The Dragon Father

Chapter 2: A Repeated Loss

────── {Four Years Later} ──────

"That's another nest, gone without a trace." Grandeeney's feathers rippled, her powerful body rustling to the sound of millions of scales and feathers. Such a gentle cacophony always accompanied the Sky Queen: the slightest movement of her grand figure sounded like distant wind roaring over the landscape.

Acnologia's stillness was far quieter as he sat pondering before the map strewn before him. The large parchment was pinned over a convenient flat rock with smaller stones weighting it down. The Dragon King of three years had taken human form, his chin resting in his hand as his draconic eyes flashed with intense pondering. Small pebbles marked the places on the map where dragons had disappeared without trace or sign.

There were many pebbles. Too many.

"The Frost Nest was powerful," Acnologia muttered aloud as he contemplated. "They would not have gone down easy."

"There's nothing left," Grandeeney explained softly. "No bodies, no eggs, not even a whiff of blood..."

"No struggle?"

"Only one: a line of ice down the center of their nesting grounds. It smells of Frostieney, the matron... but there was no other trace. No fallen trees or impacts - it is as if they all vanished in smoke."

Acnologia ran a hand over his face as his spine pickled uneasily. Blood pounded in his ears as dangerous thoughts swarmed in his head, feeding the madness ever present in the back of his mind - a breath calmed his thoughts and quieted the beast constantly gnawing at his skin. It did not, however, fix the matter.

"It disturbs me," he muttered aloud.

"I don't like it either," Grandeeney agreed, her tail flicking with agitation. Back and forth... back and forth. "Though, perhaps the twins discovered something more after I left."

"Doubtful," he chuckled ruefully.

It was all just... unnerving. Nothing like this had happened the first time - well - apparently, he had been the reason the dragons vanished. But, according to his dream-like memories, that had been bloody, chaotic - not as odd as this. The dragons had been eradicated not... pulled into some vanishing magic act.

This was not how it was supposed to happen.

After the final fight of the Dragon War, or what was coming to be known as the Dragon King Festival, they'd achieve a meager sort of peace. Acnologia had found his dragon form, growing into the dragon of the Apocalypse and taking the crown from his predecessor after a messy battle. They'd bested the dragons standing against humanity, losing nearly half of their forces in the fight.

It had been days of blood, chaos, and carnage as he donned a skin that was too new and yet so familiar, his scales and claws a constant presence even when he took flesh. But they'd won... they'd won, and he'd stayed sane... He'd won. He'd changed it all. It was supposed to be better now. It had been better! They'd minimized casualties to an incredible degree, they'd preserved human and draconic life, and they were forging a new path, a better one.

And yet, the peace he'd been hoping for was not lasting in the slightest, leaving him floundering with his newfound responsibilities and helplessness.