Tim had been raised to fear the winged beasts that harassed his hidden kingdom.
The threat of attack hung over him at all times like a wool blanket, almost suffocatingly so. Tim was a hunter, and an extraordinary shot with a crossbow; He was no stranger to danger and overwhelming odds. He had survived attacks from the hellbeasts. His childhood home had been completely razed during his teenage years, and his mother fled with him to the village where he was now, Cascade Hollow. It was situated inside of a ravine that kept them, more or less, concealed from the demons that lurked.
Tim had been tracking an elk for days now, well beyond the limits the Priest had set. The Guild's mantras kept playing through his head: "Hunt with care, take no risks, stay safe." He shook his head, this bounty would be worth the danger. His village would feast for days! Tim pushed through the underbrush as quietly as he could. While the forest was far from silent, his prey would surely hear him if he bucked about like a wild horse.
He loaded a bolt into the cold steel barrel, and took a few tentative steps closer to the elk who was drinking from a pond just yards away. Tim raised his crossbow and took aim, his heart racing in anticipation, beating loudly against his chest. He could hear his blood pounding in his ears. The furs he wore suddenly felt heavy. Adrenaline rushed through him as he finally pulled the trigger with a click, hearing the satisfying thwoop! of the air being sliced.
But before he could claim his prize, a loud, guttural roar enveloped the air and shook the earth. Before he could react, an arc of blue plummeted from the sky and enveloped Tim, ripping his feet off the ground and carrying him up so rapidly he nearly lost consciousness. The roar of the wind in his ears and the lack of feeling below his feet told Tim that he was in the air, far above the ground.
Tim instinctively tried to reach for the short sword strapped to his belt, but when he tried, he felt something cold and leathery; something that wasn't his sword. He looked down, eyes watering from the harsh winds, and saw the claws that wrapped around his torso. He shrieked, but the dragon's talons only tightened around him. Tim struggled to break free of the demon's grasp; he scraped and hit the claws which held him in a vice grip.
His squirming must have annoyed the monster, as it squeezed Tim even further. The restriction in his chest caused him to vomit, chunks flying below him. His mind screamed in a complete and total frenzy; this was it, he was going to die. Tears flowed down his cheeks, but were whisked away in the wind almost instantly.
He had been fighting the entire flight, and the adrenaline in his body had worn off, leaving him exhausted. The reptile hadn't killed him yet, but he had already accepted his inevitable fate, which was bound to come sooner or later. With what little strength he had, he craned his head up and began studying his captor.
For the spawn of hell, it was hauntingly beautiful. With pale blue scales and pink accents on its wings, with fainter patches seeming to glow neon, even in broad daylight. Tim had to admit, he was in awe of the creature. He watched how its scales shimmered when it caught the sunlight, how with each wingbeat there were patches of light that rippled across its body, how every movement seemed so fluid and elegant. He wasn't going to die without resistance, but if his attempts were futile and he did die, then of all things to be killed by, a dazzling dragon wasn't a bad way to go.
Tim was abruptly shaken back into focus when the beast landed, dropping him to the floor unceremoniously. His vision blurred as he tried to stand, but his legs crumpled beneath him. His arms were quaking as he kneeled, hunched over. He took a deep, forlorn breath, still looking at the ground. His eyes grew hot with tears as he nearly choked on the taste of vomit lingering in his mouth.
If he was going to die, he wasn't going to die without a fight. His legs wobbled a moment, but he remained upright. Tim looked around, realizing he was on the rocky shore of some kind of underground lake. A skylight illuminated the water, giving it a greenish glow. His gaze finally fell upon the blue beast. It was sitting, wings folded, tail wrapped around its feet and staring straight at Tim. He offhandedly noted that its posture seemed patient, almost polite.
Fear gripped him, but he took a breath and shakily reached for his short sword, unsheathing it. The creature didn't even react. When Tim began to walk towards it, all it did was cock its head. The dragon's face then moved, and Tim could have sworn it was rolling its eyes at him.
He would not be so dismissively mocked in his final hour! Tim stepped closer, sword ready and drawn. He picked up speed, before yelling and charging the monster. It simply jumped away and tripped him with its tail. Tim flopped face-first to the ground, his legs still unreliable since his flight.
He stood up and rushed again, when the creature made a strange growling sound, unlike anything he'd ever heard before.
Tim was suddenly frozen, mid-stride. It was as if he was frozen in time, but the monster moved closer, slowly, horrifyingly, and Tim closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, bracing himself for the sweet release of death.
But it never came.
And the world was suddenly different.
"Alright, you're done, get up." sounded an unfamiliar, feminine voice. Tim blinked, his eyes flickering open. Realizing he still had one leg in the air, he promptly stumbled forward, falling on his face yet again. With a heave, he pushed himself up from the rocky terrain, and turned his head in the direction of the voice, but the only ones there were the dragon and himself. Much to his shock, the dragon opened its - no, her, mouth, and spoke again, impatiently.
"Get up already! I didn't waste my magic on a sloth!" She raised her voice. The shock of seeing a talking dragon sent Tim tragically spiraling back towards the ground for the umpteenth time that day.
"Whuh- what- you're, buh-buh-but you're a-!"
"Yes, I am a dragon. I am talking to you. Get over it."
Damn well easier said than done, creature. Tim yet again tried to stand up, this time managing to get to his feet, and take a few wobbly steps towards the dragon. However, the exhaustion from the flight and the shock of hearing this thing talk, had him tripping over his own feet, nearly passing out. He felt a claw push up against his chest, keeping him barely standing.
"Three moons, you have a problem. Stop falling down and talk to me," the dragon said commandingly. Tim looked at her face, but noticed something odd: she seemed a lot… smaller than he remembered. Yes, her talons that could once hold his entire body were now barely larger than his own hands, and her head looked like it would need to take a few bites out of him rather than swallowing him whole.
"What… happened?" He knew he shouldn't trust this hellspawn, but he really didn't see any other option at the moment.
"I just enchanted you, is all," the dragon said nonchalantly. Noticing his confusion, she rolled her eyes again and sighed. "You scavengers don't know anything. I'm an animus; that means I have magic. I enchanted you to speak dragon and grow to fit a dragon's proportions, that's all."
So she didn't shrink, but he grew. That seemed to match up; he did feel a little bigger. But that left one question unanswered.
"Why?" Tim gasped, still out of breath.
"Well, I couldn't have you doing work for me if you were the size of a trout."
"W...work?" Tim felt his blood go cold at her offhanded explanation; he almost didn't want to ask.
She gave a toothy grin, and laughed, "Well, duh, you're my servant now, dummy!"
There was a long pause. Tim gulped. Moons, were those shark teeth?
"A-And what if I refuse?" Tim asked nervously, unable to keep the stutter out of his voice. He stumbled backwards with a yelp as the dragon jumped at him, growling as she clenched her talons around him.
"Just 'cause you're bigger now doesn't mean you can beat me. Refuse, and I shrink you back down and bite your head off. Got it?" She hissed through clenched teeth. Her sapphire blue eyes were narrowed to slits, staring violently deep into his frightened green ones. Her talons tightened uncomfortably around his shoulders. If he wasn't wearing his protective hunting gear, she probably would have drawn blood by now.
"L-Loud and clear." Tim forced himself to steady his breathing. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the dragon's enraged expression vanished, and she gave another tooth-filled smile as she suddenly wrapped her arms around him in some kind of hug.
"Good! I'm sure we'll get along great!"
Tim had to fight to stop himself from breaking down on the spot. Moons, what had he gotten himself into?
"So, uh… What's your name, anyway?" Tim began anxiously. He and this mystery dragon, his apparent 'master' now, were sitting at the edge of the underground lake, relaxing. At least, she was relaxing. He was just trying not to do anything that would get him eaten alive. The dragon was in the water, twirling around and doing dramatic stunts while swimming. He had to admit, the cavern was calming and serene, and her performance was actually amazing, but that didn't ease up the concern that she could rip him apart in a second if he made the wrong move.
"Hm?" She stopped her show and poked her head out of the water, looking at him. Tim shuddered; it would be a while until his fear of dragons would die down enough for him to look at one without fighting the instinct to run.
"Wh...What's your name?" Did dragons even have names? She swam over to him, shooting out of the crystalline water like an azure arrow, shining under the sun beams from above, and landed beside him. She shrugged.
"Anemone."
Anemone? Was that it? Kind of an odd name, but Tim wisely bit back that comment. "Uh…. N-nice to meet you, uh, A-Anemone-"
"Princess Anemone." She gave yet another signature grin, the kind that could shred through steel. "But don't call me that. Since you're my servant, that would make me your…" she trailed off.
Tim stared for a minute, waiting for an answer, until he realized that he was supposed to answer for her. "O-oh, uh-" He was a bit slow. "M-mistress?"
The dragon, Anemone, stared at him incredulously. He was worried he said something wrong until the corners of her mouth began turning upwards, and soon she was on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. Tim awkwardly chuckled along with her, nervous.
"Pfft, m-mistress! Hahahahawha-! M-Moons, what - hahahah! - what the f-fuck!" It took a few minutes for her to calm down. After some deep breaths, she looked at him, smiling. "I - hah - was more looking for 'master', but - haha - I'll take either one."
"I, uh, I think I'll settle with 'Master', then." Tim replied, thoroughly embarrassed.
She rolled over onto her back, looking bored. "So what about you? What's your name?"
"T-Tim. It's Tim, An- er, Master."
"...Nah."
"I-I'm sorry?"
"Nope, definitely not. Tim won't do." She rolled back over and stood up. "How about…" She studied him for a bit, her eyes raking across his figure, all the while he squirmed under her gaze. "Eggplant?"
"...What?"
"I mean… you look like an eggplant." She leaned in uncomfortably close. Tim pulled himself away at her proximity.
"H-how so?!" Tim tried protesting.
"I dunno. I can't really explain it, you just… do." Anemone shrugged.
"Wh- What- I don't-"
"C'mon, Eggplant. We've got some errands to run." Anemone said. Tim, now Eggplant, stood firmly where he was, his mouth hanging open, arguments rolling along the tip of his tongue, but no noise coming out. Anemone turned and growled at him.
"Are you deaf? Let's get going before your head starts to look any tastier!"
Eggplant rushed ahead to follow her. This conversation didn't exactly improve his image of dragons as a whole.
"T-These scrolls… are really… fucking heavy!" huffed Eggplant. He and Anemone had left the underground lake to find that the whole mountain they were in had been set up as some kind of 'dragon school'; Jade Mountain Academy, they had called it. It had apparently been in establishment for over 15 years now. Anemone had long since completed her curriculum, but still visited frequently to consult their vast library and to check up on her younger sister, Auklet.
Anemone groaned in exasperation. "Three Moons, just put them on the table and stop bothering me about it, then!" Eggplant quickly complied, dumping the many scrolls onto a rock ledge in the center of the room. He leaned over the table and observed the many rolls of paper before him, unable to read the dragon's written language he had just learned existed fifteen minutes ago.
"What's… what's all this about, anyway?"
"Those scrolls are about scavengers. I wanted to learn more about you." Huh. Flattering.
Anemone was at the library counter, talking to a slightly older, black dragon. He appeared blind, based on the cloth wrapped over his eyes. He also appeared disappointed, based on the expression he was giving Anemone. His head was down, and he had two talons squeezing the bridge of his snout. From where he was standing, Eggplant could almost see the crease in his brow.
"Anemone…" the dragon sighed. He paused, seemingly taking his time to pick his words. "I know you said you wanted to experiment more with animus magic-"
"Yeah, and you were the one who encouraged me to try, Starflight!" Anemone retorted.
The black dragon, apparently named Starflight, sighed again. "Yes, that's true, but… this… isn't exactly what I had in mind."
"After I read that Icewing's paper, I just had to give it a try, y'know? Would be crazy, if all this time they were just like us."
"I agree, but to use the poor thing as a… servant?"
"Princesses have a lot of responsibilities."
"Do you at least plan on reporting this to Win-"
"No. You know how he is, he'll just say something like 'you just enchanted him to think like us', or something. He's always had a thing against animus magic since… y'know."
"W-well, I think he'd at least like to know-"
"Oh, hey, Anemone!" came a new voice from the library entrance. They all turned to see another dragon, one with green scales, bound into the room and wrap Anemone into a tight embrace. Anemone beamed, not a malicious tooth-filled grin, but a genuine smile.
"Auklet!" She returned the hug, squeezing her arms tight around her until they both broke apart. "How's my baby sister doing?"
"I'm not a baby, Anemone, I'm fifteen." Auklet protested. Anemone threw out her favorite smirk at her.
"Right, I guess you aren't, are you? Not with that Icewing boy chasing you - Sleet, was it?"
"Annie!" Auklet whined. Anemone laughed, and twined her tail with hers, draping a wing over her back.
"Aww, you know I'm just teasing you. It's great to see you, sis." Auklet's smile came back, and she nuzzled her head into Anemone's chest.
"You too, Annie!" she laughed. Eggplant smiled; it was an undoubtedly heartwarming scene. Maybe… dragons weren't hellspawn after all? Maybe they were just like him and every other human?
Wait. Right. They called his race "scavengers". Mhm. Lovely.
Starflight leaned over his counter and close to him. Eggplant was surprised to find that he didn't jump ten feet at the dragon's proximity; maybe he really was getting more used to them. Or maybe Starflight was just docile as far as most dragons went.
"I, erm, apologize, for the situation you're in now," he whispered, making sure Anemone and Auklet couldn't hear them. "And I, uh, know you're not really inclined to listen to me right now, but I wanted to give you, um, some, ah, advice, and say that if I were in your position right now, I would probably just do as she says for a while and see how things play out."
Eggplant tilted his head at the dark dragon. "Why's that?"
"Anemone has something called 'animus magic'. She can use it to change the world around her to her will. That's why you're bigger and why you can talk to us. If you were to, uh, u-upset her, you, uhm…"
"I… think I get it." Woah. Ho-ly-shit. Anemone was a force to be reckoned with.
"It was nice seeing you again, sis, but I do have to go back to Mother." Eggplant perked up, listening in on Anemone's conversation. Auklet frowned.
"Why? Can't you at least stay a day or two?" she asked.
Anemone shook her head. "No, I have to see her as soon as possible. Because, well…" She gestured to Eggplant, who fell into Auklet's line of sight. Uh-oh.
"Wooah!" Auklet gasped at him, amazed. "Is this that experiment you mentioned? He looks so… weird! Wait, I can talk to him, right? Hi, how's your day, my name's Auklet, what's yours?" She asked. Her words were fast and excited. Her eyes were wide with curiosity. It was actually pretty cute.
Eggplant smiled and held out his hand. "Uh, I'm T- er, Eggplant! It's nice to meet you, Auklet!" A long pause followed, until he realize she was staring at his open hand, confused.
"W… what are you doing?" she asked. Eggplant blinked and put his hand down.
"Right, aha, I uh, guess you people- er, dragons, don't do that. Uhm…" he smiled and shrugged at her. Suddenly, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, causing him to yelp.
"Ooo, he's so soft and squishy and huggable! I like what you've done with him, sis! He's cute!" she laughed. Eggplant stood there, a bit shaken, before he let out a content sigh and wrapped his own arms around her, returning the hug.
He got called 'cute' by a dragon. And in a good way. That felt nice.
Anemone circled around them, a warm smile on her face. "I know, he is. I'd love to let you enjoy him a bit longer, but unfortunately," her grin turned toothy yet again, "We have places to be."
"AAAAGGGHH OH MOONS PLEASE PUT ME DOWN AHAAAHAHAHHHOLY FUCK- AH, MUH-MY HEAD, HOOOOH NONONONO-"
"Shut up, wimp."
Eggplant fought to pull his sore, weak arms up and push his heavy body off the ground, he really did, but after the most horrific - and unfortunately only the first - flight of his life, he was hardly in any position for movement, as he slumped back to the earth with a thud. Didn't help that he had been carrying all those scrolls as well, which also fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Ugh. So much for a graceful landing." Anemone rolled her eyes, oblivious to his misery. She had barely prevented him from losing his grip(which was already pretty flimsy, since he had to carry the scrolls, too) and falling to his death multiple times before they were safely on the ground. Needless to say, she didn't have any plans to fly him around anywhere anytime soon. "Well, regardless, we're here now. Yay."
"Where… is here?" Eggplant groaned. Having at least gathered the strength to pull his head up, he looked around him and drew a sharp breath. He heard Anemone introduce him to the location, but he wasn't listening. They were in some kind of large rock formation, like a cove, which acted like a massive wall surrounding them on all sides, stretching thousands of feet up from its bottom. Caves dotted the wall, some with glistening waterfalls pouring out of them. A massive sapphire pool sat at rest at the bottom of the cove, a frightening drop between himself and the water.
And in the center of it all was a massive tower, spiraling upwards, constructed of some kind of sky-blue stone. In the middle of the spirals sat much darker blue discs, each seemingly acting as some sort of landing platform for the dragons flying in and out of it. Eggplant stared in astonishment at the beautiful monument, but suddenly he noticed a very obvious detail about the structure, something that stuck out like a sore thumb to him.
"It's unfinished," he blurted out. He became acutely aware of how rude his interruption was when Anemone sighed in annoyance.
"About ten years ago, the original Summer Palace-" Summer Palace, that's what it was called - "-was destroyed by Skywings in the Sandwing War. Now that we're in peace time, we've started to rebuild it, but it's a huge structure and it takes time." He noticed how monotone her voice was, as though she had recited this by the letter more times than either of them could could. "I could use my magic to speed it up, like how the original was made, but Mother insists I don't. We've been at it for, what, seven years?"
"I believe it's been closer to eight now," sounded a powerful, feminine voice from nearby. Both Anemone and Eggplant snapped their heads up to spot a large, deep blue Seawing hovering in the air before them, adorned with more pearls than Eggplant had ever seen before. As airheaded as he normally was, he instantly knew he was in the presence of royalty, powerful royalty.
With what strength he had, he quickly pulled himself up into a slightly more respectable, standing position. He struggled not to pass out from the light-headedness of standing up too fast, but he miraculously managed to stay lucid. The powerful dragon set down on the ground before them as Anemone spoke.
"It's good to see you, Mother," she smiled. Mother? He recalled that Anemone referred to herself as a princess. Would that make this dragon…?
"And it's as wonderful as always to see your beautiful face, my princess." The larger dragoness cooed lovingly. Eggplant could almost feel Anemone cringe next to him. The massive dragon turned her gaze his way, and he seized up in terror at her presence. She craned her neck down at him, she being very large even with Anemone's spell, and scrutinized him with a steely, questioning squint.
"This… scavenger, not so much. Why have you brought it?" Trying to ignore yet another blow to his already mangled self-esteem, he looked at Anemone for her answer. She simply rolled her eyes.
"I did say I wanted a personal servant, and I did say I wanted to learn more about scavengers. Figured I'd get both of them out of the way," she replied dismissively. Eggplant's shoulders slouched; his pride was getting attacked left and right here. Her mother looked surprised, but also deeply annoyed.
"I understand that I'm always telling you to learn how to multitask, but this isn't what I was talking about, Anemone."
Anemone glanced off to the side, her expression unidentifiable. "I thought it was a pretty good idea…" she grumbled.
"What exactly do you have to gain from having a filthy, braindead scavenger serve you?" The navy-blue dragoness retorted. Ouch. Eggplant was not having the best of days right now.
Anemone sighed. "I have ways of making things work. Isn't that right, Eggplant?" she looked at him, a mischievous grin on her face.
"Yes, master!" Eggplant declared proudly, puffing out his chest. The pearl-adorned dragoness reared back in surprise. The attacks on his self-esteem from earlier just made her shock feel all the better. Take that!
"Wh-what in the- A-Anemone! Have you- have you been using your magic irresponsibly again?!"
Anemone shrugged, wearing a smug smirk. "Not irresponsibly, I'd argue. He's gonna help out around the place and make everyone's lives easier. I don't see what's so irresponsible about that. Also, I should mention that I only enchanted him to talk, not obey every order, so he's heard this entire conversation so far."
There was a long, awkward pause as the larger dragoness looked at him, then at Anemone, then at him again, back and forth, her mouth hanging open as she tried and failed to make words of the situation. Suddenly, Eggplant found himself in a vigorous handshake(talonshake?) with Anemone's mother as she introduced herself, embarrassed about what she had just said.
"G-greetings! I'm, ah, I'm so sorry about, uh, that, ahem. I-I am Queen Coral, and I am the presiding ruler of the Seawings, and mother of Anemone here." Eggplant smirked inwardly at how flustered she was acting. Wait, had she said she was the…
Eggplant finally gave in to his exhaustion, and passed out from the revelation. Just before everything went black, he could faintly hear Anemone sigh.
"He needs some work."
Eggplant would like to believe he had gotten a bit better at this by now.
Working around the clock to appease Anemone's every whim was no easy task, but he had almost gotten used to it by now, having begun to settle into something that resembled a schedule. He'd been with Anemone as her personal servant for almost a month now.
His services didn't go entirely unrewarded, either; sometimes, late at night, Anemone took the time to teach him the history and culture of dragons, specifically Seawings(that's what her tribe was called, he had learned). She had even begun to teach him the basics of a secret Seawing language called Aquatic. Of course, he could never speak it, but being able to at least know what was being said could prove handy.
Anemone admitted one of the reasons she had gotten a personal servant was because she didn't want to use too much of her magic to get things done. She claimed that if she used it too often, she could go insane from it. A dragon as powerful as Anemone losing her mind didn't exactly sound like an ideal situation, so Eggplant understood completely, even redoubling his efforts to make sure his service remained satisfactory. He bit back a question about why she couldn't just do the work herself.
He had heard much about the Seawing's "Deep Palace". When he asked about it, he heard that it was an enormous underwater palace that only the Seawings could enter. The palace he stayed in presently, the New Summer Palace, was built for visits from other tribes and for purposes of diplomacy and trade. Again, Anemone was hesitant to use any magic, but she promised that if he did well, she may eventually improve his enchantment to allow him to safely visit the Deep Palace.
"The scrolls you requested, Master."
Eggplant heaved the sack of various scrolls onto a table as Anemone made her way over to him. He didn't comment on it, but he noticed in the back of his mind that she seemed to be walking funny, her hips swaying a bit more than normal. Shaking the thought from his head, he started to pull out the scrolls to read their titles individually, as he was normally instructed to, but Anemone hurriedly jumped on the bag before he could draw one out.
"Here! I'll, uh, just look through these myself, don't worry about it," she spoke quickly. Eggplant couldn't help but raise an eyebrow; she was acting funny.
"Are you sure, Master?"
"Yes! Er, yes."
"...Is everything... alright, Master?"
"YES! Yeah, everything's good, don't worry about it. Don't- er, don't worry about it." She was clearly hiding something, something important from him.
But hey. Master's orders. Who was he to question her?
"...If you insist, Master. Is there anything else you would ask of me?" He'd been working on the "prim-and-proper butler" routine constantly since he learned he would be serving royalty. He didn't see any complaints from Anemone, and Queen Coral actually seemed rather pleased by the act.
Anemone tucked a loose scroll into the sack before pulling it up, keeping it shut tight. "No. You're dismissed."
Dismissed? That was definitely odd. "This early in the afternoon, Master?"
"Yes, and I'm sure. Please leave."
Well, that was blunt, but he couldn't blame her. "I understand. Call for me if there is anything else," he said curtly, before walking out of the room.
As the large, wooden doors shut, Anemone glanced around her bedroom, making sure nobody was watching her, making sure she was all alone. Once she was certain, she opened the sack and looked through the many scrolls lying within.
"The Fires of Scarlet, no… Claws of the Sea, no but I should hang onto that one… A History of Political Tension Between Nightwings and Seawings, pfft, I know all about that one… List of Things Riptide is Not Allowed to Do, what the fuck, why's it so long?... Aha!" There it was. What to Do When Entering Heat!
Anemone froze, and quickly looked around the room again, keeping the scroll clutched tight to her chest. This was all perfectly natural, she told herself, there's no way around it. But holding this scroll, about to read its contents felt… taboo. Sinful, even. She felt like she wasn't supposed to have it.
She had cleverly sent Eggplant to grab this scroll along with several others to ward off suspicion, and she was relieved that she got it without anyone knowing. But now what? She felt blood rush to her face at the thought of merely having it in her possession, much less reading the damn thing. But the growing burning in her abdomen, the aching between her legs, wasn't something she could ignore any longer.
Quickly darting over to her bed, she hesitantly tugged at the loose edge of paper on the scroll and, triple-checking to make sure nobody was around, pulled it open, letting the scroll roll in her loose talons as the paper pulled out.
Anemone's blush grew tenfold at the… vivid imagery depicted in the scroll, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she came across the first drawing inside. The feeling of taboo multiplied as well. It was amazing that such a vulgar scroll was allowed in their library. How the hell did Eggplant manage to get his paws on this thing, anyway?
Much to her dismay, while also confirming her fears, she came across a particularly dreaded passage in the scroll: she now knew that to cure her heat, she needed a mate.
It was impossible. Mother would only allow an arranged marriage with some pompous old geezer, and Moons know the repercussions if she found some random Seawing in the far reaches of the ocean, pinned him to the sea floor and… argh. But at the same time, she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle this burning inside of her. How long would it last? Could she endure it? Or would her inhibitions fail her, and would she succumb to her growing lust?
Wait. A different section. Temporary Solutions. A glimmer of hope for her? She excitedly rolled open the scroll to find a drawing of a dragon… doing something to herself. Reading the text, softly as she could manage, "If finding a mate isn't possible, a dragoness could temporarily mitigate her heat by reaching between her legs with her talons and…"
...Holy shit, she needed to try this.
This story is a collaboration between various anonymous members of the Wings of Fire Writer's Guild. You can join us through the Discord invite in our profile!
As we're sure you've all figured out by now, this story will contain explicit erotica/lemons. This first chapter is mostly clean, however it serves as a buffer zone between readers and explicit content. If you are not of legal age to view sexually explicit content in your country, please do not read any more than this chapter.
Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you again when we next update!
~The WoFWG