There's something very haunting with Och-Kan and Lianca' relationship. (Also before anyone ask, no, this isn't a ship post. A platonic relationship could be as devastating as a romantic one.)
Excluding Ineffa and Ajaw, as far as they knew, they were remnants of the Old Dragon Order. They were part of the dragons' royal family. And yet, their childhood could be anymore different. Lianca was the beloved daughter of her mother, CL-08. She was called "the Dragon Princess"; Och-Kan was born for the sole purpose of replacing his dying uncle, the Pyro Sovereign, and was treated coldly by his father as an experiment, at best.
[Chain Breaker lore & Nest Experiment Log]
By technicality, Och-Kan was Lianca's first cousin once removed. (But let's be honest, its easier to call him her uncle😅)
Their lives, beliefs, and personalities too greatly differ. Lianca build the Flower-Feather Clan, a tribe that valued freedom and welcomed all, be it humans or dragons. She was wild-spirited and free. And she loved the world and believed that everyone could transcend their past and become a better person. While Och-Kan was consumed by his self-loathing and internalized racism, reigned over a kingdom built by the suffering of humans and dragons alike, and was chained by his blind love for Xbalanque, believing that only he alone could fulfill the latter's dream. He was a tyrant, through and through.
Och-Kan's actions would later cost his friends their lives, including Lianca. He deemed Lianca's walkout during his order to recruit laborers in his inhumane excavation project as an "abuse of power", and Lianca's first child flamed this issue and convinced him to wage war against Lianca.
...Aside from the First Speaker of the Flower-Feather Clan's refusal to recruit laborers, no other tribes objected...
...Storming out unauthorized not only constitutes a blatant abuse of power, but demonstrates utter disregard for our oaths of alliance...
- Holy Sovereign's Notes (II)
[Chain Breaker lore Page#2]
And yet, with all that betrayal, Lianca didn't lose hope on Och-Kan.
She didn't gave up on him even after he deemed her a traitor. After his genocidal policies against the saurians drove Ixquieh, one of their friends, to kill herself by her own brother's sword. After his army, led by her traitor child, was marching towards the FFC's settlement to kill her.
In her own words, they both owe each other far more than their mere lives.
Unfamiliar Lady [Lianca]: Besides, I have no plan to go to war against him. We both owe each other far more than our mere lives... If either of us actually wanted to claim on that debt, all they'd have to do was ask.
Lianca: If anything... I pity him. In a way, his situation's not so different from yours, but in his case, it's turned him into something neither human nor dragon. The more he chases the sun, the more it blinds him to the creatures who live by its light.
Also, in her second sentence, unbeknownst to her, she said something that paralleled them to both of their parents, Kukulkan and CL-08. Both the daughter and mother gave devastating psychoanalysis of their uncles:
He is always like this. He scorns his kin, mocks his bloodline, and never shares his thoughts with other dragons, yet he resents them for failing to understand him. But if he refuses to speak his mind, how could anyone ever fathom what he truly intends?
Our Sovereign's indulgence toward him knows no bounds, so much so that he can no longer distinguish right from wrong. Whether his actions were just or misguided, the Sovereign would always respond with gentle agreement. And precisely because of this, his unease only grows deeper. No matter which path he takes, he is always met with the same tender light, leaving him utterly lost as to which road he truly walks. In the end, his suspicions toward his kin are nothing but reflections of his self-doubt.
And they both pitied them.
(I could say something about how CL-08's analysis of Kukulkan could also be applied to Och-Kan, considering Kukulkan himself admitting that Och-Kan reminded him of his younger self, but let's focus to the topic at hand.)
Lianca clung to her belief that everyone could transcend past their mistakes. Alas, Och-Kan proved her wrong...
For in the battle, she finally gave up on her hope.
[Chain Breaker lore Page#2]
And even then, Och-Kan haunted her narrative; her tribe and successor.
In the 5.5 event, "Tournament of Glory in Bloom", there's a tale of Ifa's ancestor who was desperate to save his saurian companion, and yet was betrayed by his brother and inadvertently triggered wars between the tribes. Hmm... that sounds familiar.
And in the FFC's tribal quest, turns out, the villain used technology from Ochkanatlan era that extracted the Saurians's lifeforce, in which one of the victims was Chasca's-- the current bearer of "Vuka" (Trascendence), Lianca's Ancient Name-- niece. Heck, even Mutota, their chief, has something to say about Och-Kan lmao🤣
Lianca too, haunted his narrative.
The one who led the rebellion and took down Och-Kan was the Scarlet-Eyed Youth. He had Och-Kan's beloved's power and eyes... and Lianca's belief.
Liks... imagine.... the boy wields your man's power... speaks like your man... acts like your man... but he also fights like your kin/rival, he wielded the same weapon as her, she, kin you killed. The fire in his arrows is your beloved's power yet the archer himself is just like your kin.
And he utterly despises you
(Also, since SEY's lore is expanded in Chasca's signature weapon, wouldn't it be a stretch to think that it was Lianca who taught him archery?🤔)
But hold on! After uncountable millenia, one part of your sould would later be discovered and saved by a girl who was as free and wild-spirited as your kin!
The boy who defeated Och-Kan and the girl who saved his soul hailed from the same tribe, Lianca's creation, her dream and belief incarnate.
...Perhaps, in a way, it was a confirmation of what Lianca believed; everyone could transcend their mistakes, even Och-Kan.
Maybe it takes a thousand times, two thousand times...
But in the end, Och-Kan did transcend his sins and finally be at rest.
Be it his through his fall by SEY's hands or his renewed second chance by being discovered by Bona...
Lianca's right. She haunted him until she was right.
