Dragon Share

@Disillusionist This is late, but thank you for the ping! I had my eye on this thread since it opened, but I didn't have a Pearlcatcher I felt would fit this project. . . until now! @Viviwren [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50913063] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/509131/50913063_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] Garbed in robes that sway like ancient paper in the breeze, a lone Pearlcatcher makes his way towards the looming cathedral. His steps are slow, almost pained and he stops frequently to catch his breath before continuing forward. He carries only a few meager belongings wrapped in a tattered fabric satchel that hangs heavily across his shoulders. It contains a few scrolls and books, several trinkets, a black feather, a waterskin and a misshapen, sickly pearl. Perhaps for most, pearls were meant to hold cherished things, memories that they hope not to forget or moments captured and protected against time in the enrobed enamel-like layers of the orb. Belial's pearl gleams dully, its lumpy, imperfect surface a testament to the pain-warped memories that it contains. Indeed, every memory is interlaced with bitterness and images of a looming figure shouting down accusations whilst tapping the folded end of a whip against their claws. Finally, the Pearlcatcher manages to haul himself up to the cathedral's doors, pushing feebly against them as they part to reveal a worn interior eerily lit through stained glass. Even here, in the midst of a dream, he winces painfully as he steps into the faded light and stands before the spiraling being of dark feathers and twisting golden metal that gleams in the dusty air. "P-please." Belial whispers, shaking as he bows before the creature and produces his sad excuse for a pearl from the pouch. "If you will accept this offering, I have a wish. . ." The Pearlcatcher pauses, open wounds leaving red stains upon the ground as he coughs. He continues with a voice full of spite, "I wish to deceive. No one has ever believed me and I am accused and blamed for such things I never had a part in. If I cannot have them believe the truth, then I wish for all to believe my lies". He leaves his head bowed against the ground, waiting for the Ravenghast to reply. ------ [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50907386] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/509074/50907386_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] Separated across an ocean of dreams, another Pearlcatcher stands before the Ravenghast's alter. In the sunset-hued lighting of the cathedral, his luminescent pearl gleams - a stark contrast to the smoky, corporeal feather clutched in his claws. He turns the feather meticulously before staring up at the raven-like creature. "I have sought the truth, but it manages always to slip from my grasp amidst a sea of lies." He places his pearl upon the alter, resting a hand carefully on its surface for a moment before pulling away. "If this offering may suffice, I wish always to discern the truth such that no lie may escape my notice". The cathedral is silent as Dumah awaits a reply.

@Viviwren [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=41879245] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/418793/41879245_350.png[/img] [/url] Rainbow-coloured sparkles drifted through the night air like dying fireflies. They floated past the [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/drs/2374881/1#post_31666240]Chalice[/url] as it walked, soft footsteps treading into shallow puddles and subconsciously nudging its pearl along but making no noise. Its magenta gaze was fixed towards the cathedral ahead stretching into the misty sky. A more sentient dragon might note how out-of-place the structure looked among the landscape of scattered pastel crystals, but the Chalice thought about no such thing. It had one goal tonight. The Chalice stepped through the open stone doors of the cathedral without hesitating to look at its vibrant stained glass, directly up to the feather-clad creature chained inside. It neither marvelled at the Ravenghast's jumble of feathers, silk and chains nor quivered at the looming stature as it stared into where the beast's eyes should be, gently spitting out the large black plume it was holding in its mouth and rolling its pearl forward into the altar's indent without breaking eye contact. Its head tilted to the side like a lost puppy. There was one thing all Chalices deeply desired, and this one was no different. It was simply lucky enough to have heard of the strange wish-granting monster, and barely coherent enough to realise it wanted to meet it. "...own soul?" it inquired in a whisper, breaking the delicate silence of the cathedral.

@Viviwren (*flings self into hoard of pearlcatchers*) [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49431814] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/494319/49431814_350.png[/img] [/url] Nights ago, the pearlcatcher had a strange dream, of a dragon giving him a raven feather, and as he paced into the cathedral, it felt strangely heavy between his claws. He growled to himself through the rather large pearl he held in his mouth. This was it, Apollo. There's no turning back now. He stopped at the altar, a claw instinctively going for the trident resting on his armor, but stopped as he remembered where exactly he was. He'd read about this place, this creature before he'd had that dream, found that feather. A place to make trades. Memories and your pearl for your wildest desires... what more could a dragon wish? Of course, he made sure he would know at least a little about his clan before the deal, he wrote the key points down... but surely his clanmates could take a little memory loss. He took the pearl from his mouth, gazing at it for a moment before placing it on the altar. He stared at the Ravenghast, pausing before beginning to speak. "I... all my life I have tried. I have tried to be better, be bigger, be [b]stronger[/b] and I-" He slammed a talon onto the floor in frustration. "[b]I want to be strong! Stronger than any ever known!![/b]" His voice echoed as he fell silent and awaited the Ravenghast's response.

[center] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig08.deviantart.net/df0d/f/2016/277/6/8/arcane_shield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajun3p.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50653169] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/506532/50653169_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center] An arcane circle flickers to life beneath Tero as the Ravenghast tilts its head back, hungrily swallowing the pearl whole.[/center] [indent][i]Tero... Tero...[/i] Something gentle was calling to him. Something without a voice. No wind, no breath. No life to call its own. It could only sustain itself as a quiet presence, made real by its own desire to be. Thinner than air, it called to him. But as it did so... [i]Tero... Tero... ..ero... ro... ..e..wo[/i] It began to distort, as if dissolving with his memories. It did not crumble like ash, but bubbled with an effervescent fervor that raised it--struggling to reach him with a great longing--telling him not to forget. Who this "voice" belonged to would quickly become unknown to him as all that he knew slowly became undone. It was as if the last bastion of his heart--the thing that scraped the crumbs of his mind together and bound it tightly to some semblance of sanity over all these years was also beginning to go. It went alongside the horror that haunted him. The small flicker of light melted away, dragged away to an unknown abyss along with his despair. Would he feel relief? What did he feel, exactly? It was hard to tell. Tero was surrounded by the black grasps of ravenbourne magicks; obscured from the outside world as they manifested his spoken desires. As they lapped his memories clean, they left him with a knowledge not of his own. Read no diary, no journal--nothing of yours. Abandon the past within the material realm. For the despair that crippled him was born from more than memories alone--the sickly clinging of the dead to the living was a very... real, tangible thing. Forgetting the dead is often a sin, and how grudges are made real. Especially to those who are among the last to remember them. With a gentle caress, like a mother's touch, it released him both from this grasp and this dreamscape realm back to that of his own. [i]Cling to the dead, and the dead will often cling back. But what you don't know, can't hurt you.[/i][/indent] [center]...and the pact has been sealed (a known contractor has been added to the registry!). [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50653169][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/506532/50653169p.png[/img][/url] [i]Tero[/i] @Azurenight [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig01.deviantart.net/3345/f/2016/277/d/f/shadowshield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajul49.png[/img][/url] [/center]

@Azurenight

Hullo!
No worries about pings. I'm glad you like the project. It's fun, and makes for a bit of atmosphere, I think!

No story is too long, or too short as far as I'm concerned. I enjoy reading them all, Tero's (now Ewo's) included, of course! You are welcome to use the story wherever you wish, so bio is no problem too.

@pokemoncha

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was very nice reading Rajan's story. If you ever add more to it, definitely send me a PM and I'd love to hop over and read it!

[center] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig08.deviantart.net/df0d/f/2016/277/6/8/arcane_shield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajun3p.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=36742342] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/367424/36742342_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center] An arcane circle flickers to life beneath the broken dragon as the Ravenghast tilts its head back, hungrily swallowing the pearl whole.[/center] [indent][i]Whole...[/i] What is whole? And what is broken? Broken like bones, perhaps? The ghastly thing could never understand. It was too far removed from the workings of the world. For those who have come here and sought their wishes were far from whole. Broken, pained and often full of desires and avarice. This was a place that reeked of desperation. There was no wholeness that had ever stepped foot within the cathedral realm--but as the saying goes, [b]the Ravenghast always fulfills its pact.[/b] Like an innocent child being given a new concept, it could only draw on what it was told. And as it turned this strange, unknown concept over and over with curious observation... It delved into the depths of memories of its "guests" both past, present and future. What it knew within the hearts of others that it had seen. It sifted through their many a life, and many a being, and searched their hearts for those [i]they[/i] considered "whole." The ones that these various contractors once looked up to. The ones they idolized atop the pedestals of their psyche. They, who could do no wrong. Always reliable, confident, and armed with the uncanny knack for saying the right thing, at the right time. An improbable--almost unreachable perfection. From the storybook prince, to the infallible leader, there were too many beautiful fallacies to choose from--and encompassing them all would lead to a simple form of madness, like stuffing a quail to the point of bursting with flavors that did not match. [b]But first[/b]--to mend the misshapen bones, one must begin by breaking them. And so it did. Along with his memories, the very recess of his soul was cracked open like splintered bones with a sickening scream as a smoldering grasp pierced his chest. Molded and remolded. The darkness worked through him like gentle a seamstress, weaving his soul back from scratch and tailoring him anew. He would no longer resemble himself--the self that he hated, but perhaps others loved. The parts that were perceived as "missing" were plucked from that of others and used to bridge the gaps of his own, like a patchwork doll. How much of him was him? How much of him was once someone else? And what of the "in betweens"? Where did they come from? [i]"I want to... I want to be able to love Frostwing, my mate, truly."[/i] The echo of this wish would become the last memory that was stolen from him, as if left until the very end as a reminder that could not stay. He was rewritten from head to toe, and left with the single desire to love her for better or for worse. Would he understand why?[/indent] [center]...and the pact has been sealed (a known contractor has been added to the registry!). [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=36742342][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/367424/36742342p.png[/img][/url] [i]Broken[/i] @FrozenSeal [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig01.deviantart.net/3345/f/2016/277/d/f/shadowshield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajul49.png[/img][/url] [/center]

[center] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig08.deviantart.net/df0d/f/2016/277/6/8/arcane_shield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajun3p.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=29390579] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/293906/29390579_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center] An arcane circle flickers to life beneath Shimmers as the Ravenghast tilts its head back, hungrily swallowing the pearl whole.[/center] [indent]It felt her curiosity of it at the time, and gently pushed back. A tender, but unseen force which erased a portion of her thoughts just as they were being realized. It was not a kindness to shield her from an encroaching truth, but the kindness of keeping one's bay from a madness that comes with the act of seeking to understand eldritch horrors. Was it really so genteel? No... perhaps the better word for it was "business". For it was important that she was able to make her wish. The wish to live a life uninterrupted. No illness, no wound that can take him. They would become both suspended in life, yet subject to the flow of time. Their fabric of their fortune would waver unnaturally. It was a wish that was easy to grant, but difficult to sustain. For there were many things that would and could come to clash--railing against such a seemingly modest desire to live a fulfilling life. That was the way of the world. It had been only a contemporary delusion to think it owed. What they needed... was but a bit of luck. Perhaps her mother was right, in ways that were not immediately apparent. It was as if her words had foreseen a future, past the sacrifice of memories--but straight to matter of consequence. ...As if she innately understood the true price of a wish by instinct alone. Her beloved mate, her offspring. They would be granted an unnatural luck that binds them without their knowing--but the flow of fortune is one that is always changing. Impermanent. Good one moment, bad the next. They were often trials to overcome. Regardless, it was never a thing to be adjusted simply once. After all, that was why many cling so desperately to lucky items, wasn't it? Bound by the ravenbourne magicks... they would become parasitic in nature. The cost of their incredible luck came from the misfortunes of others. Sometimes they were realized in small ways--purchasing the last item on the shelf before it was gone; sometimes it came in others--where they were spared, others were not. They are--and will be--hale and hearty through the stolen luck of another who will succumb in their place. That is not to say... they would ever be unhappy in the face of a terrible truth. For they would, honestly, simply be none the wiser... so long as they took no deliberate risks, and led their lives with a pure intent. And with that, the Ravenghast fulfilled its pact, counting down the days of her beloved and their children in kind, where it would finally come to unravel at a ripe old age. Alas, though Shimmers wished, and wished true with her heart... did she not remember to include herself among them?[/indent] [center]...and the pact has been sealed (a known contractor has been added to the registry!). [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=29390579][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/293906/29390579p.png[/img][/url] [i]ShadowedShimmers[/i] @StarlitMoonlight [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig01.deviantart.net/3345/f/2016/277/d/f/shadowshield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajul49.png[/img][/url] [/center]

[center] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig08.deviantart.net/df0d/f/2016/277/6/8/arcane_shield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajun3p.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50841587] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/508416/50841587_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center] An arcane circle flickers to life beneath Clarity as the Ravenghast tilts its head back, hungrily swallowing the pearl whole.[/center] [indent]A soft gasp could be heard penetrating the delicate quiet of the cathedral. It followed with several low murmurs after hearing her wish. Though there was no one there. This place was more than pretty dreams after all. It was a place where wandering souls would often slip through the cracks and find themselves when they were forgotten. Here is where they took unwilling refuge from the aimless mist that awaits them outside--a road to nowhere. They overheard her wish, and quarreled among themselves. Some too hateful and proud. Their rage crackled like electricity in the air at the idea of being told what to do. Perhaps they were no different and as equally unpleasant in life. Or perhaps it was death that made them this way, or even what came after that. Others prayed quietly and offered their sincerest well wishes, like the quiet flock of a church. They cried at her words, which sounded like a hopeful mercy in midst of a dark and lonely path. The various hopes, desires, hate--so many emotions clamored and rang from all directions. There was no harmony between them. Only the clash of so many desires come to life, all directed at... [i]her.[/i] As if she were a vessel that they could fill with their equal measures of hope and hate. Louder and louder the voices grew. Louder than even the cathedral bell. They were suddenly cut short by the sound of creaking chains. The Ravenghast seemed to rile in a slow, lumbering fashion. [i]Displeasure.[/i] The sound of its strain caused the chorus to quiet in quaking fear as the walls shook and rumbled. And at once, they all stopped. Quieted, as if never there. As silence finally fell, a lone black grasp rolled off of its feathered form and towards her. As it touched her, it imparted a knowledge--No, it was more like a second consciousness. A voice that was her, but also not her. Something made from--or in likeness of her. It knew things she could never possibly have. Old magicks, spells, tools and the like. Artifacts that still existed in the world and where to find them. In this line of work, it was not power alone that dictated the limits of one's strength... but information and a degree of resourcefulness. It guided her. It would tell her the secrets of the dead she would come to meet on the condition that they must first obtain something belonging to the deceased that they wished to put to rest. It taught her how to restrain the dead--but that restraint did not equate to freedom, only understandings and resolutions. The art of exorcism. Her, but not her, it was an echo born of her wish. She would never be alone. Would she trust it? It would not be until later that others would point out the unnatural manner in which she no longer casted a shadow...[/indent] [center]...and the pact has been sealed (a known contractor has been added to the registry!). [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50841587][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/508416/50841587p.png[/img][/url] [i]Clarity[/i] @Venusian [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig01.deviantart.net/3345/f/2016/277/d/f/shadowshield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajul49.png[/img][/url] [/center]

I loved the way you wrote it Viviwren! Thank you!!

I have added the pact symbol in Broken's bio and added lore, plus Frostwing, she hates the Ravenghast now mwhahahaha

[center] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig08.deviantart.net/df0d/f/2016/277/6/8/arcane_shield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajun3p.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50913063] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/509131/50913063_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center] An arcane circle flickers to life beneath Belial as the Ravenghast tilts its head back, hungrily swallowing the pearl whole.[/center] It was delectable rarity, the pearl. Odd and misshapen with a concentrate of raw memories and experiences. Strong and everlasting. Every day savored from it was a memorable one, even if they were born from the bleakest shallows of misery. There was not a single moment that did not matter. A life thoroughly lived by struggling for the faintest smattering of a spider-silk light, in which he could not know or see. Yes, he had suffered enough. A lone grasp brushed against his cheek as if offering affirmation to a life anew. It cupped his chin and raised it ever so gently, its touch felt no more than a breath. He could discard this life now, it spoke with no voice; but instead, resounded deeply in his consciousness. There were so many ways to deceive. From illusions to silver-tongued half-truths, to afflicting surrounding fabrics of reality with a distorting, corrosive ripple. And yet, the nature of lies were that they were inherently delicate. A thin sheet of ill-balanced glass, brittle and waiting to crack under the slightest bit of scrutiny. Lies require protecting. Maintenance. A tiresome thing. Those who lived it, lived equally tiresome lives as a result. No, no. He would be given something more. Reliable, and difficult to discern. There would be no need to protect it. It would protect itself, and with such ferocity at that! In this manner, it would also come to protect him. The black, bubbling grasp of the raven thing would suddenly slip beneath the skin and unto his tongue. Its presence was thick and choking like a tainted ball of smoke that left a sharply bitter taste. It left a spell on the pink of his flesh. He would be given the ability to rewrite the memories of those he encountered. To plant a falsehood that would spread like a disease to those who inquired or challenged it. It would manifest as a sinister, budding doubt. Slow, steady and incite a clouded confusion. The more that sought to dismantle it, the stronger the lie became until it obscures the truth altogether between them. A disease they preyed on the mind. Weakening its resolve through working alongside its natural suspicions and contemplation until they simply convinced themselves. It comes to no surprise that individuals believe what they want to believe, and those would become the strongest truths of all, even if they were all but correct. Delusions matter not in the face of truth or logic. They are the strongest of lies, and even unlikely to break until the bitter ends. In this way... "[b]all[/b]" would believe his lies. Let it spread among each other as he, for once, rested in the shade. -------------- [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50907386] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/509074/50907386_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] [indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3USjIMB.png[/img][/indent] [center]In separate instance, similarly, another arcane circle flickers with a rising glow.[/center] Within the same moment that the ghastly thing caressed Belial's cheek and comforted his pain, another Ravenghast was looming overhead, chained before Dumah, patiently listening to his wish as the dragon turned a sinister, oilslick feather in his claws. It said nothing of either, but imparted Dumah an eldritch wisdom. Yes, he will be gifted the means to bend and break the ties of simple deceit. Little lies, both white and rampant. Those are easy enough without the need for magicks and sacrifice. But he did not come all this way for something he could surely obtain with a little time and wits alone, is that not right? He did not seem the sort to abandon all that he knew, and a piece of his identity for a small sum, the meticulous thing that he is. Well spoken with practiced movements and a confidence born from a lifetime of determination--and pride. It sensed a deep pride in him. That was the way of those who felt owed the truth and sought it vehemently. Regardless, it was all too much to throw away simply to know truths that he would no longer know what to do with. So, it gave him something unique in addition to seeing through petty deceit. The black grasps reached for him, beckoning his eyes to close. The clawed tips of the billowing black rested on him in three points. One against each of his eyelids, and one squarely tapped against his forehead. He would [i]know[/i] the way things were originally "supposed to be" in the face of a strong, rooted deception. He would have a suspicion of how things were meant to play out had it been allowed to run its original course. This, he would gain an instinct for. Truths were but perceptions that are easily clouded and rewritten through doubt and delusion. The memories of many also tended to be unreliable. In this manner he would be able to sift through this reality itself and sense if it had been altered or led astray. But... he would not necessarily know why or how it changed. Those missing in-between details would be left for him and his own devices to unravel. It should surely be of no trouble for one as careful and deliberate as he. But what exactly, could one do with the truth? Was there ever a value in such things save knowing for the sake of knowing? It was no different than the applied value of a diamond. It was--in essence--as valuable as one wished it to be. No more, and no less, and without any bearing for the reality behind its true lack of rarity. [center]...was a game of cat and mouse about to begin? Or would he come to serve a greater purpose?[/center] [center]...and the pact has been sealed (two known contractors have been added to the registry!). [indent][indent][indent][indent][columns] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50913063][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/509131/50913063p.png[/img][/url] [center][i]Belial[/i][/center] [nextcol] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=50907386][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/509074/50907386p.png[/img][/url] [center][i]Dumah[/i][/center] [/columns][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] @awaicu [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2593443][img]https://i.imgur.com/hC0oysb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1997330#post_22977835][img]http://orig01.deviantart.net/3345/f/2016/277/d/f/shadowshield_divider_4_by_starkindlerstudio-dajul49.png[/img][/url] [/center]