ARRRRRRRRGHHHH!!! My belly! IT'S BURNING!!!!

Am I alive?

Was this a dream?

I looked at my front paws, my claws, my scales... everything looked normal. I was not burned.

But... This feeling of rape, tearing and burning flesh. It was not a dream...

But in front of me... a Shadow...no.. It's a dragon!

It is intangible and pressed against the wall, as if it were in the wallpaper, as if the wall were a passage...

A name entered my head... Darkia....

"Darkia... No! don't go! wait!"

The dragon smiled at me: "We will meet again soon... you are not ready! "

"Wait, Darkia... are we friends?"

Darkia: "Yes, we are... I will...if you listen to your heart instead of your anger..."

And the shadow disappeared as it came.

I made a note in my head: "Darkia... who could this be?? a dream? a nightmare?"

Grandpa Godfather was holding me and I was delirious.

I was in his cave as a dragon and he was trying to calm me down.

He was also very confused.

"Godfather? Godfather? Are you dead too? And I looked around. I had all kinds of inscriptions on my scales and, between my horns, talismans were stuck.

My godfather looked at me, his eyes weeping... and he took me to his heart.

He also had a blond mane but golden eyes and his scales were all blue.

He took on the appearance of a human grandfather, for the sake of etiquette, but he was not welcome in the palace. He was not forbidden but he was too wild for the nobles. They called him the peasant baron so as not to call him a barbarian or an animal.

He lived in a cave like the wild dragons but had all the necessary supplies for a human. He lived as a human sometimes and when he was bored, he stayed as a dragon all the time. It was natural and he loved to communicate with nature, spirits and magic.

He worshipped unknown gods, including the founder of the universe. The great Hydra. Only he, whose high priest and most faithful servant he was, knew her name.

He sometimes entered in communication with its representative but also its daughter. His goddess was known as Tiamat but it was false... very false and he was stigmatized as a demon's helper.

But I didn't believe it for a moment.

Alvor: "So Natalia....Have you met the guardian?"

"Dark... Darkia???"

Alvor: "Interesting... It's her daughter, well a dragoness that she sends sometimes in mission in all kinds of worlds... She is scary and she is wrongly called the black queen... She is the guardian of dreams but her mother whose name I cannot mention is the guardian of time"

"She said she would be my friend..."

Alvor: "Then it's a good thing because what you just went through... your death... is going to happen in the next 4 years... It's a good thing you had the idea to come and visit me. Your mom was right in her letter to make you come to me for your 12th birthday..."

That's horrible, Grandpa...

"Did Aldebaran kill mom then?"

Alvor: "I'm afraid so..."

"But that's horrible... Sangria... Niflheim.... they are monsters....."

Alvor: "Calm down my child..."

I then entered the small thermal lake in his cave to wash myself and get rid of all those drawings and charms but my stomach hurt, as if the demon's limb was still hanging there..

I came back to Grandpa and a dragon maid came to bring us tea and pastries.

She smiled at me and obviously looked happy.

Alvor: "This is Vilja... a real wild dragoness. She is free here in my domain and territory. But she has to keep her servant's doily so we can leave her in peace. You know very well that wild dragons without a master are sent to the mines to die a slow death or as cannon fodder in the front line when it's war..."

She put her head against the blue dragon's and purred in draconic, not knowing how to speak common.

I was shocked to see the established order violated in this way, but I was at Grandpa's house and his house was his rules!

But what I had experienced had shaken me...

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Vilja: "Mistress, it looks like you had a nightmare... You must be tired from preparing your little brother Zippy's birthday party.

"What? Zippy was killed too?...?" Then I calmed down. It had all been so real, so real.

Then I came back to grandpa who was smoking a big cigar...

He offered me an alcoholic liquor... It was forbidden in the palace but we were in a wild dragon cave...

"Drink, Natalia... not too much but it will relax you a little..."

after drinking this nectar made of raspberry juice, my anxieties and pains faded away.

There was a fire pit in a very small room where one could barely stand in dragon form.

As a wild dragon, we were just with our scales on our skin.

Alvor: "It's hard for you to stay long as a human and also as a dragon... You have to switch from one form to the other...."

"Yes, grandpa... I'm not comfortable in my skin...I'm not, I don't know who I am and what I am anymore..."

He took a puff and helped himself to a cup of liquor as well.

Alvor: "Your title of princess overwhelming and exhausting you...and this experience, this divinatory journey is already written in the future... Your unconscious knows that you are going to die and it is struggling to change your destiny..."

"I'm scared, Grandpa... They are all bad..."

Alvor: "I know... and you are right... they are all monsters... And Zippy will become one too, especially if you disappear.."

What happened?

Alvor: "I begged and pleaded with the time keeper to help us and tell us why and how it is that you can't manifest your powers...."

"And?"

"But the rule being the rule, she can't answer questions but that doesn't stop her from making you dream...and Darkia, who is a dragoness/nightmare was infinitely kind enough to show you the horrors that await you. Unfortunately, she can't show you happy events, only indirectly because she is a nightmare, even if she is nice. If you were hurt or scared, don't blame her, it's so that her message gets through, that you take this unique warning seriously."

"But, grandpa, I don't understand... it's horrible and difficult..!"

Alvor: "I know, my child, and I'm sorry I didn't have the foresight to put your mother through this ordeal, otherwise she would probably still be with us..."

Then he continued, not without taking another puff of tobacco:

"You have a pure heart and you have no demon blood flowing in you... that's why your DEMONIC powers have not manifested."

Sangria is a half demon by Aldebaran, her father.

Your father, King Uriah is also a half-demon but he is not active, he is a passive demon who does not need evil or misfortune to feed. Until he is impassive, neutral, and...in a way a good ruler.

Your mom was like you...a real wild dragoness but who knew how to humanize herself, just like me and...he looked at Vilja.. Your grandmother was like Vilja...a gentle creature but she fell victim to segregation and was killed by a high human...let's just say I took care of him...quietly. He made a "trip" like you but it was really fatal, without the protections....

But the information of our trip, I say our... because I was there all the time but you could not see me.

They are important and the four years you have left will be very busy..."

Natalia: "How? Grandfather / Godfather?"

"Hahaha... Well, let's start at the beginning. You have demon blood in you. That's how it is... and always will be. It manifests itself in your anger and the punishments you inflict on others. They are disproportionate but it is not your fault... well yes... but it is up to you to control yourself, to mature and to listen to your heart. You have one... They don't!

Then you saw the importance of subordinates and the damage they can do. It's like a chess game. If you are a queen, a well positioned pawn can also eliminate you... never forget that!

But grandma Niflheim, she is not a demon though.... she is so mean...

Alvor: "Your grandmother is also a victim of Aldebaran. He is a demon and he corrupts too. On the other hand Sangria could have been a victim but she wants to follow in the footsteps of her father. If she succeeds to the throne... Finally... you know the horrible living conditions in the other kingdoms...

Here, life is still good, but humans, drakes, and a whole part of the population will be discriminated. And half of them will be slaves. Many dragons suffer like the simple humans.... The first one because they are feared and they are not numerous and the others because they are weak and fragile...especially in the cursed areas."

"So tell me about grandma..."

"Actually, we don't really know much, but many centuries ago she was found while exploring the deep and dangerous ruins in the heart of Dog Mountain... "It was put -Cheyenne Mountain- in the wizarding language."

She was unique, and quickly became very strong and had to fight all her life to find her freedom. Yes, she was enslaved like the captured and subjugated wild dragons but she ended up in the arenas and began a fine work of slaughter. It must have been horrible and you have to forget your heart to survive. She said she was from the old world...but no one has ever been there... But her cruelty as a gladiator was noticed by our God.

But keep it to yourself. Never tell anyone... He is an arch-demon, a real one, like all the Wyvern Lords... Aldebaran is not from this world but from a horrible place. But he is stuck here and he has terrible plans..."

"Ah, well... but why did she become so cruel? The arena, that was centuries ago..."

Alvor: "Don't forget that a marriage is a hidden form of power taking and sharing. A kind of alliance. Nothing is free, especially among the nobles and even less so in the Uriah family. You've had a taste, haven't you?

You think your daddy would have lifted a paw to save you? Your godmother? Maybe, but what did they do? Those who cared about you ran away for fear of retaliation. Your little brother Zippy was locked up and beaten to intervene, your staff betrayed you and your knights ignored you..."

I began to sob and cry between grandpa's legs...

" I cry and sob between grandpa's paws... "Momyyy!!!!!!!!"

Alvor: "Tsss. I'm here... don't cry anymore my darling... we're going to make a plan and we both have a lot of work to do"

I hugged my long neck to my Godfather's and our hearts echoed.

He, looked over my back and wings and watched the sunrise whose rays lit the bottom of the cave where we were.

"Natalia... I promise you that it will be okay...I always have a solution..."

We must organize a new expedition...and find the primordial dragon. The dragon of legends. His blood will awaken your powers as a dragoness, not a demoness..."

But isn't Granny Niflheim a demon? I should have her powers...

Alvor: "It doesn't work like that... Your demon blood turns against you who is pure. You're not going to kill innocent people and steal their souls, are you? And who's to say that after the demon takes control, you won't be pushed back and left to watch the horrors he does in your place?"

Niflheim has to fight all the time to stay in her position and survive. She is an official Wyvern lord and is at war with the other 6, including Aldebaran her husband. They are in a truce against common enemies but once they win, if they ever win... then it will be every man for himself. Child, family or not. And Aldebaran will use this leverage, this sense of family, this sense of protective mother to defeat and dominate her, even kill her... She doesn't show it but she too is terrified..even of her own child... Sangria..."

Yikes.

Now I was beginning to understand the abyss and intrigue that dotted our family.

The Uriah family was cursed.

Alvor: "And the one you have to watch out for the most, even though he really loves and adores you, is Zippy.

They will use him against you, as a lever.

"I have prepared contingency plans to save us but we need the support of the staff and also your knights...Without them, no way out, and it will be your job for the next 4 years to build circles of trust and allies around you. This is what made Sangria strong for your loss. Your overwhelming knowledge, your skill with the sword... your strength and your title. It was no use. You couldn't even use them to defend yourself, and Sangria did nothing but despise you. It is the people around you that destroyed you.

Moreover, you focused on their provocations when you could have known more about the investigations, the key events to come and understand your mistakes and remedy them. Power and elected officials' tricks are excuses and positions, like squares in a chess game.

Besides, you should practice it, you'd understand a lot of things and the order of priorities."

"I know, Grandpa... you're right... it was all my fault..."

Godfather/Papy took my paw in his and looked me straight in the eye: "Don't ever say that again. It's not your fault. You were thrown into a wolf pit from birth. A child should never have to go through that."

Then he hugged me and let a tear fall and when he saw me, he saw my mother again... slaughtered by the Wyvern Lord..."