(Part one of Ausixen's story so far. More to follow as I get around to it.)
Years had he lived. Ausixen reflected on those years now, because now his heart was in jeopardy. The weight of his foolish action was tearing him apart. Keir a’meo was the only one who ever mattered to him, because keir a’meo was the only Dragon that Ausixen had ever known.
And he had killed him.
Ausixen hadn’t returned to the lair since that time. How could he? He had been living in a cave on New Trismus of all places. He felt like he had come full circle, in a way. Perhaps this is where he was supposed to be? After all, he had spent most his life cut off from his fellow dragon, for he had learned nothing but betrayal in his youngest years. Wyrms, all of them! Not like the Dragons of Old. None alive could live up to their magnificence and splendor, their magnanimity and wisdom, their patience or their strength! Only Keir a’meo, and he…
He had killed him.
Perhaps he was wallowing in self-pity; but that was what Ausixen had, for no one else would pity him, nor would he allow it. He had been by himself since his parents broke their sacred Bond and utterly alienated themselves from him. Ausixen would not accept pity then, either. He had disowned his own parents and took his life into his own hands. He had become his own clan, the Ausi – those who fly. And he had always kept his wings high.
“Technically speaking, you’re not my grandson since you disowned them both, you know,” Maekrux had said.
“Then keep Ieo as student,” he had said, golden eyes brimming with anger and fear.
“And what will nieo do that I should allow that, mm? If you’re going to live here, you’ve got to help out, too,” the ancient had said.
“Ieo… Ieo will be great student! And Ieo will watch lair! Ieo will protect lair!” the purple with swirling blue decals exclaimed.
“Aorban, Ieo am Darastrix – Eilert, Ieo am Dragon. Do you suggest Ieo cannot defend my own home?” his once-grandfather demanded.
“D’na! But… Ieo only hunt when nieo sleep, and Ieo be in lair always, until Ieo older. Ieo wish to live as Dragon did – grow slowly, become true Darastrix. Ieo protect while nieo sleep and are away,” Ausixen argued to the best of his ability.
Maekrux smiled. He would have kept his grandson anyway. “A’na. So shall it be then. Ieo shall teach nieo how to operate k’ieo wards that protect k’ieo lair.”
And so he did. Over the years that followed, Maekrux taught his grandson many things; he had taught him much of the Prime and of fighting with his claws. He had taught the great stories of draconic history, and even some biped history at which Ausixen had scoffed. He had taught him the sacredness of the lair and of a dragon’s possessions. He had taught him some of the secret Star Runic – at least enough to use the wards made from them – and he had taught him the Dragon Virtues. But Maekrux was always worried about his grandson, for his grandson was so very angry with the world.
“Aorban, Ieo have spoken of Honor with nieo,” he said one day.
“A’na! A Dragon must have Honor. It is the tailwind of Pride, the wings that guide it!” the purple exclaimed happily, trying desperately to show what he had learned.
“This is true, but to say it is one thing. Do you have Honor?” the blue asked.
Ausixen puffed up his chest. “A’na! Ieo have great Honor!”
“But Honor is found in the eyes of others. You live here in my lair and know little of your kyn, and they of you,” Maekrux said.
“So? Ieo have nieo. Do nieo see Ieo as a Dragon of Honor?”
“Well…”
“Ieo have great Honor!” Ausixen exclaimed. Maekrux frowned, but the hatchling was too Prideful to see it. He was staring at the blood on Ausixen’s paws, for he had been too rough with Maekrux’s other wards.
Ausixen had struck Maekrux’s servant, Janys, only hours before. The saris was a truly pitiful creature and Ausixen delighted in tormenting him. He delighted in being powerful. Maekrux understood why Ausixen acted as he did. Ausixen liked being in control, because he had not been able to stop his parents from breaking their Bond. The blue always believed his grandson would grow out of it.
“A’na. But,” Maekrux said, switching gears seamlessly, “Nieo has been disrespecting my property. This is dishonorable.”
Ausixen’s earfins pinned back against his head. “Ieo am sorry keir a’meo. Ieo will try harder.”
He certainly tried, for his grandfather’s sake. But instead of stopping completely, he instead grew more clever, leading Maekrux’s servants into dangerous situations in ways that made them take the blame. Even worse was his hatred for Maekrux’s hatchlings. The ancient dragon loved to adopt; each one Ausixen saw not only as a rival, but as a Wyrm. Some, he would malice just to prove his theory right. But in time, even this began to change.
He had chased Birdragya, a red that looked much like Ausixen’s mother and - at the time - Maekrux’s youngest daughter, into a hollow log. He had been roughhousing with her, batting her about, showing the strength and Pride he had gained over several years. She was already bleeding from that, but she wasn’t hiding out of fear. She had merely thought it was all a game.
“Hey little wyrmling, you know how to breathe fire yet?” Ausixen asked her.
“D’na!” She exclaimed happily.
“It’s easy. Puff out your chest and spit as you breathe. Go on, try it.”
The purple’s sinister sneer was but a happy smile to Birdrayga. That was how her uncle always looked at her. “A’na!” She did as instructed. Ausixen wasn’t sure if she could really do it, but she did. The fire came out and immediately ignited the log. “Look! Iea did it!” she exclaimed happily. The log began to burn around her; though the fire was of no consequence to her scales, the smoke was another matter to her young lungs. “Iea love nieo, Ausi!” she exclaimed, even as she began to choke on the smoke. She backed up some, but soon fell gasping for untarnished air. Ausixen just watched as her form was wreathed in flame.
He lifted his wings and leapt onto the log, tearing the burning wood in half with his claws and fishing his niece from the smoke and flames. Dragging her away and curling protectively around her, he watched the flames as they danced on the log. He listened to the sound of her lungs clearing. His eyes were wreathed in tears, but he didn’t cry. He refused to cry, for her, or for him. He would be an Honorable Dragon.
But he had killed him.
From then on, Ausixen was kinder to Maekrux’s adopted hatchlings; even to the three lain by the Pink. He took great interest in Maurger as he grew, for in Maurger he saw a little of himself: Maurger had his anger, his Pride, his lack of Honor and good sense. He thought he would tutor the black just as well as Maekrux.
“Look here, Maurger. Is a ward,” he said, showing the black the gems shaped like a dragon.
“Ward?” the hatchling had asked.
“Yes. Maekrux uses them to protect his lair and you.”
“Why not protect from sisters? They will not listen to Maurger,” the black said.
Ausixen grinned. “Nieo need protection from them?”
“Ieo born last. Ieo treated last. Ieo could not claim nest.”
“Someday, you will be stronger. But until then, you’ll have to be smarter. Bring them before the crystals downstairs, and we’ll give them a little surprise,” Ausixen said.
Maurger led his sisters before the crystal, and Ausixen used them to give them a little shock, which sent the sisters running. Maurger caught the smaller one by the tail and bit into her flesh hard as she ran, but she escaped. Ausixen came down from his hiding place and frowned at the hatchling. “That teach mean sisters!” Maurger exclaimed happily, teeth dripping of dragon blood.
“A’na, but it was enough to scare them. Nieo did not have to hurt them like that,” Ausixen said.
“Nieo wrong! Maurger must prove self, show power; is all they know! Maurger did right thing.” The black lifted his nose and trotted off to the currently empty nest, blood dripping all the way. Ausixen did not follow and correct him. Ausixen did not understand the same as Maekrux did. There was a violent tendency that needed healing – one never shown while Maekrux was around. Ausixen thought he would grow out of it.
He was wrong. He killed him.
“Daza! You must not enter! Maekrux is trapped within!” Ausixen exclaimed that fateful day.
“Ieo know. I will confront the black now,” Daza said. Daza’s mother was not far behind; he had risked trusting her, as Maekrux did. Now was their time to prove his trust.
“Then… we will do it,” Ausixen said. Ausixen led them into the foyer and deactivated the Runic Dragon system, telling them to rush to Maekrux’s aid. From there, he crawled into his secret tunnels that not even Maekrux knew the little purple had carved, and deactivated each of the wards that protected Waere Ulhar Ausixen, the Cave of the Blue Phoenix. At last, he watched from the central control chamber, adjacent to the brood chamber-become-jail cell. He watched as his trust was betrayed again. Daza refused to back down. Amethyr summoned an army of Aegis into the lair. And the Prideful hatchling, who had become an adult by stealing power from both his ‘fathers,’ the black Maurger… he refused to lose. He killed Maekrux, the dragon who Ausixen thought could never lose, right before the purple’s eyes.
And since those days, Ausixen had not returned to his grandfather’s lair.
No, Ausixen thought. Maurger was just the tool. Daza was just the claw. Amethyr, just the talons. Ausixen had let them in. Ausixen had killed his Keir A’meo, the only Dragon that he had ever known. He had killed him.