lil drawing of m'boi



There was a special hall in the Kingdom of Kutelo. It was grand and one of the first places built, both as a mark of respect and a new beginning. Usually there's more time to prepare such an occasion, but now things seemed more rushed and tense as Kutelo buzzed with suspicion and conspiracy. This hall's purpose; coronation and royal funeral, which were a joint occasion in their society: one with little care for those that were weak.

Except this time, previous King Olli was not weak, and the actual murderer was unknown. Not only that, but the succeeding king - who stood, dressed in fine coronation robes at the head of the hall - wasn't exactly a "fan favourite," as some may say. Uneasy mumbles reverberated against the cold, and slightly damp, walls of the hall.

It was not a nice looking room at all. Usually they would have time to prepare it, but now the aesthetic grandeur was covered in dust and the cool, damp smell of death. Nevertheless, nothing in this hall was more damp and unpleasant than the emotions and tension of the elites and soldiers within it.

From where he was stood, adorning the slightly itchy, ancient coronation robes that his predecessor - who lied dead and lightly mutilated in a casket behind him - had fashioned around 350 years ago, Nyais could hear the rumours that had began to circulate. Some said that it was suicide, believing the shift to his dragon form had reawakened his memories of his past love, and with it the guilt of having had her killed. Others said that Jay had done it, before being killed by Ren, and that Ren had mistakenly been killed by an onlooking guard who now had their mouth shut. Then, there were rumours that tied to [Y/n]. That she, in a fit of rage, had killed him herself before running away when everyone was distracted with his death.

Nyais, of course, knew the truth. He knew several people would've worked out the truth, too. He wondered what their opinions would be. He wondered a lot of things.

The fanfare began and the last few "important figures" slipped in through the great pine and steel doors, and among them Nyais briefly glanced upon Rayne, surprisingly fashioned in a suit instead of his usual lab coat. He kept his head down, though his peripheral gaze was fixed on Nyais.

When the fanfare died down, and the audience were quiet, Nyais drew in a breath. His speech began.

* * *

She was beginning to tire, thirst cracking her lips and searing her throat. Her legs ached from running but she couldn't stop. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and every nerve in her body was suddenly explosive, reacting to the slightest change of light or frequency. She'd been running for almost an hour now with no breaks, a feat that - before - she would've believed to have been physically impossible for a girl like her. But here she was, and the fatigue was beginning to catch up with her.

She found a soft-leaved bush and slumped behind it. It had a strong scent, a little like honeysuckle, and didn't seem to have any thorns or brambles that could cut her and reveal her scent any further. She knew the boys had excellent senses so she had to be careful... hopefully this bush would do the job of masking her scent just a little to throw them off.

Trembling, she pulled her legs closer to her body, wincing slightly at the rustle of the leaves. Surely they'd just think it was a rabbit if they walked past...? She almost laughed at her foolish hopefulness. She couldn't be aloof at a time like this. She had no idea where they were and who her other enemies might be. Wherever she was must be close to the place they were before. What if other vampires were out at night patrolling? Though Olli had told her everyone in the kingdom knew of her, not everyone knew what she looked like. What if she was killed out here? At least with the boys, she'd be alive...

On second thought, she couldn't guarantee that the insane six wouldn't torture her to death. Since when was she so scared of death? Before all of this, had you asked her what her fears were, death wouldn't have been mentioned. Maybe it's just our expectation that we'll live good, long, happy lives that made this reality so painfully shocking to her. This whole time she'd been fighting to live, not to be happy or well - just to live.

And, with a heavy heart and increasingly heavy eyelids, she would continue to do so.

She felt her body drifting. As hard as she tried to stay awake, her body simply wouldn't let her. Things were growing darker and darker and...

An unearthly groan from the middle of the clearing forced her exhausted body into full alert once more. Her breathing picked up and her eyes were wide in fear and worry. Peering through the bushes, she spotted something... strange. The ground had begun to crack, bubbling up like a boiling liquid. And then, in one massive explosion of earth and rubble, a creature burst out from under the ground's shield.

It had the shape of a horse but the scales and tail of a reptile, and it's face was slightly bonier and more pointed. It's feet looked like talons and it had a pair of bat-like wings on its back. Moss and dirt clung to its grey stony figure and it swung its head around for a moment, before its eyes landed on the honeysuckle bush.

She quickly noticed the smoke that drifted from its mouth and nose. Her eyes shot wide.

This thing was about to incinerate her.

She quickly stood herself up to escape the bush, and the creature began to run towards her. She had no chance of outrunning it so she picked up a good sized rock and threw it. It collided with its chest, though the thing hardly seemed to notice. It opened its gaping, toothy jaws, about to "lightly roast" the girl before it, though something seemed to intervene. An arrow, straight through its neck.

At first, [Y/n] was relieved as she watched the great beast crash to the ground. But then she noted the arrow. Her heart sank as she slowly turned to see where it came from.

But much to her surprise, someone else stood in the place of the raven haired, bow-wielding vampire she'd expected to see. A centaur. She had long, flowing auburn hair and a bow at her side, watching the girl before her with curiosity and a little excitement.

"You are the human girl from Kutelo, yes?" she asked, taking a few steps forwards. [Y/n], in turn, took a few steps back.

"Um... thank you for saving me," she said quietly, changing the subject. "What... was that...?" She paused. "And who are you?"

The centaur seemed to try and decipher what the human girl was doing. As she'd spent a lot of time with the vampires, it made sense that she was cautious and fragile. "My name is Ednae," she smiled, "and that was a pesky lesser dragon... awful looking things, aren't they?" she sighed, looking at its dead body with a huff.

"H-how did you kill it so easily?" [Y/n] questioned.

"Their necks are much weaker than the rest of their bodies as their scales are slightly more spread out. If you aim right, you can shoot the arrow just between the scales on the neck. Also, we were lucky, that lesser was in shed so it was even easier to get rid of." [Y/n] slowly nodded her head. So... that was a dragon? There were different types of dragon, then. She wondered how the other types varied from how she'd imagined them. "Please, miss. You must be the human girl from Kutelo. Are you?"

What was the right response? Was she going to die? What if she was hated by all these magical creatures for breaking the peace or something? She took a deep breath.

"Y-yes..."

The centaur girl's eyes lit up in excitement. As well as a horse could, she bowed down to the girl before her, before pulling a horn-looking thing from a leather satchel at her side. Then, much to [Y/n]'s dismay, she blew on the horn.

[Y/n] could only watch in shock and horror as the deafening noise coursed throughout the forest. She was done for.

"You're safe now, my Queen," Ednae said softly when the horn had been blown.

"Hang on, what—?"

Before her question could be answered, the wind suddenly picked up, though in waves. A huge gust at three second intervals, almost like a massive paper fan in the sky was beating down upon them. The thought was silly until she heard the wingbeats from above.

* * *

The lights flicked on.

Weary eyed, the cramped pair raised their gazes towards the door and the silhouette that walked through it. They watched him walk to his desk, sitting down at the chair and turning on the old-looking computer.

"Where did you take Sally?" Damien hissed. Rayne yawned before continuing to type, pretending Damien didn't exist. "Answer me you son of a—"

"The servants quarters didn't want her, so I killed her," Rayne interrupted nonchalantly, turning around to gage Tara and Damien's reactions.

They were both frozen, now fully awake, staring at him with hatred, yet trembling with sadness. They were clearly ridden with denial. And for good reason.

"Kidding. She's upstairs. I couldn't fit all three of you in here," he shrugged. It was true that the servants quarters had refused to take her - they said they had no use of a faerie who didn't even know how to use magic. So Rayne locked her in the small spare bedroom upstairs.

The pair both let out sighs of relief, but they were clearly fuming with anger. Rayne hadn't placed them both in the cage in the corner. Only Tara had the luxury of being able to stand. He'd decided to cram Damien into a large dog cage which he could only just sit up in.

"You gonna use those on us?" Tara questioned, looking over at the wall of torture instruments beside the doctor. Rayne turned and raised a brow.

"Do you want me to?" he responded, no threat to his voice, though no curiosity either. It was more of a 'shut the fuck up' statement, and it appeared to work as Tara hung her head and looked away.

Then, a knock sounded on the door once again. Rayne stood up and walked over to it with haste, opening the door with a false smile. On the other side was a man dressed in grand looking attire with brown hair and purple eyes.

"Nyais, it's good to see you," Rayne smiled. Nyais glared over at Tara and Damien.

"Is that all you had to show me? Your human collection?" he hissed.

"[Y/n]'s friends," Rayne responded. "I thought you might want to see them." A smirk played on the raven haired man's face.

"What do you want?" Nyais sighed, his gaze now slightly softer as he thought about [Y/n].

"To help you," Rayne shrugged. "That is all."

"Wait..." a small sound came from the cell in the corner that Tara was held in. Nyais and Rayne turned to look at her. Her gaze was fixed on Nyais and the man didn't seem to react, though there was a small element of realisation in his gaze. "You... you look the same as that police officer who asked all the weird questions about [Y/n]..." she whispered.

"Weird?" Rayne echoed, sending Nyais a wry smile. Nyais huffed.

"Where's the blonde girl?" he questioned.

"Faerie," Rayne corrected. Nyais furrowed his brow, surprised he hadn't noticed, though decided to mostly ignore Rayne's rectification. "She's upstairs. As you might be able to tell, my workspace is growing rather crowded." Nyais took a glance around the dismal room and frowned.

"I'm taking them with me," Nyais said simply. Rayne rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think [Y/n] will be more inclined to return if she knows her friends are down here, as opposed to in your fancy new palace?" he muttered sardonically.

"Who knows?" Nyais questioned, now seeming slightly aloof, as opposed to his usual confident guise.

"Why do you want her back?" Tara snapped, not really sure what was going on. So [Y/n] wasn't here, but she had been here? Nothing really made sense. Despite the confusion, she still glared at Nyais and Rayne like they'd just killed her parents in front of her.

Nyais paused at her question. He opened his lips to respond but closed them again, deciding against his first statement. He let out a small breath, looking away.

"Because I want to save her."

Also lil drawing of the dragon 👀