Taking Away Purposes

When the royalty council sets forth to visit a region, a county, a town or wherever for that matter, it almost always wasn't for something good. It was more likely they were to pass an execution or sentencing, and the knowledge of their coming in itself stunned Vinnandra more than the snide mention of her mother.

It's already been eight years, how could her mother's sin from long ago be involved with the defeat of Brienda's Fortress? Considering the strategic position of the fortress, it certainly begged the quest of how they were defeated? She had lots of questions, and yet no answer was coming forth.

In Dragonia, they were three castles that served as a fortress that basically barricaded Dragonia from the rest of the world— Lenklock Castle, Baldrig Castle and Brienda Castle,

Stationed at the fortresses were military riders, trained both in the art of combat and war. The witches at the Vale stopped at nothing to conquer the three fortresses, but they were never successful. While Brienda was the lesser of the three major fortresses and guarded significantly a vast amount of small towns rather than big cities, it was still a stunning defeat. And a surprising one at that too.

Lord Albridge didn't look like he wanted to share any more information than that as he stormed out of the table.

Vinn realised that dinner had ended, and along with her dream of ever making it to the Academy… the absurdity of the situation made her want to scream in anguish and anger for anyone to hear.

Before Cleo left the table, she tossed her last words at her. "Even if somehow an abomination like you makes it to the academy, do you think any dragon would want to bond with you?" What scared Vinn was the fact that Cleo was not angry, nor was she sneering at her. Her face looked so calm, and the sincerity in her words was like a scary cloak she wore perfectly at that moment.

"You're the product of a royal dragon rider and a witch spy. No dragon would want to bond with the child of a woman that has killed thousands of their kind. Kill that dream Vinn, Saegra has sealed your destiny."

Saegra was her mother's name, her siblings didn't bother to call her mother ever again since what happened eight years, and justifiably so.

The truth is, there was a time that her family was perfect. When her mother was the perfect lady of Albridge Castle and the perfect stepmother too.

Her siblings loved Saegra—her father loved her mother even more fiercely. He would look at her like she was the moon in his world, and without her he would be lost and only darkness will abound in his life.

When they found out her identity, Vinn guessed they all had to deal with their grief in different ways—her father became lost in the darkness, and her siblings became distant in the face of the shock of what happened.

After all, her mother had waltzed into the perfect life of her royal family, and she had caused a huge stain… one her family was still suffering from even now.

Vinn climbed the high walls of the Albridge Castle deep in thought, and not looking at her steps as she walked on the high altitude. Powerful wings flapped the air in succession, each dragon making their way to the flight grounds for landing.

Staring into nothing, Vinn willed all her dreams to disappear. As hurtful as it was, she didn't want to be selfish, she didn't want to be the reason her family fell all over again into the kind of despair that took over them eight years ago.

Her eyes started hurting her and she closed them and made a silent prayer.

"Gloptra the god of Dragonia. I've come to you to ask that you take my purpose away from me. Since my purpose has become a source of pain and anguish to my family, please take it away from me." Hot wetness landed on her cheek and she realised she was crying.

It felt as if a fist engulfed her heart and wouldn't let go. Pain… she was in so much of it.

"Gloptra," she forged ahead, this time the voice in her head too was crying in anguish. She was in a wilderness with no way back to the wetland, "please do give me a new purpose, one that would satisfy my family and make me useful to them. I wish not to be an accomplished rider anymore, I only wish to bring my family joy no matter how minute it is."

Joy, it has been long since she felt something like that with her family, it would be great to have it back. No matter the sacrifices she had to make for it.

Vinn heard stronger dragon wings flapping the air and they came in quick succession. The strength of the flap signified that they were far larger dragons, and Vinn's eyes flew open to behold the sight in the air.

Red, blue, grey, orange, and different variations of dragons were charging to the flight grounds. They were just the same size as Tania, her father's blue dragon which was considered the biggest in Albridge.

While Albridge was not one of the biggest regions, it was not a small one too and that meant something.

Vinn thought she had seen it all, when from behind the hoard of dragons, an even more terrifyingly huge black dragon reared its head and screeched.

This dragon was definitely much bigger in size than Tania.

Hot air barreled towards Vinn, slapping her face and entire body.

Holy gods! What in the name of Dragons was that?!

Not quite believing her eyes, she collected binoculars from one of the guards patrolling the castle walls to get a better view and a more precise definition of the dragon's size.

Once the binocular was positioned, the dragons still hurtling towards them came to sight, their true size revealing strength.

This was the Dragon Royalty Council. The knowledge of them was even more terrifying now she was seeing them.

The sight of the night black dragon hypnotised her. Its scales gleamed like polished obsidian, reflecting the light from the sun in an eerie manner. Its wings spanned wide, casting a shadow on everything around it. Besides that, it was its eyes that hypnotised her.

White orbs that looked cloudy and penetrated her soul without making any effort… those eyes screamed raw power and might.

Then the rider came into sight, a man that did not look that older than her father. His white hair ran long, whipping wildly against the air.

The rider had a look that said he looked bored but not quite so. His aura screamed confidence, like he was the only rightful rider of the dragon.

Minutes later, Vinn noticed she was still planted on the ground, binoculars in hand and staring intently into nothing. The dragon riders had long reached the flight grounds. If anything, the royalty council should already be meeting her father.

Vinn shut her eyes and prayed again. "Gloptra, let the meeting go well."

She remained on the castle walls, enjoying hearing the sound of wings flapping in the air, and dragons and their riders going about their business.

One of her fathers closest guards, Frinta, approached her quickly.

"Miss, your father calls for you."

Was the meeting already over? It was already an hour since the council arrived so maybe. Did it go well? Those were questions she couldn't ask Frinta who always looked as stoic as a stone.

Vinn left with him, but couldn't help but suspect that there was something in the stoic guard's eyes she couldn't quite pinpoint.

And then all of a sudden, a terrible screech unleashed into the air, and Vinn had to cover her ear for fear her ear drums would damage.

The screech was unmistakably from Tania, her father's dragon. What was happening?