gold and tar

A body he didn't choose. Not that anyone really did. At least with that one thing, he wasn't special.

But it was everyone around him. He watched how other shifters his age learned to mold their forms as they pleased. Through mistakes and mishaps, they grew and changed.

And in the middle of the town plaza, being forced to watch it unfold around him, Caspian sat alone. Unable to follow. Unable to be genuinely happy for their achievements. Envy and bitterness scratched at his ribs as they attempted to escape the constraints of his very heart.

Yet, in the midst of the pitch-black abyss, he saw a glimmer of hope. A beautiful Fleck of Gold. It gleamed so brightly, that its warmth made him forget his own, sorry situation - even if only for short moments at a time.

But Caspian was no eagle - he was a mere sparrow.

And a magpie looming over him would never let him keep that treasure.