Chapter Text
Sunlight poured through the windows and onto Abi’s face. The young woman rolled over with an annoyed groan pulling the soft covers over her head. Minutes later the door creaked open as her maid bustled into her rooms.
“Lady Abi, are you not awake yet?”
“I’m coming”, Abi yawned and reluctantly shifted the blankets off.
Thus Abi began her normal morning routine. She sleepily allowed the maid to fuss over her hair and clothing. Abi pretended not to hear the older woman’s under the breath mutterings about Abi’s choice in outfits. While the cloth and design were refined, the maid thought her mistress should wear styles that flattered Abi’s womanly features more. It was an old disagreement that the maid had no hope of winning.
Finally both maid and mistress deemed Abi’s appearance satisfactory. Abi walked over to the birdcage next to her desk, which was littered with the estate’s account books. Inside the cage sat a little bluebird with a broken and bandaged wing. The bird stared up at her as Abi changed its water and feed. With a happy chirp it hopped over to it meal of seeds and crickets. Abi smiled slightly as she lightly brushed its head with the tip of her index finger. She then carefully closed the cage again and turned around.
“Another dull day”, Abi muttered dryly.
The first half of the day proved to be as dull as Abi predicted. She spent the morning delegating tasks to servants. Once that was done, Abi returned to her rooms. There the unfinished estate accounts were waiting on her desk. It was another few hours of calculating food, tailoring, servant pay, and other expenses.
Eventually she kept longingly glancing out the window into the garden. The caged bird chirped and blinked at her. Whim overcame Abi as she opened the cage and gently picked up the bird before heading outside. A little time outside in the garden sounded refreshing.
The stone walls around the estate were high and worn with age. The rose bushes were blooming in bright red and wafting their pleasant scent into the wind. Abi sat on the grass under a lush tree, watching as the bird hopped around curiously. It didn’t even try to use its healing wing. From what she had studied that meant it was unlikely to fly properly again.
“Perhaps I should give you a name”, she mused.
The bird tilted its head and tweeted. Most of its feathers were a bright blue but it also had a red crest on its chest. Where the blue and red intersected the feathers were an unusually vibrant shade of purple.
“How about Bora?”
The bluebird chirped again and hopped up on Abi’s knee, allowing her to once again lightly pet its head. Abi decided the interaction was a sign of acceptance.
When the sun was at high noon, Abi took the newly christened Bora back to her rooms and headed toward to the dining hall. She had just sat down at the table and was pouring herself a cup of tea when her father hobbled into the room. Perhaps her father had once been considered a handsome man. However, aged scars were marred across his face and neck. One of his eyes had been gouged out; the gaping hole hidden by bandages. The other eye was clouded and nearly unseeing. He also had a terrible limp that made use of a cane necessary.
“Hello, father.”
“Abi”, he curtly greeted as he slowly lowered himself into his chair.
Without a word Abi poured a second cup of tea and placed it within her father’s reach. He took a few shaky sips before setting it back on the table. A couple of servants filed into the room to bring lunch and then left with a bow.
Her father broke the silence, “I heard that uppity king in the north is to be executed.”
“Apparently a few of the influential noble families turned on him”, Abi shrugged as she took a few bites of her lunch.
“Serves him right”, the man huffed, “Claiming to be a dragon god.”
She replied idly, “Because no man has ever claimed to be something he isn’t.”
With his one eye her father sternly glared in her direction, “One day that tongue of yours will get you into trouble.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have indulged me.”
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have”, he sighed heavily with knitted brows, “Are you even trying to find a husband? I don’t have much time on this earth left. When I die, the Yoo Estate will pass to your second-cousin. If you haven’t settled into a new household by then, it will be within his rights to decide who you marry or even force you to leave the estate without support.”
“I am well aware of the fact that if you were to die today my place here would rely on his mercy. I am also well aware that your cousin is not known for his mercy”, appetite suddenly gone Abi pushed away her plate and stood up, “I have matters to attend to.”
Abi laid her head on the windowsill and stared vaguely off into the night sky as a warm breeze brushed into her rooms. Bora, sensing its human’s gloomy mood, sat on her shoulder diligently grooming strands of her hair.
The conversation with her father from earlier lingered in her mind.
“How humiliating…”
Abi didn’t feel overly attached to the estate she had grown up in. She wouldn’t mind leaving here one day, assuming she ever met a man she could tolerate enough to marry. It was the principle of it. Abi was the one that had stepped up to run the estate after her mother died and her father’s health declined. It was frustrating that some distant relative was going to one day waltz in and claim everything that she had worked for as his own. That she would be dependent on the same relative was salt in the wound.
While those thoughts echoed in her mind, a dark blue shadow flew across the black sky. It appeared almost serpentine. Abi leaned forward and squinted her eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the flying beast.
“What is…?”
Abi suddenly broke into a cold sweat. It was like a large, fearsome creature had its eyes directly on her. No, the eyes were not just on her but staring into the very core of her being. A numbing sensation enveloped her. It was even hard to breathe. A primal impulse awoke in Abi. She fought against the numbing sensation and willed herself to take a shaky but deep breath.
Human. Come.
A voice reverberated loudly in Abi’s mind as a sharp image of a forest clearing appeared. Abi recognized the clearing as being not too far outside the estate. Almost as if in a trance Abi stood and walked out of the room. Bora tweeted in confusion a few times before hunkering down on her shoulder. Abi silently walked out into the garden and toward one of the lesser used side gates.
“Lady Abi?”
The gate guard had noticed her approach. Abi barely glanced at him.
“I’m going out for a while.”
Confusion and concern quickly spread across the guard’s face.
“This time of night? That’s dangerous, Lady Abi. I’m sure your father-”
“Open the gate”, Abi ordered in a tone so cold the guard flinched and rushed to comply.
Even so the guard questioned her one more time, “Lady Abi, what if you are attacked?”
“I’d be captured or killed, I suppose”, Abi shrugged as if weren’t important and then walked out the gate.
The trail to the clearing was pitch black and overgrown. Abi moved slowly and gripped tree trunks to avoid tripping. Bora chittered softly, nervously in her ear. The bluebird understood something dangerous lay ahead of them. Eventually Abi stumbled into the clearing.
There waited a dragon coiled under the faint moonlight. Its scales were a deep blue that glimmered with a soft divine glow. Its eyes were a captivating, overwhelming gold. Those ethereal eyes rooted Abi to the spot.
“You requested my presence, dragon god”, Abi spoke with bravado.
Human, do you know of King Hiryuu?
The dragon god’s voice once again echoed into her head. Abi’s eyes widened with understanding.
“He’s a man who recently rose to power and claims to be the dragon god Hiryuu descended as a human.”
It is no mere claim. Our brother descended for his love of humans. However, humans have betrayed and forsaken him. We rescued him from death by those despicable hands yet Hiryuu has refused to return to the Heavens. So we are each seeking out a dragon warrior to defend him.
Abi’s heart pounded wildly as the weight of this truth bared down, “What does this have to do with me?”
You are worthy to be called Seiryuu. Drink my blood and receive the power I grant you.
“I know nothing of combat. I am not a warrior.”
It is not strength of body I seek but strength of will. An overwhelming will that can make full use of my blood lurks within you, human.
“…Very well”, Abi took a step toward the dragon god, “I will drink your blood and become a dragon warrior.”
The dragon god used its claw to pierce the blue scales. Blood – one drop, two, three – dripped down into a waiting chalice. At the dragon’s beckoning Abi moved forward and picked it up. The blood was a thick, dark red. Abi tilted the chalice back and gulped down the dragon’s blood.
Warriors of the Four Dragons!
Her throat burned as the bitter liquid drained into her body.
You are now our other halves!
The dragon’s blood intertwined with her blood in a boiling sensation.
With Hiryuu as your master, you will protect, cherish, and never betray him for as long as you live!
Pain seared her eyes so intensely that she was blinded.
Then ever so slowly her vision returned though the throbbing pain lingered. Disorientation made Abi dizzy. Her perspective was wider. Everything was brighter; the previously pitch black forest was now easily navigable. The stars in the sky seemed to have multiplied. There were unfamiliar, impossible colors.
Movement in the trees behind her drew Abi’s attention. She clumsily stood, not even sure when she had fallen to the ground. Disorientation hit again as she realized she was literally seeing through the trees. The gate guard was there gapping, his eyes darting from her and the dragon god in sheer disbelief.
“Guard”, Abi called out trying to force her voice to sound stronger than she currently felt, “Tell my father it seems I’ve found a new household after all and that my personal maid is more than capable of taking up my duties.”
The guard stared at her transfixed – her now blue hair, the red markings that adorned her cheeks, her golden dragon eyes – for a long minute before finally nodding. He then hurriedly scrambled away. Once again Abi was left with the dragon god.
My dragon warrior, it’s time to go to Hiryuu.
Abi bent down to where Bora was waiting with ruffled feathers on the ground and held out her hand. The bluebird hesitated a moment but then hopped up to perch on Abi’s finger. Abi swayed as she stood back up and then the world went dark.
Worried chirps stirred Abi into consciousness. She groaned at her throbbing eyes. The meeting with the dragon god Seiryuu and drinking the dragon’s blood rushed back. After that the dragon god had wanted to take her to Hiryuu, and now she was in an unfamiliar palace courtyard with no idea how exactly she ended up here.
“Are you okay?”
Abi blinked her eyes open to see a yellow dragon. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was a boy with an unruly golden mane of hair and bright blue eyes, wearing the simple clothing and cloak of a peasant. He stared at her a moment as if entranced before shaking his head and holding out his hand to help Abi up.
“I’m fine”, she replied hoarsely as she sat up ignoring the offer of help.
The boy nodded and quickly moved to the side of an unconscious white dragon. The large man that Abi thought of as a white dragon had silvery-white hair and was wearing the garments of a mid-ranking soldier. One of his hands was covered in white shimmering scales and his nails were sharp claws.
“An old man that can’t wake up himself, a brat, and some rich pretty boy”, a rude voice snorted.
Abi turned her attention to the third, a green dragon. He had the appearance of a vagrant with worn and tattered clothes. His long greenish hair was tied back; all his teeth were unusually sharp. A well-used spear sat on the ground next to him. He was gripping his leg tightly. The boot had been nearly burned off revealing green scales. Seemingly sensing her stare, the man turned his head toward her.
“What’s with the glare, pretty boy?”
“You are irritating”, Abi replied dryly.
She scooped the incredibly patient bluebird off the ground and placed Bora onto her shoulder just as the blond boy succeeded in awakening the older man. The man groaned in pain as he sat up. However, his head quickly snapped to attention.
“What have the dragon gods done?”
Abi and the other two also turned toward the voice. A man with wild hair the color of a crimson sunrise stood at the top of the courtyard steps, an expression of shock across his face. The dragon’s blood within Abi immediately responded pounding through her veins and causing her eyes to start throbbing all over again. As King Hiryuu descended the steps to them the white-haired man shifted into a low bow.
“I am a soldier in your Majesty’s army and yet when you were almost killed I was powerless to help you. When Hakuryuu called me, I agreed to drink the dragon’s blood so that I would have the strength to protect you.”
Hiryuu bent down placing a hand on the man’s shoulder, “May I have your name?”
“Guen.”
“Thank you, Guen”, Hiryuu smiled brightly.
The blond boy happened to be the closest so the King turned to him next, “May I ask your name and reason as well?”
“My name is Zeno”, he stated, “I’m not a warrior or anything. I just thought I could make the world a better place if I drank Ouryuu’s blood.”
Hiryuu clapped his hands together in delight, “That is my goal! I look forward to working toward it with you, Zeno!”
“Idiot idealists”, the last man commented, “I drank Ryokuryuu’s blood simply because I wanted the power. Protecting this dimwit king was just part of the deal.”
Hiryuu’s reply was to walk over to him and hold out his hand, “I’ll be relying on you…?”
The man frowned but shook the King’s hand, “Shuten.”
“I’ll be relying on you, Shuten”, Hiryuu repeated cheerfully.
Finally Hiryuu turned to Abi. She couldn't tell if it was the dragon blood or her own feelings but looking at King Hiryuu was like looking at the sun itself. He radiated light and warmth. At that moment Abi wanted nothing more than to stand by his side and reflect his light.
“You are?”
Abi bowed, not as low as the white-haired soldier but as one noble would bow to a higher ranking noble.
“I am Abi, daughter of the Yoo Clan.”
In the background the green-haired man choked and spattered. Abi smirked slightly before continuing.
“I…”
What exactly had she been seeking? To leave the uncertainty of her situation behind? To find somewhere she wouldn't be so easily displaced? Abi couldn't find the right words so she answered vaguely.
“I had reasons for drinking Seiryuu’s blood.”
Hiryuu nodded as if he understood anyway and lightly took her hands with a smile. Abi faintly blushed, uncertain if it was because of embarrassment or the dragon’s blood racing yet again.
“I wasn't expecting the dragon gods to do this but I’m glad to welcome you – all of you – into my home.”