The Ember Queen's Heart

Havanas had always dreamed of something more; a greater life than what she had. She wasn’t just unhappy with her life; she hated it. Her parents worked hard to provide and do what they could in the city. They took what jobs they could find in their district; which meant working menial labor and odd hours. They spent so much time away from home she barely knew them. Except for when they were home; then she only knew pain, whether it was verbal or physical, at some point it all started feeling the same. She knew that they took out their frustrations on her for the shit life that they were handed. Well, what can one expect when your parents are an interspecies couple? I mean how the hell did a dragolic end up with a human woman? How could they have a child that was born with dragon traits on one half of her body? Either way, her parents had to know that society was not going to be accepting of them and so they ended up in Rana. A city of outcasts and one of the last cities that still worshipped dragons and their ilk. Here they were sorted into districts based on their skill set and of course species. Havanas’s family would have been placed into the industrial district where her father could have been working with the great tinkerers. They could have had a decent two-story house and money to spend and all it would have required was leaving her mom to her own district; but no, her father had to be noble and stay with her mother instead. So, there Havanas was in the third district where you were either a drug dealer, a whore, or overworked and underpaid.

Havanas lamented her father’s horrible decision as she passed by another new opium den. She brushed by some advertising junkies who were always handing out cards for their "wares”. As she made her way to her favorite spot in this dump of a district; her pace quickened as she smelled rain in the air. She knew she had to get past the threshold before the barrier went up to protect the dig site from the elements. She crouched and crawled underneath the fence that had words she could not read, but she assumed them to be something along the lines of “keep out”. If she was ever caught, as she had been a few times; she could always fall back on the same old line she thought “How could I know not to come here if the sign was not posted in my language?’ She smiled to herself as she recalled a human giving her orders in some form of common dialect; which she refused to learn. Just because she had their features did not mean she was going to be treated with the same disrespect that such lowlifes were accustomed to. She remembered the look on his smug face as she lowered her hood to reveal her hybrid features and scoffed at him. Sure, it along with the trespassing led to her being sent to the pens for a few days, but his dumbfounded expression was worth it. She did not mind the pens or any place that forced her away from home for that matter. She was glad to be away and on her own.

Havanas had many reasons to enjoy the dig site after all the workers had gone home for the day. She loved time to herself to think about the future and all that she wanted to accomplish. Sure, it would be tough for her to find a place of work with her hybrid features, but there had to be some way or someplace where she could amass wealth and power. She shook her head and brought her attention back to reality as she passed by the patrol's route. She had to be careful not to be caught by the same guard too many times. Each infraction meant a more severe punishment and she did not want to face the whipping post. She looked around perceived no guards nearby, “good” she thought. Despite the gloominess of the day, her mood improved at her luck of finding no security and her proximity to her destination. She brushed off the collected dust and made her way to her little cutout above the dig site and “just in knick of time” she whispered. She scurried by the barrier cut off as she began to feel the drops of rain. She observed the arcane barrier materialize as quickly as the rain started falling from the sky. The barrier meant three good things: the guards would stop patrolling the outskirts, she could listen to the raindrops pattering on the barrier, and she had an excuse for not going home.

She settled herself into the only place that ever felt like home. She had all the necessities that she would ever need. In her hideaway, she had stored: food, bedding, and a small lantern which doubled as a campfire; a present from her sire. If only she could breathe fire like a true dragon of old, she yearned then she would have no need for this present. She pulled out her binoculars and began to survey the land. She had heard around the district that the laborers had unearthed another section of the skeleton of Rothdac, the great red dragon. He had fallen here during the great cleansing that led to many dragons and their riders being hunted down. Those that survived were able to flee to distant lands like Rana. That was after the bombs fell and after humankind made the discovery of dragonkind in a large underground network. Then eventually fear and ignorance initiated the great cleansing of the dragons of old and their riders; which left the earth scarred and burned. She scanned around a few times before she finally saw it; a new section! The wings, chest, and arms had finally been excavated. As she sat there marveling at the size of this enormous wonder, a glimmer caught her eye. She scanned again and sure enough, something was reflecting the light of the arcane barrier. She contemplated whether it was worth the risk to go after it. She knew the punishment for being caught in the actual pit and shuddered to herself, but that dragolic side in her could only think of the shine. She had to have it. She yearned for it! So, after peering around for patrols she made her way down into the pit. Using various ladders that were left by the site workers and at times using the natural rocks as handholds and footrests to descend. After what seemed like an eternity, ducking by patrols and almost falling to her death a few times; she eventually made her way down. But made it she had, and now she stood by the skeleton of Rothdac. This was the closest she had ever been to him and she felt a surge of excitement welling up in her. She put her hand to the remains and was surprised to feel a mild warmth radiating from it. She pushed that thought out of her mind as she did not have much time before the patrol would return. She craved to unearth her treasure.

She investigated high and low in the area she believed her trinket to be and came up empty. She then caught sight of lights coming from the trail a few hundred feet away. She was running out of time. She began to scramble around even faster frantically searching for that shiny object. The lights grew closer, too close; and as she was about to give up, she heard a thumping. “Thump, thump”. It was so loud that she feared it must have alerted the guards.” Thump, thump”. There it was again but this time it was muffled and it seemed to be coming from a spot to her left. She debated running but the sound was so pleasant and oddly welcoming. She began to dig, scratch, and claw at the ground, and with each inch of soil and rock she removed, she was rewarded with a “thump, thump”. As she got closer and closer the beating seemed to get louder and louder. The flashlights began to illuminate the space around her and she began to hear raised voices. She ignored them and continued to dig through the earth wearing her fingers raw to the point of bleeding. Then she saw it, a heart-shaped jewel, she reached out and seized it. As her fingers clutched around the jewel the thumping finally stopped. She stood with her prize; a jeweled heart or rather a heart-shaped locket. She quickly threw the chain around her neck and tucked the jeweled heart under her clothes just before numerous hands engulfed her.

What followed was everything short of pleasant. She was passed from the site's patrol to city guards and eventually to the district guards. She was relinquished to her parents, but not before she received ten lashes for being in a restricted area. Despite having everything stripped from her, including her clothes, they never found the locket. It was as if it did not exist. The thumping never resumed, that is until she returned home. Back in the prison of that tiny dwelling surrounded by the two people she hated and loved most. As they were scolding her just as they have always done, she could not hear them over the “thump, thump”. It gnawed at her mind and showed her such sweet thoughts as flying over clouds and watching mountains shrink below her as she climbs ever upwards. A blow to her head yanked her back into reality as her father stood there fist clenched and scowling. He muttered something about how she could have gotten them kicked out of the city, but all she could hear was that sweet sweet sound emanating from the locket. How could her parents not hear it? Why was it only her? Why? Then the why began to fade as she could only think of the visions that were being forced. No, not forced, allowed into her mind.

These visions of fire swirling and burning away everything in their path. Of wings beating so fierce as to create hurricanes and flatten mountains. Slowly the pain of the outside world faded and she let herself be consumed by the resonance from the locket and the feeling it bestowed on her. She allowed the fire to engulf all the pain, the disgust, and all the bad memories. A sudden wave of relief filled her soul as she slowly walked down the street. The rain had stopped but gave way to a new smell, smoke. She walked casually by different groups of people who were either running away in panic or foolhardy towards the fire of what once was her bastille. It did not matter to her as she made her way out of Rana away from the agony. No longer was she tied down to that city. Free from the tether to her birth parents and to that hole in the wall; she had been reborn in flames. Blessed by the new life given by the beautiful heart-shaped locket that now beats alongside her heart. “This time we will be at the apex of existence”, she thought. Havanas had found her place as she clutched her chest. She, for a moment, considered looking back at the city, and glance at the ashes of what once was her prison and greatest source of suffering. Then she shrugged it off and continued walking. “It is time for a new cleansing,” she said to herself as she clutched the locket. “Thump, thump” was the only sound she heard in response.