Day 18
Imriel awoke one morning to a recollection of the chest which had been sent to them from the Swarm. Getting her paws dirty wasn't high on her list of priorities, but with the relaxed nature of Hollowmaw and his willing of the three hatchlings to duty, the chest had been cleaned enough for her to open it and survey its contents.
In the quiet of the dawn, as all of the others slept soundly, their bodies preparing with the gradual light to awaken and seize the day, Imriel took hold of the letter, opened its envelope carefully with one claw, and unfolded it.
You has found somethings specials. Babies with no mothers and fathers, babies given to yous by the gods. Saved thems you did.
The handwriting brought the name "Sidonia" back to the forefront of Imriel's mind; she had to wonder who she was, to know about their clan and be able to send them parcels every so often. However, the contents of this first paragraph reminded Imriel of when she first saw Barda and Anzu return with the three baby Mirrors. Imriel would have had plenty of reasons to turn them down as the eldest dragon of their clan: they were too many extra mouths to feed, three hatchlings were a huge responsibility, they were so young that they could have died at any moment.
But she couldn't. In them, she saw herself, stranded and alone in the murky depths of Eden's wilderness. And in them, she saw a piece of Skullcrusher's energy and spirit living on. All it took was one look from their multitude of bright blue eyes for Imriel to fall utterly in love with them.
The letter continued.
We ares impressed and we watches yous from the edge of your tainted worlds. Awaiting the moments we can meets you, and the curse has been lifted from the mighty Edens. There will be a greats celebration when the tainted lands of the Tangled Woods are returned to the goddess and we await meeting the mighty victors of this trials.
She supposed that explained things a little. Imriel had wondered if Eden was considered a forgotten place after being abandoned and overgrown with shadow for so long. But apparently it wasn't. There were others out there, unable to enter but hoping -- praying -- that the dragons within were safe. An involuntary smile pricked against Imriel's lips.
Our own guardian angels, she thought.
Orange fluff and a slight battering -- the evidence of some kind of scuffle -- were present against the page as the handwriting changed completely from this paragraph to the next.
Do not listens to her! You has mighty funs before yous! You has an entire land to explores and mighty challenges to face! She would makes you think that it is nothing but your burden to bares. No! Enjoys it! For you see! A challenge and an adventures as such as this one... they only happens once!
A silvery chuckle escaped Imriel's throat at this notion. It contained the essence of youthful thinking, an idealism that the world was one big game and that playing their cards right would emerge them victorious. Many days had passed since Imriel could last feel this way with all of her heart, but something about the earnestness of these statements reignited her old passion of restoring Eden to its former glory.
It concluded with one more paragraph.
The friends and families you make among such a challenge are sweets and prefects in many ways... brought together through the darkness to create something no one else will evers shares. Is special moment in your lives. Specials and meant for only yous! Nows, I has been told you have found Mirror pups! Pups of the Lightning Flight and takens them home and are now the loving doting parents of such a fines, mighty races! We are sending presents!
Underneath this text were two signatures which read "Sidonia" and "Hamlin," alongside a set of four claw marks. One was conspicuously larger than the others and much... filthier. It carried a smell that sparked Imriel's memory -- its resemblance to that of Skullcrucher nearly knocked the breath out of her. She quickly shook her head, though.
He's dead, she reminded herself, feeling a pang at the recollection.
You're just smelling other Mirrors. That's all.
In an effort to make her world beautiful once again, she reread the last paragraph over and over. She let the raw rightness of Hamlin's words sink in and restore a piece of her that had been flickering back to life over the course of time.
As Imriel lifted her head above the letter, she surveyed the clearing and everyone within. Since the incident a while back, she had organized the young adults to "heed the Guardians" and had each of them take one Mirror cub as a charge. This division of responsibility and the apt assignments of young adults to hatchlings was working in a wonderful way -- something she could tell just by looking at the little clearing.
Maratra was nudging Barda awake with her paws, imploring her to get up. For such a gloomy youth, it was important to Imriel to find what made her happiest -- and this so happened to be Barda's fantasy stories, those which captivated the little Mirror's imagination and bless her face with rare smiles. Barda was chuckling as she awoke and, in a sleepy voice, asked if Maratra wanted to hear a good morning story. The eagerness with which Maratra nodded gave Imriel hope.
Anzu, meanwhile, tugged a sleeping, shivering Jac off of his back. There was no way Imriel could have separated Jac from Anzu; his attachment to the Skydancer was far stronger than that he had with any of the other adult dragons. Though Imriel was hesitant to give Anzu responsibility over a hatchling of a breed he didn't much admire, the little actions he did this morning gave her hope. After removing Jac from his back, he mumbled something inaudible and placed Jac by his side, draping a wing over him and curling his neck around to form something of a warm, nest-like pocket for the baby Mirror to rest in. Jac looked like he was in heaven, purring a bit in his sleep and draping his little snout over Anzu's face.
This left Pyros with Hollowmaw. At first, Imriel wasn't sure what kind of relationship they would have, considering Pyros's superiority complex and Hollowmaw's inability to take anything too seriously. However, this partnership worked in a way Imriel could have never expected. Hollowmaw didn't take any of Pyros's whining and wouldn't cave into his desires without Pyros doing something to earn them. In the meantime, Pyros seemed to admire Hollowmaw's strength and listen to his advice, however begrudgingly. This particular morning, Pyros was demanding a warm spot by Hollowmaw's neck, and Hollowmaw kept asking him what the magic word was until Pyros caved in with a "please." Such training of Pyros to become a respectful young dragon gave Imriel hope.
And with so many sources of hope, Imriel had renewed strength to carry on.
She grabbed some tattered paper she had found from scavenging and, after brushing the dust off, dipped her claw in some squid ink and began to write back.
x
To the members of the Swarm,
On behalf of everyone in Eden, I give thanks to you and your generosity in sending us clothes and items for battle. As I'm sure you have seen through scrying us, our existence in this tainted land is one filled with hardship and danger. However, this is not to say that our lives here have been filled with nothing but suffering.
If I have anything to say about it, these young Mirrors will be members of my clan for a long time. For we are the Clan of Hope: a small mishmashed collection of dragons to those who might bear witness to us from the outside, but in all reality we are exactly as you think. We are a family, sharing hearts and minds in our combat of the harsh landscapes and harsher creatures. We are a family, sharing bodies and souls as we huddle for warmth and tell stories and jokes and dance before the cosmic light show of stars every night.
We are a family, and as long as I draw breath, nothing will tear us apart ever again.
I thank you again for your gifts and your diligence. Hopefully with time we can meet face-to-face, away from the bonds of these befouled shadows where we can find the chance to celebrate. But this may not happen for a long time. As horrible and dark and dangerous as Eden is, it is our home, and it is our duty to bring upon the return of life and light here.
Until then,
Imriel
x
"What are you writing?"
Imriel blinked and looked down. Little Pyros was looking up at her with the grimmest expression a cub could muster. Hollowmaw was behind him and gave Imriel a nod in greeting. With a gentle smile, Imriel nodded back to them. "Ah, good morning, boys. I was just writing a letter thanking the Swarm for their generosity."
"What's in the chest?" Pyros pressed.
A wave of embarrassment swept over Imriel. Somehow she had composed that entire letter without actually knowing what was inside, and was going based off her memory of the chest she received back when she was much younger. "Well," she replied, hoping to save face, "do you want to open it and find out?"
Pyros's eyes sparkled at the notion. He bobbed his head in a nod and tried with all his tiny strength to open the lid of the large chest. Hollowmaw chuckled at Pyros's inability to push it very far. "Need help, kiddo?" he asked.
"No," Pyros snapped. "I got this."
After a few more seconds of watching Pyros struggle, Hollowmaw whistled and blew some inconspicuous wind magic against the sides of the chest, aiding Pyros in opening it. When the lid flung up, Pyros squeaked in mild surprise. Then he smirked. "Yes. I'm getting stronger. I like that." Upon seeing the contents of the chest, though, he got wide eyes. "This is all mine."
Hollowmaw snorted. "Is it, now?"
"Yes," Pyros asserted. "All of it."
Imriel looked over into the chest. A wide variety of clothing items were there within, perfect for keeping warm, looking intimidating, or being better protected in a fight.
Everyone could benefit from this, she thought. With that notion, she sent a bit of a look to Hollowmaw.
"Hmm, I don't know about that," Hollowmaw hummed. "You want the others to look up to you, right? Prove to them that you're a worthy leader?"
Pyros nodded. "Yes. Leaders get everything."
"Ah, that may be true," Hollowmaw countered with a wink, "but the
best leaders will share their wealth with everyone. It makes their subjects happy, and happy subjects won't challenge their leaders."
Pyros pouted for a moment as his words sank in. Then he flattened his ears and growled a bit, looking aside. "Fine," he growled. "But they each only get--" he counted on his paws and held up three fingers "--
five things each!"
"That sounds fair to me," Hollowmaw chuckled. "Praise be to ye."
Pyros pouted as hard as he could, but he couldn't stop his tail from wagging.
Imriel, meanwhile, filtered through the items and smiled. "Hollowmaw, could you do me a favor?"
He perked up and smirked at her. "Anything for you," he schmoozed, wagging his brows at her. Imriel gave him a pointed smile back.
"Save it," she hummed, just as playful in return. "Would you mind using your wind magic to send this to the Swarm? I need to go wake up the others so they can check out all of this lovely apparel."
Hollowmaw nodded. "Sure thing, Imriel."
She could have sworn she saw him wink at her as he sent the letter on the breeze.
Most of these items were Meonox's donation. The Navy Arm Wraps were found inside of a Rusted Treasure Chest I got by digging. I was also gifted two familiars, but I want to know if you guys think that familiar donations are okay or not before I use them. I realize that I never explicitly made a rule saying familiars are allowed to be donated, and I think my thought process behind that they could be slowly awakened and eventually yield me a gilded chest each. Then again, I have so few actual dragons for the locke and some of that money in the gilded chest would be going to things like apparel (which wouldn't help me in the Coliseum), so... yes. What do you all think? (Meonox -- if you'd like them back if the general consensus is against using the gifted familiars in the locke, I will gladly return them. They're such cute bunnies, though, and I thank you either way! ^^)
The hatchlings have all survived the d20 trial! Tomorrow they will be matured and available to fight as a Coliseum team of their own. When they're roughly on par with any other group of dragons (most likely Barda, Anzu, and Hollowmaw), I will mix and match trios at random. That said, I want to make at least one of these three Mirrors a mage, and it will probably be Maratra. She just seems far less physical than her brothers.
@Meonox: Ouch. I can see how that would lead to a lot of teasing. The poor baby. :( Sue's name reminds me of the song "A Boy Named Sue," which my dad used to sing frequently on road trips. :)
Starting Funds: 63525
Ending Funds: 69894
Coliseum Changes:
None
Hatchling Rolls:
Jac - 8
Pyros - 7
Maratra - 15
@InHeritent @tahwarts @Elzerei @Silverhame @Whimzica @PaintedLiger @Achi @OverTheWolf @fairyhalo @221bdisneystreet @Deathwolf555 @Skyeset
