I wore plain clothes, running through the rain of fire.
Salro followed me on his dragon like a cat playing with a mouse. He sat on the dragon's back, not drawing the sword at his waist, just folding his arms, teasing and mocking.
'Now, is this your home, or mine?'
I said, 'It's ours.'
'A Vice-King can become King, so how are you any different?' I told him, 'This so-called greedy dream of ruling the World is merely your delusion. Having ignited the flames of war for this, how can you face these dead clansmen?'
My husband only stared at me indifferently. Finally, he said, 'It has nothing to do with me.'
'The winner takes all.'
Just like my name, Miatitiir, means 'Happiness.' Sarlo's full name is Namukuhanmu Sarlo—in the language of the Children of the Wind, it represents the beautiful blessing of 'Victory beneath the Firmament.'
Those with happiness in their names did not live happily, and those with victory in their names never won.
The Royal Family won this battle with great difficulty.
I cried out all the way, clutching the severed limbs of my clansmen. Those dragons only obeyed the orders of their 'partners,' attacking recklessly and incessantly. By the time I reached the core area, my father was already at death's door.
A dragon and a subverted robot had attacked him. His left arm had been bitten off, he had lost an eye, and his abdomen had been sliced open by a blade. He lay paralyzed before the central hub.
Naturally, the dragon that attacked him also lay outside the door, its head severed from its body.
I held my father, and my father looked at Sarlo.
'Everything is a precursor to destruction,' Father said. 'You started a war, but you've made it so the entire Children of the Wind Clan can never turn back.'
After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes forever.
Sarlo pointed a finger at me and my father's corpse. The dragon beside him opened its mouth, and a ball of orange-red fire ignited and heated up in my field of vision.
Then... Little Darling arrived.
She blocked that lethal heat for me, her entire abdominal cavity scorched into a mass of black debris.
Sorry, writing to this point, I don't really want to recall or describe that scene.
Let's talk about what happened later.
Later, the Royal Guard achieved victory and arrived at the central hub. However, Sarlo didn't seem to care about the failure or success of the war.
He said, 'From now on, we are no longer subordinates.' Then he drew a short blade, decapitated his partner beside him with one stroke, and swiftly plunged the blade into his own heart.
Before he died, he still stared at me with a hideous expression.
I was terrified.
It's true that I am the Queen, but I had never experienced such a tragic war among our own kind—we had always been united against outsiders.
At least, that's how it was in my foolish eyes.
Yes, I was foolish and naive.
—At that time, I was truly unqualified and not fit to be called a real King.
I wept while holding my father's body, and I also wept while holding Little Darling's head. Tears dripped onto the top of her head, and she tiredly lifted her eyes to look at me.
Then, she pointed to a corner with her claw.
Only then did I discover that she had hidden her 'egg.' It turned out she was planning to bring her Child back to see me today. When did she have a Child? That's wonderful, Little Darling.
The guards prepared my father's remains and also carried my Little Darling away.
Oh, from that moment on, I announced to everyone that she had a name.
Little Cookie.
That was the name I gave her, though no one cared.
After that, there was a long and fruitless wait. The Royal Family and the subordinates underwent a protracted negotiation, back and forth, fighting for interests and power. Because of the civil war, a large number of cities fell and were destroyed. By the later stages, we no longer had the resources or enough flying stone to build a complete sky city.
—They couldn't find even a single piece of raw ore that could refine flying stone, even after mining out the pits.
In the sky, only a few lonely cities remained floating.
Laputa, this was the last place that belonged to me.
The Vice-King's clan hated me, believing my high pressure had driven Sarlo to his death; the Royal Family hated me for my incompetence, for not sensing the Vice-King's clan's rebellious heart sooner.
They simultaneously believed that without me, all negotiations would be much easier. So later, I was 'invited' to Laputa, the city where the Children of the Wind Clan stored their treasures and buried their dead.
No flying stone, no dragons, no robots for me to command. I couldn't fly into the sky, nor could I take any treasures down to the ground. My greatest daily pleasure was leaning on the railing, gazing at the boundless drifting clouds in the distance and the earth ten thousand fathoms below.
It wasn't until several years later, when their negotiations ended, that I was finally released. By then, everything was already set in stone.
The two factions decided to dismantle the cities and take away the remaining flying stone and vast treasures—in reality, there wasn't much left they could take. Due to the depletion of flying stone and the breakdown of a large number of robots, there were no longer any tools for the Children of the Wind to operate and transport gold, silver, and jewels... only Laputa remained.
They agreed that this would be the final property of the Children of the Wind Clan.
If one day, whether Royal or non-Royal, someone found a new mine containing flying stone, then they would have the right to control Laputa, the weapons in the city, the mountains of treasure, and the inheritance.
Afterward, the dragons also left—that was the last time, and only the second time, I saw the Dragon King.
Its massive body, with only its head emerging from the clouds, was already comparable to the size of Laputa. Its voice rang in our minds, deep and powerful, yet exceptionally disappointed.
He said, 'I will not let my subjects be sacrificed in vain for a foolish war. From this day forward, except for the dragon eggs you have touched, all living dragons will depart with me.'
He left behind a massive golden triangular gemstone to keep those unhatched dragon eggs in active hibernation within the light mist. Then he vanished into the clouds.
That day, we witnessed the scene of hundreds and thousands of dragons flapping their wings and leaving together.
It was beautiful.
I held a dragon egg and watched this scene, remembering what my father had once said.
—Miatitiir, my Child... you were born possessing everything.
—We grew up in the embrace of the firmament; it watches us, loves us, and pities us.
—We command the dragons, and we look down upon the earth.
Unqualified as I was, I failed to achieve even one of those things. I didn't even protect my clanspeople well.
On the day of departure, the Royal Family and the Vice-King's group led their respective followers away, one to the left and one to the right. They sent a messenger to ask me which direction I would take.
I shook my head, held the dragon egg, and walked into the central hub.
They all thought I would keep this dragon egg by my side, and after hatching it, I would roam the earth unimpeded, letting it seize wealth for me, fight for power, gain status, and enjoy a lifetime of luxury.
But I didn't.
I placed it in a slot surrounded by light mist, just like the few dragon eggs inside. I chose to let Little Cookie's Child and those unhatched little ones stay together and sleep together.
Waiting for a future that might never come.
I am Miatitiir Doieru Uru Laputa, the last Queen of the Children of the Wind Clan, and also an unqualified, foolish Royal.
Now I am reclining on an old bed, recording all this with a quill pen bought with six months' wages as a laundress. Before my life reaches its end, I will use a small piece of flying stone I hid away to return to Laputa and place this notebook beside Little Cookie.
Dear reader, having read this far, you should have realized that you cannot see the former glory of the Children of the Wind Clan in this notebook. And I did not write these things to reminisce about that kingdom which vanished into the long river of history.
I do not want to describe those reigns beneath the firmament from a Queen's perspective. I am merely recalling my father, my Little Cookie, and my short yet long and meaningless life as a daughter and a disloyal partner, filled with guilt.
Furthermore, I want to tell the successors who may appear, or may never appear:
In my youth, dragons existed.
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