The Bleeding Skies (3/4)
Of course, Drakavar's immediate obsession with the children is almost entirely due to the children's infinitely robust spirits.
It's a well-known fact that having a powerful spirit makes others instinctually like you, and it makes you appear more beautiful.
With these two children having an endlessly powerful Spirit, it's fair to say that any being who is capable of love or kindness will immediately love them with all their hearts. Only a demon with a completely black heart could ever willingly harm them.
Sure, Drakavar is quite callous and cruel, but she is capable of caring. Thus, the moment she laid her eyes on their faces, she became unable to kill them, even though she'd planned on eating them just two seconds ago.
Drakavar, however, isn't thinking about any of this. All she's thinking about is, 'WHAT KIND OF MONSTER WOULD LEAVE THESE TWO PRETTIES IN THE WOODS!? I'LL EAT THEM! CHEW THEIR BONES!!! THEN, I'LL THROW THEM UP, BECAUSE THEY'LL TASTE NASTY!!!!!!!!!'
The two children sense the monster lady's growing anger, and they both start crying in terror. They're both only about 4 years old, so they're not old or mature enough to realize that the dragon's anger isn't directed at them.
For all they know, this black scaled monster is about to squeeze them to death.
What surprises Drakavar is that she actually starts crying, just thinking about their pitiful condition.
Wiping her tears away, Drakavar bends down and picks both of the children up.
Ignoring their panicked cries and desperate squirming, the dragoness drapes them both over her shoulders and pats their butts with her tail, "Quiet down! I'm not going to eat you! Yes, I've changed my mind. You two belong to ME now!"
Drakavar stands up and walks away into the woods, humming a happy song to herself.
Never in her life has she been so excited to find something to keep. 'Yes, where should I stash away these two pretty treasures?' Drakavar thinks seriously…
'Speaking of stashing away…,' she thinks while looking around. 'Ah! A hill!? I'll take that.'
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With the two kidnapped children over her shoulders, Drakavar walks over to the hill with a narrow, focused view in her eyes.
Without even making a motion with her hands, the Goddess of Power just walks forward, and the hill completely deforms on its own – making a deep cave suitable to live in.
Drakavar pats the children's butts with her tail again with a playful smirk... before unceremoniously dropping the two children into a deep hole. She then uses her magic to harden the sides of the hole and carve them smooth.
Can't have the little treasures climb out on their own, yes? Yes, they need to obediently stay put.
"Now, my little treasures, I'm going to go find you some toys and tasty food. Then you're going to eat it, and you're going to play on my lap," she says as she turns around to leave.
With the way she was speaking to the kids, it sounded like Drakavar was giving orders to them.
The children look up from their little prison pen. Their shining eyes can be seen from the darkness of the pit...
There is horror in those eyes – no doubt thinking that the monster lady is saving them as emergency snacks.
As Drakavar exits the hill, she turns around and growls at the Elemental Spirit moving inside it, "Don't you dare let them wander off. Kill any animal who tries to attack them." She pauses, then added with an air of menace. "If they get hurt, I'll kill you."
The core of the earth quakes in fear, and Drakavar leaves satisfied.
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During the dragon's first hunting trip, she ends up finding a nearby city to raid – er – shop in.
One of the first things she does is… well… she completely ignores the citizen's terrified scrambling, since they've never seen a dragon before.
While ignoring them, the dragon smashes open a few stores and stuffs her knapsack full of little toys suitable for children.
Then, she murders a few noblemen, since she likes the way their horses look. 'Horse meat is healthy AND tasty, right? Yes. The children will like it.'
On the way out, she breaks into a few houses and pilfers some furniture.
At one point, Drakavar spots a pair of children, who are huddled behind some barrels with their mother protectively peeking out and staring warily at the wandering dragon.
'Oh! Those kids look like they're the same size as my treasures! Lucky!'
Without even hesitation, the black dragon strides forward and catches the two children.
While ignoring the children's terrified mother, the dragon carefully strips the two kids of their clothes and adds them to her "shopping cart".
Drakavar may have traumatized a mother and her children, but at least her two little treasures have something to wear now!
... By the time the tyrannical dragoness flies out of the city, there's a long trail of random junk floating behind her. With her spoils, she returns to the cave…
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When Drakavar gets home to the children, the first thing she does is pinch their cheeks and spend several long hours coddling them.
It's just… holding them in her arms makes her feel so good… Those cute, rosy cheeks are meant for biting!
"Get over here!" Drakavar hisses in a tone that she thinks is playful (but is actually threatening). She reaches over and drags the Fox girl towards her by the tail and plops her on her lap. "Be a good girl and let me hold you. Holding you is therapy."
The black Rehkin only gets more angry at being forced around like this, so she bites Drakavar's hands futilely and tries wiggling out of her grasp.
Seeing the little girl stubbornly, rebelliously squirm, the dragoness pats her on the head and coos, "Ah! So feisty already! Hmph! I like your attitude. You'll be my daughter now."
Of course, the little Fox girl still has no idea what her captor is saying, but this matters so little to Drakavar that she didn't even think about it.
Drakavar then looks over to the white-haired wolf boy. Instead of fighting back, the Wolf boy seems to have realized that they're not in any danger, so he just lays limply on Drakavar's lap and leans his head against her chest.
Seeing this, Drakavar's heart softens, and she smiles, "You're such a clever little boy; you know when mommy loves you. You'll be my son from now on…"
Suddenly feeling complete, Drakavar leans her head against the cave and almost drifts off to sleep.
She'd lived her whole life with this empty feeling in her heart. She's built empires and conquered the universe several times over, thinking that she could feel complete if she took a little more.
However… for the first time in her life, she feels completely satisfied with what she has.
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-The Present-
Haalfrin hears Freyya recount the details of how Drakavar came to find her two children… and he's rightfully baffled. "Wait, wait, how is a husband and wife *catching up* supposed to Mantle Drakavar playing with her children?" That's a little gross.
"It's a display of love," Freyya smiles, "Drakavar came to the two Spirit Gods when everyone expected her to kill them. Instead of killing, she took them away on her shoulders and loved them."
"… S#x and playing with children is NOT the same thing!"
"It's love!" Freyya insists. "A different kind of love, to be sure. Spirit Threads move and knot themselves in the same pattern, no matter what kind of love is being expressed."
Haalfrin looks down, "When you put it that way… She did love them… in her own twisted fashion."
Freyya shrugs, "Well, Drakavar's the most 'dragony' dragon out there. If dragons seem insane to you, then Drakavar is a million times more insane."
Freyya suddenly gets up and snaps her fingers. All of her clothes immediately materialize around her, and she's fully clothed again. "Ok Haalfrin. Times up. We need to continue with the ritual."
Freyya reaches her hand up, and the concealing barrier she had set up around the house disappears…
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Off on the other side of the world, we see Das' eyes immediately grow large the moment Freyya takes her barrier down.
"FREYYA!" he shouts from the air.
Furiously, the old god takes out a rare teleportation scroll, and the next moment, he appears at Haalfrin's house.
Das runs inside and sees Haalfrin sitting on a chair near the fireplace – alone.
Seeing Haalfrin alive and well, Das immediately calms down and composes himself.
Haalfrin looks over and mumbles irately, "Is something wrong?"
Das still feels the thick Death Aura, and he can sense Freyya. More than likely, she's still lurking nearby, waiting for a chance to kill Haalfrin!
Feeling vigilant and a little scared, Das grabs ahold of Haalfrin and disappears with him without a word.
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-The Far Future-
Many years after the Black dragon adopted (kidnapped) those two children, we see her coming back from another trip outside. She went back to her familiar cave where she keeps the children - same as usual.
By now, the cave had been decked out and carved many miles deep – she wanted the children to have a large area to play in, after all. Plus, giving them plenty of time to run around would hopefully alleviate their wanderlust.
Drakavar steps into the cave and calls for them several times, but there's no answer. 'Hiding from me?' she wonders with a smirk. 'They gotta stop thinking that this'll work on me…'
Slowly, Drakavar closes her eyes, and she extends her power deep into the earth. Due to her status as the Goddess of the natural forces, she's keenly sensitive to vibrations, movement, and heat.
Due to this…, it only takes a few minutes for Drakavar to finish feeling the cave…