[The Maid]
Master Segundus doesn’t like to know we’ve been here. So we move as silently and as quickly as we can when he is not around and he is not aware. It is our duty to serve him, even if he does not desire it.
Today, I am tasked with cleaning any mold I find around bookcases and tables. There is a new table that has only been here for about a week, but I must check it nonetheless.
My gods, it is heavy! What is he storing in this thing? It is probably just boring books or papers. I will see if I can wedge myself around…Dang it. That hurt. I’m going to need to get someone to help.
&ldq
[Primus] Segundus wasn’t expecting to see me awake and sitting next to our father when he came into the hall. He thinks he hid his expression well, but I could see right through his tight smiles and his small bows. He was nervous, and on edge, a clear sign that he needed to think things through and consider the consequences of his words before continuing. I am sure he had hoped to speak to Father and the council alone about my wife before I had a chance to say anything. He was expecting it to take me longer to recover from containment and reorient myself to my surroundings. He underestimated my stamina, strength, and determination. I am a newly mated drake expecting the arrival of his first clutch. That is a powerful force. It is my nature to want to protect her, and I cannot do so if I am stuck in a catatonic state.
[Primus] Taking a deep breath I nod for her to continue. “Just tell me, please. I won’t be mad at you, Ona, for telling me whatever it is you need to say.” Sighing, she takes a deep breath. “One thing I did not share about Daax’s story was what his crew was really doing, pirating the waters and raiding ships.” She begins. “Daax lost his entire family. They had been completely unprepared for the invading army that wiped out their city in a single night. They thought they were safe, living in the Southern Continent. There were treaties in place to keep Luxandra out. They were a sovereign nation after all and on good trading terms with our nation. What would they have to fear?”
[Carnelia] I am awake. Fully awake. And yet, I’m staring at a nightmare. This room is full of horrors. Children suspended in fluid, connected to tubes, naked, and covered in poorly healed scars. Men and women were contained in strange silver beds, their faces visible through a small glass window, their faces in various expressions of rage, grief, or pain, frozen in time, reliving their last remembered horror. I walk deeper into the room. It is cold, colder than the first chill of dawn. My arms and legs are covered in goosebumps, my bare feet cold on the flat stone floor, the color of dried blood and feels stic
[Primus] Carnelia. She is in pain. I don't think, I just react. I can feel everything she is feeling in a swirl of emotions through the rings that we share--her fear, her terror, her confusion. She is alive, but she is not safe, and I need to get to her. I need to find her now. Where is she? I take a breath. Another breath. Feeling outward, following our bond through the rings, I can sense she is close. Very close.
[Ona] Staring into the clear containment chamber, I can see that there is not a single scrap of flesh on Daax that a scalpel has not touched. With forty years to spend tormenting and torturing my mate, Segundus spared nothing. If anything, he was surprisingly meticulous and creative in how he carved him, making it part art and part horror show. I wonder if he was especially ruthless in his attentions because Daax is my mate, that the thought of me mating with a "lowly sun dragon" was a bad enough offense to warrant extra cruelty. Seeing him as he is now I know that even if I free him, he will never be whole again. Not just his body, but also his mind and spirit. This level of destruction goes way beyond breaking a person. This is pulverizing them, removing all traces of who they on
[Carnelia] He won’t stop staring at me. Ona’s mate, Daax, whose first name is Aegir, has not been able to take his eyes off of me since we escaped. I can feel his stare warming my back as we continued our march down the dark tunnel, our naturally glowing sun-kissed skins the only illumination. Ona tried to explain that I reminded him of his sister, lost long ago on that night that he watched his family taken away. Since I have no idea who my family is, I don't even know if we might be related. He certainly looks like he could be my brother. Even so, I know I am not his Jana. I have enough of my memory to know that there is no way that it could be true. Just as the door was about to open
[Segundus] I spent my morning chasing a phantom. My brother's pet human had somehow escaped confinement and has been wandering the halls scaring others who are convinced they saw a ghost. A woman in a long flowing white dress. They even imagined that her eyes were glowing, but I'm sure that was just their fear. From what I gather, the effects of the pod were still working because she was completely unresponsive to any efforts by others to gain her attention, which just led to the mystery behind her sudden appearance. I was interrogating a stable boy about her potential location when I heard the scream. I couldn't tell who screamed, or where the scream had come from, but it was clear that whoever wa
[Primus] I collapse as much of the tunnel as I feel safe to crush. She needs to be safe, she needs a safe place to lay her clutch. She needs her nest, but it is on the other side of the continent, across the sea, and no longer safe even if we could get there in time. Someone is trying to tell me something. An old drake is tugging on my tunic as I sweep down to pick up my mate from the ground, her body convulsing. I cannot hear him through the sound of the blood in my ears, my fear for Carnelia is too strong. Her body sounds like it is trying to rip itself apart. The old man is insistent. He points up several times
[Carnelia] When I sat there, tied to that wagon almost a year ago, I had no idea how my life led me to that place. I couldn't even remember who I was or where I came from. It is amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. When I was a hurt, angry girl, I had no idea that one day I'd wake up and be seen as the mother of a kingdom, or that my children would not only be heirs to all of Luxandra, but to the Solar Throne of the Southern Continent, a rebirth for a royal line thought long dead. Nor did I understand that my old life, and everyone who existed within it, would be nothing but ash and sour memories before the next summer blossomed. All I knew as I fought against my bindings was that in the next few minutes, my life would either end drastically or it would be changed forever. Because even if my body were not destined to die as a dragon’s meal that evening, something in me realized that the girl I had been up until that moment would die that day. There was n
[Eleanora] “Your Majesty, you shouldn’t be down here,” the small man sniveled as I entered the new lab. "This is no place for a lady." “Where else would I be?” I demand, cracking my knuckles as I stare down my nose at the human technician in charge of keeping my husband’s body from dying. “My husband is here, so I am here. I wanted an update on his condition.” “We could have written a report and sent it…” he begins to sniffle but I raise my hand and he bows low before me, his back deeply bowed as is proper. “I wanted to SEE him, you dolt,” I correct the fool shaking before me. Humans are so weak-willed and this one is weaker than most. I brought him from my family home because I can trust he will be loyal. He'd sooner tattle on himself for a perceived mistake than risk being accused by someone else. Similarly, he's the first to report when anything seems amiss. The perfect little worm to place in any apple. Because while he is telling on everyone else, he is also spying for
[Segundus] “Greetings citizens of Imperial City,” My queen and I shine brightly as the sun begins to set, our white clothes studded with diamonds so that when the spotlights shine on us, we gleam like fallen stars, fitting since our intention tonight is to make celestials fall from the heavens. “The Celestials have lorded over us for several millennia. Living in their sky throne, they control our resources, taking what they want and leaving nothing behind. Their children, the Sun Dragons, were especially notorious. They controlled the power that fueled our cities, and if we didn’t make proper payment, they would burn our cities, raid our farms, and send their blight to wipe all life from our land.” I pause to let my words settle into the hearts and minds of those gathered. A gentle hissing roar throughout the crowd assembled. My wife, Queen Eleanora, squeezes my hand in encouragement, smiling sweetly, projecting her confidence and trust. “My brother, Segundus, sought to alig
[Carnelia] There is a bright glow as I close my eyes and I know that it is the last time I will ever see Cressida, that she sacrificed her spark to save me. My screams turn into howls of pain and sorrow. Cressida, the kind mother who nursed me through the birth of my babies, and accepted me into her family even when she thought I was a human. I didn’t even really get a chance to know her, and now I am mourning her, along with the loss of my mate, trapped on the other side of a gate I cannot cross. “CLOSE THE GATE!” one of my captors bellows through the entry gate as we arrive at the Northern Sky Portal, “By order of Queen Cressida. This is her final command!” The drakes at the gate go immediately to work, tapping buttons on clear surfaces lit from within with swirling and changing images of blue, red, and green. The surface beneath our feet shifts and shakes and I scream in fury as I watch the large metal iris of the portal snap shut. “How could you,” I pound the chest of m
[Segundus] “Sir,” one of my aerial knights bows before me as I ready myself for the next phase of the war. I had just sent my generals from the room and was looking over a map of Luxandra. I already have an idea of what this knight is going to say before he opens his mouth. Looking at the map, I have marked several cities that have recently been destroyed, each one a hub for an energy hub. I had them each commit to continuing the story of Skyfell, telling the untruths of how the treacherous Celestials came down to Terra, burned our cities, and stole our light. In many ways, these new attacks on major city hubs are feeding into our story, except for the unpredictable element of them being completely untrue. “Report,” I am getting irritated by all the bad news I have been receiving. My generals didn't have anything good to report from their respective lands, and the lack of resources coming into the capital was starting to make me anxious. It has become harder and harder to hide the
[Primus] Ever since I first saw her tied to that cart, there was something about her, something that captured my heart. Seeing her taken from me, held roughly by the hands of those trying to save her as she is taken away, screaming my name--that broke my heart. So much has happened since that fateful evening when she was left as a sacrifice at the foot of my mountain. She had fire in her then too, but it was buried deep within her, almost smothered by a lifetime of hate and abuse. Once I started to brush away the ash and soot of her previous life, she began to glow, her fire mostly directed at me, but fire nonetheless. Even when she tried to extinguish it, when the weight of the world and her sadness threatened to crush her spirit, she came back to me, her fire bright and true. Loving her has been hot and pure and never boring, never predictable, almost like flame itself. Right now, burning with rage, with righteous indignation, she is the brightest I’ve ever seen her.
[Carnelia] The still of the morning is shattered as everyone moves into position to protect Primus, Cressida, and myself. We all drop to the ground as another beam of light shoots over our heads. “How many do we have below,” the queen bellows, commanding her men, her body rigid with fear and power. If she is afraid, it is impossible to see, her movements sure and precise. “At least a full platoon of air drakes with another half platoon of fire, My Queen.” One of the guards answers back as another shot zooms overhead. “Possibly more hidden beyond the ridge.” “Un
[Segundus] My back aches as I land near Hatchery L11. It is early morning, just after dawn. Eleanora was still sleeping when I left. I have a feeling the doctor will give us auspicious news today about her health. Based on the color of her cheeks and her increased appetite, I am certain she is carrying our first clutch. I leave my small group of guards behind in a nearby town. I cannot have anyone who enters these facilities other than myself cannot leave once they enter. We cannot risk trade secrets leaking out to our competitors. I know that Elfholm is considering creating its own factories using a different breed, but as it is now with energy being one of our main exports, I do not want to give away anything that will lessen their dependency on our sources.
[Ona] The fighting has stopped. We are vastly outnumbered. Thankfully, the Imperium soldiers on board were given orders to stun and contain us, not shoot to kill. Even so, we lost more than a handful of sun dragons to the battle that ensued. Including Daax and myself, the number of resistance fighters on the boat is down to 36. Four days ago, at the start of this adventure, we had more than 60. By the time we reached the end of the tunnel, we numbered 42. I try not to think of all the bodies we lost during the evacuation of Segundus’ lab. So many had never awakened when released from the pods--and there had been hundreds of them. Drakes, drakaina, and some little more than hatchlings. Watching them die as they took their first free breaths in decades is a memory I will torment me for all the remaining moments of my life. There were more bodies on the ground than walked out of that room. I have been fighting this battle against the Imperium for the last four decades but on