Chapter Text
Year 1016
It was Saparata’s tenth birthday. Usually, the night sky would be scattered with pearly stars, glimmering like guiding lights above the village—but tonight was different. Tonight, the sky burned crimson, clouds streaked with fire and ash.
The white-haired boy sat cross-legged in the shadows on a wooden roof, staring into the distance at the sky rained cannons. Every time one hit, the village's hard-worked structures collapsed, and flames reflected into the empty eyes of the young boy.
“Saps!” a muffled, frantic voice tried escaping the chaos. People gathered outside trying to shield themselves from the flying debris. Somewhere deep inside the crowd a voice screamed again
“Saps, where are you?” The boy didn’t move. He only watched, wide-eyed, as more ships emerged from the fog, cutting through the smoky night, hurling fireballs into the village.
Soon enough, a loud screech overpowered any other noise. The winds around blew faster as if they'd gone mad. At first, no one could figure out what happened. Moments after everything changed. Bullet fast shadows moved through the fire lit sky sending light spheres to the ground. A loud explosion made everything go white for a few seconds.
In the midst of the chaos the white boy caught in the corner of his eye a black creature lowering itself on a deserted street right behind the chambers where the leader’s families lived.
No one noticed. Absolutely no one noticed; except one boy. One frightful boy that was trying to stand up despite his legs shaking uncontrollably underneath his weight. A boy that tried ignoring the scrapes he got trying to safely slide down a roof.
Before he could turn left towards the threatened cobblestone path, a cold hand grabbed his sleeve forcing him into a halt.
A tall man with broad shoulders stood in front of the child.
“Saparata! You are forbidden to exit your chambers without a proper guard. What the hell do you think you’re doing wandering around during an attack?!” the man angrily said.
“Turkey, I’m so sorry but please, I beg of you to listen to me!” The mentioned man raised an eyebrow impatiently. “I saw a dragon! A big black one heading towards the main chambers! Please help; Jophiel is in there!”
“As much as I would love to let you wander around while I hurry to that building only to find out the dragon was a black sheep that has escaped, I am not going to fall for your attempt at getting away:” Turkey said alarmed.
Just as Saparata tried to respond, another ball of light came right at the roof he once sat on, setting it on flames. Taken aback by the unexpected targeted hit, the man loosened his grip on the boy’s arm, allowing him to slip into the crowd unnoticed.
The child ran towards the location of his sister unbothered by the stinging of his injured limbs clutching an amethyst necklace to his chest in his hand tightly .
It all happened in almost a second.
One moment he was sprinting as fast as he could to warn Jophiel, his dear sibling; the next he was kneeling on the ground in front of a large fallen wooden pole that crushed a teenage girl with blonde hair and a pair of once warm eyes, now staring coldly straight ahead.
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A minute passed
People gathered around
Saparata’s ears rang insanely loud.
A hot droplet unstuck itself from the little boy’s tear stained cheek falling perfectly on the middle of his sister’s forehead.
Slithering into the shadows of the night, a winged reptile ran away from the scene of the crime.
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It was the middle of summer when Theria’s leaders and the sibling’s parents were assassinated in cold blood by a single dragon rider sent from the Kingdom of Norsea. A blow to their heads was all it took for them to fall to the ground as their oldest child turned 16.
Birthdays were considered to be happy days. Jophiel did not get to celebrate it. In the span of a few hours, the entire leadership was ruined. How was a barely 16 year old girl supposed to rule an entire kingdom? After the tragic end of her parents' lives, how was a mourning child supposed to choose what’s better for the entire population of the nation she didn’t get to learn about?
Theria and Aculon were two kingdoms that formed an alliance years ago. That day was the day that changed everything. After the leaders of Theria died, many citizens left the suffering civilization in hopes of finding a better place to live in; some remained.
The damage in the ruling system was far too great to be repaired. There was no other choice other than merging the two kingdoms into one. A big kingdom was born; one which held a lot of influence. An offspring of Aculon and Theria. A kingdom named Luminara– meant to light up the trail towards the path people are meant to follow.
Aculon was nothing like Theria. Where once was a sunny place, there was now an endless snowing hell. The Aculon family was kind enough to treat Saparata and Jophiel, the remaining family's predecessors, with whatever they could.
Saps has also made a new friend pretty quickly. The second son in row for the crown, Fluixon.
They became best friends, spending every ounce of free time together. Everywhere they would go, they would go together. Well, Saparata mostly followed the other around but since Flux didn’t complain, he believed Fluixon enjoyed their time together.
The Aculon heir had two other siblings; a sister whose name is Cynikka and a brother, the first in line to become the new leader.
Saparata had absolutely no one besides Jophiel.
Saparata had absolutely no one besides Jophiel.
Saparata had absolutely no one besides Jophiel.
Saparata had absolutely no one besides Jop
Saparata had absolutely NO ONE besides
Saparata had absolutely NO ONE
NO ONE
NO
ONE
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The ringing didn’t stop.
He was alone.
Utterly alone.
His sister was crushed in front of him. The image was imprinted in his mind. He could not think without seeing her face looking at him disappointed.
“Why didn’t you save me?” A whisper guided itself into his ear. “Didn’t you see the dragon? You could’ve warned me.” The voice cracked painfully. “YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!” The scream sounded exactly like Jophiel. She never screamed. She was never mad. So why did this copy of her accuse her brother of such horrible things?
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Saparata stared like a ghost into his sister’s eyes. No one was around to see him get paler by the second. A loud noise broke the terrible silence, almost making him snap back to reality. Blue light engulfed the boy cruelty. He never got to say goodbye. Not to Jophiel, not to Flux, not even to Turkey. His eyelids closed abruptly draining his every sense.
At the end of the street stood a man tensely. He remained rigid as the light cleared out a few moments after it appeared.
Turkey didn’t move. He froze when he saw the dirty white dragon attacking Saparata.
He was gone.
The child he grew to love as one of his own was really gone.
Not only him, but his sister too.
Where he once sat, a scarf remained tossed aside like garbage.
The man slowly approached letting out a cry. He didn’t believe him. If he had checked on Jophiel, both of them would still be alive. He was so focused on the fighting that he didn’t notice two souls gone in the span of half an hour. The last two members of the Theria family were gone and it was all because he didn’t protect them. A dragon has killed them both.
The war between nations ended for now. Even if they had won, they had suffered the biggest losses.
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“Flux! Flux! Look!” a white-haired boy ran through the leaves of a willow tree where one purple eyed child was resting against its trunk.
The latter sighed profoundly, clearly annoyed by the sudden interruption of peace “Saparta, please stop shouting! I know our kingdoms are united but that doesn’t mean we are friends!”
The crown of the tree acted like a shield, protecting the two from the weeping wind. Saparata stood in front of the dripping branches with glossy eyes. Even though the coldness was partially isolated from the inside, his hands were trembling, clenching a string with a small obsidian stone hanging by a knot. The boy’s face seemed to get paler, even though he was already as white as snow.
Saparata opened and closed his mouth a few times trying to speak with no words coming out.
“Stop that, you look like a fish.” the raven haired boy threw bitterly.
The other one took a few steps forward hesitating and sat down cross-legged in front of Fluixon letting the small object in his hand fall at the other’s feet. A handmade necklace glistened as a few rays of sun snuck past the willow tree’s branches hitting the stone in different angles.
“Um, I made this for you. It’s a friendship necklace!” he told his friend.
Fluixon took the jewelry off the ground and threw it upwards into the clustered branches. His face fell with disgust as he scrunched his nose. “I don’t need anything from you! We are not friends! Please don’t talk to me anymore. I am only acting civil with you because my father made me but that doesn't mean you actually mean something to me. I don’t care about you. Actually if you disappeared I wouldn’t even notice”
he rambled not noticing how the other’s face fell with every word.
“I- I’m sorry” Saps’ eyes were stinging as a tear fell from his obsidian colored eyes. He turned quickly and left without another word.
Flux was staring at the place the other boy once sat as guilt engulfed his heart. It was the first time he made him cry. After all, it was Saparata’s birthday tomorrow.
Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he had grown to like Saps and cared about him. He didn’t mean to say what he did but the other boy annoyed him. Whatever, Saparata would probably forget about it by tomorrow and run up to him again, disturbing his peace.
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From the small opening of a few spruce planks, a boy with charcoal hair and purple eyes had seen the whole thing. Even at 9 years old, he decided through streaks of tears what he had to do. He had to avenge his best friend. The one he watched take his last breath right in front of his own eyes. He would kill the dragon and its master who had ordered the death of his closest friend.
In the crimson night, one last promise was made through sobs. His grip tightened against the stringed jewelry that he rescued earlier today. “I will murder whoever killed you, even if it’s the last thing i do”
It’s such an awful thing that the birthdays of the children of Theria became both a celebration of life and
death.