Ovolara: Claws of Darkness

Prologue: Flood

Queen Flood was a calculating Sea Dragon, no move she made was meaningless, and she'd sacrifice anything to reach her goals, including her own subjects. She was a proud, shrewd, and merciless dragon who believed Sea Dragons to be the superior tribe, convinced that their close relation to water set them apart. Though, she was concerned that other tribes might try to take what they have.

Her deceased mother, Queen Tide, was a gentle but strong and charismatic dragon, fit to be queen by the words of her people. She was one of the few queens who kept ties to other tribes and believed they could help improve each other. It was strange that one of her own daughters could have the exact opposite beliefs from her despite her effort to change her mind for many years.

Queen Flood thought of her mother as weak, and naive for believing that they could need anything from the other tribes to thrive. She believed that if the Sea Dragons had Ovolara to rule, their few problems would disappear. That as Queen, she can rule better than her soft, shortsighted mother. With a talon of steel, rather than making her subjects feeble and carefree of the threats outsiders might pose.

She was the only queen in more than a thousand years to claim the throne without the Queen Selection Ceremony, where the current queen picks the heir after all her daughters reach fifteen years of age. Rather, she challenged the queen one day before she turned fifteen, she was the youngest of her two sisters. It was a shock and a tragedy to see Queen Tide fall at the claws of her own daughter. But alas, it was part of tradition, and she was the rightful queen.

Thirty years after Queen Flood's crowning...

The throne room was filled with nobles, advisors, and army commanders bowing to their queen, waiting for permission to lift their heads. "You man lift your gaze." Queen Flood said.

"When will the next Black Dragon expedition be ready?" She asked one of the commanders. He was a dark emerald green dragon filled with light green swirling stripes around his body.

He moved in front of Queen Flood. "Two weeks your majesty. This expedition is of larger scale than usual, it will take them time to gather dragons from across their villages." the emerald dragon explained.

"Very well." She said, looking a bit frustrated. "Fin, You will be the head commander for this expedition, as you've mentioned earlier, this particular expedition is of larger scale, so make sure those lizards stay on track".

There was a slight pause. "Yes, your majesty." Fin answered with a bow.

As he was returning to his position, the doors to the throne room suddenly opened, and behind it, a blue Sea Dragon was entering the room approaching Queen Flood, her scales were the clearest color of sapphire blue, filled with lighter blue spots in different abstract shapes all around her body and three dots under each eye. Her body was reflecting the sunlight that washed over the glass ceiling throne room like a gem. Her eyes were pale blue, as if water was washing them away. And she was wearing a necklace carrying a glass bottle around her neck which was filled with clear water.

"Your majesty." the sapphire dragon said gently.

"Oh, this is a surprise, have you perhaps come to us with one of your rare visions? or maybe stories about your never-ending travels around the continent? Aqua." She scoffed at the seer. Despite Aqua's appearance that could compare to the beauty of the ocean itself, the queen only views her as an eyesore, because the way she speaks reminds her of her mother.

"Not quite, your majesty. This time, I come to you with a prophecy." Aqua said, unfazed by the queen's mockery.

The throne room was suddenly filled with murmurs and shocked expressions, as if Queen Tide had come back to life.