Chapter Text
4500 years ago…
Celeritas.
Closest advisor to the Empress of the Titan Empire, the most powerful ruler in all of Pyrrhia. Celeritas, famed for his charisma, insightfulness, and fierce speeches. Celeritas, the revolutionary, renowned for his vision and cooperation. Celeritas, the firebrand, jailed many decades ago for his speech “Let me die like a dragoness” in protest of males getting barred from military service. He still remembered how he electrified the crowd with his speech. That feeling of satisfaction, of doing the right thing, of opening their eyes to a brighter future. It was odd how he went from the execution block to being an advisor to the Empress. But he couldn’t say no to that. That way he had a greater chance to make a better future. A future that was worth fighting and dying for.
And that is precisely why he was throwing everything away. In a few days, his name would be on the execution list. A dirty, filthy betrayer. But he had to do it. He’d thought Empress Agrias was pacified. And he knew his Empress deeply cared about all of her subjects. He just didn’t expect love to backfire like this. Her subjects have been threatened with the most dangerous weapon Pyrrhia has ever seen: Animus Magic. And like a rabid elephant mother trying to protect her children, she was willing to do anything;
Genocide. That word made him shiver; he listened to the Empress’s tirade, of calling the death of all the IceWings who dared threaten her subjects. Never ever would he have imagined love giving in the way for the specter of madness, of hate, and taking its root in her mind. He was the first royal advisor to be tasked with locating their SandWing Animus, Terral, and to tell him to report back to the Empress. He was also one of the few who knew what the instructions the Empress was going to tell him were. To wish death upon all the IceWings, before they killed them all first with magic.
All throughout the flight, in search of Terral, he had been cursing whatever vile creature made Animus Magic like this. A giant, double-edged axe that could destroy and create in equal efficacy. He knew what kinds of dragons there were in the world, and he knew it was only a matter of time before someone unworthy of being Animus would hatch and wish the world away. Creating was a delicate, time-consuming art. Destroying? That was no art at all; anyone could do it. Even an oversized dragonet would excel at destruction.
But he knew Terral wasn’t one of the bad ones. By the Sun, he probably was the best dragon he knew in the entire world. Selfless, with no craving for power, just for learning and endless curiosity and love. No wonder they both fell in love the second they met… But the world couldn’t know of them. Not yet.
He’d gone to every place he knew Terral could be, his SkyWing physique giving him incredible speed and able to reach them all with ease, but he was running out of places to search, it was nighttime and thus limited vision, and he was running out of time. The last place he was trying was on Jade Mountain. He knew Terral liked the solitude of the peaks and the clear skies to star-gaze. Flying over the peaks, he was looking for any sign of life. Just as he was about to leave: there! A small flick of light! As he flew over, it was indeed him!
Terral’s ears raised, and he turned around just as he was landing near the plateau.
"Celis!" He exclaimed with a smile, but it was quickly removed once Celeritas stood in the torchlight. “W-What’s going on?”. Guess I worried too much on the way, he thought drily.
“We need to hide! Right now!” Celeritas walked to Terral and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the shadows, but he resisted.
“Celis?! What’s happening? Did they find out about us?”
“No! This is so much worse, Terral.” He was still trying to pull him.
“Stop, Celis, please stop. What’s going on?”
“I already told you! We need to hide right now!” This time he pulled violently, and Terral didn’t resist.
“Woah! Is it that bad?” he asked with a wounded expression, joining the treeline, deep in the shadows, "You know me, I can fix almost everything!"
“I know, cactus-brain! That’s why I’m here!”
“Ah… so?”
“The Empress… she has commanded me to find you.”
Terral merely quirked a brow, as to say, “And?”
“And she will task you to kill all the IceWings.”
Terral’s eyes went wide, this time it was Celeritas' time to quirk a brow, as to say, “Told you.”
“You’re joking. You must be.” Terral said, shaking his head and stepping back.
“No, no. Listen to me, we need to hide now and figure a way to stop all these idiots from killing themselves! And us! With the correct spell, you could stop all this from happening!”
“Does the Empress know?” Terral said, after a brief pause.
Celeritas shook his head. “No, but soon she will figure it out, she knows I’m one of the few that know her orders, and she suspects we are… too close.”
“Some of us already did.”
Both Celeritas and Terral froze in place. Who said that? Someone was here? How? They frantically tried looking for the intruder, but there was no one else there!
Suddenly, an IceWing materialized behind Terral. Time slowed down. This is it. Celeritas grimly thought, as he leaped towards the IceWing, intending to gore her head with his horns. Terral was too important.
“Behind you!” Celeritas screamed. Luckily, Terral was a quick thinker, he hunkered down and rolled away.
As he was about to impact the IceWing, she merely lifted a talon, and now, time truly stopped. He froze in the air, unable to move! He struggled, but he couldn’t even command his body to move! He tried to do anything, but he just couldn’t. Even thinking was becoming difficult. We lost, he thought with sadness.
“Stay away!” Terral hissed from a safer distance.
“Moons, aren’t you all melodramatic?” the IceWing said.
He wished he could move, to gut this IceWing, she was about to let genocide happen! He couldn’t let her!
The IceWing suddenly laughed, “Please, as if.”
Huh? It looked like—
“Yes. I’m a mind reader.”
Then, there is no hope.
"Ughh," the IceWing scoffed, moving away from him, “it’s a good thing I can turn this thing off.”
Terral was just there, eyes wide, looking at the exchange with caution. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Me? Hmmm. Well, I'm a nobody really. You can call me The Commissioner.”
Celeritas laughed in his mind. What a stupidly pretentious name. The IceWing merely gave him a pointed look. Ah. So she was still listening. Awkward.
“Do you just decide to pop in at any discussion you feel like listening to? I thought IceWings had good manners.” Terral said
“Well, that depends. Do SkyWings charge at perfectly innocent strangers that chime in in their conversations? the IceWing countered. He refused to call her “The Commissioner”. What a ridiculous name. She gave him another pointed look. "I was just trying to have fun," she shrugged.
“This was no random conversation, I bet you know that.”
“Ah! Good! So we can skip the pleasantries. I know your Empress has commanded you to kill all the IceWings. Me specifically. Quite rude of her, I must say.”
“And let me guess. Your Queen has commanded you to kill us too.”
“Oh good! A quick thinker too! That’s nice. And yes. Correct…Oh… You are quite rude too.”
Celeritas was trying to understand what was going on. But Terral’s fast brain, seemingly able to understand almost anything without any context, and a mind-reader, was making things really tough.
The IceWing looked at him. “Your lover just tried to kill me with his Animus Magic," she looked back at Terral, “a cheap shot I might add, you are invulnerable to Animus Magic too.”
Terral was clearly on edge. “What do you want?”
She pointed a claw at her. “Me? Want? Nothing at all!” She pointed a claw at Terral. “You on the other talon. What do you want?”
Terral just stood there. All three of them knew what this was about. “I won’t do it. The empress’ plan,” he firmly said. And with a determined face. “But I’ll try to stop you.”
The IceWing only smiled. Not a smug or evil smile like he thought they would get. A… Hopeful? Smile?
“Hmm…” she looked at Celeritas, “We just might get a brighter future then.”
Instantly he knew. This wasn’t the enemy. She was just teasing them. An unexpected ally has appeared, and Pyrrhia still stood a chance against a destructive force they couldn't even comprehend.
"Dismantling Animus Magic won't be an easy task, that's why I'm here. Among the only dragons that can devise such a gargantuan task." She looked at Terral, "the Mind to develop it," she looked at him, "the Kindness to will it, and then, pointing exaggeratedly at her, "and the Body to withstand time."
Celeritas felt... hopeful? Just a few days ago he was blind to the dangers of Animus Magic. Then terrified at going to bed at the end of the day, knowing that it may be the last for civilization. But now, maybe they could save Pyrrhia from disasters now and forever. Even if it means giving away all his legacy. It was a future worth fighting for. And he was more than happy to do so.
Terral looked at him, looking for advice. He tried nodding with his eyes, and that, apparently worked, as Terral nodded too.
"Tell us what to do."