Wings of Fire: A Human in a Dragonet's Prophecy.

Seizing Power (Chapter13)

Anenome swam along the hatchery room, reveling in her newfound freedom, her harness now dumped happily against a wall. She spun around the underwater chamber as a large stone rolled in front of the hatchery entrance, leaving only small glints of light reaching from the now-blocked entranceway; though, it didn't matter much to her seawing eyes.

She looked toward her newfound sister as Tsunami stared around the hatchery in obvious interest and curiosity, seemingly muttering something she couldn't hear through the water. Anemone had tried talking to her in the Seawing underwater language, but she only got a shrug and a shake of Tsunami's head, not understanding.

Anemone frowned in annoyance but compromised by motioning Tsunami forward, showing her different parts of the hatchery chamber. She took her over to two opposite rows of the room, pointing at the royal eggs lined around the floor and the bubbles that rose around the room's edges.

Anemone recalled faint but pleasant memories of being in the hatchery. She remembered playing with the bubbles, trying to catch them as her mother watched her. However, her face soured when she circled the room, her gaze landing on the discarded harness.

It was when she had taken her first step outside this room that she was first introduced to the horrible thing, becoming leashed to her mother for basically her entire life.

As they floated down to the middle of the hatchery, Anemone made her scales glow slightly, nudging for Tsunami to do the same. In the brighter light, they stared upon an incredibly lifelike and detailed marble statue of a dragon that sat upon a stone perch.

Tsunami looked impressed and a bit uneasy at the statue; its lifelike detail unsettled her, but the statue was unlike anything she had seen.

In the palace, there were many smaller sculptures and carvings, but none that were quite like the statue that now sat before Tsunami and Anemone.

"It's a sculpture of her," Anemone tried communicating, pointing at a small inscription that read "Orca." Anemone had heard stories of how her sister had been an incredible sculptor. However, with her challenge to be Queen, she had become a very prickly subject, with the only information she had access to being what her mother had written in her scrolls or the occasional murmur around the feasting table. She also knew that Orca had been an animus like her, although she hadn't heard much about what she had done with her animus magic.

As Anemone tried talking with Tsunami, her sister abruptly looked towards the side of the hatchery, a look of astonishment on her face. Anemone was confused until a smile plastered Tsunami's face as she pointed at an egg.

Their gazes were fixed in amazement as an egg shook slightly, slowly cracking open, small eyes opening wide as the newborn dragonet struggled free from her egg.

The moment was a joyous event, with Anemone and Tsunami slowly approaching the newborn dragonet. However, the pair paused as the water shifted, the moment coming to an abrupt end as a stony gaze moved toward the dragonets, its purpose involving the three dragonets never leaving the hatchery chamber.

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Y/N staggered as chaos erupted on the platform, with Queen Coral taking off in a frenzy while Piranha tried commanding the Seawing guards into a coherent group with the rest of the royal Seawings still frozen in hesitation and shock.

"They wouldn't leave the hatchery unguarded, right?" Y/N thought, trying to believe that the seawings wouldn't do something so stupid. "Unless they thought they captured or killed whoever was killing Queen Coral's eggs," said Y/N's subconscious, quickly dashing his hopes.

The Seawings had seen him with Kestrel, and if they thought he had been conspiring with the Skywings to kill the Seawing eggs, it would make sense they would accept a stange animus scavenger to be their hidden assassin. "But to leave the hatchery unguarded and leave your dragonets in the one place where your eggs were being destroyed!" Y/N thought dumbfounded at the Seawings' decisions, even if he was somewhat responsible for them pushing toward those decisions.