Revelations of a Dark Future

It was cold. Unusually cold. In fact, a blizzard was currently raging through the desolate ice kingdom. Dragons sat, cuddled together for warmth, hidden deep within their caves and homes. Many yearned for the warm embrace of the great IceWing palace, from where it sat above the rest of the citizens, cushioned by ice and snow. It’s architecture exquisite, spirals of aurozite that seemed to glow a deathly blue, reminiscent of a time hundred of years ago, yet still in pristine condition.

Within this icy fortress, it was strangely quiet. The queen had yet to return, and several guards, out of worry, had left to go find her. The palace was practically unguarded. Maids shot back and forth, their nerves beginning to be put on edge. The queen had merely gone out on a hunting expedition, and with several guards, no less. And now it had been nearly eight hours. She should be back by now, they thought worriedly.

Outside of the palace, several guards paced back and forth. But the blizzard was unrelenting, and difficult to see through. That being paired with the fact that there were only two guards by the gates.

Without much effort, a white, hardly visible dragoness slipped past them, utilizing the abilities of her ancestors to blend in with the surrounding snow. She had snuck up to the palace, eyes watching the guards careful, and would begin to maneuver around them. With a great leap, she jumped up and flew to the near top of the palace, claws digging into the durable side. And thanks to the sound the blizzard was making, no one heard her.

But just because she had managed to get to the palace didn’t mean her mission was over. She had no idea what awaited her inside. Carefully, the mysterious ice dragoness would scale the wall of the palace, searching for an entrance. Her eyes squinted as she attempted to see the scenery around her through the darkness of the raging storm. And unluckily for her, it didn’t seem there were any windows or entrances that hadn’t been sealed off.

She eventually made it to the bottom of the castle, her tail and back legs plopping into the snow. Something cracked below, and she felt her foot submerge in water. She hissed, angrily, quickly pulling it out. This damned place was far too close to water for her tastes. Scoffing, she realized she might have to find a back entrance rather than a window.

Carefully, she would leap up, opening her wings, and flying towards the back of the palace. Behind it, she could see the massive ocean. She growled. Why would any ice dragon even dare to live this close to the ocean? Clearly they had brought their surefire destruction upon themselves.

Looping around, she would scan the back of the palace, and spotting nothing, even with her enhanced eyesight, they helped her to see through the blizzard in a way that no other ice dragon could. And still she saw nothing. If she were to achieve her goal, she may end up having to break in…. In a slightly more obvious way, which, of course, would be risky. Afterall, even if so many guards had been with Rayla, the queen, no doubt there would still be foolish dragons waiting around inside.

As Gaea, the dragoness, scanned her surroundings, she spotted something through the snow. A small outcrop. Chuckling, she flew towards it, landing carefully on the ice covered surface. It seemed to be some kind of balcony, she though vaguely to herself. So where there was a balcony, there must be an entrance.

She tentatively walked towards the castle from her space on the balcony, and saw a clear glass door. It was locked, but such an obstacle was no such issue to the great Auroran Ice Dragon. Gaea easily cracked, and subsequently smashed, the icy doors that had been keeping her out. Upon the smashing, the dragoness calmly walked inside, the wind flying in as well, filling up the room with snow and the frosty bite of the wind.

Judging by the scenery, it definitely seemed like this had been a former royal room of some kind, though it looked pretty empty now. Gaea walked through the room, searching beneath the bed, between the cupboards. There didn’t seem to be any helpful clues pointing towards what she was looking for being here. So where else could it be?

Considering she had just forcibly shattered the glass, she knew her times was limited. If she were to retrieve what she was searching for, she’d need to be quick. No doubt, if they discovered what had happened, this place would become flooded with guards, and she was sure that would result in her failure, and even potential death.

Gaea growled, heading towards the door of the royal bedroom. Perhaps what she was looking for was at the royal nursery. Could very well be a possibility. Of course Rayla would leave the child in the nursery while she was gone. After the incident with Ouroborus, she no doubt would be very protective of the runt.

Well, it seemed all those efforts would be in vain.

As Gaea quickly moved into the hallway, her pace practically running through the halls, though making sure to stay quiet, she came up with a plan. No doubt, the maids and local population or nobles of the palace were not aware of her presence. Gaea would have the upper hand, since if any of them encountered her, they would no doubt be surprised. And add that to the fact she was an ice dragon, they might mistake her for one of their own. So, if she came upon one, she would kill them. Simple as that.

The lives of these lesser beasts did not matter to her.

Gaea turned a bend, and stopped, spotting two strangers several yards away. They looked to be talking. Since the two were at a cross section, Gaea was cautious to attack them, because she didn’t know if other dragons happened to be in the hallways opposite of them. So she kept going. The two maidens didn’t even notice her presence.

Gaea was beginning to grow annoyed, though. Each bend she made seemed to lead her to nowhere. Each door she opened gave her minimal results. And if she stayed in this cursed place any longer, she no doubt would be discovered. And this would be a much more efficient job to pull off if no one knew of her presence.

Finally, as Gaea descended down a flight of stairs, she spotted an exuberantly, decorated door. Surrounding it was a thin, decorative sheet of ice, and door itself seemed as if specially sculptured. Figured. Idiots would announce important rooms to their enemies, of course.

The only issue was the two guards out in front of them. As confident Gaea was of her abilities, both guards were larger than her. And to match that, one of them had spotted her.

“Halt! Who are-?” he began. Gaea acted quickly. Just as the other guard was alerted of her presence, Gaea jumped down, attempting to rake the first one’s throat. Due to the abruptness of her arrival, she quickly took him down, forcefully slamming him into the wall, not only slashing deep into his throat, but also causing mass internal damage by the slam.

The other, quickly snapped into action by the sudden appearance of a strange, hostile dragon, reached to retaliate. He shot a quick blast of white icy energy towards Gaea. However, it did little against her armor, and she casually dodged out of the way, moving swiftly to swipe at her opponent’s chest. He dodged, but then Gaea whirled around and slammed him into the wall, crushing his bones with her mere force and spikes.

They fell to the ground, limp. Gaea, however, couldn’t afford to have them recover, she quickly slit his throat as well, leaving him to bleed out.

Now, finally, Gaea could complete the work she came to do. Turning around, Gaea picked up the key that one of the guards had on them, using it to open the door. Inside, of all the places in this cursed palace, this was the warmest. Inside the hatchery, several woven beds sat. To Gaea’s dismay, there seemed to be more than one hatchling.

There was a black one, which was an oddity. They looked like one of those NightWings. What was it doing in the royal IceWing hatchery? She scoffed, and kept going.

Next, she came to a small, white and blue dragoness hatchling. Judging by the already prominent ice spikes, this was definitely her target.

Quickly, she scooped the child up. Judging by their size, it seemed that they were just about a year old now, maybe two. Gaea knew she might have some difficulty with convincing the child she was their mother. But regardless, she would have to. If the child refused to believe her, she’d have to tell her the truth: that her mother was killed.

Carefully holding the baby in her jaws, she made a rush for it, back the way she came. The dead guards would be discovered quickly, and Gaea’s paws no doubt had tracked blood into the nursery and back out the way she came. She moved with grace, knowing that discovery could mean failure. Her paws seemed to fly along the marble floors with an elegant stride that surely no dragon could reach, dodging past guards and other prying eyes. At one point, as she reached the room she had came in from, she thought she heard the distant cry of “wait!”

Of course, Gaea didn’t stick around to see who had spotted her. If they had only seen flashes it wouldn’t be important. She slid across the snowy floor of the royal room, and leaped swiftly out the balcony entrance, opening her wings and flying off into the storm.

Although she thought she heard distant cries, Gaea didn’t bother to look back. She was confident enough in the power of the storm that anyone who tried to chase her would quickly lose her.

And so, the first step was complete. Now, the next step would be a significantly harder challenge.

Upon her return to her temporary home in IceWing mountains, Gaea quickly folded her wings and rushed inside. By now, the child had woken up, and was very visibly confused. She had even struggled a bit once they had realized they were no longer inside the comfort of their nest.

Annoyed, Gaea dropped the little rat, and for once, took a moment to examine her. The little lizard was small, as to be expected, with white and bluish scales. She had small, icy spikes forming on her back. You could hardly tell she was one quarter eel. Except, of course, for the fins near the end of her tail, that made Gaea’s mouth twitch. It would have been so much more pleasant if the runt had been born more… pure looking. But Gaea supposed she could live with this.

The baby looked around, squeaking. “M-mama?” she asked. This might be a problem. Around this age, the child could pretty easily distinguish that Gaea was not her mother. “Mama? Where.. Mama?” she asked, the little dragon looking like she was going to start panicking. The little dragon wobbly got to her feet, and tried taking a few steps forward. However, when the breeze from the front of the cave swept inside, she fell over. The overall confusion, combined with the fall, left Aura to start crying.

This angered Gaea, “Be quiet!” she snapped, only making Aura cry harder. Gaea bit her lip. She had never been good with children. Though it couldn't be that hard. Gaea just needed to be stringent with the baby. She rose up, and said, “Child, I am your mother. Now be quiet, and tell me your name!”

Aura, of course, didn’t understand much of this, and simply kept whining. When Gaea attempted to move closer, she made a little baby growl, “No! Get away! Not mama!” she started aggressively clawing at the dirt beneath her claws, wobbly standing up and waddling away.

It wasn’t hard for Gaea to catch the little heathen though. She merely rolled her eyes at the tiny creature’s actions, walked forward, and picked her up by the scruff of her neck, resulting in the immediate struggling of Aura.

Gaea ignored the protests of Aura, and continued to walk deeper into the cavern, until they came to a dimly lit room. She then set Aura down again, and walked over to a nearby cabinet.

Aura, meanwhile, was trying to find a way out, letting out little squeals as she maneuvered about, convulsing on the cold ground, “Mama! Mama! Mama where are you?” she whined, sniffing the air and searching for her mother, Queen Rayla. When Gaea turned around to come back to her, Aura’s screaming increased.

Frowning, Gaea came back with a small piece of meat, dropping it in front of Aura. She paused her crying, sniffing it softly. Meanwhile, while she was distracted, Gaea glowed a soft blue color. The air around her became dry, colder, and several ice spikes popped up around Aura, effectively trapping her in a small baby cage.

This sudden action frightened Aura, and she began to cry again. Gaea decided to leave the little runt alone. She would cry herself out eventually. And then when that happened, Gaea could properly induct herself as the new baby’s mother. Surely such a young dirty-blooded runt wouldn’t mind. Gaea knew she would much rather be raised by a pureblood than by some filthy gutter that her former mother had been.

So while Aura’s screams echoed throughout the cavern, Gaea merely walked out, leaving the baby alone in the dimly lit room, and went off to go hunting. She was confident enough in her ability to keep the gutter eel contained that she didn't think she would try to run off.

Meanwhile, Aura would cry and cry, paying hardly a lick of attention to her surroundings. She tried haplessly to claw at the icy barrier that separated her from her freedom, but there wasn’t much an eighteen month hatchling could do against her confines. It was, overall, a pretty futile fight.

Finally, after about two hours, baby Aura finally began to stop crying. Eventually, she reluctantly started eating the piece of rabbit meat that had been dropped at her feet. It had a very strong, sweet taste, and was lean and tough. She chewed, and eventually forgot completely what she had been crying about just a few moments ago. Aura had never tasted rabbit before. She found it quite delectable.

Once she had finished, however, she returned to being confused about her current situation. She was still entrapped in the small space left for her by the ice. Cautiously, she attempted to claw at it again, waddling over and hitting it with her tiny paws. But her premature dragon claws did nothing against the reinforced ice of a pure blooded Aurora Ice Dragon.

So instead, Aura was forced to accept defeat, flopping down onto her butt with a disappointed look on her face.

And so Aura was left to dawdle in her own boredom. Gaea did not return for another hour, leaving Aura to roll around her enclosure, trying to find something worthwhile to entertain herself with, yawning, crying, clawing, and being overall bored. Not to mention that an hour felt like an eternity to a baby.

Finally, Gaea returned, holding with her the carcass of a large, female moose. She flew into the cave, and Aura immediately perked up at the sound of wing beats. At first, she got excited. Maybe mama had returned after all!

But Aura’s hopes were quickly dashed when all she saw was Gaea. Gaea didn’t acknowledge Aura much, and merely continued walking, reaching a pile of animals and placing the moose on top. Aura couldn’t identify the animals, though, as she was still far too young.

When Gaea set the meat down, she swiftly turned towards Aura, making the little eel gutter tense up. She nervously stared down Gaea, Gaea’s own, icy eyes boring into her like a viper about to strike.

Then Gaea decided to walk over to Aura, making her yelp and run to the back of her enclosure. Gaea hissed, “Come here, now!” she snapped. Aura ignored her scratching at the ice on the other side of the cage. The dragoness growled, incredibly frustrated, walking into the cage with Aura, stepping over it easily.

“No, no! No no no!” Aura said insistently, continuing to try to get away. Gaea growled, her annoyance rising. Little twerp was making this harder than it had to be.

“Look, you can either calm down this instant, or I will personally leave you alone in timeout for the rest of the day. Do you want that?” she threatened.

Aura paused when she heard this, looking up at Gaea with wide eyes. She didn’t want to be near the stranger, but she also didn’t want to be left alone all day in timeout. That would be the true torture.

Gaea sighed. So that was effective. Threatening the brat with something that actually mattered to her. Very well.

“Alright. Now, you are my daughter. I want you to wipe all memory of whatever dragon it was that raised you. And I want you to address me only as Miss Gaea. Is that clear?” she said.

Aura, still being rather young, merely tilted her head at Gaea in confusion. “M-ms… miss ga… ya?” she asked. The mere sound of her voice made Gaea wish to tear her own ears out. She snarled at Aura, making her shiver.

“Miss Gaea! Can you runt not even address me like that? My that half breed gutter eel blood really has left you quite moronic!” she snapped. Aura wasn’t quite sure what moronic meant, or what half of what Gaea had said, really. But the tone had been aggressive enough to make her shiver even harder, and hide her head beneath her arm, curling her tail over her face, so as to avoid the rage of this strange ice dragon.

“Gosh, would you look at you! Pathetic.” Gaea spat, “I can’t believe my cousin’s dimwitted cousin raised you to be like this. Well, I guess I’ll just have to work that uselessness out of your system myself.” Gaea scoffed, turning around, and leaving.

Aura wasn’t sure what made the strange dragon so upset, but she did have one feeling. A feeling of hopeless, lost confusion.