The History Of Zato -Revised-; Birth Of A Demon
((The first series of this went completely out of the way I envisioned it due to multiple reasons. I shall keep the older versions up for those that enjoy it, however, I do not see myself writing a continuation to that chain any time soon. This, however, will be how I properly envisioned the story and written to my own speed, not that of hurried posting for those of you who asked for it. I do not mean to sound rude, sorry if I am, but I wish to take my time and properly lay out why I see. Anyways, sorry for the wait, enjoy the read, and etc. Zato, etc, Copy-written to myself))
The world has been in peace for near on a thousand years now. Lands finally forgetting and putting aside their old grudges and pride, friendships springing up between enemies, and the land healing the burned out scars of past conflicts. Weapons have war rotted and unused, rarely seen to, while soldiers grew fat and lazy. None knew the way of the sword, spear, axe, the path of a warrior nor general. Fighting was all but forgotten in this new peaceful world. However, even the most picturesque reality had one smear, one smudge, one sin in its otherwise perfect view....
A long standing curse carried by the highest and most honorable of races; The Dragons. Their society the only one practicing the ways of war, the ways of battle, the ways of protecting themselves from a sin that was hidden by the very scales that so many proudly wore. It was a simple but terribly effective curse. Striking only once every thousand years. A curse that blended two bloods into one, two souls into a shell, the very essence of two races into one terrible weapon. Like its simplicity bore a simple name; Shi'nu Nalay, The Sinned Blood.
This curse was a last resort for the humans during a time many labeled as The End. The two strongest species wagging war upon each other for a reason no one could remember. Humans striking dragons, dragons striking human, and any who got in their way was pulverized by the attacking forces. No allies came to help either side, both left to fight for themselves. In the end, when the war was closing, the humans decided on sacrificing one thousand children to finally put an end to the once proud Dragons.
However, before the curse was placed, the spell locked upon the souls of each and everyone dragon out there, the Arch-mage changed the course of the spell. She, a mother herself, could not see how so many could sacrifice their children to preform genocide on a species that had given them so much, and for a war the humans themselves had started, as many believed. In the end, she sacrificed herself along with the children so the spell only struck once every thousand years and that each time a Sinned dragon was born, a Holy dragon would also be born of opposite gender to kill the Sinned one. These dragons were known only as; Nualie, The Guardians.
Many a human damned her bloodline, the reigning heads of the Mages, but none could deny the results. The spell may only strike every thousand years and with a Guardian as well, but the battle between the two always decimated the dragons numbers. Often leaving them on the utter brink of destruction, if it were not for their breeding cycles and the fact that any two dragons of opposite genders may lay together with no ill effects to their children. As long as there were two dragons, the blood of dragons would always reign and live.
On this very day, the fourth two-sunned sky of the ninth season, a dragon lay in a cave giving birth to a Sinned dragon. Her blood that of royalty, of the uttermost pride of their people.
=====
"Come now Isidia, calm down...you will worry the other hatchlings..." A red scaled male murmured to his mate.
Isidia on the other hand had no intention of even acknowledging his existence at the moment. She had been through this once before but the way her loins burned, muscles screamed to her to push and rid off the constant irritant that was a miss-aligned egg. Every push was futile and it did nothing to push the egg further along its path.
She glared with a stare that could kill and barred her fangs before another ear-splitting roar erupted from her maw and she found every muscle, organ, and otherwise inch of her body had tensed and purely concentrated on pushing that egg out of her. It had been two agonizing days of this process and nothing, her body was tired, her mind wary, and most of all her hatchlings thought she was dieing because of this. They were suppose to stay with their Elders for the laying, but those plans were shot when she found the egg wouldn't, and hadn't, budged.
"Mizau...please...go get the Elders....this egg will not come out.....I give up trying it myself...it will not move...I fear I may have injured myself in the process...hurry...and take the hatchlings with you..." She said in-between ragged breaths.
A nod, kiss to the nose, and Mizau was gone down a hallway in their cave and within a few moments she heard the hard beat of wings before it was drowned out by the storm. A smile slowly crept along her maw as she thought about her mate. He would anything for her, even fly through a storm like this without so much as a whimper. That was true love and it had to be since they had been mated for close to four hundred years now, but once a dragon mated, they rarely split from one another.
She shook to clear her mind and forced herself to lean forward enough to look into a small, clear water, pool that had naturally formed a few months prior. It was Goddess send for it to be there at that moment, though she cursed inwardly at how she looked. Sweat had worked its way from the hide underneath her scales and coated her otherwise pristine purple hued scales and her green neck plates were smudged with her own fluids from the laying, goddess only knows what the rest of her looked like, she dare not even think on it at the moment.
A sharp sting from deep within her caused her to whine and clench on reflex, the egg shifting around inside of her only a little from the motion before resettling into her like it had been for the past two days, to which she cried out. She had an easy time ignoring the pain due to the numbness that coursed through her body now, however, it did not stop the egg from sending a spark of pain up her spine every few moments. She could only pray and beg the goddess her mate hurried or else she would faint, it was already hard enough clinging to consciousness.
"You worry far too much Mistress Isidia..." A voice murmured from the shadows that caused the dragoness to jump out of her scales.
Her head shot off to the side and looked to none other then the Elder of Night, cloaked in the natural shade from the cave since most of her candles had burned out some time ago. If she was there, it would only mean the other Elders would be arriving in the approaching minutes. However, it was painful enough as it is, the thought of those minutes felt like days.
"Can't you just help me Elder Night? I have bore through this for two days already!" She begged, much against her will, but the pain was breaking her down.
"I do not think we should....I have already felt the unnatural aura of the hatchling inside you from when I first came here, I am surprised you have not." She spoke vaguely, barely above a whisper, as was her nature.
Of course, her words caused a space to form inside Isidia's head and she struggled to sort them out before a deep, purely feral growl burned out from deep within her and she nearly lunged at the Elder if it were not the pain that quickly followed suite and forced her to collapse onto her nest.
"I see you are here Elder Night...good...I take it you already know the situation...to which we all knew once we landed." Another voice stated in a soft, almost windy, tone.
However, Isidia did not stay awake too long after that, her body was tired and so was her mind, and she could barely mutter an I love you to her mate before the darkness took her.
=====
Isidia shifted and moved in her exhausted rest. Something, or someone, was healing it. This she knew, but she didn't want to be awake, she wanted to be asleep...the pain was too much. Wait...pain? Where was the pain? Her body felt...rested, as if she was never heavy, the only way that could happen is if she was asleep for an entire week, the same amount of time she needed to rest after laying.
She shot up and caused an emerald scaled dragon to shriek and jump back away from the shocked mother. However, Isidia paid her no mind and turned her eyes downcast, straight onto her belly which showed no signs of her ever being heavy. She held no fat from all the deers and cows she had eaten, and a few sheep, her slit was properly closed and not the least bit sore....what had happened?
"Mistress Isidia....it is good to see you awake." The emerald dragoness spoke in a official, and highly adoring, voice and bowed her head as she rested herself on all four legs.
"What happened Amalia? I remember the Elders arriving to help with my laying...what happened to the hatchling? What happened to my baby?!" She did not even try to hold back her roar as she quickly corrected herself on her limbs and flared her wings, the red shade of the membrane deepening to that of blood.
"He is outside with Master Mizau...taking his first breath of air...and enjoying his first rays of light....sunning his scales, if you would." Amalia held her head low, tail lowered to the floor and her torn wings resting on the stone floor of the cave.
Isidia went to take a step towards the door but her body froze and a deep chill shot up her spine. She knew this magic well, it was Night, she was watching from somewhere and would most likely make her presence soon. If not, this was some sort of punishment for a past deed she did not remember. Night rarely bothered herself with the populace.
"Mistress Isidia....I must bring some unfortunate news to those rather clueless ear holes of yours. Miss Amalia, please leave us for the time being."
Amalia bowed her head before giving a tilt, and off she went with her tail shutting the door as she left. It was only then that the pitch black dragoness moved out from the shadows, her body slowly molding to form a whole and not a shadow itself, and those bright golden eyes met her own purple.
"Mistress Isidia, I will not delay myself any longer. I have already waited two long weeks for you to awaken and I have urgent business I must attend too if we ever wish to remove the Hindering Wall. Your recent whelp, named Zato by your mate Mizau, is a Demon Dragon. However, the only reason he still lives is due to him being a Cross Breed, as you know well means the curse might not effect him. He is part Viper, part Demon. We need you to teach him to be as much of a Viper dragon as you can. Make him ignore his other affliction and do all you can to ignore it yourself. May the Goddess watch over you and grant you many more years of love, life, and happiness." Her tone was bored, annoyed, and slightly depressed but Isidia did not care, nor care when the dragon faded back into the shadows.
Her whole body felt weak...tired...shocked. Her child was a demon dragon? Part or not, he STILL had the Sin Curse upon him...why her bloodline and not her sisters? Why did she have to be cursed with a child of the Sin of their race? She could not bear the thought alone. Even half-breed, he had the potential and then some to lay waste to their entire race and those of the others.
"Momma! Are you awake yet!?" A high-pitched, but somewhat gentle, voice screamed from the main chamber of her families cave.
Instantly, her thoughts were washed away as their oldest came trotting into their room. She was fair a dragoness. Bright golden scales covered her body like freshly polished gold coins with white plate scales that ran from her chest down to groin, continuing down to the very tip of her tail. Aside from her scales, she looked like any normal teenage dragoness. Lithe, loved to fly, enjoyed training her magic, and more then once enjoyed lit a passing bird on fire.
"Yes...yes I am Shiall. Where is your newly laid brother? I take it father has him?" She asked in a somewhat depressed tone, doing her best to hide it from her child, but failing horribly.
The only response was a nod from the gold before she vanished back into the main chamber. Isidia instantly followed suite, trailing behind her daughter as they passed chamber after chamber of their cave. The effects and ill cleaning attempts of her mate went ignored for the time being, she was more focused upon seeing this new...son of hers. However, she did not have to wait long to that effect.
A loud, long, squeak filled the entire cave as a black and blue blur ran past her and her daughter. Isidia could feel the little one cower behind her rear legs before the sound of roared laughter came to her ears. Oh Miz...how you enjoy to torture the young ones, she thought with a soft giggle.
Her ill thoughts had instantly vanished at that, she couldn't help it. One look at the whelp and her heart melted. His scales were a perfect shade of black, as empty and void as the night and shown like polished Onyx. The blue plate scales along his belly shown like the sky after a storm, and the way he cowered with the same innocence of any other hatchling...one could not believe him to be of Sin blood. Maybe, just maybe, he could live through the curse.
===== 50 Years later =====
"Zato, Come here! It's time for dinner!" His mothers voice rang out as he simply let it wash over his ear-holes.
He was more interested at the corpse in front of him. He knew it was corpse, the stench showed that much. However, it was no corpse he had seen before. No deer, not a boar, not a tiger, and certainly not one of his own kind. It only had fur on the top of its head, no muzzle, no fangs, and a odd colored skin. It looked like clouds, white, almost like snow. Curiously, he inched closer a few steps and took a few sniffs before quickly sneezing and shaking his head. It smelt horrid!
After a minute, he moved forward once again and bumped it with his nose, making it roll over with multiple clanks and clinks sounding out. He was a little shocked to see this creature was the same length as he, but it wore...plates of metal. A creature born of metal...no, it would not stink if it were metal. It would simply smell like metal. This...thing, smelt like death.
"Get away from that human now Zato! Now!" The angry and hissed voice of his mother caused him to cringe and make a hasty retreat behind her.
Now he could do little more then sit in place as his mother moved forward and examined the body before them. Right away he knew it worried his mother due to the face that she made. However, it did not last long before fire erupted from her maw and left little more then ashes in front of her. He thought he heard a tch from her and "Pathetic armor" come from her maw, but he did not know for certain.
=====
"You do not understand love! A human was not even a hundred paces from the cave! The damned wind kept us from smelling him! If they were that close, we need to move to another cave! Before one of hatchlings pay for it!" Isidia spoke in a worried and angered tone, doing her best to control her emotions but horribly failing.
"Love, it was probably just a ban-" Miz was cut off as a clawed-paw slapped him across the cheek and muzzle.
"He bore the Freehaven Lion Emblem! He wore scouting armor! He was looking for us! Dragons! You know humans use our scales! And no, we will not go back to the kingdom! We chose a live outside the kingdom due to the rules! It only because of my blood that the Elders come here...." Her voice lowered and her head hung as Miz rubbed the spot he was smacked.
Unbeknownst to them both, Zato sat outside their section of the cave and pondered what he had heard. Human? Scouting Armor? Freehaven? He gave a soft shake of his head and simply made his way to his own room in the cave. He did not bother himself with how his room looked but more so on how he knew of those terms now. He couldn't recall an image of any, but somewhere, in his mind, it felt like he had a huge untaped knowledge...or memory of the world. How did he even know this?
His thoughts were disturbed as a scroll thudded onto the stone floor before him, drawing his attention to it with a huff. On the outside it bore the symbols for "Demon. Blood. Heritage." He only knew the most basic of runes and did not know most of the ones covering the book, he did not even know how he had read the first three. He hadn't been taught how to read yet.
Once again his attention was drawn away as he heard his mother call out for dinner, to which he readily stood up and went towards the door of his room. However, before he left, he turned and hid the book under his nest before bolting out as he heard the hissed tone his mother used when her patience was being tested.
===70 Years Later===
"Good boy! That's how it's done! You're a natural!"
Zato heard his father say from down below him as he gave a spin in the air. He had only been flying for a week now and had mastered it. His brother and sister both took near on two months to get where he was. However, he could not help it. The feeling of wind caressing your wings, the feeling and smells carried so high above the earth, and just...the pure freedom the Sky bestowed upon you. Now he knew why Dragons were creatures of flight. None liked to be on the ground for long, and those Wingless ones were a heavily cursed race.
"Come back down now! Dinner is here! And your brother is back from the Kingdom!"
That caused his eyes to slit and to give a strong tilt, aiming to land directly at the mouth of the cave. Once his claws tapped the stone, he was in a mad dash for the main chamber of the cave, directly passing his father and passing sister.
It was not long before he found his brother, or more so he found him, for around the last turn Zato slammed snout first into a strong, metal, plate. The impact sent him onto his ass and within seconds tears came to his eyes and he began to sneeze heavily, repeatedly. His nose had always been so damn sensitive! The bellowed laughter of his Brother and even his mother soon reached his hears in-between sneezes, causing him to blush as he continued to do so.
"Oh little brother. We must look into the Mages making a spell to counter that problem of yours!"
"Now now Izzac, enough is enough. Time for dinner, little one."
His mother cooed to him and he simply moved over to the deer set at his space and dove into it with full mawed bites. As he did, the others conversed with each other about the kingdom.
=======
"And then a Guardian comes up and blames it on me for being related to a Shi'nu Nalay-"
Everyone fell quite as he said that and looked upon Zato, who simply returned the look with a left sided tilt of his head and a quite mewl. He had heard that name before and all he knew it had something to do with blood and that it had something to do with him. Anything else his family and friends heavily hid from him, even going as far as burning most of the scrolls that held more information about it.
"Uhh...sorry brother...." His brother muttered while hanging his head in shame. It was truly odd to see a dragon that possessed a voice of gold to mutter.
"Fer wha?" Came Zatos reply as he took the last chunk of edible meat from the deer hide, much to the laughter of his sister.
He was not one for manners, if he was hungry, he was going to dive in. Evident by how much blood was on his face and muzzle.
"One day we might tell you, my son." His mother muttered out as well and he simply shrugged while nosing towards a sheep in the middle of the carcass pile.
"Anyone going to eat that? Or can I?" He said while licking his muzzle clean and listening to the renewed laughter of his family.
=====120 years later=====
Zato stood upon the rivers edge while looking at his reflection in the waters distorted surface. Earlier, his mother had said he had the body of a teenager, but he was barely entering Whelpling years. What puzzled him even more was that he possessed the skills and knowledge of an Elder. Truly, he had never thought about it. It just...came to him.
He tilted his head to the side and stood side-ways in the water. His scales were cleaned to perfection, shining like polished Obsidian. Plate scales as brilliant as the sky after a storm, while his eyes were as black as night, save for the bright green slit in his right and a bright blue in his left. To himself, he looked normal, save for his eyes. However, his father had explained that it was in his blood for eyes like this, from his fifth Ancient, if he remembered.
And size-wise, he was twelve feet high and forty-eight feet long, wasn't that normal? Granted, he did dwarf his brother and sister who were approaching their five hundredth hatchday. What made him a freak? Why....did he not fit in? His friends parents had stopped them playing together, his sister and brother rarely came near him now, and even his parents looked the other way upon seeing him when they could. He was only two-hundred and forty!
"Oh you poor dear...." A soft, hissed, almost....heavenly voice sounded out behind him that caused his wings to shudder and his body to spin around.
As his eyes fell upon the voices owner, he froze. It was a dragoness, almost the same size as him, with pure white scales that looked like freshly fallen snow and piercing blue eyes with relaxed slits. She had no intention of attacking from her eyes, so he relaxed, but still...something about her was strange. Her presence felt...empty. As if she were not there.
"Why is such a handsome drake, such as yourself, all alone out here?" She began to move towards him, her body moving in perfect motions and making his head follow. Perfect, sensual, motions.
It was then something in his head clicked and he lashed out with his tail, swatting the dragoness with a perfect whipped motion. However, no contact was made, but the dragoness before him distorted and faded into nothing with a giggle that made a shiver rush up his spine.
A secondary instinct kicked in that moment and he looked up, looking for enough room to fly out through the trees but everyone was blocked, tree limbs and branches blocking everyone making take-off too dangerous for him to risk to his wings.
Seeing as there was no escape he did what his mind said to do, a second, whispering voice in his head. He shut his eyes and listened. No branches breaking, no leaves crunching, nothing. If there were more....things out there, they were not making a sound. However, this action was not the only one he was doing. Small licks of flame escaped out of his maw now and then while he mentally noted the damage he was about to cause to his families territory. They were going to be pissed....
His mind and senses snapped behind him as birds took off out of their trees and he flipped around before opening his maw wide and letting loose his flame-jet. A huge cone, six feet by six, erupted from his mouth and all of the trees and creatures before him burned to a crisp as the blue-hot flames erupted from him, another trait only he had in his family. Hotter flames.
"What are you doing Zato!?" A familiar voice sounded out behind him and he stopped his flame, coughing heavily as his mouth tingled. He was still not familiar and experienced enough to truly do his flame and control it, but he knew enough to save himself.
"Friah! Someone was here! An Illusion!" He muttered out in-between gasps to look at his friend. However, the second their eyes meet, he dreaded what he had done. He knew he had just made a huge mistake...
"It was my sister! We were messing around!" Friah, an orange scaled male, said through a breaking voice as he sprinted past Zato who stood there.
Zato couldn't move, his mind and body just shut down. Had he truly been so foolish to not notice it? Had he just killed one of his friends, who in the first place he was shocked to know had snuck out of their den in the first place to even consider playing a prank of them. Slowly, the world around him began to dim, and he through he was about to faint....however, he was quite wrong.
His eyes snapped open and he shot onto all fours. His scales were coated in sweat and his body burned, it was a nightmare...one he seemed to have broadcasted through telepathy due to his entire family looking at him. Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother each of them had a dreaded look upon their face and he couldn't help but back away before bolting out of the cave, but not before grabbing the long-hidden book with his tail from below his nest. He did not know why he did nor what had caused his mind to snap into action. Something about their eyes, how they looked upon him, how each of them had a look of...shame. Like they didn't want him...how was he a freak?!
======
Distance and time were of no worry to him. He did not know how long nor how far he had run but he knew his lungs burned and his limbs screamed at him to stop. Yet, he couldn't, he told his body to stop, but it did not listen. A second voice in his head kept telling him to run, hide, protect himself to get away from the family that looked upon him like he was dirt upon the floor.
After what seemed like an eternity his body finally listened and slowed down to a full stop. Loud, ragged, pants left his maw as he sat in a clearing. His eyes were completely focused upon the floor as he rested, air once again returning to him and limbs slowly growing numb before he flopped onto the floor. Where did that voice always come from? A second, whispering voice that seemed to control him, one that always came at the darkest times. It wasn't his own nor was it "conscious" as his mother had put it once. It was...deep, echoed like a voice in a dark cave, and always made a chill run down his spine that caused his wings to twitch. However, something seemed so familiar, so...comforting about it. It held such confidence in it's speech. It spoke with an authority even his family didn't use and it felt like...like it truly wanted to help him.
He shook his head and rose up on shaking limbs. Enough thinking about that. He was out in the world by himself, barely a whelping but the size of an adult, he had to find somewhere to rest tonight...until the morning. Then...then he'd find somewhere to go....someplace to call his own. Where no one would look upon him in shame, contentment, anger....where he'd be by himself. No danger could come to those that didn't bother others, right?
=====Ten months later=====
Zato stood upon the stone overhang of his cave home and let out a sigh. He had come out to take a flight but there was no energy in his body. It'd been like this for a few days now, each day he awoke with less and less energy, motivation, will to do anything other then rest in the make-shift nest of bird feathers, twigs, and moss. All day he had been looking and barely tweaking his nest, nothing else in his cave to look out save for bones from meals, and it took him nearly an hour just to get out here!
Why, why did this happen now? Why was he so...drained. True, he had been training his magic and ablities as of late, but he never pushed himself TOO hard. He if he did it could have some...unsavory side effects. Magic Discharge being the worst of it, and just thinking of it made him quake. It only happened when a dragon was completely drained of any form of mana, it only came upon trying to perform a spell. The spell would course through the dragons body and normally left them paralyzed for weeks or...dead.
"You know....for too long I've stayed content just being your conscious but I'm done....you are unbearably stupid even with the knowledge I grant you!" A echoing, feminine, voice sounded out from behind him and he jumped around to see...nothing.
"Oh...do forgive me." It said again before a figure began to fade in.
At first, it was a blur. Then, slowly, it formed to be quite the...human? She stood about seven foot with a perfect figure, full set of breasts, covered with a black silk cloth and a black loincloth around her waist. Yet, he knew she wasn't human, due to the full bat wings on her back and the long, slender, black tail that ended in a heart-shaped spade. Her eyes were also a key-point to look at...they were his.
"I, my dear vessel, am a Succubus, as the humans take to calling us. However, in your language I am a Shi'nu. You, my dear drake, are a Shi'nu Nalay. You are a Sin Dragon. I am the demon that possess' your mind, body, and soul. You are me, as I am you. We are one and the same. Before you give into that thought of attacking me, nothing will happen. I am but a illusion cast forth by your own magic. I am still very much hidden within your body. Now...let's talk about some ground rules...." She said as he simply stood there.
It was true that he wanted to attack her, yet his body did not respond. It just stayed there, perched in place, looking at her. What the hell was this? What the fuck happened to make this happen? What was going to happen to him....
To Be Continued.....