Kaida’s story-The adventures of Poppy McLain

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Adventures of Poppy and others”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33[2]”. Enjoy!*

In a far off Kingdom of many jewels and many legends, where everything glittered with the iridescence of a rainbow and the huskiness of a dream, a soldier was leading her army into battle.

This brave soldier was known to her Kingdom as "Kaida the Dragon Warrior '', because of her bravery and obsession with dragons.

Why did she like dragons so much? She believed they were just like her. Powerful and full of fight. The gods had gifted to her green streaks in her hair, a symbol of endurance, a sign that she was worthy.

As Kaida led her army to battle, a soldier called out:

"STOP! THERE'S THE BOTTOMLESS PIT THAT WILL KILL US ALL!"

"Oh, calm down, nothing bad is going to happen to us. We always survive these things." Kaida said. They had to focus on fighting the opposing army, they couldn’t about something like the supposed “bottomless” pit. They usually took a shortcut to other Kingdoms, but with that particular army they had to fight, shortcuts were not possible.

The bottomless pit was nothing to fear, though. People had suggested that a bridge be built over it but no one had ever gotten around to doing it. The opposing army had already burned half of their village all because they wanted the money that royalty had, so Kaida was going to show her army that they had to keep going no matter what.

She and her horse leaped across the bottomless pit, with the power of the giving and destroying gods at their side, the order of the King and Queen, the desire to keep everyone safe and to show that she was not to be trifled with and-

And still, she and her horse fell down the pit.

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Kaida’s heart beat rapidly in her chest as she watched the tunnel of dirt spinning around and around, continuously. Her white horse with black, blooming spots on her fur, Kaida’s horse called “Mae”, who looked like she wanted to scream with how her eyes bulged and then…

Then the falling stopped. Kaida landed on her back on solid dirt and Mae landed right next to her. Kaida could see that buried within the walls of the dirt were small, glittering gems. Her mouth fell open as she took in how light seemed to spill everywhere in the dismal Earth.

She had seen wealth before, but never in nature. Never with the dirt and rocks. Always clean and polished, carved to perfection. Yet in the pit, she could see that they were jagged and unapologetic, beautiful enough to cause havoc.

Just like the dragons that Kaida had loved ever since she was little, the dragons that she wanted to embody. When she trained herself to work for the royal family, she believed that she was doing something righteous, something that everyone would admire. After all, the gods had blessed her, so wouldn’t that mean that she was meant to be a hero?

But some people had said that royalty had done nothing for them, that all they did was keep the money for themselves. They didn’t know the royal family like Kaida and the others, though. They had their own problems that needed to be taken care of and they couldn’t possibly give their money away to everyone, because then there would be no royalty. The royal family would be poor and if the royal family was poor, the Kingdom would fall to ruin. That was what Kaida was told, anyhow. She wasn’t one to question authority and it boiled her blood that people had the audacity to oppose the royal family.

She walked over to Mae and petted her snout soothingly. She may have been anxious, but she wouldn’t let Mae worry. No, no, she had to find a way out.

There was an old legend about a Princess named Bonnie who attempted to steal all the money from her parents just so she could have it all to herself, but when the gods found out, they turned her into an immortal humanoid dragon woman and sent her to a deep, deep pit that she could not escape from, that would appear bottomless to others. A pit where she would have to watch over all of the Kingdom’s wealth.

The only way for Bonnie’s soul to be set free was if someone who had great strength and great pride fell into the pit, then she would be able to transfer the curse to them via her fire breath and pass on into the afterlife.

It was meant to be a frightening tale told to children, but Kaida used to be jealous of Bonnie and wanted to be in her position so that she could be more than what she was and away from everyone.

Yet standing in that pit, the gems gleaming all around her in the harsh, jagged rocks, she couldn’t help but think that it would be a terrible place to live, because just how long would Mae survive and why would she want to live in a place made entirely of dirt and rocks?

“Good afternoon, mortal! Tis’ I, the dragon monster Bonnie, a once beautiful and bejeweled Princess, exiled to be a dragon monster! Come and look upon my scaled face, oh tough and grand warrior!” A lacy serpentine voice cried out from behind her.

Something had compelled Kaida to turn around, just like something compelled Mae to press close to her.

Just a few feet away from them, there stood a woman covered in gray scales, her golden eyes glittering along with her gray and green crown and armor. Her gray, feathery wings with green tips had flowed around her slowly, carefully, just like her withery green-gray tail.

“And now, it shall be you amongst the glitter and gold! What joy!” The dragon woman-no, Bonnie-cried out.

Kaida knew not what would happen, but she sensed the impending danger, so she told Mae to try and climb her way out, that the gods would help her, just that she needed to let go and then, Bonnie breathed out her Hellfire, the dirt and the gems burning with Kaida’s skin, the smell of melting coins in the air.

Melting coins that had the same coppery smell as blood in the battlefield.

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Kaida blinked open her eyes. She found herself lying in a rusted iron cage that felt all too small for her body. She felt wings weighing her down and through the gaps of the cage, she could see that she was in a red and white striped tent. An elderly man dressed in a red velvet jacket, black pants and gray boots, a matching black hat atop his head of gray hair stood next to Kaida’s cage.

Why…why was she in a cage? She didn’t remember being put in a cage. All Kaida remembered was Bonnie breathing her fire on her and Mae…Mae! Was Mae okay? Was she able to run away? What about her village? Did they all win the war? Was everyone okay? Was the royal family still alive? What happened? Where was she?

The elderly man turned around and smiled at her, his wrinkles seeming to multiply on his face, contorting his face into something of a monstrosity and he said:

“Kaida, you’re awake! That’s wonderful! I have heard so many stories about you, so I had to look for you! It wasn’t an easy task, but I found your Kingdom and with it, your pit. Now that I’ve dug you up, you will perform at my circus! Isn’t that amazing? What’s even more spectacular is that you have finally awaken from your slumber and are ready to perform at Hunter’s circus!”

Hunter? Was that his name? And a circus? She had heard the royal family talk about circuses before but they never expressed the desire to have a circus.

But if what he was saying was true then many, many years have passed, possibly centuries and everyone Kaida had ever known was dead. How they all died, she did not know, but maybe she could try to escape-

Chains shackled to her wrists and ankles held her back. She tried to breath deep and let her fire breath burn the bars, but the fire just circled back inside of her and the bars stayed put.

“You may have worked for royalty at your time and had a divine blessing, but here, you will be just like everyone else. You’ll be just like the other performers. You’ll only come out when I say you can come out.” Hunter grinned, his teeth all too shiny and white and perfect in his crumpled, wrinkled face.

Bonnie may have been exiled, but he…he was something different. Something far more malicious. Kaida could sense the evil in him, she could feel it in how he locked her up like an animal. Bonnie wanted only to be free, but he locked her up because he heard stories about her and wanted her to perform. He wanted to display her like some sick prize that he was oh so lucky to have.

And as he walked away, she began to get a sinking feeling that the gods would not give him what he deserved, that the gods, along with her Kingdom, were gone. Whether they were dead or lost connection with Kaida over the centuries, over the sleep she didn’t remember having, she did not know.

But what she did know was that she had to find a way out, a way back to the life she knew, even if that life was only the afterlife.

She wouldn’t let Hunter keep her trapped.