The Dragon King's Heart

Memories of a forgotten time resurfaced in Victoria's mind. She saw herself as a baby, cradled in a woman's arm.

"Mother," Victoria called out.

The woman who was carrying her was her birth mother. The worried expression on her face said it all. Victoria covered her mouth as tears flowed down her eyes. She wanted to reach out and touch her face, to feel her warmth, but it was impossible.

This was just a memory.

She watched as her mother left her in a basket, at the entrance of the town. She watched as her mother's eyes were filled with tears. There was a man with her, Victoria's father.

"We have to go, my love. We can't stay here for long," her father urged her mother.

They did not bear to leave their child, but they had to in order to ensure her survival.

"Do we really have to do this? To leave our baby girl here?" She asked her husband, eyes filled with tears as her lips quivered.

"For her sake, for her future, we must," her father said to her mother as he held her tightly.

Victoria's mother bit her lip. She leaned in and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

She whispered to Victoria, "You're destined for great things, little one. We love you, very very much."

With that, her mother leaves the moonstone brooch with Victoria and turns to leave. After one final look, they disappeared into the night. Victoria was left in the basket, to fend for herself.

When the townsfolk found her, they took her in. She found a family who took her in and treated her like their own blood daughter. Victoria had tears streaming down her cheeks.

For the longest time, she had wondered where she had come from. Was she the daughter of human travelers who abandoned their child? No, she was not. Victoria was a werewolf.

Unlike the others, she was a direct descendant of the Ancient Lupus, the ancestral bloodline of the present-day werewolves of Wolfenheim. Every so often, someone like her would be born.

They were considered gifted individuals, destined to be the pillars in Wolfenheim's society. But as their powers can attract the jealousy of others, some families choose to seal their children's powers away.

That was what Victoria's parents had done. Their daughter was unique. She was born with some of the strongest bloodlines of the Ancient Lupus anyone had ever seen.

They had feared Victoria would not be strong enough to withstand the powers that came with her bloodline. Activating the Whistle of the Moonlight Wolf lifted the spell that had kept her powers hidden.

It also acknowledged her as the current guardian of the Moonlight wolf.

Back in the Throne Room, everyone took a step back from Victoria. The silhouette of the Moonlight Wolf appeared before them. All the werewolves got down on their knees.

The Moonlight Wolf might not be the Moon Goddess, but it was still sacred to them. It had an ethereal look to it, ghostly yet graceful in its beauty. Even Kragen was in awe. The last time a Moonlight Wolf appeared before the werewolves were more than a century ago.

The Moonlight Wolf let out a howl before it addressed everyone in the Throne Room, "The child of the moon who has summoned me, Victoria Lunastella, is a direct descendant of the ancestral bloodline of Ancient Lupus. She is hereby appointed as the current guardian of the Moonlight Wolf. All shall kneel before her radiance."

With that, the Moonlight Wolf disappeared. The whistle shattered in glittering dust and blew away with the wind. The light from its form entered Victoria's body, forming a silver pearl crescent moon on her forehead.

When Victoria opened her eyes once more, she had returned to the present with memories of her origin fresh in her mind.

Her senses were heightened, her newfound powers flowed through her veins. The Moonlight Wolf was hers to summon when she needed assistance. It was almost akin to her spirit animal.

Seeing King Kragen cowering in fear, Victoria felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. For so long she had lived in fear of him. Now, it was his turn to live in her shadow.

She pointed to Kragen, "You took me away by force from my family. Then, you killed and burned my entire village. Do you deny it?"

Victoria exerted her voice and aura upon Kragen, forcing him to speak the truth. He had never felt such overwhelming power before. The Alpha Werewolf King took a couple of steps back.

He clenched his jaw, he wanted to deny it. But the words refused to leave his lips. No matter how hard he tried, he could not say anything he wanted to say. He had to say the truth.

But he refused to do so.

"Guards, arrest this bitch right now!" Kragen roared in anger.

His order was met with silence. None of them moved. Angered by the lack of action, Kragen turned back to face them, barring his sharpened fangs to intimidate them into listening.

But none of them paid him any attention, they were all looking to the person who was standing behind him.

Victoria.

"Queen Victoria, what are your orders?" A brave soul amongst the werewolves asked out loud.

At that moment, Kragen knew he had lost his power. But he was not about to give up. He had come this far, working his way up to his title as King. He would never hand it over to Victoria just like that.

Kragen turned back to glare at Victoria. His fearsome looks and intimidating stares no longer had any power over her. She glared back at him with a lit fire in her eyes. Kragen pointed to her.

"If you want to take my place, over my dead body," Kragen declared.

Laina did not expect Kragen to be defeated easily either. She was intrigued, wondering what he was planning to do. She did not realize the whistle of the Moonlight Wolf would hold so much meaning and power.

She certainly did not expect Victoria to be so unique and powerful either. Dante, who was watching from above nodded approvingly as he watched how things unfolded. He knew something was different about Victoria.

Looks like his intuition was correct.

"Over your dead body? That can be arranged, Kragen," Victoria said with a smile upon her lips.

Her hands were trembling. Her defiance was her first step towards freedom. Freedom from him.

A grin appeared on Kragen's face, "I demand Imperium Battaglia."

A battle for power.

<Writing Prompt #15 - A war which everyone came back to life (Part 2)>

One after another, humans sat up, confused as to what was going on. As they checked their bodies for their fatal wounds, none could be seen. A young woman with golden blonde hair clutched her heart as she sat up, gasping for air

"I'm… I'm alive?" She exclaimed in shock as she placed her hand over her mouth.

The last thing she remembered was Yvette's voice. She was whispering her apology.

"Yvette!" She called out as she looked around frantically.

Everyone else was happily reunited with their loved ones, their friends. There was no more hatred in their eyes for their enemies. No one knew what had happened. No one knew how this miracle came to be.

The young blonde-haired woman continued searching through the field for her friend. Her closest friend.

She knew Yvette had done the unthinkable. She sacrificed everything to save everyone else.

"Nyla!" The blond-haired woman heard someone calling her name.

She never thought she would ever get to hear that voice ever again. She turned to look in the direction of the voice. Tears blurred her vision but she still knew who it was. She crumbled to the ground.

"Mylo!" She called out to his name.

Mylo ran up to her and they shared a loving embrace and a kiss. They cupped each other faces in their hands, happy to finally be reunited. They had been separated by death, war was cruel to everyone.

"I thought I would never get to see you again," Nyla cried as she admired the face of her lover.

"Me too," he replied with tears in his eyes as he leaned in to kiss the nape of her neck.

"They are over there! Nyla! Mylo!" Other familiar voices shouted from across the field.

They had once thought they would only be reunited in death. Yet now they were all reunited, alive and well. But there was one person missing from it all.

"Where's Yvette?"

When the realization hit Nyla, her heart sank. She remembered what happened moments before Yvette plunged the sword into her heart. She remembered the look in her friend's eyes.

Her lips quivered.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"She's gone."

To end a war with no casualties was impossible. Yvette knew that from the start. If it meant everyone she had once held dear could be happy and alive once more, she would do anything to achieve it.

Her sacrifice would have been worth it.