Nioni was soaring solemnly over a vast desert.

It hadn't always been a desert, before the Scorching took hold this had once been a beautiful conifer forest. She barely remembered her hatchhood. It didn't help that her bright yellow scales stuck out in the red sky light a giant neon dot. This thought made her clench her talons in fear, she should have waited until dark, when hunting was safer, but she couldn't watch her flare starve.

Food had been scarce, lots of animal died, rivers dried up, entire species had been wiped out, the only good that had come out of this was the lack of humans.

She spotted something moving down below, and for a moment she was to frozen to move, then she let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was only a coyote, a skinny one, but it was the first one she had seen in months.

Nioni dropped into a stoop. The coyote was a feral animal but if she could surprise it, it would make a fine meal.

It whiped around last second as she pounced on it. Nioni took one look at it's face and yelped in horror. White foam was frothing from it's mouth and it's eyes were glazed and a faint yellow color. It had the Plague.

She leapt away as fast as she could, bit it barked madly and jumped up. She was wildly flapping her wings in attempt to escape. The coyote sank it's teeth into the membrane and started tearing viciously at it, making large tears and splattering her yellow scales with red splotches of her own blood.

She screamed as the poison in the creature started to eat away at her wings before yanking it off and throwing it across the desert. It tumbled and rolled, stirring up dust bunnies as she took off back into the sky throwing droplets of red on the pale sand and speeding quickly towards her flare.

This was not good, not only was she coming back with no food, but she could already feel the poison in her brain. If she didn't make it back quick she die out here in the desert alone.

Her vision swam, and she poured in more speed. Faster, faster, the world was just a blur. Was she falling?

The world went black.

Nioni woke up chained to a cold metal wall.

Her head buzzed annoyingly. The room was dark, but something was lighting it up. It seemed to be close to her, but she couldn't pin point it.

Another dragon melted out from the shadows. He had dull red scales and thin brown wings. Numerous scars marred his body. One ran right through his right eye, leaving it dead and useless.

"Mordecai?" She asked groggily, stepping forward.

As soon as she moved Mordecai took a step back, wincing.

It all became clear.

She looked down at her wing, where the coyote bit her. The would had healed, but there was a pulsing, glowing bite mark. It shined where her wings had ripped. On her shoulder, where her right wing met her body, there was a symbol. A circle with three stripes painted around it. It glowed green in the near perfect darkness.

She had the Plague.

This didn't make any sense to Nioni, from all the tales she had heard of Plague-bitten dragons that had gone insane upon waking, killing every living thing in sight. She didn't feel the urge to kill the dragon in front of her.

"Stay away." Mordecai warned, a fire building up in his throat as a warning.

"I don't understand." Nioni sighed, frustrated.

"It will all make sense soon." He attempted to explain.

His wings dropped, and she gasped and there was another symbol on his shoulder. He had the Plague too.

"Where are we?" She asked, peering around the small space.

In response, Mordecai pressed a small button and the entire room lit up in an eerie green light. She gasped as the chains dropped from around her ankles.

Nioni stood, shaking out her wings.

This wasn't a room. It was a prison.

"Welcome to the New Age." Mordecai growled softly.

There was no door, or window. The air they breathed was filtered through small holes in the walls.

"This is where Plague-bitten dragons go to die." He explained.

Nioni said differently. She felt different now, like she had woken up. She felt it in her bones. She felt almost ready to explode.

"Why haven't I killed you?" she questioned the red drake.

"Because you have excellent anger management? How am I suppose to know?"

She snorted a flame at him, then began prying at the walls.
They were made out of solid Venenum, a material harmful to dragons. She was surprised she didn't feel completely drained just by standing here.

"I'm radioactive." she decided aloud.

"What?"

Something was buzzing in her brain again. The mark on her shoulder glowed fiercely.

There was a clicking noise, and suddenly a white gas began to filter into the room. It smelled of chemicals and Mordecai flapped his wings indignantly.

"Stop!" She shouted as he stirred it into the air more.

She watched as his eyes rolled back into his head and Mordecai slumped to the ground.

Nioni roared in anguish. Clawing fiercely at the walls, she noticed she was glowing brighter now, not just her mark, but all of her.

The wall started melting away at her touch.

She broke through the layer and fell into a room filled with a dozen scrambling scientist dragons. Lights flashed on and off, red mixing with blue in the blind panic. Nioni turned around and pushed the gasping body of Mordecai onto her back.

She kept going through walls until blinding light met her eyes.

And she discovered she was in the middle of a tropical rainforest. Lush green trees grew up everywhere, exotic birds called from the tree tops.

She set Mordecai down of the grass and peered into his eyes. His useful one had dulled over and his breathing came in short rasps.

"Mordecai?" She asked, hoping he could hear her.

He sucked in a deep breath and weakly met her eyes.

"Tell my sister I love her."

He stopped breathing.

She laid his scarred head back on the ground, closing his eyes to make it look like he had been sleeping. Nioni remembered one thing he had said earlier.

She looked around at the impending trees. This was probably a fake forest, or the last one in Drakardia. Where ever she was, she would learn to adapt. She would seek out other dragons, she understood now. The Plague was not evil, it was helping her survive.

"Welcome to the New Age." She whispered into the wind, before leaping from the ground and taking off into the sky.