Queen Wasp vs. Queen Blister

The War has Lasted Twenty Years, Beware the Dragonets, they come.

The World is Scorched in Blood and Death, Beware the Dragonets, they come.

All the Battles that have been Fought in the past, will soon End on the Day of their Arrival.

The Battles Fought in Secrecy, will be Remembered on the Day they Arrive.

Beware the Dragonets, they come.

The dead of night was nearing. Almost all HiveWings were deep in slumber in their houses as guards patrolled the surrounding area. The lanterns that held flamesilk ignited the settlement known as Jewel Hive, yet dimmed as night drew on. Two full moons and one crescent shined down on the silent place. . . . This night however . . . will not be protected.

As most of the guards were heading home for the night, leaving the night watchmen to take their place . . . they all heard a sound off in the distance. Everyone looked towards the ocean, as that was where the mysterious noise originated from. In the dark of night, the HiveWing guards could not see what was out there in the dark, but as they looked more closely . . . they soon realized this was an attack.

The patrol men ran, ringing the alarm bell, waking the residents from their sleep, unaware of what was happening until they stepped outside. A rebellion? Before long, soldiers stood guard, but since this was the middle of the night, not all of them were present; only twenty five of them stood with their weapons drawn and their claws strained.

The invaders eventually stormed the city, attacking the soldiers on sight. They fought back, except their strikes were slowed due to exhaustion. As the soldiers continued the brawl, they realized something during the fight: . . . The invaders were an unknown breed of dragon to them. They did not possess silk-like wings. Instead they resembled something similar to a bat; a little similar to HiveWings, their tails had thorns, yet they almost seemed to be scorpion tails. They fought with spears, striking their enemies with ease, because their adversary lacked sleep. The HiveWing soldiers did their best to fight off the intruders, but were becoming overpowered by the minute.

All of a sudden, there was a loud roar that zoned out the battle below. A dragon descended; the enemy's leader, the soldiers thought. Much like the intruders, this dragon had a scorpion tail, but the scales were half golden yellow, half brown on the top, with black stripes; similar to most of the enemies, this dragon had a ridge going from the tip of its snout, to the end of the tail, only it was curved and pointed; the dragon also wore a pointed crown, which indicated that this must be a queen.

The HiveWing soldiers fell, defeated one by one. Through the midst of the end of the battle, one enemy soldier shouted at the announcement and arrival of their queen: . . . Blister.

She came in, walking amongst the crowd of fighters, examining them carefully, studying their battle patterns and behavior like a vulture eyeing its prey. A HiveWing noticed her, and thinking he could end this battle here upon her death, he charged. The queen looked unamused, and lashed a hard claw at his face, bringing him to the ground, blood following the impact.

The queen looked down at the fallen soldier, who was already unconscious. She lifted her head back up to see the strange dragons fall with one strike, due to an injection with their poison.

Blister enjoyed this, and smirked at the sight.

In less than an hour, the strange dragons were down on their knees, along with other citizens who could not escape the conflict in time. SandWing soldiers stood with their spears pointed at the prisoners, scowling at them with the most threatening glare they could give off.

Soon, Queen Blister walked along the line, staring down the chained dragons with a glare. One prisoner at the end caught her attention - by her appearance, the SandWing Queen thought this must be a sovereign, or somewhat in a ranking to that of a royal.

Blister walked towards the dragon, and looked her over. Unlike most of these odd dragons, this one had a shade of green across her scales, with small hints of yellow; wore a cape that was blood red; a rather specular necklace; instead of a crown, she wore a sparkling golden veil.

Blister examined her for a moment, then said: " . . . I understand . . . that your breed is unknown to our kind. . . . What species are you?"

The dragon looked up, confused. "Wh-What?"

"Your breed, your Wing, your species of dragon. What are you?"

" . . . H-HiveWing."

" . . . HiveWing? Hm . . . interesting. But, I suppose I expected that."

"Wh-What are you?"

Blister was silent for a moment. "Who am I? What am I? Well . . . as much as you are unknown to us, we live in our own Distant Kingdoms. I am . . . Queen Blister, of the SandWings."

" . . . SandWings?"

"Yes. You see, we have traveled very far to reach your lands, flying to small islands, and finally our destination came upon us before we knew it. Now, tell me: . . . I understand, that you possess a, sort of . . . power, here, don't you?"

" . . . I-I thought there was . . . only, one, continent."

Blister stared, bent down, and removed the veil. "Madam . . . you did not answer my question." Only a fearful face looked back, followed by silence. " . . . What is your name?"

" . . . L- . . . L-Lady Jewel."

"Lady Jewel . . . hm . . . ." Blister gave off a small smirk, hinting that Jewel may not be in any danger, but that thought quickly subsided when the SandWing Queen lashed a claw across her face, throwing small amounts of blood to the ground. "You know, somehow I just knew you dragons would cause a problem for me. I do not have time for this. I know you have a power hidden here. Now, tell me where I can find it, or . . . ," she walked over to one of the citizens, one who was not HiveWing, and held a claw up to his neck, " . . . I will slit all your throats until this place is covered in RED."

The residents quivered in fear, hugging their children to at least let them feel a little protection, and the guards could only hope that more soldiers would come to their aid.

Then something caught Blister's attention: She noticed a HiveWing slouched low in the line, claws on the ground, convulsing, hissing at nothing.

She walked over to him - a guard stood by as well, holding a spear in case something happened. Unsure of how to act towards the situation, Blister tilted her head in confusion. She poked the top of the dragon's head, who instantly leaped back and hissed up at the queen.

The prisoner's sudden behavior caught Blister off guard. She took a step back. Unlike the other HiveWings, this one acted much more . . . odd, as that is the only word that came to the SandWing Queen's mind. The main thing that caught her attention were his eyes. . . . They were pale white, and did not bat even one eye away when Blister knelt down to examine him.

" . . . You must know what I am talking about, don't you?" She said, but received no response. "Does your Lady know? . . . Does your queen know? . . . Where is she?"

The blank eyed dragon gazed at her, then finally replied: " . . . The queen . . . is here." Upon hearing the voice, it was highly noted that his tone was not male . . . it was female.

Blister scoffed. "You toy with me."

"No . . . the queen is here."

"Hiding like a coward? Why is your voice so off?"

"The queen is here."

A hint of anger and frustration flew across Blister's face. She was already growing weary of this interrogation. She grabbed the dragon by the horns, held a claw up to his eyes, and growled: "Listen . . . bring me to your queen . . . or I will gouge out your eyes."

A moment of silence from the HiveWing, then something unexpected happened: His eyes rolled back into his head, revealing veins, then dropped back down, and Blister saw that he did in fact have pupils. He panted, almost as if he was out of breath, and his masculine voice returned. He looked up at the SandWing Queen, who stared back at him with a face plastered with confusion. She let go of him and took a step back. That was when total silence fell upon the crowd. No one spoke, no one even dared to breathe. Then . . . all attention was turned to the sound of double doors opening. They turned to their right to see a large building, seeming to house someone who is royalty, and in the light of the double doors stood a dragon.

It walked down the steps, yet its movements were off. The dragon stood on its hind legs, and strided as if its legs were stiff, lashing a claw at nothing every few seconds, shaking its head and gnashing, almost as if it was in pain. Blister and her small army stared at the strange figure, but all the residents looked at the dragon with terror on their faces. It then stopped at the end of the line of prisoners, bending down to examine one HiveWing. It sidestepped, its back facing Blister.

She looked the dragon over, and said: "Are you the queen?" Still studying the prisoner with a stroking claw, the dragon craned its head to the left, and Blister continued: "I can not stand tolerance any longer. I and my soldiers have traveled far to this land to retrieve a power that you-"

Her announcement was cut short when the dragon turned, and crawled towards her, on all fours, at an incredible speed. It stopped, standing completely straight, staring down the SandWing Queen.

The HiveWing was elderly, and about a foot taller than Blister; much like the prisoner, she had pale, white eyes; six black horns - two were curved downward across her head; she was hunched over, her shoulders stiff; long sharp claws; sharp pointed teeth; wore a gray trench coat; she had no crown, yet one could easily tell . . . this was the queen.

The queen acted very strange. She kept twitching, shaking her head violently, then lashing her claw at the temple of her head.

Startled by the sudden behavior of the HiveWing Queen, Blister forced herself to put on a brave face, and say: "So . . . you are the queen of these lands?" No response, only an uncomfortable stare. " . . . My name is Queen Blister of the SandWings. We have come here because I understand that you hold a power that-"

She was suddenly interrupted when the queen grabbed her by the shoulder, looking her over with a twitching head, breathing heavily. The white eyes glaring her down made Blister feel disturbed, but did her best to not show any fear.

Finally, the HiveWing Queen spoke: " . . . Not, HiveWing . . . not, SilkWing . . . not, LeafWing." She ended her sentence with a hiss at the ground, then back at the intruder.

Blister swallowed, then said, trying to hide her fear: " . . . We, come from your view of, Distant Kingdoms."

The queen cocked her head. "There is only one continent."

"No, you are wrong. There is another continent. We come from there, it is called Pyrrhia."

"I, know, everything."

"But it seems your knowledge has failed you."

"No . . . I am Wasp . . . the vines see all."

Blister's fear was replaced with a feeling of satisfaction at the mention of vines. "You said . . . you know something about . . . vines?"

Wasp suddenly jerked her head to stare straight at her. After a moment, rubbed her head violently, hissed, whispering to herself: "Get out of my head . . . get out of my head." She faced the intruder. "Why are you here . . . 'SandWing?'"

"Well, Queen Wasp, you see, where I come from, there is a dragon that holds a great power, yet it requires them to lose a piece of their soul every time they use it."

"Soul."

"And if they were to lose the entirety of their soul, they would, let's say: Turn against me. I cannot take any chances with that. I searched through scrolls, anything that would give me power."

"Power."

"I have learned about this place in a scroll, but I did not know if it was real . . . except, that also counted as a risk. I took the liberty of taking a few of my men, and flying to this land . . . and I ask you: . . . What is this power?"

Wasp began to twitch her head again, thrashing it, letting out a hiss, then looked back. "What power do we possess that you seek?"

"I do not know what that power is. I was hoping that . . . you, the queen, would show me."

"Show you?"

Blister's satisfaction was replaced with impatience. "Yes. Where is it?"

Another moment of silence, then something crossed Wasp's vision when she thrashed her head, still having a claw on Blister's shoulder. Her eyes changed. A little like the prisoner before, her eyes flashed from pale white, to another color Blister could not see because it happened so fast.

Wasp continued: "What, reason do you have, with my, 'power?'"

"Back in my Distant Kingdom, my mother had died by the hands of a Scavenger. My sisters and I had some . . . disagreements on who should be queen. A war of succession has been lasting for about ten years now, and apart from a supposed Prophecy, I feel that this war must end with me as queen of the SandWings. I wish to, control them, so they will obey me, and serve me as their queen, and none other."

"Obey. All who is poisoned by the vine obeys its command."

This made Blister smile. " . . . Good."

"Why must you come here to our lands, searching for the power? What do you, an outsider, know about it?"

Wasp continued to thrash her head, rub at it, and growl, continuing to tell something to get out of her head as Blister continued, fear slowly building in her voice with every word: "Well, as I have said, the scroll described your hidden power as being . . . poisonous, to the mind. A taste of . . . evil, it seems. Something that, if one could not control . . . as you have stated . . . obeys the command of the . . . vine. That power is something that I . . . d-deserve, don't I? My sisters, they do not . . . understand, my royalty, in this war. They have gone through the same . . . dragonethood, as I have, except . . . they should look to me for guidance, not . . . their laws. Which is why, I need your, err . . . plant."

Wasp stopped thrashing at herself, and stood motionless. She cocked her head towards Blister, eyeing her with somewhat of a confused expression on her face, but still painted with horror. " . . . Plant?"

" . . . Yes, the plant."

" . . . Plant?"

"Yes."

Wasp slowly lifted an arm, pointing to her head. " . . . Plant!?" She had her mouth open, covering her teeth with her lips.

"I, require, your plant, to rule my kingdom."

Wasp only stared, a slight shocked expression on her face. Then after a moment of silence, let out a scream. High pitched, bloodcurdling. Queen Wasp backed away, lifting her arms up, then bending down, thrashing at her head violently. She fell to her knees, still thrashing, clutching her head and shaking it vigorously. All dragons' gaze was on the queen, who continued to convulse, yet the HiveWings looked at her as if they expected this, as if this had happened many times before.

She suddenly lifted her head, stopped thrashing, and looked up at Blister, who took a step back because of what she saw. Wasp's appearance changed from elderly . . . to a young HiveWing. Her eyes were no longer pale white. Instead, they were a magenta color, full of fear and desperation.

Wasp grabbed Blister's shoulders, and said in a horrified tone: "Help me." The SandWing Queen stared down at her, sharing the same fear. "Please, you have to help me. I can't stop it, I shouldn't have taken it, now it's taking me over. I can't think, I can't do anything. It makes me do whatever it wants to do. I can only watch. Please help me."

Blister slapped the queen's arms off of her, and took another step back. "What is this!?"

"It's in my head, it's in my brain, I can't stop it, I can't control it, I can't have my body anymore." Wasp grabbed Blister's shoulders once again. "Don't take the Plant, don't look for the Plant. You won't take it, IT WILL TAKE YOU. AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Wasp bent back down, screaming in pain, slamming her head against the ground, striking fear inside Queen Blister's heart as she watched the HiveWing Queen convulse in agony. After another moment of thrashing at her head, she stopped, and put her claws down, still bent over. She sat up, hands over her eyes, then she put them down, and looked up at the SandWing Queen.

"Oh!" Wasp said, standing up. She smiled, and put her claws together. "My apologies. Now . . . what were we discussing?"

Queen Blister only stared, feeling uncomfortable and frightened. Whatever this "plant" was, it took over Wasp, and made her act this way. She now forgot about bravery, now terror controlled her emotions.

She swallowed, and answered: "Uh . . . y-yes, I . . . wanted, the . . . Plant."

Queen Wasp stared awkwardly. " . . . You . . . want the Plant?"

"Y-Yes, that is correct. I need it to take control of all SandWings, so they will pledge their loyalty to . . . m-me."

Wasp slowly tilted her head. " . . . The one who controls the Plant . . . controls all who have been poisoned by it."

"Exactly."

" . . . Which means . . . you, control, me. . . . No! I have the Plant, I am the power, and you will not take this from me."

Wasp took a step back, lifted her head towards the sky, screamed, then once again started shaking. As she shook, so did all the HiveWings around them. They lashed their heads, breathing heavily, dropping to the floor as the other dragons began to fly away in terror. The SandWing soldiers did nothing to stop them, only watching whatever was happening around them.

After a moment, after the rest of the prisoners left, the queen, and the HiveWings stopped convulsing. Wasp stared hard at Blister, then her dragons lifted their heads . . . revealing their pale white eyes. Each and every one of them glared at the SandWing Queen, and her soldiers. When Wasp roared, so did the dragons, at the same exact moment, in the same exact tone, all at the SandWings. The HiveWing Queen was right. Whoever is poisoned by the Plant, or whatever it was . . . is controlled by it completely.

Queen Wasp lunged at Blister, the same time the HiveWings attacked the soldiers, and thus the battle began.

Wasp brought Blister to the ground, then took flight, dragging her across the floor, kicking up pebbles and dust. Blister lashed back three times before Wasp grabbed her arm, flew upwards, then brought her back down. Wasp grasped her throat, and while hissing, lifted her up, and threw her. Blister landed, and looked back up to see Queen Wasp walking towards her in that strange motion, bringing a claw down just as Blister got back up. She was clawed in the face, but Blister returned the strike with a claw to Wasp's side. As she fell to her knee, Blister slashed at her face, then again across the cheek, and kicked her, yet Wasp did not fall down from the blow. She lifted a claw, and some kind of stinger emerged from her wrist. She threw it at her, but Blister managed to duck, and slash Wasp to the floor. She got up and kicked her in the side, but the HiveWing suddenly raised her tail, and shot what looked to be acid. Blister was thankful that she noticed it in time, and dodge the attack. The acid fell in front of her, and ate the ground.

This distraction gave Wasp the chance to slash at Blister's side, forcing her down on one knee. Wasp stood up and lashed again, this time with the stinger coming out of her wrist. Although Blister backed away from it, the strike still scratched her head. The wound was not severe, yet blood trickled down her head. Wasp kneed her in the stomach, putting Blister in a daze. While stunned, Wasp jumped behind the SandWing, and clawed her in the back, knocking her down. The HiveWing Queen continued to throw claws, soon raising an arm, and with a stinger, brought the claw down on her.

Except Blister swung her tail, bringing Wasp to the ground. Blister stood back up and blasted fire down at her adversary. Wasp was fast enough to crawl out of the way, but was still pursued by the flames. She crawled away, then took to the skies. With a roar, she charged at Blister. They tumbled to the ground, and down a flight of stairs. Wasp grabbed the railing, preventing her fall, and watched as Blister rolled to the bottom. When Blister finally stopped, in a fit of rage, she growled, slamming her fist on the ground. She stood up and looked back at Wasp, who returned a hiss.

Blister snarled and ran after her. Wasp charged as well. They collided, clashing their claws together, the impact echoing throughout the area, but it was Wasp that managed to throw Blister to the ground.

She grabbed her, and rammed her against the railing, then grasped the back of her head and slammed her against the bars. Blood fell from the SandWing's mouth, but before Wasp could deal another strike, Blister lifted herself up, placing her feet down on the railing, and pushing them back, causing Wasp to fall backwards. Blister stood back up, and got at a distance from her adversary. Although she had a higher IQ than Wasp, brawling was not one of her traits, and even though Wasp was much older than her - what she appeared to be elderly, that is - she was bigger than her.

Once Wasp got back on her feet, Blister decided to continue the fight using her fire. She took a deep breath, and bombarded the HiveWing with flames. Wasp was caught off guard, screaming in agony when the fire touched her. Blister took a breath, and blasted another series of fire, nearly incinerating the HiveWing Queen, yet she still tried to save herself. When Blister released another wave, Wasp could no longer stand the pain anymore. She roared in agony, and unbeknownst to the SandWing Queen, a mix of white and magenta eyes flashed across Wasp's face, as if the true consciousness was trying to break through to take back her body, but the white eyes consumed her and continued to scream.

The flames stopped, and Blister watched as Wasp shrieked and thrashed at the ground. Now was her chance. With her tail raised, Blister ran down the steps, and brought the barb down on Wasp. At the last second, Wasp tried to get back up, yet the tail barb drove through the sleeve of her coat, pinning her to the ground. The HiveWing Queen shrieked at the tail, then at Blister, and lashed a claw. She backed away, and threw her tail at her face. Wasp was quick enough to dodge the strike, and lash at Blister, yet she was quick enough as well. She ducked down, the claw flying over her head, and drove her claw into Wasp's stomach. The HiveWing lurched forward, letting out a wheeze of pain, and Blister brought her to the floor.

Once down, Queen Blister thrashed at her enemy as hard as she could, letting out a roar as she did so. After a short moment, Wasp caught her arm. The SandWing Queen tried to pull away, but Wasp tightened her grip, crushing her arm, and Blister winced in pain. The HiveWing then let out a hiss that almost sounded like laughter. She stood up, grabbed Blister by the back of the neck, and threw her down the stairs. The SandWing Queen landed in a tumble, and growled at the pain when she finally stopped. A few feet behind her, the battle between her soldiers and the possessed HiveWings continued, and she suddenly heard a roar from above.

Queen Wasp was in the air, tail raised, and shooting poison down at her adversary. Blister saw this and did her best to avoid the attacks, all the while hearing the toxin eat into the ground. When Wasp saw that this was ineffective, she lashed her claws to the sides, a stinger emerging from each wrist, and swooped down, roaring as she did so. Blister blasted fire at her, but the HiveWing diverted past the flames. Before the impact, the SandWing jumped out of the way, leaving Wasp to drive one of her stingers into the ground. Blister did not hesitate to kick her as hard as she could, knocking her to the floor, blood falling from the HiveWing's wrist when the stinger broke.

Blister threw another claw, but Wasp kicked her in the stomach, causing her to take a few steps back, giving Wasp the chance to stand back up, and throw a claw. She lashed again, but this time Blister struck back, the claws colliding, making a sound that resembled rocks slamming against each other. Blister winced at the pain, which distracted her from a claw lashed across her face by Wasp, then again with the other claw. Blister caught her hand, and she attacked back. Wasp caught the strike, threw the arm down, then Blister threw her tail barb at her heart.

Except, Queen Wasp caught the tail, and drove it at the SandWing Queen's face. The only thing preventing the barb from going into her eye was that Blister grabbed Wasp's arm, but she still tried to thrust the tail forwards. Because of the HiveWing's strength, Blister's own tail barb was about to impale her.

"NO!" A SandWing soldier suddenly shouted.

He ran towards the conflict between the two queens, came up behind Wasp . . . and drove his tail through her back. Blood fell all over Blister's face as Wasp screamed down at the tail that had just come out from her stomach.

She swung her head side to side at a violent and rapid pace. This gave Blister the opportunity to thrust her own tail barb through the HiveWing's lower jaw, and Wasp stopped thrashing her head to notice the pain. Both SandWings then pulled away from the enemy, who proceeded to shake and lash at her head, lurching forward, and falling to her knees. Still screaming, she threw herself onto her back, and convulsed for a while until she finally stopped, putting her arms down, and turning her head to the side, her breathing soon dying down.

Behind them, all of the HiveWings screamed in agony, clutching their heads and falling to the ground, convulsing.

"My Queen, are you alright?" The soldier asked.

" . . . Yes," Blister replied, "I'm fine." Putting her hand to her stomach and breathing heavily, she stared down at the now motionless HiveWing Queen, then turned back to the soldier. "Continue the fight . . . we must find whatever this Plant is."

The soldier stared at her, not believing what he was hearing. "My Queen, we are in no condition to fight. We can barely hold off the enemy, and you are in no better state than we are."

"We can fight, the enemy is already falling."

"We are tired, we are hurt, we are injured and bleeding, I request that you order a retreat before more bloodshed from our army continues."

Blister glared at him, then turned towards the battle. She saw her soldiers standing above the adversary, most of them falling to the ground from exhaustion, bleeding and roaring in pain. She then looked at herself, and noticed the pain in her body as well.

She looked back at the soldier, and said: " . . . Alright . . . if we fight on . . . my path to becoming queen will end before my sisters even touch the throne . . . ."

Taking flight, Queen Blister flew over to the battle, and announced a retreat, which in turn the soldiers hastily began to take flight. Soon, all of the SandWings were in the air, flying back to whence they came, two soldiers all the while helping their queen during the flight.

Lying alone, Queen Wasp was dead . . . until . . . . Her head jerked up. Breathing heavily, she turned on her side, continuing to scream. She stood up, clawing at her stomach, but soon stopped when she realized the pain was fading away. She looked down, and saw that the Plant inside of her was growing back her scales, healing the wound, and anything else that was infected by the poison.

In less than a minute, it seemed as if there was no scar there before on Wasp's stomach. She lifted a claw, stared at it, then turned towards the sky to see the enemy flying away.

She glared, then let out a low growl, saying: " . . . Don't come back."

Queen Wasp turned, and walked up the stairs, back to her palace to continue the evil the Plant constantly requests.