January 9th-16th, 4991.

It was a dark, moonless night as I approached the massive, stone-cold body of the late queen. With a specially-covered lantern, a cloak and a few special tools and trinkets, I stopped next to what used to be Oasis, preparing myself for my grisly task. While I preferred to do my research on dead animals and cadavers - living creatures were always more of Burn's purview - I had never operated on someone I knew before. I had liked Oasis, having lived my entire life under her reign. I also knew that Burn was her favorite, and would've wanted her to take her place after defeating her in combat.

But Fate had other plans, and now I had to resort to such loathsome tactics to fulfill her patron's wishes.

"My sincerest apologies, My Queen," I whispered, gently stroking the puffy, inflamed cheeks of the fallen dragon, "For what I'm about to do. If my hypothesis is correct, then I can only guess that you would've wanted Burn to do this herself. After all, which of your daughters would resort to ghoulishly prying open their dead mother's mouth for her most sacred possession? Only one with unbelievable will and courage, certain that they needed to do what must be done."

"I am not her," I continued, pulling out a thin spatula, and gingerly sliding it into the mouth, "But I act in her best interests, doing what no one else would have the stomach for. I do this, because this may be our best chance to grant her the throne without destroying the family. I do this for your daughter, for our kingdom, for Science itself."

Checking around myself one last time - making sure that there was no one in sight, listening for any eavesdropper (or perhaps a conveniently covering sound) - I pried the jaw open, wincing now and again as the jaw cracked with rigor mortis, hoping against hope the flesh didn't tear or stretch. When it was wide enough for my paw to reach in (given the size disparity, it's easier than one would think), I put on a single leather glove.

"Of course, I could be wrong," I admitted, "And you hid the Eye somewhere no one would find it. Or maybe the Scavengers took it. If that's the case, I'm sure you're going to wait for me in the hereafter, just to tell me how much of an idiot I am for going off a hunch."

I inhaled, exhaled, and carefully inserted my reaching paw. "But you know what I'll say? 'At least I wasn't killed by a scavenger...'"

My glove didn't have to go far before I felt something, and I damn near squealed with joy. My talons closed around it, and pulled out a familiar winged necklace. Bringing it out to the light, my heart did a somersault in my chest as I saw the Eye of Onyx in my paw. The metal was slimy and stained by old, foul saliva, but the central gemstone still glistened and danced in the lantern light.

Part One of my plan was a complete success. Now it was time for Part Two.

With my free hand, I reached into my bag, grabbing a handful of blue scales and pearls. It was no easy task, finding just the right shade to match Otion, but I knew it'd be worth it. I scattered them around the body, making several paw prints that looked like webbed feet. A random guard who'd stumble across this sight would assume that this was the work of the Seawing ambassador. It would undermine Blister's support in the Court, and help rally the Tribe around whoever had the Eye of Onyx (which, of course, would be us). Sure, it ran the risk of starting a war with the Seawings, but considering Burn's nature, I figured she'd want a war to fight once she took over.

Work accomplished, I moved to put it in a bag, but just then I heard a rustling coming from the shrubbery some distance away. Someone was close. I gathered my supplies quickly, confident that whoever came upon this scene would suspect the ambassador and not me. However, just as I was about to take flight, a figure bursts from the bushes.

I took off, and they followed behind me. Risking but one look back, I could see the outline of a SandWing. Their profile matched that of one of the many bounty hunters hired by Flame to find the Eye. Some big, beefy bastard who probably took dragonet's lunch money back in school, if he even went to one. Unfortunately for them, I knew the royal palace inside and out, and, after almost an hour of wild pursuit where my tail was nipped at least twice, I finally lost them and retreated to security in my private quarters (now with extra locks for my windows and doors). Alone and safe, I allowed myself to breath deep, and relax.

I relaxed so much, in fact, that my grip loosened, and the Eye slipped out of my talons... Right onto one of my toes. There was maybe a half-second I had to think Oh shi-, before everything faded to black.

What happened next was... strange. It felt like a dream, but it was the most vivid, real dream I'd ever experienced in my life. One moment I was in my workshop, the next I was sitting at the top of a mesa in a canyon, twin ravines separating me from either side. Looking around, I quickly realized that I wasn't alone on this cliff. There was another dragon with me, though it certainly wasn't of any Tribe I'd ever seen before. I'd call them a Nightwing, except this dragon didn't look LIKE the night, they WERE the night, misting around the edges. With an ethereal paw, they pointed to a device between us - a wooden lever of some kind. The black dragon pulls the lever to the right. Down below, I saw a great wooden slab groaned and moved to the right, blocking that side of the ravine. The dragon then pulled the lever to the left. The slab followed. They 'reset' the lever to neutral, and then simply… disappeared into the sky. They didn't fly away, or jump into the air. They simply floated up and evaporated like mist in the morning sun.

I looked back at the trenches, and noticed figures at the bottom. To my horror, I realized that in one was Burn, bound securely to the stone. In the other, I saw seven SandWings, faces and figures I vaguely recognized from outside the Palace, similarly chained to the ground. The ground began to shake, and in the distance I could hear the rumbling roar of a flash flood barreling down the canyon, and onto us.

"Please!" Called one of the SandWings. "Help!" They all strained with everything they had against the restraints, to no avail.

"What on Pyrrhia are you doing?" Burn shouted, roaring out even as she failed to break the chains. "Save me, you fool!"

The roar of water got closer. I could see a wall of blue, heading towards us all.

I found myself torn, unable to move, frozen in place as the flood rushed at them all. What could I do? What should I do? Would I willingly drown seven dragons? Would I willingly drown my Queen?

My one passion, my one goal in life, was the pursuit of knowledge. All my projects, experiments, theories, they were all for the advancement for my Tribe and Dragonkind as a whole. And yet I worked for Burn, the most brutal and cruel of the sisters. She was the first one to support me when I arrived at the Palace, who got me my position as Court Scientist. I knew Burn didn't see me as a friend - Three Moons, sometimes I wondered why I chose to stay with her even as the world started closing in - but I felt a sense of loyalty to her, of being indebted. Could I really let her die, after all the horrible things I'd done? Desecrate the old Queen's body? Frame an innocent dragon of the crime? Bring the continent to the brink of war just to put someone on the throne? Why stop now? No, she had to live. She had to win, or all of this would've been for nothing.

I realized, as I reached for the lever, that the cruel irony of genius is that often you have to destroy in order to create; take lives in order to save them. And as I knew from the beginning, I'd have to put a tyrant on the throne, so I could lay the foundation for a better, more peaceful future.

"Damn you..." I cursed the "Nightwing" as I pulled the lever. The dragons' cries are mercifully silenced by the roar of water.

Everything faded once more, but to white this time. I was standing on a featureless plain, what I imagine what some dragons think the Afterlife is like. In front of me, the black dragon from earlier appeared.

Loyal to your mistress, no doubt, I heard, in a voice that echoed and resonated in my mind. But not loyal to the dragons. Not a good Queen. Still...

Two portals, for lack of a better term, appeared on either side of the dragon. On the left, I saw a dark, damp cave. To the right, my quarters, warm, safe, and empty.

You have failed the first test. You may either go right, and forfeit your right to be Queen, or you may go left, and your worth will again be judged. Be warned, failing twice will see you perish. Choose wisely.

I stared blankly at the stranger, not understanding what they meant at first. "Wait, what?" I asked, genuinely confused. As the silence dragged on, the words finally sunk in, and I realized the opportunity I just missed. My blood chilled. My stomach rolled, and I fell back on my rear in shock. How dense was I, how tunnel-visioned and obsessed could I be, to have the literal keys to the kingdom, and never once think to use it for myself? I never really put much thought into politics (well, not until recently), but to think, I could...

I rubbed my face, and chuckled bitterly. "There's no need for another test," I sighed, "I know I'm not meant to rule. I never even thought of it until now. Isn't that the craziest thing? All for the best, if I couldn't see what was right in front of me."

Humbled, knowing myself a little bit better, I got up, and walked my way right, back to my workshop. I was a Scientist, not a King, and at the end of the day, I was okay with that...

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the black dragon nodding, before everything faded once more...

xxx

I woke up in my room, with the Eye on the ground. Picking it up with my gloved paw once again, I looked at it with a newfound sense of respect... and fear. The Eye of Onyx is mine to give.

I placed the Eye in a small leather pouch for safekeeping - Whatever I had just seen, I DEFINITELY didn't want a repeat performance for myself, nor for Burn. I burned the glove I used, cleaned the tools, and spent the rest of the night working on my latest project. Provided I still lived to the next week, I had something Burn and the Generals would find very interesting.

There was, of course, other stuff going on at the Palace, while I had my adventures with Oasis and the Eye.

First and foremost, Blister had a very lucky week. For one, Tanwen had been spending a lot of time with the Princes, talking to them often about who should take over. Day in, day out, she pressed upon them the "arbitrariness" of Blaze and Burn. I wanted to speak to them, make them understand Blister's treachery, but between preparing for my investigation and being under armed guard afterwards, I couldn't reach out to any of them. Nightshade, for his part, tried to spread rumors through his agents about the middle sister's capriciousness and cruelty to the common dragon, but those never took off (no doubt because it was the bandit rebel who said them). By Friday, though they didn't directly say which Princess they were committing to, Smolder went so far as to say that Blister was "the only sister we feel comfortable with".

As much as it stung and felt like a betrayal, I understood why they did what they did. Blister had momentum. She had connections. And what did Blaze and Burn have? Money, me, and the Eye.

What's worse, the Royal Guard declared themselves for Blister. Marshal Grit, after taking a morning flight and returning with a scar on his cheek, had said that the Royal Guard should only serve under an "enlightened commandment", obviously code for the smart sister. Coincidentally, rumor had it that Blister's opinion of Hallowglide had suddenly improved, with the Princess and the Baron of Hawkstone writing to each other quite a bit during the week. No one could nail down why this was, though I had a pretty strong theory. If I had to guess, Hallowglide had sent an assassin or secret operative after Grit, threatening or blackmailing him into siding with Blister, effectively giving her control of the Palace. I can't confirm it of course, but it makes the most sense to me.

Perhaps one of the worst things that happened (so far as it interfered with our plans), was that the Palace quickly found out that I had the Eye. Flame's bounty hunter told Flame, who then told everyone in the Palace. Sandstorm was also able to deduce that the Eye was somewhere in the Palace, but that was a whole lot of "too little, too late" for the guard. This, unfortunately, placed a target on my flank, as every claimant to the throne was going to gun for the Eye. Burn, upon receiving my message, quickly hired a few local guards/henchdrakes to watch my quarters and protect me at all times. For two days and three nights, I was kept in my bedroom/workshop, my meals provided under my door, with nothing to do but work on my inventions as my patroness was on her way back from her latest scavenger hunt. While I got a ton of work done, it still felt like I was in prison, or in quarantine. By Saturday, I was bouncing off the walls with nervous energy, desperate to get out and get the damned necklace away from me.

If there was anything good going for us, it was with Ambassador Otion. When the dawn's early light illuminated the burial ground, everyone could see that Oasis's jaw had been pried open and broken. The scattered scales and pearls made it clear to everyone who did the horrific deed, and soon a small mob had gathered around the ambassador's quarters, calling for his blood. The Royal Guard, still committed to their duties to the Kingdom, kindly kept the crowds at bay as Otion was "encouraged" to pack up his stuff and head home as soon as possible. The Seawing was able to return to the Kingdom of Sea without incident, and Three Moons, was Queen Coral pissed when she heard about what happened. That one of her finest admirals had been declared dracona non grata and expelled from the Sand Kingdom without even a preliminary investigation threw her into a tizzy. By the end of the week, she'd sent a message demanding a proper investigation and an apology, or we'd all "face the consequences of our slander and lies". Curiously enough, while there was plenty of criticism of Blaze and Burn and the Sandwings as a whole, there weren't any words of condemnation over dear ole' Blister. Many of us in the Palace feared this confirmed our suspicions that Blister had secured an alliance with the Seawings, giving her a massive advantage.

No one made the connection between me finding the Eye near the Queen with what happened to her body. I have no idea why it never occurred to anyone to ask questions, but I have to believe that it's the one thing that kept me alive in the coming weeks. If anyone besides Burn knew the truth, I would've been torn to pieces by the mob, and what's left of me would be tossed in a ditch or among the dunes.

Little did I know, this was only the beginning of a long, winding, and unbelievably insane year...

Condition 'Tallies'

Princess Blister: +7
Princess Blaze: -1
Princess Burn: -6
Guard Sandstorm: -9
Wanderer Nightshade: -18

A/N: My rolls for Turn 2; Finding the Eye - 89 + 11 (RP) = 100
Framing the Ambassador: 90 + 10 (RP) = 100
Escaping the Bounty Hunter: 44 + 9 (RP) = 53
Accidental Exposure? (1-45): 42

Special thanks to Temeraire, for creating the "river dream" scene. As he explained to me, he didn't want to determine my character's "worthiness" strictly through random chance, and created a series of moral dilemmas to determine whether or not he'd live or not. Needless to say, Xero knew when not to press his luck, and it's because he forfeited his right to rule that he was allowed to survive touching the Eye. It's still one of my favorite scenes from the game.

This was also the last turn that Otion participated in the game. His player had some IRL trouble and had to drop out, which coincidentally happened as my character was framing his character. I still feel kinda bad about it: I had nothing to do with it, and what happens in an RP game has no bearing on real life, but it still felt exploitive to do well at someone else's expense. Still, I'm pretty sure everything worked out in the end for them, so ultimately everything worked out just fine.