Puffin moved swiftly through the water, chasing the black orca through the brightly colored coral reefs, kicking up sand as they swam. He wasn't made for swimming but could handle it for a little while, at least long enough to get the orca. Puffin tried his best to stay on the large violent creature, but was easily thrown off into the rapid currents. As he re oriented to his surroundings, a sudden blizzard of bubbles and sand flew at Puffin, making it impossible to see your own talons. He roared, which was a mistake, and immediately started to choke on the sand and water. He used his wings and tail to boost himself off of the ocean floor and up to the surface, still wiping sand from his eyes. He coughed up a mixture of water and pebbles out as they studied the ocean for the orca. It couldn't have gotten far. Right? Puffin spotted it, and was preparing to dive back down when a flare sounded behind them. He whirled around, annoyed at the distraction. A dragon was behind him.. Not just one dragon, three of them, scarred and angry looking. "Seawings," he growled. Puffin dove under the wave quickly, hoping he could lose them in the coral reef. He twisted and turned through the currents, knowing they were probably right behind him. He swam deeper and deeper into the cold, cold, darkness. Puffin used his tail to break off bits of the coral, but barely being able to see he ran into the ground a few times anyway. The sound of splashing behind him slowly came to a stop, and he slowed down, looking back to see if they were gone. The sounds of gurgling came from all types of directions, giving him a tangy taste of bitter fear in his mouth. He backed up slowly to a coral reef, but something brushed beside him. ‘Was tha-’ Out of the depths a pair of dark blue talons grabbed Puffin by the neck in a cold grasp, and the last thing he saw was a face, a strange one, Two different eye colors? And then darkness. It was a few hours later when he finally woke up, he could tell by the way the sunlight shone onto his talons in different hues of oranges and pinks. The sun was setting and a cold had fallen over his location. The area was a damp prison cell made of old beaten up stone. He wondered if he touched the walls if the entire structure would fall apart. The ceiling was low, probably not even big enough for him to stand up in his full height. Fish bones littered the room and scratch marks marked the past presence of many dragons. It smelled of salt and dead animals, not the most wonderful mix. A pair of strong chains were tightly clipped to Puffin's wings, making it impossible for him to stretch and let alone fly. Nothing held him down though, so he could walk around freely in the small room. He walked out to the door of the cell, and was surprised to see no bars. Puffin gazed out of the opening, and stumbled back quickly before he nearly fell to his demise. He was in a large structure that was grown with vines, large leaves, and had multiple sources of water trickling down from the top and into some of the other cells lining the upper part of the structure. He remembered stories his mother had told him about this place, how a cursed dragon had made it as a deathtrap to later kill almost all of the royal family. His cell seemed to be as high up as 50 full dragon wing sizes. If he fell, he would fall into a large, dangerously shallow pond that would guarantee his doom. Now he understood why no one escaped from the seawings. It was only about a few minutes later when a pair of guards came and took him down to the shallow pond carefully, and through a tunnel lit up by sea lanterns. It was wide, and all of the dragons –Including himself– were able to swim side by side. The large sea tunnel led the dragons into a large cavern that sloped up, creating an air pocket for the dragons to breathe and talk normally. The room itself was double the side of the tunnel and decorated in tapestries and old looking weapons. In the center was a long, stone table covered in scrolls and bottles of ink. Surrounding the table were tiny pools of water, some deeper than others. The shallowest one was at the far edge, but it was surrounded by a large piece of carved wood that resembled some sort of throne. The seawing guards pushed him at the foot of the table and quickly clipped his talons to the cave’s floor. It must have been the council room because a moment later large exquisite looking seawing nobles started flowing in, one adorned in protective gold armor, others with black necklaces and horn rings. “Who are you?” He demanded as the seawings sat gracefully in their pools. Puffin could tell all eyes were on him. The guard's gazes were pinned. Why was no one responding? “I asked a question!” He growled again. Puffin turned and looked at one of the guards wearing multiple clips on magnet pins to their armor, guessing it was a major general of some kind. The dragon shuffled awkwardly, quickly looking away from Puffin. “Answer me.”
It seemed the guard was about to respond when a raspy roar sounded from where the entrance was, sending shivers into Puffin's spine. Everyone turned to stare at the owner of such a terrible sound. “Greetings, very glad the sea life protection team could meet today!” The owner of the voice was a small, almost white seawing dragonet. Her scales seemed to shimmer blue in the lanterns glow, her eyes piercing green. The dragonet was adorned in horn rings, necklaces, earrings, and a gold crown placed carefully on her head. Was this possibly a princess? The seawings didn’t share much about their royalty, and no one ever really carried to investigate. The dragons in the room bowed as two guards stepped up behind the dragonet. “Queen Sardine, Reporting today at your service is all of the on-day responding dragons. Considering this was on such short notice, not everyone could make it today,” the Major General said from her side, head down and eyes closed. ‘Queen? But she looks so young,’ Puffin thought. “Very well. I would like four of the guards dismissed and four to stay here. I’m not very worried about this one…” Sardine gestured to Puffin with a disgusted face. “Are you sure?” One of the guards questioned, He posses fi-” “If I wanted to hear what you had to say I would have said as much!” The Queen turned and spat the guard, cutting them off from even finishing their sentence. The guard stood for a minute, mouth hanging open slightly. Then they bowed and quickly ushered three of the other guards out with them. Sardine smiled, pushing the gold crown further up her snout. “So, who are the dragons this time?” One of the dragons adorned in black jewels stood up, dipping his head. “Queen Sardine, today we were called on because of only one dragon, which I find a little unreasonable.” The dragon paused. “We only hold meetings when there are three or more. Doesn’t this seem slightly unnecessary?” “Question me again and we will be holding a dragon execution day,” She growled. ‘Those exist?’ Puffin understood why there were so many ‘seawing runaway’ stories. Queen Sardine moved weakly over to the 'throne' lowering herself carefully into its cool water. Puffin noticed a slight limp in her walk, and that she shuddered when she moved. There was clearly something more to this queen character, more than just being the youngest queen seen in history. Her gaze was sharp but weary, and the way she held herself... It made Puffin feel sympathy for her cruelty. "Alright!" The queen rasped. "First order of business, what is your name hybrid?" Puffin blinked a few times, realizing he had zoned out on the strange lock holding him to the pool. "Wha? Oh. Puffin. Why does that matter? What do you want? Why am I here." Queen Sardine raised an eyebrow, "I hope you remember your place here, prisoner. I will ask the questions and we will choose what to tell you. "Now I will tell you what you have done and will seek opinions from the Sea Life protection team. We will decide what the general cost will be for this crime." Sardine straightened her back, glaring out at the dragons around the table. Puffin was almost entirely sure these dragons were insane. He was just swimming! Sardine turned her sharpened gaze to Puffin, "You attacked a creature that is about to go extinct, that is why we must discuss your punishment. This is very serious." All the other seawings around the table nodded quickly, agreeing with the queen. Puffin gasped dramatically! "OH NO!! What have I done!" He fell into the puddle limp, being overly sarcastic. "Pull him up at once!" The queen roared. "I'M NOT JOKING! You're acting like a literal three year old!" Guards ran and pulled Puffin up from the pool. One of them grabbed Puffin's face and hissed directly at him. Puffin saw something in the guard’s eyes, Two different eye colors? Puffin sighed, not getting a long enough look at the guard before it shoved him closer to the table. For the rest of the time Puffin didn't spend much attention to the rest of the meeting. It was the queen debating over how much money Puffin now owed the sea kingdom. They seemed to suspect Puffin had money. He answered questions occasionally about how he doesn't have anything, and lives in a tiny cave on the beach of the sea kingdom. A patrol was sent immediately to collect his stuff. He was supposed to live in the cell he would be assigned and repay his debt to the queen. Apparently, now he would be working as a servant in the sea palace. Puffin zoned out, he was more interested in trying to discover why the sea kingdom was so strange. Puffin never got to be in palaces of any kind, and this would be fun to experience a different way that the seawings did life. Maybe he could write an article on it or something? And maybe even figure out much about the queen herself! Now he had a reason here, and that was not just to pay off his debt. End of chapter 1. (Check comments!)
