#4 An Old Story

To tell you the rest of the story, we have to go back—far before I was born, before the world was like it is now. Back to a time that was both simpler and yet more convoluted.

Let us start with the basics.

We killed God a long time ago and ever since then, things have been fundamentally different. And of course, when I say “God”, I don’t mean the “God” that humans know. Our God was different, an enigmatic creator. No one knows where They came from. No one knows why They came. But They were here for a time. And then They died. And it was our fault. “Our” in a generic sense; again, this was well before I hatched out of my egg.

For clarity reasons, from here on out I’ll be referring to “God” (as in the dead one) as “the Deity” because the translation of its name is… well, it’s hard to directly translate it and I do not want any concerned humans knocking on my gates wondering why I killed their God. I did not kill your God. I didn’t even kill MY God—as a reminder. This all happened a very long time ago, before House Solaris existed.

The Deity came to my world and that marked the beginning of all things. They were a god of life and our world was barren before They arrived. From Their hands, all things were born. Trees, grass, water, fire, the weather, fauna… everything. Everything you could imagine. And that includes us dragons. We were Their first children, made with love, and our hearts brimmed with adoration towards our creator.

Under the Deity, my world prospered for millennia. Kingdoms rose, towns were built, roads were constructed. With the Deity to act as our guardian, there was no strife. Any evil that reared its head was swiftly put down. Our world progressed rapidly, becoming a utopia unlike any the universe had seen. And when we had hit a point where there was none left on our world to help, the Deity, in Their wisdom, opened portals to other places-- other lands that needed guidance. Realms troubled by war, by famine, by plague. Their disciples traveled the multiverse to deliver succor to those who needed it. It was these disciples that were the first of the divine dragons.

My ancestors.

Millennia continued to pass with this as the norm. My world prospered and the divine dragons delivered what aid they could to worlds beyond. The Deity watched over us all. And one would think it would very well continue this way forever but as the saying goes “all good things come to an end”.

Greed is not a trait reserved to only humans; it is a mortal one. Though there were divine dragons that did the bidding of the Deity, there were dragons who opposed a life of “servitude”. It was in the seeds of their discontent that their lust for power grew. And what was more powerful than a god? They set their sights on the Deity, who loved Their children so much. On a night where most of the divine dragons were away on missions, the dissenters struck. The Deity, filled with too much love for Their children, did not so much as lift a finger as They were murdered. By the time the divine dragons had returned from their duties, the blood of a god had flooded the sacred temple of the creator.

And the night was filled with anguished cries.

The assassins came bursting forth from the blood as dark dragons, corrupted by the irredeemable sin they had committed. Still clutching the Deity’s Heart, they fled into the darkness and the divine dragons were left with a single choice. There was no answer for grief—there was only anger, and the anger they felt transcended words. Those who mourned their creator took up arms against the assassins, who had raised an army of their own with honeyed promises of power. The final battle of my world began and ended in a single night that changed everything.

The Fracture.

Though vastly outnumbered, the dark dragons still had possession of the Deity’s Heart and they realized the power it pulsed with. So as their defenses fell to the would-be avengers, they turned to the last remnant of the god they had murdered for salvation. The dark dragons prayed for death to their enemies. The Heart, filled with love abundant for the Deity’s children, did not comply. Its power was unleashed in a mournful wail, breaking apart the fabric of the world itself. My world died that day, broken into shards that scattered the nebulous void. The utopia was lost forever.

The dark dragons who had slain the Deity had perished in the Fracture. My ancestors found their corpses still holding onto pieces of the Heart. When it became apparent that the world had been broken, the divine dragons tried to put the Heart back together in hopes it could undo the damage it had done. But the pieces of the Heart had crystallized, lying dormant. They could do nothing with them and the world they had once loved seemed destined to remain forever fractured.

And who could say how many had died when it happened? Entire swathes of the world were missing, replaced by an obscure gray mist that seemed to lead to nowhere. Areas of the world that had been granted a portal by the Deity were lucky enough to have communication with the outside world. But entire continents were lost to the abyss. Families were separated from each other. Societies were destroyed. And nothing could ever be the same again.

The Forest of Avalonnia sat on one of the biggest shards with a portal access to the place we had come to know as the Gaia Realm. It had been one of the Deity’s favorite creations and that was where the divine dragons had decided to lay Them to rest. A shrine was built to entomb the fragments of the Heart within. Yet, they feared that perhaps simply leaving the Heart unprotected could lead to a second Fracture—perhaps on another world. So it was decided the Heart would be guarded, even if it sat in pieces.

That was how House Solaris came to be all of those years ago…

Or so the story goes.

I’ll admit it’s a nice story with ample enough evidence to back it up. So much time has passed since those days that it’s hard to verify if that is exactly how the Fracture came to be. But the old records say this is what happened and everyone is just so keen on listening to what a bunch of dead people have to say. I will give them this – there is a mist that exists beyond the mountains, the sort of mist that people get lost in forever. The sort of mist that seems to lead to nowhere. Does it mean that a god’s heart exploded and caused all of this? Does it mean that I have to dedicate my life to making sure it doesn’t happen again?

I mean, when I put it like that, it makes it sound like I have to go with Alphonse. But I don’t. Because at the end of the day, as far as we know, it’s just an old story. One we’ve yet to disprove, one that’s been passed on for countless generations. One that’s dictated the life of my clan for far too long.

…

We all know how this ends. But it’s important how we get there.

----------

Before I knew it, Alphonse and I were standing at the front desk of a local hotel. The concierge’s dark eyes flitted between the two of us—taking in Alphonse’s stern expression and my exhaustion. His mustache twitched in judgmental thought and he plugged in a few things on his computer. A part of me knew what this looked like but I was not willing to traverse that mental path. I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

The hotel was one of those types that pretended like it was much fancier than it actually was. A fake fountain reeked with chlorine in the entryway, its white tile bottom bearing the occasional silver coin. Fake tulips sat in flowerbeds, crinkled slightly from time’s merciless hand. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the chime of an elevator reaching its destination.

“Two keys for Room 234,” the concierge said to us, voice gravelly and rough. “For one night.”

“Thank you,” said Alphonse.

Room 234 looked like every other goddamn hotel room I had seen in my life. The bed comforter was an awful floral print—magenta flowers with teal backdrop. The TV was off and a remote sat nearby. I plopped my backpack down with a huff before realizing there was an obvious mistake with the room.

“… There’s only one bed.”

The words dripped incredulously out of my mouth. I had read a story or five like this before. I know where it leads. My eyes snuck over to Alphonse for a moment, feeling my face start to redden. Then I redirected my attention to the bed. No fucking way, I told myself. Not a fucking chance.

“I can have them bring a cot,” Alphonse said grumpily.

Thirty minutes later, the cot was brought by a pair of hotel employees and lain out near the foot of the bed. Alphonse, likely deciding he had to be a gentleman, offered to take it versus the queen-sized bed that took up the bulk of the hotel room. I did not argue, laying face-first on the mattress with a headache plaguing my skull. Alphonse went into the bathroom and I ruminated over my situation, scowling into the fluff of my pillow.

There was not a thought that crossed my mind that I had not already considered at some point ever since…

Well, my father’s funeral.

My arms instinctively wrapped tighter around my pillow, nails nipping into the fabric. If the pillow and the bed itself could have devoured me then and there, I might have thanked them for it. But they did not and I was left there. Still living, still breathing. Still miserable.

I told myself there was no sense in thinking about things while I was so tired. I tried to shut off my brain but the noise of my own thoughts drove me closer and closer to the edge of sanity. The hunters were on my mind, their uncanny sigil included. I knew that I needed to relocate, even if I didn’t go back to Avalonnia. Another human apartment would do fine, I just needed the funds for it and a place preferably far enough away that I could shake the hunters off my trail.

But something told me that was going to be way easier said than done.

Kill the dragon with the black and white wings.

That note of theirs was oddly specific, wasn’t it? Of all the divine dragons I had ever met, I was the only one I had ever seen with mismatched wings. They used to both be white but when I was a child, they changed colors. I never understood why and my father had always insisted it was just a genetic thing. A few of the other hatchlings in my school had made fun of me for it when I was little. They talked less shit with my tail slamming into their face. Such was the way of dealing with bullies—and still the best way, I think. Bullies tend to be less inclined to bother you when they eat shit for it after all.

I had never thought anything of my wings but I guess they made me easy to pick out in a crowd. I told myself that perhaps I could just not have my wings out in public. Maybe go full non-dragon mode for a bit until the heat died down. That seemed like as good of a plan as any but something in my gut disagreed. My mind returned back to that sigil and I frowned in thought.

Did I really have any reason to stay here? The answer was… no. No, I did not. And I think the longer the night dragged on, the more I was coming to realize that.

But there was not a chance in hell that I was about to admit that aloud.

Alphonse rummaged about in the bathroom for a bit before coming out of the door dressed in a shirt and some basketball shorts. I realized that was his sleeping attire as he flopped onto the cot, looking as irritable as ever. I took advantage of the open bathroom, scurrying inside to change and get ready for bed. The cleanness of the hotel room made me feel a bit out of my element. It felt too… nice for me, and I knew this was not the nicest place to stay in town. As my eyes drew upwards, I marveled at my messy appearance. Hair disheveled, circles under my eyes, a permanent frown on my lips. I scowled and slipped out the door as soon as I was decent.

“You going to bed?” I asked Alphonse, not even looking in his direction.

“Uh. Yes,” he said shortly. “And you should too.”

He was right but honestly, I wasn’t tired in a sleepy sense. I was tired in an emotional sense. I frowned at him and shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Amalia…” he began, a warning tone in his voice.

The smile I sent in return was both smug and exhausted. “Yeah, yeah.”

His scowl followed me until I had tucked myself into bed. My hand reached to turn off the light but I hesitated for a moment.

“Alphonse?”

“Yes?”

“… Thank you for helping me earlier. With the hunters.”

“Mmhm.”

And then I switched the light off, settling into my pillow with a million thoughts still zipping about my mind.