Chapter Text
You are Malleus Draconia.
As the sole heir to your bloodline whose miraculous hatching two centuries too late prevented a succession crisis in Briar Valley, your country reveres you. You live on a pedestal, at arms’ length, always isolated. People look at you and see your power, your strength, the influence and history of your last name. They whisper in hushed tones and quiet as you pass. Malleus Draconia is their prince and their pride, so you will never be treated as their equal. You are a blessing and you are the future of your line and you are their to-be King, but not a person. Never just a person.
It’s not something that can be helped.
(this is just how things are)
Your name means different things to different people. To most, it is a fairly distant thing to think about, but there are a few that you hold closer than most.
To Lilia, your name means love and memory, it rings with the echoes of your parents.
To Silver, your name means family and duty, it is associated with his sense of gratefulness for being taken in and his need to give back.
To Sebek, your name means awe and worship, it exemplifies everything he has been taught to think is superior.
All these meanings and connotations are important, they make up the sum of who you are. They shift from person to person, but the one thing that never changes is the sense of distance. Always, eternally, one thing stays the same. People love you, but it is never possible to overcome that barrier of reverence. You do not resent it, but… it is a difficult thing, to come to terms with the fact that no matter what you do, love will never be enough to make the ones you treasure stay.
Because that’s the truth, isn’t it?
Your mother is dead, your father disappeared centuries ago.
(this is just how things are)
Lilia will not stay with you; he cannot.
(this is just how things are)
Silver and Sebek and the human boy who befriended you in NRC are not eternal – they will leave you behind at some point too.
(this is just how things are)
These connections are fragile and fleeting, like gossamer in the wind. Gone so soon and so easily. Unlike you, who will continue on as you are for a millennia to come. The reverence is a blessing, but it means nothing in the face of your utter isolation. Now and future and forever.
You were hatched too late, Malleus, and you will always be alone because of it.
You are Malleus Draconia.
As a powerful mage who can change the world at will in ways they can never dream of, your classmates in Night Raven College fear you. You live on a pedestal, at arms’ length, always isolated. People look at you and see your power, your strength, the influence and history of your last name. They whisper in hushed tones and quiet as you pass. Malleus Draconia is their nightmare and their dread, so you will never be treated as their peer. You are a force of nature and an envy and a danger to be avoided, but not a person. Never just a person.
This isn’t something that can be helped. It’s just how things are.
You were isolated since birth and you continue to be isolated here, because nobody dares to step too close. Whether fae or human, Diasomnia or any of the other dorms, it makes no difference; the end result is the same regardless. People fear you, they do not feel comfortable enough in your presence to treat you normally… so they forget to invite you. You are left by yourself, clueless that anything is even happening, until it’s already long since over. It is absolutely maddening.
Malleus Draconia, powerful mage and feared fae, constantly left uninvited. It feels like a joke and it is one.
Then Lilia, your caretaker and parent in all the ways that matter, tells you he’s leaving. He says that he’s losing his magic and has to leave NRC, has to leave you, forever. Lilia is nonchalant, Silver and Sebek devastated, and you-
What about you?
You should be used to this, right Malleus? Getting left alone. Your grandmother is too busy to bother with you, your mother left one “blessing” and got herself killed, your father left probably left you and you entire wretched line behind because he was sick of it, Lilia didn’t even care enough to tell you what was happening to him until he had to leave. To Yuu you were only another student they talked to every once in a while. Silver is a human and he will die too soon – he cares more about his father than you anyway. Sebek is an idiot who worships the ground you walk on and insults half of his own heritage every chance he gets.
You take after your mother you know, Malleus? She was the one that made you. She gave her son a blessing and it worked, but not as intended. You became revered and feared and you hate it, don’t you? That’s why you put everyone on this island to sleep, dragged them into an eternal dream because you were too damn scared of remaining alone. You thought you could help them, but all you did was take their lives for your own and hoard them. You thought you were giving them a gift, but you’re killing them, aren’t you?
All you wanted was to not be alone.
Well, guess what, Malleus?
They have a reason to fear you now .
The reverence, the fear… it blinds you to the truth.
You are not alone, Malleus. You have never been alone.
Lilia cares. You know this. He was the one that loved you enough to hatch you after all. Dragon eggs cannot be hatched without the true love of a parent. That’s why you don’t want to let him go.
Your mother wanted to protect you, but this blessing isn’t protection. It’s twisted into something else altogether. It’s what’s driven you to the brink of madness.
You’re holding everyone on the island in a sleeping stasis, threatening the entire world, and you don’t even care, because your isolation has made you cling all that much harder to your treasure. What you’re doing isn’t right, but this is for everyone’s benefit, isn’t it? You’re convinced it is, since you know oh so well what it’s like to be left alone.
You are Malleus Draconia and you are cursed.