Rebirth From Extinction

Prisoner no Longer

A long nosed grey vase containing a single wilted rose sat on the stone edged window of Princess Senra's chambers. 

 The rose was another apology gift from Prince Vaemon the older brother and care take of sweet Princess Senra. The young redhead did not find meaning in his gifts, they were always given to her as a means to make up for the pain that he had caused her. Vaemon would do anything to make her stay with him, anything but treat her better. 

 Vaemon had become the head of their dilapidated castle ever since the age of 12 when his parents suddenly died. Once kings and queens the family name Ddraig was left to die out along with their family castle. The palace had missing rooms, holes in the roof, and wards that were completely sealed off. Once a large tower for dragons now held nothing but rusty chains and large bones.

Senra hesitated to join her brother for their nightly dinner. The nights grew longer and colder as the palace fell more into disarray. " Where have you been? Dinner is practically cold, Listen the first time you are told" 

 Vaemon warned her in his stern gravel like voice, the corner of his pink eyes crinkled in iritation. "Do you know what today is?" He asked his baby sister who kept her pink eyes dragged down into her plate, focusing on her boiled baby carrots more than her older brother. "Must i repeat myself!?" She flinched, eyes shooting up to take in her brothers gaunt appearance, his red beard messy and unkempt. 

"I-i'm sorry, brother. No" she shook her head. "I am afraid i do not know what today is" His smile grew, his pink eyes crinkling at the sides. "No? You don't? Today is the anniversary of our parents deaths. The day you became my burden. You were a horrid infant" he sneered. "I couldn't get you to latch on to the wetness, all you did was cry and whine" 

 Senra always felt guilty around him, he made her feel constantly guilty for being alive. She sometimes wondered if she were better off jumping from her tower window straight down into the rose bush down below. A beautiful end. "I'm sorry I'm such an inconvenience" the redheaded girl retorted back boldly, her pink eyes flickering up to challenge him. "I did not ask for any of this! I did not ask to be your sister and i certainly did not ask to be of Dragons Blood"

 Senra stood up from the table, her chair creating a loud scuffy echo. "It doesn't matter what you asked for. Dragons Blood is a powerful thing and you should be proud of it! All the dragons may have died off but we carry the blood in our veins, sister!" He stood up as well, gritting his teeth.

 "Our blood will never be as pure as it once was, the magic continues to fade but if we keep the bloodline pure we can conserve it all the much longer" Senra felt as if she could throw up. Vaemon made it clear he planned to breed her like cattle, after all their own parents were twins. The very thought left her sickened. 

 The Ddraig family history all began over 400 years ago when Tula Ddraig was kidnapped by what many would call a demon man. He was described having ice white skin and shaggy red hair. He was a man by night and a dragon by day, it was legend all ancient dragons could shape-shift into men. Tula fell in love with this Dragon who went by the name Feros. She returned home to her kingdom pregnant with child, each year her belly filled once more and each child more powerful than the next.

The power had faded almost entirely now. Dragons were dead. Vaemon had nothing to show for his once powerful family legacy. Vaemon seemed to be staring off into the distance, sometimes it seemed he was losing his mind and falling apart just like the very castle they lived in. "I am going to my chambers" Senra turned to walk away only to be dragged back by her long red braid and slammed back first onto the table. 

"You shall not disobey me! Do you understand me!?" Senra refused to show him any signs of weakness, refusing to whimper in pain as he ripped at her delicate scalp "Let me go, brother!" She growled in defiance. "We are running out of coin! Soon we will have nowhere to go! We will have to sell everything!! I might even have to sell you! Perhaps I'll marry you to an old wealthy man and slit his throat once you secure the coin" Senra wiggled free from his grip on her hair. 

"You're insane!" She screamed. "You will always be a loser and a disappointment, Vaemon. I wish our parents could see you now. They'd gladly kill themselves all over again" Vaemon lunged at her from across the table, his hands coming around her throat to choke her as she gasped for air. When he finally released her throat her relief was short lived as he punched her fist first into her gut, throat, and face. He kicked her to the ground without hesitation. "Do not ever speak to me like that, again! Do you understand?" As Senra laid on the ground, eyes looking down she knew she was done. Risking the outside world and the monsters in it seemed a safer bet than the monster who stood above her.

Senra would no longer take his abuse, she had to leave before he ended up killing her. 

 That night as Vaemon laid in a drunken stooper Senra packed an old leather bag full of anything with value she could fit and once she was done packing she used her bed sheets as a rope to climb down her window. The moment her feet hit the grass she just kept running, the heavy thick woody air around her felt like freedom. She would never come back here, this was her past and she was ready for her future.