Here's the next chapter in a commission for the cutie bat:  jkbscopes123. Following on from this! Expect updates to this as my story commissions open! Thanks for commissioning me!

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 Sanguine:

The mountain air was still, save for a light breeze that scattered snow over the vast peaks like silver dust. Gleaming like golden crowns in the dawn’s radiant light, the ice-capped monuments of stone stretched on into the gleaming horizon, below the burning red and magenta sky. The sun of the new day cut a swath through the darkness of night like a molten blade through butter, sending shadows scattering like rats from torch flame as trees rustled like the waves of an ocean in the far windier valleys far below.

The vast midnight keep of Noctstiriacus loomed like a great bastion of black obsidian upon the tallest of the many peaks. The black stone was offset by the many layers of pale snow that lingered upon its many bastions, bulwarks, and turrets. The golden inlays of its many intricate carvings shone in the sun’s glow, while armored vesper guards patrolled up and down the towering walls in their hundreds.    

Upon his wide balcony, far above upon one of the highest spires of the shadowy castle, Prince Sanguine peered down across his family’s kingdom like a hatchling would over a brand new box of playthings. Bats fluttered about the many gargoyles and crenulations around the plaza’s squat rim, while icicles hung down from above like icy fangs. Yet the young vesper cared not, all that captured his attention was the sheer, glorious majesty of the view as the sun’s vast flame finally peaked above the distant mountains, and shimmering wetlands far beyond.

As if the world had been set alight, the glow spread like wildfire across the lands. Leaking down from the blazing peaks, weaving, and winding into the dark forests, setting pine needles aglow with the golden radiance as they swayed like finely groomed fur. He spread his wings, feeling the chilly breeze rush through his coat, curling under the leathery limbs, and buffering the crimson membranes upwards. He could do it, he could fly, leap from the edge, sweep upwards, and never look back. He’d be free to fly over the world forever. He’d been to more than enough lessons, his brother and sister both had told him all he knew.

I’m the youngest, they don’t really care what I do. He thought, well aware Azure was heir to the throne, and Violet was promised to mate. No politics for me, I could do it, I could just fly away.

The thought had lingered in his mind for many a year, ever since he’d first flung himself from his nest and glided only a few wing beats. Admittedly, many of his flights ended landing face-first in the dirt, his snout still bore many of the bumps and bruises. But he was a fast learner, he’d run the training course more times than he could count, not to mention knowing every little crack and crevice around the castle. If anyone could make it out here alone, it was him.

But do I really want to leave them? His thoughts were pulled back to his brother, sister, and mother. Father too, I know he’s a tight-tail but… 

Like almost every time the thought of fleeing crossed his young mind, his head finally drooped as his hunched wings ruffled, a sigh escaping his lips as a warm puff of steamy vapor. It felt like his whole being were torn in two, on one side was his family, and on the other, his hunger for freedom and adventure. Neither won out over the other, always leaving him in a continuously conflicted state of frustrating confusion.

Night knows I’ll just be promised to mate like sis’ someday too, anyway. He relented, at least hoping such a vesper would be as adventurous as him. Only an heir gets to pick his mate, after all.      

He looked up, lifting a wing to shield his eyes as they were dazzled by the sun’s growing glow. The day was well and truly starting, and he was sure someone would soon be coming up here to tell him that such bright times were not ones in which little princes should be awake. Just like that, his tufted ears perked, twitching in the direction of tapping claws. He knew the sound of every one of his siblings' paw steps. Sure enough, the second he realized, he turned, finding his older sister in the shadow of the archway behind him.

“How did I know I’d find you up here?” Violet asked, dark fur almost spectral in the gloom as her sharp eyes gleamed in the dawn’s glow like amethyst flames. “The only bat I know who’s fascinated with the sunrise.”

“What? What’s wrong with that?” the little prince huffed, face falling flat as his wings ruffled.

His elder sister rolled her eyes as she stepped out into the light, fur shimmering like ebony silver as her lean muscles rippled under her taut coat. He could feel her warmth the second she sat next to him and coiled her tail around his paws. She was almost steaming, and he knew that she’d only just returned from a long run of exercise.

“The sun dazzles our eyes, Sangie, you know that,” she reasoned, forced to squint as she too glanced at the dawn. “Not to mention, it’s time for little princes to go to nest.”    

There it is, right on time. He thought, huffing as he slumped. Why do I always get told what to do? I’m a prince, even if I have to stay here, I should get to give more orders! 

“But I don’t want to go to nest!” he protested, yet the look on his sister’s face made it clear she’d already won this argument a thousand times before. 

If he knew one thing, it was that there was no one outside of mother and father that dismissed Violet's orders, the princess was as fearsome as a frost wyvern.

“All those late dawns with Azure are going to make you diurnal, I swear,” she observed, casually dismissing his objections as she cocked her head and smiled. “How about I come tuck you in, hum? Read you a story?”

“I… I–I guess,” he muttered, rubbing his forepaws together, masking the fact he always liked it when she did such things. “But what about mother, how come she never comes to do it anymore?”

That seemed to catch her off guard, and she winced, shifting her head away from the growing light as she lifted a wing to shade them both from its glory.

“She’s just busy, that’s all,” Violet assured him, before nudging him along with the coil of her tail and a wave of her outstretched wing. “I’m sure she’ll be able to come see you again tonight.”

“But that’s what you always say,” he countered, putting up only a little resistance before relenting under the assault of constant nudges. “Even Azure hardly teaches me as much as he used to!”

“Well, he’s learning to be king, it takes a lot of work to do that, Sangie,” she told him as the two passed under the icicle-lined archway and back into the shadowy halls of the keep. 

The walls were long and frosty, lit only by sparse torch light and the crackling flames of braziers. The light breeze still blew between the stone walls like a ghost, as wooden doors filled the arches that flanked either side. The two of them passed several guards, the clatter of their armor as they approached and bowed to the two royals the only sound to break the ambient flames.

“I know that, but it’s so boring here all alone… Even you’re so busy!” he insisted, tossing his head back with a loud groan as he peered back at her. “All you do is train, why can’t I train? I want to learn to fly like you!?”

So I can fly away from this place. His mind added, yet he failed to mention that part to her as she chuckled. She looks at me like I’m some adorable pet!   

He imagined his scrunched muzzle and folded ears did little to favor him in that regard, not to mention his puffed-out cheeks as he scowled at her.

“Well, I have to look my best, Sangie,” she assured him, stretching tall and proud as she puffed up her chest, pressing a forepaw to the thick fluff. “As the princess, I’m an icon of the family.”

“But do you like it, are you happy with it?” he found himself asking such things before he even fully considered the implications.

Even so, he stuck with the words. No matter the overwhelming surge of embarrassment and urge to shy away from the question that rolled over him seconds later. His sister’s suddenly somewhat stunned expression didn’t help, almost as if such a question had lingered upon her mind for ages, yet she’d not quite expected it to come from him of all vespers. She blinked, seeming to choke on her words as she staggered mid-step. For a moment, he swore she was the one who’d end up falling face-first into the cobbled floor, but after a few seconds, she paused and collected herself with a deep breath.  

“Who put thoughts like that in your head, hum?” she asked, and while he was expecting her voice to be stern, it was soft as the wispy morning clouds.

He too paused in the corridor, leaning back against one of the cold walls as he folded a wing over himself, feeling oddly ashamed he’d brought the idea up. It really seemed to strike a chord with her, not something he’d intended or expected. But swallowing his apprehension he pressed on.

“I… No one… Just… Well, when you and Azure always go on about duty and family… Sometimes I just wonder if…” He trailed off closing his eyes as he coiled his wing tight and curled his tail around his hind paws. “Well, if that’s what I want. I know I’ll soon be mated like you, and he’ll be king… It’s all a lot to take in.”

“M–mate… Me… I…” Never before had he seen his older sister so flustered, words babbled from her mouth like fish floundering out of water, as her cheeks flared bright red. “This is Azure’s doing, isn’t it!?”

“What, no… I mean, maybe a little, but…” His words were finally cut off by a shrill eep as she glared at him.

For a moment, he was terrified this was the stern scolding he’d so foolishly been digging towards, until her straight face broke with a fanged smirk.

“He’ll be sorry when I get my claws on him, talking about my life like that,” she laughed the thing off like a bad joke as her wings ruffled. “Night knows I’ll be betrothed to a far better match than him.”

“Betroth… Bet… What?” Sanguine asked, cocking his head as the words snaked in one ear and right out the opposite one.

Violet rolled her eyes, casually bundling him along with an unfurled wing as she went on. 

“Not something you have to worry about yet, Sangie, trust me, but…” She paused, seeming to wonder if she should really utter the words that were clearly on the tip of her tongue. “Well, I see the way you look out at the mountains, I know what you’re thinking.” 

It was his turn to stiffen at that, ridged claws scraping at the stone as she shoved him along. 

W–what, she knows, she, how…? No more distinguishable than the petrified gargoyles beyond the icy arches to their left, all that left his stunned body was a series of squeaks and murmurs. She can’t know that! The sly mind reader!?

Even so, it was very clear that his sister knew exactly what he was thinking, her smirk alone made that more than evident as the two of them finally came upon his nest chamber.

“I know what it feels like, wanting to be free, trust me.” She glanced left, then right along the hall, spying for any onlookers before she crouched down and wrapped him in her wings. “You’re not the only one who yearns for adventure, you know?”

He leaned back in her embrace, feeling the taut membranes of her fuzzy wings tickling his back as he regarded her. Then his ears drooped, and he finally sighed and nodded.

“I know, I know. Just with Azure's lessons, learning magic, I have fun… Then the rest, learning to be prim and proper… It sucks,” he confessed, and from the look on her face, he could tell the feeling was mutual before she even said as much.

“I know how you feel, you know?” she told him, pulling him close, and without a second thought, he hugged her back, pressing his face into the downy fur around her neck. “It gets easier though, trust me, hon.”

“You make everything look easy, sis,” he muttered, voice muffled by her thick coat as she giggled.

“I try my best, but I can tell you one thing.” She leaned back, looking him right in the eyes as he sniffled. “I’ll always be here for you, if you’re always here for me, you know that right?”  

He shied away, feeling heat in his cheeks and the tips of his folded ears as he glanced up at her and nodded. It all felt so sappy and soft, but he couldn’t help it, and sniffling again, he embraced his sister one last time.

*

A screen of gushing bubbles, the bitter cold sensation of racing water, and the sudden pressure of the turbulent liquid around him was the first thing Sanguine knew as his eyes flared open. Only to instantly shut themselves as the harsh sting of the water met his gaze. He had no idea what was up or down, he felt lost in a cold vice of suffocation. Right before he felt his hind talons scrape stone, the smooth, shifting pebbles of the river bed. His rear paws found purchase, and without a second thought, he kicked off, surging upwards as fast as his flailing wings and legs would propel him.

The rippling water surged by, tugging on his fur, and yanking his wing membranes, before, in an explosion of warmth and light, he erupted out of the gushing river with a deep gasp. Humid air filled his lungs as sunlight dazzled his eyes, forcing them closed just as swiftly as they had underwater. The river’s harsh flow clawed and ripped at his body, yet with all his might, he blindly paddled toward the only semblance of shadow he could make out from behind his closed eyes. He felt the river bank under him, the water shallow enough to stand, and after a series of hacking coughs, he staggered up onto the shore, before finally opening his eyes. 

The afternoon sun was low in the desert sky, the only disturbance in the endless blue of the world above. The view was tightly sandwiched between the walls of two vast cliff faces, each a pale orange and marred by layers of vibrant sediment. The sandstone monoliths were shadowed by the shade of palm trees, the likes of which sprouted from the sandy bank just behind the soaked vesper as he rolled onto his back, sand clumping in his moist fur.  

Urg, by the night, I’m really starting to hate water! He thought, taken back to reluctant bath times as a fledgling as he lifted a forepaw to his head with a groan. Where in the night’s name am I now?

The last thing he remembered was trying to fly, before falling and plunging into the cold waters. The storm of bubbles and water that followed felt like it had lasted a lifetime, but here he was, no idea how far down the river he’d been dragged. Nor any idea where his only companion had gone. It was at that moment, that his eyes finally flared wide, and he sat upright with a flurry of damp sand.

Xeno! The name echoed through his mind just as it rasped from his bitterly harsh throat. Where is that bug? By the night, when I get my paws on them…

There was a slither in the water, and at first, the prince merely mistook the large ripple for some kind of giant alligator. Not that such a thing was a pleasant thought, yet it was almost preferable to what finally peered up at him from the watery torrent. Unfazed by the water’s wrath, the dark aquatic form of Xeno peered at the bat with two beady sets of vibrant, emerald-green eyes.  

“What are you doing?” Sanguine deadpanned, shaking the water from his fur like a wet dog. “How did you think any of this was a good idea!?”

There was a long moment of silence from the water-bound dragon, as if part of them were waying up whether to simply swim off and leave the vesper to his fate. An equally blunt part of the prince considered the fact that such a reality may not be the worst thing. Even if he had no idea where he was, how to get out, or where to go afterward, let alone if his sister was still after him.

Knowing her she will have dealt with that monster and be on my tail in no time. He thought, pretty sure the gods themselves couldn’t get between Violet and her goal. If only I knew where I am, then maybe I could figure something out.  

He knew he needed to get somewhere secluded, somewhere she’d take time to look, or struggle to get to. He had really thought this far out in the desert had been such a place, yet she had made it clear that even the endless sands were not beyond her grasp.

There has to be somewhere she can’t just waltz into. Father doesn’t have jurisdiction everywhere. He knew that was a partly futile gesture, his father would do all he could to capture him, no matter the law.

Either way, as he paced up and down the sandy beach, harsh sediment still clinging to his dark fur in clumps as his paws shifted in the soft surface, Xeno continued to watch cautiously from the water. It was like the infuriating gaze of a pet subtly begging for food, and after a long moment, Sanguine finally sighed, tossing his head back with a groan.    

“Are you just going to sit there staring at me like a lost puppy?” he asked bluntly, voice as flat and monotone as his expression. “Come out of there.”

The water rippled as Xeno shook their head, the long line of spines that marked their back quivering in the flow behind them as they did so.

“No, you’ll just get mad at me if I come out,” muttered the shapeshifter, lifting their fanged muzzle above the water to speak.

Oh, by the night I’ll… Despite everything, his rage, his irritation, hearing the bug admit out loud what he was thinking, stung. When they say it like that it kinda hurts.

The vesper winced, ears folding.

What am I saying, I’m only in this mess because of them! His frustrated thoughts reiterated, only for a more rational side of his mind to remind him. And you’re also out of there because of them too.   

He flexed his paws, long talons cutting into the soft sand as he sighed, fury leaving him like a hot breath. And maybe they know how to get out of here too.

“Look, you come out of there and I promise I won’t lay a claw on you,” Sanguine assured, pretty sure that Xeno could easily beat him given their aquatic size.

Fat chance that’ll happen, the drake’s not exactly the boldest I’ve met. He thought as the mysterious dragon shifted in the water.

“Why do I have a feeling I shouldn’t trust you?” they asked, and the prince’s eye twitched at the idea he was the one not to be trusted.     

“Me!?” He pressed a foreclaw to his chest. “I’m not the one here who can look like anyone and threatened to lay eggs in someone!”

His rage bubbled to the surface once again, but unlike his coy sibling, Xeno seemed to at least boast the decency to wince at the accusation, bowing their head under the water and sinking from sight. 

“Urg, by the night,” Sanguine muttered, tossing his head back as he paced down the beach. “Okay, okay, wait, come back… I didn’t mean it.”

There was a series of bubbles, and with a shallow glorp, the domed head of the shapeshifter surfaced once again, water dripping from their sleek chitin.

“You know, I don’t call you out for what your kind does. Flying into lands that are not yours, taking over everything,” the dark drake countered, and once again Sanguine’s frustration flared.

“That’s my father, not me!” He jabbed a forepaw at his chest once again. “Do you really think I’d be out here squatting in the mud if I agreed with my father!?”

He marched right up to the water’s edge, forepaw still pressed to his chest as he huffed. Xeno sank away once again, vanishing like a timid fish into the mirk with a flick of their webbed tail. For a long moment, the prince just stood there, muscles rigid as the sandstone cliffs around him as he panted hard.

I’m not like the rest of them, I’m not like my father! How can they not see the difference? He told himself over and over in his mind before realization once again finally came to him. Xeno? Oh, by the night, what have I done now!?”

“Xeno?” he muttered, voice dropping into a far softer tone, as his eyes passed over the turbulent water. “I… Okay, come on, I didn’t mean it… Just come out, please.”

There was nothing but the gushing of the river's flow as the prince peered out into the water longingly, before flopping back with a long sigh. His soggy rump hit the sand, coating him in more of the irritating granules as his head drooped and both forepaws pressed into the beach. Ears folded, he swatted one forepaw through the sediment, growling before he finally admitted.

“Okay, look, come out of there because I have no idea where I am or how to get out of here without my sister finding me.” Nothing but the flow of water followed his words, and he dared not look up. “I… I need you to help me again, is that what you want to hear?” 

There was still nothing, and after a long moment, he finally looked up, peering across the rough water. Still nothing but the foamy peaks of rapids and the sheer wall of the sandy orange cliff face opposite.

Urg, what am I even doing, talking to the water? He asked himself, feeling like the biggest fool in the world. They’re gone, they’re not coming back, what’s the point?

“You know what, fine, be like that, I’ll find my own way out of here!” Staggering to his paws and leaving a trail of wet sand, the prince screamed out at the water, before finally turning to the cliff. “Not like it’s going to be hard, I just fly out and then further into the desert.” 

Who am I kidding, I could be a million miles away from anywhere worth going to for all I know. He thought, yet refused to allow the defeat to show on his face as he marched away from the water, just missing the flash of green that blossomed under the turbulent surface. What’s that?

He glanced back as the water rippled once more, and from the depths Xeno once again surface, liquid dripping from their chitinous wings and spine as they clambered up the sand in their pure, draconic form. He flexed his claws in the soft sand, but held back, remaining true to what he said as the bug shook themselves, ruffled their wings, and peered at him across the beach. Out in the sun, the drake’s dark hide almost shimmered with a monochromatic hue, while their glowing spots pulsed a series of uncertain colors. Their sharp eyes were all the same though, fixed on the prince as the shapeshifter finally spoke.    

“You fly any further into the desert and you’ll die of thirst before the rock scorpions get you, trust me.” Sanguine glanced back, doing his best not to feel like the fool again as his ears folded, while Xeno added. “Besides, we’re already as far out as you want to go without hitting the endless sea. You gotta know there’s nothing out there.”

Of course, I do, everyone knows that. He thought, yet in his desperation to avoid his sister he’d neglected to really consider it. Who do they think I am, some childish fledgling?    

He opened his muzzle with a huff, but one glance from Xeno and he stole his words. Maybe alienating the shapeshifter more was not the best idea right now, least of all when he had no idea what to do without them.

“Okay then, master cartographer, what would you have me do?” he asked, voice still deadpan as Xeno looked up into the sky. “Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I can’t exactly just swim out like you.”

“Oh, I noticed,” Xeno muttered, shooting the prince a witty glance, as if they’d been counting on that fact mere moments ago, much to Sanguine’s frustration. “At nightfall, we can fly out, that’ll save the worst of folks seeing us.”

Worst of folks, as if we need more undesirables on our tail? Sanguine thought, asking as much.

“Oh you know, The serpent collective, talon guild. Pretty much everyone my sister pissed off,” Xeno informed him, counting off each of the criminal organizations on a forepaw casually. “Not to mention Xenna herself, she’ll most likely come after you too.”

“Well, that’s just great, first my sister, now all this!” the prince exclaimed, pressing a forepaw to his face, and running the sandy pads down his muzzle with a huff. “You’re forgetting my kind will most likely hunt at night, right?”

“And Xenna will during the day, hmmm.” Xeno tapped a foreclaw to the tip of their muzzle. “I can probably talk her down, but she’ll want compensation for the hive… I don’t think she’ll listen to me about that.”

“Yeah, well, she can blame my sister for that,” Sanguine added, slumping by one of the trees with a sigh. “Why can’t things just be simple?”   

We’re in the middle of nowhere, it should be easy to hide out here. He thought, yet now he felt more trapped than ever. Stuck between the sea, endless sands, and the eastern kingdoms to the north, what could be worse?

“I don’t think the word simple exists out here, to be honest,” Xeno admitted with a sheepish laugh. “Though there may be a way…” The shapeshifter trailed off thoughtfully. 

At those words, Sanguine’s ears perked, his head shot up as he looked at the bug with newfound hope.

“And what is that? Anything’s gotta be better than out here!” he asked, as Xeno once again looked to the sky, then downriver.

“If you can make it a little further downriver, we can slip into the catacombs. The ruins of Nexus, lost scarab city run all under here, we can use them to head north, at least,” they elaborated, yet the idea of once again traversing endless halls of sandy caverns made Sanguine’s fur crawl.    

The fact they’re called the scarab catacombs hardly helps. He winced at the idea of endless chambers filled with bugs and monsters, yet one glance at Xeno and he had to admit, there was little difference in company. Still, if they’re right, and they can get me north, maybe into Castonia?  [

“And these caverns, you know how to navigate them?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. “All the way up to say…?” He rolled a forepaw in the air. “Castonia?”  

“The old centipedal road, yeah.” Xeno puffed up proudly. “My kind were once spies for the Scarbi empire, we know the change-ways of the catacombs better than anyone!”   

Good to see they have some confidence in that at least. Sanguine thought, still a little apprehensive. Would almost be better to have their sister, she’d be able to get me through, I bet.

Regardless of his trepidation, he hardly felt like he had a choice. While failing to offer the full details on why he wanted to go to Castonia of all the eastern kingdoms, Xeno didn’t seem to bear the same reluctance. The bug looked eager as ever to go, a stark contrast from their shyness mere minutes ago.  

They got me out, they didn’t swim off downriver, maybe I really should just trust them? He thought, moving up towards the bug, only for his ears to perk. What’s that?

The thunderous beats of wings were unmistakable as they echoed through the canyon. One thing the prince seemed to have over the bug was hearing, and within seconds he knew the pace, the leathery tempo, and the formation. Those were vesper wings!

“Get down, now!” Before the bug seemed to register his words, Sanguine yanked them into the cover of the trees.

In the same instant, he ducked down into the shadows, praying the sandy mess they’d left would be indistinguishable from the mess he summoned with a blast of cold air. 

Seconds later and the armored patrols of two vespers dashed by, wings sending ripples across the water as their armor rattled. Sanguine watched them with cold calculation, his claws ready as ice hissed in the back of his throat. He caught one of them glance at the sandy mess on the shore, yet he’d swiftly made sure at least half the beach was in such a tumultuous state.  

Just pass by, that mess could be alligators, hippos, or anything, no need for suspicion. He thought as one guard circled into a hover, furious wing beats causing the water below to jitter. No, no, just fly off!

“What is it?” the soldier in the lead called back, curling round as the first of the vespers hovered in close, her eyes narrowing.

Sanguine was just about ready to attack. Erupt from the undergrowth with the element of surprise at the very least. He had no idea where Xeno had gone, the drake had molded into the vegetation like some kind of chameleon.    

“Nothing, let’s just get back,” muttered the female soldier, and with a loud beat of both their wings the two took off up the canyon.

Sanguine released a long breath he didn’t quite realize he’d been withholding as the two vanished around the cliff’s edge. In the same instance, there was a flicker to his left, and like a mirror warping into silvery existence, Xeno’s hide shifted back to its natural black state.  

Interesting, I didn’t know they could do that.