Claws of Power Book 1: A New Destiny (WOF Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Queen Reborn was by far the most beautiful dragon in the entire kingdom. Her scales were somewhere between gold and silver, and always seemed to change color like a faint rainbow. She had a regal imposing expression, and was quite scary when she got mad. Between Reborn's iridescent sparkly scales and Phoenix's fiery red scales, Flora wondered how she inherited her pink scales along with her faint green streaks on her wings.  

The queen led her to the castle battle planning room, not that they ever needed to fight, but was just there to make big plans. There was a huge bronze table at the center of the room, a bookshelf on one side, armor on the other side, and the lighting was quite dim. 

"Why did you take me here?" Flora asked, annoyed. 

"Well, I need a private place to lecture you, obviously." Reborn replied. "I appreciate your spunky attitude and your good sense of leadership, but you need to learn to act a little...tamer."

"Tamer?!" Flora was confused. She was a born leader, fierce and commanding, but she could be loud and rebellious at times. At least she was strong, right?

Does my own mother not think I'd be a good queen?!

"Well, you need to learn how to act softer and more polite to be the best queen you can," she explained. "You are already strong, but you are not ready at the same time. You'll have us to guide you, but if you were on your own, you'd bring the whole kingdom apart. Probably experiment with the Venomwings or something dangerous."

See, that was the worst thing about Queen Reborn. She was too blunt about her opinions, and she sometimes said them in a way that could hurt. She didn't say much, but Flora was boiling inside. 

"Do you realize I didn't even want to be queen in the first place?" Flora snarled. 

"Well, even if you don't want to, you have to. That's just the Mythwing way." her mother shrugged.

"Oh, and I suppose you know the motherfucker who MADE that law in the first place?" she snapped out of rage.

Reborn took a step back. It was always unsettling to hear Flora cuss, and she only did it when she was furious. She wanted to snap back at Flora, but instead she took a breath and calmed down. "Flora. Queen Orchid of the Mythwings made that law 1,500 years ago for a good reason. We can't break it or else bad thing will occur. We already bent the law, actually."

Flora frowned. "Wait, you did?"

"Daughter, just focus on building the wall to divide our territories. It will give you a good head start, I promise. Look, the sun is already setting." The both glanced outside at the pink sky. 

Flora had nobody boss her around. NOBODY. (Well, kind of, since she was a princess and all that shit but NOT ANYMORE). How DARE her mom try to change her! She didn't want to rule anyways! She wasn't going to let some silly law take control of her life. She was going to be free, and if she couldn't be free here, she was going to be free somewhere else. 

"NO!" she yelled, stomping her foot. 

Reborn took a step back cautiously, her eyes glittering dangerously. "Flora..." she hissed. 

Tears were rolling down Flora's cheeks. "I won't let you or anyone else tell me how to live my life. It's MINE. If you can't understand that, I can't live here anymore." Before her mother knew what was happening, Flora burst out of the door flying away. Flying away from the Mythwing palace and the flower fields. From all the rules and restrictions of her royal life. She was...flying north.

****

Flora didn't even know where she was going. She just knew she was going far away. Her coronation was tomorrow, but she didn't care. Plus, she was particularly angry at her mom for trying to change her.  The sun had completely set when she realized she was at the border of the Mythwing kingdom.

Flora always imagined the Venomwing kingdom as an unholy wasteland full of swamps, but it turns out she was only half wrong. There were massive forests and jungles that stretched out for miles, and in the distance she could see swamps and marshes. She landed at the border, panting heavily.

Okay, I know I was mad, but nmmmaybe I shouldn't have gone that far. And I probably shouldn't have flown north to thwVenomwings. But...I'm here, so I might as well take a tiny view of the kingdom.

Out of curiosity, Flora slowly walked toward the forest. And what she saw left her shocked! It was like a whole new world! Everything was so peaceful, animals all in their nests having their dinner...the cool breeze...it looked like the flower fields back home, except with the tree canopy for shade and much less flowers. It felt...safe. Flora couldn't believe the Venomwings had such a nice place to live in.

But maybe the inside of the kingdom isn't as nice as this. But Flora couldn't resist checking out this amazing place a little longer. That's when she heard a noise. She stepped back.

"Umm"...anyone there? Flora asked nervously. The wind whistled. Then out of nowhere, an enormous lion leaped into the peaceful clearing. Flora shrieked. The lion charged straight towards her. She dodged just in time and unleashed her powers, summoning large vines that coiled around the beast's paws. Still, it wasn't enough. The lion broke free and was chasing her. 

Flora ran in zigzags trying to get it to lose her path, but it was no use. The king of the jungle was advancing onto her. The mighty beast let out an enormous roar and was about to pounce on the helpless princess when suddenly...

The lion cried out in pain??

Flora opened her eyes and saw green slime on the lion's face. The animal was crying out in pain, staggering back and retreating off. The princess exhaled a sigh of relief. Where did the slime come from though?

Then she heard talonsteps running towards her. "Are you okay?" The dragon gasped. "I saw you in trouble and I had to do something!" 

The dragon was a Venomwing.