Tiar and Hiar

Dante looked at his crew while the ghosts were busy handling the ship through the narrow path. He didn't want to show that he was having suspicions about his men. He believed them, every one. He shook his head to chase his thoughts away. Still, a little voice in his mind was telling him to take care of what would happen. 

The third world was a land of blood and fire, the sky was red and the rumble of the dragons around was echoing in the wind. There were an incredible amount of these creatures flying around, especially at the place they were now. 

Far from the border with the territory Terimat, the pirates were in the Norimea country, and the volcano was nothing less than Naran, the capital. Norimean were dragon masters since the first ages. Dante took a deep breath as he remembered having this discussion with a terimatian in the past. 

The man explained to him that, in the beginning of time, a dragon, attracted by the scent of the blood of a wounded woman, forced himself on her. From this unholy union were born twins, a boy, and a girl. Respectively named Tiar and Hiar, however, the children born with a dragon father had significant deformations such as black eyeballs, white hair, and pale skin almost transparent, letting their dark blood visible under their skin. As the children grew monstrous in the eyes of humans, their mother, ashamed, decided to give away her own life, but when she did, her blood spilled and touched her children. 

"No child of the dark heart, 

The ones born from my blood, 

Will ever know the warm of what we call family, 

Forever alone, forever empty, 

Else than from their other half."

Hearing her last words as she was trying to save her mother, Hiar was touched by the malediction first. Her body grew, breaking her skin and bones in a terrible nine days of suffering while her brother could do nothing else than watch her powerless. Tiar cried every day passing for his sister, and Hiar screamed in agony. And when the ninth day happened, silence prevailed in their den. 

Hiar was a magnificent dragon with red scales, looking like it was forged by the lava of the volcano itself. Tiar looked at her with awe and admiration, growing a new form of affection for his beloved sister. He swore to her that he would always stay by her side, and she vowed to him to use her strength to protect him no matter the cost. Hiar took him on her back, and together, they left the world of humans to travel the skies. 

They found their father on their way, the great dragon looked at his daughter and he doubted her power. 

"You may have the appearance of a dragon, but I sense in you the weakness of the men," he claimed, before adding, "If you truly are a dragon, then I order you to devour this brother of yours as he is a human."

Tiar was ready to accept his fate to give his sister shelter and the family she always deserved. The boy closed his eyes, ready to be sacrificed for her future, but seeing his love for her and bound by her vow to him, Hiar turned herself against her father and fought the red dragon with all she had. 

Pushed by the desire to save her brother and the hate for her father to have so little care for his son, she slid her thin body against the massive red dragon's chest and pierced his throat with her claws. Tiar, seeing his sister fencing for their future, joined in, and even if he was just a tiny human, he found the force to take his knife and climb the red dragon's body, searching for a soft spot to hurt him.

After many struggles, the twins succeeded in killing the dragon, saving themselves from a cruel fate but making them patricides. They knew from this moment that no society would ever accept them as they were, and it was natural that they decided to remain in the dragon's den on the top of the volcano. They were together, isolated from the world. 

They knew no pain or guilt for what they had done and they had a peaceful and happy life together. Growing their affection, Hiar eventually had children herself from Tiar. Twins were born, but from the twins, one looked like Tiar and the other was an egg. Hiar had other pregnancies over time, the three times she bore children, the three times she had twins and each pair was humanlike and the other was an egg. 

Tiar and Hiar eventually understood the malediction of their mother. They were condemned to know love only for their other half, and they could grow no affection or interest for anyone else other than their twin. This applied to their children and the children of their children. When the time had come and Tiar reached an age that no human ever knew before, he closed his eyes between the paws of Hiar and this last one turned to stone around him, sheltering his body for eternity. 

Centuries later, the people of Norimea became a strong nation. Known to be born by a pair, one human with translucent skin, dark blood, and dark eyeballs. The other was always a dragon and they would care for each other until the very end. 

Dante looked at the volcano, wondering if the legends were true and if there was a cemetery of dragon's stones with incestual twins inside of each of them. In his heart, he thought for a moment about trying to open one of these statues to check if he could steal some dragon's claws or anything else of value. 

As they docked the ship in safety, the crew jumped on the land and started to walk the path in the direction of the capital in a mixture of excitement and fear. What were the probabilities for the legends to be true, after all, Dante kept thinking that dragons were probably just like pets for these people and it would be easy to deal with them. He moved the backpack on his arm to reassure himself that he had taken enough gold and jewels from the Ombrae to be convincing. Maybe he could even buy an egg. 

The crew arrived in front of the capital's door and were surprised to find them wide open. They had no issues entering the city and they found here an alive place. People all had pale skin, white hair, and black eyeballs, but they also had deep large smiles. Joyful voices as they exchanged goods in what seemed to be a market, and some were also singing a perfect symphony in the streets. These people didn't know misery, they were looking like a healthy society. 

The ghosts walked through the alleys, looking everywhere in curiosity of this new civilization but it was after a corner that they understood the city's greatness. They had a view of a large road over a gigantic bridge leading to a black and red castle. Lava was falling like a waterfall all over the structure in a terrifying and yet wonderful landscape. 

Dante swallowed, he decided to come back to the lowest part of the city to deal with merchants when one of his men claimed, "We should go there!"

The pirate observed the man with a suspecting glare. The others agreed and decided to go to explore the castle as long as nobody would stop them. They were already dreaming of exchanging their goods with some local royals, and Dante could not say no anymore due to the general excitement. 

He walked a few steps back, taking care to keep an eye on the crew member who gave the idea to the others to go to the dark castle, but soon enough, Dante forgot everything he was concerned about. As they came closer, he saw the walls of the castles made with obsidian reflecting the warm light of the lava around. 

They saw two guards at the entrance door who wondered but didn't tell them anything as they passed. Dante could not stop himself and he went to question them.

"Hello my sirs, may I ask if tourism is allowed openly in this city? Can we truly enter the castle without issues?" Dante tried to be polite as he spoke. 

The two guards started to laugh loudly, "No one enters our land and comes back from it alive, ghost. However, you are already dead, you should be fine."

The pirate thought a moment about it as he turned his hills to join his team members. He heard the flapping sound of wings over the castle.

"Of course, who would come here willingly with dragons flying around like this? One must be unconscious to come here." 

As he said this out loud, a voice coming from one of his men, still the same Dante had suspicions for, added, "Unconscious, or already dead. It is not like we could die here, relax, captain." 

This only increased Dante's suspicions, he knew who this man was, he was sure of it now, but he could say nothing about it yet. As long as he didn't reveal his true identity to the group, it was better to not expose him forcefully.