Chapter Two

The king departed.

Tradition has it that when the ruler of the Skywrath passes, no Skywrath is allowed to fly that day, paying respect to their ruler.

Everyone would put another pair of tiny wings on their shoulder blade, to symbolize that they are flying for another Skywrath. Their mourning tradition. Their king, this time.

Dragonus was with Shendelzare when she heard the news. They were sparring, yet again. They both really just wanted to spend whatever limited time they had together before he went for his training. Dragonus had a lot of things on her mind, what if he didn’t win? What if he lost and she had to marry someone else?

But what if he lost and someone decided to choose her sister instead? Yedelzare was tat taller, but her forte, or her interest was not of the common Skywraths. She was not a warrior, neither was she a mage. She loved studying the history of the first war, strategies, drafts or methods concerning warfare, but nothing that would get her hands dirty.

That didn’t mean she didn’t try though. She tried so hard to fit in with her sister and Dragonus, but she was always a step behind. Her magic weak, her persistence faltered and she dwelled deep into her books.

But she was as beautiful as her sister…Maybe…Someone would…

Dragonus kicked the thought out of his mind. No one who won the contest would choose to marry the princess, they would definitely choose to be king of all Skywrath, and there simply was no chance that anyone of sane mind would pick Yedelzare over Shendelzare. He would win this contest. He must win this contest. And take Shendelzare to be his wife, not because he wants to be king, but to protect Shendelzare from other men.

The news rolled around.

The king died because his wings failed.

Skywraths need mana to live. In theory, Skywraths can live forever, if their mana regeneration was positive. But most Skywraths grow old, and they begin to leak their mana, and when their mana pool reaches zero, their wings began to falter. They could still work, but they could only live a limited amount of time without working wings.

But it appeared that the king was in a battle with someone from the Nether Reaches.

His mana was burnt out of the old king, green scars were found on him.

Someone was hunting royalty.

Shendelzare was immediately brought into the palace, to protect her, and to prepare her for her ascension.

That day was the last day that Shendelzare visited Dragonus part of the palace again. Even before his self-exile to train.

This is good. I can fully prepare myself for what there is to come. I’m sorry my king but you would have to wait, I promise I will avenge you after I become someone in position to do so. There would be no distractions, no one that I should be bothering myself with, till the ultimate goal of becoming the Skywrath Mage. For my father. For her. For me.

As he packed his bags, a familiar pair of wings flew in.

“Shelly?” he turned, to see a similar face, but different from what he wanted.

“Dragonus. I’m sorry that I’m not my sister.”

“Oh my dear Yedelzare, I’ll welcome you too, we are after all friends. Maybe the next time you see me it would be under very different circumstances. And I am terribly sorry for what happened to the king, he was a good mentor to me.”

“Yes, father always liked you, more than you know, like a son.”

Yedelzare crept close. “Can you do me a favour?”

Dragonus turned around. He nodded.

“Choose me instead.”

He was confused.

“When you win, when you become the Skywrath Mage, will you take me as your wife?”

He was even more confused.

“No. Yedelzare, I have promised someone else my heart and it hasn’t falter in choosing her as my rightful mate to fly with.” He said firmly.

“Well then, it was a long shot anyway.” tears seem to be debating whether to fall freely or to leak.

“Could you at least teach me a spell? I realized that I need to protect myself. My father. You know.”

Dragonus could hardly refuse after breaking her heart like that. Dragonus had his mind made up that he would personally find who was behind the assassination of his king. Even if he had to do it with any power at all.

“Anything for you.”

He taught her his newer spell, Ancient Seal. She specially requested it. It was a good silence, with amplified damage from magic. The scars were made from Nether wards, Dragonus knew from his studies that those were dangerous to spell casters like himself, which the king probably fell into a deep trap by trying to attack the assassin.

The king never played dirty. That perhaps was his downfall.

If Yedelzare silenced the assassin before he could conjure the ward, she may be able to run away from him before he could harm her.

Yedelzare casted it perfectly on the dummy.

“I did it!” she was excited that she flew a little bit, awkwardly hitting her wings against the ceiling. She turned around and hugged Dragonus.

“Congratulations, my dear Yedelzare, you have mastered the spell. Remember, you should use your offensive spells after for maximum effect.”

“Is it because she’s queen?”

Yedelzare circled back to the subject again. In the embrace of the one she loves, she wonders if she would ever stand a chance. But she knows, this side of her, only Dragonus sees.

She could hardly care about anyone else. The sister that constantly outshines her in combat and magic. The father that was distant after their mother died in combat.

No daughter of mine shall be weak!

She could still those echoes from her room as her father returned one night and realized that she was reading instead of practicing her magic.

But they were all wrong. All of Ghastly Eyrie. These people can’t see past their wings to realize that there are much more important things compared to pure strength in battle.

Being smart, playing how the game was meant to be played, that’s how the first war was won on.

“No. I have deep feelings for your sister. She is like the moon to my sun. If she isn’t queen, the younger sister, I would probably still choose her. But I can’t tell you what would have happened, you would have to ask a Weaver.”

These kind of connections. Shendelzare would have never gotten what the last line meant. The reason why Yedelzare believed that Dragonus was her perfect one, he was smart, he was good in everything, and they could connect on that level.

Dragonus would understand.

She left with that thought in her mind, after all the loom of time has already began to spin.

That night, she was mad. Then she had this idea, what if Dragonus didn’t really like her sister but was attracted to power?

She never liked her father anyway.

The Ghastly Eyrie was a floating island, kept up there by the power of the Skywrath scion. She knew that it was near the Acid Jungle of Jidi Isle that night. She exited the city, flying low, avoiding the guards that patrolled the skies above the floating island.

She had the knowledge, any swamp within the jungle, the bubbling green acid was deadly to all living creatures. She used a bottle and obtained just enough for someone as old as her father. Ironic, isn’t it? The symbol of healing water now used to kill.

She entered his room late at night, the guards, unaware. Smeared some of the bottle contents on her father’s wings, and he faded away that night. But of course, it wasn’t a simple fade away, but rather in an epileptic episode, twitching uncontrollably around his room until he couldn’t fly anymore.

She told herself he didn’t suffer. He didn’t even wake up to see the person that killed him.

An assassin from the Nether reaches. She laughed as she heard it from the guards. These people are idiots. Just because it was green.

Of course she didn’t show her happiness that no one detected anything, after all she did throw the bottle from the Nest to the ground below.

Dragonus would know.

She knew he would find out if he inspected the body. But her claws remained crossed as she slowly realized that he was practicing even harder.

The king. He wants to be king. I was right.

She gleamed. She planned to run interference between Dragonus and the king’s body but she had picked up an unintentional hobby of stalking. And she even could visit him as she wished. She was worried for nothing, Dragonus didn’t even inspect the body at all.

“Princess Yedelzare, are you sure you want to do this?” her guard asked.

“I asked for your loyalty and you promised to serve me as you would serve Avilliva.”

“But she’s your…”

“I know who she is.”

Her eyes hardened. Even her most trusted men around her felt like it was a big mistake.

But she was so close. So close to the throne. So close to Dragonus. So close to everything she ever wanted.

Author: Reydaniels

Editor: Kuon

Chapter 3