Scorpion's POV
The rest of the trip back to Blister's Hideout was quite easy. In spite of a few close encounters with some Sandwing Patrols near the end of the Desert, because patrols are a thing. Everything else seemed to be okay
Once I got to the rocky entrance of the Hideout, which is basically just a main cave that branches out into more caves, I did a secret knock to get in. Unfortunately, some jokester was on Gate Duty, and started messing with me. He was opening the door when I'm farthest, and closing it quickly when I got close. I heard him laughing his scales off up top, which was mildly annoying. I was about to go to the other entrance, when I heard a slap. The door opened right afterwards.
After a moment or two of confusion, I slowly stepped into the Cave, hearing the scraping Gate close behind me. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I travelled down towards the main 'plaza', which is basically a small shopping center with some travelling merchants looking to make some profit from the starving dragons down here. I noticed a secret door opening and two dragons poured out, one with a distinct red mark on the side of his cheek, and the other casting a menacing glare at the Dragon who looked like he was blushing.
Oooh… I thought with realization, That's the Gate Watcher, that other dragon must've slapped him.
Surprised that there was no blood going down the side of his face, and ignoring his annoyed face, I went towards Blister's quarters, as that's where she usually was.
The trip through the dark grey tunnels can be described with one word: Depressing. There's no scenery to look at besides the stone walls. I know it's not supposed to look pretty, and it's supposed to be a military base and all. But could we at least get some paintings or decor in here? It gets boring looking at the same dead wall over and over and over again.
Walking through the tunnels isn't pleasant either. Most of the dragons down here are no good crooks that work for Blister. Most of them probably are as bad as Blister herself. Other Dragons are small families that got caught up in this conflict because one dingus decided to pick a side and ruin their family's entire lives in the process. I see how the darkness of these caverns effect the dragons down here. They usually display a depressed face, and a cranky attitude. I understand why, but I wish they weren't always so grumpy.
After walking through a literal maze, I finally got to Blisters Quarters. The entrance was a stone door with a window in it. There was two long windows on the wall on either side of the door that peered into a lobby-type area. It's basically the place where dragons can request to complain to Blister about something. Most of them get denied.
I entered the lobby area. It had a bunch of seats with some plants in the corners of the room to give at least some decoration. As I said earlier, looking at a stone wall isn't very fun after two seconds.
When walking through another door to get into a hallway which leads into Blisters 'War Room', I noticed a Sandwing Guard shuffling around the hallway, like he was looking for something. The Guard was about normal size, I'd guess he's around 15 years old. He looked really dusty. I squinted at his scales before noticing it's just a part of his scale pattern.
"Hey Guard." I greeted nonchalantly. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for my keys" He answered with a gruff voice, "Dropped them while doing my routine patrol."
"Ah."
The Guard continued shuffling around for about 10 seconds, before doing a double take. I sighed, knowing what's coming next.
"What are you doing in here?" His voice seemingly turned hostile, "Last I checked, little dragonets aren't allowed in a place like this."
God I hate it when Dragons bring my age into things. Yes I was only 3, but I'm not stupid like most Dragonets my age.
"Hey," I snapped at him, trying my best to sound tough, "I'll have you know I just got done killing someone Blister assigned to me."
He snorted, "Take your imagination outside, this is a serious place little guy."
"It's true though!" I insisted. He snorted once again before facing me, obviously not believing me in the slightest.
"Evidence?" the Dragon snapped at me.
I stayed silent. The Sandwing rolled his eyes and took a couple steps toward me, before saying:
"Hah, get out of here, squirt, take your weird fantasies elsewhere." He growled at me before literally pushing me out the door.
"Weird Fant-" I started to repeat, but I got kicked out of the room before I could even finish my sentence.
"How rude!" I hissed at him, "Can't I report what I did without some grumpy guy telling me 'No'?"
"Come when you're actually a guard!" He snapped, "Go back to your mother."
That was the last straw, I decided to fake him out by walking away with an annoyed look. When I heard him turn around, I silently ran back towards him and leaped onto his back. I then started to choke him.
He eventually threw me off by flipping me over his head. As I got up, rubbing my own back since I landed on it; I noticed a face of complete shock on the Sandwing. I laughed on the inside seeing his pathetic face. He most likely feels embarrassed knowing that he nearly got shown up by a 3-Year-Old.
"That.. was interesting." He said, shooken up, "Who are you?"
I sighed. "My name is Scorpion, Blister took me in after a soldier found me a week or two ago."
"Why did you attack me?" He demanded.
"You attacked me first, technically." I said, defending myself.
"With words." He muttered.
"Words can do as much damage to someone as a spear." I remarked.
"True, maybe you did tell the truth." He admitted.
"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm always lying." I mentioned to the much older guard, "I'm a newly recruited assassin. Just got done with my first mission." The guard's eyes widened.
"An Assassin?!" He perked up at that, "Are your parents okay with this?"
"I don't know my parents." I mumbled.
He opened his mouth before closing it again. The Sandwing couldn't find anything to say after that. I somewhat felt bad about him, but not really considering he insulted me multiple times. Though I could tell he was legitimately regretting what he said.
"I-I'm sorry." he genuinely apologized.
"It's fine." I said, "I've gotten used to it."
We spent the next 10 minutes awkwardly looking at each other and looking away from each other. Then the guard finally got up from his spot, and just walked away uneasily. I'd like to think he was hoping Blister wouldn't take his head for that.
After that whole interaction, I sighed. I finally decided to head into Blister's Quarters. I was so annoyed at what happened that I didn't even realize that the Guard's keys that he was looking for was on a shelf on top of some combat training scrolls.
Inside Blister's Quarters was interesting, there seemed to be a desk with a big bulletin board behind it, showing many sketches of different dragons, on the desk was a map of Pyrrhia. On that map there were circles and arrows everywhere, pointing and surrounding many areas. The circles was color coded for different tribes, and which Sandwing Sister they're supporting. Think of it as Blister's war room.
The War Room branched off to another Room, Blister's sleeping area, which is locked 99.9% of the time. I sleep in a corner of the War Room because I have nowhere else to go. And considering that Blister thinks of me as 'her new weapon', I know that she just wants to keep me away from the locals living in the base. So much for that.
It was obvious that Blister was elsewhere, because normally she'd be planning things in the war room while I'd just be sleeping in my corner. Which is what I was about to do when I decided against it and decided to look at what's going on in the main square.
It was busy, everyone trying to get to anywhere, even if it meant pushing over young dragonets. Which happened to me as a Green Seawing pushed me over going over to a traveling merchant.
The Traveling Merchant was a Skywing, to be more descriptive, she had Amber scales with an light orange underbelly. She had a scar over her right eye, and was wearing a necklace with clam pearls on it. She seemed to be selling maps and scrolls that seemed to be useful for survival in a isolated location. Maybe for any of the Seawing islands or in one of Pyrrhia's many mountain ranges.
Knowing nothing else was around in the Traders Square, as I dubbed it, I defaulted to my original plan of heading to the War Room and sleeping in my corner until Blister arrives. Besides, I'm not a fan of huge crowds of Dragons.
Walking through the tunnels, I noticed a few Sandwings chatting next to the entrance of Blister's quarters. Ignoring them, I pushed the door open once again to the room. I firmly planted myself in my corner of the War Room, ready to go to sleep and wait for Blister.
Fast forwarding to when Blister arrived, I was still snoozing for a while after she stood in the doorway, probably looking at me. There's nothing much else to look at, but I'd like to imagine her going to her map in the center of the room and staring at it until I woke up.
I woke up with my eyes closed, and not even needing to open them I could tell Blister was here. I just laid there pretending I was asleep for a little while longer as I didn't want to deal with Blister for just a bit longer. I'm assuming she get fed up waiting for me, because I felt her Talons rubbing my side. I reluctantly opened my eyes and saw Blister's black eyes meet my own.
"Morning Scorps." Blister greeted, "How was your sleep?"
I yawned, before looking at Blister. She had that cheap smile on her face. I know she kinda cares about me, but at the same time I know she wants me for my assassin capabilities.
"Blister, what do you want from me? You're usually never this nice to me."
Blister frowned, "I just want to know how your mission went. I could only assume it was successful, yes?"
"I guess you could say that." I mumbled, this made Blister get impatient.
"Oh for crying out loud, did you kill him or did you not?!" Blister demanded.
"Yes I killed your Mudwing." I solemnly said, this made Blister cock her head in confusion.
"Why so sad?" She asked in her sweet tone, "Shouldn't you be proud that you managed to save trade between us and the Seawings?"
I finally stood up, looking at Blister.
"I just did it in a messy fashion." I admitted.
"How so?"
I lifted my black tail barb, it's like looking into an endless void of death and despair.
"Oh… sweetie you didn't know how that would play out if you used… that." Blister grabbed my tail and inspected my barb, some of the Dragonbite Viper Venom seeping out.
"I can still hear his screams." I shivered.
"Listen, you will learn from your mistakes. As for the screaming part, it something you'll have to get used to if you want to keep your job." Blister said.
"And my head." I added, that made Blister completely silent.
A few moments of silence went by, and it led to Blister just leaving. Before she left, she told me to get some rest and to prepare for my next mission. I rolled my eyes. I looked back at my tail barb, it felt heavy again. I mentally slapped myself before regaining my composure.
"Blister's right." I started talking to myself, "If I ever want to get used to this, I need to get smarter in my methods."
I laid my head down, falling asleep once again. I generally don't have dreams, so I just usually 'dream' about a dark void. It's whatever I suppose.
*Flashback ends*
Back to present day me, at this point in time, I didn't know what effects during my time as an assassin would have on my mental state. Hearing multiple screams of terror, the sound of scales being cut open, the little prick sound my tail barb made whenever I stab someone with it. It's to the point where my dreams now are filled with all the dragons I've killed for Blister. Each and every one of their pained faces fill my brain. The thing that I feel guilty about is that I thoroughly loved it. I loved to hear their pain after a while.
I obviously know that it's messed up now, but it doesn't stop the guilt that I get from these times. I could go on all day on how I regret it, but it's not like I had a choice in the matter. It was either this or I died to Blister herself. She may have been sweet to me a lot, but I knew that deep down if I disobeyed her, I would just be signing my death warrant.
Back to my story. I continued doing Blister's dirty work by killing literally any dragon that she doesn't like. From big things like that Mudwing she told me to kill, to small things like a poor Seawing that got on the wrong side of Blister's rage. This went on for years, and when I mean years, I mean literal years. I spent a grand total of 13 years under Blister's wing.
To put it into perspective, the Sandwing war of Succession started about 4 years before I was born. I was found by Blister when I was 3. The war had been going on for 7 years by that point. The war was going on for 13 years afterwards. It only just recently ended by the time I'm writing this. Hopefully whoever's Queen in the future takes notes of this conflict and doesn't repeat the same mistakes.
Anyway, year after year, I slowly lost my sanity. Like I said before my mental state was not the best during this time. I got used to blood flowing through scales, all the fun gory stuff that I don't want to talk about. Eventually I got the task that at the time, would change my perspective on life forever.
Welp, this story isn't dead either. Well, I'm not really dead. I just finished this chapter because I knew it wouldn't take me much time. I just rewrote it a little bit and added on to it. I still have plans for this story. I know a good amount of you liked it when I released it last year. I'm still kind of surprised that people still follow me despite my year hiatus on this site. I got quite a bit of attention from my other story and that's probably what motivates me to continue these stories during the summer.
Anyway, time for me to respond to reviews.
Leederlee: Thanks, I appreciate it! :)
KnightLawn: Glad you enjoyed it so far! :)
Look out for more chapters during my summer break. Nearing the end of school and I have a lot to do. So don't expect anything until mid June. If I don't update after that than I probably died again and I apologize in advance for that if it does happen. Thanks for sticking along with me on my hiatus, I appreciate it so much. You guys give me so much motivation to the point where I kinda hate myself for not updating this sooner.
Before I end the chapter I do want to say that May 6th was my 3 year anniversery since joining the website. Do I regret it? Not really, I really get to share my non-existant creativity with you guys. It's really nice to see the number of views going up, knowing that that's an actual person reading my work.
Cya guys next time.
~Divine