Chapter 2
The celebration of our bond continued well into the night, as everyone waited for the moon to reach it’s peak, at exactly twelve a.m. welcoming the transformation my eighteenth birthday will bring. I’d been passed from my parents to Rancor’s parents, our King and Queen both elated at the fact that I would now join their ranks. A decided step up from Vice Leader that comes with all the show of bravado but more paperwork than actual war. Friends danced around, drunk on morphing, taking me in the air for victory rides, as I had bagged the most eligible among them all and Rancor, the man of the hour, looking at me with a silent smile of approval but no words spoken between us.
As the time drew near a seriousness settled over everyone. There is nothing as sensitive as a dragon right after its first morph. soft scales and figuring out how to navigate the new form is the reason guards take their places as I step into the field, lined with the same lilies from my mother’s garden. They morph, all ready to strike and kill anyone daring to lay claim on my life. The weight of the moment settles on me and instead of feeling powerful, magic awakening within me, overjoyed at the thought of morphing there is nothing but dread and the feeling that something is horribly wrong with the place I find myself in.
I look around the field, the same one I saw so many morph into their dragons before me, and I can’t help but feel I require something different. Not because of my newfound status as the Kin to our Dragon Prince but because every fibre of my being screams that the setting is wrong. There’s this heavy, almost dead weight in my chest, like I’m dying instead of being reborn and I have no idea what to think of any of it. I watch the moon, slowly rise to her peak, whisper a prayer that everything will be fine and whatever god is out there will make everything okay and then it happens…
Nothing powerful and spectacular. I’m not roaring to life either, not taller, stronger or filled with a mighty element to display. I’m on the ground, closer to it than I’ve ever been in my life and as I lift my head the rest of my body comes with it. I catch sight of my tail, a white glimmer under the moon and then the rest of my body, flat against the ground. The air is deathly silent as I look up from the ground, a speck of something in the large ring of dragons all looking at me with complete and utter shock. Then the whispers come, and I don’t know what to do with myself. I slither to the left and then to the right and then I’m morphing back into my human form, searching for my parents who appear along with Rancor and the King and Queen.
“What happened?” I ask my father the second he’s within reach of me, almost collapsing into his arms.
“It seems, my dear pebble, the gods have decided on a different fate for you.” He whispers, his soothing voice doing little to calm my fried nerves at the utter disaster of the whole event.
“I’m… what am I?” I look at my mother as she tucks wild curls behind my ear.
“A snake, darling. You’re a snake.” She looks proud, I feel my heart shatter because for the first time in my life I doubt her emotions. A snake? What kind of dragon turns into a snake? A cloak is thrown over and I look behind me to find Rancor there, but he won’t meet my eyes. “Why don’t we take this somewhere more private?” I follow my parents blindly, away from what is supposed to be a celebration, barely being able to focus on the whispers directed at me. Some pity, other’s mocking but most just shocked and as confused as I am.
“I can’t do this.” Rancor mutters the moment we step into our living room. I blink at him, wondering if I heard him wrong but I’m sure I hadn’t. “You’re… I can’t rule with you by my side. I need a Kin that’s strong. Someone capable of more than…” His words shatter me. Years of friendship, a bond more than just being Kin, made out like we’re strangers.
“Ran…” I reach out for him but freeze when he steps back, looking like I might burn him with the non-existent element I have. I look at him with pleading eyes. “Please, I’m your Kin.” I sound pathetic, even to my own eyes but things were going well, I thought despite my bad feelings… He shakes his head, looking at his parents who are looking at me with pity.
“I would like to leave.” He sounds distant, unlike the teasing boy from earlier this evening, not the concerned man worrying for my well-being. He’s hallowed, hard and I’m breaking in pieces at the already breaking bond within me.
“My Prince, you have to reconsider.” My father comes to my defence as my mother wraps me in her arms, guiding me to sit next to her. He looks at our King. “Ragna, a Kin is a gift from the heavens. Declaring such a bond unwanted? Please, get him to see reason.” I’ve heard stories of dragons wasting away without their Kin. I wonder if the same will happen to me, even if I’m not technically a dragon. Our King shakes his head, a grave look on his face.
“Kaimana, my friend, we’ve fought many battles side by side, but this is not one of them. My son is entitled to choose his Queen, and I will not force him to do something he does not believe is best for him, even if it is his Kin.” My heart shatters and along with it the knowledge that no matter what Rancor would always be by my side. Removing my mother’s arms from around me I leave the room, closing the door behind me because I honestly cannot watch him walk away from me.
As I listen to my father beg his friend, his King I know this won’t end well. The moment the clan knows their crown Prince has abandoned his Kin there will be chaos. I pray war doesn’t break out within the clan, but clans have been torn apart for less than this. Posts abandoned and loyalties changed for mere whispers of rumours. A knock disrupts the silence the royal family left, and both my parents enter shortly after. My father takes me in his arms, his face displeased.
“Don’t worry, pebble. I will fix this. You’ll be Queen and all will be well.” I nod, despite the knot forming in my stomach. There’s no way of knowing what my father has planned but I don’t doubt it’s going to cause unrest and as I feel my heart slowly cracking in my chest, leaving me feeling more vulnerable as the minutes go by, I’m not sure I’m ready for any of it. What was supposed to bring peace, joy and new life has shattered the world around me and left me behind in it’s ruins.