Family
Night was falling.
Below them, jagged crags of rock cast long shadows against vast stretches of barren, parched earth. They’d cleared the forest hours ago, and were headed in the general direction of the crumbling Pillar that still towered over all else.
They were nowhere close to it, of course. They were still far from the light of any other inhabited villages or townships, and so they would remain.
In the dim light, Edan could make out two long, deep, curved lines gouged side-by-side into the cracked dirt below. They continued on far out of view, forming two large circles, one within the other. He motioned to Solveig and pointed them out.
“Do you see it?”
The pearlcatcher nodded.
“They signify condemned ground,” Edan stated, swallowing back the sick feeling rising in his stomach. “We’re almost there. Do. Not. Land. Under any circumstances.”
“I… yes,” Solveig replied, looking back at him with wide eyes.
“Follow me, and circle when I circle,” the mirror instructed, his voice strong in spite of the dread filling him. “There will be… ruins, I imagine. I’ve not been here in… a long time.”
The next few minutes of flight were silent, Edan hardly breathing as he strained to hear any sign of movement below them. His second sight was useless here: there was no body heat to track.
Finally, far below, he saw what they’d come there for.
“This was my home,” he said quietly, drifting close to the pearlcatcher as he spoke, then breaking off to circle the crumbling remains of a tiny village. A few houses still stood, though their clay walls and wooden roofs were worn down by years of enduring the elements without any care.
His stomach twisted around itself as he flew, watching breathlessly for any movement below. He couldn’t be relieved to not see anything at first: that would just mean they’d wandered.
But then, something crawled out of one of the husks of a home. It was draconic in shape, certainly. But the sick, halting way it moved was enough to hint that there was no sapience left in its body.
He couldn’t recognize who it was, and silently thanked the gods for it. If he looked long enough at the clothes still clinging to its emaciated form, though, he knew he would.
He looked away, instead focusing on the macabre shadow it cast as it dragged itself out of the gloom.
He could see every bone wherever the fabric didn’t cover, watch its jaw move as if snapping at prey just ahead, held together by sinews and the remnants of magic that once coursed through the dragon’s veins.
Once, it could have been one of his siblings, or his father, he didn’t know. He was so grateful he didn’t know.
He looked back toward Solveig, who was flying erratically. The pearlcatcher made a beeline toward him, their fearful, pleading eyes reflected briefly in the moonlight.
Edan nodded and turned, flying away from the remains of his childhood home, the pearlcatcher flitting frantically after him.
They didn’t stop until they reached the edge of the forest hours later. Edan scanned the area, and then turned to Solveig. He did his best to stay stern. Strong, in spite of how devastating the trip had been.
“Solveig,” he addressed, holding his head high as he looked down at the pearlcatcher. They seemed so young, then. Frightened, like the day he found them. “That is what happens when you aren’t careful. That is what happens when you slip for even a moment.”
“I don’t - I don’t understand, I still don’t - ” Solveig replied, their voice wavering. “What was that, Edan? What happened to that mirror? The town?”
“When I was young, younger than you are now,” Edan began, glancing back out toward the open expanse of the Plateau. “I was part of a clan. Son of one of the leaders, in fact. There were about… thirty of us, I think. But we were all family, blood or otherwise.
There was a hunter. A guardian named Kvel. He was stronger than either of us, bigger than that lady friend of yours, and so… so kind. We all loved him, me and my siblings. He babysat us when we were younger.”
“And he…?”
“He dragged himself home to us one day,” Edan sighed. “Serthis got the better of him. He had half a dozen spears lodged between his belly plates. We had healers, like you. They all teamed together to save him, dragged him into our medical hut.”
“And they failed,” Solveig finished, their voice sympathetic, but still confused.
“It was… worse than that, Sol,” Edan shook his head. “My father had been out with another hunting party. When he came home and heard the news, he rushed in to check on how things were going. Then all hell broke loose.
The building collapsed, and Kvel came barreling out of it. There were still… pieces… of our healers stuck to him. He’d crushed them all. I didn’t see my father after that, but I heard him screaming to us that Kvel was dead, didn’t have a heartbeat.”
Solveig’s mouth was agape.
“He… just kept rampaging through town after that,” Edan continued, trying to force himself to finish the story, even as his voice began to shake. “Like he was blind, frenzied. If someone got in his way, he’d rip them apart. If someone screamed, he’d… it was like he wanted to stop the noise.
I saw my siblings die when my mother tried to take us and run. I saw the hunters fall as they tried to take down something several times their size that didn’t feel pain anymore. I saw everything torn apart as my mother grabbed me and flew for the horizon.”
“Why did that happen to him?” Solveig asked, their voice a frightened whisper. “When my mother died, that was… that was it.”
“You can’t know who will…” Edan paused, taking a deep breath to try and steady himself. He was shaking, and he hated it. “Sometimes the magic doesn’t leave us when we go. It keeps going, without any… without any soul to guide it. It makes us feral. It’s more likely if the death is sudden. That’s why Kvel… rose. That’s why one of my clanmates is still out there. That’s why… when the grief and exhaustion took my mother, all I had to do was bury her.”
The two dragons looked at each other in silence. A long and painful acknowledgement of shared loss.
“I need you to trust me, Solveig,” Edan finally stated, breaking the silence. “You are… my family, now. You’re my child. That’s what you are to me. I’ve been trying to just shut it off, but I can’t. I’m terrified of losing you - I can’t… I can’t handle the thought of any of you winding up like… like that. I promise I’m just trying to protect you. I just want you to be safe. I need you to trust me.”
“I’m sorry, Edan,” the pearlcatcher breathed. It was impossible to see any detail in the darkness at that point, but judging by their voice, they were crying. “I’ve been so stupid. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Probably should have just told you sooner,” Edan replied, letting out a particularly broken-sounding chuckle. Or maybe it was a sob. Gods, he felt so weak then. “It’s just… so damn hard to talk about it. Might have to ask you to relay it to your sister at some point.”
Solveig responded by slumping forward, their head resting against his shoulder. Edan jumped at the motion, then draped a wing around the shaking pearlcatcher’s back.
“Come on, Sol, you’re gonna make me start crying and someone needs to navigate.”
“I - I’m sorry,” the pearlcatcher replied, letting out a weak laugh. “I trust you, Edan. I’ll be more careful from now on, I promise.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that promise,” Edan replied, patting the pearlcatcher’s back before pulling away. “Come on, let’s go home. I’m so damn tired.”
“Be-before that,” Solveig said, looking nervous once more. “No more secrets, so there’s one more thing. Praz and I, we - ”
“If you’re going to tell me you’re a couple that’s really not a secret - ”
“No, a nest. We have a nest. We’re going to have kids.”
“A - ” Edan blinked, then went completely still. He shook his head. “O… kay. So. I don’t… have the energy to… think about that right now. Thank you… for telling me.
Let’s go home.”
So anyway one of the scariest things for me is to write emotional scenes like this, and tbh I'm shaking both from WHAT I had to write and like. My own self-consciousness about delivering it correctly
I hope you enjoy and I'm dyign
@Dovalore, @Valishtu, @Gloomyvibes, @AnimeLover9631, @Akash, @tigressRising, @ArgenteaMoon, @mintSMASH, @StormWendjule, @IronPen, @Solaristigres, @Acuarela, @Rivix, @Keet, @Farwalker, @catmeow1, @fuurin, @owlstar7, @amberclawed, @cgnx, @arinemera, @Weredogalism, @Kosaa, @astrallis
Night was falling.
Below them, jagged crags of rock cast long shadows against vast stretches of barren, parched earth. They’d cleared the forest hours ago, and were headed in the general direction of the crumbling Pillar that still towered over all else.
They were nowhere close to it, of course. They were still far from the light of any other inhabited villages or townships, and so they would remain.
In the dim light, Edan could make out two long, deep, curved lines gouged side-by-side into the cracked dirt below. They continued on far out of view, forming two large circles, one within the other. He motioned to Solveig and pointed them out.
“Do you see it?”
The pearlcatcher nodded.
“They signify condemned ground,” Edan stated, swallowing back the sick feeling rising in his stomach. “We’re almost there. Do. Not. Land. Under any circumstances.”
“I… yes,” Solveig replied, looking back at him with wide eyes.
“Follow me, and circle when I circle,” the mirror instructed, his voice strong in spite of the dread filling him. “There will be… ruins, I imagine. I’ve not been here in… a long time.”
The next few minutes of flight were silent, Edan hardly breathing as he strained to hear any sign of movement below them. His second sight was useless here: there was no body heat to track.
Finally, far below, he saw what they’d come there for.
“This was my home,” he said quietly, drifting close to the pearlcatcher as he spoke, then breaking off to circle the crumbling remains of a tiny village. A few houses still stood, though their clay walls and wooden roofs were worn down by years of enduring the elements without any care.
His stomach twisted around itself as he flew, watching breathlessly for any movement below. He couldn’t be relieved to not see anything at first: that would just mean they’d wandered.
But then, something crawled out of one of the husks of a home. It was draconic in shape, certainly. But the sick, halting way it moved was enough to hint that there was no sapience left in its body.
He couldn’t recognize who it was, and silently thanked the gods for it. If he looked long enough at the clothes still clinging to its emaciated form, though, he knew he would.
He looked away, instead focusing on the macabre shadow it cast as it dragged itself out of the gloom.
He could see every bone wherever the fabric didn’t cover, watch its jaw move as if snapping at prey just ahead, held together by sinews and the remnants of magic that once coursed through the dragon’s veins.
Once, it could have been one of his siblings, or his father, he didn’t know. He was so grateful he didn’t know.
He looked back toward Solveig, who was flying erratically. The pearlcatcher made a beeline toward him, their fearful, pleading eyes reflected briefly in the moonlight.
Edan nodded and turned, flying away from the remains of his childhood home, the pearlcatcher flitting frantically after him.
They didn’t stop until they reached the edge of the forest hours later. Edan scanned the area, and then turned to Solveig. He did his best to stay stern. Strong, in spite of how devastating the trip had been.
“Solveig,” he addressed, holding his head high as he looked down at the pearlcatcher. They seemed so young, then. Frightened, like the day he found them. “That is what happens when you aren’t careful. That is what happens when you slip for even a moment.”
“I don’t - I don’t understand, I still don’t - ” Solveig replied, their voice wavering. “What was that, Edan? What happened to that mirror? The town?”
“When I was young, younger than you are now,” Edan began, glancing back out toward the open expanse of the Plateau. “I was part of a clan. Son of one of the leaders, in fact. There were about… thirty of us, I think. But we were all family, blood or otherwise.
There was a hunter. A guardian named Kvel. He was stronger than either of us, bigger than that lady friend of yours, and so… so kind. We all loved him, me and my siblings. He babysat us when we were younger.”
“And he…?”
“He dragged himself home to us one day,” Edan sighed. “Serthis got the better of him. He had half a dozen spears lodged between his belly plates. We had healers, like you. They all teamed together to save him, dragged him into our medical hut.”
“And they failed,” Solveig finished, their voice sympathetic, but still confused.
“It was… worse than that, Sol,” Edan shook his head. “My father had been out with another hunting party. When he came home and heard the news, he rushed in to check on how things were going. Then all hell broke loose.
The building collapsed, and Kvel came barreling out of it. There were still… pieces… of our healers stuck to him. He’d crushed them all. I didn’t see my father after that, but I heard him screaming to us that Kvel was dead, didn’t have a heartbeat.”
Solveig’s mouth was agape.
“He… just kept rampaging through town after that,” Edan continued, trying to force himself to finish the story, even as his voice began to shake. “Like he was blind, frenzied. If someone got in his way, he’d rip them apart. If someone screamed, he’d… it was like he wanted to stop the noise.
I saw my siblings die when my mother tried to take us and run. I saw the hunters fall as they tried to take down something several times their size that didn’t feel pain anymore. I saw everything torn apart as my mother grabbed me and flew for the horizon.”
“Why did that happen to him?” Solveig asked, their voice a frightened whisper. “When my mother died, that was… that was it.”
“You can’t know who will…” Edan paused, taking a deep breath to try and steady himself. He was shaking, and he hated it. “Sometimes the magic doesn’t leave us when we go. It keeps going, without any… without any soul to guide it. It makes us feral. It’s more likely if the death is sudden. That’s why Kvel… rose. That’s why one of my clanmates is still out there. That’s why… when the grief and exhaustion took my mother, all I had to do was bury her.”
The two dragons looked at each other in silence. A long and painful acknowledgement of shared loss.
“I need you to trust me, Solveig,” Edan finally stated, breaking the silence. “You are… my family, now. You’re my child. That’s what you are to me. I’ve been trying to just shut it off, but I can’t. I’m terrified of losing you - I can’t… I can’t handle the thought of any of you winding up like… like that. I promise I’m just trying to protect you. I just want you to be safe. I need you to trust me.”
“I’m sorry, Edan,” the pearlcatcher breathed. It was impossible to see any detail in the darkness at that point, but judging by their voice, they were crying. “I’ve been so stupid. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Probably should have just told you sooner,” Edan replied, letting out a particularly broken-sounding chuckle. Or maybe it was a sob. Gods, he felt so weak then. “It’s just… so damn hard to talk about it. Might have to ask you to relay it to your sister at some point.”
Solveig responded by slumping forward, their head resting against his shoulder. Edan jumped at the motion, then draped a wing around the shaking pearlcatcher’s back.
“Come on, Sol, you’re gonna make me start crying and someone needs to navigate.”
“I - I’m sorry,” the pearlcatcher replied, letting out a weak laugh. “I trust you, Edan. I’ll be more careful from now on, I promise.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that promise,” Edan replied, patting the pearlcatcher’s back before pulling away. “Come on, let’s go home. I’m so damn tired.”
“Be-before that,” Solveig said, looking nervous once more. “No more secrets, so there’s one more thing. Praz and I, we - ”
“If you’re going to tell me you’re a couple that’s really not a secret - ”
“No, a nest. We have a nest. We’re going to have kids.”
“A - ” Edan blinked, then went completely still. He shook his head. “O… kay. So. I don’t… have the energy to… think about that right now. Thank you… for telling me.
Let’s go home.”
So anyway one of the scariest things for me is to write emotional scenes like this, and tbh I'm shaking both from WHAT I had to write and like. My own self-consciousness about delivering it correctly
I hope you enjoy and I'm dyign
@Dovalore, @Valishtu, @Gloomyvibes, @AnimeLover9631, @Akash, @tigressRising, @ArgenteaMoon, @mintSMASH, @StormWendjule, @IronPen, @Solaristigres, @Acuarela, @Rivix, @Keet, @Farwalker, @catmeow1, @fuurin, @owlstar7, @amberclawed, @cgnx, @arinemera, @Weredogalism, @Kosaa, @astrallis
Kai - Al (There's only 1 L!) [Call me Kai!] [30s,They/Them] PLEASE do not ask about my avatar on an unrelated thread topic! |
- Accent Shop! - Hatchathon: Egg a Day 2024! - In Shadow of the Gods: A Nuzlocke (Complete!) - G1s with Art! - Wishlist/Icon Dragon |