Dragon Horde
In the hidden realm of Monsters, Seraphina sat in front of the bonfire, watching the flames dance. Remembering other times where she had been in bonfires and encampments not unlike this one. She had loathed those days, being in the company of men, hunting for treasure. Treasure that had once belonged to Dragons, treasure that those few remaining dragons had hoarded with lust, before they were forced to abandon it. Just like she had once been forced to abandon her own treasure. Her eyes flicked to her treasure now, only to see Shazir’s eyes looking back at her.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“That I have to leave again.” Seraphina murmured.
“As so the life of a Dragon goes. Always on the move.” Shazir asked.
“Not so much every Dragon, but I have always had a wandering spirit.” She remarked. “I also have a task entrusted to me, that I must see through to the end.”
“As you say.” Shazir murmured.
“It almost sounds as if you will miss me.” Seraphina remarked amused.
“Perhaps,” Shazir murmured. “Can you give me something before you go?”
“I cannot unchain you from your curse.” Seraphina’s countenance turned dark, her gaze moving to the ever-changing sky. “You will roam in your beast form soon enough.”
“That was not what I was going to ask.” Shazir murmured. “I know that I have a lot to answer for. The power made me greedy for what was never mine to covet.”
His eyes seemed to gleam in the night. “And yet, I would still ask for a momentary lapse in punishment.”
Seraphina narrowed her eyes at his cheeky smile. “Can I hold you, as you say that you are going to be gone for awhile?”
Seraphina felt herself flush, but even so she opted to rise, and settle herself on Shazir. His arms went around her in an embrace, she couldn’t be sure, but she was pretty certain he was smiling. “The flames of bonfires have always entranced me.” She murmured quietly. “The different colors, the way they dance.”
“I remember,” Shazir muttered, he found himself looking at his hands that he had once been able to summon fireballs at will. “The flames of the magic had also been a favorite of mine to use.”
Seraphina smiled. “A beautiful type of pain, and pleasure.”
Shazir leaned his head on hers, his eyes on the flames, even as he could feel his skin tingle. “The change, I can feel it.” He murmured.
“It’s close to the time.”
“Will it always be this way?” Shazir asked.
“Not always,” Seraphina murmured. “But for now, you live the curse Zaya would’ve been forced to endure.”
Shazir bit his tongue. He wanted to say that the curse would’ve never taken place if Zaya had listened to him and married him.
But that would have been a lie.
He might’ve been able to save her, or the curse would’ve taken root as he took more and more power from Zaya, the rightful Queen.
Fulfilling the terms of the Curse of Washu.
The air blew freezing as Seraphina bridged the gap between the worlds. The earth had become ever colder since the last time she had made the journey. The chill seemed to permeate her scales, icing over her wings slightly. As she flew, she moved the wings slightly up and down, in a rapid movement, the glitter of ice breaking sounding like glass in her ears. She flew in circles, over green hills, dark gloomy forests, beyond vast oceans, ships in the sea looking tiny amongst the blue-green waves. She flew around the wind currents allowing the wind itself to fly her through the sky. As she looked down on the land, she noticed a trail leading away from Queen Zara’s castle. A faint trail of dark magic, a trail that went over vast forests, into caverns lining on an opposite shore. Seraphina narrowed her eyes as she scented a familiar scent within the dark magic. Not of a Dragon but of another dark creature that roamed these lands.
The smell of Tariq.
Dragon’s weren’t the only magical beasts that slithered around the mortal world. Tariq was one of those very creatures. Unlike Dragon’s who were bound by their nature to hoard treasure, Tariq was a creature of the divine.
A Naga.
A titan-Serpent that like a Dragon could take human form. Naga’s were considered followers of other ancient beings most often helpers of the Netherworld. Tariq had long fallen from his duties, more of a drifter than anything else, but he was also one of the few Nagas, that drew power from others.
Seraphina flew into the cave, transforming, and landing on the uppermost level of the cavern. She shook of the remaining ice that had caked even her human skin, the scales of her dragon form, turning into sleek leather that laced around her body. A cloak of violet hues surrounded the leather, and she knew if she should so choose, would turn into a hood to conceal her face.
She throd silently through the granite dust that laced the cavern floor, her hand lightly tracing the golden veins within the stone wall before she dropped her hand and continued to traverse the path. She chosen the higher path so as to not be noticed by the people that walked aimlessly.
Not people, really, but Dragons. Some walked in their human forms counting and comparing jewels and coins from the towers of jewels around the cavern. There were those who slunk around in their dragons form from one column to another. Seraphina watched them for a moment, remembering a time when she also hoarded her own treasures, so long ago before she became a thief. She walked past that cavern, walking around isopods that crawled around the floor. She walked through the caverns as the dark brown of the cave turned to ice, and then to the softest magma. It was here, that the trail of dark magic was thickest.
It was here she found the slumbering titan-snake. He was as large and thick as a dragon his black scales glittering even in the dark. She knew if she touched the scales, it would feel soft and smooth as silk. Seraphina smiled slightly before she jumped down into the cavern, in the middle of his coil of scales, her booted feet sliding slightly on the crushed stones that lined the floor.
“Sleeping on Diamonds, are we?” Seraphina mused as she walked around the coils to the front of the snake, his diamond shaped head raising slightly as he sleepily raised his lids. He hissed slightly at seeing her his forked tongue coming out in a wave before he opened his jaw wide his coils contracting slightly before they all seemed to push into one form, as he transitioned back to his mortal form.
“My favorite pupil.” He sneered, his voice still coming out snakelike.