The same night as the dinner.
Echoes of water drops fell into the abyss lake. The water that enters this lake glowed a dark grey, an enchantment or spell that provided clean water for the Kingdom of the underground. The Draconis kingdom. From what was past down, the lake was noticed by an old powerful mage who made the spell or enchantment to have "all water that touches the abyss lake to always be clean and safe to drink". An additional spell was said to have been added to the dripstones above the lake to "never stop dripping water and to always supply the kingdom with their water needs".
Myths say that there was a time where the drip stones had to pour water constantly into the lake, since the kingdom had a population of thousands. But as Eoviet looks over his Kingdom now, he refuses to belive that his people had more than a hundred people. He would be surprised if it held more than fifty!
Eoviet, the Prince of Draconis, sat on the palalces balcony. He had nothing better to do, after all, his time was spent doing the same thing. Wake up, shift into his dragon morf, tunnel, forage for the smallest scraps of mushrooms or any other cave life, take it back, share with the kingdom, trian with the blade that was past down to him, go to sleep. The Prince grew bored, watching as his whole kingdom gathered by the internal fire, another gift from ancient mages. Said to "burn to warm and light up the kingdom for as long as they shall need" and "to heat the air and create the wind currents".
Feeling a warm breeze, Eoviet began to wonder if his people would even survive without these enchantments and spells. If not then how did his people even become to be down here? The young Prince found himself questioning things like this a lot, wondering if there was even a time where his people looked as plump as they did on the old carvings within the Palace. Most of which he can't even visit anymore, an earthquake about two hundred years ago rumbled through the kingdom, collapsing the back chambers of the Palace and sealing off the chance to many lost items. One being of some old carving, one of the largest and for a while the whole kingdom was devastated at least that was the word. No-one in the kingdom alive today had ever seen this carving, only that it was a bad omond that they had lost it.
When Eoviet was just a young boy, he had asked his father why they couldn't dig their way to it. His father, the King's, response being that the back of the Palace is now too unstable to to be dug out. It would always collaps again.
With a sneeze the Prince brought the attention of his people, all seventeen of them. His parents and the King and Queen, who work to pretect the people. The Royal servant, who tries her best to keep everyone well, the court, who mainly spends their time searching for new caves to find food in and the rest of the people. Who also work to tunnel to caves but they also take care of the kids together.
There used to be five kids but after a sudden cold wind blew in, the two youngest ones were too weak to survive it. The toddlers being his youngest sister and the servants kid. The poor girl had lost her lover not too long before, she was barly pregnant when an illness got him. Then she had to bare the loss of her daughter to. Eoviet tried to help comfort Eogoi the best he could but he could tell that nothing would ever help cure that wound.
Now Eoviet was looking down at the people, his father gesturing for him to join them by the fire. The King's arm grew skinnier the more time goes on, something that pained Eoviet. Food become harder and harder to find, they had to travel further and further and to a point where the food wasn't enough to make up for the trip. "We'll all starve if we don't find something soon" Eoviet thought to himself, scaling his way down the half crumbled balcony. He made his way next to his parents, sitting down to bask in by the enchanted flames.
"Father" Eoviet greeted, his voice hushed and his exhaustion showed. Like the rest of his people, he was hungry but the most he could find was some mushrooms that grown further up the tunnels. That was before his rest and he only had a bite, opting to feed the kids before himself.
"Been well, son?" King Chilphur asked, gently ruffling his sons hair. The King's cape rested on his shoulders, hugging the thin monarch comfortably. Again that was also a gift by ancient mages, said to bring strength and stamina to the King who wears it.
"Well enough" Prince Eoviet answered, sneezing again into his elbow, "great, the last thing I need is an illness" he thought to himself. The King looked over at his son with a look of concern, a fear flashed into his eyes. After all, an illness that caused sneezing and a horrible sore throat killed the young Princess. King Chilphur's daughter and Prince Eoviet's sister.
"I know times are tough, son" King Chilphur startered, causing Eoviet to look up at his father, "but we can't stop moving".
"So what's your plan, father?" Eoviet asked, his tone sounded tired and the bags under the Princes eyes made him look more tired than he was. "The more we tunnel out, the more resources it takes to bring back whatever we find" the Prince added, it felt hopeless, it's just hard to find food let alone enough to feed the kingdom.
"We move" the King answered, his tone sounded exhausted to, more emotionally. It's been a rough patch for what felt like all the young Prince could remember. "I sent the court out to different directions, whatever way has the best spot for food, we'll move out" the King announced, looking over at the kids that was left. All three fast asleep with each other. The twins and the youngest toddler snuggled in the same blanket made from the silk of the large silk moths.
"But father we'll-" Prince Eoviet took a breath, his eyes wide by the suggesting and he lowered his voice as to not wake the kids. "Father, we will freeze without the flame and there is no moving it" he expressed his concerns. King Chilphur sighed deeply and looked over at his people across from him. The two mothers, Palma and Isa, boiling a soup with the mushrooms and algae that they could find. A simple meal but it is all the kingdom has.
"We will just have to find kindling, our population has never been this low and we need a way to bounce back" King Chilphur spoke sternly. "We need more of the future, more kids to raise and when we follow the food we'll be able to feed them right away" he explained but Eoviet couldn't understand how his father could say that. "Why bring kids into this starving world if we can't feed them? This is all betting we can find a cave that has more food" Prince Eoviet thought but didn't dare to argue back. His father's tone stated that he was serious and was not looking for a debate.
"This may be a hard request to ask from you" King Chilphur added, putting his hand on his son's shoulder and looking at the small Prince with an almost begged look. "But we can't give up on the next generation, you're the last one who can continue the royal family" Eoviet didn't like where this was going. Yes, Eoviet loved kids, he spends most of his time trying to make the kids their best time but he couldn't think of bringing one in just to watch it begin to starve like the rest of them. Something deep within him also screamed against the idea but he couldn't understand its motive, or what this feeling was. It was muffled.
"Father" Prince Eoviet practically begged, his eyes watered slightly just at the thought of how a new child would deteriate the way he and the rest of the kingdom has.
"I know son, I know" the King spoke softly this time, pulling his son into a side hug as they basked into the heat. "We will get through this, we just have some trials ahead of us" he continued to explain before looking up and over at Helga. The daughter of Gya, the King's best friend. "Well, it was either Helga or Eogoi that's free to continue the royal family" Eoviet thought to himself.
"Eogoi, the poor girl has been through enough and out of all of of us, Helga seems the strongest for it" he to looked over. The Nobel girl sat quietly as she sharpened the dagger her father past down to her. The dagger being great for cooking any meats whenever they're able to find a bat or even some moles if they travel far enough. "She's already agreed, though she had requested for her own time" King Chilphur explained, sipping on a cup of water that Eogoi had given him. Eoviet nodded, grateful that she had requested for some time. He to needed time for something as intermediate as making a whole new child.
"I understand" the Prince smiled at his father then moved to sit next to Helga. "Take as much time as you need" he spoke softly, the girl smiled at him thankfully as she put her dagger back in its holster. "When you are ready, we can... discuss things, ok?" Eoviet added, feeling embarrassed of having to think of such a conversation. Helga was older than the Prince, she was a child when Eoviet was born but the idea of having to do something like that with her was nerve-racking. The small Prince was thankful that she to looked nervous, they didn't have to rush anything for as long as they both needed.
"Thank you, Prince" Helga spoke softly, looking at her now, Eoviet couldn't help but see just how skinny she was. How skinny everyone was.
The cave was in silence for a long while, the sound of the gentle breeze the enchanted flames made was all that they would hear. Everyone rested in the warmth before the King cleared his throat. "And son" he called, of which Eoviet looked over to his father again. "I want you to check the higher tunnels, I want you to scout out in that direction to see if there is any food that way" he ordered. Of which the Prince nodded and looked over to one of the many tunnels carved throughout the generations.
The whole kingdom turned to a maze but living within it for long enough allowed the Prince to know exactly which tunnel was the best to go through. Choosing one that spirled up then straight with a slight angle, making for a nice slide back home. Allowing for less energy to be used when coming back home. The slide so valuable in the Princes mind that he was strict about being the one to continue it. The only subject that the Prince had ever raised his voice about, which is why he had been slowly continuing the old tunnel up, each time he rose in level, more and more food could be found but it did take hours of digging to find.
Once the Prince had climbed up the long spirals, he tensed his back. Summoning with his blood himself, picturing the feel of his dragon morf. Resting on his knees, the bones in his arms grew, a feeling that could only be compared to the mist the enchanted lake makes, spiraled his body. His skin shifting from a sickly pale to a deep, grey blue. His arms lengthened and his hands formed the webbings of his wings, his legs followed after then his ribs snapped into a new postion. Thick and golden scales formed on his stomach, layering over the thin skin from the bottom of his neck and down to the tip of a thick and shortened tail.
His form evolved and twisted from a now forgotten, graceful creature to being twisted and bat like. Loosing his eyes in this form, the Prince screeched to feel the echoes of his sound waves. Seeing the tunnels with the large ears that grew instead of horns. Crawling up the tunnels swiftly, he used his hook like talons to dig through the dense rock. Continuing his way up the tunnel.