Fire and Scales

Chapter 1: Of Promises and Prophecies

"Arya, what are you doing?" asked Myrina as she watched the other prettying herself as if she were going on a formal outing. "I will never understand why you always have to get dressed up just to walk out of the house." Myrina was never one to second guess what someone else chose to do since it was their choice; however, when it came to her sister, she thought she could use more common sense. And definitely no "spoofing up".

"Don't worry. I won't be much longer. Just five more minutes!" replied Arya as she tossed her dark auburn hair to the side wondering how she should fix it. She always thought that Myrina was impatient since she always begged her to get ready a little faster than she wanted. She hoped that Myrina would see how fun it was to pretty-up once in a while. Even though they were twins, she was younger by three minutes and Myrina never let her forget it.

These two sisters appear to be impatient and even annoyed at the other quite often, but deep down they really love and adore each other. They are also quite similar. They both have their mother's beautiful olive skin tone and delicate emerald green eyes as well as their father's tall height. They also shared the fact that they would someday take over their parents' throne since they were twins. It was not uncommon for sibling to share the throne if they were twins in this kingdom. They often found that an extra person helped see things with a clear mind.

While the two girls were getting ready for their trip to the celestial garden, the king and queen had already arrived. They had always loved visiting here. It gave them feelings of excitement and enchantment when they saw the delicate plants and smelled the pleasant aromas that came from them. The main thing that caught their eye every time, though, was a lapis lazuli statue in the center of the garden.

The reason this statue stood out, aside from its bright blue color, was the prophecy behind it. This prophecy was started by some of the kingdom storytellers after the royal family made a deal with the dragons. This prophecy stated that a pair of twins would be born on the night of a full blood moon. Those twins would then be chosen by their dragon counterparts when they turned twenty. The king and queen feared that their precious daughters may soon be the ones chosen by the dragons.

There wasn't anything really bad or wrong about it, it was just... dragons. Many years ago, they had been at war with the dragons, and this prophecy was the peace maker. Some in the kingdom believed it and some didn't; however, it was hard to entirely rule out the possibility. People had started to doubt the prophecy when over three hundred years had passed, but the royal family knew otherwise. The knowledge of the deal with the dragons had been passed down to each generation of the royal family, and they were given the lapis lazuli statue as a symbol of their promise.

The king and queen were constantly thinking about it ever since their daughters were born. They were worried and excited that this may fulfill the prophecy, but there was one thing they forgot. They didn't tell their daughters about the promise or the staute.

Their moment of pondering was soon shattered when their most trusted servant and friend yelled out to them. "Your royal highness, I must tell you that the princesses are now on their way to the garden. When will you tell them the meaning of the dragon statue? It's nearing the end of the day."

"Thank you. And we will tell them eventually. We are hoping that they will not be the ones in the prophecy, but we won't know for certain until midnight tonight." said the king. This was because midnight is when the twins' birthday is over. If they can make it to the end of the day and nothing happens, then they know that their daughters won't be the ones to fulfill the prophecy.

"What won't we know till midnight?" asked Myrina suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Yeah, what will we know?" piped up Arya as she followed hot on her sister's heels entering the garden mere seconds later. It wasn't the smoothest entrance on her part since as soon as she rounded the corner in her hurry, she amply tipped over her skirt. This caused her to create a domino effect that led to her sister falling over and then both of their parents.

"Watch it!" said Myrina as she angrily picked herself back up onto her feet.

The king then seconded this by saying, "Arya, you need to pay more attention to where you're going, and preferably slow done the pace. Even if you're a little bit late."

"I'm sorry." Arya answered back with her head tilted down and a slight pout on her face.

It wasn't long till everyone had straightened themselves back up, and they once again started their stroll through the garden. But what caused the Arya to trip? Was it just a bout of clumsiness or was it some other power watching over the family?

The family started walking over towards the center of the garden where the lapis statue stood in all its grandeur. As they got closer and closer to it, the two sisters felt an indescribable attraction as well as a sense of familiarity to it. They had seen this dragon many times but never felt this kind of pull. It seemed almost unnatural. Maybe supernatural?

The closer they got, the more powerful this attraction seemed to become. The sisters then felt a presence like never before pushing at the back of their minds. They were starting to hear things. Whispers like "It's not time yet... Stop being a nuisance to them... We want our first impression to be a good one."

The voices seemed to grow in intensity every second. All too soon the extremity of the voices became too much for the two as they stared at seemingly nothing and started to have spots in their vision.

"Arya. Myrina. Are you feeling okay? You two seem dazed." said their mother  as she was trying to help lure them out of their trance. But to no avail. They were too deep. Nothing could pull them out now. Before long, they lost consciousness as their parents repeatedly called their names.

Little did they know that this was just the start of something so much bigger than they all anticipated. So much for hoping not to tell them about the statue and the promise.