There once was a child, a child who dreamt of spreading his wings, wings which he would use to fly far, far away from the golden cage that is a noble household.
This child's name was Nate. Nate was a very normal person. He had vibrant crimson hair, yellow eyes, and often thought of growing wings to escape his home.
He was a very timid child. An awkward child, one might add. However, for his upbringing, being timid was looked down upon. If one was born inside of a noble household, in the land of the dragons, being awkward was a major setback amongst all of those old coots.
The land of the dragons was governed by seven elders; All of those elders held major military power. They were a very influential figure among the draconic society. Although not as much as any of the royal family. They were very recognizable, with their resplendence golden scales.
But that is a story for another day...
NATE'S POV
I was eleven when on that faithful day I woke up. I got out of bed and stretched. I did what every normal eleven-year-old would do. I had plenty of food with my family. I have a big sister and an older brother, as well as both parents. We all have red hair. Even if we all have a different haircut. My sister has shoulder length hair and is very cheerful.
I like them very much. Although they can be quite intimidating with their great swords hung by their side and their piercing gaze. They are always together, doing adult stuff. I once eavesdropped them and found them talking about war and bloody scenes! Preposterous! As a child, I never knew of this side of the world. I am the last-born son of a baron on a backwater territory. We may not be the wealthiest, but my parents never had to put me through the torture of those obscene details.
"Nate! Have you zoned out again!?" said my mother, giving me a scalding
"S-sorry mom, I was thinking about something." I replied, feeling all apologetic about my evident blunder
"So, as I said, you will soon be attending a gala in order to meet with the others noble children. It is of the upmost important to make connections to expand our family." Angelina continued.
I internally sighed. I knew deep down that I had to attend this meeting to "make connections". In reality, she just wanted to find me a fiancé that I could marry to in order to continue the bloodline.
Even though I was the second-born son a small territory, I still had to attend all of these events.
They were boring. Very boring. Boring to the point where you would start counting the tiles on the ceiling individually.
Painfully slowly. Even counting the unicolor checkboard tiles was more interesting than listening to all of those high princesses speaking and gawking. They were obviously revealing their fortunes in order to attract suitors from other powerful families.
I was resigned. What can I do as a child to avoid this unfathomably cruel fate? In search of an answer to my query, I went to the library after my mom finished scolding me.