There’s a form of magic called humalism, that’s present in some individuals at the time of their birth, that will eventually allow them to shape shift and make use of abilities of a specific animal. Malla happens to have humalism that allows him to take the form and use the abilities of a type of dragon native to the region he lives. Of course, a military power would want anyone with the potential to wield powerful magic and strength; Malla’s parents sold him to the government of their kingdom while he was an infant.
People with humalism, the humals, are often looked down upon as subhuman in this kingdom (despite being fully human with their appearance affected by this strange magic). Together with the fear of dragons, who often require a large subjugation force to deal with wild ones who impede on human lands. People feared Malla. Even as a child, and only seemed to worsen after the first time he transformed at the age of 5. They all feared that Malla would eventually turn on them, but the king himself wanted Malla trained. What better weapon could someone have than a trained dragon. Malla was never seen as a human.
He never understood why he was feared and not accepted. People always smiled when they saw people that they were glad to see, when they were happy. So, he often smiled, even when it didn’t feel right. He worked hard to try to please his teachers, dually raised and taught by the royal mages as well as upper echelon of the military. Trying to master all the tasks given to him, mostly combat and militaristic skills.
After he was first sent into battle when he was around the age of 12, Malla performed as hoped. But this made people even more frightened. The small bit of human that people saw in him was a child capable of destroying the enemy frontlines.
The fact that he did as he was told, did as he was raised to do, but nothing got better confused him. he struggled for years, eventually breaking and using the battlefield as a place for him to vent. Raining down fire without bothering to focus on solely the enemy, causing a small number of casualties to his “allies”. Despite his previous performances, no one seemed surprised, as if every previous time that Malla performed with notably better success at targeting their foes were simply a fluke.
Acting like a dragon, not as a human, seemed to put Mallamark in a better light. An animal shouldn’t have such a firm understanding of who to target in such a chaotic place. They seemed to not fear the notion of the trained dragon, as much as the human mind behind it.
Malla was accepted if he played the part of a monster, even if he couldn’t gain any close bonds or friendship, he desired out of it. He was a least praised. He started to slowly be rebellious in other areas, only partially following orders. Because he never fully stepped out of line, he was tolerated. Although the destruction and ally casualties he caused on the warfront caused him to only be used as a last measure.
But Malla had created a reputation for himself, and many of the nation's enemies acted in caution knowing that Sorhure had this dragon in their hands. Malla began to primarily reside at the royal castle. His primary duty was simply to appear in his dragon form, now a symbol synonymous of Sorhure’s military power. He was known as the Dragon of Sorhure.
He began to walk about with confidence. Giving those who whispered ‘monster’ under their breath a bright yet insidious smile. Being a monster was simply what was expected of him.
This status only began to change when a sea wyvern humal from the neighboring country of Kalidy (one of the few countries neighboring Sorhure that had relatively peaceful relations with each other) was blackmailed into coming to Sorhure to assist the military. Due to the wyvern, Wyatt Quivet’s, background as the adopted son of a noblewoman there, he couldn’t be used in any international battlefronts. But there was a rebellious force within Sorhure’s own borders, led by a sea serpent humal, that Wyatt would be incredibly useful in dealing with.
Malla was assigned to remain in the unit Wyatt was to work for. Malla might not have been trusted fully, but he was viewed better than Wyatt, who although was Sorhurian in birth, was raised by foreigners. Malla was essentially meant to keep Wyatt in check. Or course people noticed that Malla was shockingly obedient around Wyatt. They worried it was some secret communication between the dragons.
Although the reality was that Wyatt, despite Malla’s reputation, simply treated Malla like he would anyone else, and as another dragon, Wyatt had no reason to be afraid of Mallamark. Malla simply didn’t want to do anything to ruin the friendship he’d wanted his whole life.
Eventually the people who noticed how Malla acted towards Wyatt, got the notion that using Wyatt was a way to control Malla would be far more beneficial than having Wyatt deal with some rebels. Although imprisoning Wyatt ended up breaking any desire for Malla to remain loyal to Sorhure. And with some external help, Wyatt was rescued. But now Malla was a traitor and Wyatt couldn’t casually return home without causing political strife between Kalidy and Sorhure.