Bias Fantasy Short Stories & Novels

I was a runaway mermaid princess. To break the curse on a pirate captain's two sons, I sacrificed my radiant tail and the voice I treasured above all to a witch. I was left crippled and confined to a wheelchair, and whenever I opened my mouth, my voice came out in an ugly, breathy rasp. But they swore that one of them would marry me and the other would guard me for the rest of my life. Then, during a clash at sea, they rescued a human woman and kept her aboard as a maid. From that day on, everything changed. They were both addicted to the maid's body and could not tear themselves away from her. The younger one said, "You're so beautiful. Far more beautiful than Heloise, that fish with no legs..." The older one said, "If we didn't owe her our lives, neither of us would ever marry her." I wheeled myself onto the deck and released a raven with a letter tied to its leg. I had accepted the proposal of the most terrifying overlord of the oceans. The Basque brothers still didn't know that the witch's contract spelled out one condition: the moment they betrayed me, the curse would return. One would turn back into a toad, the other into an octopus.

When my sister and I were born, a prophet foretold that my sister would fall into a deep depression because I was more gifted than she was. On the day of the Fire Dragon Clan's Trial, she would throw herself into the frozen lake and never resurface. To protect her, my parents locked me in the freezing chamber on the day of the Trial. I knelt and begged them until my knees bled. My mother shoved me inside and sealed the door from the outside with a barrier. "You know your sister will die because of you, and you still insist on taking the Trial? How is that anything but trying to get her killed?" The chamber had already dropped to a hundred and twelve degrees below zero, yet I was wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt. I threw myself against the barrier, desperate to break out. "Mother, it's freezing in here! Please let me out!" "You're a fire dragon. A little cold can't hurt you. Who are you trying to fool?" My mother's voice was edged with impatience. "The barrier blocks your magic, but we didn't even turn on the refrigeration system. Your sister will be safe soon. Can't you think of her for once?" The sound of their wingbeats faded. My scales cracked from the cold, and blood dripped onto the floor. The barrier had sealed away my magic, and the chill quickly sank deep into my bones. I knelt on the floor as my body stiffened, inch by inch.

On the day of the Dragon Bloodline Awakening at the Magic Academy, I became the laughingstock of the entire school. Lucia, the most popular girl in our year, awakened the rare Phantom Dragon, while my boyfriend, Miles, resonated with the noble Frost Dragon. As for me? My entire skin was covered in a thick layer of brown mud. I looked like a stray beggar. Pictures of my disastrous awakening were pinned to the top of the academy’s forum. The comment section was howling. "Covered in mud... definitely the lowest-tier Swamp Dragon!" "Oh my god, a Swamp Dragon Knight? Might as well be a normal person!" "Can she please wear a mask from now on? Just looking at her makes me want to throw up my dinner!" Lucia intentionally recorded my miserable state and put it on a loop online. Miles even started a betting pool on the forum: "Taking bets! Do you think our Swamp Loach will dare to show up at the Contract Ceremony tomorrow night?" "I bet 5,000 crystals she won't dare! She might even drop out tomorrow, hahaha!" The whole academy went crazy placing bets, the mocking comments rolling in one after another. Everyone was waiting for me to become a joke, hiding and crying in my dorm room. I stared at the soaring prize pool and couldn't help but smirk. They bet I wouldn't dare to come. I was only worried that when my dragon appeared, they’d wet their pants. After all, the bloodline I resonated with was the Primordial Divine Dragon.