The Bane

A sad and dark tale. Twenty-four years before the events of My Name Is 242 .
Please read with caution, as this story is a little sad and dark. Thank you all for your comments! :3
- Birchfrost22 -
==Summer Palace, Kingdom of the Sea==
===8:28 a.m.===
The note is impersonal and quick, written in the jagged writing of a dragon in a hurry. Ink dots the dried parchment, jet black against the papery surface, like the fallen scales of a NightWing on the blistering sands of a desert.
To : Prince Deathstalker of the SeaWings
Our mission is complete. The Bane has been improved to maximum capacity, and the first of the Subjects has been imprisoned in the Jade Outpost.
From : Skyfroze
The Bane. The Bane was complete. It was complete.
I rest my webbed talons on the parchment in disbelief, heart pounding in my ears...
"...Deathstalker?"
The one word shatters my reverie, and I hastily roll the letter into a tight scroll, stowing it safely into a drawer and looking up to see who it was at the same time. 
It was Beryl - my mate, to be exact, and a SkyWing with dark orange scales, gold-enlaid horns, and a simple garland of flowers wound around her forearms. She looks out of place among the dark blues and soft whites of the Palace, and she looks agitated.
"Deathstalker," she repeats. "The other dragonets are bullying Coriander again."
I stifle a hiss of annoyance at the mention of our daughter, but Beryl continues anyways: "I was wondering if you could talk to the queen. I think it's time to show Coriander her SkyWing heritage--"
"What!?" I roar.
"She's half SkyWing, too, you know," she growls defensively, refusing to meet my eyes.
"You severed all ties with your family when you married me," I hiss in a low voice, clenching my talons and digging them into the mahogany of the desk. "As far as I'm concerned, Coriander is no more a SkyWing then I am, and it will stay that way."
Beryl looks shocked. "You don't mean that."
"Of course I do," I snarl, digging my talons even harder into the desk. "I will not have my daugher mixing with dragons like that..."
"Oh, so that's how it is?" Beryl's giant wings unfurl and smoke begins to billow from her nostrils. "You hate SkyWings now? What will it be next, IceWings?"
My heart stops cold, but I remind myself that she doesn't know any of the plan...unless my servants are even more disloyal than I thought...in which case they will answer to my claws and teeth and tail, I think furiously.
"Your mother will have a bad influence on our daughter," I say instead, flicking my ears in a would-be casual manner if it weren't for the trembling rage in which my words are enthused with. I glare at her, daring her to defy me, but Beryl merely folds her wings and gives me a look of utter contempt and disbelief.
"Very well, my prince," she hisses softly, before turning away, "keep us locked away in this palace, feed us nothing but rats for all I care. But I'll have you know that our daughter is unhappy here, and I will not tolerate for much longer." With these parting word she sweeps out of the room, her dark orange scales flashing in the morning sunlight.
I stare after her, angry but triumphant, and reach for the scroll again, but this time Coriander's at the door, timidly tapping that doorframe.
"Daddy?"
"Were you eavesdropping?" I ask sternly.
The five-year-old dragonet blinks her large, golden eyes.
"No."
I don't believe her, but I allow her to approach anyways. I try to hide my discomfort at the obvious SkyWing blood in her - her stature, for one thing, and her noticeably unwebbed talons...even the colour of her scales, which is a dark, sparkling amber...at least she has gills, I think grimly, and at least she's able to speak Aquatic...
"What do you want?" I ask ungraciously.
"I want to go with Mommy," she replies earnestly. "I really want to see Grandmother, and I really--"
I slam my talons on the desk.
"No."
"But, Daddy, I--"
"I said no," I say in a quiet voice. "You are not going to the Sky Kingdom. You will stay here, where it is safe." And where you will learn to be a SeaWing, I think, but I'm intelligent enough not to say it in front of my daughter, who looks as if she's on the verge of tears. She blinks them back with obvious difficulty, then nods once and slowly shuffles out of the room.
I wait several moments, then I reach for the scroll and unroll it, laying it flat against the gouged surface of my desk. My heart begins its excited pounding as I read and re-read the words. The Bane is complete, finally, after so many long, dreary years of waiting, studying, learning...
I exhale and lean back, relishing this perfect, perfect moment.
===10:56 a.m.===
I make my way to the anteroom, where I know Beryl and Coriander are eating an early lunch. When I enter the chamber I'm greeted by a weedy servant, but I don't bother to acknowledge her polite bow as she closes the door behind me.
"Deathstalker," Beryl says coolly, dabbing at her muzzle with a fragment of silk. "What a pleasant surprise."
Coriander looks anxiously between us as I settle at the head of the table without comment. Another servant hastens to provide me with an assortment of delicacies, and for a while the room is filled with nothing but the clink of plates and the scrape of talons against the tiled floor.
Coriander breaks the silence by shifting to face me. "Daddy?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full."
Beryl shoots me a warning glare, but Coriander presses onwards, ignoring her parents' reactions. "Daddy," she says seriously, looking up at me with large eyes, "I want to go to the Sky Kingdom."
The silence in the room is as thick as cold custard.
"What did you say?" I say slowly, quietly.
Dangerously.
Coriander brushes her talons against the dark orange scales of her forearm, looking scared but defiant at the same time. "I-I want to go to the Sky Kingdom, to see my Grandmother and Grandfather and all my cousins, Daddy. I'm a SkyWing princess, too..."
I slam my clenched talons on the table, causing the dishes to rattle. "You are not a SkyWing princess," I hiss, glaring at her, "you are of SeaWing royal blood, and thus you are a SeaWing princess." I whip around, to face Beryl, who squares her shoulders and clenches her jaw, daring me to continue. "You set her up to this, didn't you?"
"So what if I did?" Beryl growls back. "She has a right to learn about her heritage!"
I stand up, still glaring at her. "It's not my fault that Coriander can't understand SeaWing moralities!" I snarl. "It's your fault! It's yours! You and your 'Oh, Coriander is so much more like a SkyWing, thus she must be treated as one...'" I trail off, teeth bared.
Work in progress...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Content (Birchfrost22)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Genre (Romance)