Eijiro was woken up by banging. He jerked a little, a small whine starting it's way out of him. His right eye was covered, limiting his vision. He looked around as well as he could and noticed he was somewhere dark and damp. The banging had come from a man standing on the other side of metal bars. He was in a dungeon.

"Where...?" He managed, his voice shaking.

"It doesn't matter where you are, because you aren't leaving until you're trained." The man spoke, his voice was deep, sounding almost bored with this situation already.

"Trained?"

The man kicked a plate of food under a small gap between the bars. Eijiro hesitated, in fact moving back away from the plate. The chains around his wrists and ankles only further showed how much he was trapped. They were a tough metal that at his current state he had no hope of breaking through.

"Eat." The man commanded as if talking to a dog. Eijiro snarled, "Why do you have me here? Let me go!" he growled, wings attempting to spread out again, only to stop as he realized they too were bound with chains.

The man rolled his eyes, "I said you're going to be trained. You're going to become a good pet, learn to follow every order anyone gives you without question. Lose all sense of what you deem your humanity if dragons can even have that. You'll be back to your true nature. An animal." He explained bluntly.

The dragon snarled, "You aren't going to break me! Might as well just let me go!"

"We've broken many, don't think you're special. You will break with time."

Eijiro attempted to suppress a shudder that ran down his spine, he wouldn't be able to break out, he knew that. But he wasn't going to be broken, he was determined not to be. His gaze made its way back to the plate, the food he was given looked more like mud, a dark sludge that had a hint of some kind of herb on it. Though he couldn't quite pinpoint it, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be able to at this point.

The man simply stared down at him, with cold eyes. He was waiting to see if Eijiro ate. This was his first order, his first command. He only growled once again, "You think that'll work? Just telling me to eat whatever crap you bring me?"

"You'll get hungry enough eventually." With that the man left. No other words or threats.

Eijiro scoffed, if that's what the man thought would break him he was sorely mistaken. He looked around, though still only had half of his vision. He reached up and touched what was covering his eye, "Oh it's a patch..." Guess they were kind enough to patch him up? What was the point of that?

The wound on his legs and stomach seemed to also be fine, sore but not bleeding. He wasn't sure how his wings were, both of them were clasped and held together behind his back like they had been shackled. Though, the pressure was the only thing that felt too off from them, so they apparently had taken care of his wounds in their entirety?

"If we sell it as a full bred dragon, enchant a collar or something to keep it like that, we can make bank, sell it to a king!"

The memory rang in his head, right. They thought they'd be able to sell him and a wounded dragon wouldn't go for as high of a price. "That's not gonna happen." He muttered.

As time went on, he began to notice that the light in the dungeon wasn't changing, even though he was sure a few hours had passed since the night that his village had burned. The dungeon had no windows. From what Eijiro could see through the bars, he was the only one being kept in the cells. There was one across the hall from him, but it was empty.

Was he the only one who lived?

The thought chilled him. He shook his head, there was no way! There were much more powerful dragons in his village than him, surely most of them survived... Surely. His gaze went back down to the plate, he merely growled a little. He wasn't hungry, they couldn't force him to do anything.

He waited, and waited, wanting to see if the man returned. He had no idea how much time had passed, but after quite a bit of waiting, he shrugged and curled up against the stone floor. If he was going to be left alone in the dark he might as well sleep.

The chains however, made that much more difficult. They dug into his skin, restricted his movements and made it hard for him to get comfortable. He growled and huffed, trying to tug and pull his restraints, but all he did was prove to himself how truly trapped he was. While he struggled with the chains, he had kicked the plate back under the bars. Now out of his reach.

Eventually he settled down, resigning to the way the chains would allow him to lay down. His cell was tiny, and the way the chains were attached to the wall, he wasn't sure he could move around fully within it. He carved little marks into the stone with his claws, mostly to occupy his mind.

The dark and silence got to him quicker than he thought. All he could think of was how stark of a difference it was, his village was once full of so much color, light and sound. Hatchlings running around, giggling and laughing as they tried to get used to learning how to use their wings.

As always some general fun roughhousing among the younger adults. As well as some attempting to court one another. Adventurers, explorers, tradesmen, all types came through the village. Interacted freely with the other half dragons, the most inquisitive ones always began asking about culture as long as those they were asking didn't mind.

There was one human that came to mind when thinking about being inquisitive. Eijiro had never gotten his name, he was only in the town for about a day or so, just a pit stop on his trek to a kingdom a bit far from where his village was, and presumably even farther from where he came from. Eijiro happened to be the first half dragon he ran into, and he remembered just how wide those pretty green eyes had gotten. And how they seemed to shimmer with awe and wonder as he excitedly asked questions.

The village was so lively, even at night. There was a fire pit at the center of the village, at sunset, it was lit and everyone would gather around it. The lull of the fire was able to calm and relax even the most excitable, which more often than not was Eijiro. This allowed them to peacefully wind down after the day, allowing everyone to rest easy with a clear head.

He began to tear up at the thought that he would never have that experience again. He remembered how much he used to love it as a kid, his mom would settle him in her lap, and he'd be practically lulled to sleep as the fire crackled.

But now, the thought of a crackling fire made him think of that attack. Within minutes of his mind going down the now blood stained memory lane, he began to sob, openly sob. He missed his friends, he missed his family. It had only been a few hours, a day maybe, and he already missed it all so much.

Instead of falling asleep calmed and content like he had been all his life. Cried himself to sleep, on the hard stone floor with chains digging into his skin, sure to leave bruises by morning.