Time: Night.

As Estel stood in front of the council,
The Queen then in front of her said.

"Estel.
From now on.
You will become the next Queen!"

Her complexions pale as she heard it.

Cheers of the council roared as they all heard it from her.

"It's finally time!
Let us celebrate for lady Estel!
The next Queen of the Demon-kingdom!"

Soon the surrounding swiftly changes as she found herself wearing the gaudy clothes as the queen herself. With a King with big horns and scary wings beside her as he then held her hand beside her.
His face was completely blurred unable to see it clearly.

But he then said.

"I'm sure our children will become.
The next generation of the light dragons."

As Estel heard these words she paled with a gaping mouth as she saw children walk in front of her.
With the same feature she had...
A girl with silver hair and a boy with a darker one revealing in front of her.

In her mind and confusion, she cries out.
[What. The. HECK. Is. Happening!]

But soon anger dawned upon her at the scene before her.
Her eyes then shift to a burning dragonic color while clenching her fist changes with dark scales covered around it.

Bone-like wing's formed on the right side of her back as it soon followed the movement of her hand. Subconsciously done within her fury as she readies her right fist then drives it into the blurred man's face as the wings struck him at the same time sending him flying as the sound of the wall explodes on his impact were heard by her ear's.

While shouting in anger.

"THERE'S NO WAY!
I WILL ACCEPT THIS KIND OF ENDING!"

As she did such a thing reality returns to her as she felt her neck stung.
Her blazing dragonic red eyes shifts to normal,
With her vision returns, she then saw her father coughing up blood as he now looked like a decoration on the walls in her own room.

Estel was puzzled and surprised at what she just saw.

She then heard a voice behind her as she turned to the other side of the bed.
Her grandfather was leaning sitting in a chair where the table by the window where they sat was.

"That's...
Quite a punch you got there.

He was trying to wake you up,
Since you looked like,
You were having a nightmare." He said while greeting her with a smile on his face.

She saw the window on his side,
Currently, it was night time.
She slept for that long.

Her fist covered in scales it soon, slowly relaxed turning back to normal.
The sound of crackling stone from the wall as her father pulls out his limbs, one by one as his body had swiftly recovered from her blow.

He then said to her, with a calmness.

"It's good to see your still healthy."

But Estel simply leered at him as he turns her head away in spite.
"Hmpf!"

He swiftly felt an awkwardness between them.
But if he wished to rectify their relationship he had to speak with her properly.

"Estel..." as he wished to say more, her glaring eyes swiftly turned to him.
But then heard a sound and weight around her neck, as she touched it.
She felt like a slightly large collar was placed around her neck,
Ignoring her own father's presence, she turned to her grandfather as she then asked.

"What is this?"

Her grandfather could only give a sigh while watching.
As he was then about to speak his son then answered for him.

"It's a collar used to suppress your rage."

But once again silenced dawned between them.
This time Estel was the one to take a deep breath her blood boiling with anger.
Every time she heard him speak, but then she said.

"I wonder...
Why would this jerk of a father of mine decide to speak to me now?
For what I recall, you never visited me all these years."

Turning to him while her bone-like wings are showing hostility to him.
"Tell me...
Now that you know my half-blood is actually the real deal.
Is this the only reason why you came to speak with me again?"

"That's not..." as he tries to deny it, he was then kept quiet.

"NOT. WHAT!" she shouted in fury.

Tears and agitation visibly seen in her eyes while her collar began to rattle and glow...
She finally had the chance to show him how she felt.

"For all those year's I tried to gather your attention.
But you never bothered to look at me!

On the day I was finally about to meet my own father and ask him,
What I should do to be loved.

You end up being trapped by a crazy wizard!
While you helplessly watch my own sister DIE right in front of us!

Tell me...
Do you even have any SLIGHTEST IDEA?
How terrified I was for my sister and mother!
They were the only one who cared for me.
And yet...

How could you just let, all of that happen!
You just watch my sister DIE!"

He then retorts.

"We were all caught in his trap!
No one in the castle expected such a thing to happen!"

But Estel wasn't amused with such an excuse.

"What kind of pathetic excuse is that!
Do you even have the slightest idea how scared I was!
When I was on the mercy of that crazy lunatic!

After his threats...
You didn't even flinch and killed him without hesitation!

What, If I didn't have this power?
What, If I was just really human?
What if...
I wasn't there, that day?

Just thinking about what would happen if I chose to stay inside my own room that day terrified me.
That there is no way I'll accept being caged like this anymore!"

Her collar then began to crack, as her grandfather noticed this his father tried to warn her.

"Estel, calm down!"

But she did not stop, despite his cries.
The air grew darker as her bone like wings postured itself with a threatening position ready to pierce any that dared get closer. Her grandfather was threatened by it as well, waiting for an opportunity.

She then finishes her words.

"Are you happy now?
Now that I have this ridiculous powers!
That you're finally telling me, that you care about me.

Or...

Do you really only care about this power?"

As she finishes the last end of the sentence.

Her right wing swiftly emerges from her back as the collar then began to crack altogether on the verge of breaking. But before that happened her grandfather tried to reach for her head but could only parry her right wing with one of his hand the floor made a crack above his feet while he stopped the tips of its wings from reaching him.

On the other hand, Father came closer as he reached for her,
he blocked the left wing with his hand but instead of reaching for her head.

He embraced her instead.
"Of course not!
From the very beginning!
I've been watching you closely!" as he said those words, she replied.

"Liar!" as she then tried to struggle free from his hold, her strength was still not at its peak enabling him to keep her at arm's length. On the last moment, before her collar broke apart, he then cried out to her.

"I had the pendant that kept you safe,
Personally crafted to be given you by your own mother!
If I didn't care for you, then why would I give you such a protective charm!"

As he said those words.
She recalled it.

The moment her mother was captured in the sorcerer's trap.
The moment where a large circle encircled her sister and herself, with the pendant activating breaking it while protecting them.

Enabling Esla to fight the mad sorcerer.
It was how the battle first began.

The moment Estel's heart began to shudder in discord.

The energies flowing around the place slowly dissipates along with her once hostile wing's that had stopped in its forceful attempt to repel them.
She then embraced her father in return.

"Then why?...
Why didn't you visit me at least once?" was her question to him.

Her grandfather was gazing at him with a serious expression in his eyes.
Readying himself for the worst.

A single error in his words could place her once again in a fury like a state.

After a few seconds of silence.
He then calmly answered her.
"I was afraid.
Afraid that they would turn their eyes on you and begin to target you for their own schemes."

"But even so!?
Would it kill you?
To at least visit me once!" she asks with her fist clenching and shaking in frustration.

Her father replied with a frustrated expression.
"I am the King of all Demons!

As your father, it may seem despicable of me to keep my distance from you.
But it was the only way to prevent them from noticing your presence.

I am aware of the things they have done,
But If I were to let my emotions control me,
They would undoubtedly use you for their own gain,

Or...

Perhaps even see you as an unnecessary existence that they would aim for your life."

Estel went silent, as he continued to explain while turning his head away from her.
The wing's that were once aggressive had slowly retracted its position on her back.

"Thus far, I had your mother keep watch of their actions while keeping your company along with your sister. I gave them permission while ignoring the complaints of others about how they spent their time.

After how all the servants, I've hired had decided to abandon you.

I was actually quite surprised.
That you were able to gain the attention of my the Queen herself to personally teach you.

At first, I had kept a close eye by working from a distance."

Estel then recalled the moment, her father was glancing at her from the distance during her practice with the queen before turning away.

This was the day, Estel felt there was hope that her father will notice her by doing her best in learning her teaching.

"Then I realized, that the Queen was fascinated by you.
That there was no further need to worry about it."

It was also the day, Estel who was glancing at her surrounding felt a bit lonely when he did not come to see her.

She then gazed at him with a pained expression on her face while gazing downwards.
Her anger was rekindled but began to stop as she felt there was no need to pursue it any further.
She then asked him.

"Then why?
Why must I remain in that room for years!?
You could have just, sent me away instead!"

Estel had remained in her own room for years.
The queen who had visited her had brought her to a reserved area devoid of all servants.
Due to the treatment, they had shown her.

"Your mother proposed that to me once.
But...

It is forbidden for humans who had lived in the demon-kingdom to live in another country.
To become a slave in this place is to be bound by the land itself.

Failure to do this would lead to being tracked and hunted down by my own people as a traitor of this nation."

A pause came to her as she recalled it.

It was a law to prevent humans from using their own knowledge to use against their own kind.
In order to preserve their strength as the strongest in terms of magic.
All those who tried to expose their knowledge are regarded as traitors.

Estel felt despair as she then began to weep.
"Does, that mean I can't ever leave this place?"

Her father then gazed at his own grandfather with worry.
A gentle smile dawned on his face giving his son a nod.

 

"Only you can decide that for yourself." were his words to her as he soon left her side.

Her grandfather who gazed at her wings felt a bit troubled, but he also felt calmness compared to the presence she had shown before, with nothing left to say to her, he soon turned to his son to discuss matter's regarding a new problem that had arisen.

The two soon left the room, giving Estel some time to think about things.

________________________________________________________________________________

Night-time.

//The Demon Castle//

The Demon-king's Castle...
A fortress that slowly float's at night, but begins to land by day.
Stones regarded as shadow cores draw's power from the night and brings it up high.
It also acts as a protective measure's within the castle preventing infiltration at night as well as detecting any intruder which are not applied through the defenses.

Despite all this, a mad sorcerer was still able to get through it.
Not only that, he used it against us.

Sealing all doors and keeping every people within the castle locked people inside the rooms and passages. It's not that strange that such powerful magic would be used as a dangerous death trap.

But that's not the problem right now.
The problem is...

"How the heck did it end up like this?"

As I stared at the mirror, bonelike wings were now on my back.
My crimson red eyes and dark hair with scales on my face felt like I became some kind of horror monster from a film. My body ached a bit from that stupid struggle, but still...

My father's word made sense...

In this kingdom based on my studies.
The Queen has a similar power to the King.
But the King has a vital role in the country to manage most of the things happening in this place.
He is the only one that can deprive the council's will and go against it.

But doing so will undoubtedly cause discord within the council.
Betraying the will of the council is like betraying his own people.
He cannot assert all his power like a tyrant.
Or others will begin to move independently on their own.
This was the reason why the council was created in the first place.

Managing monster attacks and resolving issues within the outer kingdom is his role.
Including decisions to deal with a growing hostile force such as liches and other threats that are similar in nature to them.

It was fortunate that none of my own kind had decided to use poison and simply just harassed me.
But still, it was cruel being treated like that.
While I might forgive my father for his lack of action,
I would probably never forgive how these jerks treated me.

But the problem right now...
[How on earth am I supposed to escape in the night in a floating castle like this?]

Certain spells require certain conditions.
I once asked my grandfather regarding teleportation magic during training.
He simply said.

"Supreme magic such as those can backfire and kill the user if poorly done.
It's not wise to rely on such magic unless you wish to tear your body apart by accident.

The only reason you survived such an encounter was thanks to the pendant you held which suppressed it's effect the moment it occurred."

Supreme magic is powerful spells that required preparation and knowledge.
That mad sorcerer probably never intended to keep me alive and intended to blow my body to bits from the very beginning.

Was I lucky?
Or perhaps just fortunate.

I turned to my bed and felt my bone-like wings harass me in my sleep.
Calming myself, it soon dissipated.

The last words my father came to my mind.

"Only you can decide that for yourself."

[Did my father just permitted me to escape on my own?]
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