Prologue

"Power. Haven. Revenge. Join me and you will get all of that. We will be feared by our enemies. Anybody that gets in my way will be executed. I prefer not to do that, but nothing will stop us on our path for conquest. We can expand our territories- dragons will beg to join our ranks. So what do you say?"

Her moon-white scales would be beautiful, if they were not stained with blood. She's got crimson markings and one blood-red paw that she murders with. Many think that her scales are forever marked with blood- that it sunk into her scales and recolored it.

And her forces are the strongest and most merciless in all of history.

She's called the Bloody Moon, not only because of her white and red markings, but she is the moon- the symbol of darkness.

Chapter One

Tests and Stained Paws

Earlier

Once all of the battling dragons are gone, Skurge leads me down the mountain. I walk with my head held high as we weave through the houses. He said he's got to show me to the Outcast leader, Alvin. "I assume that he's in our hospital," Skurge is saying, "because your mother left a good scratch on his chest."

I growl as he says, "mother". I will never forget what my kin has done to me…how they treated me. But Skurge said that here, I'll be valued and needed. And that's just how I like it.

Some of the dragons that we pass shoot me strange looks. Skurge sometimes talks to them, but it doesn't last too long.

Finally, we reach the hospital, which is basically a large shack. He makes a noise and I hear somebody start talking.

"I'm fine. My dragon wants to show me something."

"Chief Alvin, I insist that you stay seated. You could start bleeding again."

"Keep me confined in here and I will have you executed!"

"…"

A large, burly man walks out and looks at Skurge and I. He must be Alvin.

He looks at me and grins, "What a lovely surprise. Good job, Skurge." I yelp as he picks me up roughly by my scruff. "At least I can show them your dead body."

My eyes widen and I look at Skurge, who is watching us emotionlessly. "Prove yourself." He mutters. It takes me a second to realize what he means, but when I do, I nod and start clawing and biting. Swinging my legs, I wrap around his arm and dig my claws in as deep as I can. More of that blood stuff comes out and splatters on my scales. He grits his teeth in pain and flings me off.

I pick myself up quickly and crouch, ready to fight. Alvin gazes at me, but differently this time. It's full of interest…curiosity.

"This one's a fighter." He says and Skurge nudges him. "With the proper training…you could be useful. But I want to get my revenge on the Berks."

He starts pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. I grin and look up at Skurge. "Do you think he'll let me stay?" I ask and flex my claws, "I want to be trained. I want to prove myself to Nate and Irria."

The older dragon nods, "I think he'll make an acception."

"But what if he wants to kill me?" I ask, not knowing what 'kill' means but knowing that it's bad.

"Then its up to you to escape. I can't help."

I stay quiet and turn back to Alvin, who has come to a stop in front of us. "Okay," he says gruffly, "this is what we'll do. We're going to train you, and then you're going to help us get revenge on the Vikings of Berk another way. But, you need to prove yourself in a way other than clawing my arm. We'll have you do the murder test. If you succeed, then we'll do the plan. If not, well," he laughs, "I'll have your body anyways."

I grin and shuffle my paws excitedly. I don't know what murder means, but it kinda sounds like purrer. "This is awesome!" I say to Skurge, "I'm great at purring!"

He looks at me with wide white eyes, "It's not-"

"Well, let's get started shall we?" Alvin interrupts. We walk towards some sort of scoop in the ground a bit away. It's surrounded by a fence and pointy stuff. I tilt my head in curiosity as we get closer.

Skurge nudges me into the low ring through an entrance and then backs out of it. He and Alvin soon reappear behind the cage-like fence on top of the place. "This is an arena." Skurge says, "Your test will begin shortly."

I give a little bounce of excitement and start purring for practice. "I'm pretty good at this," I purr, "I'll be training in no time."

"No," he growls, "look kid, murder means to kill. This is a fight to the death, do you understand?" I say no, but from the way he's speaking, I can tell something bad is going to happen.

Before anything else can happen, a Monstrous Nightmare suddenly bursts into the arena. "Kill him!" I hear Skurge shrill.

I don't understand! What does kill mean? And what's death? My thoughts are interrupted when the Nightmare leaps at me. I only just dodge the attack. The dragon whips around and snarls at me. Why is he trying to…kill me? My eyes widen in realization.

Flashback

Mama picks Nate up by the scruff and carries him away from the gate. "You must never go out there, children." She says once she put him down.

"Why not?" Irria asks curiously.

"There are bad things out there. Things that would kill you without hesitation."

"Oh no." I mutter and dodge another attack. Death must mean to be not alive. He's trying to kill me! And…I have to kill him! But I've never killed another dragon before! What do I do?

The Nightmare leaps at me and I dive underneath him so he crashes into the wall. This only makes him angrier.

He quickly recovers and sends a burst of flames in my direction. I scramble out of the way but my tail gets singed a little. Without thinking, I spring onto his head and claw his eyes. The dragon screeches and throws me off.

I must've blinded him because he's now stumbling around. "Ahh, that was a good tactic!" Alvin yells. While he's confused, I try to figure out how to kill the Nightmare. Mama said that the thumping in my chest is my heart, and that everything needs one. But I don't think I can bite that deep.

Thinking as fast as I can, I start to panic a little when the Nightmare turns its head towards me. My head starts to spin and I realize that I'm holding my breath. Breath…that's it!

The dragon fires at me and I duck. Crawling under the spraying flames, I stalk towards him and stop right under his chin. When the flames stop coming, he raises his head to sniff the air for me. Seizing the chance, I leap and sink my baby teeth into his throat.

I hear a screech of pain and then feel pain on my back as the Nightmare sends me soaring into the opposite wall. I cry in pain as I fall to the ground, dazed. He follows the sound of my voice and dives towards me. That's it. It's all over. He's going to kill me no matter what.

Time seems to slow down as he's in mid-leap. I look up at Skurge and Alvin, who are watching me intently. Then, I notice that I'm next to a patch of pointy rocks. I can't give up! Weather I like it or not, this is my home.

Time plays fast again and, thinking quickly, I grab one of the sharp rocks in my jaws. Squirming around, I move just enough that the dragon's face collides with the wall. Then, I jerk my head and stab the monster's throat with the stone.

I whimper as I feel one of my teeth break and taste blood. Using my paws, I push it in deeper. The Monstrous Nightmare screams and jolts in agony, then stops and goes limp.

His heavy head squashes me and I try to climb out from under him. Once I do, I spit out a tooth and look at my bloodstained paws. Then, I slowly turn my gaze to the dead Monstrous Nightmare, who now has a pool a blood surrounding him. A wave of nausea come over me and feel like I'm going to vomit. I'm sore all over, and my mouth is throbbing. "Good job, kid." I look up to see Skurge and Alvin walking to me.

"Ah ha, I knew this one would be good!" Alvin declares, "I'm going to call you Stoneblood." I tilt my head as he leads us out of the arena after calling somebody to 'clean up the mess'. Stoneblood?

Then, I remember the bloody stone next to my stained paws as I stood before the dead body. Skurge notices me acting all quiet and nudges me. "It didn't feel right." I reply without looking at him.

"Then imagine that he's one of your siblings that teased you a lot. You would prove to your other sibling that you are strong."

I huff, "Yeah."

They show me where I'm going to sleep, which is in a den carved out of a wall. As I settle down and Alvin leaves, Skurge asks, "What's your name, kid?"

"Phoenix."

Sorry, that was a violent start. But it won't be like that until she grows up some more