As Usual, I Was Silent. --1. Mansion--
#1 of AUIWS
WARNING: This story may contain references or acts of sexual relations between consenting characters, as well as familial actions of the same nature (IE incest). If these offend you, do not read.
You have been warned.
That's me there, dancing with the dragon. Or more accurately, my father. Every night we dance as if at a ball, just the two of us like this together. The way his eyes sparkle at me, the warmth of his smile, the tenderness of his hands, the grace of his motions, the power of his laughs...he's the most perfect man I could have ever asked for.
In fact, I didn't have to ask for him. And no, it wasn't the whole "package deal" thing of genealogy. Though it's certainly to do with a "package", heehee~. See, I've been alone almost all my life, and- ..well, maybe I should explain things a little more.
Chapter 1
When I was a baby, my parents had to give me up to the orphanage. Times were very hard, in fact, I'm only 19 and am just now seeing the world begin to improve and return to normal after the wars between the dragons and the furs and the humans. The Tri-Racial Wars, instigated by a dumbass of a president who couldn't decide on what to have for breakfast, much less decide what's best for a country. He was snide, arrogant, prideful, and looked down on anyone who didn't have a Neo-Harvard education.
Did I mention he was human?
All he ever did was promise change, but never did anything other than ramble on about his proposals. Never took any action. Yet he wanted to be one of the greats, so he manufactured his own world crisis to deal with. Y'see, for ages ever since our dimensions were fused, there have been issues between our kinds....
The Dragon planet was destroyed in a premature sun collapse, and their temporary life-support station where they all managed to evacuate to was sucked into the resultant wormhole. Many millions died from matter reconstitution. They were transported into our spacial territory and had to settle here.
The "Furs", a collectivized term for the anthropomorphic animals, were forced out of their home realm when a strange energy spike between two quasars ripped a gap between the space-time continuum. Many millions simply ceased to exist in that moment between their planet being destroyed and their people being somehow transported to this current rock.
The Humans...brought it on themselves through delving into chimerism and black hole research. They tampered with nature, and in turn it tampered with them tenfold. In their ever-increasing lust for power and destruction they crafted a horrible breed of creatures that could harness the power of black holes, in an attempt to eliminate nuclear warhead threats. Their home of Earth was destroyed, in fact it was completely annihilated in a nanosecond, when armies of these creatures clashed and the energy output caused a temporal rift that cut the transported human population to about eighty thousand.
In some strange twist of fate, all of us were placed on this planet, which the Humans title Eden but have changed to Paradisil, all at the same time. That was a thousand years ago. Since then we've come a long way, but as usual the Humans immediately attempted to rule everything and wipe out anyone not like them. It took 200 years to finally beat some sense into them. Of course, it was the Humans who innovated much of our modern world as it is today; most of our technology is Draconic in base, but the Humans, once they figured it out, were able to massively expand upon it. Now we have...or well, before the Tri-Racial Wars, had flying cars that ran solely on carbon dioxide and light. Crystals that could heal any illness. Just to name two of MANY.
The Humans ended up setting up a "democracy", which worked very well up until the modern age. Dragons, Furs, Humans, we've had many presidents, but the last one blew it all to hell for his own ego. Now, thanks to the damage from the war, I guess you could say our world is much like late 1800's AD to early 1900's AD back on Earth. Humans are smart, but stupid. This guy, whose name I loathe and will not give him even a slight honor of ever mentioning, basically pulled a lot of political strings and aggravated tensions between the Furs and the Humans, who were recently at odds over how to utilize the planet's "Neo-Oil", a strange liquid mineral with incredible energy output, but the refinement process is lengthy and costly. Eventually skirmishes broke out in smaller countries. The Dragons, seeking peace, worked with peaceful Humans to try and settle things amicably, but as luck would have it, it was the Humans (the pro-war faction) who ended up pissing off the Dragons. All hell broke loose because of politics and inter-country alliances, much like World War 2 on Earth, or the Pan-Amitre War of the Furs' world. And this president orchestrated it all for his own glory. He had everything set up to end the bloodshed, but in his pride he overlooked the vast hatred he'd invoked, and was brutally slain while deciding what to have for breakfast. Things fell apart after that and order disintegrated.
Due to the resources and economic drain, and various peace treaties, we've lost the desire or allowance to use most of our higher technology. The war raged for 30 years, draining and re-routing most of our production and making it so that we had little left to repair our failing tech with. Entire countries were torn apart and are now of little use except for farming. Many of us are poor and hungry because most of the pre-existing vast farmlands were destroyed as battlefields, and with all the dust the war kicked up, it takes much longer to grow things. It's not nearly as bad now as it was when I was born, but it's taken us years to recover. The war only ended 8 years ago and there's an entire world to feed. But it's thanks to the Catholic Humans that we even have survivors, they're the ones who organized the first relief efforts and hospitals once things were shut down. It's thanks to them I even had a home, for they funded and built the orphanage I was brought up in.
My life was...well, of course, difficult. The first five years I was trained to take cover at the sounds of gunshots or explosions. The rickety eaves on the windows in a high wind were enough to send us scattering sometimes. We all had to help with the local farms, I lost a few friends to tragic farm-equipment accidents. By the end of the day we were lucky to have eaten a bite of bread, but at the end of the week we always had a bowl of noodles, again thanks to the Human relief efforts. Sometimes some good beef stew. I was educated, though not nearly to the standard I should have been since the only teachers available were lower-level educators or tutors and not licensed public-school teachers.
What got me through all that was my brother. We were abandoned together, though he was about five years older. In fact he took care of me a lot, even when he lost his hand in a fight out in the fields at harvesting time. He and I are..or well, he was, both hybrids. Half-Dragon, quarter Human, quarter Wolf. The nice thing about being Dragons is that we're genetically superior to others, in the sense that we can inbreed; in fact my mother and father were brother and sister apparently. Where I'm going with this, well, he comforted me and gave me a lot of support and love which gave me the strength to keep going. When I was about 8 my brother found out, and ended up teaching me, about mating. Since we had to share the bed, I spent many nights quietly enjoying his nightly affection. And oh how I loved getting knotted. That only went on for about two years though before someone found out and he was sent to military training while I was transferred to another orphanage. Two months into it his barracks were bombed. That was the last crisis and the one that eventually led to the end of the war...but it left me stranded and completely alone. My parents were presumed dead, I had no known living relatives... The loss of my brother made me bitter and hollow, not to mention sexually frustrated for a while. I swore never to mate again. I don't remember much of my life after that. I continued going to school, which got better as the war declined and altogether stopped, but I don't remember much of it. When I was 16 I found work as a maid cleaning houses now that homes could be built again in safety.
Which, in turn, leads up to the present day.
How I found my father.
It was luck really, but a bit of a story.
I gained a bit of a reputation as a great maid, very efficient and meticulous of detail, though many said I seemed almost robotic because I was still so hollow. Never saying anything, never complaining, only speaking when spoken to, and very few words at that. One of my early clients ended up admiring my work and pointed me to the other side of town. The school was in the center of town and the orphanage was on the west side, I knew the west side up and down but had never set foot to the east past the schoolyard. So I was a little hesitant, but she said there was an old dragon there I could probably benefit from. She said he could probably use a little youth in his life. Like a good girl I simply agreed to give it an evaluation with no questioning or complaint, it would be a few extra ilchrons towards my next meal anyway.
Passing through the streets with my stuff in tow I noted that as usual, the buildings here were all run-down from the lack of resources, time or money to maintain, yet they seemed a little better developed than the west side. This must have been where the bigwigs lived. At 17 years of age, nearing my 18th birthday, I was probably a little rebellious aside from my robotic nonchalance...I think I broke a window with a stone when no one was looking. Again, my memory isn't clear. I eventually found the place, a rather old but luxurious-looking mansion up a dirt path through the woods. It being near winter, the leaves had all fallen, so the place had a very haunted look to it through the bare, pale branches. The house sat atop a gentle-sloped hill, with some rather beautiful but age-mossed fountains, paths and walkways of stone set or laid upon the sides. It felt like something out of a fairy tale or a fantasy, yet the aged look also made it feel like...a horror story. Horror fantasy. The house itself was like a huge H atop the hill, with the entrance in the lateral bar and the upper arms of the H following the slope of the hill down into a field behind. There are many places like this in our country, but thanks to the war and poverty, this was the first time I'd seen one. And it frightened me. Who was I appraising, was it some old creep who would want to peek up my skirt? And old miser or some mad scientist? Mad scientist wasn't all that far out on this planet given the technology advances. But I went up anyway, my footsteps echoing harshly off the stone masonry of the lower legs of the H. I could almost hear my breath, which was creepy, for the echoes made it seem like someone else was sneaking up on me with ragged, eager breath, waiting to pounce me. I hesitated at the door. The huge, moldy oak doors covered with moss and the wilted flowers of vines. Then I knocked.
I could hear the knock echo inside and outside of the house as if I'd just struck some deep bell of doom. I could smell the dust inside. Great. I had a huge workload ahead of me. I could almost feel as if something was bearing down on me, some watching, waiting presence daring me to disturb the peace again at my own expense. I could hear and feel the wind suddenly pick up around me, making me shiver as it went over my scales and ruffled my hair and the stripe of fur running down my serpentine tail...like icy fingers toying greedily with a silken prize.
Then BAM.
"Hey kid- whoa there! Why are you hiding?"
I carefully peeked around the edge of the bush I'd dived behind at the gunshot. Or no...where was the gun? I looked around for the voice and saw a white-scaled dragon looking down at me from the third floor of the left leg of the house. He was leaning through the window watching me.
"You looking for work kid? Well I don't have any here unless you can clean. Place is too big for me to keep tidy."
I was still shivering from the sound, so all I could do was nod.
"Yes...yes what? Looking for cleaning?"
I nodded again, a little more boldly.
He looked me up and down several times, then sighed. "Halright. I'll be down in a bit."
BAM.
I shivered on the ground with my arms over my head, but a repeat never came. Looking up again I looked for that window, but he was gone and all the windows were...closed? Was I cowering in fear from a rusty old window banging open and shut? I felt pathetic all of a sudden.
A few minutes passed, leaving room for that growing anxiety. It felt like everything was closing in on me again. The wind grabbed at my hair and fur once more, making me wrap my shirt and work-gown around my light-blue scales a little tighter. It hurt. The anxiety almost hurt. Finally though, the doors opened, surprisingly silent for such a massive weight and frame. The old dragon stood there...or was he old? He didn't look to be much older than 30 up close now, but we was definitely emotionally worn. His body, however, betrayed his exercise habits. He was buff. I almost blushed.
"Well now, seeing you up close you don't look so bad," he said, looking me over again. "Come in and I'll get you a drink, it must have been a long walk to get here." I followed him inside, dragging my bag of cleaning supplies with me. "Oh you can leave that at the door, no need to get started right away. I'll show you around first and you can see what you'd be up against." I just nodded again, following him into the kitchen just off to the right. In the middle of the H was a huge dining room that looked out into the back fields, displaying a gorgeous winter view of the distant mountains. The kitchen was large too, with enough room for three cooks to prepare large meals. "You won't have to touch this room, young lady, which I'm betting you'll be glad of. I practically live in here now so I take care of the kitchen. You want some water? Or some gulmi tea maybe?"
"Tea."
He smiled a bit and nodded, procuring some tea that was already made. Apparently I'd gotten here in time for it. Sipping the tea I followed him through the bottom floor of the right wings of the house. "The previous owners were rather extravagant partiers... but I prefer being alone most of the time nowadays..." he said, sounding very remorseful. Running his hand along a bedpost he paused for a while in thought. I took the chance to look around the room. All the walls were white, although a bit grayed with age, and there were slightly brighter spots on the walls where things had once been hung or attached, or where furniture had once been placed. Almost all the rooms were like this, except the bathrooms. The first floor was mainly galleries, studies and baths or showers, the second floor was bedrooms, and the third floor was now storage but appeared to have been studies for science. There were rather distinctive chemical stains, burns and scents up there in the empty rooms devoid of storage articles. On the second floor of the lower left wing there seemed to be an entire section of rooms closed off and taped up, but my host seemed to either not see that or intentionally passed it by without a word. I won't describe the whole house since that would take pages and pages, there were at least fifty rooms if not more, and apparently there was a basement as well but the doors had all been sealed off. All that matters was the pay. In fact, more than the pay.
"If you wish, young lady, you may live here. I can see you're from the orphanage. If you wish you may pick a bedroom to stay here. Your absence out there will give jobs to other orphanage maids if you're worried about that." I just stayed silent, staring at him with my soulless eyes. "Do you ever speak?"
"Not really."
He looked at me again strangely, then shrugged. "As you see fit. If you wish to work here you will clean the lower left wing first, but avoid that sealed area. All three floors. I take care of the central area and the kitchen."
I simply nodded again. It wasn't going to be all that hard since there wasn't a lot of furniture, just empty rooms. I needed to think over the lodging offer though, so afterwards he showed me to the door and I made my slow way home to the orphanage. That night was long and hard for me, because I had a lot to think about, and the water was off again so I couldn't shower. I'm used to not bathing but sometimes it just grates on me that I can't clean off, which didn't help my mood or thinking any that night. The other kids were rambunctious but I was definitely used to that, I fell asleep pretty late while a game of hide-and-seek tag raged around me.
The next day I was up early and made it to the mansion at about 9 in the morning. The door was open so I let myself in and got to work. That white dragon didn't stop by until about 10 or so to bring me a snack as he went upstairs carrying a tray of food. When he came back down the tray was empty. Did he eat lunch up there or something? Well, whatever. I had to dust the windows and sweep the floors. It was boring, but easy, much easier than the back-aching scrubbing I usually had to do. By the end of the day, not a word had been spoken but I'd gotten at least three whole rooms mostly clean, the corner rooms of the first, second and third floors. On my way back downstairs from the third floor though, I paused and stared at that strange sealed-off area. I thought I'd heard footsteps or a groan coming from there. Going back down into the kitchen I found the white dragon preparing another meal, though it seemed twice as much as what a normal dragon would eat in one sitting. He had a meal already set out for me, which surprised me.
"Go ahead and eat, you've earned it. Have you made up your mind yet?"
As usual, I was silent. I just shook my head as I slowly sat down and stared at the food.
"No rush, but please inform me of your decision." Cleaning his hands and stretching his wings a bit he continued. "As I said, you may choose any bedroom of your liking. However," he said, his tone dropping suddenly and a little harshly as he turned to me, with a strange light in his eyes, "There's another occupant of this house who prefers not to be seen anymore. He lives on the left lower wing second floor and must have his meals delivered to that door you saw closed off. He's the real owner of this place, though I take care of it for him. Essentially I'm the caretaker, though I basically do own it now since he spends all his time holed up there."
It made sense now I guessed, probably a war trauma victim or something. I remained silent and ate the meal he'd given me, it was delicious but I was too bitter still to voice any appreciation to anyone. As I left the building though I saw a face watching me through the curtains on the second floor. The whole way home, that face haunted me.
Not with terror, but with curiosity.