The Ailing Empire 1

Dragons are androgynous. We are the siblings of the singularity, like a dot amid nothingness, when it had yet to separate into its current dichotomy. Our kind once lived peacefully within the expanse of a tesseract, a place where time and space intersect infinitely. It was colorless, endless, formless, just as we all were. It is unimaginable. Our time, if it could be called so, was spent ruminating over possibilities; for each dragon harbored one possible timeline on which life sprouted and evolved. These internal reveries were disrupted when, for reasons unknown, the singularity shattered in two. Life, now actualized, came with the birth of its parents. The Father represented one half: magnanimous and brilliant. The Mother represented the other half: selfish and incomprehensible. The Father and The Mother bickered over who should govern life, but their conflict would never conclude. It is thanks to this unending fight that life burgeoned as it did. Days shine with The Father's light. Days fade with The Mother's night.

As life now marched on a single branch of time, my siblings and I were forced into the new world. Uncovered by light, our new serpentine bodies weaved through space like threaded needles. Eventually, we settled within various celestial bodies. Our residual energy catalyzed intelligent growth in our chosen worlds. Still, when all was said and done, we were left aimless among organic life. On this planet, some of my siblings relieved their physicality into pure energy. My other siblings chose to hunt for pleasure, grafting new limbs to their bodies. I chose to sleep until I could... well... talk again. I waited for life to approach at the center of a sky-scraping caldera.

My awakening came with the sound of a clink. A single ant had somehow dug its way down through the dirt and stone. I was curled within a translucent crystalline shell, and the ant's pincers tapped incessantly on its surface. It eventually gave up and returned above ground. Years later, the minerals in front of my encasing shell eroded with rainwater. A group of upright monkeys took refuge in this cavern from a century-long downpour. I named one of the males Ooo-ooo, and a female one Oo-aa. I kept track of the tribe's changes through the pair. It seemed Oo-aa liked to cheat on her spouse while Ooo-ooo went out hunting. Oo-aa had a predilection for long tails, though Ooo-ooo was among the more successful hunters. The husband, I noticed, liked to bring grapes for his spouse. I imagine it's to placate her due to his absences. The pair had three children, although their marriage struggles and Oo-aa's cheating led to the death of two.

By the time I realized the rain had ceased, the cavern had long been vacated. No soon after did a new community re-discover me. A joint expedition by the Dwarves and Elves led to word of my existence. The Dwarves arranged for further mining of materials in the vicinity—I assume these formed as byproducts of my hibernation. The Elves set up research camps before me and cataloged my physiological changes. Even then, no one could hear me scream within the shell. Their miners had since uncovered the rest of my shell, raising the cavern to my body's resting height. Their builders erected a respectable altar. Fanatics slit their throats on temple steps. All the while, researchers chipped off pieces from my shell and extracted my essence. Still, no one dared to wake me. All I saw with my mental eye were darkened complexions fearful of an unknown lifeform. What did these worshipers perceive that I could not? I cannot imagine. For a century or two, I observed and read into their movements. They disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.

It was only a century later when I was finally freed. A human male approached with an army as much as my chamber could hold. A line of mixed-race prisoners followed in. With the sacrifice of their mental sanity, a cluster of mages channeled a single word into my mind. In the language of my race, they said, release.

Now, I truly awoke. I towered leagues above their feeble bodies. I was as frightening as the void and as magnificent as the stars. My body was a shadow of the singularity. Yet, those mages bound me to the earth. By their own sacrifice, they bid me to form. I fell. For the first time, the concept of life intercepted my soul, and The Mother guided me to the form of these sacrificial lambs. Dirt crawled into the pores of my new skin. Upon the blood pools beneath me, my hair unfurled as a midnight dress, flowering at the length of my body. A man in a gaudy blue suit approached, clasped a discreet collar on me, and grazed my hair with a hand. My ears caught from him my first words of the common tongue: Elaina, Daughter of the Void.

The Imperial Palace was a walled garden I could not escape from. There, an education coordinator assigned to me a pair of language and etiquette instructors. As I rapidly excelled in my studies, palace maids would chat in secret with me. They whispered stories of the prince's childhood, such as of how he'd flip up their skirts in the hallways or challenge the General with a wooden sword. In his adolescence, he grew stoic and ruthless to contend with political savagery. Even then, he was kind and patient toward me. It's likely in exchange for how often he paraded me wherever he went. My tutors needed me to understand the political position I would be forced to occupy. As such, I came to learn about my husband's political side as well.

The crown prince of the empire was a young but ambitious man. Garrus Eredium had taken up the position after his older brother passed to a disease. His father, too, had died under mysterious circumstances. But the emperor's younger brother, Cornelius Eredium, took his place in the interim, given the crown prince's young age.

Why exactly Garrus needed me was, initially, simple enough. I was only to serve as a sort of political weapon for him. Unseen conspirators were backing his uncle over him. Garrus' opponents wished to extend the interim Emperor's reign. For that, they needed Garrus exiled or killed. I served as the fuel to light the beacon that is the crown prince. However, as the dominance of The Mother's influence over my soul forced me into a feminine form, Garrus became sexually attracted to me. The injecting of my blood into the emperor’s bloodline thus became a weapon for his political party. My unique beauty would draw eyes toward the power of the emperor and empress-consort.

"And I am to wear this gown to dance? It's not as embellished as those other outing dresses for a change, but you're showing off quite a bit of my cleavage and naked back to the public." I sighed, exhausted from his demands. Garrus and I were standing in my bedroom and had just finished tea in the Afternoon Room. "Do you seriously think I have no understanding of human shame?"

"Now, now. How did I tell you to refer to me?" He looks down a head above me

"Excuse me?"

"Say it correctly."

"Say what correctly?"

"It starts with an 'M,' I believe."

Heat rose to my cheeks. This play was beneath me. "Master."

He placed a hand on my chin and leans toward my left ear. "Good. Now, wear it for me," he whispered with a sultry voice. He kissed my neck, just above my collar. The surrounding maids swooned. I thought him a disgusting charmer.

That night, the boy accompanied me down the ballroom steps. The imperial ball was a chance for him to show me off and strengthen the backing of his political party. To each noble coupling, he introduced me as his fiancé. But I was more so debuted like a trophy. Those humans only saw a body in me without a shred of respect. I could do nothing as their eyes dissected my clothes from my skin and my soul from my body. At times, I felt entirely removed from the ball, staring down at a body that was not mine.

What is femininity? The concepts of gender and sex were fresh to me, then. Palace instructors had eagerly taught me their empire's history and culture. So, I thought academic knowledge determined the boundaries of gender roles. That seemed not to be the case. Rather, they refused to teach me sword fighting and magic and preferred to enforce teachings of posture and mannerisms. So, perhaps skills in combat determined gender roles. Anyway, my dreams of magic were moot for as long as my collar separated me from the leylines.