His third birthday arrives with much less of a herald than his second one did - his belated second birthday present to himself was Vadir, and what more could a man hope to obtain as a gift? This time, there is nothing. It is simply a day, a day that passes in the blink of an eye, and suddenly he's not a two-year-old boy anymore - he is a three-year-old man. It feels odd, and he takes some time to reflect over what the previous year brought with it. He has begun to master the art of battle, and he is a king in the bedroom, as well. He has sired far more children than he'd hoped, yet he would not trade any of them (even the ones who hate him) for anything else.

They are his. The world is his. Everything is his.

The leviathan has tracked this mare closely throughout her pregnancy. It is safe to say that he does not entirely trust her - he got a certain vibe from her, one that implied she was not fully there. He thinks he will need to take this child beneath his wing moreso than the others, and that is exactly what he will do. As ever, his dragons obey his whim to track the winged woman, and he follows in their wake.

But he is late. It is quite unlike him, and he will soon come to regret it - for his eyes are about to fall upon a scene of devastation.

The child, his child, is a mangled mess. The beast's stride increases to a flowing, ground-eating trot, his eyes wide with horror and his heart thumping a stacatto beat in his chest as he spies a sea of blood and pain. It's a filly, he notes as he gets closer; a valuable daughter, future mother of strong grandchilden, future bargaining chip for alliances and favours. But she's....ruined. Her wings are a mutilated mess of sinew and bone, and her eyes....her eyes are gone.

The goliath's stomach clenches, and his throat fills with bile.

The mother is crooning across her broken child, trying to nudge her to her feet. Through the brute's fury-addled mind, he is grateful for this, at least; perhaps she will be a better mother than he'd dared hope. "Nazli, what happened? Who did this? I'll fucking destroy them." His eyes blaze and he crashes one giant hoof hard into the floor, flesh bubbling with barely-contained fury. His voice is a low, deadly growl, thrumming with emotion - he is a man on the edge.

Someone hurt his child. Some scumbag, some coward, some maggot from the depths of the earth, hurt his child.

And he wasn't here to save her. He's let her down, he's failed her. He has never failed before. It is a new emotion for him, and it floods him.