Animus

Chapter 1

It was a fairly normal day in the kingdom of the SkyWings, the sun shone brilliantly onto the world casting light upon the towering palace of Queen Tanager. The wind blew freely through the large peaks and the thick forests below, clouds drifting across the sky leisurely.

Sangria awoke to sunlight hitting her eyes as it shone through her window, blinking she stood up and stretched, pushing out her legs and unfurling her wings. Today is the day! She cried out inwardly, I've been waiting for so long, and now, it's finally here! She quickly straightened and looked in the mirror, choosing a few bracelets, rings, and her favorite necklace, putting them on and smiling at her figure reflecting in the glassmaker. This was the day the NightWing delegates were arriving to discuss a peace agreement. This was the day she was going to kill her father.

She'd been waiting for this day for a long time of course, every moment her father , Oathbreaker, and his vile thoughts appeared she'd been silently wishing that the day she'd kill him could come more quickly. The matter of him being alive was incredibly annoying, and the annoyance had seemed to pique in the weeks leading up to this glorious moment.

Sangria exhaled in a moment of triumph, and the world faded away for a couple heartbeats. The sun was nothing but a distant memory of brightness, and the golden rays of light that illuminated her room were just pointing towards her future. It unfolded in the light, every moment of her meticulous plan for all to see. She had carefully scrutinised every step of her plan, examined every moment.

Sangria may have been a princess, and heir to the throne - Alpine was male and no one cared for Red Kite at all, not even Kite herself; She wasn't even worth mentioning anymore, to be frank - but life as SkyWing royalty was especially boring. Boring. So dreadfully, mundane and utterly boring. Yes, Sangria was in charge of interrogation and would have so precious moments in the dungeons exploring the wonderful world of death, but most of the time she was just sitting around doing nothing, her mind being invaded by the useless, bitter and twisted thoughts of the SkyWings that surrounded her. Sangria had more than enough of sitting around doing nothing, of not putting her powers to good use. She had had enough of all of this, and it was going to come crashing down in spectacular fashion.

Sangria was going to start a war.

The moment of serenity and peace fell away, and the SkyWing Animus turned and stalked out of the door, stepping into the world of her soon-to-be-subjects. Red scales made way for her, and the thoughts clogged up her mind, each one of them more twisting and hateful than the last, all of them full of spite and loathing.

NightWing scum, Tainting the royal line .. the thoughts were knives desperately trying to infiltrate her mental wall and let it come crashing down .. Good for nothing, thieving, lying beasts .. Hybrid princesses, Hybrid Queens ... The emotions were projectiles thrown against her wall, raging balls of fire hurtling towards her mental shield, wreathed in fury and scorn. Sometimes, they were small cannonballs, pellets of doom soaked in emotions such as bitterness and jealously, or something as basic as anger, or fear.

The minds of her citizens weren't worth exploring, of course, they were barely interesting at all. Sangria saw minds as ... images. Sometimes they were mazes, where you had to search for information, other times they were deep holes that you had to dig and rummage around in to find what you're looking for. Sometimes they were lakes; pools of water were everything was readily available, like her mother's mind. All of the ordinary SkyWing minds were the same; once you knew one, you knew them all. The majority of SkyWing minds were as empty, barren and cold as the mountains they called home in their minds. Others were blazing full of fire and anger, bursting full of hatred; like Eld's was. There were a few that were strangely peaceful and serene, like the wind, blowing all over the place. Others were as warm and friendly as the sun, just teeming with sickening levels of optimism. A few were as calm and peaceful as a cloud, but minds like that were rare.