The princess sat with the knight against a tree, her long blonde hair resting against Vogaixâs shoulder. Khora let a comfortable sigh leave her lips. The princess looked up at her knight, whose scales were reflecting the sunâs light, the reflection making a rainbow in the air from the small water droplets that reached them from the waterfall. âVogaixâ¦â The princess scooted closer to the half-dragon, leaning into her side. The knight smiled wordlessly as she wrapped her princess in her arm and wing. They both sat there, eyes closed, sharing body heat. They listened to the cacophony of sounds, the chirping birds, the roaring falls, the distant sounds of the town squareâs trading hour beginning. The knight stroked her claws through Khoraâs hair.
âI wish we could stay here forever,â The knight kissed her princesses forehead.
âWe will, eventually,â Khora smiled, âWeâll take care of my father, it doesnât seem like heâll die anytime soonâ¦â Her voice trailed off, one of her hands twirling her hair.
âI know, but darling,â Vogaix stood up, twirling her halberd, âWe are not here on business. Weâre here for each other~â The halberd slammed into the ground, slightly embedding itself into the dirt as Voigax winked.
The half-dragon felt a shiver down her spine, and she flicked her head around, staring at the thick trees at the other side of the river. She picked up her halberd, flexing her wings, âStay here, princess,â Vogaix leaped across the river, flapping her wings once so as to not fall in. Khora looked across the river and pouted, annoyed that she couldnât cross so easily. âBe patient, Khora, Iâll be back in a sec,â
âCome on, Vogaixxxx,â The princess whined, hiding her slight worry behind a veneer of annoyance, âIâm sure itâs nothing! I mean itâs not like itâd be a dragon!â She laughed at her own joke as her loyal knight disappeared into the forest. The smile on her face faded, and she scooted her way over to the cliff, sighing. âJust stay safeâ¦â There was a frozen silence over the clearing, the chirping of the birds had stopped, and even the crashing of the waterfall seemed muted. The princess stood there for what felt like years, before a blast of wind came from above, and the ground shook, massive claw prints embedding themselves in the ground in front of her. Khora yelped, and the figure of a massive dragon, paws bigger than the princess herself appeared before her. Its almost mirror-like scales reflected the sun to the air, creating an even larger rainbow thank Vogaixâs in the droplets of water. It towered over her, glowing eyes looking downwards, backed by its reflective horns that split into two. The beastâs back was covered in small, sharp, spines. It opened its mouth as its throat began to glow a dark orange.
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Fenrir stared at the king's tiny spawn as he began to churn the molten scales in his breath-sac. It was an oddly pale human, as if its skin hardly sees any sunlight. Its hair was long and wavy. It was otherwise a spitting image of its father, almost-white blonde hair, and light, emerald-green eyes with the hunger of murder hidden behind them. The spawn's mouth began to open, and the massive dragon shoved it to the ground with his claws, knocking the air out of its lungs. The human coughed blood onto Fenrir's claws, causing the dragon to grimace in disgust. He lowered his snout, pushing it against the spawn's chest.
Fenrir let the lava-like substance crawl up his throat, snorting out some smoke into the face of the human. It coughed up some more blood as it fought against Fenrir's weight. He could see sweat begin to bead up on its face, as the murder behind its eyes shifted to fear. He tightened his grip on its body, slightly embedding it into the ground, its pointless flailing slowed down and a spark of surprise showed up behind its eyes, "Stop fighting." Fenrir backed his head away from the human, opening his mouth. A gob of molten glass dripped from his lips, starting a tiny fire on the grass. "Before you die, tell me," Fenrir looked around the clearing, a memory of Marath sitting under the falls, along with their final spar across all of the clearing manifested in his head. The massive glass dragon loosened his grip, allowing the princess to breathe, to speak, "Why are you here, of all places?" The captured human looked around, slightly confused. It turned its head to the clearing across the river and a slight smirk appeared on its face, "She brought me here,"
Fenrir turned his head towards where the human was looking. A half-human was jumping off of a branch towards Fenrir. He instinctively shot a ball of molten glass at her, causing her to flap away, the lighting of the glass reflecting off of her eyes. He recognized those eyes, from maybe twenty years ago. The half-human looked at Fenrir, her eyes filled with hatred, and she threw her halberd at Fenrir. He flapped his wings, slightly lifting his body and letting the king's spawn go, the halberd struck his hind leg, causing some of his oil-like blood to seep into the ground. A roar escaped from Fenrir's throat, gobs of molten glass falling to the ground, the princess barely able to avoid them while it ran towards the river. The glass dragon flapped its wings, blood still dripping from its hind leg. He looked around, staring at the half-human while she protected the king's spawn with her wings. Her eyes flicked around the sky, attempting to find Fenrir as he changed his scales, blending into the bright blue of the sky. The dragon flew away, landing at the top of the cliff.
"Khora! Are you safe?" The half-human stroked through the human's hair with her claws. Fenrir stared at them, before curling his neck around, pulling the halberd out with his teeth. The human nodded, rubbing its chest.
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"I'll be okay, Vogaix," Khora looked up at the sky, curiosity behind its eyes. "What was that? I thought my father killed all the larger dragons. And, was it like you? It had the same scales, well⦠until they changed color. And you hit it!" It seemed as if the human had begun to forget about its encounter entirely. Fenrir rolled his eyes as the halberd lay in between his teeth. Short-lived species tended to have a bad memory.
"Darling, darling," Vogaix held the human close, wrapping her wings around it, "I know this is a lot to take in. But it'll be okay, it will be okay. Next time it comes for us I'll finish it off." Fenrir twitched, dropping the halberd. Ame? The half-human looked to be about the same age, but it couldn't be. Could this half-human truly be Fenrir's only heir? He silently growled. It couldn't be a half-human. Fenrir watched the two comfort each other, when a familiar figure swiped at branches of the trees. A tall, over seven foot man, clad in iron armor covered in the scales of a glass dragon. Not just any scales, his sister's scales. The seven foot human had short black hair, and scars all over his light brown skin, Fenrir couldn't see it, but he remembered his arm. His arm that Fenrir burnt, forcing him to run. This monster burnt Fenrir's clutch. Fenrir growled, crouching to the ground, ready to attack.
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Boran grumbled, finally reaching the clearing. In front of him was the princess, Khora, and her little⦠pet, the half-dragon. "Get your claws off her, beast!" The two looked up at the princesses' half-dragon, Vogaix, bearing their teeth at the head knight. He muttered to himself, "Cur."
"You're not taking her back to that tower," Vogaix stepped in front of Khora, covering her with their wings, "Not while I'm in the way," They reached their hands towards their back, grabbing at something that wasn't there. They curse to themselves and crouch, prepared to launch themselves at the knight. Boran unsheathed his sword, and grabbed his shield from his back.
"Forgot your weapon, lizard?" Boran smirked, stepping towards the half-dragon. The princess grabbed her pet's shoulder, whispering something to them. The beast patted Khora's head, and Boran growled at the sight. They should not even be allowed to touch humans, much less one as important as the princess. Vogaix's muscles tensed, launching them towards the head knight. Boran put up his shield, with his blade behind it, prepared to strike, rather than defend. The half-dragon curled their wings close to their body, before a soft thunk came from the left of Boran. He looked over at the same time Vogaix did, a halberd, relatively large, found itself embedded into the ground. Its tip was covered in a thick, oil like blood, Boran knows it well, glass dragon blood. His eyes flick back to the half-dragon, who immediately flapped their wings, flying out of Boran's view and over to the fallen halberd. They grabbed it, twirling it in their hands as they positioned themselves for the knight to approach.
"Looks like I've got a guardian angel~" Vogaix winked at Boran, almost begging him to attack. He scoffed, eyes flicking to the top of the cliff, and to the princess, who is worriedly staring at her pet. "If you hate me so much, come hit me! Cut my skin, behead me!" Boran growled and stepped towards the half-dragon. He tightened his grip on his sword. "Or are you too much of a coward?" The beast winked again.
"You have no right to speak to me that way!" Boran twisted the blade in a circle before running at the beast. They watched his approach, twisting their halberd in their claws.
Boran raised his shield as Vogaix stabbed at his approach. There was a clanging of metal on hardened scales, sparks flying from the tip of the halberd. The half-dragon leaped into the air, twisting their body to grip onto the cliff face with their lower claws. They pulled their halberd away from the shield, and Boran began to swing at the half-dragon. They blocked the strike with their halberd, a crack appearing in the wooden pole from Boran's pure strength. The half-dragon grunted, launching themselves off the cliff, kicking aside the shield that the head knight raised against them. Boran grunted, his vision flicking towards the shield, not expecting the comparatively much smaller half-dragon to have such strength. Vogaix broke their halberd in half and switched which side the head of the weapon was on, stabbing it towards Boran's face.
The head knight immediately felt the sting of the blood dripping from his cheek. This beast got a strike in, nobody had gotten a successful strike on him since the glass dragons. "Youâ¦" His vision began to swirl, the colors of the world becoming brighter. Shit, there was glass dragon blood on that halberd. And the diluted blood of half-breeds wouldn't affect Boran this quickly. The knight kicked at the half-beast, causing her to leap away from him. He looked up, scanning the environment for a true glass-dragon. This beast was up to something.
"Is the poor little head knight distracted?" Vogaix leaned against the halberd, annoyingly relaxed for the fight they're having. The half-dragon's skin began to melt, their true dragon skeleton revealing itself to Boran. He leaped at the monster, blade ready to strike. They were caught off guard, and the head knight landed on top of them, blade going through their shoulder. The beast roared, fighting against Boran's weight. He's always wanted to choke a dragon to death. Boran wrapped his hands around the half-dragon's throat, they clawed at his armor, scratching the pristine scales. A smile smeared itself across Boran's face. Vogaix's twisting slowed down, but he heard a voice from behind him, the princess.
"Let her go!" Boran's grip loosened and he turned his head around, seeing the princess glow like a spotlight through his blood-addled vision. "I'll go with you, just let Vogaix goâ¦" Boran saw tears wrap around Khora like a halo, he stumbled off of the half-dragon, shuffling himself over to the princess. He picked up Khora, walking back over to the beast coughing on the ground. He picked up the sword and the shield, staring at the beast. He kicked them, making them cough up blood. Boran scoffed at the half-dragon before walking away, hand gripping Khora's so tight that her circulation began to slow. Vogaix struggled to stand up, staring at Boran's back. Khora looked back to her knight, an apology in her eyes. The two disappeared into the forest, leaving the half dragon alone in the clearing, accompanied only by the sounds of the waterfall.