Up to the Mango Hill

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Warning! This page contains violence, killing, gore, drugs (fictional, mentioned only), and slavery. If this seems unsettling to you, it is recommended to leave this page.
==Chapter 1==
After the War of SandWing Succession, the Dragonets of Destiny tried to stop their world from falling in many ways; Jade Mountain Academy, and both Tsunami and Sunny became queens of their tribes. But they were just five dragonets, they couldn't do much but stop the world from falling for a few decades.
Years passed, the tide went on without a break, and even if the queens were wise, they couldn't avoid corruption by dragon's stupidity. Fear. Recklessness. Greed.
First, the slavers - They made Queen Charcoal of the SandWings have no choice - the hybrids from then on were lower cast, and couldn't bring up justice upon those who bothered them. They could be hunted, bullied and took slaves.
Secondly, the petal - the drug ruined countless dragon lives and made the rich even more richer. It made also impossible for slaves to escape.
The walls came out of nowhere - kingdoms closed around themselves how much they could, there was no trespassing possible without a special permission that you could have only if you were really rich.
Things like Ice Grasp were common way to punish the slaves who tried to escape. Or criminals, or the poor ones who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and annoyed a wrong dragon. They were just shows to fool these who named themselves free but still were prisoners of the system.
The science went on and horrible things happened (that castle in the sky that brought down half of the Sky Kingdom mountains when it fell, for example) - magic was prohibited, and scavengers were almost wiped out. A lot of bad, awful things happened, until no one could ever be safe.
The progress ruined Pantala, the continent got fully covered in deserts and empty ruins. Nothing could grow there as the ground was poisoned and devastated. Some tribes almost went extinct, and the ground became barren in many places, plants unable to grow and mysterious diseases reaching some of the societies.
Mango was the poor hybrid who unfortunately ended up in the Ice Grasp. Trying to escape The Ice Grasp was like suicide, really. The first part seemed easy - claw up the ice walls, ignoring the freezing cold and broken talons. The second part was sneaking through the Glass Forest, where she thought she would die. She almost went mad there, losing her way between mirrors and trees made of ice.
The third part was getting past the guards, mainly hybrid slaves. Their antennae caught every movement and with the petal, their senses were so sharp that one was unable to get past unnoticed. But Mango was still thinking clearly, even after the Glass Forest, and she fooled them into getting in the glassy trap. She escaped, using the web she made with her silk previously. She burned it after getting outside.
She just wanted to taste freedom one more time. For one last moment. She ran south, towards the Living Hills.
The cold air finally started to warm as she entered the desert edge.
The sand was bright pink here - unnatural and poisoned. The sunrise warmed her scales and she turned to see it. The huge star lit the clouds, making them pinkish grey, and made the ocean below gold and shiny.
She smiled. A weird feeling jumped in her abdomen. She shook the remains of her wings. At least I'll die happy.
She stopped into the edge of the Living Hills. The sand was still cool after long night, but was starting to warm up a little as the sun went up.
She turned to see the guards approaching her. She lifted her talons. "Come," she whispered. "I'm ready,"
The petal guards fled toward her, weaker and slower because of the drug. She smiled right into their empty eyes.
The ground started to move.
Chapter 2
Mango felt the sand creep up her scales, and she let it. She closed her eyes and felt the warm morning breeze on her scales. She heard the bird chirping on the east coast, unaware of the chaos around, casually greeting the new day. She smelled smoke far away - burning fish, she guessed.
Life went on - she thought as the sand, accompanied by screaming of petal guards, covered her snout.
The darkness swallowed her.
She felt the Living Hills shot up into the air, swallowing the guards in the air, expanding.
She fell on her wingless back and found herself in an unnaturally white cave. She felt few of her scales shed.
The whole cave was covered in bones. She recognized dragon skulls, and little animal bones.
In the center of the cave, a huge, half-rotten, dried dragon corpse stood with its eyes closed. She couldn't tell its tribe, or even the previous color of the scales.
Mango shivered as the corpse moved. The eyes opened, all white, but they didn't seem blind. They weren't empty like petal guards', seeming all-seeing and wise instead. The head turned towards her as the corpse spoken without moving its mouth.
It was the creepiest sound she ever was to hear. It sounded like bones cracking, whirlwind roaring, but was somehow a faint, eerie whisper.
"How much years passed? From Scorching?" The corpse asked.
"Um… hundred?" Mango never knew how to count the years - it was unnecessary for slave to know anything like that, so she said a random number. "Hundred and... Two?"
The corpse sighed and seemed to relax. "Good. Now I can rest…" it said.
An awkward silence filled the air. Mango didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything, and the voice didn't tell anything more. Slaves should be silent, unless they were directly told to speak.
"Come on!" the corpse finally spoke. "Aren't you here to take my place? Weren't you prepared at all?"
Terror paralised Mango when the corpse stood up. A bit shaky on its talons, like a newborn dragonet, it approached her. Mango expected to smell rotten flesh, but instead she could feel smoke and camels. While it walked, some scales fell off it, but it didn't seem to care.
"Don't you have anything sharp with you?" the corpse whispered. "Three empires, don't you know why are you here actually?"
Mango couldn't force herself to speak, so she just shook her head.
The corpse muttered something. "Okay," it finally said. "You're here to become another Witch of the Hills."
"What?" Mango whispered. It sounded magical. But magic wasn't allowed at all… Stupid. Her escape was not allowed either.
"Witch of the Hills," the corpse snapped. "Magical defense against the others. One with the Force of Nature. Didn't you see? I helped you to get there."
"I don't think I'll be good." she said, her voice thin. "I can't even fight." And I came here by accident.
"Take my place," the voice begged. "I didn't wanted to be the Witch anyway,"
Mango eyed the Witch. "You wouldn't want power? You would prefer to be weak?" she asked. She couldn't understand.
"I prefer death other this," the voice spat. "I never intended to hatch as an animus,"
Mango wasn't an animus. But… if the Witch was right, she could have vengeance. And power, the thing she never had before. She wanted to have the feeling they had while cutting her wings, her beautiful, butterfly shaped wings.
"I'm not one," Mango offered silently. "But I can take your place,"
The corpse nodded slowly.
"Your mind is strong enough," the Witch said. "I think you will be fine. Go there," The Witch pointed at the place where she stood before.
Mango felt her legs move without her thought. After few seconds, she found herself standing there, with her tail around her legs. She was calm now - whatever would happen, it wouldn't be worse than slavery, right?
The Witch followed her slowly. When Mango settled in the place, she reached towards her heart. She pulled, and Mango saw a dagger in her hands. "It will not hurt much," the Witch croaked as the dagger went straight through Mango's heart.
Before the hybrid drowned into the darkness, she saw the Witch sigh and crumble to dust. Both of them were finally free.
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Short Story)
Category:Mature Content
Category:Content (TheNothingWing)