DAKARAI — THE ONE TRUE KING [DNP]

[magpiemochi.]

....MAIN ADOPTION THREAD

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....MISC. INFORMATION
....CREDITS/WORD COUNT

[magpiemochi.]

UN: ᴊᴀᴍᴇs.|| N: Dᴀᴋᴀʀᴀɪ || GFBP: ᴍᴀʟᴇ

DAKARAI: an African name meaning 'happiness'. His mother chose the name for him since she had never once known any sort of happiness until she was gifted his egg by the goddess.

PERSONALITY: Very confident and chock full of conviction. Dakarai is always ready to stand up for what he believes is right even if it means suffering the consequences. Although he's rather serious most of the time, he certainly knows when and how to have fun.

Incredibly nurturing and kind to children: growing up surrounded by females molded him into the patient, nurturing, and fatherly viscet he is now. Dakarai is very empathetic, especially when it comes to not only his own child, but any child. Along with being a kind and nurturing father or father figure, Dakarai is also a doting and protective partner, making sure whoever he's with is both spoiled rotten and safe.

Finding said partners is a different story. While Dakarai doesn't consider himself to be picky in regards to relationships, he just does a fair amount of traveling and understands how hard it is to establish a relationship around that. Because of his need to be constantly on the move, he considers himself to be a bit of a loner; at least until he finds his place in the world. The one location he can finally call home without hesitation.

Not everything is rainbows and butterflies when it comes to Dakarai's personality; he has a bit of a darker side as well. As loving and caring as he is, Dakarai is also very cynical when it comes to strangers. He met his fair share of viscets pretending to be something they're not in order to pull a fast one on him; he learned very quickly how to be wary of strange viscets. Dakarai also has a short fuse, though he does his best to keep it to himself. Sometimes the anger is just too much for him to handle, so he'll usually find an inanimate object to use as a punching bag of sorts, fearful he'll accidentally take his anger out on another viscet.

All of this anger stems from many different things: how he had been treated within his village, the death of his mother, the death and loss of several comrades during his time in the viscet army, and the fact that he still feels as though he allowed his closest relationship to fail. Canary; a vibrant and beautiful viscet who he fell hard and fast for. She was perfect in every way and even granted him a child of his own: Lisette. The two are still close friends, but he harbors a lot of regret concerning the failed relationship, but who doesn't do the same thing when something as important doesn't work out?

It's no secret that, because of everything he's been through and seen, Dakarai also suffers from a relatively minor case of PTSD. IT started with night terrors after his mother died and grew worse after his time in the viscet army. Loud thunder sets him on edge and being started throws him into a full blown panic. A lot of his anger issues absolutely stem from his PTSD and he plans to see a therapist for it in the future, but right now, he claims he's just too busy; deep down, he knows it has more to do with his pride than anything else.

[magpiemochi.]

P R E L U D E

A brightly coloured egg accented with dark spots and lines was laid almost a month too late. Just one more month and the season would have passed; there would be no heir to raise once again. The old Queen would be run out of the village along with those loyal to her and the ones left behind would have to start all over again. The tradition was an ancient one. Ancient rules, ancient commandments that have been disputed by the divine viscet Herself, but the villagers didn't want to listen.

According to their ancient ways, an egg must be produced by that of divinity. The Queen wasn't convinced of these ways, though many had done their best to convince her that is exactly how she came to be Queen: a divine presence gave way to a hearty and healthy egg within her mother's belly. She was skeptical but desperate. Without this 'tradition', she wouldn't have a home. She would be called a fraud, and she would consider herself lucky if all they did was run her out of the village. This was her last and only chance.

To her knowledge, this was the only village like hers. It was relatively normal except for one important detail: there were no males. The village was run by nothing but capable females. The eggs that had been laid and hatched in the village truly were little miracles put in place by a divine presence.

Much to her relief and absolute excitement, the Queen laid her egg during the night hours and decided to wait until the morning to tell the others. In all honesty, she didn't want her people to have anything to do with her new egg, but she knew what was required of her. The tired Queen looked down at her bright egg. Her egg spotted and marked with stripes. "Beautiful," she had whispered under her breath and a tear was beginning to brim against her lid until she felt eyes on her. Dark eyes focused through the dark until she met a glow of another's eyes. Anger attempted to bubble over but she could do nothing more except release a quiet chuckle. It wouldn't be long now before the entire village was aware of what had happened. Within only a couple of hours, every single viscet in the village circled around the Queen, staring in awe at the egg by her side. They were ecstatic: there would be another Queen to rule yet another generation. Also relieved because none of them were looking forward to exiling their current Queen, but it was something that had to be done if she wasn't able to produce an heir.

It seemed as though their worries were over for the time being, now all they had to do was wait for the egg to hatch so they could all fawn over their new princess. Admittedly, the Queen, as much as she hated how crowded her egg was, started to enjoy the attention. It was attention she hadn't had in just over a year. At least not since the last season had come and gone. This time, she truly felt like a Queen. She had done her duty; she thanked whatever divine presence gifted her this tiny little miracle in the form of a brightly spotted egg.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....O N E

As the months passed by one after another, the Queen of the M'Bari village was starting to feel a bit nervous about the fate of her egg. Shouldn't it have hatched by this time? Had she sat on it too hard? Too long? Not long enough? Was there a chance she might have coddled the egg just a bit too much and cut its life off before it even began? Such thoughts raced through her mind at the speed of light and she knew her people were wondering the same. The looks upon their faces told a much different story than what she had seen before she laid the egg. Instead of anger and impatience, she saw genuine concern mixed with a certain sadness she couldn't quite place. Were they sad over the situation regarding the egg, or were they sad that they would have to exile their Queen were the egg to die? The Queen gulped at the thought and turned her head away from the ever watching eyes. The villagers weren't the best at taking a hint, but she hoped with everything in her that they would understand this time. It was simple: she merely wished to be left alone, especially in such a time of dismay.

"Alright everyone," a meek voice spoke from the crowd surrounding the makeshift nest, "showtime's over for now. Everyone back to their stations." One of them must have taken the hint and waved along the rest so that the Queen could have some time alone with her egg. She was thankful, but she didn't have the energy to vocalize it. The moment she had privacy from prying eyes, tears escaped her tired eyes. Deflated, she finally released the choked sobs she had been holding in for hours upon hours; probably more like days. As much as she wanted to wail out in emotional agony, the Queen managed to keep her sobs quiet in fear that the villagers would come back to see what all the commotion was about. However, she wasn't able to stay silent for very long as she heard a small noise come from the space next to her. It sounded like a small crack. Her ears perked up, eyes wide, she stared at the egg until it wiggled nearly out of the nest. Ecstatic, the Queen grabbed the egg and bellowed a loud guffaw which resulted in the villagers piling back into the small area.

"It's happening!" One of the onlookers exclaimed happily. "Look at how it wiggles!" Another giggled, pointing at how the small egg seemed to dance around the nest despite its mother's grasp. "I've never seen anything like it!"

For the first time in a very long time, the Queen looked up at the gathering crowd and smiled, tears of happiness brimming her lids. The next couple of hours swung back and forth between exciting and non-eventful. Sometimes the egg would stir and crack a little more, and other times it would just sit there. During these silent times, everyone would hold their breath, just waiting for the next time it moved and cracked. The Queen and her villagers were worried for nothing when finally, a tiny figure burst from the egg, eyes closed, and paws already waving in order to find its mother.

"Well, hello there, little one."

The paw waving and teeth gnashing ceased the moment the tiny viscet heard its mother's voice, and instead, it waddled its way to her and plopped against her side with a yawn. It was obvious by their facial expressions that all of the villagers wanted to hoot and holler over what they just witnessed, but their respect to the future 'Queen' overpowered their urge. They would let the viscling sleep, but they whispered amongst themselves that tomorrow was time for celebration, and celebrate they would.

Anxiety and a flurry of emotions finally took hold of the Queen and she lowered her head after taking a teary-eyed once over at her new offspring. Before she knew it, she drifted off into dreamland, though it was seemingly short lived. Upon waking, she was ready to bite the head off of whoever woke her until she realized it was her newly hatched viscling, then her demeanor changed drastically; she was even on the verge of tears yet again. Tears of happiness, of course.

"I'm sure you're hungry, hm?" She purred against the tiny cheek before poking her tongue out to clean the fur against her lips, something the viscling didn't seem to appreciate at all. If anything, she got a kick out of the look she was given by this tiny creature. Once her eyes were clear after at least a few hours of rest, she was finally able to really get a good look at her newly hatched —-

SON?

This was quite the miracle child, wasn't it? With eyes round as saucers and jaw dropping nearly to the floor, the Queen circled the child, words of the villagers replaying in her head,

'... future Queen of the village.'

'... our new Queen.'

Oh, dear. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. As excited as she still was over her little bundle of joy, she had zero idea how the villagers would react to the first male on the island in centuries. The divine certainly had an interesting sense of humor.

For the time being, the Queen pushed such thoughts to the back of her head. She needed to continue with what she had been doing beforehand which was feeding her now grumpy child. She was thankful that the villagers had brought small offerings in the form of berries, different fruits, small amounts of meats, and what looked to be grass clippings. Once the viscling spotted the foods, he stumbled out of the nest, nearly tripping over his long locks of colorful hair as he did so.

While he chowed down on the food, the Queen needed to come up with a plan. Nothing complicated, really. What she needed to do was come up with a way to tell the others exactly what was going on. How was she going to do such a thing? What would she do if they reacted poorly and attempted to exile her, or even worse, exile her newly hatched offspring? Then she would just have to take him into the woods and start anew.

Thankfully, she couldn't see them being that malicious and vindictive; they would have to give her son a chance to prove himself, and with her guidance, he would do just that and even more. At the thought, the Queen flicked her head back, loving gaze focused on him as he ate; oh yes, he would prove himself. He would accomplish whatever it was he wanted to do. Even if that something had nothing to do with this village. She had been stuck there for far too long. In all honesty, she didn't want the same fate for her own son, but if she was going to help him break out of the shell the village managed to place over every viscet, then she would have to be cunning. Subtle. They would have to be inseparable; the best of friends. They would need to work together so he could reach a brighter future that she'd only seen for herself in dreams.

He would be the new King, but not of the village. Her precious son would be the new King of the world if that's what he wanted to be.

The following days weren't as stressful as the Queen expected them to be. Yes, the first reaction to her announcing that her child was indeed a male had some of the other viscets chuckling and shaking their heads, thinking it was all a joke, but once they realized she was being serious, their expressions turned stoic. During those few moments of silence as they all thought about the situation at hand, the Queen could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she gripped her small son tighter in her arms. It felt as though she had been waiting an entire eternity before one of them finally spoke up only to ask, "well... have you decided on a name? We should know what to call our future —-" the viscet paused in order to look straight at the viscling in the Queen's arms, "-— our future King."

She was surprised she didn't pass out when she finally exhaled and realized she had been holding her breath through the pause, but a grin broke her features instead. Though lightheaded from the anxiety, the Queen stepped forward, chest out and head held high. She was proud of the fact that she was given the first male in centuries and that male was her very own son. She was proud of the fact that, with the divine's help, she created this perfect little specimen. The resemblance between the two was uncanny; there was no denying that she was the full-blooded mother of the viscling in her arms.

"Yes," she responded at long last, "I've been thinking about it since I first laid eyes on him. Non-stop, trying to come up with a name fit for a King." The look of adoration was all too obvious as she glanced down at the viscling who was completely oblivious to the conversation they were all having, and found his paws to be the most exciting thing in the world at that moment. She didn't care. He didn't need to be eloquent and proper. He didn't need to act like a King. Not now, and not ever. If he wanted to play with his paws and chase his tail right into adulthood, well she would certainly let him.

"Dakarai."

Another bout of pride swelled in her chest as he let go of his back paw in order to swivel his head around to look at her when she announced the name to the crowd. Oh, he was a quick learner.

'It means happiness,' she thought to herself, eyes meeting the tiny viscling in her arms, 'because you have made me the happiest I've ever been in my life.' As she thought the words, she could swear that he was able to hear them in his own ears; the way his eyes focused on hers. She had his complete attention and she was on the verge of another breakdown from pure happiness.

"Dakarai, huh?" One of the villagers spoke up, interrupting her thoughts and breaking the connection between mother and son. His head swiveled to look at the viscet who said his name, and she couldn't help but to smile at the child despite the ill feelings she certainly had regarding his gender. "I guess he is kinda cute."

"Yes," the Queen responded, "he is absolutely beautiful."

The hesitation was sensed by the Queen herself, and she wondered what exactly they were even hesitating for. Were they wanting to say more? Perhaps they would accept the new King but then toss her out of the village without a moment’s hesitation. Now, something like that just wouldn’t do at all. The Queen had told herself she wouldn’t get attached to the small viscling currently in her arms, just as her mother didn’t allow herself to get attached to her, but it was impossible for the Queen. The way he looked up at her with those bright yellow eyes, so full of hope and a child’s curiosity; how was she supposed to distance herself? Instead, she wanted to give him the world. She wanted to protect him from the cruelty of those around them, but she knew sheltering him wasn’t the right thing to do despite how terribly she herself had been sheltered in her childhood.

Finally, cheering broke her quiet reverie and she looked up to see the crowd clapping and barking out in happiness. “All hail the new King!” They all chanted in unison before breaking out in dance while others went to grab instruments and refreshments. Apparently, though a few days late, a party was being held for the newly hatched viscling. It took them a few days, but the Queen was relieved to see that they were on the path to fully accepting her child, even though it wasn’t a new Queen as it always had been centuries upon centuries before her. What did that mean for her? It was a question she pondered ever since she laid eyes on her son. What made her so different? Was it a sign, perhaps? She liked to think so. The Queen liked to think it was a sign from the divine herself that they needed to break free from the ancient tradition and accept modern ways. In keeping their minds closed and eyes blind to the outside world, they were regressing. They were turning into feral animals once more and that thought frightened her. She wondered why the rest of them couldn’t see what was happening; why they were just accepting the ancient texts with their ridiculous rules as gospel.

But their acceptance of the first male viscet seemed to be a step forward. Perhaps they would begin to break free of their invisible binds all thanks to the one little miracle.

Of course, only time would tell.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....T W O

At first, there was cause for concern as weeks turned into months, months into years, and little Dakarai just didn’t seem to grow too much. It looked as though his back legs were underdeveloped especially for a viscling his age, but then again, the Queen had never had her own viscling before. She didn’t know the first thing about their development or what was supposed to happen during the stages. Though seemingly right before her very eyes, he finally grew. A sudden and unexpected growth spurt that had him molting everywhere, grey feathers fell from his tiny body with every single step, and his back legs grew longer and much much stronger. Suddenly, he wasn’t able to walk on all fours anymore and was required to learn how to balance himself enough to stand upright for more than a few minutes. The process usually only took a couple of hours each day and more often than not, resulted with them in a pile, laughing until their voices grew hoarse.

Of course, time goes on and viscets age; Dakarai wasn’t immune to this process at all and eventually grew to be a very large, very handsome viscet. At a young age, the voodoo priestess of the village ordered him to continue growing his mane until it was at an appropriate length to begin the process of dreading it. At first, Dakarai wasn’t too keen on the idea, but with his mother’s support and guidance, he finally accepted it. Now as he’s older, Dakarai has done a little more than just accepted the style; he even likes it now. The priestess who did the style would tell him that it signifies his status among the rest of them to which he would usually scoff and roll his eyes at. Knowing what his status was in the village wasn’t important to him, and he definitely didn’t hide that fact. The priestess, who he later learned was called Zoya, would only smile at his reactions before throwing a cheeky smirk at his mother who was always watching closely when he would spend time with Zoya. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her; no quite the opposite, actually. The Queen was curious about how they acted with one another, and wondered if Dakarai would notice how openly and genuinely she accepted him in comparison to the others.

At first, the relationship between the two was strained, just as all of his relationships with the viscets in the village were, but he began to really sense the same genuineness that his mother did when she was younger. When Zoya opened up more to him, it was obvious that he was hooked on her stories of adventure and the places she had been.

“Where else have you been?” Dakarai asked as Zoya performed the weekly maintenance to his dreadlocks.



“Keep your voice down, child.” The old voodoo priestess hushed him with a gentle pat to his head before continuing to fidget with the braids beneath her paws. There were no walls to her small and dark hut, so their voices would carry on the wind and to a nosy viscets’ ear if they weren’t quiet. She answered the question anyway under a breathy chuckle, “I’ve been everywhere. Mountains, valleys, cities —-” Zoya was cut short by the loud gasp from Dakarai.

“Cities?” He would have turned to face her with wide and curious eyes if she hadn’t grabbed his head to stop him from doing so. Dakarai had heard plenty about the cities that sprawled for miles far, far away from their tiny and seemingly insignificant village. Not only had he heard Zoya speak about them many times in hushed whispers, he had also seen them with his own two eyes in the form of visions. This is something he decided to keep to himself, at least for the time being. He trusted Zoya, of course, but he needed to be absolutely positive they were visions instead of very vivid dreams before dragging someone else into his small mess.

“Sorry,” he chuckled once he was snapped back to reality by his own thirst for more knowledge —- more stories. “Please continue.”

After giving his head a small pat once she finished twisting the remaining hair, Zoya continued, but only with a question: “do you want to see the cities, Dakarai?”

The male pondered for a moment. Of course he wanted to see the cities up close and personal (seeing them in his own private visions and dreams hadn’t been enough) but was he ready to admit that to Zoya? Admit that, even though he’d grown up in the village just as she had, he felt as though his heart belonged within towering skyscrapers and dusty apartments?

“Yes,” was his quiet reply as he shifted to face the slightly greying viscet. She was beautiful in a way that an old and forgotten library was. A plethora of ancient knowledge guarded by a tough and intimidating exterior that no one bothered to try and understand in order to unlock the secrets within. Zoya was a very hard viscet who didn’t hesitate to speak her mind, and that’s precisely what bound the friendship together. The glue between the two viscets was deeper than that of a child and mentor; Zoya was his unspoken godmother. Should anything happen to his own mother, Zoya would take him into her own care without hesitation.

“Ever since I first heard you talking about your travels, I’ve thought about it.” Sun kissed eyes met those of darkness, a warm smile lifting his cheeks, “Imagining that one day, I too will be able to see all that this world has to offer.”

Small, age-stained fangs peeked from under her lips as a smile of her own broke the stoic aura she had always carried with her. “One day, my child. One day.”

The words spoken by the voodoo priestess set him on edge for the following days. So much so, that his mother noticed right away that something wasn’t quite right with her son. Each time he was asked by his mother, Dakarai brushed it off to be nothing at all, though it was those words playing in his head over and over again: ‘one day, my child. One day.’

What did Zoya know that he didn’t? Had she been able to see his visions? Read his mind? It all grew even more puzzling as time went on and he was first trained and given the task of the villages new voodoo priest. He had always enjoyed watching Zoya work her magic, but once he was behind the scenes himself, he realized how truly boring it really was —- something Zoya would have a laugh about each time he complained about it.

“Why do you think I always rolled my eyes at you when you ‘ooh’d and ahhh’d’ over it all?” She teased him with a coy smile, throwing a quick and playful wink at his mother who was standing watch with her own humored smirk, “Magic isn’t always fun. In most cases, it’s quite the opposite.”

Dakarai, with a bored and unimpressed expression against his maw, only rolled his eyes and turned back toward the viscet he was currently performing a reading on. It was all practice, of course, so his comments didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. Before he could continue, Zoya grabbed his shoulders with an iron grip of her paws, “and you wanna know what’s even worse?” She hissed in his ear before pushing him out of the spacy hut only to be met with a crowd of villagers, “the long ceremonies!” The shouted statement from Zoya was followed by loud shrieks of laughter from within the hut by the two female viscets, and he could do nothing except stare at those in front of him.

Without much of a warning, one of the females grabbed his paw with a large smile, chanting about getting ready for the ceremony, or something of that nature. Honestly, he wasn’t paying too much attention to what they were saying to him; he was too agitated with the situation.

Agitation turned to irritation which turned to an unspeakable discomfort. He was thrown into a smaller hut, primped to perfection, and forced into the most uncomfortable and silly looking thing he had ever worn in his life.

"Aw, come on, big guy! Wipe that look off your face!" One of the younger females from the village walked into the hut where he had been pampered and dressed, an excited smile on her face. Dakarai didn't know too much about her, mainly that she was annoying and her name was Ellouise. Alright, so many saying she's annoying wasn't very fair of him, but he was in a pretty confrontational mood.

"Are you blind?" He asked her, growling low, "can't you see what I have to wear? I look ridiculous!" Just to spite her telling him to wipe the frown from his face, Dakarai scowled harder and crossed his arms over his chest again.

"I think you look handsome." Blushing as she complimented him, Ellouise turned away to hide her face so he wouldn't see. "Not only that, but it's an exciting and important ceremony! Do you have your speech written up? Or are you going to wing it?"

"A speech!? What do you mean, 'a speech'!?" The speckled viscet grabbed the female's shoulders to spin her back around, making her face him again. "I wasn't told about a speech!"

"Ahh, I don't know!" She exclaimed, bashful blush long gone and replaced by wide eyes and a surprised expression. "I just know that's how they've done it in the past! The new priestess, er, priest, always had a little speech they end the ceremony with!" Honestly, Ellouise didn't know much about the traditions since she wasn't really part of anything and just a regular villager who just happened to always stay for the closing speech. "At least you'll have the entire ceremony to come up with a speech!"

'Yeah,' he thought to himself, 'at least.'

The ceremony wasn't bad at all, in fact, it was more like a festival if anything. The village was covered in string lights, there was plenty of food and drink, and music too. With the music came dancing and almost everyone was just dying to dance with Dakarai. For once, he felt important and wondered if it would be like that from then on, or if everything would just go back to the way it was. Ever since he could remember, Dakarai had almost felt shunned by everyone in the village (except for his mother and godmother of course) which he ended up chalking up to the fact that he was the only male most of them had ever seen.

But tonight was different.

Tonight, Dakarai felt like royalty. There was only one problem: he hadn't seen his mother since before she and Zoya pushed him out of the hut earlier that day. Sure, making new friends with the villagers and being able to socialize and have a good time for once was fun, but he wanted to share it all with the one viscet who never gave up on him and supported every single thing he wanted to do. He even remembered talking to his mother when he was younger about wanting to do bigger things and see better places, and while anyone else in the village would have laughed and told him to stop dreaming about such silly little fantasies, his mother wanted to hear more of his hopes and dreams.

The Queen of the M'Bari village wasn't just his mother; she was his best friend too and he wanted her there. Dakarai had every intention of sneaking away from the ceremony to head back to their shared hut, but he was intercepted by a curious group; the same group he had heard some ... less than favorable things about. This particular group of viscets ran the village and always had a final say over his mother, the Queen. That was definitely something he just could never wrap his head around.

"And just where do you think you're running off to?" The question, though meant to sound playful and friendly, gave Dakarai the creeps instead. 'Does it matter?' Is what he wanted to say, but he knew better than to talk back.

"I was just —-" He was cut off by another member of the group,

"you'd have a lot of disappointed fans if you skipped out on them." Her voice alone had his skin crawling but the look in her eyes shook him to the core.

"Yeah, hah. I guess you're right. Wasn't that important anyway." Once he high-tailed it back to where the festivities were being held, Dakarai just couldn't get back into the same groove he had before; he was too focused on the strange coincidence that he would run into them on his way to find his mother. He almost felt as though she wasn't allowed to be at the ceremony and they were possibly guarding her. Why? He hadn't the slightest clue on that one, but he was sure if he thought about it long enough, he would come up with a conspiracy or twenty.

In a way, he was thankful for the weird meeting since it was just the inspiration he needed for his speech. That is, if he was even asked to make one.

During the rest of the ceremony, Dakarai mostly kept to himself after dancing with Ellouise to make up for how he acted toward her earlier. Thankfully, she hadn't minded his attitude and reassured him that he had every right to be upset.

"She's got quite the crush on you, huh?" An unexpected and unfamiliar voice shocked him right out of his silent reverie. He was faced by a rather interesting looking viscet —- one he had never seen before, but he'd ask her about that later. For now, he was more concerned about what she just said.

"A crush?" He asked, a humored smirk painted against his features, "Ellouise? I don't think so."

"Alright," she replied with a shrug and bored expression, "whatever you say." The unnamed viscet took a sip from the cup of punch she had before speaking again, "so what were you all apologetic for?"

"Oh, well. I sort of blew up at her earlier when she asked me about my speech. Wasn't mad at her or anything, just caught me off guard, you know?" He laughed, but her sour expression had him stifling his humor, "can't wait to much this one. You know, if anyone even told me I was gonna be giving a speech, I would have been better prepared."

"That's the point, dummy! You aren't supposed to be prepared!" The unfamiliar viscet heaved a heavy sigh, continuing when he looked at her with a confused expression. " I can't believe she told you about the speech. It's supposed to be from the heart. True and passionate. Passion doesn't come from preparation and reading from some script! Do you understand now?"

Dakarai ignored her earlier insults and shrugged, "well I don't have anything written down if that makes you feel better." It wasn't her verbal insults that offended him, instead it was something she didn't really mean to do. If she thought his speech, after meeting with those insufferable goons from earlier, would be anything less than passionate, she had another thing coming. Fortunately for her, Zoya had appeared from the crowd, along with his mother, to fetch him for exactly what he was just discussing moments earlier. He wasn't able to get the female's name before being swept away by his mother, and honestly, he cared more about seeing her there anyway, even if all the festivities were already over.

"Where have you been!?" Dakarai exclaimed before pressing a chaste kiss to his mother's forehead, "you missed out on all the fun!"

"You know your sweet mother is terrible at keeping secrets, especially from her spoiled little son, so I needed to keep her away until they were ready for your bid speech." Zoya said, tossing a quick glare at the sheepish Queen.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I would have told you if I could have! But you're going to get up there and blow them all away. Just speak from your heart!"

His mother's words and unwavering support removed every single doubt he had about the subject matter of his speech. Dakarai closed his eyes a moment, a relaxed and content smile on his maw. "Don't worry, mother," he said with a voice of silk, "I will."

With that, Dakarai was led by Zoya to the small, makeshift stage where all eyes were on the viscet still dressed in what he considered his 'ridiculous outfit'. All of the relaxation he felt only moments prior dissipated as he seemed to be overwhelmed with stage fright, especially when he spotted the unique viscet, with all of her swirls and stars within her pelt, looking straight at him with the same disappointed and irritated expression from before.

As much as he wanted to do this for himself, perhaps a small part of him wanted to impress her as well, if only to prove her wrong.

Dakarai was beyond relieved when his mother joined him on the small stage to give her own not so surprising speech: the announcement that, upon her passing, Dakarai would be given the crown and with that, the responsibility of King. Some in the audience gasped with a feigned surprise, while others offered a quick round of applause before his mother backed down and allowed him the stage once more.

"King, huh?" He began with a quiet beginning statement, "but what does it truly mean?" The crowd, though they shifted and looked at one another, confusion lining their faces, kept completely silent. "Before I get into that, I wanna talk a little about my mother. Without her guidance, love, and support, I absolutely wouldn't be the viscet I am today. She has taught me strength, courage, and the value of life; she is my one role model and the inspiration for everything I do."

The heartfelt message garnered a few 'awww's' from within the crowd, but he ignored them and continued with where he left off before, "All sappiness aside, I do hope and pray to our goddess, if she's even listening anymore, that being King means I'll be able to make a few changes around here. For example, I would be in charge of decision making, with the help of my people, of course. Their opinions would matter to me, but I wouldn't be silenced the way my mother, the Queen, is. What kind of sense does that make?" He knew he was crossing a very delicate line, and he knew it would come with severe consequences, but he didn't necessarily care.

"If I had even one ounce of power, I'd use it for all of you: the people. Open the M'Bari tribe to the rest of the world so that we could all see what it has to offer. We could learn so much; we could do anything we wanted!" The future Kind's voice echoed into the night as it grew in both volume and confidence. "I mean, it should be obvious enough that our goddess wants more for all of us, look at me! The first make in hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years? Open your eyes and see that the times are changing." Dakarai paused for a moment, eyes closing slowly and ears suddenly full of a sweet song. He couldn't quite understand what it meant, but he knew it was for him alone. Perhaps it was a sign from the goddess herself.

"I feel it every day. I feel the yearning, longing, and silent suffering of so many around me. They're tired and curious; don't you feel it too?" The question was aimed at the three viscets in charge of the village, and he was sure they were well aware of that fact.

"Suffering isn't done alone. When we suffer, we suffer as equals, and I feel it all every single day. I can't blame any of you for not coming forward; you know that doing so would result in being silenced," he paused for an added emphasis, "forever."

"But for those of you suffering within this village, too afraid to ask for a change: I want, no I need, you to know that you aren't alone and you never will be."

The speech was met with a silence that burned his ear drums and gripped his windpipe. He was struggling to breathe until he caught sight of the odd viscet from earlier. Disappointment no longer danced along her features, instead, she looked happy. There was no smile, but the wrinkles that were against her face from agitation had smoothed out to present a more content expression. Had he impressed her with his passion? She couldn't have been expecting him to talk about the outside world, yet there was no surprise obvious within her features.

After gaining the courage to scan the rest of the crowd, Dakarai noticed a number of different things: there were some who, by the looks on their faces, seemed to be curious about what he spoke of, while others seemed to take it all rather personally with scowls and low growls. He couldn't be sure, but he thought there might have been a few trading concerned glances with one another, as if thinking there must be something wrong with him. If it wasn't for the quick tug to the back of his chest piece and being dragged off of the stage, Dakarai would have inspected the other viscets further.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?" He exclaimed at the unseen force when they were safe behind the tall standing hut that held the stage.

"Have you lost your mind, Dakarai?" Zoya's familiar voice cut through the air like a dagger, causing him to tighten his jaw in regret over how he just spoke to her.

"Listen," he said quickly after shrugging off her grip and turning to face her, "I know what I did was bold, but it had to be said! I'm tired of seeing my mother suffer; I'm tired of seeing everyone kept in the dark when there's so much out there to be discovered!"

Dakarai had fair and valid points that Zoya understood very clearly, but that didn't change her stance on the subject matter.

"I heard through the grapevine that the speech is supposed to be passionate; it's supposed to come from the heart. How am I going to be shamed for speaking from the heart?"

"This is about a lot more than shame, Dakarai." The older viscet sighed, the fire in her eyes dissolving as they averted to stare at the space behind the male. She wasn't looking at anything in particular; merely drifting off in thought for a bit. "You obviously underestimate those in charge here. They don't appreciate talk like that, and now your mother is going to be targeted because you couldn't keep your thoughts and dreams to yourself as I had warned you a hundred times before."

"Zoya," a soft voice spoke in the darkness, "that's enough. Let the boy alone." The Queen appeared from the shadows, and in any other situation, Dakarai would have been thrilled to see her but the damage had been done. Zoya's words sunk into his heart like a flaming hot cattle prod. What did she mean his mother was going to be targeted?

Without another word, Dakarai stepped away from Zoya to follow his mother who motioned quietly for them to go back home. In reality, the walk was a short distance, but he felt as though everything was put into slow motion —- almost as if he had been walking through molasses. He wanted to ask her if she would be okay, or maybe ask if she was disappointed in him, or just anything at all, but he couldn't find his voice. Maybe Zoya was just being dramatic or maybe she was exaggerating, but if she hadn't been, then it only took a matter of a few quick moments for everything to change completely. If he had just taken the route of thanking everyone for being so supportive and all of that sappy, generic stuff that's said in every speech, he wouldn't be worrying about their future.

Once the two found safety in their small hut, Dakarai turned to face his mother, keeping his eyes down as not to see the disappointment she surely held for him.

"Dakarai." The temptation to look up at her when she spoke pulled at his heart, but he didn't dare.

"I'm sorry." A quiet response. A voice, though quiet, also full of dread, regret, and fear.

"Dakarai, look at me."

There was so much telling him not to do it only because it didn't matter what expression she had on her face, whether it was happy, angry, disappointed, none of it mattered. He would still feel like utter garbage after what Zoya had said. Dakarai was never much of an over thinker when it came to most things, but he had a terrible feeling about this. It wasn't so much of overthinking as it was feeling like something terrible was about to happen. Regardless, he finally found the inner strength to look up at her, and surprisingly enough, she looked peaceful. There was a small upturn of lips, her eyes were that of an angel, and her shoulders were relaxed; no tension anywhere on her body that he could see.

"I've never been more proud of you. They weren't ready to hear it, but they needed to hear it. I can't promise that it will change anything, but you have some of their wheels turning." Before he could even speak, she silenced him by continuing with her thought process, "you did just as I always taught you. You stood up for yourself. Please, whatever you do, don't harbor any ill feelings toward Zoya, Dakarai. She is very old; she's lived through the rise and fall of many Queens. No one can blame her for being afraid of what may come to pass."

The words stung his heart, but her quiet confidence as she spoke them allowed him to relax his own shoulders at last. No doubt he would be feeling that tension coiled up in his muscles for the following days.

"They won't hurt you, will they?" An embarrassing quiver fluctuated the tone of his voice, an obvious sign that tears were on the horizon of his lids. He wasn't ashamed to cry; he just didn't want to bring his mother down.

"No, Dakarai. They wouldn't be so bold to do something so stupid. But there will be a lot of changes, and not the kind we want. Just be prepared, alright?"

With that, the Queen leaned down to place a kiss against her son's hair before setting them both up to get some much needed sleep.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....T H R E E

More village meetings than usual were held in the following weeks after the ceremony, and neither Dakarai nor his mother were ever invited to them. It even seemed as though they were intentionally hiding the very existence of the meetings from the Queen. Dakarai had to wonder if his words really did cause actual issues, though the optimist in him hoped that they might have been discussing how to move forward in the meetings. Perhaps they took Dakarai's words to heart and wanted to make a change for the good of the village.

The realist in him knew much better than that.

To think the leaders of the village would take his ideas and put them in motion; that was just giving them way too much credit. Only an idiot wouldn't be able to notice the sudden tensions within the village, and now he even started to lose those he once considered friends. Ellouise, even with how interested she seemed to be in him at one point, suddenly stopped popping up around the village. While he used to see her at random wherever he was, Dakarai hadn't seen her since the ceremony.

It all set him on edge and kept his anxiety up at all times; he was always on high alert. He constantly thought about his mother's reassurance that they wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but Dakarai felt much different. It wasn't just bad feelings, but dreams and visions too. He never saw her die in the dreams, but she always seemed to be ill in each one. Telling the Queen about these dreams wasn't an option for Dakarai —- he didn't want to startle her -— so instead, he would ask her every morning and every night how she was feeling.

To his relief, her answer was always, 'just fine, Dakarai.' though one day, she finally asked the dreaded question,

"Why do you keep asking?"

He was silent for a long while, golden eyes staring into those of glass. His heart ached while looking at her; there was a battle happening inside of himself. A battle he had to fight alone and without the help of his mother for once.

His expression told a much nicer story.

As the war waged on within himself, Dakarai held a content smile against his face. No, he didn't want to tell his mother about his terrible dreams, but he had to wonder if doing so would mean she could possibly prevent it. Or were they just silly dreams spawned from a deep fear; a seed of terror he inadvertently planted within his own brain.

"There's no reason besides wanting to know you're healthy and happy."

A withhold is a lie. He knew that, and no matter how much he tried to silently convince himself he didn't lie to his mother, it just wasn't true.

Dakarai watched as she playfully rolled her eyes at him before opening her mouth to speak, but a loud knock against their flimsy door interrupted her. At the door stood the three viscets Dakarai would have been okay with never seeing again. Much to his surprise, the three leaders were there to summon his mother for a village meeting. Relief coursed throughout every inch of his body; if they were involving her again, there was a chance that his line-crossing speech was brushed under the rug to be forgotten about. Or maybe they would start talking about change. Honestly, he would be satisfied with either outcome.

... But he also wouldn't be satisfied until he knew what was going on as soon as possible, so he made the bold and risky decision to sneak out to the tiny council hall as soon as he was sure his mother had arrived there first. The beginning of the meetings were always boring anyway; he wouldn't be missing out on much.

"What do you think you're doing?" A very familiar voice startled Dakarai right out of his stealthy mindset as he was slinking along being the small huts and toward his destination. Turning around, he saw the odd viscet from the ceremony. She sported a smug but humored smirk as she propped herself against one of the huts.

"Uh..."

'Real smooth, Dak.'

"I'm just taking a walk."

"Do you normally take walks like a burglar looking for an opportunity?" She lifted a brow, eyes scrutinizing him further.

"Listen, I —-"

"Enough excuses, Dakarai. Just tell me what's going on."

The young Prince sighed at that, defeated. If he didn't tell her, she would probably end up ratting him out for whatever she thought he was up to, but if he told her, well... He wasn't too sure what would happen then, but there was only one way to find out.

"Look, I don't have time to stand here and explain everything, but if you follow me, you'll understand. You just have to be really quiet, alright?" The female pondered the situation for a short moment before hesitantly agreeing to whatever trouble the Prince was getting into. Wordlessly, the two snuck down and around huts and small shops, waiting behind objects when another viscet walked by and then scurrying off again. This went on for only a few more minutes even though their anxiety made it seem like hours.

"Snooping in on a village meeting, huh?" She whispered once they were right against the back end of the council hut. "You know you could get into a ton of trouble for this."

Dakarai didn't say anything in response to her. If anything, he acted as though she wasn't even there as he pressed his ear against the paper thin wall to hear them as clearly as possible. Reluctantly, his companion did the same.

"Exile won't solve anything; what's been done is done! What, do you think kicking him out of the village is just going to make them all forget what he said?" The Queen's voice could be heard from inside the hut, almost making Dakarai wish he'd have just stayed at home.

"We're aware that his exile won't make them forget, but at least it'll stop him from spewing that blasphemy again! He thinks he knows it all doesn't he? It really makes us wonder what you've been teaching him."

"Yeah!" Another member of the council piped in, "how'd he come up with all that anyway? Seems pretty suspicious."

Dakarai couldn't see what was happening inside but he imaging his mother rolled his eyes at that.

"You can't exile my son," she said, ignoring most of what was said, "not while I'm still alive. The only way you'll take him from me is over my dead body."

At that statement, Dakarai's companion tugged at his arm, silently implying that they needed to leave. She was right, and it wasn't like he really wanted to stick around to hear more anyway. The trek back to the main part of the village, at least for him, was slow and sluggish; he couldn't stop thinking about what he heard in the meeting.

They truly wanted to exile him for speaking his mind? Not only that, but he mother's thread made him feel sick to his stomach. What if they killed her just to get to him? He couldn't bear the thought of not only losing her, but being the reason for her death as well. How was he supposed to talk to her about it all?

'Oh, hey mom. By the way, I snuck into the meeting earlier and ...'

No, that wouldn't go over very well, but he couldn't allow her to live in fear; he would choose being exiled over any harm coming to her any day.

"Hey," Dakarai was knocked from his trance by the female who had joined him on his little adventure, "it's gonna be alright, yeah?"

The sentiment was appreciated, but it was something he couldn't possibly bring himself to believe. Still, he offered her a lopsided smirk after mentally pulling himself together.

"Thanks, uh..." It only just dawned on him that he never got her name from the ceremony.

"Keistas." The reply was curt, but her eyes were warm with a tinge of sadness sparkling within them.

"Keistas," he repeated the name, "that's interesting. I like it."

She only shrugged at the compliment, and if was being honest with himself, that's something he liked about his new friend. She was snarky but down to Earth —- humble yet serious. Mysterious and beautiful, too. She made him smile without even realizing and he had only met her twice now. A random temptation pressed at him to maybe ask if she'd like to spend a little more time with him; maybe to get a bite to eat at the fish market or something to that nature, but worry over his mother trumped the desire to spend more time with Keistas. Only when he was sure that she would be okay would he let his guard down, and who knew when that would be.

After bidding Keistas a good rest of the night and thanking her for keeping quiet about everything that had transpired, Dakarai went back to his small home to wait for his mother's return. Though his heart beat at a rapid pace against his ribcage, he forced himself to keep himself calm, at least on the outside; he couldn't let his mother know what he had done and what he had heard.

As he sat in silence, Dakarai allowed himself to close his eyes and drift into deep thought; the realm of overthinking. A sneer replaced his calm expression as his own mind took him on a journey back to the night of that god forsaken ceremony. The night everything shattered into a million pieces. As if he was there again, he felt the joy and carelessness as he danced and laughed. He could feel Ellouise's delicate paws against his shoulders again; he could smell her sweet perfume and see the look of awe against her face. She truly was beautiful, the Prince noticed as he took his journey to the past.

It was a shame she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Agitation forced its way into his emotions as he relived that first conversation with Keistas. As beautiful as Ellouise was, there was just something absolutely enchanting about Keistas. He couldn't quite place it; could have just been how unique she looked, but Dakarai felt there was more to it than that.

Silence soon replaced the chaos of the festivities. He only just then, though this revisitation of events, noticed how loud it really had been before the silence. What didn't make much sense to him, was how the silence turned out to be louder than the chaos.

Anxiety ripped through Dakarai as he watched himself take the stage. This time around, he saw things he had missed before. The disappointed scowl from Keistas was something he remembered vividly, but he spotted his mother in the crowd with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, and Ellouise wasn't too far from her, eyes full of adoration. As he started to speak to the crowd, the words hammered into his chest, exaggerating the pain he was already feeling. His mother's expression twisted as he spoke, but it was something he wasn't expecting.

Relief. Joy, perhaps?

As if she was hoping he would do what she had taught him from the very beginning: 'stand up for what you believe in no matter the cost.' Emotion swelled in his heart, but Dakarai couldn't help but to sneer again upon hearing his line about suffering.

"When we suffer, we suffer as equals."

Why then, were he and his mother the only ones suffering?

"It's alright," Dakarai said aloud, eyes still closed, "I'll make them suffer."

"What?"

His eyelids snapped open immediately to reveal golden eyes wide as saucers.

"Mother!" Dakarai exclaimed, "when did you get back?"

Her brows furrowed; a tell-tale sign that he was about to be barraged with questions. "Just under an hour ago." She paused in order to look him over with concern, "are you okay?"

No, he wasn't okay. He was so far from okay that it physically pained him. There was a big storm coming, and he couldn't do anything about it. No matter how much his mother vowed to protect him, he knew she was the one in danger, but he also knew she would hear none of it.

"I think the Goddess was trying to show me something." Dakarai did well to brush over the question asked by bringing up the Goddess. It wasn't a lie, just a way to change the subject a little bit. "I didn't even hear you come in, I was in some sort of trance."

The Queen tilted her head in curiosity, sparkling eyes staring into his in order to gauge if he was pulling her leg or not. Upon discovering that this wasn't a laughing matter, she inhaled deeply before asking, "what do you think the Goddess was trying to show you, Dakarai?"

Maybe he shouldn't have been so embarrassed about not knowing the answer to give his mother, but he felt, considering his status, that the answer should have been obvious.

Only a weak shrug was provided as a reply.

A sad and understanding smile was offered to Dakarai before the Queen made her way to the little bed in the corner, releasing a large sigh once she plopped down onto it. He was mildly surprised that she didn't ask more questions, but he understood that she more than likely had far too much on her mind; she was far too stressed to add on yet another to the pile. Not only that, but Dakarai learned through observation that his mother had been slowly losing her belief in the Goddess, but he didn't blame her at all. After so long of unanswered prayers and allowing terrible things to happen, it was no surprise the Queen was starting to lost faith. The only thing she was thankful to the Goddess for was her son; she had no choice but to believe the Goddess herself granted her the egg. There was no other explanation.

Dakarai wanted to ask about the meeting if only to hear was story she would concoct (and of course to have some sort of alibi) but he didn't want to bother her or stress her out further. Besides, he didn't have the energy himself. Honestly, he didn't even have the energy to lift himself to his own bed. Apparently that vision, or whatever it was, sapped him entirely; once he shut his eyes again, he was out like a light.

Bad dreams were expected. Terrible dreams —- nightmares -— but upon waking up, Dakarai was pleased that his sleep was, for the most part, rather deep and undisturbed by nightmares. He soon realized just how deep his sleep had been when he noticed the amount of sunlight that was shining through the window: barely any at all. It had to be close to six o'clock in the evening! How could he have overslept so long!? After shaking himself from his irregularly long sleep, a quick look around the hut revealed that his mother was out and about somewhere; normally he wouldn't have thought anything about it, but for some reason or another, the empty space made him feel queasy.

The sudden and startling knock at the door made him feel even worse with a negative anticipation. In regular circumstances, the door would have been answered with hesitation, but this time where was a strange sense of urgency. Dakarai was happy to see that Zoya was the one at the door, but before he could greet her, she burdened him with some troubling news.

Currently, his mother was being kept with the local medic who was doing all he could to extract the apparent poison from her bloodstream, but he was afraid it was too late. In a panic, Dakarai left with Zoya (and even ended up leaving her to straggle behind him) to sprint to where his mother was being held. There were many villagers there, all of whom were crying, at least until they saw him. Concerned and dismal expressions twisted into ones of disgust and rage. If they were hoping he'd care about that, they had another thing coming. No, Dakarai wasn't there for them; he was there for his mother.

Her eyes were pale and glossy as if she had gone blind, tiny feathers the made up her pelt started to lose their colours, and she wasn't able to speak at all.

"How." Dakarai started but was immediately forced to choke back sobs when his mother's eyes widened at the sound of his voice. So, she was blind after all. "How did this happen?" He demanded the medic who was standing on the other side of her bed. "Zoya told me she'd been poisoned. By what?" Try as he might to keep his voice low and calm, but the longer he stood there to allow reality to sink in, the more desperate and panicked he became.

"Judging by the samples taken from her mane, it happened a few days ago. We're only just now seeing symptoms because that's how long it took for it to soak into the organs." The news was dire. It was something that Dakarai couldn't mentally or physically handle, but he needed to stay strong for his mother in her final hours.

"We can't pinpoint exactly what happened, but it could be something as simple as using a wrong herb on a piece of fish. There are some deadly plants out there; some still unidentified."

Dakarai barely heard the medic as he attempted to explain —- he was far too focused on his mother. Now sitting by her side, the Prince gently placed his paws against her bed. "You're still so beautiful." he whispered gently, voice wavering from the tears attempting to burst from behind his eyes. She couldn't speak to him, but she managed to shoot him a lopsided smirk as if to say, "don't be silly." Oh, what he would give to hear even just that one last time.

"Mother, I'm so sorry. I have no idea why I slept so late. If I'd have been here sooner, maybe I —-." The moment she put a paw to her muzzle, signaling for him to shush, he did just that. Of course, her last moments weren't to be spent talking about regret and moping over 'what if's' and 'could have's'. Instead, he decided to tell her stories about the tall building and sprawling cities he always saw in his visions. He spoke about everything the world had to offer, promising the two of them would soon see it all together. Once he noticed her breathing begin to falter, Dakarai stood to press a final kiss to her forehead and snout before whispering against her clammy pelt, "I love you more than anything; that will never change."

The young Prince was led outside by Zoya so he didn't have to witness her true passing into the lifesteam. Zoya wanted his last memory of his mother to be while she was still among the realm of the living.

For the old viscet, it was a long night. She didn't want Dakarai to be alone in his grief, so she allowed him to spend the night in her hut, and the sight just wasn't a pretty one. He tried his best to hold it all in even though his mother taught him the harm in doing so, but he failed miserably each time. Tears spewed from his eyes like rivers; he felt as though the other half of his entire body had been ripped from him without a single warning. Despite his tears, Dakarai kept himself fairly quiet, much to Zoya's relief. It wasn't that she didn't want him to express his emotions, but she knew she would break if he ended up getting hysterical about it. Not only did she lose her best friend, but she was also well aware of what would happen the following day. The fact remained unspoken only because she was sure he knew as well.

Now that his mother was no longer in the way, the council would waste no time in exiling Dakarai. At that point in time, he welcomed it. Without his mother, he didn't have a single reason to stay within the confines of the village, and he was confident he wouldn't be too lost thanks to his visions.

For Zoya, it was a little different. Throughout his life, she had considered him to be something of a son, even if she was a little strict on him more often than not. She was his godmother after all, and she would mourn two deaths. The death of her best friend and the death of her new King. Of course, Dakarai's death was more of symbolism than an actual passing, but she also wasn't too sure. He had never seen the outside world in person. He had never walked through the perilous jungles and stalked the dangerous cities; of course she would be worried about something happening to him.

But she wasn't about to start worrying him about it. He knew what was about to happen; she knew he would be prepared in his own special way. For the night, the two of them would mourn together in silence for the loss of their Queen until the fell into a deep slumber, leaning against one another.

When morning came, the two were startled awake by the deep sound of drums reverberating into the hut from outside. Both of them knew what was about to happen; there was no use resisting. Hell, he didn't even want to resist. In all honesty, he just wanted to get it over.

Head held high and chest puffed out, Dakarai stepped out of the hut to be met with the entirety of the village led by the three viscets of the council. He met their eyes with a challenging and knowing smirk; something that took the smug smiles right off of their mouths.

"Dakarai, son of the Queen of the M'Bari village. The one who was born to take her place as King. You have done this village a great disservice by attempting to steer your would-be followers down a dark and dangerous path."

Dakarai listened to the words very carefully, never allowing his eyes to wander as much as he wanted to look for any of his past friends in the crowd sent to throw him out of the village.

"For this, we have regretfully come to the decision that you must leave this village, never to return." Sure, he was expecting it, but the words still stung, especially having been said so soon after the passing of his mother. There had been a small hope that the villagers and the council would allow him at least a few days to recover from the devastating blow, but that was just expecting far too much.

There was so much he wanted to say as he left his godmother's side; so much he wanted to say to them. Tell them all that they were a bunch of cowards hiding behind the protection of a false Goddess. He wanted to call them sheep, that none of them were deserving of the throne. Not the council, and not any of the villagers. Although he was never granted the true status of King, he so badly wanted to grant that status to Zoya. Out of everyone, she was the only one who deserved it, but they would never see it from his point of view. The only viscets they want in charge are the ones who keep them blind and ignorant.

Isn't that how it goes though? Ignorance is bliss.

Sometimes, Dakarai wished he was that ignorant. They never seemed to have a care in the world; now that was the life.

"Do you have anything to say before you leave?" One of the council members asked as he took a firm grip of Dakarai's arm in order to lead him to the outskirts of the village. The villagers followed and the drums started banging again to their traditional song. It wasn't that far of a walk, and Dakarai remained completely silent until they all stopped, signifying they were at the outskirts. Beyond the imaginary line, there was thick foliage, but beyond that, he could see the faint outline of mountains. That's where he would head off to; perhaps there would be another village there. Something bigger and better since they were able to see the rest of the world from the peak. It would only make sense.

The question from earlier had gone unanswered until Dakarai turned around to face them after scanning the surroundings of the jungle ahead.

"I [/i]do[/i] have something to say. I had full intentions of going off about other things, but I want you all to live with the fact that you not only disrespected your own Queen, but your Goddess as well." He would have gone into detail about how he's the one the Goddess speaks with, and talk about his visions, but he honestly had no proof that she was the one in his dreams and visions. He was all for rubbing their ignorant faces in the metaphorical dirt, but he didn't want to do it by lying to them.

"I hope you're all strong enough to deal with that. Don't wish me luck, no. I'm the one who should be wishing you all luck because that's some heavy stuff, honestly. Just do me one favor though." He was sure no one was really listening to him, but it still made him feel better to talk, even if it wasn't to anyone in particular. "Don't forget her."

And with that, he turned his back to the crowd and stepped over that imaginary line without a second of hesitation. Before disappearing into the foliage, however, he chanced one last look at his godmother, who only watched him with beaming pride, and then he was gone without another word.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....F O U R

It didn't take Dakarai too long to realize his exile was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He hadn't taken into account the fact that he literally had nothing to his name. No backpack of supplies, no lantern, not even a pocket knife. Without any of those things, there was no way he would survive for more than a day, if that. The foliage was thick, the bugs were huge, his paws were already filthy and muddy from walking; Dakarai was just all around unused to this sort of terrain. He wasn't used to traveling or anything of the sort. He had never gone on a hiking trip in his life.

He could blame the village and their strict ways for that.

The longer he traveled through the thick jungle, the more his mind drifted off, and he caught himself thinking about his mother again. Dakarai hadn't cried over her since the night before with Zoya, and he certainly didn't want to start sobbing in the forest. Not because he was embarrassed or anything like that, but mainly because he didn't want to lose focus. The viscet was determined to make it, at least to the other side of the thick jungle. If he calculated correctly, the end wasn't all that far. He had been able to see approximately where the jungle line cut off to make way for the mountain path before he took the downhill exit out of the village. At least there was some good news to be had.

Again, as he traveled along, swatting at bugs and using his paws to break branches in his way, Dakarai started to think. This time it wasn't about his mother, but instead about Keistas. Leaving her was bittersweet. A part of him was sad to leave her behind, but part of him thought, 'good riddance.' He had inadvertently convinced himself that she would join him in his exile, so when she ended up staying behind, a bitterness rose within in. Now, he knew that wasn't fair at all; just because they were friends and had a sort of mutual understanding didn't mean she was required to give up her life in the village to follow him to who knows where. Besides, just because he considered her a friend, that didn't change the fact that the two barely knew each other. He just thought there was something different about her. The same 'something' that he felt brought them together in the first place, even if it hadn't been on the greatest of terms.

"Alright, Dak," he spoke aloud to himself as he tromped through the jungle, "that's enough thinking for today unless it's about how you're gonna survive this."

As he continued on and on, Dakarai could feel a prickling against his neck as if someone had been watching him for quite some time. Every so often, he'd cease his steps just in case he had a stalker who was matching his steps to shroud themselves in mystery, but each time provided no results. He was on edge and on the brink of paranoia; eyes moving in every direction to maybe spot whoever was keeping him in their radar. Suddenly, he heard a noise and he whipped around in a quick panic to stare in the direction it had come from. The only thing was that it sounded as if someone threw something; perhaps they were trying to trick him? Even with that thought in mind, Dakarai continued to look in the direction where he heard the noise, claws out and teeth bared, when all of a sudden ...

"BOO!"

Caught completely off guard, Dakarai nearly jumped straight out of his pelt with a loud shout before whipping around in an attempt to attack the prankster. It was a reaction, and thankfully they were expecting it so a quick dodge out of the way was easy enough.

"Oh my gods, you should see your face!"

Keistas's voice had his heart fluttering but only for a split second before he whipped around to glare daggers at the female.

"Are you nuts!? You could have given me a heart attack, I swear. So you're the one who's been watching me this whole time?" Paws on his hips, Dakarai shook his head, "you know, you could have come out a lot sooner and maybe, oh I don't know, helped?"

The fact that she thought the entire thing, including his berating her, was just the funniest thing ever had him rolling his eyes and continuing along the makeshift path. "You're terrible, you know that? Come on, let's go."

Still giggling, Keistas followed close behind since walking side-by-side just wasn't an option in that part of the jungle.

"There should be a larger clearing just up here."

Now it was his turn to prank her, even if it was an accident. Dakarai stopped in his tracks, causing a distracted Keistas to slam right into his back. "Walk much?" He chuckled out, which resulted in a glare from the female. "How do you know that anyway? I thought you've never been out of the village?"

She shrugged. "I haven't, but I know how to read a map." With a cheeky smile, Keistas pulled out the map she had just mentioned from the pack that was attached to her back. "See? Look," she unfolded the map as Dakarai turned around to face her, "it's all drawn in detail. You have the jungle right here, which we're in now." She pointed to the different places on the map as she explained, "then past that, you have a lake, which is where we can get some water if we can't find a brook in here. Past that is the base of the mountain, which is where I assume you're headed?"

Dakarai nodded before taking the map if only to turn it around so he could get a better look. "Hey, I wasn't that far off. I knew this jungle wasn't too big. We're already almost out of it."

"Mhm, but we have to keep going, yeah? We don't want to be in here during the night."

He didn't bother asking the reason why; he already had a good idea of the creepy crawlies and beasties that hunted in the thick trees and bushes at night. It definitely wasn't a hard scenario to imagine.

"Hey, uh," Dakarai spoke up after about another hour or so of silent trekking, "thanks for coming out here. You know, you didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, I know. But honestly, it was a good excuse to finally do it. I had been thinking about it for a while, you know? I couldn't stand that place; I always thought they were too strict. Too stuck up. Except your mother, really." Her voice lowered at the last sentence, "I'm really sorry about her, by the way. Your mother. I never got a chance to say it."

There was hope that his mother wouldn't be mentioned on their journey, but he also realized it was a hard topic to judge, really. She had been the Queen after all.

"Yeah, it's... It's not okay, but I'm dealing with it. Just trying to take it one step at a time. I feel like she's in a better place now, not to get all spiritual on you or anything, but she was stuck where she was at. She wasn't allowed to be free no matter what, and now she finally is. Whether she's a Goddess herself, a spirit, or whatever else. She's finally free."

Keistas had to choose her words carefully so that she didn't end up offending or seeming uninterested in what he was saying, it was just that conversing really wasn't her strongest suit. She preferred the company of her crystal ball and tarot cards over viscet any day.

"It's going to take time, Dakarai. It's definitely not going to happen overnight, you know? You're going to have to accept it first and take the steps after that. The seven stages of grief or something like that. I don't really know."

It was pretty obvious she was uncomfortable with the advice she had given, but Dakarai appreciated it either way. "Yeah, I know. I feel like once I'm settled again, I'll be able to really deal with it and accept it, but right now there's just so much I need to focus on in order to survive. It's what she would have wanted; she wouldn't have wanted me wallowing about and waiting for the vultures to come pick at my carcass because I couldn't get off my tail and survive. I think this is the best thing for me."

Keistas agreed fully, though she didn't vocalize it. As far as she was concerned, the sooner the conversation was over, the better. She didn't mean anything cruel by it; it's just how she was.

Another hour had gone by in mostly silence. Dakarai whistled a tune every now and again which Keistas surprisingly enjoyed, but that was it besides the sounds of nature around them. Much to their relief, they both spotted a small circle of light in front of them; it was the end of the jungle and there was the sunshine greeting them. After looking over his shoulder at the female and winking, Dakarai made a run for it with Keistas soon catching up. The two laughed together, uncaring of how loud they were being or how many branches scraped and scratched them on the way to their exit; they were just happy to finally make some progress.

Once they both stumbled out of the jungle, they were met with a wondrous sight. The sky was bright against the giant mountains, there were colourful flowers blooming all along the ground in front of them, and the fact that it was all free for the taking. They could pick flowers all day before going up and into the mountains without a single care in the world. No one to tell them no, no one to call them away from the yearning of independence. There were no rules; in that particular moment, they owned the world.

After taking everything in, Dakarai and Keistas continued their journey until they reached the beginning of the mountain path. Thankfully, the terrain wasn't as terrible as it first appeared. It was a welcome break from the thick jungle they had just come from. Something they hadn't been expecting, however, was the lowering temperature the further up the mountain they traveled. The sky around them was dimming, meaning evening was quickly approaching, and with it came a biting chill against the wind. They wouldn't freeze thanks to their pelts, but the cold was something they weren't used to. One good thing about the village was the static weather, almost as if the area had been surrounded by some sort of bubble. Maybe the village was truly stuck in time like Dakarai had thought from the very beginning. Some sort of weird bubble stuck in an ancient time. It would definitely explain a lot of the inconsistencies and weird, outdated rules.

Because of the static weather from the village, weather change was something they weren't used to, but they enjoyed it all the same, despite their teeth chattering shivers as they traveled even further up the mountain.

More time went on and more steps were taken until they reached what looked like a much bigger version of their village. The two only hoped they were more friendly and accepting than the one they came from. Outside, standing guard, were two viscets accompanied by two creatures the two companions had never seen before. Giant feathered beasts that looked to be a cross between a massive bird and a lion. They were covered in shining silver armor and let out deep rumbled from their bellies as Dakarai and Keistas approached. He probably should have been at least a little wary, or even scared, but he was just enchanted. Completely blown away by such a wonderful beast; he couldn't stop staring at the giant bird creatures.

"Stop where you are." One of the guards stated in a gruff voice, "what business do you have here?"

The spell that Dakarai was seemingly under was broken once he heard those words. Fear began to trickle into the depths of his brain as he realized they just might have to turn right back around.

"My name is Dakarai, I'm the true King of the M'Bari village. This is my companion, Keistas. We're in need of a place to stay for the night, but we won't intrude anymore than that."

The guard stared at him for a moment, eyes looking him up and down before nodding and stepping aside for them to pass through. "Just beyond the gates, there's an inn to your left. Big, tall. Can't miss it."

Excitement replaced fear rather quickly as they passed through the wooden gates. He was thankful for the inn, but he would definitely need to ask the guards about their majestic beasts the following day.

Once the two of them were given their separate rooms, Dakarai threw himself into the bed. It was a huge bed! And the walls of his room, they were actually made of wood instead of straw and mud. There were lights that didn't come from a flame, and was that music he heard?

He tried not to ogle too much; he figured he'd look pretty silly if he did it in public. But he just couldn't help it. Everything was so amazing that, despite how tired he was, he had a tough time falling asleep because he just wanted to see more. He wanted to learn and know more.

Morning came as a surprise to Dakarai. The last thing he remembered was thinking about the majestic beasts and even debating leaving his room to ask about them instead of sleeping, but it seemed as though sleep won that round. After waking up a little more, Dakarai left his room to check on Keistas in hers, but noticed her down stairs sitting at a table with one of the guards instead. Curious, he bounced down the stairs and approached the two with a cocked brow and lopsided grin. "Already made a friend, Keistas? I thought you weren't the social type."

"Oh, hush you!" She snorted back at him, playfully popping him on the arm with a limp paw. "I'm actually discussing a flight out of here. You know, on one of those big critters outside."

At the news that those beasts could actually be ridden Dakarai's jaw unlatched and his eyes widened with even more curiosity. "Say, speaking of those critters. You wouldn't mind if I studied them a bit, would you? I've had this idea in my head for who knows how long, of a flying machine of sorts? I know it sounds crazy, but if I used one of them as a reference, I could really start on the blue prints."

Keistas tilted her head and pursed her muzzle in an attempt not to laugh while the guard only looked at him with a puzzled expression before shrugging, "sure, go for it. The ones out front are pretty tame and won't mind if you get close, just try not to touch their feet. They hate that."

Dakarai didn't just spend a few hours studying the creature he later learned was a griffin, he spent days there studying and sketching out a pretty shoddy pattern. Keistas had already left him to his work with a hug and a quick kiss to the cheek which caused his head to buzz. He watched her mount the back of one of the griffins and fly off into the sunset, hopefully to be seen again one day. Maybe they'll run into each other in a big city. He didn't hold out any hope, but it was a nice thought.

The longer he stayed within the village, the friendlier the other viscets became, and he even started to make a few friends who supported the ideas he had for his invention. Dakarai wasn't one to jump into things headfirst without much thought, however. Instead of trying to build his flying machine right off the bat, he invented smaller things first, and much to his surprise, the viscets around him started to use his small inventions. Soon enough, he had his own little business going on that ran solely on donations. He hated charging other viscets for things, so each one who wanted one of his inventions could donate if they wanted to, but they didn't have to either. It was a nice set up for him and everyone else around him too.

Curiosity started to grow again, though, as a few viscets would talk about a master inventor named Peyton. He'd ask for more information, but there didn't seem to be anything more they could give him. It wasn't that they didn't want to give him more information, they just weren't completely sure themselves. The master and their shop were surrounded in mystery and Dakarai was very interested in solving it, but any attempts at doing so would have to wait for another time after he met a viscet known as Empire.

The gruff viscet spoke about adventure, traveling the world, and getting to do things anyone would dream of doing; this of course, peaked Dakarai's curiosity. He wanted to know more and Empire was thrilled to provide the information about how he would join and what the goals would be. Dakarai had never heard of a 'military' before, but Empire did his best to explain how it all worked. Despite being a recruiter and Army officer, he didn't sugar coat anything in order to trick the other into joining. That might have been how other recruiters worked, but Empire wanted those who were truly passionate about the fight to join, not viscets expecting some tropical vacation in foreign places. He held his doubts about Dakarai until he found his way deeper into his head.

The two had a long talk in his small office located across the way from the inn. The once-Prince explained everything from birth to present time, and needless to say, Empire was intrigued and ready to take Dakarai on to begin training.

After leaving his works in progress with a trusted friend within the village, Dakarai left with Empire to his training site, and that's when the real fun started.

He hadn't realized it until he started doing it, but the rough physical training was exactly what Dakarai needed. He never had to deal with his repressed emotions by crying anymore, all he had to do was run five miles and beat up a punching bag for a half hour. Obviously, that wasn't the healthiest way to deal with everything, but he couldn't imagine sitting around and talking to someone about it either. Dealing with it on his own, and in his own way is what worked best for him, even if others would tell him different. Besides, all of that repressed anger and sadness turned him into something else on both training course and the real field of battle as well. Impressive was an understatement; if Empire had to be honest, he would say that Dakarai was the best he'd seen and worked with in a very very long time.

Those were all compliments that he took to heart too. He used the praise to make himself into not only a better soldier, but a better viscet all around too. It seemed as though Dakarai traded his humble and kind personality for something more along the lines of how Keistas was, except a lot more brash and bold. Dakarai, who was once weak, insecure, and unsure of himself, had turned into a strong and confident powerhouse.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....F I V E

The military life was great at first. Empire certainly didn't lie to him when he said he'd see places and things he never saw before, and would probably never see again. Dakarai had also met a few close friends who would prove to have his back even after their time in the military, which is more than he could say for a handful of his past friends. During slow nights in the desert, Dakarai would tell stories about his village around the campfire, and it all just seemed too surreal. Never did he think he would be sitting around a campfire, dressed head to toe in camo gear, talking about the life he left behind. As upsetting as it was to think about, he had his mother to thank for everything; he wished more than anything that she was alive to see just how much he had accomplished. To see how quickly her son rose through the ranks and proved to everyone that he was finally a someone in a world full of no ones. Dakarai didn't like talking about his mother once since he still held some form of regret over what happened, but sometimes they would force it out of him during one of their many campfire nights. For some reason, the boys just loved hearing about his wonderful mother and even heckled him about talking about it in order for him to feel better about the whole thing. That never worked though. If anything, he always felt worse after talking about her, but that's something he wouldn't ever admit in fear that they would think he was going soft on them.

In fact, Dakarai kept a lot of his emotions to himself, afraid that he would turn back into the viscet he once was instead of who he trained to become. Thankfully, he only had a moment of weakness every so often; a huge step up from how he was before he joined the Army. As much as he had his mother to thank, he also had the military to thank. Without the constant training, blood, swear, and tears, he wouldn't have been able to move forward as much as he had.

But after years of climbing the ranks and being on the front lines, it seemed as though his time in the Army was nearing its end. Dakarai didn't stop growing as a viscet, and who he was growing into was someone he didn't like. Each time he looked in the mirror, he didn't see himself at all. He saw a battle-hardened, scarred, and volatile viscet. The longer he stayed in the military, the angrier he grew. He began picking fights with comrades and superiors alike over the most ridiculous of things. Dakarai began to despise being told what to do, even if it came from those above him, and everyone was getting tired of his growing attitude.

During one hot summer day, a relatively violent fight broke out between Dakarai and his superior and he was sent away while they investigated the entire thing. Dakarai didn't kill him, but he definitely left him semi-crippled for the rest of his life and was looking at a dishonorable discharge and possibly prison time.

Somehow, he managed to dodge going to prison, but the dishonorable discharge was an extreme blow to his pride. At first, he didn't understand it. He felt as though he was in the right, and even though the wound to his superior was a little more than extreme, Dakarai felt he was treated unfairly. But once the fog cleared from his delusional eyes, he started to see things clearly again and realized that a fool he had been. Unfortunately, the damage to Dakarai's psyche and personality had been done. There would be quiet moments where it seemed as though he was himself again, but more often than not, he was aggressive and angry. This uncouth behavior caused him to miss out on a lot throughout his life. It also caused him to lose one of the most important viscets he ever had the pleasure to meet.

Their meeting turned into a whirlwind romance that he didn't see coming for a mile away. Dakarai had seen and met plenty of viscets throughout his life, some he found attractive, but it always ended with that. Just a plain old physical attraction that never went anywhere beyond that. So when he felt an unfamiliar pang in his chest around the beautiful red viscet called Canary, Dakarai knew there just had to be something special between them. The two ended up together and as they began to build their lives around each other, it seemed like the perfect coupling. Almost like a fairy tale romance. Though soon after their daughter hatched from her egg, the feelings that Dakarai never bothered to deal with professionally, the ones he repressed through his life after being exiled, came back with a vengeance. The kind, caring, and slightly rough around the edges viscet that she had met only a couple of years ago started to frighten her with his risky antics and explosive temper. For the good of their family, Dakarai was the one to end the relationship. If there was any chance of them continuing to be friends, it was a necessary though heart breaking decision.

Once he left his ex-mate, promising his small daughter that he would return soon to see her, Dakarai went off on a soul-searching journey. Something comparable to the journey he took with Keistas shortly after his exile.

Keistas... Oh, he hadn't thought of the name in so long. He blocked her out so that he could focus on bettering himself and his skills during his time in the military. What would she think if she saw him now?

What would his mother think?

Dakarai knew she was proud of him no matter what when he was younger, but what if she had been alive now? What would she think of her explosive son who left behind a wife and child to figure himself out? No, he couldn't think like that. Canary was supportive of his decision if it meant he would finally be getting the help he needed, no matter how long it took. Her only concern was her child growing up without a father, but he vowed not to let that happen.

"I haven't talked to you in a while, mother." Dakarai spoke into the gentle and cooling breeze as he waited at the train station, "but I wanted to let you know that you have a granddaughter now, and she's absolutely beautiful. I know she would have loved to meet you." It felt weird, talking to nothing, but he had to make himself believe that she could hear him somehow. That she was alive in spirit, watching his entire life unfold like a storybook. He had to believe; it was his only hope at dealing with everything.

"When I get back, I'll tell her all about you. I'll make sure that she knows her grandmother, even if it isn't physically. I'll tell her so much about you, it'll be like she actually did know you." Before he knew it, tears streaked the tiny feathers of his face; they swelled like a current behind his eyes and released like a tidal wave, much like the feeling flowing through him. A tidal wave threatening to knock him down from where he stood, waiting for the train to arrive. Upon its arrival, Dakarai took one last look behind him and at the beautiful city before boarding and riding it for as far as it would take him. He wasn't even sure where he was going, but that wasn't important to him. He didn't need to know where he was going; he just needed to go and take this journey much more serious than his previous one.

He was on a journey to find his soul; the one his mother took when she died. He needed to find it and bring it back to where it belonged so that he could continue on with his life without living in fear.

Maybe he would look for the master inventor everyone at the second village had talked about, but he realized that he didn't even have his blueprints he had created once upon a time. Although it was a slim chance, he had hoped the friend he left them with still had them somewhere tucked away for safekeeping. If news spread about his discharge from the military, he doubted the people of that village would even want to see him again though. Which he understood, but wished like hell he could go back and change. He was supposed to better his life after his exile, not make it worse! He remembered how excited and hopeful he had been, despite his mother passing only the day prior, as he made his way through the thick jungle on that first day. He had been excited to see the world and find who he was truly supposed to be.

Well, he certainly found something; he only hoped that wasn't it or else he wanted nothing to do with it. It's pretty bad when even he wants nothing to do with himself.

Dakarai chuckled at the thought.

When the train stopped at its ninth or tenth stop (he hadn't been paying too much attention), the conductor announced over the intercom that it was the last stop before he would be on his way back from where they came; that was Dakarai's cue to get off the train once the doors opened.

The climate was much different than he was used to and so was the scenery. The train had stopped in what looked to be a ghost town that stood against the base of a massive mountain; it was even bigger than the one he and Keistas climbed all of those years ago. But this one was different. Instead of a spire, it was more flat and jagged with a dark green spot in the middle; he assumed that was a mountain forest. The same excitement he felt on his journey with Keistas started to return, and he almost felt young again.

Dakarai made it a point to take in every single possible thing he could on this journey, whether it was something as simple as the clean, countryside air in his lungs, or something important such as a spiritual vision of sorts. It didn't matter what it was, he was going to cherish and keep the memory for as long as he could remember.

During his first journey, Dakarai hadn't been all that focused. Many things clouded his judgement and intuition through the weeks they had traveled, but this time, it was like he was a blank slate of sorts. Although there was still so much going on in his mind, he had the age and experience to know how to separate them and push them to the back. Not repressing, no; his issues just weren't at the forefront of his cerebrum yet. For now, he would keep his wits about him and use the nature around him to guide his path. He spoke aloud to the flowers, the trees, the critters that kept a close but curious eye on him, and the spirits themselves. In return, he was given a few nudges in the right direction in the form of minor coincidences such as a fallen tree blocking one of the paths, or a particularly aggressive critter blocking another. It could have been nothing at all, but he took each one to be a sign of some sort.

As he traveled on through valleys, over streams, and into the mountains, Dakarai still didn't feel as though he really learned much about himself. He almost felt as though the entire journey was for naught, until he met a very interesting viscet high in the mountains. He lived by himself, with only his thoughts and the occasional critter to keep him real company, so when he saw Dakarai, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. The expression only lasted for a short moment, though, once the former Prince spoke to the unfamiliar viscet.

"I didn't mean to intrude," he apologized, backing away, "I really didn't think there would be anyone at the top of the mountain. How do you live up here?"

Once the viscet learned Dakarai was real instead of just a figment of his imagination, he shrugged his shoulders and motioned for him to come closer to the mouth of his rather homey looking cave.

"How do you live in the city, Dakarai?"

The question took him by complete surprise; he had never seen this viscet in his entire life. How in the world did he know so much about him already?

The strange viscet grinned, "don't be alarmed. I'm not some crazed stalker or anything. Just very intuitive; basically psychic." His voice sounded to bored and Dakarai couldn't possibly understand why. That was probably one of the most interesting things he had ever heard in his life. Sometimes he had a feeling that Zoya might have been psychic, at least a little, but she never proved his speculation. So, in all technicalities, this strange viscet was the first psychic he had met.

"I won't do it again. Why don't you tell me about yourself instead? What brings you to the top of the mountain?" As he spoke, he motioned for Dakarai to sit on one of the logs placed around a small campfire before uncovering what looked to be a fat chicken from the ground. It didn't hit him until just then that he was actually starving and was relieved to see his new acquaintance place the chicken over the fire to let it cook.

"How spoiled we are," he chuckled, looking at the chicken, "would you believe it if I told you that just under a million years ago, we were all feral beasts running around here like this very chicken I'm cooking?"

Dakarai lifted a brow in curiosity, silently urging the other to continue his train of thought.

"Viscets used to run around all over, chirping and squawking away, picking prey straight from the ground and popping it in their mouths. Now look at us; cooking a chicken over a campfire! Oh, how far we've come. Isn't it amazing?"

It actually was quite amazing. He honestly never thought much about that before; where he had come from, his ancestors, and all that complicated stuff. He only knew where he came from and who he was ... well, kind of. Soon enough, he hoped he'd know who he truly was at last.

"I never thought about it, but honestly that's incredible. How do you know so much about this?" The words were for his new acquaintance, but his eyes were focused on the cooking chicken. The aroma from the herbs and spices the other male had sprinkled on it from one of his packs was making Dakarai's mouth water.

"That's a story for another time. It would be far too long and complicated. To put it quickly, I studied under the creator of viscets himself before my exile. The mystic ancestor. Amazing stuff, honestly."

Now that had Dakarai reeling, "the what?" He asked, very obviously surprised beyond belief, "the creator of viscets? He's gotta be ancient!"

"Oh, he is. He's the oldest thing besides the continent itself."

It only just hit Dakarai what word the other viscet used, and suddenly, the mystic ancestor and all that other stuff wasn't important anymore. Instead, he was focused entirely on the fact that this viscet was exiled from his home too.

"You said exiled," he changed the topic, "what do you mean?"

The scaled viscet looked at him with furrowed brows and a curious smile, "what do you mean, 'what do you mean'?" He laughed at his own sentence before continuing, "the grand master thought I was headed down a darker path than what he had in store for me. He said he had to do it for my own benefit, and honestly, I didn't start believing that until sometime pretty recently. Well, maybe not so recent unless you count the last ten years as recent!"

"You've been up here for over ten years?" Dakarai couldn't possibly imagine living a life free of other viscets. Even if he didn't have anyone else living with him, he still needed them around in a neighborhood of some sort. It hurt his head to think about living in a lonely cave for over an entire decade.

"That's right. I've always preferred solitude, though I'll admit, it does get rather lonely. Very rarely will I get a visitor, and very rarely are they as pleasant as you. I think there's only been one other who knew the definition of manners. Dragonfly was her name; a girl in desperate search of her mother." He sighed at the thought, "a sad little viscet with a sad past, but she does well to deal with it, I suppose."

There was a silence between them as they both seemed to be lost in separate thoughts. For Dakarai, he was just happy to meet another who had gone through the same thing. Being stripped from his charge and tossed out of his own home by the only family he'd ever known. He lived so long making himself believe that it never really bothered him since he knew the people of his village didn't care much for him anyway, but it was all a lie. Of course he cared. Why wouldn't he care that the only two in the village who cared about him from the very beginning were his own mother and godmother? That would be heavy enough to bring down even the strongest individual. As he accepted those feelings, he could feel a bubble of emotion climb up from behind his throat; he thought he might cry, but it was something different. The feeling disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, and then he felt just fine. Was that his way of accepting, dealing with, and releasing the feeling of abandonment? Was that all it took to destroy that demon?

"So," his acquaintance broke the silence, "is that what happened to you too? Exile?"

Dakarai lifted his head, allowing the gentle breeze to flow through his hair and around his warm pelt, eyes closing just to take in the relaxing moment. "It sure is," he replied, "I stood up for what I believed in. My mother —-." There was a pause as he found his bearings in order to talk about her, "my mother was the Queen of our village. The M'Bari tribe; I was the first male in over a thousand years or something like that."

The other viscet nodded his head, as if to say he understood. The M'Bari village wasn't unknown to him or the others from his old temple; in fact, it was a place they had once attempted to free from the hold their council had on them. Already, he was beginning to feel for the poor viscet.

"Once she died —- my mother -— they were free to kick me on my tail, right out the door." It surprised him, but for once, he was able to actually laugh about it. Not the death of his mother, of course, just how silly it all was. Thinking back on it and their ridiculous reasoning, Dakarai's anger was replaced with a humored disbelief.

Was he finally making progress?

"I'm sorry to hear that, I really am. But I have some news for you that might make you feel better."

The former prince tilted his head, ear flicking slightly as his curiosity was piqued.

"Dinner's ready."

Not what he was expecting, but he couldn't help but grin at the silly expression the other viscet wore against his features. He must have thought he was just the funniest viscet in the world, and well technically, he was. His world at least. Dakarai wasn't about to take that from him.

The two sat in silence as they ate, merely enjoying one another's company. For once, Dakarai didn't feel the need to impress someone. Instead, he felt more comfortable than he ever had been with anyone else before. He felt as though, in the past, everyone he had been around had always expected too much from him. They expected him to act a certain way, or talk a certain way, and he was tired of it. He was always wound up so tight because he just had no idea how to act anymore. With his new friend, all he had to be was himself.

As tempting as it was for Dakarai to just stay on that mountain top with the viscet known as Metchosin, he knew he had to go. After a half a year with the viscet, he realized he had already spent too much time there. After all, he made a promise to the cutest little girl he'd ever seen. Little Lisette was perhaps the only reason he had to return to the city, but before he did that, he had one other stop to make. That is if he could find it.

After a rather heart wrenching good bye between the two viscets, Dakarai was off again. He had never once considered that he could feel anything romantic toward another male, but his heart began to ache as soon as he was without Metchosin. Of course, there was nothing wrong with those sorts of romantic relationships, he just never had the opportunity to explore them much, if at all. It seemed he was learning even more about himself than he previously thought, and it was absolutely exhilarating. His journey to find himself, he felt, was finally complete.

[magpiemochi.]

C H A P T E R ....S I X

Dakarai returned to his city as a better viscet. He felt whole, free, and fresh, as if he were just recently hatched. The only thing he still had a bit of a problem with was talking about his mother. Sometimes he was able to without issue, while other times it hurt far too much, but that was to be expected. The wound was still fresh and always would be, no matter how many years had gone by.

The first thing Dakarai did after three whole years of being absent from his family's day-to-day, was surprise his daughter. He was relieved that neither Canary nor Lisette were upset at him for being gone for so long, and even enjoyed listening to his stories about the mountain villages, towns, and cities, the lonely viscet at the top of the mountain, and last but definitely not least, the master inventor known as Peyton, or as he liked to call her: the melting candle. His young daughter got a kick out of that, and to his surprise, was interested in seeing the refined blueprints for his flying machine the two had worked on together. The only credit he could take was for the basic outline; Peyton perfected it and made the blueprints into something he could very easily follow. The future was starting to look more and more exciting.

Canary did bring up some minor concerns about city living, however. She noted the sudden rise in crime and street gangs, which Dakarai shrugged off, telling her that it was fine, and they were more than likely just some kids who thought they were big and bad, though assuring her that he would keep an eye out. Perhaps if Canary and Lisette had lived in the city, he would have taken it more seriously but he was more than confident that he could handle himself. As long as no harm was coming to his family, then he didn't mind.

There was one gang in particular that he kept hearing about in whispers. There were rumors of an underground gang, but it wasn't just an average group of viscets. They didn't wage turf wars or challenge anyone who dared to step foot within their city. Instead, they were a group of mercenaries, hired to take out only the worst of viscets for a large amount of pay. They weren't cold blooded, and according to rumors heard throughout the bars and clubs on one of the city strips, they were more like a big family. Dakarai tried to ignore the voice in his head telling him to learn more about the alleged gang, but his interest in finding more about these guys was overwhelming. It wasn't that he wanted to find his way into the gang; he just wanted to know more. He wanted to ask questions and understand what they were all about. It seemed an odd request, but there was only one life to live, and if his ended early for putting his nose where it didn't belong, so be it. No one could say he never tried.

Once his own research wasn't getting him anywhere, Dakarai decided to take the plunge into the seedier environments of the city in order to find out more. He wasn't stupid, so he knew when to get himself out of a situation, but it was still dangerous; especially at night when all of the rival gangs were out and about. Each viscet he asked either didn't know about the gang he had been referring to, or they weren't willing to give up any information. It was those viscets who concerned him the most. The ones who knew exactly what he was talking about, but wouldn't tell him, mainly because he was well aware they would run straight to the big boss and tell him (or her; he wouldn't make that mistake again) who's been searching for them. Hopefully, if they ended up coming after him, they would allow him a chance to explain himself, but he knew there was probably no chance of that happening.

In an attempt to get the heat off of him a bit, Dakarai ceased his obsessive search and focused instead on his inventions once more along with his daughter. Sometimes, she would even do her best to help him with whatever he was working on, which he gladly allowed, even if it did make him a little nervous that it would end up broken.

There was one quiet night he would never forget. Thankfully, it was a night he was alone and without Lisette when there was a knock on the door. Answering it with caution, Dakarai was faced by a small, dark viscet wearing a beanie.

"What's up, pretty boy? I heard you were snoopin' where you don't belong."

Dakarai scowled at the small viscet before chuckling, shaking his head, "yeah? What are you gonna do about it?"

Rolling his eyes, the stranger glanced behind him at the pair of red eyes and white coloured face mask that could be seen only faintly in the darkness a few feet away. When he faced Dakarai again, he was pleased to see that smug little look had been wiped clean from his face. "If you come willingly, no one's gonna get hurt, aight?"

Oh, yeah. Like he had never heard that before. Not personally, but it was a pretty famous saying that usually ended up with someone getting hurt, but it looked like he had no choice but to go with the smaller viscet and his much larger companion. When he first saw the larger viscet in the darkness, he hadn't realized the white mask against his face was actually his pelt; that made it even more unsettling.

"So, what's your name?" The white-faced viscet spoke in a deep voice that reminded him of a bass drum, "Ain't seen you around here before. Don't like it when someone knows about us before we know about them."

He wanted to say something smart in return, but he didn't really feel like getting into a fight that night. "Dakarai," he answered, "I've been -—." Being led down a dark and empty alleyway in the middle of the night caused an uncomfortably clipped sentence. In an instant, Dakarai felt his heart sink deep down into his gut. See? He never should have listened to them. A fight in the comfort of his own home was better than being killed in some dark alley. But if he was scared, he showed no sign of it, which they didn't seem to pay any mind to. At the end of the pitch black alley, a light appeared, and Dakarai then realized a door had opened and they were brushing him into a small, dilapidated house that resembled something close to an inn.

So... He wasn't about to be dumped in some unknown alley after all? That was a relief, to say the least.

"Dakarai, huh? That's an interesting name." The tall, buff viscet with the white skull markings against his face locked the door after shoving the former Prince onto one of the many couches strewn about. "Go on, make yourself comfortable."

It was weird. The whole thing was weird and made him feel increasingly uncomfortable. What, were they trying to make him feel safe before attacking him? What was their m.o?

"You want a drink?"

The question caught him off guard; his mind went wild with possible outcomes. Why would they offer a potential enemy a drink? Were they going to poison it? Make his death a slow one? He couldn't make heads or tails of the scenario, but he decided to play along, if only for a little while.

"Uh, sure. Water's fine."

He was surprised to see the bulky viscet return with a water bottle, completely sealed, instead of a cup of water. So, there was no way the water was poisoned ... things just kept getting more confusing by the minute. Not knowing whether to thank him or not, Dakarai only nodded before cracking open the bottle and hesitantly taking a swig from it.

"So, what makes you wanna be part of the Savage Crims, huh? What makes you think you're good enough?"

Dakarai nearly spit his water at that. They thought he wanted to be part of their gang? No, no, no. That was absolutely not happening. Not then, not ever.

"I think you're misunderstanding ... I wasn't asking about you guys because I wanted to join? I was just curious. I'm obsessed with knowledge and when I heard about you and how you run things, I needed to know more." He tried his best to explain his side of things, but judging from the looks on both of their faces, they weren't pleased with the explanation. Either they didn't believe him, or they just weren't having it.

"Well, that's pretty unfortunate for you then, huh?"

Yep, it just so happened to be the latter. It wasn't that they didn't believe him, they just weren't having it. Dakarai regretted being so dumb that he thought digging into the history of a GANG was a good idea. He had always prided himself on his intelligence, but this just might have proved himself to be the dumbest viscet he ever had the displeasure of knowing. Defeated, Dakarai sighed.

"Look, I have a small daughter," another dumb mistake was mentioning his family, but he did it anyway, "and I'm pretty close with her mother still. I can't be letting this kind of thing into our lives."

"Listen, pal. We all got kids, well.. Most of us. JJ an' Sparrow here don't have any kids, but most of us got kids, alright? Kids we still take care of. Kids that ain't involved in this unless they wanna be. It ain't as big of a deal as you're makin' it. Didn't you do your research?"

The words that the bulky viscet spoke were true; he had done his research and he even remembered being impressed that they weren't just some messy, uncoordinated gang from what he had heard. They had morals, for the most part, and only took jobs from close connections. They weren't out playing God; they were making the city better, as odd as that sounded.

"Yeah, but. Why do you want me? You barely even know me."

"Well, that should be obvious. You shoved your way into our business. You made yourself our business. Why else wouldn't you be part of it now? No one wastes that much time and effort if they don't want to be part of it. You ever think there's somethin' in you wantin' it? I'm willing to bet you're ex-military, and I'm also willing to bet that you're missin' the action and adventure." This time, it was the dark coloured viscet who the other had referenced as 'Sparrow' not too long ago, who spoke. It was eerie how right he was with every word he spoke, hitting the points like he was reading into Dakarai's mind.

Sparrow stared down at Dakarai, just waiting for him to argue every point he made, but it would have fallen flat. There was nothing he could say to defend his case; he was completely right.

Joining a gang was never on the top of Dakarai's bucket list, or even on it at all, but he had to admit that it was a lot different than he expected. When he heard the word 'gang', he thought of guns blazing in the middle of the city, full on shutdowns, hostage situations, and a whole slew of law enforcement. It was nothing like that. The jobs were quick and easy, the pay was tremendous, and the viscets within the Savage Crims were like one big family. It all took him by surprise, but he wasn't complaining. The best part about it all was that he didn't even have to tell anyone. Despite being completely full of themselves, the boss even having a bit of a superiority complex, they were respectful of keeping it all on the lowdown. Crossbones and his second in command, JJ had no desire to out him to anyone as long as he gave them the same respects. It was funny; in the beginning he thought it was funny that such a small guy like Sparrow could be the second in command, but he was entirely wrong. An even smaller viscet named JJ was actually the second one in charge. That was a hard pill to swallow, but he respected the viscet for it.

After another successful and satisfying year, Crossbones offered Dakarai a promotion of sorts. It was apparent that Dakarai had found a home within the Savage Crims and went above and beyond with everything he could, even his inventions. When he had made the decision to offer use of all of his inventions to help them all out, Crossbones was seriously impressed with his aptitude and ambition. He felt, after speaking with his little sidekick about it all, that Dakarai was in dire need of something more. Something better, bigger. In the one year the group had known each other, the former Prince became like a second brother to them with his witty remarks, being able to handle Crossbones at his worst by actually helping him, and taking care of things around the club house, especially when the other members would get a little too rowdy.

Dakarai didn't mind putting them in their place, and that was something Crossbones appreciated and respected. He needed someone to come in and take charge when neither he nor JJ couldn't, so without a second thought, Dakarai was given the role of 'third in command'. He earned more money and was able to do more with less surveillance pointed at him. Earning the trust of Crossbones was a huge feat; he was proud to have conquered it.

The Savage Crims was nothing like the military for Dakarai even though that was the comparison used upon their first meeting; this was better. Far better. In the military, he felt more like an outcast than anything. He had been better than most everyone else, and that caused tensions and jealousy within the ranks. Instead of being supportive of one another, his fellow comrades were envious and competitive; even sometimes trying their best to set him up to fail.

Life with the Savage Crims was nothing to that extent, not even close. Instead of feeling left out and like he didn't belong, Dakarai finally —- FINALLY -— felt as though he found the place where he belonged. After years and years of searching and scouring the entirety of the continent, his home was exactly what his visions had been showing him all along: right in the heart of the city.

Perhaps there was a Goddess leading him in the right direction after all.

[magpiemochi.]

each of the headshots leads to a google doc!

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At first, and understandably so, Dakarai was intimidated by the large viscet with the skull for a face marking. It took a while for him to catch onto his sense of humor and understand when he was and wasn't angry. He learned throughout time spent with him, that his fuse was just as short as his own, if not shorter, and thanks to his understanding of his own anger, he's been able to assist Crossbones with his. At first, the Boss wasn't so sure about their weekly talks and anger management techniques; he was brought up to think that such things made him weak. But as Crossbones got the hang of it, Dakarai was able to help him accept the fact that no matter a viscets gender or identity, such techniques were helpful for everyone.

During his stay at the first village he and Keistas found, Dakarai spent a decent amount of time with Angelus since he owned the griffin he had been studying to perfect the design for his flying machine. The male enjoyed watching Dakarai work, even if he thought it was silly and childish at first. As he watched Dakarai sketch, scrap, and repeat many parchments in order to get it just right, he started to understand a little better how it all worked, and with that, began to think about his own inventions he could maybe one day create.

Whenever Angelus had free time away from his guard post, Dakarai was more than happy to teach him a few things that really helped get the creative juices flowing. "That's always the hardest part for me," Dakarai told him, "is actually coming up with the idea. Making it's the easy part!" Angelus had to disagree while he watched Dakarai build and put together different things, somehow making them work like a dream. He felt that coming up with the ideas was much easier and thus a temporary partnership was created. Angelus was come up with different ideas while Dakarai brought them to life.