Where Blood Don't Run (Incus/Tenebris)

Months had passed, maybe even a year since one saw his own mother. Incus knew Astral couldn't track him nor any of her children like she did other dragons, but she knew where he lived. He also knew she had a second family, and maybe cutting him off was for the best in her mind, but that was the paranoia for the young Nightfury. Shaking the water off from a nightly soak in the roaring river passing through his temple, hidden in the mountains far away from civilization, Incus now bathed in the dusk's sunlight once he stepped outside. The temple was ancient, dating back to maybe some of the earliest dragon civilization, the ruined state held its own beauty as nature took over it, and Incus being the little perfectionist he was, cleared out some of the flora to make it actually livable.

The Demigod in question was spending his time… Doing nothing. A week ago he spoke to a Human deity, Soshi, and ended quite well on good terms. He didn't even know Humans could have gods of their own till then! The Nightfury glanced at the massive forests beneath him in thought, he went back to that conversation for a good while as dusk descended to night. He could catch some sleep, but he didn't feel like sleeping at all, instead the words with Soshi he'd spoken to about trying to help mortals.

Incus's train of thought was on the big green worshipper of Astral's, Boulder Rock, or whatever his name was. But it dawned upon Incus that the Earth Dragons were mostly diurnal, they were day drakes and he'd most likely have to wait till tomorrow to speak with them. He then remembered another dragon, a black serpent with sleek features and… "Weird" attire when he had thrown that party. If he remembers correctly, Night Dragons were as their name suggested possibly nocturnal, which, at this time of settling night it was morning to them. Maybe. There wasn't much choice as Incus could potentially meet Kenina, the Fire Dragon Monarch, however from what he heard she was in a slump lately.

Taking off at a running start, Incus glided through the sky at first before diving down the few hundred foot mountain face, building up speed and once he was close enough to the treeline he extended his wings once more. His wings caught the air and he started to angle his body until Incus caught the air and flew upward at an incredible speed, now flying across the land and continuing upward at a safe height. In the direction Incus went to the Twilight Imperium, his mind festered with a series of scenarios that played out, larger kings and say-names looking down at him when he could easily just kill them. Drama was what he always thought of royalty- again, paranoia.

As the Nightfury approached the Imperium of the Ebon Isles after perhaps an hour or two he started to clear his throat, starting to recite his greetings and… whatever else he would need.

Within the huge ornate obsidian halls of the Shadow's Refuge, the court was in session at its latter stage, the supplicants had already presented themselves to deliver their cases and requests, now what remained was the Archon and his council. The retainers were a shadow of what they once were, only six remained within the court while a stoic Tenebris remained seated upon the high dias which served as his throne. Within the grand hall, apart from the six nobles, the two Inquisitors of the Archon, Hastur and Seth, stood in their armoured attire on either side of their Lord. In the wings of the atrium and at the archway of the hallway there were a number of lesser races, such as thunder hawks, chimera etc, strangely adorned in full plate helms that resembled the visage and countenance of their Dragon overlords.

Tenebris himself was adorned in his courtly garb, which included various silver and gold rings adorning his claws and horns, and an oversized silver loop earring hung from his right ear. Tenebris outwardly looked down in solemn apathetic silence, upon his raised position he dominated the room as its key feature almost like a statue of old. His eerie sapphire glare ever locked upon those below him.

Tenebris knew fine well the politics of court life, the back-stabbing, machinations, petty politicking, and duplicitous plotting were second nature to the Archon, and he thrived on it. There was a sadistic joy whenever he noticed one of his Ebonwing nobles vying for approval, each of them on his council often trying to benefit themselves by sacrificing one another. Tenebris often thought about how they needed to be reminded he was mortal above all else just like them, weighed with the responsibility he accepted for others. The great facade was that most Nightwings saw him flawless, the polished version to inspire such confidence. In truth, Tenebris was ever afraid of not being enough, of failing in sacred duty, of his purpose unfulfilled, weighty as it was. So it was that these petty arguments were a relief.

"Your Grace, we used the wretches to cultivate what viable fertile land we have on the Isles... But our Slave population still cannot be supported with the amount of food we are producing, we need more hunters-", before the Ebonwing could even finish his last word another retainer barked with a snarl in retort, "Your Grace, we simply do not have enough of our kin to suddenly appoint more hunters!". Tenebris gave a subtle nod then raised his right foreclaw, waving in a dismissive manner "I am very much aware of this situation, Brothers, fear not. Your concerns are well founded, yet the solution is rather clear". Tenebris allowed his words to hang over their heads for a moment, it was true, with the low population of Nightwings and the mass of slaves, food production was a concerning issue, and much of Nightwing land was infertile at best despite recently passed proposals to have Human slaves begin cultivating the land to feed the lesser races. The solution Tenebris had was a rather simple one, they had an overabundance of silver and other precious ores from their mines, and being on the Isles they could begin paying the Seawings. Tenebris knew once he stated such there would be disagreement, the Ebonwings thought that the Nightwings as a whole were superior and thus beyond the need of aid from others in any regard.

There wasn't a lot to look at besides forests turning into swamps, Incus had known this area quite well as he used to fish here. And then he couldn't due to the activity of monsters, more specifically Ogres of all things, and though he was much faster he'd seen those disgusting things Ross large rocks and miscellaneous items to knock down a dragon. He drew closer to the separate Ebon Isles where he knew exactly where the Night Wing districts were, easy to find but a little hard to get as Incus could also spot several guards about. Easy, thought the Nightfury.

Divining low to the ground, Incus used his acrobatics and made a series of sharp turns, using his black features in tandem with the dark seas to better avoid the other dragons. He would purposely use crashing waves and wakes to mask his wing flaps whenever he needed, and when he quickly closed that gap between water and land he angled upward and allowed the wind current to lift his body above the treeline and over a few buildings. He managed to barely avoid the guards on watch, and almost crashed into a stray spire, but quickly recollected himself and any last second thoughts to regain control and focus. And of course, he had to land as he had found the familiar scent of the one Astral called her, "Father."

Slowing his descent, Incus landed in front of a cave entrance. He looked around, his night vision aiding in the sight amongst the dark, while there were torches littered everywhere they couldn't help in the blackness of night. So Incus went without further hesitation. The caves of the Night Wings were smooth against the walls, carefully carved and decorated, wall sconces placed and lit with dull incense-like candles; everything displayed to fit into their little culture that the Nightfury could care less for. Or maybe he should start caring if he were to help the mortals. Ahead Incus heard conversation approaching, he stopped and looked around until finding a tight crevice. He quickly slid into the large crack of the wall concealing himself in the darkness of the cave.

Two guards were chatting, passerbys more likely, and they were loud compared to the quietness of the cave system. The first one, a bulky sounding male was sarcastically retorting, "Of course they know what they're doing! Why, we haven't had trouble since we started to share right spaces with the ground walkers above!"

"Okay, smart-alec, my point is that we really should look for new… Management, so to speak. From what I'm hearing from a few friends in the whole slave business, they're running out of supplies, and nothin' is getting resolved! I say instead of having slaves, why don't we just, you know, set them loose on some lone island so we can have more food? Or you know, eat 'em?"

The bulky dragon, as they just passed Incus, said, "The second option is more feasible. But if we do that then most likely we'll start eating each other, and the first option, who is gonna mine and farm?"

"Well… Maybe we could?"

There was loud laughter, and further chatting down the cave started to grow more distant. Incus crawled from the right space and continued down his route. He had a variety of thoughts about what the two dragons had said, but his thoughts were interrupted upon hearing a familiar voice through a large door. He hummed for a split second as he'd seen the door was cracked, a room of various individuals engaged in a serious matter of… Something. Incus slid through the cracked door with ease and snuck to the far side behind a pillar, listening and peeking his head out. There he was, Tenebris, a ridiculously dressed dragon in jewelry. Wonderful.

Incus remained in his spot hidden from everyone else, but he could easily be spotted by the Archon himself. More or less, the Demi-god was letting the great black dragon finish his little meeting before he could go in and approach the Archon. How long did he have to wait though? Perhaps the politics of these Night Could teach him a little something about how dragonkind has developed?