Basilisk's Gambit

Chapter 1: Torpid Dragon's Awakening | Elysia Focus

I'm Elysia Terragon. Besides my name, I also happen to be born from a long line of dragon hybrids... Which sounds fine at first till they tell you that you're never allowed to leave the stupid island you've been confined to your whole life.

I want to explore the world and see all of the things I've read in my books. Papa took a bunch of my books away after I mentioned wanting to visit the Lejuan oasis. Luckily for me, Auntie Chua sneaks me new books to read every once in a while. According to her, she's a firm believer in the importance of staying educated, but I just think she likes to go against my dad's command.

I want to explore so badly because my 100th birthday is coming swiftly (ill be more than old enough to go out on my own!), the same day as the anniversary of the Primordian War ending. Mom says that Corinthia (our capital) is hosting a huge banquet in honor of my birth which I'm especially excited for.

I guess I should explain why I'm a dragon... Why I'm 100 years old... ugh forget it let me just get into the story~

About 150 years ago the nations had a huge disagreement that led to a world wide war! The land of Aponia (a very strict and clean cut group of people if you ask me!) was getting a bit too greedy, they invaded Guyun, Lejuan, and Ixtezuma with the help of Niflheim of course! The invasion didn't really go like they planned and every nation was thrown into an uproar! A lot of people died during those 50 years, it was truly a terrible thing... According to the books I've read, that's when the Illyrian king (my papa ^^) gathered an army of dragons to go burn down Aponia and Niflheim! From what I've heard, the ice in Niflheim is so cold that even dragon's breath isn't very effective, still burned a big burning hole in them though!

So where do dragons come from? And where do I come from?

In Illyrian legend, primordia was shaped by the scales, tears, and breath of the primordial dragon. When I was little there was a fairytale about the earth being one GIANT dragon egg that could hatch any moment and destroy everything... I didn't like that one as much. 

Regardless of how Primordia came to be, the dragons have been here since the very very beginning. My blood line is directly intertwined with the first dragons when they merged with humans many centuries ago! Illyria is the birthplace and home of the dragon, we used to be able to go where ever we want... But after the war we got into a bunch of trouble for burning everything so the nations agreed to lock us up here on the island... That's why I'm not allowed to leave...

We do have pure blooded dragons but it's no longer possible to merge dragon and human blood which leaves the Tarragon family as the sole hybrids. As for my age, Dragons age much slower than humans do, I always get asked by the humans how I'm so young if I'm older than their oldest relative and the truth is we just live really really long lives. My family ages around 7 times slower than humans, Aunt Chua says it's 6.66 to be exact but my dad said that makes us sound like demons?..

Another fun fact is that Illyria is a little island floating hiiiigh in the sky. Historically, you've only ever been able to reach the island from the main lands using dragons, but Aponia has found some sneaky ways around that. During the war, Aponia stole a bunch of Griffins from Ixtezuma with the claim that the lion belongs to them so therefore Ixtezuma were the thieves. Ixtezuma believes that the eagle belongs to them, not to mention the griffin is native to the island. My personal opinion? I think the Aponians are a bunch of thieving nincompoops.

Anyways~ My birthday is coming in a few days, the guards have been reinforcing the borders in case any salty Aponiheim jerks try to bother us. One time on my birthday a group of them snuck onto the island and slaughtered a bunch of people in a small coastline village. My dad was so mad he blew fire from his nose, Auntie Chua had to convince him not to go burn them all down.. (I said he should!)

But! Now I have a different outlook on things. I think everyone is just misunderstanding each other, if we could just show the world we mean no harm then they'll let us go off the island. Dad says it's impossible and we will get killed if we leave, sometimes Chua tells me stories about the other nations and all of the things she got to do before the war, everything sounds so beautiful, I can't even imagine what it looks like. The mother tree in Guyun, the Lejuan oasis, the crystal clear beaches of Ixtezuma!... Chua said some stuff about Aponia and Niflheim but they sound boring, I'm not going anywhere near those evil people. I even met a girl from Aponia once, she was some fancy girl named Kiya Kaslana, and just like I suspected, she was mean. I asked papa what ever happened to her the other day and he told me she is nearly an old lady now! (serves her right)

"Ely!!!"

I quickly shut my diary at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Elyyyy!~" The door opens revealing Aunt Chua, she's dressed really pretty and has lots of jewelry on. 

"Reading those books again? Don't let your dad catch you~" She says with a wink. I nod my head and shove the diary under my pillow cushion.

"Did you need something?" I ask, sitting up in my bed to face her now.

She fumbles with her bangles a bit before looking up at me with a warm smile. "Well your hundredth is coming! And we need to dress you for the coronation ceremony and the festival, your father asked that you are dressed immaculately."

"I have to go now??" I say, falling back onto my bed defeated.

"Yes now, Elysia. It's important! You have rehearsals as well! Everything must be perfect!" She urges, pulling on my feet to drag me out of bed slowly.

"Fine Fine! Ill go!"

I hop out of bed hastily throwing on my socks and shoes as Aunt Chua chastises me for lazing around all day. She leads me through the palace to the tailoring room where our seamstresses produce our garments. Upon entering, the room sparkles with thousands of lustrous jewels scattered about among free flowing silk fabric.

This is going to be a nightmare...