Empires of Saturn, Part One

Chapter 5, Torhindred

Chpt. 5 Torhindred

Dryan was breathing hard, trembling slightly now that Jeonon had stopped. He had his head hanging, his one remaining, right eya closed, trying to breathe normally again as his heartrate began going back to normal.

He was a half-dragon, 14 years old, though he didn't know what the Standard value for that was, since he hadn't ever been taught that conversion. Put simply, he was Jeonon's pet, although he was really more of a toy to satisfy Jeonon's apparent anti-half-dragon sadism, not that he wasn't his fetch-dog as well, required to obey any member of the Royal house, but it was just a generally accepted, though unstated thing that Dryan belonged to Jeonon. He wasn't an absolute jerk to everyone, or really most people; mostly just Dryan for some reason.

He was standing with his drab, greyish-green scaled wings down, his tail- besides the missing end- flicking across the floor as the pain of what Jeonon had done settled on him fully, now that he had stopped. His hands were chained together, held above and in front of him, attached to a loop coming off the wall in the designated spot for where royal property could be punished. His light brown shirt was drenched with sweat, as was his dark pink scarf his mother had given him before she'd been killed. The tail of the scarf hung down his back, but the rest was wrapped around his neck to hide the brand on the right side of it- the one that marked him as royal property. Everyone knew, but he hated showing it.

The spot was sunk slightly into the rest of the floor, a semi-circle coming out of the wall, both bronze-colored wall and floor engraved with intricate, etched lines, most of which were just for show, though the ones in this little pan in the floor were used to catch and channel blood into a drain, in case there was any.

Dryan wasn't bleeding, but he heard Jeonon's large metal rod hum as he raised it again, the piece of metal crackling with electricity- stolen from Titan; apparently Jeonon had wanted to test what it was like to beat someone, granted Dryan had unfortunately given him reason.

He quickly wrapped his tail around Jeonon's ankle, hoarsely saying, "Stop... No more."

Jeonon lowered the rod, poking Dryan's tail to make him release him, which he did.

Jeonon frowned, looking at Dryan, breathing heavy, bruised. "Hmm..." He said, somewhat dissatisfied. "Fine."

Dryan heaved a small sigh of relief, setting his head against the wall as Jeonon unbound his hands, letting him move to the side, where he staggered on unsteady, beaten legs, and almost fell, holding himself up against the wall.

Jeonon looked contemptibly at the metal rod he was holding, telling Dryan, "Those Titanites... This thing is garbage, but I hope that teaches you for breaking my stuff."

Dryan didn't reply, simply nodding, sliding down the wall and sitting, laying his head back against it with his eya closed. It was cold, which was nice compared to the constant warm, ocean air that covered Torhindred, combined with the blood roaring through Dryan's veins heating him up as it tried to oxygenate him more. He held his knees up to his chest, just aching all over now.

He opened his dark brown eye, looking at Jeonon as he gazed out over the calm ocean, the walls of the room open on two sides to let the air in, as most Torhindrin structures were, airy. Literally twice his own age, Jeonon was the Prince of Torhindred, his father being King Hasion Torin, and his mother being Queen Seren Ghide. While Hasion was a full-blooded, pure and common Torhindrin man- granted he was royal, bearing the name Torin-, Queen Seren was actually an oddity, which combined with Hasion had produced Jeonon.