Coral's Insanity
Beware, Dragonets, Not all Allies are on your Side.
Not all Friends are your Family, Not all Family are Truly your Blood.
Beware the One Who Plays God, the One Who Returns after Many Years.
Fight him, End him.
The World Ends if he Lives.
The ocean. A vast reality of horrors and beauty. A place of silence, tranquility, and peace. A land of the unknown where creatures of all shapes, sizes, and species dwell, but never surface, while some stay far below in the deepest depths. A wonderland of something pretty, along with something horrible. Above is beauty, below is suffering - the endlessness is somewhat precious to the earth, but also serving an enemy. Like any other species, the ocean, in its nature, can choose to be cruel, and betray, yet it can present the traveler with joy and great discovery. To Queen Coral . . . the ocean was the only earth that existed on the planet.
Above all the creatures known and unknown in the waters, the SeaWings were the strongest, and most feared over every marine life. Coral was the ruler, the most savage and untrustworthy queen in the ocean. She was the waters themselves, as frightening as the unknown, and terrifying as the greatest tidal waves. She was happy, she was beautiful . . . she was a tyrant. No one dared go against her, for they know how much blood she will draw if only one of the rules were broken. Her soft side was the most wicked about her - the love she gave to her family was merely a curtain to hide her horrid soul.
She was swimming in the ocean, with her children; thirty sons and thirty daughters - they swam for their pleasure. All the children, young and old, alive . . . and dead. The ones Coral had killed . . . the ones she kept alive . . . and the ones she ignored, yet loved them all. They played on the ocean floor, tussling, chasing fish, spending the time of their lives as if there were no tomorrow. The children were loved by a shadow of a mother, the clutches of a powerful queen.
Coral sat down to catch her breath, watching as her children played in the waters. It was beautiful, they were beautiful, they were precious as jewels she could never let go. She smiled at them, then felt someone sit next to her. She turned her head, thinking it was one of her children, but her smile faded away.
There sat King Gill. Coral stared at him, bewildered and dumbfounded. He was dead . . . but here he was, alive. Gill smiled at her, his teeth shining against the light of the sea. Coral could not believe that her husband, her king was here with her. It felt like a thousand years since she had seen him last. Now . . . they were reunited. Coral closed her eyes, picturing all the moments they could have together, as a family forever, ruling alongside one another for many, many years.
. . . Then the happiness flew away. Something was wrong, something was not right . . . she felt as if she were in danger.
" . . . Hello, Queen of SeaWings."
That voice was not Gill's, it belonged to someone whose soul was filled with malice. Coral turned, and let out a scream, leaping back from who she was looking at. . . . There was Scarlet, ex-ruler of the SkyWings.
What made her more horrifying was her face. Half of it was melted off, as if a RainWing had attacked her. The wound looked disgusting; part of the skull was seen; the scales were morphed with each other which crawled off muscle and tissue; veins were popping out; blood slowly oozed out of her face; the vein connecting the eye to the brain could barely be seen; her eye bulged out, glaring down at Coral.
With the flashes around her body, Coral spoke the words in the SeaWing language: What are you doing here?
"There is no need for you to use your SeaWing tongue on me," Scarlet snarled. "This is a dream. . . . Whatever you imagine can become real."
Coral stared at the SkyWing Queen, remembering that this was the fantasy land. She closed her eyes and imagined the throne room, and there they appeared when she opened her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Scarlet smirked. "Come to deliver some information that I highly think you will find . . . intriguing, to your so called, 'precious' and 'perfect' life."
"There is nothing you can do to drive me away from my family."
"Family? What family? I don't recall saying anything about your supposed family. . . . But, in fact, yes, this does have something to do with your 'family.' . . . Your . . . lovely husband, in fact."
Coral felt her pupils shrink, and all her blood fly to her head with utter rage. " . . . Don't . . . you dare . . . bring him into this."
"What are you going to do? What can you possibly do to me? You can't kill me. This is a dream, I will only wake up and come back the next night. So . . . I would suggest you listen to the reason as to why I am here."
Coral ignored every word the queen was saying, only rage blinded her mind. Since this was her dream, she could do whatever she wanted. Coral imagined ten spears appearing around her, and with a lash of her claws, threw them at Scarlet. She flew out of the way with ease, the spears driving into the spot where she had been standing. Coral was surprised that her attack had not worked, but then summoned a patch of fire right next to her, and threw it at the queen. Scarlet had an expression of boredom. She merely lifted her arm, causing water to rise out of the ground, and douse the flames. Queen Coral growled, which turned into a roar. She lashed her wings, charging at Scarlet, claws strained and aiming right for her head. Her pleasure to kill was gone when Scarlet grabbed her by the neck, blocking her windpipe.
She held her to her face, and Scarlet hissed: " . . . You can't, kill, me." She threw the SeaWing Queen to the ground. "I could torture you in every which way right now . . . but you still have not heard the reason as to why I am here."
Coral stared up at her in shock, knowing that, even though this was the fantasy world, there was nothing she could do to fight her. " . . . Fine. Go on, kill me . . . but I will always be remembered as a mother . . . a love that you will never have."
Scarlet stared at her, then scoffed, letting out a cackle. "Kill you!? You think I would go through this trouble to kill you!?" She laughed a little more, then stopped, her face becoming a glare. " . . . I would rather watch you . . . kill your daughter for what she has done."
"If you dare hurt Auklet, I will tear out your limbs and feed them to the creatures of the ocean."
"Your youngest daughter!? No . . . the one who killed your husband, I mean."
Coral stared at her, confused by her words. "What do you mean?"
"Good, she has not told you yet. Of course not. Of course she would want a chance to love her mother . . . and have her mother love her as well."
"Who? What are you talking about?"
Scarlet turned, admiring the scenery, lowering her head to hide her smirk. " . . . You never found out who killed your husband . . . you never learned the name of the murderer who blindly killed him without knowing she was related to him. You were told a SkyWing killed your husband. Except, the truth is: . . . That was a lie. I was there . . . I watched it happen . . . I watched as she snapped his neck so easily, so simply, it was like cracking a nut." She spun around, facing the SeaWing Queen. "I do not lie, and you will have no doubt after I tell you . . . it was a SeaWing that killed your . . . precious husband. Your 'treasure' was murdered for her own pleasure. Pride and triumph was so heavy on her - it looked as if she enjoyed killing someone. It was your oldest living daughter . . . the one you had lost . . . Tsunami."
Queen Coral was speechless. Anger rose once again inside of her, and she growled: "What makes you think, that I would believe even a word from your horrid voice?"
"Horrid? Well, that is no way to treat royalty . . . especially from another tribe. Remember Coral, you must give a good impression to everyone. That is . . . until one little thing goes wrong . . . is only when your people see your true nature. Do not doubt me, Queen of SeaWings. As I have said: I tell no lies. Your precious daughter . . . the dragonet you claim to 'love' and have 'missed' your entire life . . . is truly the murderer of your husband. I remember the kill as if it were yesterday." Scarlet closed her eye, smiling at the thought. "Even still . . . I think you will find . . . that your 'perfect,' 'amazing,' and 'wonderful' daughter you have longed to see for so many years . . . will die . . . by your, own, claws."
Queen Scarlet closed her eye, focusing. After a few seconds, the scenery changed. Before she knew it, Coral found herself in the arena of the Sky Kingdom; dragons young and old towered over her in their seats, demanding that they witness blood and death. There was a hoarse roar from behind her. Coral turned around to watch two SeaWings fighting. The battle was gruesome, merciless, but she recognized both of them. One was Tsunami, and the other . . . was Gill. His body was thin enough to show his bones, and face plastered with insanity.
Tsunami had Gill on the ground. He thrashed his arms, roaring up at her. All the SkyWings demanded that she kill him. She craned her neck to look towards the crowd - she dared not look at what she would do. Tsunami bared her teeth, her eyes in a fatal glare . . . and twisted Gill's neck to the side, a cracking sound echoing throughout the arena, and all went silent.
Coral stood, staring in horror at what she had just witnessed. She fell to her knees, tears beginning to swell, wanting to scream. This couldn't be real, this couldn't be the reality she was in right now. Her oldest living daughter, the missing princess . . . was the cause of her husband's death.
The scenery changed back to the SeaWing Palace. Coral's head lowered, staring hard at the ground.
"I'm surprised you haven't woken up yet," Scarlet said, " . . . I guess that means you will be strong enough to kill her, won't you? What am I saying? Of course you will. Don't tell me you doubted her from the very beginning. Don't tell me you have always 'loved' her." She knelt down, whispering into Coral's ear. " . . . You know you have craved to drive your claws through her chest and tear out her heart. You dreamed of ripping her wings off her body and listening to her scream, because you know she will challenge you. . . . You know she wants to be the next queen - you can say the same thing for Auklet as well. But now is your chance. Now is your time. . . . What will you do? Will you avenge your husband? . . . Or will you live on, accepting your daughter as the murderer you always suspected her to be . . . .?"
