[center][size=5][color=466353][b][i]Maledictus[/i][/b][/color][/size][/center]
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[color=466353]You walk down the street, looking at all the little shop signs as you go. You have heard gossip about a new healer in town. Some have called her strange, others scary, though no one seemed keen to actually describe her. A few have spoken about her healing abilities. Supposedly, she can heal even maladies others healers have called permanent with just a few words. How can that be?
[i]It can’t hurt to check it out[/i], you think to yourself. [i]Perhaps she can help with my lingering arthritis. My years of fighting has taken their toll after all.[/i]
Finally, you come upon what must be the place, at the very edge of the town center, away from all the other little shops and the hustle they bring. Here, it is quiet. The shop appears small from the outside, made of dark colored stone bricks. The wooden sign simply says “Healing” in flourishing script.
When you open the door, the light seems not to make it inside. The shop is lit by a large number of candles, and you can smell incense burning somewhere. There appears to be no one inside.
Then a voice floats over to you, soft, and slightly otherworldly. “One moment.”
As your eyes adjust to light, you can see a Wildclaw emerge from the stairs at the back of the shop from the cellar. And suddenly, you can see why no one would describe her to you.
Her skin is transparent. You can see her muscles and her bones move as she slowly walks over to you. And though her pupils are clouded and obviously blind, you get the sense that she can see you and everything around you just fine.
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[color=466353]“Arthritis?” she asks in that same slightly eerie tone.
“Yes,” you answer somewhat meekly.
The Wildclaw lays her hand on your shoulder, and mutters a few words you do not recognize. The aches you had had in your shoulders, your knees, your hips, and even the small amount of back pain from sleeping wrong the night before, are all suddenly gone. Out of what seems like nowhere, she hands you a glass vial with a shimmering red liquid in it.
“Drink this later, with food,” she tells you. “It will help to complete the process, otherwise your pains may come back in a few years.”
You look at the vial, and place it in your pocket.
“Who are you?” you ask, and she turns back toward you, already on her way back to the rear of the shop.
“My name is Cynda,” she replies, “but that is not your real question.” She pauses. “I have not told the others who ask, but something tells me that you are more trustworthy. Sit over there.” She motions to a chair you had not noticed when you walked in, and she sits across from you. After a moment of silence, she begins to speak.
“I was a young fool, once upon a time. My clan had dabbled in ritualistic magic for generations, calling upon spirits and forces of nature to do their bidding. But there were those they would not call upon, who were dangerous, who they said would take your soul and use your body to do evil. I thought myself better than them.
“I will not go into great detail, but suffice it to say that I took a book from our ritual library that I had been forbidden to touch, one full of forbidden magic. I chose a ritual, and after night fell, I attempted to call a dark spirit. I may have misspoke a word, I do not know, but instead of the spirit I had intended to call, an evil force came into being and took hold of me. Everything went black, there was pain I can’t describe, I don’t know how long I screamed before it all dulled.
“When I came back to my senses, my sight was gone. But now I see in a different way. I know everything around me, and in some cases, I can read thoughts and emotions. I have magic that I did not have before, and even though the mystical force inside me is one of darkness, it was not long before I found that I could bend it to my will.
“I have searched decades for the spell or ritual or potion that will banish this evil and return my sight and the lovely white scales I adorned before the happened me, but nothing has worked. I am cursed to scare others with my appearance for the rest of my life, to use this horrible force inside me to see, to fight the evil it tells me to commit. But as long as it is here, why not use this power and the knowledge I have gained on my quests to help others?”
Cynda is one of a small number of dragons who have happened upon a concentrated form of the dark force called Malum by the Ancients, literally the force we call Evil. Once Malum has entered a dragon, it attempts to use them to wreak havoc and to harm others, like a voice that whispers in your ear and tricks you into perceiving its words as your own thought. Some fight against this dark force and use their new powers for good. Others give in and allow this dark force to consume them, losing themselves and turning them into a walking embodiment of Evil. It is up to the dragon.
Cynda searched far and wide for answers to her own plight, and in her search, she came across a couple of others who had suffered Maledictus, and many more stories. From what is known, this condition cannot be cured. Those who are afflicted live pretty normal lives considering their appearance and blindness, their new magic, and the dark voice inside their minds. They eat, sleep, and some even procreate. Children of a Maledictus inherit the magical abilities of their afflicted parent, but they do not always inherit their blindness or transparent skin. The Evil that lives inside the Maledictus does not usually transfer.
Much is left to mystery. No two dragons with this condition seem to gain exactly the same new magical powers or experience the presence of Malum in the same way. All are individuals and cannot be judged based on appearance.
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Maledictus
You walk down the street, looking at all the little shop signs as you go. You have heard gossip about a new healer in town. Some have called her strange, others scary, though no one seemed keen to actually describe her. A few have spoken about her healing abilities. Supposedly, she can heal even maladies others healers have called permanent with just a few words. How can that be?
It can’t hurt to check it out, you think to yourself. Perhaps she can help with my lingering arthritis. My years of fighting has taken their toll after all.
Finally, you come upon what must be the place, at the very edge of the town center, away from all the other little shops and the hustle they bring. Here, it is quiet. The shop appears small from the outside, made of dark colored stone bricks. The wooden sign simply says “Healing” in flourishing script.
When you open the door, the light seems not to make it inside. The shop is lit by a large number of candles, and you can smell incense burning somewhere. There appears to be no one inside.
Then a voice floats over to you, soft, and slightly otherworldly. “One moment.”
As your eyes adjust to light, you can see a Wildclaw emerge from the stairs at the back of the shop from the cellar. And suddenly, you can see why no one would describe her to you.
Her skin is transparent. You can see her muscles and her bones move as she slowly walks over to you. And though her pupils are clouded and obviously blind, you get the sense that she can see you and everything around you just fine.
“Arthritis?” she asks in that same slightly eerie tone.
“Yes,” you answer somewhat meekly.
The Wildclaw lays her hand on your shoulder, and mutters a few words you do not recognize. The aches you had had in your shoulders, your knees, your hips, and even the small amount of back pain from sleeping wrong the night before, are all suddenly gone. Out of what seems like nowhere, she hands you a glass vial with a shimmering red liquid in it.
“Drink this later, with food,” she tells you. “It will help to complete the process, otherwise your pains may come back in a few years.”
You look at the vial, and place it in your pocket.
“Who are you?” you ask, and she turns back toward you, already on her way back to the rear of the shop.
“My name is Cynda,” she replies, “but that is not your real question.” She pauses. “I have not told the others who ask, but something tells me that you are more trustworthy. Sit over there.” She motions to a chair you had not noticed when you walked in, and she sits across from you. After a moment of silence, she begins to speak.
“I was a young fool, once upon a time. My clan had dabbled in ritualistic magic for generations, calling upon spirits and forces of nature to do their bidding. But there were those they would not call upon, who were dangerous, who they said would take your soul and use your body to do evil. I thought myself better than them.
“I will not go into great detail, but suffice it to say that I took a book from our ritual library that I had been forbidden to touch, one full of forbidden magic. I chose a ritual, and after night fell, I attempted to call a dark spirit. I may have misspoke a word, I do not know, but instead of the spirit I had intended to call, an evil force came into being and took hold of me. Everything went black, there was pain I can’t describe, I don’t know how long I screamed before it all dulled.
“When I came back to my senses, my sight was gone. But now I see in a different way. I know everything around me, and in some cases, I can read thoughts and emotions. I have magic that I did not have before, and even though the mystical force inside me is one of darkness, it was not long before I found that I could bend it to my will.
“I have searched decades for the spell or ritual or potion that will banish this evil and return my sight and the lovely white scales I adorned before the happened me, but nothing has worked. I am cursed to scare others with my appearance for the rest of my life, to use this horrible force inside me to see, to fight the evil it tells me to commit. But as long as it is here, why not use this power and the knowledge I have gained on my quests to help others?”
Cynda is one of a small number of dragons who have happened upon a concentrated form of the dark force called Malum by the Ancients, literally the force we call Evil. Once Malum has entered a dragon, it attempts to use them to wreak havoc and to harm others, like a voice that whispers in your ear and tricks you into perceiving its words as your own thought. Some fight against this dark force and use their new powers for good. Others give in and allow this dark force to consume them, losing themselves and turning them into a walking embodiment of Evil. It is up to the dragon.
Cynda searched far and wide for answers to her own plight, and in her search, she came across a couple of others who had suffered Maledictus, and many more stories. From what is known, this condition cannot be cured. Those who are afflicted live pretty normal lives considering their appearance and blindness, their new magic, and the dark voice inside their minds. They eat, sleep, and some even procreate. Children of a Maledictus inherit the magical abilities of their afflicted parent, but they do not always inherit their blindness or transparent skin. The Evil that lives inside the Maledictus does not usually transfer.
Much is left to mystery. No two dragons with this condition seem to gain exactly the same new magical powers or experience the presence of Malum in the same way. All are individuals and cannot be judged based on appearance.
[center][size=5][color=466353][b][i]Sea Floor Guardians[/i][/b][/color][/size][/center]
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[color=466353]Off the shores of the Viridian Labyrinth is a shallow sea, which is home to a coral reef. Many different types of sea life can be found here, from small, colorful fish, up to the predators that feed on them. Amongst all of these different forms of life, are the Guardians who have made this reef their home. They call themselves Sea Floor Guardians.
These Guardians are masters of mimicry, and their patterns and colors hide them both from the fish they hunt and from enemies that venture into their reef. They have developed blue patterns in their wings that mimic the sun filtering in through the bright blue seawater, green patterns that mimic green sea plants or the green algae that sometimes grows in their waters, and their bodies have developed a wide range of colors and patterns to mimic the corals and other plant life that grows there. They are capable of hiding extremely effectively behind the enormous coral structures, in beds of seaweed, and in the forest of brown kelp that make up their habitat.
No one knows where these Guardians originally came from or how long they have lived in this great reef, but it has been their goal to protect their home from natural disasters or from other dragons who might endanger the delicate balance of the ecosystem. And for a very long time, they were successful, and the reef thrived.
Until the Cataclysm.
It started as a faint scent in the water, something acrid and burning. It was impossible to escape unless one was to raise their head above the water to breath in the air. The Guardians were not affected by whatever new substance had tainted the waters of their reef due to their magic and natural hardiness, not in those small quantities anyway. But the fish started to taste different, the plants began to slowly turn colors, and the coral began to die at the very southernmost corner of their space. Whatever was in the water seemed more concentrated there, indicating a possible source in that direction. Day by day, the contamination only grew more potent.
The Sea Floor Guardians looked south of their home for the source of this disaster for what felt like ages, until they finally found it. A large steel drum, its side punctured, slowly leaking its contents into the ocean. It was far from shore and far from the reef, with no evidence as to who left it there or when. Save for the sand and silt that partially covered it. It had been there for a long time, possibly uncovered and punctured during a small earthquake that had occurred recently, beyond the continental shelf. The Guardians had hardly felt it in their home, but they had felt the resulting disturbance in the oceans current some weeks before. They had not connected the two events in their minds until they uncovered the existence of the drum.
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[color=466353]Marsha approached this giant metal drum of contamination cautiously. The water was clouded by the radioactive green liquid being leaked from it, it burned her eyes and nostrils. [i]This is what's made the fish inedible[/i], she thought, [i]this is what's killing our home[/i].
A radioactive colored substance escaped the drum in small quantities, but the way it hissed as it forced its way the hole in the metal revealed that whatever this substance was, it was under pressure. It might just leak until it reached equilibrium, or if there was a large enough temperature change or another earthquake came along, it might explode.
Looking at the others around her, Marsha gathered from the looks on their faces that they had come to the same conclusion. "We have to contain this somehow," she said to them. Her voice was muffled and distorted by the water, but they communicated this way a lot. Everyone understood.
Her mate, Gill, floated in the water to her right. She looked to him and asked, "What about magic?" Their people knew some limited spells, but as Guardians, their magic stores were not very large. They relied on drawing energy from their surroundings and working together to cast spells for anything but the smallest jobs.
Gill's deep voice floated back to her. "We can't just cover it back up. Containment spell should work, create a shield around it to stop the leak, and then we bury it in even deeper and hope nothing disturbs it again."
The dozen or so other dragons in their search party nodded their ascent.
Marsha looked back to the thing that was threatening her home. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind into the water that surrounded her and drew the natural energy that permeated all the lands of the Gladekeeper into her body. It was like breathing in fresh spring air after being stifled. She could feel the space around her, feel everyone else breathing in. She felt their presence, and she felt everyone together concentrate on the object in front of them, preparing to contribute to the spell they would all cast together. She opened her eyes and brought the words to seal the drum to the front of her mind. She opened her mouth to speak them.
Before she could, there was a sudden blast as the drum ripped open and violently expelled its contents into the water in all directions. All was black.
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[color=466353]Marsha awoke, not knowing how much time had passed. She was lying on the beach in the shallow water, tiny waves lapping at her. The water was green.
She gasped for air. Her ears were ringing, the front half of her body burned as if being eaten by acid. She could feel numerous wounds across her chest and neck still slowly bleeding.
She lifted her head. Gill was lying on the beach close by, and upon seeing her awake, he stood slowly and came to sit next to her. There were splashes of that same sickly radioactive green across his face and neck, slowly eating into his scales. He had a deep cut under his left eye from a piece of the drum turned to shrapnel as it exploded.
"What happened?" she croaked.
Gill replied softly, his voice hoarse. He was obviously hurt and exhausted. "That... thing... ruptured just as we tried to seal it. You were the closest, you got the worst of the..." He struggled to name the substance eating at her flesh. "Chemicals. And the blast. The shock wave knocked you out."
"Where is everyone else?"
Gill looked back out toward the sea. "I don't know. Everyone scattered. I dragged you here."
Marsha laid her head back down on the sand for a moment before willing herself to sit up. She looked around, wincing at the morning sun in her eyes. Something told her that they were a long way from the coral reef. She closed her eyes and felt out for home. It was as if she had an internal compass that always pointed to her Charge.
"This way," she said, standing up and taking a step back into the contaminated water, looking out to the northeast.
"Marsha, stop." Gill called out to her, moving to catch up to her.
"No, we have to go back, the reef is almost certainly in trouble-"
"Marsha!" Gill cut her off, moving in front of her and spreading his wings and fins to bar her path. "You need help. You are injured, and who knows what that stuff is going to do to you. I can't remove it, and I know the water won't help either. We need to find someone-"
"Help isn't coming and we don't know where to find it, there are others-"
"Who are capable of looking out for themselves!" Gill drew himself up to his full height, posturing to assert his physical dominance, but when he looked down into her eyes, Marsha saw fear and concern behind the steely resolve. He spoke again, barely above a whisper. "I won't see harm come to you."
Marsha paused for a moment and looked down. It was not often that he reminded her that she was his Charge, he knew that she always felt a pang of guilt over that fact. She loved him, of course, and she would fight to keep him from harm too. But it was not the same deep sense of duty she felt to that coral reef, or the same yearning to protect her home and die along with it if she must.
She met his eyes again. "Then we walk. The land is safe, and we can make it most of the way on the beach and assess things from there." Neither of them had enough strength left to attempt flying.
Gill relaxed a little. "Lead the way."
They walked for most of the day. Slowly. The green ooze continued to eat into their scales and down to their skin. Some must have made it into Marsha's airway because breathing still hurt and she could not take more than a shallow breath. She could feel Gill watching her for any signs of distress. As the chemicals ate further into her left arm, she developed a limp. Even in his only slightly less injured state, he walked alongside her and kept a wing on her in case she needed support. The afternoon sun beating down on them certainly did not help their condition.
It was nearing twilight when they came to the beach that they knew. The water did not look quite as bad here from what they could see, but they knew immediately what they would find if they swam out to their home. The piles of dead fish and other sea animals washed up onto the beach and framing the water line gave it away. There were other Sea Floor Guardians on the beach as well, around thirty of them, gathered in a group.
Marsha waded out into the shallow waters of the shore, slowly. The salt water aggravated her open wounds and her chemical burns. Gill did not stop her, he knew that she would have to see what had happened for herself, but he did follow very close behind her.
Farther down, the water was cloudy and tinted green. Her eyes stung. The reef seemed devoid of life. There were no fish swimming in and out of the corals and sea plants. The seaweed and other ocean plants had started to wither and turn color. The coral itself was dead. It was not all yet bleached white, but Marsha knew that it would not take long for that to happen.
Her home, her Charge, was dead.
Marsha returned to the beach. The pain of loss would come in a few hours, but for now, she was numb. Gill followed silently behind her still.
She approached the others on the beach. One of them broke off from the group to meet her.
"Marsha?"
She barely heard Esne speak.
"Marsha."
Marsha shook her head and focused on the female Guardian in front if her. "Esne, what's going on here?" she asked, then looked past her to the rest of the clan. A few heads turned in her direction. Most did not appear to be hurt badly, but those who were with her on their search bore the same chemical burns that she had in varying degrees of severity. All of them had made it back.
"They were debating whether we needed to elect a new Matriarch. No one wanted to, but a few didn't think you'd return, you've been gone for days..." Esne's sentence trailed off.
Marsha looked back toward the coral reef she and her clan had spent their lives protecting. Their home, their source of food. It was gone. Gone.
Gone.
Marsha looked back to Esne, and then to her clan. Her Charge was dead and there was nothing could do about it, but she still had a duty to see her clan to safety. She took a moment to compose her thoughts the best she could. Their home was uninhabitable, and even if they stayed on the beach, there was very little food to be found without their coral reef. They would have to leave, and there was no point in staying any longer.
She limped over to the large circle of Guardians who had been watching her, and as she did, the group moved to surround her. At first they were quiet. But someone started speaking, and then all at once everyone was expressing their relief that she was back, their concern for her and for Gill, and their grief over the loss of their home. Marsha listened through her own pain and detached emotional state the best she could for a while before speaking.
"Is anyone too hurt to travel?" she asked the group at large. Her voice was still hoarse. There were murmurs in response. Some had cuts or bruises, some had rashes and skin or eye irritations. Those who had been with her still bore the splashes of almost glowing green contamination burned into their scales, but otherwise seemed alright. The few hatchlings in their clan all seemed scared and kept huddled together, but looked as though they had been kept from harm.
Overall, okay enough.
"We have to go," she uttered flatly. Again, her statement was met by a jumble of murmuring.
"Where are we going?" Gill asked her softly.
"I don't know yet," she whispered. And then, as assertively as she could muster, she said, "But we can't stay here. We need a new home for now."
Marsha turned to walk inland toward the forests of the Viridian Labyrinth. She knew that somewhere, they would find food and shelter. Somewhere, they could make a home. And maybe someday, they would return to the reef and help to mend it.
The others followed.
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[color=466353]Those who had been contaminated by whatever it was that killed their reef found that eventually the burning went away. But the glowing green blotches on their scales stayed, and in some cases, similar markings were passed on to their offspring. They noticed no other ill side effects except the recurring respiratory ailments they all seemed to suffer from.
The Sea Floor Guardians went on to find homes amongst the dragons of the Gladekeeper's realm. Many stayed together, but some drifted off on their own. All of them vowed that one day they or their descendants would return to that great coral reef and see it colorful and alive again.
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Sea Floor Guardians
Off the shores of the Viridian Labyrinth is a shallow sea, which is home to a coral reef. Many different types of sea life can be found here, from small, colorful fish, up to the predators that feed on them. Amongst all of these different forms of life, are the Guardians who have made this reef their home. They call themselves Sea Floor Guardians.
These Guardians are masters of mimicry, and their patterns and colors hide them both from the fish they hunt and from enemies that venture into their reef. They have developed blue patterns in their wings that mimic the sun filtering in through the bright blue seawater, green patterns that mimic green sea plants or the green algae that sometimes grows in their waters, and their bodies have developed a wide range of colors and patterns to mimic the corals and other plant life that grows there. They are capable of hiding extremely effectively behind the enormous coral structures, in beds of seaweed, and in the forest of brown kelp that make up their habitat.
No one knows where these Guardians originally came from or how long they have lived in this great reef, but it has been their goal to protect their home from natural disasters or from other dragons who might endanger the delicate balance of the ecosystem. And for a very long time, they were successful, and the reef thrived.
Until the Cataclysm.
It started as a faint scent in the water, something acrid and burning. It was impossible to escape unless one was to raise their head above the water to breath in the air. The Guardians were not affected by whatever new substance had tainted the waters of their reef due to their magic and natural hardiness, not in those small quantities anyway. But the fish started to taste different, the plants began to slowly turn colors, and the coral began to die at the very southernmost corner of their space. Whatever was in the water seemed more concentrated there, indicating a possible source in that direction. Day by day, the contamination only grew more potent.
The Sea Floor Guardians looked south of their home for the source of this disaster for what felt like ages, until they finally found it. A large steel drum, its side punctured, slowly leaking its contents into the ocean. It was far from shore and far from the reef, with no evidence as to who left it there or when. Save for the sand and silt that partially covered it. It had been there for a long time, possibly uncovered and punctured during a small earthquake that had occurred recently, beyond the continental shelf. The Guardians had hardly felt it in their home, but they had felt the resulting disturbance in the oceans current some weeks before. They had not connected the two events in their minds until they uncovered the existence of the drum.
Marsha approached this giant metal drum of contamination cautiously. The water was clouded by the radioactive green liquid being leaked from it, it burned her eyes and nostrils. This is what's made the fish inedible, she thought, this is what's killing our home.
A radioactive colored substance escaped the drum in small quantities, but the way it hissed as it forced its way the hole in the metal revealed that whatever this substance was, it was under pressure. It might just leak until it reached equilibrium, or if there was a large enough temperature change or another earthquake came along, it might explode.
Looking at the others around her, Marsha gathered from the looks on their faces that they had come to the same conclusion. "We have to contain this somehow," she said to them. Her voice was muffled and distorted by the water, but they communicated this way a lot. Everyone understood.
Her mate, Gill, floated in the water to her right. She looked to him and asked, "What about magic?" Their people knew some limited spells, but as Guardians, their magic stores were not very large. They relied on drawing energy from their surroundings and working together to cast spells for anything but the smallest jobs.
Gill's deep voice floated back to her. "We can't just cover it back up. Containment spell should work, create a shield around it to stop the leak, and then we bury it in even deeper and hope nothing disturbs it again."
The dozen or so other dragons in their search party nodded their ascent.
Marsha looked back to the thing that was threatening her home. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind into the water that surrounded her and drew the natural energy that permeated all the lands of the Gladekeeper into her body. It was like breathing in fresh spring air after being stifled. She could feel the space around her, feel everyone else breathing in. She felt their presence, and she felt everyone together concentrate on the object in front of them, preparing to contribute to the spell they would all cast together. She opened her eyes and brought the words to seal the drum to the front of her mind. She opened her mouth to speak them.
Before she could, there was a sudden blast as the drum ripped open and violently expelled its contents into the water in all directions. All was black.
Marsha awoke, not knowing how much time had passed. She was lying on the beach in the shallow water, tiny waves lapping at her. The water was green.
She gasped for air. Her ears were ringing, the front half of her body burned as if being eaten by acid. She could feel numerous wounds across her chest and neck still slowly bleeding.
She lifted her head. Gill was lying on the beach close by, and upon seeing her awake, he stood slowly and came to sit next to her. There were splashes of that same sickly radioactive green across his face and neck, slowly eating into his scales. He had a deep cut under his left eye from a piece of the drum turned to shrapnel as it exploded.
"What happened?" she croaked.
Gill replied softly, his voice hoarse. He was obviously hurt and exhausted. "That... thing... ruptured just as we tried to seal it. You were the closest, you got the worst of the..." He struggled to name the substance eating at her flesh. "Chemicals. And the blast. The shock wave knocked you out."
"Where is everyone else?"
Gill looked back out toward the sea. "I don't know. Everyone scattered. I dragged you here."
Marsha laid her head back down on the sand for a moment before willing herself to sit up. She looked around, wincing at the morning sun in her eyes. Something told her that they were a long way from the coral reef. She closed her eyes and felt out for home. It was as if she had an internal compass that always pointed to her Charge.
"This way," she said, standing up and taking a step back into the contaminated water, looking out to the northeast.
"Marsha, stop." Gill called out to her, moving to catch up to her.
"No, we have to go back, the reef is almost certainly in trouble-"
"Marsha!" Gill cut her off, moving in front of her and spreading his wings and fins to bar her path. "You need help. You are injured, and who knows what that stuff is going to do to you. I can't remove it, and I know the water won't help either. We need to find someone-"
"Help isn't coming and we don't know where to find it, there are others-"
"Who are capable of looking out for themselves!" Gill drew himself up to his full height, posturing to assert his physical dominance, but when he looked down into her eyes, Marsha saw fear and concern behind the steely resolve. He spoke again, barely above a whisper. "I won't see harm come to you."
Marsha paused for a moment and looked down. It was not often that he reminded her that she was his Charge, he knew that she always felt a pang of guilt over that fact. She loved him, of course, and she would fight to keep him from harm too. But it was not the same deep sense of duty she felt to that coral reef, or the same yearning to protect her home and die along with it if she must.
She met his eyes again. "Then we walk. The land is safe, and we can make it most of the way on the beach and assess things from there." Neither of them had enough strength left to attempt flying.
Gill relaxed a little. "Lead the way."
They walked for most of the day. Slowly. The green ooze continued to eat into their scales and down to their skin. Some must have made it into Marsha's airway because breathing still hurt and she could not take more than a shallow breath. She could feel Gill watching her for any signs of distress. As the chemicals ate further into her left arm, she developed a limp. Even in his only slightly less injured state, he walked alongside her and kept a wing on her in case she needed support. The afternoon sun beating down on them certainly did not help their condition.
It was nearing twilight when they came to the beach that they knew. The water did not look quite as bad here from what they could see, but they knew immediately what they would find if they swam out to their home. The piles of dead fish and other sea animals washed up onto the beach and framing the water line gave it away. There were other Sea Floor Guardians on the beach as well, around thirty of them, gathered in a group.
Marsha waded out into the shallow waters of the shore, slowly. The salt water aggravated her open wounds and her chemical burns. Gill did not stop her, he knew that she would have to see what had happened for herself, but he did follow very close behind her.
Farther down, the water was cloudy and tinted green. Her eyes stung. The reef seemed devoid of life. There were no fish swimming in and out of the corals and sea plants. The seaweed and other ocean plants had started to wither and turn color. The coral itself was dead. It was not all yet bleached white, but Marsha knew that it would not take long for that to happen.
Her home, her Charge, was dead.
Marsha returned to the beach. The pain of loss would come in a few hours, but for now, she was numb. Gill followed silently behind her still.
She approached the others on the beach. One of them broke off from the group to meet her.
"Marsha?"
She barely heard Esne speak.
"Marsha."
Marsha shook her head and focused on the female Guardian in front if her. "Esne, what's going on here?" she asked, then looked past her to the rest of the clan. A few heads turned in her direction. Most did not appear to be hurt badly, but those who were with her on their search bore the same chemical burns that she had in varying degrees of severity. All of them had made it back.
"They were debating whether we needed to elect a new Matriarch. No one wanted to, but a few didn't think you'd return, you've been gone for days..." Esne's sentence trailed off.
Marsha looked back toward the coral reef she and her clan had spent their lives protecting. Their home, their source of food. It was gone. Gone.
Gone.
Marsha looked back to Esne, and then to her clan. Her Charge was dead and there was nothing could do about it, but she still had a duty to see her clan to safety. She took a moment to compose her thoughts the best she could. Their home was uninhabitable, and even if they stayed on the beach, there was very little food to be found without their coral reef. They would have to leave, and there was no point in staying any longer.
She limped over to the large circle of Guardians who had been watching her, and as she did, the group moved to surround her. At first they were quiet. But someone started speaking, and then all at once everyone was expressing their relief that she was back, their concern for her and for Gill, and their grief over the loss of their home. Marsha listened through her own pain and detached emotional state the best she could for a while before speaking.
"Is anyone too hurt to travel?" she asked the group at large. Her voice was still hoarse. There were murmurs in response. Some had cuts or bruises, some had rashes and skin or eye irritations. Those who had been with her still bore the splashes of almost glowing green contamination burned into their scales, but otherwise seemed alright. The few hatchlings in their clan all seemed scared and kept huddled together, but looked as though they had been kept from harm.
Overall, okay enough.
"We have to go," she uttered flatly. Again, her statement was met by a jumble of murmuring.
"Where are we going?" Gill asked her softly.
"I don't know yet," she whispered. And then, as assertively as she could muster, she said, "But we can't stay here. We need a new home for now."
Marsha turned to walk inland toward the forests of the Viridian Labyrinth. She knew that somewhere, they would find food and shelter. Somewhere, they could make a home. And maybe someday, they would return to the reef and help to mend it.
The others followed.
Those who had been contaminated by whatever it was that killed their reef found that eventually the burning went away. But the glowing green blotches on their scales stayed, and in some cases, similar markings were passed on to their offspring. They noticed no other ill side effects except the recurring respiratory ailments they all seemed to suffer from.
The Sea Floor Guardians went on to find homes amongst the dragons of the Gladekeeper's realm. Many stayed together, but some drifted off on their own. All of them vowed that one day they or their descendants would return to that great coral reef and see it colorful and alive again.
[center][size=5][color=466353][b][i]Lily Pad Faes[/i][/b][/color][/size][/center]
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[color=466353]Though the Fae species originated in the Starwood Strand, an expedition of them ventured East to explore other lands. During their journey, small groups continually stayed behind in each region they visited, hoping to make a home there and discover different types of elemental magic. One group made it all the way across Sornieth.
These Fae came to the border of the Viridian Labyrinth, ruled over by the Gladekeeper and the elemental magic of Nature. They became enthralled with the abundant trees and wildlife. There were so many different types of plants and animals, and insects! Gradually, they spread out across the Everbloom Gardens and into the Gladeveins.
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[color=466353]These fae made their homes from sap as their ancestors did, in the trees between the lakes and rivers of this region. They spent their days catching the bountiful insects that thrived in the wet environment near the water. And they learned to tend the plants, using their stores of magic to direct their growth and nurture them. Those whose eggs were hatched there had the advantage of being able to draw elemental magic from their surroundings. They shaped homes from living vines and branches, and were better able to influence the wildlife around them.
Over time, their appearance came to reflect their surroundings. They developed patterns on their bodies that mimicked the water that flowed through their lands, and patterns on their wings that reflected the leaves of the plants they nurtured. Some used this to aid them in catching food. If they floated on the water, still as they could be, their wings resembled lily pads. The insects they ate would land on their wings like they did the water-dwelling plants that surrounded them, making them far easier to catch. This was the beginning of the Lily Pad Faes.
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[color=466353]Today, they can be found throughout the Viridian Labyrinth, and some have even ventured back out into other regions of Sornieth, where different types of lakes and ponds have created variations in this subspecies. Some have developed patterns mimicking different types of algae floating in the water and clinging to their wings. Some have developed patterns more resembling the rampant pond scum sometimes found in stagnant water. And still others have patterns resembling small pools or droplets of water on their wings.
Wherever they live, you can be sure to find these dragons floating in the waters near their homes, completely camouflaged to the well-trained eye.
Lily Pad Faes hatched in the Viridian Labyrinth have a great talent for guiding and nurturing the growth of the plants and animals around them by drawing in the elemental energy that permeates their home territory, and they often make powerful healers. Those who hatch outside the Viridian Labyrinth have their own talents respective to their flights. But most still retain some affinity for nature and healing, a reminder of their kind's beginnings.
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Lily Pad Faes
Though the Fae species originated in the Starwood Strand, an expedition of them ventured East to explore other lands. During their journey, small groups continually stayed behind in each region they visited, hoping to make a home there and discover different types of elemental magic. One group made it all the way across Sornieth.
These Fae came to the border of the Viridian Labyrinth, ruled over by the Gladekeeper and the elemental magic of Nature. They became enthralled with the abundant trees and wildlife. There were so many different types of plants and animals, and insects! Gradually, they spread out across the Everbloom Gardens and into the Gladeveins.
These fae made their homes from sap as their ancestors did, in the trees between the lakes and rivers of this region. They spent their days catching the bountiful insects that thrived in the wet environment near the water. And they learned to tend the plants, using their stores of magic to direct their growth and nurture them. Those whose eggs were hatched there had the advantage of being able to draw elemental magic from their surroundings. They shaped homes from living vines and branches, and were better able to influence the wildlife around them.
Over time, their appearance came to reflect their surroundings. They developed patterns on their bodies that mimicked the water that flowed through their lands, and patterns on their wings that reflected the leaves of the plants they nurtured. Some used this to aid them in catching food. If they floated on the water, still as they could be, their wings resembled lily pads. The insects they ate would land on their wings like they did the water-dwelling plants that surrounded them, making them far easier to catch. This was the beginning of the Lily Pad Faes.
Today, they can be found throughout the Viridian Labyrinth, and some have even ventured back out into other regions of Sornieth, where different types of lakes and ponds have created variations in this subspecies. Some have developed patterns mimicking different types of algae floating in the water and clinging to their wings. Some have developed patterns more resembling the rampant pond scum sometimes found in stagnant water. And still others have patterns resembling small pools or droplets of water on their wings.
Wherever they live, you can be sure to find these dragons floating in the waters near their homes, completely camouflaged to the well-trained eye.
Lily Pad Faes hatched in the Viridian Labyrinth have a great talent for guiding and nurturing the growth of the plants and animals around them by drawing in the elemental energy that permeates their home territory, and they often make powerful healers. Those who hatch outside the Viridian Labyrinth have their own talents respective to their flights. But most still retain some affinity for nature and healing, a reminder of their kind's beginnings.
