...In Main Characters, Hybrids, Dragons

Nicholas Hayes-Zakharov

A half-human Dragon, Nicholas is the middle child of the Altman-Germaine siblings. Well-known in town for his skills as a mage, he spends most of his time either studying his craft, mentoring his younger brother, or involved in some shenanigan out in town.

Biography

Early Years

Nicholas was born ██████ Altman Germaine in the early 90s to Rose Altman and Merle Germaine, a Dragon woman from Drasalya, and part of the infamous Altman family of dark mages, and an avian man whom she met on a trip to Marseilles. However, when Nicholas was still very young, Merle left Rose to be with his ex-wife. Shortly after that, Rose passed away while on a trip to Vershade. Since she had gone alone to a Human country, completely disconnected from Drasalyan infrastructure, no one could identify the baby. As a result, he was automatically placed into the local human foster system. Given these circumstances, Nick was given a new name and raised as a regular human child, completely unaware of his true nature and identity.

Early Childhood

His time in foster care had its ups and downs, while most of the places he lived at were perfectly fine, and some even good, some others were catastrophic and deeply affected him and his development, leaving deep psychological scars that would last well into adulthood. In one home, he was subjected to constant verbal abuse and belittlement, which left him with a deep sense of insecurity and low self-esteem. In another, he was neglected and left to fend for himself, often going hungry and without proper clothing or shelter. He also experienced physical abuse in one home, which left him with lasting physical scars and trauma. All of these experiences contributed to a difficult and painful childhood for Nick. One of the most notable incidents was the time the family he was with, being deeply religious, were extremely controlling over his body, which devolved into an extreme reticence to anyone cutting, dyeing or even styling his hair.

It was during this time when he was still going to a public school, that he met who would become his closest childhood friend, Luna.

Luna was a cheerful human girl with a large family who immediately took a liking to the weird quiet kid in class, and approached him. They became fast friends and were inseparable. Nick was a very sensitive child, and often picked on for his unusual appearance, red eyes, and deep violet hair, and since he hated anyone messing with it, he was an easy target for bullies. Luna would always step in and defend him, or at the very least help him pick himself up afterward, and was an invaluable friend to him during those years.

They often got into shenanigans, some harmless and others more mischievous. They would sneak out at night to catch fireflies and release them in her room, creating a magical, glowing atmosphere that would be a nightmare for her parents to deal with in the morning. They would also play pranks on their classmates, putting fake spiders in their lockers or swapping their backpacks. One time, they tried to make a potion from random ingredients they found in Nicholas's foster home's kitchen, but it ended up exploding and staining the walls with a bright pink color. Despite the occasional mishap, they always managed to have a good time together, and over time, Nick developed a massive crush on her. He would never tell her, but he had falled head over heels for her.

Soon enough, Nick started questioning his gender identity. This was a confusing time for the then pre-teen, as he never had a solid family unit or close family as a young child to solidify what gender was or what it meant to him, so he was extremely confused for a while. Luna was supportive, however, and stole money from her parents to help him buy things to feel more comfortable in his own body, like binders, period underwear, or more masculine clothing. It took some experimentation, but by the time he was 12, he was pretty set on his gender identity, partly due to the adults in his life at the time pushing against it.

Early Teens

As a half-dragon, it was only a matter of time before his true nature caught up with him. His horns started to grow out, which caused him splitting, debilitating migraines, his skin itched and burned from his scales coming out for the first time, and the tail. The tail was its own adventure.

He just woke up with it one day, following several weeks of back pain. It was a shock, and he had no idea what to do with it. It was heavy, and an entirely new limb that he had no idea how to control. It threw off his center of balance, making it hard to even stand straight, let alone walk. The same morning he got it, he broke it while trying to figure it out. The pain was indescribable and he couldn't move for several days after, paralyzed by it. He wasn't sure how to handle it, much less his very human caretakers, so it eventually healed on its own, broken as it was, and it set wrong, so his tail is became permanently hooked at the end.

That wasn't the biggest problem, however. Since he was now obviously, visibly non-human, he could no longer be hosted at the human foster system. He tried applying to the local non-human services, but they also rejected him, as he was apparently too human for them. So he was left stranded, stuck in the valley in between, suddenly homeless, with no one to look after him or provide for him.

Luna's parents agreed to let Nick move into their basement temporarily, under the lie that he was still waiting for the non-human services to sort through the paperwork. It was a converted mini apartment that the family was intending to rent, so it wasn't bad at all, but he knew he was on a timer, any day they would find out he had been rejected by the system and wouldn't allow him to stay there indefinitely.

During this time, he started going out more, finding the mood in the house suffocating and anxiety-inducing. As he spent more time out on the streets, he inevitably started meeting people. Amongst them, other kids in the same situation as him, part-human hybrids that fell through the cracks of the system. They quickly formed a small group, sticking together and supporting each other. His closest friends within the group were Laetitia, a half-human avian girl in almost the exact circumstance as him, and Luca, a half-human Tamer who lived with his older sister who struggled with his trailing. Luca's aurasthesis, poorly adapted to his part-human anatomy, gave him projective trail-color synesthesia, which caused his trail sense to project in the middle of his vision as shapes and colors. This had the side effect of making him effectively blind when surrounded by more than three or four people.

They were a solid team and got into many shenanigans. They often found themselves wandering the city, exploring new neighborhoods, and trying to find new places to hang out. They would often sneak into abandoned buildings and set up makeshift campsites, using whatever materials they could find to make themselves comfortable.

One of their favorite pastimes was creating street art. They would find abandoned walls or buildings and use spray paint or chalk to create colorful murals and designs. They even started getting a reputation in the local art scene after a while.

They also loved to play music together. They often scavenged for discarded items and sometimes found usable instruments in dumpsters or abandoned buildings. They also had friends in the local music community who would lend them instruments or let them practice in their studios. Occasionally, they saved up enough money from busking to purchase their instruments from pawn shops or secondhand stores. They learned to play their instruments through trial and error, watching and learning from other musicians they encountered. They spent hours practicing together, experimenting with different sounds and styles, and refining their skills. Nick had a talent for playing the guitar, Luca was a skilled bassist, and Laetitia had a beautiful singing voice. They would often set up on a street corner or in a park and play impromptu concerts for passersby. They weren't professional musicians by any means, but they managed to make a little bit of money from tips and donations every so often. Whether it was because they were good or because people felt bad for them is anyone's guess.

Another one of their favorite activities was urban exploration. They loved to find hidden or abandoned places in the city and explore them, often finding unusual or interesting artifacts along the way. They even once found an old, rusted safe in an abandoned building, which they spent hours trying to crack. It turned out to be empty, of course, but they made a surprising amount selling it as scrap metal after the fact, so it wasn't a total loss.

During this time, Nick grew distant from Luna. They didn't have any particular disagreement, they were simply growing apart due to circumstances. She tried to rekindle their friendship constantly, afraid of getting replaced by his new, "cooler" friends. Eventually, she caught their attention by introducing them to the daughter of an old family friend, Jean, a Human Mage.

Nick, Luca, and Laetitia, as non-humans, were itching to get into magic themselves, wanting to connect with that part of their identity, so they jumped at the opportunity to meet someone who could teach them. Luca and Laetitia learned some of the basics but got bored fairly quickly. Nicholas however, felt like he'd found the missing piece he's been searching for all of his life. He was talented, and magic came easy to him, like second nature. he ate through all the books and resources Jean let him borrow, and even begged her to teach him more. Jean, reluctantly, let him borrow one of her father's most priced possessions. A handwritten grimoire by one Maxwell Altman, a famous dark magic teacher from Drasalya, from the Altman family of dark mages. Neither she nor her father had managed to understand the intricacies of the grimoire, likely because it was written by and for dragons of the Altman family, but she figured, since Nick was half dragon, he could maybe get more off it than they could.

Nick poured over that book for months, devouring it, reading and rereading it over and over. A lot of the terminology in it was far too advanced for him to understand, but it still served to introduce him to the world of the dark arts, unknowingly learning the secrets of his own family's magic.

He went so far as to hand-make a copy of the book, rewriting every single page, sigil, and drawing in several of his notebooks, before giving the original back to Jean.

He spent the better part of the next year absorbed into it, trying to crack the contents of the book, page by page, cross-referencing every passage. He didn't get too far on his own, but he was slowly chipping at it, and he was confident in enough time, he'd master every single thing that book had to teach him.

No amount of academic interest could stop the teenage drama, however, and things once again started to shake in his life.

Luna, wanting to find new common ground with her old friend, asked Jean to teach her some theoretical magic. As a human, Luna couldn't perform magic without breaking the taboo and becoming a mage, but she could still learn the theory behind it, and have something to talk about with his friend again. With the taboo behind it, however, she'd have to keep it hidden from her parents.

It worked for a while, however before she could talk to Nick about it like she wanted, he brought up how she was home less and less lately. She didn't want to reveal what she was doing yet, and without thinking about it, she lied and told him she was sneaking out to see Jean in secret, because they were dating, and her parents wouldn't want her dating a human mage.

He was, understandably, shocked and heartbroken, but couldn't find the way to express his feelings about it properly, so instead, he got upset. They had a small argument, and he left the house for what he didn't know, would be the last time.

That night, because of the stress of the situation, Luna forgot to hide her study journals, and her mother found them. Not knowing Luna was hanging out with Jean, she assumed the half-human new mage living in her basement was the one teaching her daughter magic and was infuriated. The next time she saw Nick, she reacted in anger, accused him of "corrupting" her daughter, and kicked him out of the house.

Nick was horrified, believing Luna had been the one to tell her mom that as retaliation for their argument. As ludicrous as that conclusion was, he was too shaken by the experience to think clearly, and now being well and truly homeless, and believing his closest friend had betrayed him, he went off on Luna when she went to look for him at the place he used to hang out with Luca and Laetitia. The three of them were ruthless to her, driving her to tears before she finally left.

Luca felt terrible about it immediately, but Nick and Laetitia wouldn't listen to him, and eventually, he had to drop it or risk them cutting him off the group as well.

Teenage Years

Time passed, and eventually, things calmed down. Nick stayed with Luca most often. He'd grown bitter and spiteful with time, easy to anger, and in general more meanspirited. His friends understood, they had gone through everything together after all, but they were still worried for him and his mental health, as it was quickly deteriorating. He was no longer the quiet, sensitive little kid he used to be. He now picked fights himself, finding some form of catharsis in physical altercations, and was terrible at taking care of himself. He smoked like a chimney and skipped meals often, usually saying the idea alone of food gave him nausea, instead satiating hunger with caffeine or alcohol and cigarettes. They could see him spiraling, quickly losing weight, and becoming almost unrecognizable, but didn't know what to do. how could they? they were just kids.

Thankfully for everyone, it was during this difficult period that he met Silver, A local ex-mercenary who had retired to a small apartment in the old part of town with her platonic life partner. While an ex-mercenary and her partner might sound like a terrible thing to mix with a self-destructive violent teenager, Silver had always had a soft spot for children. Having grown up on the streets herself, raised by her older brother, she understood his circumstances better than anyone and didn't have the heart to ignore him.

It was his luck that her partner, Abel, happened to be not only a Dragon, like him, but an extremely well-regarded professional Mage as well. That's what made Nick accept Silver's offer of a room at her house.

Silver and Abel were exactly what he needed. They were both supportive and seemed to genuinely care for him. Silver, instead of chastising him over his tendency to pick fights, taught him how to fight properly. She was an excellent teacher, with years of experience not only in martial arts but in using magic to her advantage. He complained that felt like fighting dirty, which she found amusing. "You do what you need to live" she had said "Rather be a cheater than a corpse".

She spent the most time with him. Since she didn't work anymore, she was home a lot. He was hesitant at first, but slowly, they started talking. and they talked a lot. Silver was just easy to talk to. She never judged him, never questioned his choices. She just listened, only intervening to ask questions, or when he asked her some. He didn't even realize how much he talked at first, but she didn't seem to mind. It wasn't until weeks later that he noticed, Silver had taken advantage of his long rants, where he was distracted, to trick him into eating. She would always casually heat up food while they talked, along with some tea or coffee, saying it was for her, but always gave him a plate, "in case he wants some", and sneaked food into it all through their conversations. He was shocked that that had worked. He only noticed the one time she snuck something

She almost dragged him to the hospital. He hated them, and couldn't stand even being near them, but Silver insisted too strongly, and he started to feel uncomfortable refusing, unconsciously afraid that she'd eventually get fed up, and abandon him like all his caretakers before had done.

It turned out that he had multiple food allergies. He was allergic to both beef and chicken, and it was surprising that he hadn't experienced severe allergic reactions, considering how long he'd been consuming them. Additionally, he was lactose intolerant and had difficulty digesting gluten. He was taken aback by the discovery, but Silver was horrified to learn that she had been feeding him things he was allergic to without realizing it.

After that, the entire household became almost entirely vegan overnight, Silver being extremely paranoid about cross-contamination, which Abel found annoying, but didn't complain too much. Eventually, he got an entire separate fridge and cooking utensils for Nick, so he could go back to his regular diet without Silver freaking out on him. Nick was flabbergasted they'd be okay with spending that much money just to accommodate him. He wasn't sure how to deal with those feelings, but it was the start of him actively choosing to lower his guard with them. It was hard to trust, but he thought, after all that effort, the least he could do was try.

Abel wasn't home every day. He didn't say what he did for work, and Silver always joked about how he didn't contribute to rent, but he always seemed to have a lot of money. He was the one who did most of the groceries for the household and insisted on taking Nick shopping at least once a month. Nick didn't get it, but Abel eventually confessed he had a younger brother around his age that he hadn't seen since he was a teenager, and he felt guilty about "abandoning him", whatever that meant, so he was being selfish wanting to spoil Nick to help soothe that feeling of guilt. "Humor me" he'd said, and Nick let him.

Nick liked being around Abel. It was fascinating to him to see a Dragon who was raised as one. Everything about his draconic nature was just so...natural. His tail moved as if on its own, it gestured and gesticulated just as much as his hands when he talked. His wings, too, moved along with him and his expressions, sometimes even betraying his true feelings. Nick noticed how Abel always kept his wings held high, not wanting them to drag on the floor, but always forgot when he was around Silver, his lower shoulders relaxing, letting the long primary feathers drag on the floor.

Abel also, after much begging, became his main magic mentor. He sat with him often, starting over from the beginning, explaining all the fundamental concepts back to him, but in much more detail. Abel respected him enough not to assume he didn't know what he was doing, but he was aware Nick hadn't had a formal magical education, so going over the fundamentals was crucial, even if he already knew them.

Nick didn't mind much, since Abel went so much more in-depth about every concept than any book he'd read before. Finally, after so long, when he went back to his notes about the old grimoire, things started to make sense. Abel kept poking fun and those notes, since the dark arts are dark for a reason, they're the least understood schools of magic there are, and thus the hardest to master. Of course, someone as hot-headed and stubborn as Nick would want to delve into the most stubborn school of magic there was.

Overall, Nick was doing much better. Luca and Leetitia were relieved, noticing him slowly go back to the person he used to be. Not quite as gentle, he was far too jaded for that but just...happier. It wasn't perfect, and he was still struggling, but it was getting better.

Magic

Nicholas becomes proficient at several schools of magic. He's mainly a practitionar of the Dark Arts, but is also skilled in Apothecary, Divination, And very basic Harmonics.

Notes

• He's allergic to both beef and chicken and doesn't like pork, so he's effectively a pescatarian, but he doesn't trust food service places not to accidentally poison him, so he almost exclusively eats out at vegan restaurants. His favorite is the local Vegan McNaldos.
• He's very into japanese synthpop

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