It was quite telling that the nicest thing to do in the town of Leroy was going to work. On the outer edges of the great Leopoldo kingdom, this small town was home to farmers, laborers, and a few pampered kids who think they’re better because they have a tad more money. For most people, a typical day consisted of work, dinner, and sleep, hardly having any time for lunch and absolutely zero time for breakfast. After all, it was a labor town, so it was to be expected. Yet, funnily enough, every single one of them dreamed of living in a big city or maybe even living in a penthouse a few blocks down from the royal palace. Those thoughts would stay as they were forever: Dreams had by those stricken in poverty. 

For one such laborer, those dreams felt like an eternity away. She found herself, presently, walking to work for the day. It was morning, and the sun had barely finished rising, yet she was fully dressed in her work clothes on her way to the small bar she was a waitress at. Wearing a dirty dress with an even dirtier apron on, she looked as mediocre as one could get. On top of the scarf she wrapped all of her voluminous hair in, her large and clunky glasses made sure she wasn’t anything to leer at. However, she liked it that way. It was best not to attract attention in Leroy. 

“Leena!” The owner shouted as soon as she walked into the bar. All the customers, there to waste last night's check on booze before hopping over to work, stopped what they were doing and stared at the young woman. She froze, her mind twisting and turning as she saw all of their large drunken eyes staring at her. The few giggles that crept from the crowd around her made her shoulders feel heavier and heavier. She was quite embarrassed. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late. I must’ve overslept. It won’t happen again, I promise!” Leena pleaded to the owner behind the bar. He spat on the ground without care for hygiene and looked at her up and down. 

“What do you spend all morning doing, anyway?” The owner coughed right in her face, causing the young woman, Leena, to recoil and take a step back. “You look and smell like shit. At least a more feminine woman has the excuse of doing her hair and her makeup! Ha, ha! You wouldn’t know how to be a woman if it smacked you across the face. Whatever the hell that means.” 

“I’m sorry, sir.” Leena looked down, trying her hardest to avoid direct eye contact. She could still feel his condescending eyes on her, judging everything about her appearance. Leena liked looking like this to avoid attention, she told herself, though she questioned her wounded feelings at the same time. “I’ll get to work right away.”

“Yeah, you better.” The owner coughed once more and took his large, filthy beer belly to the back of the bar. The bartender, a young teenager serving strong alcoholic drinks to a bunch of older men, looked at Leena and then turned away, not wanting to be bothered by her. He didn’t care to comfort her, not that she’d ask, she told herself. 

The establishment doubled as both a bar and a restaurant, serving all kinds of cheap food to the various tables that were all around it while serving drinks upfront. The men in rusty armor and dirty clothing didn’t care that Leena was unassuming; they still felt the need to leer at her and make uncomfortable remarks. It felt like snakes and insects were crawling all over her. However, in the “great” town of Leroy, one had to suck it all up. It was practically the motto of Leroy to work till you dropped and then force yourself up for the next day. It was the same way for all “labor towns.” 

Leena carried over food and drinks from the bar, forced to carry multiple orders of smelly food to all the paying customers. Her tenacity for being clumsy made it difficult, but months of being scolded and embarrassed have forced her not to drop anything. The owner practically conditioned her to fear dropping anything, as Leena associated that with the embarrassment which often followed. It created a cycle of fear, narrowing her hands and focus with time. 

After the long and cumbersome day was over, Leena walked home in the dead of night, surrounded by nothing but darkness and the sound of chattering mice. The streets were full of drunkards belching and passing out on the cement and thugs leaning on walls, huddling in circles, or knocking out in alleyways after a “night out.” It wasn’t particularly safe, but, luckily for her, Leena hadn’t been victim to a mugging like so many other people. 

Standing in front of her home, Leena looked at her shaking hands as she held the key. She was exhausted. Little to no food and constant manual labor, busing tables and helping cook in the scorching kitchen, has molded her body to be stronger than your average person. Despite this, she found herself getting absolutely exhausted. Her body may have been toned thanks to her work and lifestyle, but it was not from training or conditioning. Not in the traditional and healthier sense. 

After finally grasping the courage to step inside, Leena was greeted by the very thing she feared getting greeted by: Nothing. Her small apartment was utterly devoid of life. That feeling of loneliness hit her like a two-ton coach, making her feel a weight in her chest that she had almost grown accustomed to. It almost brought her to tears, yet she gripped her fists and fought through it, changing into something more comfortable for the night. 

Having grown up in a small orphanage, Leena hasn’t had the privilege of a loving family. She was never adopted, and when she turned eighteen, they had to let her go, forcing her to get an average job in order to rent out her small apartment, one so small it could hardly house a second person. Leena wondered what it would be like to be greeted by loving smiles after a hard day at work; she wondered what it would be like to wake up in the presence of those who admired you and had feelings for you. It all felt so foreign to her. It made no sense in her mind or her reality. 

“I hope things will change,” Leena whispered to herself as she laid on her bed, staying quiet despite being alone. The ceiling above her, the one she stared at, was flat and gray. She felt in her heart that it represented her; it represented what she will always be. Tears formed in her eyes, sliding down the side of her face and gracing the pillow below her. She failed to hold them in, it would seem. Drifting off into sleep, Leena began to dream. 

It was a dream she had had before, though clearer than ever, a dream of her alone in a vast landscape, one full of nothing but bones. 

With great fear struck across her eyes, Leena jolted up from her bed with a loud shout and stared at the walls around her. And, just like that, it was the next day. 

Leena looked around, doused in sweat, leaving behind a mark of her entire figure on the bed. It was the same every morning. Leena stood up, stumbling over to her bathroom and staring at her blurry reflection. Leena rolled her eyes, reaching down beside her for her glasses and grasping nothing but air. Her glasses weren’t there. They weren’t where she had last put them. They weren’t beside her bed. And so, her daily panic ensued. 

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“Oh no!” Leena shouted, gasping for air as she fell to the floor and looked under her bed. They weren’t there. She looked at her small table, under the mattress, under her pillow, under her blanket, and everywhere it could be. Her glasses were there last night. She removed them just before lying down. So, where were they? She kept asking herself, torturing her mind to try and remember. It didn’t help that everything was blurry. 

After spending a good portion of her time looking for her glasses, she found them thrown across the room from her nightly thrashings. With a sigh deep from her gut, Leena quickly changed and left her apartment, making a beeline straight to work. No stopping for coffee or a quick morning snack for her. 

The day was scorching hot, hotter than most, which made things even more difficult. Leena could quickly feel her back turn cold from the sweat on her clothes gracing her skin after the light, almost nonexistent, breeze cooled it down. It tickled her, causing her to twist and writhe in the middle of the street in front of everyone. Leena didn’t care; she was too focused on how hot it was and how uncomfortable it was to sweat this much right before work. 

Leena, presently in the dumps, was looking down as she walked and saw three pairs of shoes directly in front of her. She recognized the expensive shoes and knew exactly who was there to bother her. The “rich girls,” as everyone called them. Three pompous brats from the three “richest” families in Leroy. Heavy quotation marks as they don’t come anywhere near actual wealth, Leena thought as she imagined the words right above their cruel faces. 

“What?” Leena asked. 

“How dare you, leech?” One of the girls shoved Leena back. “You better show that same respect you always show us. It’s why we like you so much. It’s why we tolerate your kind.” 

It was hot, Leena thought. She wasn’t in the mood for it that day. The girls continued, though. They were always in the mood for something like this. They shouted in her face, berated her, insulted her, pushed her around until Leena succumbed to exhaustion and the heat, and fell face-first on the ground. 

“Did she just faint?! Ha, ha!” The “leader” of this group laughed as she placed her dirty foot on Leena’s apron. “Didn’t have much to eat, huh, little leech? You make it so easy! Fight back, for once in your miserable life!” 

“Wh-What?” One of the girls suddenly shouted, interrupting her leader and stepping back. The air had suddenly and abruptly grown dense, and it felt as though Leena was going to explode. They didn’t understand it, they didn’t know why, but the three girls had suddenly felt the same thing: Fear. Leena had done nothing. Leena hadn’t moved, she hadn’t retaliated, and yet they could still feel such a powerful presence around them. 

At last, Leena looked up, and her eyes were unrecognizable. Her eyes were the same, sure, but the look she had was the most feral and angry look the three of them had ever seen. It was like looking at a rabid monster the knights or wizards would often tell tales of. All three girls took a step back and raised their hands out of instinct, giving Leena space to stand up as she stumbled and shook to her feet. 

“I-I need to get to work,” Leena muttered, stepping forward and dragging her feet across the ground. Leena spoke softly and shaky, walking along like a zombie. “I need to get to work. Please, j-just leave me alone.” 

The feeling the girls had all suffered disappeared, their emotions and hearts were returned to how they once were. They all exchanged looks, frozen in place by sheer confusion and intimidation. Leena had walked away from them, and they did not know what to do. Though the girls could not see them, Leena's eyes had returned to normal. Yet something else was about to happen, something absolutely amazing to the crowd that had formed. 

The crowd of people had gathered and were all staring up at the sky. They could hear a loud crack in the air and a powerful woosh sound that made them think a meteor was about to crash on their heads. They could all feel a powerful wave of magical energy wafting over them, nearly bringing them to their knees. Suddenly, just above the clouds, a great shadow was cast. The shadow was that of a beast, one with a long body and an even longer tail, one with two gigantic wings and a number of horns at the end of what they assumed was its head. 

In a moment, the shadow moved faster than they could follow. The clouds parted, and a dragon had emerged in the blue sky! With shouts and cries, the people of Leroy began to run and panic, pushing over one another, begging the gods for forgiveness, calling for any knight who may hear their call. Leena had frozen in place, turning her head and focusing her eyes, caring very little for the heat as the dragon was flying straight towards her! 

“No!” Leena shouted, turning away and running. Her exhaustion had not yet been erased, so she tripped over her own feet, falling face-first to the ground a second time, getting mud all over her face. The dragon stopped, hovering above her as Leena wiped the mud from her face. 

“How beautiful,” Leena whispered to herself. The dragon flapped its wings just above Leena’s person, powerful gusts of wind being summoned each time, blowing carts and people to the ground, shattering carriages and windows. The dragon itself had beautiful silver scales that all shined under the sun, a sleek and absurdly long body, and wings that looked too large for it. The dragon had landed right in front of Leena, summoning up a storm of magical energy that wrapped around it. 

“What’s happening?!” Leena shouted. She clambered to her feet, leaning against a wall and pushing off it, trying to run away. The magical storm was blowing everything away even harder than the gusts of wind! Leena was overwhelmed. Her senses were blaring; the magic practically pierced her soul. Fear was all she felt now, the fear of being consumed by sheer power! And then, just as quickly as it came, the storm of magic had ceased, and Leena, overwhelmed and exhausted, fell to her knees and stared in the dragon's direction. It wasn’t there anymore. 

“Impossible,” Leena whispered once more. 

Standing in place of the dragon was a tall and beautiful woman with long silver hair and two horns protruding from her forehead. She wore silver armor, and a blue cape flowed behind her. The woman walked over to Leena, and Leena stared in awe, not knowing whether to scream and shout in fear or drool in admiration. 

“Leena Riella.” The woman spoke. 

“Me?” Leena asked. The woman stood over her, and she motioned for Leena to stand, and so she did, no questions asked. Whereas Leena stood at five feet and nine inches, this woman was six feet tall, adorned in armor with silver scales running down her exposed arms. 

“Yes. You.” The woman spoke. Leena, shocked and on the verge of fainting, did not expect what was next. The woman, taller and most definitely the dragon from earlier, knelt in front of her. 

“Wh-What is going on?” Leena asked. The woman kneels before her, raising her right hand and placing it over her heart. “Why are you doing that?” 

“Leena Riella!” The woman shouted. “By the grand visions of The Observer of the Blind Eye, you are the chosen one!” 

“‘Chosen one?’” Leena asked, taking a step back. 

“You, Leena Riella, are to be the Lady of the Dragon Throne! The Queen of Onyxbow, the Great Queendom of Dragons!” 

“What?”