Papa, I'm only seven. Just tell me who it is," the anthro complained.

"...it's Mordird, the former Devourer."

"THIS... is Mordird? But he's so... dirty, and weak, and... helpless..." The anthro looked away sadly, pitying the former tyrant.

"Don't pity him. Though he wasn't able to kill anyone, he's ruined thousands of lives," the father growled. To the anthro boy's horror, the father slices a long, gaping claw mark into Mordird's back, staining the dragon's black fur with bright red.

"PAPA, WAIT! I have an idea..." The anthro whispered something into his father's ear.

"Hmm... interesting... that would allow him to live and start over, but the one known as Mordird would still die. Very tempting," the dragon father admitted. The anthro looked at him with pleading ruby eyes.

"Please, Papa?" the boy begged. "Would it work?"

"...Fine... but I won't let him forget his past." The dragon hoisted Mordird onto his back. Then, he walked away, his son following.

~~~

Hours later, the black dragon, to his own shock, woke up. He was alive! He found himself tucked comfortably into a bed. "Did someone find it in their heart to show me kindness?" he wondered. "But why...? I'm a monster..."

"Not anymore," said a friendly voice. Mordird looked to see two anthros entering the room, a blue-scaled one, and a gray-furred one. "Hello, Mordird. My name is Tobias, and this is my older brother, Nico," the blue-scaled boy said. The gray anthro nodded concisely.

"Nice to meet you... did you bring me here?" the black dragon asked.

"Tobias did, yes," Nico said.

"Our Papa is making you something yummy, and has a nice surprise for you!" revealed Tobias. Mordird groaned, feeling a slicing pain in his back.

"But.. I burnt down buildings, and hurt innocent humans. I even turned a human boy into a dragon and made him a slave!" The black dragon sighed. "I'm a monster..."

"Yes, you are," said an adult voice, low and filled with bitterness. Mordird saw another dragon enter the room, a full dragon with blue scales. He glared down at Mordird. "And you deserve to die. But my son has convinced me to let you live.. under a condition."

"A... condition?" Mordird asked. He bit down on his tongue gently, a nervous habit he'd acquired.

"Yes. To find out what that condition is..." The full dragon set a cup of some red liquid down on a table next to the bed. "I assume you know what to do with that."

As Mordird picked up the cup, two things came to mind about what the liquid could be. Perhaps it was blood, meant to symbolize the pain of those he'd hurt. Or perhaps... it was poison. He was at first too scared to even take a sip. but he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder- Tobias's hand.

"It's okay, Mordird. It's not poison or anything. Don't be afraid," the dragon boy reassured.

Mordird decided to trust the blue dragon. He gulped the strange drink down, certain that it was, in fact, a poison of some kind. He braced himself, expecting the chill of death to rip through his body at any minute. But instead, he felt a warm, gentle feeling, like he was finally forgiven for his sins. All his guilt and worry faded away, and Mordird felt like he was shrinking in size. And when he opened his eyes, to his shock, he WAS! The next thing the black dragon knew, he looked like a child, same age as Tobias.

That wasn't all. Mordird watched his fur in surprise as it lightened in color, going from black to gray, and finally to a soft, innocent white. Mordird then felt immerse energy flow into him, and he coughed out a small white flame. "What in the world?"

"Wow! That was so cool!" Tobias was in awe.

"The condition is that you start your life over again as a new dragon... but I did not expect you to become a white dragon. Perhaps this is a sign," the full dragon said. Mordird could only look down at his new, white-clad form with a mix of emotions.

"What do you mean by a sign, Papa?" Tobias asked.

"I think it might be a sign that this... this despicable being..." The full dragon shot a glare at Mordird, who tensed up. "...That he was meant to be forgiven. White dragons are blessed, as you know."

"So the Dragon of Light's blessed Mordird with forgiveness! That's wonderful!" Tobias said. "I'm so happy for you, brother." He gave Mordird a loving hug.

Mordird blushed. "Forgiveness... The honor of being the opposite of what I was..." But a thought hit him. "Wait.. brother?"

Tobias nodded. "Yup! You can't exactly live on your own, you being a cub and all, but you can live with us!"

"But you'll probably need to let go of your current name, and live for the rest of your life with a new one," mused Nico. "People are probably going to treat you like crap if they know just who you are."

"I've already prepared a name for you," the full dragon said. He then cast a powerful dragon spell the while dragon's mind. Soon, the name mordird was gone, replaced with a new name. "Tell me who you are."

The dragon who was once Mordird thought hard. "My... name... it's Mordechai. I was once a terrible monster of a dragon, but I can't remember what my name was. I did horrible things, crimes I thought unforgivable. I was a heartless monster and I deserved to die." His eyes watered, but he wiped his tears with the blanket and continued. "But I was forgiven... blessed by the Dragon of Light himself, and given a second chance. I won't mess it up, I promise." He gave the adult a hopeful smile.

"Good boy."

But Tobias's tail jabbed the full dragon's belly. "I'm warning you now, Papa, don't treat Mordechai like a pet."

"Fine."

Then, Mordird, now Mordechai, looked at Nico, noting with a little nervousness that Nico was a few years older than he and Tobias. "Nico?" he asked. "I kind of don't feel comfortable with you being older than me... uh... I'm sorry..."

"Huh? Mordechai... what do you mean by-" Suddenly, an aura of white light erupted around Nico. The next thing Nico knew, he was standing in baggy clothes. He looked down at himself with surprise. "What in the name of..."

Mordechai's jaw dropped. "Did... did I do that? Oh, my... I'm sorry, Nico!" he apologized.

"It seems Mordechai is already tapping into his white dragon powers. He's accidently regressed Nico into an age seven dragon boy," the father said.

"Really?" Nico looked at Mordechai. "Wow... that's actually pretty cool."

"Looks like your mother is in for a suprise when she comes home."

Tobias smiled at Mordechai. "Don't worry, brother. Our mom is super nice."

"You sure?" Mordechai asked. "Uh... is she, by chance... related to one of the humans I hurt?"

"Well... you did turn her nephew into a fire dragon and all... don't worry, he's back to normal, I swear it!" Tobias added hastily, seeing Mordechai's expression of horror.

"So... he's my cousin now..."

Tobias nodded. "Oh, and as a little interesting fact, he said that while he was happy to be human again, he was okay with being a free dragon." Mordechai didn't know what to make of that tidbit of information. "Anyway, let's get you and Nico into some clothes," Tobias said, escorting them into another room. Mordechai was grateful for the change of subject, and once he got his new clothes (a blue shirt and a pair of shorts), he had to admit that they looked fairly nice on him.

"Nice outfit, bro!" Tobias complimented.

"Thank you, Tobias..." said Mordechai.

"Please, call me Toby. After all, I AM your new brother."

"I can't believe I have to wear my kid clothes again," Nico complained. Toby just play-punched him.

"Well, well, well. Mordechai, you look nice," said the father dragon, entering that room. Mordechai blushed. "But this will make it perfect. " The father placed a bracelet on Mordechai's wrist. "Will that do?" Mordechai nodded, not wanting to displease his new father. "It's a special little item that protects its wearer from the temptations of what he or she doesn't want to do. It should keep you from being a naughty boy."

Toby and Nico gave their father a sharp look. "Papa, just stop," Toby complained. "Mordechai isn't Mordird anymore. He's not evil."

"And I'm going to see to it that he doesn't become one."

"Leave that to us, Dad," Nico said.

"Ugh... fine, but the bracelet stays on."

"I.. I really don't mind the bracelet, to be honest," Mordechai piped up.

"If you say so, bro. Come on, everyone in town's gonna meet the new you," Toby said. He grabbed Mordechai's arm, ignoring the white dragon's protests, and yanked him out of the house.

~~~

"Nice to meet you, Mordechai!" said a human boy, after Toby had given Mordechai a tour of the town. "Wanna play?"

Mordechai looked very uncomfortable. "If- if it's okay with you, I'd rather not."

"Still not fully used to being in a new town?" asked a full red dragon.

"No, I'm not... I don't want to play with anyone right now..." The white dragon averted his eyes. "Please leave me alone."

"It's okay, we won't bite. In fact, everyone will want to be your friend, Mordechai," the red dragon said.

"...why?"

"Well, white and black dragons only come around every so often, and the belief around here is that white dragons are blessed, or holy or something."

"Yeah," said the human boy. "They say white dragons are representives of the Dragon of Light, meant to do good things, to relay messages to dragons, anthros, and humans."

Mordechai stared at the human and the full dragon for a moment. "...that's stupid," he stated flatly. "I used to know a white dragon who constantly beat me up in my home town. In fact, white dragons were always hurting me." It was still a shock to him that he was a white dragon now.

"But regardless, me and Pyros make friends with people because of who they are," the human said. "So... will you be our friend, Mordechai? Please?"

"Sure..." Mordechai said. "If you want me to, I will..."

"Cool! Come on, Nathan and I'll treat you to a milkshake," Pyros said. Immediately, Mordechai brightened- he'd only ever had one milkshake in his life, and he'd loved it.

"Really? That's nice of you... Thanks." He smiled at Pyros and Nathan.

~~~

Soon, it was sunset, time to head inside.

"That milkshake was really good..." reminisced Mordechai, walking home. He'd strengthened his relationship with Nathan and Pyros somewhat, and become somewhat fond of them. He was still leery about other people, but he was glad that he had new friends. Idly, the young dragon stretched his wings a bit.

When he arrived at his new home, the father dragon was waiting for him, with his new human mother.

"Hello again, sir... hello, ma'am," Mordechai greeted.

"Mordechai, this is your mother, Sonya. I explained everything to her from a non-biased point of view."

Sonya extended a hand to Mordechai, who shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mordechai. Raymos told me everything that happened, and I don't hold a grudge on you. Don't worry, my child," she said.

"Thank you... Mama..." Mordechai's brilliant sapphire eyes shone.

"Come in, dinner's on the table," Sonya said. Mordechai followed her and Raymos into the house, into the warm, rich brown walls.

~~~

After dinner, Sonya shooed Nico and Toby off to go with Mordechai to get dressed for bed.

"Thank you for being so kind to me, you two..." Mordechai said, selecting a set of Toby's nightclothes to wear.

"That's what brothers do- look out for each other," Toby replied, putting on his footed pajamas.

"It's true," confirmed Nico.

"Oh, Nico, need some pajamas? Yours are probably too big now." Toby offered Nico a set of grey pajamas. The formerly-older sibling took them without comment.

Toby brings Mordechai into his room, which had a bunk bed. "Guess that Papa agreed to let you sleep in my room while you were out," Toby said. He got onto the top bunk, Mordechai taking the other one.

"Do you like being a new dragon, Mordechai?" Toby asked.

"I do... it's nice to not be hated everywhere I go," Mordechai said. "Though I still don't wanna talk to people too much."

"Well, luckily, school just got out yesterday, so you've got time to adjust." Toby chuckled.

"...yeah. Uh... again, thank you for forgiving me, Tobias- I mean, Toby."

"You're welcome, Mordechai. Good night." Toby turned off the room's light, and was snoring away in seconds. Mordechai couldn't sleep, though. His mind was swimming with the day's events. In the space of a single day, he'd been turned into a white-furred seven-year-old with a new name, gained a new family, been forgiven (still a shock!), and made two friends.

He honestly couldn't be happier.