Chapter Text
“How could you do this to me?!” My father yelled. Why was he yelling? Did Mommy do something to hurt his feelings? “I thought you loved me Quintessa? Who is her father? I know for a fact that thing is not related to me!” My father stepped closer, though I couldn’t see much from behind Mommy’s wing.
Mommy’s wing was blue with stars, I liked to count them sometimes. Right now didn’t seem like a good time though. “I waited three years for her to mature, just to find out she was a Love Dragon?” Mommy’s wing curled around me more. It felt suffocating. I just want everything to be normal again.
“I have Love Dragon heritage in me! I’m sure it was just recessive!” Her voice seemed sad. I want to cheer her up but she won’t let me go!
“Bullshit! Love Dragons are nearly gone in these parts! How could you of all people have Love blood?” Father’s voice was angry, I don’t think he loves us anymore. But I had so much to share. Why can’t Father let us love him? Did he even love me before this?
“I’m sure this is just a big misunderstanding! Maybe her pupils aren’t fully formed? Perhaps she’s just a late bloomer!” Mommy’s tail wrapped around my ankle tightly. Why was Mommy hurting me?
“No! Get out of this village! You don’t belong here!” I heard a roar and then a large gush of wind. I squeezed my eyes closed; did something happen?
“It’s okay darling, you can open your eyes now.” I opened my eyes and tilted my head to look around. We were in the air. Mommy must have flown away from the village. “Where are we going, Mommy?”
Mommy caressed my face and kissed me on the forehead. She’s been doing that a lot lately. “To a new home dear.” The wind whistled around us. “What about Father?” I gripped her shirt and pulled myself closer to her chest. “He… Doesn’t want us anymore. We’re by ourselves now darling.”
“Oh.” I wrapped my tail around Mommy’s arm as much as it would let me. I knew she wouldn’t drop me but I needed to make sure she wouldn’t leave me either.
After what felt like an eternity, we landed. Mommy’s wings furled in closer to her body while walking to a cave in the distance. The space between us let me spread my wings! I loved fluttering around while walking with Mommy. My wings were just like Mommy’s but pink! They used to be grey until I turned three a few days ago. That’s when Father started being mean.
I don’t understand what happened. Father used to be so caring. Is it my fault? I stopped fluttering.
I heard Mommy giggle behind me. I turned to face her while walking backward. Father used to always compliment how fast I learned to do things. “Why did you stop flapping around? Did you get tired Darling?” “I guess… How much longer Mommy?”
“Just until we get to that cave. It’ll be our new home.” I stopped walking. “We’re living in a cave?! What about the bugs?!” I felt myself get lifted into the air. Mommy snuggled against my face. “We’re dragons dear, we don’t need to be scared of the bugs, the bugs should be scared of us!” She blew a raspberry into my neck, these always tickled so much. It always made me laugh!
Mommy kept me entertained until we got there. The cave looked cozy at least. I followed her around the entrance of the cave. She was picking up branches. “What’s that for Mommy?” “It’s for the fire. We need to keep warm don’t we?” Mommy said that in her funny voice. It made me giggle.
“I’ll help you too Mommy!” I ran next to a tree and picked up a branch that was nearly taller than me. I dragged it towards the cave and Mommy patted my head and thanked me. “Here, sit right there. Mommy will get this fire set right away!” She kneeled and blew a quick flame from her mouth onto the wood. I always loved it when Mommy did that!
The sticks set fire to a giant, warm, spot, perfect for sleeping. I felt my eyelids droop. “Mommy I’m tired!” “Aw, you poor thing. Come here.” Mommy patted her lap and I eagerly curled up into her arms. My tail instinctively curled around her and I felt sleep taking over. Through the fog of sleep, I heard Mommy humming our tribe's lullaby.
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“Mom! Where do you want these logs?” I carried five large chunks of tree I had just chopped into my mom’s vision. “Oh, why thank you, darling!” She stood up and helped me carry them towards the cave entrance. “Just leave the right outside, we don’t want bugs, do we?” I groaned. “How do you still remember that? It’s been 19 years!” She rubbed my shoulder and smiled.
“A mother always remembers.” I watched her longingly gaze towards our home. I reminisced back to when we first came. It was so desolate back then. It’s much better now, after all, both me and Mother are very good at decorating.
“Mom?” “Yes, dear?” I clasped my hands together and nervously smiled at her. “You know about that claymore I’ve been wanting for ages? The one at the nearby village?” She smiled at me, that’s a good sign. “Yes, yes, I know. I’m sure we’ve saved up enough to replace that shabby, makeshift one.”
“Yes!” I pumped my fist in the air and let myself fly into the air. “Oh come down you silly goose! Let’s head down to the village and we can talk about the theatrics later.” I gently flew down and threw myself into a hug with my mom. “You’re the best!”
I pulled away from the hug and held Mother’s hand as I started unfurling my wings to set towards the village. “Hold on Blossom, I need to grab my purse!” The nickname made me cringe, but I love it nonetheless. She unclasped our hands and walked into our home.
I impatiently let my tail lash around. I should gain better control of it if I want to become a fighter. Mother came walking out a minute later, holding her bag. She trotted over and grabbed my hand again. Together, we flew into the air, towards the nearby city.
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The town was as normal as any other. I asked Mother why we didn’t live here but she seemed sad so I didn’t pry any further. I suppose I can enjoy the lights when we visit instead, makes it seem more worth it anyway.
I ran along the street, looking for the weapons vendor that I loved so much. He was always so sweet to me and praised me like I was any other Fighting Dragon and not a Love Dragon. He made me feel like I belonged.
I saw him in the distance so I jumped and waved to get his attention. A few seconds of jumping later, he saw me and waved back. “Let’s go, mom!” I pulled her towards his stand.
When we got there, I grabbed Mother’s purse and placed it on his table. “Well hello to you too Cerise!” I smiled, he seemed extra happy today. “Hello, Faelan! Do we have enough now?!” I felt Mother wrap her tail around my ankle, a signal to calm down. I glanced at her and smiled, settling down as well.
He looked at my mom. “Hello Quintessa, I assume you guys have worked hard for this?” He grabbed the purse and started counting the money inside. “I guess so. Cerise hasn’t stopped begging for this claymore of yours for 9 years!” She laughed and looked at the other weapons behind Faelan. “Mom! It hasn’t been that long!” I looked at both Faelan’s and Mother’s faces and was immediately proven otherwise.
“Guys!” I puffed my wings up defensively. “Oh calm down you!” Faelan batted me on the head with his tail. “Anyway, it seems like you guys have enough! You better be glad I’ve kept this weapon for that long Cerise.” “I can’t thank you enough for that Faelan! If I could jump over this counter and hug you right now, I would!”
Faelan pulled the weapon from the wall and placed it on the table. It looked as beautiful as when I first saw it. I stared at it in awe and watched as Faelan polished it with whatever blacksmiths used. “Welp, there you have it kid! Your very own claymore!” I hesitated to pick it up. This was unbelievable.
The blade was pink, to match my horns, tail, and wings, while the hilt was red to match my hair. It was adorned with hearts to perfectly frame the guard and it looked absolutely stunning. “Well? What are you waiting for kid? Pick it up!”
I smiled at him and tentatively grabbed the hilt and swung it over my shoulder into a fighting stance. The weight was perfect, it’s like it was made for me! Maybe it actually was… I swear, Faelan always had the best work.
“It’s perfect! Faelan, you’re the best!” I backed up a bit more and took a few practice swings. It was just as I dreamed, I could probably beat a few of my old tribe members with this new weapon! “I can also assume you’ve been keeping up on training?” Faelan questioned me, his tail lashing.
“Of course! I can beat anyone with this brand-new baby!” I took a few more swings and prepared to do a charged attack against a dummy before I felt a tail grab my ankle and pull. I landed on the dirt path with a thud and groaned. “Faelan what was that for?!” I pulled myself into a sitting position and rubbed my cheek to clear the dirt.
“If you’re supposedly ready, you’re going to have to fight someone to prove yourself.” I stood up and picked up my sword and walked back over to his stand. He turned to my mom. “Quintessa, if it’s okay with you, I would like to let Cerise fight one of my best students.” I noticed Mother’s tail shutter and her wings falter. She was going to say no.
I sighed and sat crisscrossed on the floor and messed with the hilt of my sword. “I suppose she can go ahead.” “Please, Mom! I swear I'll-” I froze. She said yes?! I looked up at her and she was anxiously smiling. “Getting a new weapon won’t do good without any training.” She leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“Go kick their asses, Blossom.” I tackled Mother and hugged her tightly. Our wings wrapped around each other to create a sort of pocket space that could only belong to us. She held my face in both of her hands and gazed into my eyes. “I’m so glad that you could prove your father wrong.”
The mention of Father made me upset, angry even. I hated that Mother still thought about him. I can’t blame her though, he used to be the love of her life.
I stood up from the floor hug and held out my hand to let Mother grab it. She held on and I pulled her to a standing position. I looked over to Faelan. “Are you ready Cerise?” I confidently looked at him and smiled. “Hell yeah!”
He led me over to an arena that already had a few other people training with various weapons. “Nikolai! Come here, boy!” Faelan’s sudden loudness made me jump. A boy who looked around my age came running up. “Yes, Mr. Faelan?”
“I want you to introduce yourself to this nice young lady here and then I want you two to duel.” Nikolai looked at me. “A girl? And a Love Dragon at that? Are you sure Mr. Faelan?” I growled and flared my wings which only made him laugh. Wow, this guy was an asshole.
“Nikolai, if I hear such things coming from your mouth one more time, I swear you won’t be my student anymore.” The statement made Nikolai back down and huff. “Whatever…” Faelan pulled him closer to us. “Now, I want you two to get along, then fight.”
Faelan walked away, leaving us to be awkward together. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Name’s Nikolai, I’ve been training with Faelan for eight years, and uh… My favorite color’s purple.” His tail was lashing, this dude clearly was not having it. “How old are you now?” “Ugh.. I’m 21 now. Why do you need to know?” “Jeez asshole, I was just asking…”
He growled but stayed calm. “Whatever, my name is Cerise, I’m also 21, and I’ve been training under Faelan since I was seven.” He visibly perked up at that. “Really? I’ve never seen you here though?” He said that in such a condescending tone I felt my eye twitch. This guy was pissing me off.
“I trained out of the arena. I only just got my weapon recently.” I watched him smirk, I can’t wait to beat his ass. “Well, I suppose this will be an easy fight, no?” “Oh my god! You are insufferable!” I summoned my weapon and shoved him down to the ground with the hilt. He hit the dirt with a thud and I saw his tail lashing.
“Who do you think you are?! You’re just some street whore!” “WHAT!?” I felt some primal instinct in me snap. “Stand up and fight me you coward!” I pulled my claymore into a ready stance and waited for him to pull his weapon. He rushed to get up and summon his, and when he did, he almost immediately came running at me.
His weapon was a polearm, it had a blue blade and a few water-themed accents. Seemed easy enough. I waited for him to attack first, a jab towards the stomach. Damn, he really was trying to kill me. I dodged left and heaved my weapon upwards to slam it down on him. Just before it landed on him, he used the pole of his weapon to block the attack causing me to jump back.
“Claymores are slow and heavy. Why would you ever want one of those?” He ran at me again, carrying his weapon slightly different than his first attack, he was going to hit differently. When he did hit, I was ready. I blocked the attack with my blade and swung back with enough force to startle him and push him back.
With him unstable, I let go of my weapon and whacked it at him with my tail. The hilt of my weapon hit him in the shins, causing him to fall onto his back. His weapon was a few feet away, but still close enough that he could grab it.
I quickly knocked it away with my tail, sending it flying halfway across the arena. I walked back over to him caressing his shins, he was whining like a baby. “You insatiable bitch! What have you done?!” I stood over him, he looked puny like this. “I bet your mother is a whore too! You females are always like this!”
“Oh, that’s it.” Could this guy be any more of a dumb prick? With as much force as I could muster, (which is a lot, mind you) I kicked him straight in the dick. Maybe with his dick ruptured, he couldn’t reproduce and create other mini-assholes.
As he was whining on the floor, holding his crotch, I walked back over to the stand where Faelan and Mother were waiting.
Mother noticed me first and rushed over to check over my body. Faelan on the other hand walked over calmly, like he knew I would win. “Well, how did it go?” Faelan quirked an eyebrow at me while Mother backed away and waited for my answer.
“I don’t think he can have kids anymore.” Their faces were hilarious. “Blossom what did you do?” I heard Faelan chuckle. “That boy was going to get his ass beat sooner or later. I’m glad it was you, Cerise.”
“Am I just going to have to accept that my kid can fight now?” Mother looked at me with a solemn look. “Quintessa, your child has always been able to fight, she just needed to make you see it.” Faelan put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug.
“Ew, guys get a room!” Mother snickered and planted a kiss on Faelan’s cheek. What chemistry have I missed?! Faelan looked like he had transcended humanity. “Woah…” “Gross… Get yourself together Faelan!”
He shook his head and laughed. “It’s getting late, why don’t you guys head home?” I looked back at the arena. “Mom, you can go ahead if you want. I think I want to fight some more!” I heard Mother sigh and her wings unfurl. “Before I go, give me a hug.” I groaned but leaned into the hug anyway. “Don’t get hurt and don’t stay out too long my Blossom. Positive you know the way home?”
“Obviously Mom! I can handle myself now.” She kissed my forehead before letting go of the hug. “I’ll see you in a few hours?” I waved bye to her. “Yup! Now go relax!” Mother laughed and set off into the air. I watched her disappear past the treetops before turning to Faelan.
“Let’s get this show on the road?” He was speaking in a challenging tone and had a hand on his hip. “Duh! I need to fight until I can beat everyone here! I have to be the best!” Faelan started walking back to the arena so I followed him. “Getting ahead of yourself, are we?”
“Of course not! I already know I’m the best anyway…” I crossed my arms in fake confidence. I knew I wasn’t the strongest, yet, but I will be.
“Well, get in the ring and we can test that for ourselves.” And with that, the battles have started.
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Wow, those fights were tiring. I only lost once. And that was against Faelan himself. I’m surprised that old hunk of ham was still that agile. Though, I shouldn’t expect any less from my teacher and possibly stepdad now? What was going on between them.??
The air around me was cold, either from how fast I was flying or just in general, I couldn’t tell. I sniffled the air a bit, to clear my nose. It smelled like… smoke? I wasn’t near the village anymore… Maybe it was Mother.
I flew a bit faster. What if something was wrong? I scanned the treetops and finally saw the smoke in the distance. It was too much to be her normal fire.
When I eventually got above the smoke, I divebombed the area to clear it. With the smoke gone, I could look around better. I quickly landed and searched the area. I heard voices that weren’t Mothers.
I summoned my weapon to be at the ready stance and peered around from behind a tree, there was our home, with Mother lying motionless on the ground. I stayed silent. I knew not to overreact. I knew what group these dragons were. Rogues. I’ve heard Faelan talk about how he defeated one.
Apparently, the powers they unlock are so powerful, they transcend the logic of reality. Why were they here? What could Mother have that’s so important they had to kill her? Why did they hurt my mother?
The rage was unbearable, but I kept calm. Part of being a good fighter is keeping emotions in check. (We can ignore Nikolai, he was an asshole anyway.) I almost jumped out to attack until I heard one of them speak. “Where is that Love Dragon? We need her blood! You said she would be here!”
“I know, Boss. She’s normally here. She must be somewhere in the forest. Let’s just split up and look for her.” So the fact that Mother is dead is my fault. And they’re just disregarding the fact that they killed someone and plan on killing more? I can’t do this anymore.
I whipped around from the tree and charged, I swung my weapon with all my force but it was useless. I felt my body freeze and fall to the ground. “Look what you did! What power did you use on her?” “I don’t know I’m sorry Boss!”
I felt the men’s hands try to grab me. They phased through me. What?
I looked at Mother. Her eyes were open and tear-filled. I reached out with all my might and touched her hand. She smiled one last time before I noticed her chest do the death rattle. That was the last thing I saw before my vision turned white.
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I was falling? What happened? Oh. Right.
I opened my eyes to a bright blue sky and the clouds whizzing past me. Everything was so bright. Why won’t my wings open? I crashed into a lake with a giant splash. At least it felt like a giant splash, my brain could barely comprehend that I needed to swim. Oh. There are my wings. Those would have been helpful five seconds ago.
I used my wings to keep myself afloat while I regained strength to swim. There was a lake near home. Maybe he teleported me there? But it was daytime when that happened? I floated myself to shore and sat on the grass. This place didn’t look like anything near home?
I stood up, almost falling back into the lake before I steadied myself. I looked around some more. Close to the lake was a giant tree, one that I’d never seen before. It was the only one in the whole field. In the distance were some giant mountains. We didn’t have those near home either. In the opposite direction, there was a city.
That city was none that I had ever seen before. I rubbed my horns and cleared them of any debris. With them cleared, a bunch of different feelings hit me. I even felt one off of myself. The one coming from me felt overbearing. I saw someone walking in the very far distance towards the city and honed my senses onto that person.
They had a mediocre feeling. Auras? Could I sense auras all of a sudden? Was that my power? With that problem solved, I walked down the path. There was this certain aura that seemed stronger than the others.
I focused on it and when I did, I could see two blue and teal paths leading in the same direction. Out of pure curiosity, I decided to follow them. I needed to know who these people were.
I followed it past a small town and through a forest. When I got to some ruins, the aura intensified, like it noticed me. I was fearless though, and continued. I followed it until I saw this large tower, there were winds rushing everywhere. On the top of the tower, there was a dragon in their full form.
Why was he in full form? And that blue path is leading to him. I could see the teal path leading up there too. I opened my wings and flew higher up to get a better view. High in the air I could see a person connected to the teal path. I flew circles around the tower until the dragon roared and took flight towards me.
I quickly dove down and back towards the city. Both auras seemed to follow me. I flew low to the water and close to the city’s island so no citizens would see me and followed the water until the next shoreline. When I got there, I looked for a place to hide and saw a forest nearby. That seemed like the best option so I flew there and hid.
There were auras and paths that led in all different directions. What was going on? What was this place? Who was that dragon that was so clearly not the same species as me? Who was that boy? Ugh! This is so frustrating.
I hid behind a tree for a few hours before I started getting hungry. I don’t know what animals live here… “Hello!” I nearly shrieked my tail off. A little girl peered around the tree trunk. “Wanna go fish blasting?” What.
I did my best to appear confused. I pointed to my mouth and shook my head. What language was that? That doesn’t sound like any of the ones from where I live. The girl laughed, she grabbed my hand and pulled. She wanted me to follow her? I guess I could do that.
I stood up and let the girl pull me back towards the lake. Fish were swimming near the surface which made my mouth salivate. Boy, I could go for one of those. I looked at the girl, she was pulling something out of her bag. I waited for her to finish by sitting on a log near the shore.
A few seconds later she pulled out a… BOMB?? Who gave a child weapons? The girl threw the bomb into the water and watched it explode all of the fish there. That was all that I needed to see before I dove into the water and stole all of the fish. The bombs cooked them a bit and they tasted like gunpowder, but it was food nonetheless.
“Oh! You were hungry! We make a pretty good team then!” I cocked my head at her and continued to eat the fish. This girl helped me and she is now my best friend. I paddled back to shore and ate my fish while the girl continued throwing bombs at the poor unsuspecting fish.
The bombs were loud enough to the point that I couldn’t hear another pair of footsteps coming. “Klee! What did I say about fish blasting?!” The woman’s voice scared me to the point that I grabbed the girl, Klee was it? I wrapped her defensively with my tail and puffed my wings out.
The woman looked shocked to see that I was there. Were dragons not normal here? “It’s okay new friend! This is Master Jean! She’s the best!” I still can’t understand you… The girl unraveled herself from my tail and ran to the woman, Jean? I’m surprised I can understand names…
The woman had her hand resting on her sword's hilt. I should be careful, but if Klee trusts her maybe I can too. She tried to ask me something but I shook my hand and pointed to my mouth again. I think she understood that I couldn’t understand. She had a look of connection, I think? She called to someone I couldn’t see. That was my cue.
I launched myself into the air, over the forest, and towards the mountains. As I was flying over, I saw a blonde girl and a floating child…? The girl’s aura was comforting, it felt out of this world. So that’s what happened? I’m in a new world? I guess that makes sense.
I landed next to them and made myself look as harmless as possible. The blondie looked like someone I’d seen before…
“Lumine?!”
“Cerise?!”
I guess the translating part was over with.