"In those for whom he tore his body in pieces, a key is found, to the grave of the one who lurks around."

"Are you sure this is the right translation?"

"I don't have ashes for brains like you, moron. I know my language!"

"You wanna start this now, asshole?"

"QUIET!"

The whole Wingsfold Kingdom heard the woman's annoyed scream and flinched at the same time with the two men, victims of her wrath. The mage who poked her head through the opening of the door, looking for the source of the unrest that troubled the waters in the halls, darted her gaze at the two brawlers, giving them her most disappointed look.

As used as you could get of the two brothers fighting like two rats, you can never be prepared for their mage friend putting an end to it with her very sharp vocal cords. Her blue eyes narrowed at them, and not to grab their hair to knock their rotten heads together, she just snorted, shaking her head in disappointment before disappearing back into the room she'd slipped her head through the crack in the door.

The two brothers stood there, staring at the nothing she left behind her when she left, not sure how to recover from her outburst. It's an unspoken rule between them, that they tried to biblically respect: "Never play with a woman's patience ". At least not if you want to keep living. The boys learned it the hard way, especially the oldest of them, Tieran who had to deal with their inexperienced mother in her primes, while she learned how to be a mother and a proper queen for their country. Looks like they still need a few more lessons after all.

"Idiot" the other boy mumbled before disappearing behind the wooden door.

Tieran heard then a soft cough, almost like a whisper and tried to ignore the painful ache that attached his chest as he followed his brother into the room.

The smell of wasted hope and millions of medicamentation attacked his nose, like a thief here to steal everything and leave nothing good and healthy behind. The light that once made this room feel like a real paradise for a little girl with big dreams now slightly sparkled and it was like it never existed in the first place for the unknowing eye. The girl living in this room is the only daughter that the queen and king of Wingsfold were blessed with after two boys, so being the only girl they spoiled her rotten. All of them. Even so, although the princess had her moments, she was mostly humble, as her brothers thought her to be polite and merciful. No one saw the illness coming, but it hit the royal family like no hit or punch ever could.

"What's up, munchkin?" Nash, his annoying younger brother was first to reach her, playfully pinching her cheeks, as their mage friend gave the little girl a smile before making her leave. "Being lazy again?"

Nash was their sister's favorite brother. Everybody knew that. Even Tieran knew that, but he didn't mind. As the oldest child and heir to the throne, he was forced to grow faster than his younger siblings, and in most cases he acted more like a parent than a brother around them, an action that built a wall between the royal children. Tieran thought that the princess liked her brother Nash more, because he talked to her like she was the same healthy, strong child that they all know and love, but Tieran couldn't ignore the big, ugly, green virus that was slowly taking his baby sister away from them.

"That's Tieran's job" the prince said then, waking his older brother from the trance he got stuck in, looking at the whole scene in awe from the door's frame.

"Are you selling lies to our sister again, Nash?" the crown prince took a step towards them, giving his baby sister a warm smile before throwing an annoyed glance in Nash's direction.

"Never sold anything. To her everything is free!" he smirked, his sassy reply gaining them a small smile from the little girl. who allowed Nash to help her up to her feet.

"How do you feel this morning, little dragon?" Tieran watched as Nash helped their sister put her shoes on before standing straight.

Melody of Wingsfold, the apple of the king and queens eyes, loved to be outside. She adored the palace gardens and she loved even more the world outside the stoned walls. Her parents had an ongoing joke about the fact that if they didn't know better, they'd think Melody was born and raised outside. She loved long walks anywhere hee feet would take her, a fact that made her a strange mystery to many people from their kingdom. Why would you lose so much time walking, using your feet, when you could use the miracle, unique gif your family was blessed with many centuries ago.

That's who Melody, Princess of Wingsfold was. A strange mystery, but a beautiful and interesting mess that everybody loved. After the illness knocked her down and she couldn't find the strength to get out of her bed anymore, not even her brothers could bring that angelic smile back on her lips. For days you could feel the sadness and pain of the little girl in every hall of the palace. No one knew how the princess was still breathing, waking up each morning just to go through the same painful and sad rollercoaster every day's events brought her, but Tieran thanked the old only dragon for every blink of the eye his little sister had to give.

"I can feel my legs today," the young one answered. The small almost unnoticed spark of joy she allowed to lighten her eyes made Tieran's smile widen. "Good weather awaits us in the future!"

Nash exchanged a half relieved glance with his older brother. Melody's condition would always get worse when Mother Nature got mad at them, but the two brothers liked to think she was spending too much time with the healers and now she had learned some of their qualities, including old sayings. She was adorable when she acted like an old grumpy lady who thinks her legs hurt because of the weather changes.

"That's good to hear," he stepped in to kiss her forehead. "Ready for your walk with mom and dad?"

The small grin that remained on her lips could lighten the entire palace without even trying.

"Would you join us today, brother?" Melody asked, with a glimpse of hope in her eyes.

He wanted to say yes. He would really love to join his parents and sister this evening. In fact, he can't really recall the last time he spent some quality time with his family, as annoying as they would end up actually being. Nash couldnt resist her glowy, watery puppy eyes and would do everything for her in an instance, even dying his beautiful red hair blonde, but Tieran as the older of the siblings knew when to be colder, when to say "no".

Growing up, Tieran hated all the bedtime stories their mother would tell him and his brother in a hope to help them fall asleep easily. Nash was younger than him with just a year, so they shared a room until the presence of one another became unbearable. The red-haired bastard also loved all those stupid stories with dragons who saved princesses, fell in love with them, and fought knights to protect their loved one. In Tieran eyes it was a cliché. The same old story set up in a different font bored him to death, and annoyed him enough to chase away his sleep.

Why was there always a princess, and never a fairy or a witch? Why was there always a damsel in distress that needed the dragon's help? Why was the sky normally blue but turned red when the dragon got angry? Why could the dragon only breathe fire but never lightning, which is a much cooler element than fire?

Was he a killjoy for asking so many questions? Probably. Did he care? Nope.

He kept despising them until one day, he lived one of the fantasy stories of his mother himself, at just ten years old, but that is an embarrassing story, from Tieran perspective, for another time.

Truth to be told, those fairy tales didn't give the taste of adventure that a seven years-old Tieran needed.

His father used to say that an adventurer without a map is a man who walks into a volcano by his own will. Which is stupid because a map doesn't assure your survival, nor will it make your road more interesting. As important as it is, a piece of paper with some valuable information does not decide your destiny and, in this context, your happiness. You can't spell "adventurer" without adventure, after all.

He landed easily, letting the chill that walked on his body embrace him, as he felt his claws being replaced by fingers while the bones clothed in scales shedded for a new skin. If an untrusted ear would hear about his little adventure at the border of Wingsfold and Folice, he would be in hell of trouble. These two kingdoms were not really in speaking terms at the moment. Tieran knew why but found the reason for such a matter ridiculous. He couldn't care less now, anyway. His sister needed him more than his head needed his shoulders.

The smell of rotten flesh and core made its way to his sensitive nose, and he could only grimace before reaching in his pocket for the piece of paper wrapped up in a scroll which contained all the information he needed to move on in his quest, to avoid the temptation of looking up, at the branches of the trees on which, next to the leaves, another type of decaying skin was crucified.

The Forest of the Hanged is not exactly the best place for a walk, especially after you just had lunch, but Tieran wasn't there to clear his mind or watch the stars. He had a mission and the key to his mission was written in the dirty piece of paper in his hands. Taking a big breath of fresh air which washed over his lungs, as horrible as it smelled, Tieran spread open the map, allowing it to lead the way in this journey, Or at least that's what he thought would happen next. What he did not see coming was the scream of a bird, attacking his ears from nowhere exactly, because when he looked around he couldn't find the devious creature which made that horrific sound.

"Easy girl!" a voice followed the strange scream with her pleadings and cries, "slow down, Tina! Please!"

He heard the squeaking of the horse which will be stuck in his ears for the foreseeable future and all he saw before everything went black was a pair of brown eyes and some curly locks of hair which floated in the air.