Aeron

Aeron _________________________________________ Gender: Male _________________________________________ Sexuality: Straight _________________________________________ Clan: Silverwind _________________________________________ Status: Outsider _________________________________________ Role: Exalter/The Deities' Emissary _________________________________________ Mate: None _________________________________________ Relationships:

"The way they look up to Cosmic, and the way they look at me...I am nothing but a monster to them." Aeron is a spiritual guide of sorts. Kind hearted, soft spoken and an extremely compassionate imperial, he frequently wishes he could make friends to accompany him on his path, but has so far been utterly isolated due to untrue predispositions dragons have to his job. Still too young to understand why he was chosen by the gods to guide exalted dragons to their service, he instead spends his days hiding from the world to avoid his duty. He hates being marked as some kind of evil dragon when many can no longer see the great service being exalted is, and instead blame him for their family members heeding the call of the gods. The Exalters were not always seen this way, it had been honorable once upon a time. But these days dragons stray farther and farther from the gods and stories circulate clearly intending to dissuade dragons from following the path to their deities. Cosmic, an imperial who helps young dragons discover new clans, has been the most vocal of opponents, preferring his methods of giving hatchlings new lives. He tells dark, but completely fabricated stories of exalted dragon’s fates, painting the Exalters themselves as heartless monsters. Aeron’s greatest fear is that the stories Cosmic tells about him will someday become true and his kind heart will break past the point of no return, but so far, this seems to be about as unlikely as Cosmic’s stories coming true. His goal is to reveal to all what atrocities Cosmic has committed, restore the Exalters to their former glory and continue to aid those in need.

By Myself


By Eateries

---

Aeron clutched at his mane, his claws tangling in the dark fur. Piles of scrolls lay scattered about him, broken bits of wax seals and ribbon ties dripping from the parchment. He grasped at a random scroll, unfurling it and tearing it in his haste. Four hatchlings, destined for exaltation, due to be escorted to the Lightweaver. Gone. He groaned.

Cosmic would have never lost a clutch of hatchlings. He could hear their voices. The golden Imperial, his shining mane glittering in the bright sun, admired in clans of all flights.

"You should have let me take care of it," he would assure his adoring crowd. "Besides, the poor dears would be much better off, adopted into loving homes, learning the mysteries of all eleven flights. Instead you trust your children to that charlatan, send them off to be 'exalted' to some 'god'. Aeron could be doing anything with them." Aeron could feel their eyes boring into him, their minds filled with Cosmic's honeyed voice, his reassuring size and bulk a bulwark against any disbelief. Aeron, small and insignificant beside the golden glory of Cosmic, could not compare.

The heat around him was oppressive, and Aeron panted as he sifted through the pile of parchment. His cavern chamber was the warmest in the Taloncry clan, a special cave reserved for visitors and emissaries. It was a blessing for most Fire dragons, accustomed to extreme warmth but Aeron, used to the light breezes of his home in the Windswept Plateau, simply suffered. He twitched a bit of paper aside and was startled as it burst into flame. He jumped and batted at it ineffectually, watching as the delicate scroll disappeared into ash.

"I HATE this place!" he cried, planting one foot into the pile of soot. His voice echoed in the chamber, wrapping around his head and battering his ears. To his surprise, though, as his voice faded away it was replaced by another.

"Be careful with these - " he heard, before it disappeared. The never ending ringing of the hammers and forges swept back in, resuming their rhythmic pounding that had momentarily ceased at his exclamation and drowning out the distant but familiar voice.

"Cosmic?" Aeron murmured, perplexed. The voice had not come from the wide opening to his cavern, but seemed to echo from the ceiling. He scrambled to his feet and, fitting his claws into thin cracks and fissures in the wall, pressed his ear against the rock arching overhead.

"This batch must be delivered by dusk tomorrow. Do you understand?" he heard Cosmic's voice, usually dulcet and smooth, now rough and harsh. There was a muffled cry, then a metallic rattling. "Keep them silent. Gag them if you must, but keep them quiet. Someone will investigate crying hatchlings." Aeron gulped, his mouth suddenly dry.

"I understand, Cosmic." This was a different, unknown voice.

"Good. Perhaps this delivery will be more to your clan leader's taste. I understand child slaves are so much easier to train. A pity about the last set. Such a waste."

The metallic noise was repeated, and this time Aeron could hear what sounded like a sob, followed by a ringing slap. The sob was silenced, then reappeared as a faint whimper. Aeron threw himself away from his precarious perch and pelted out of the doorway.

"Where does Cosmic live?" he bellowed at the first dragon he saw, a female who sat running a freshly-forged spearhead over a whetstone. She glanced up at him, her eyes sparking.

"Why should I help you find him, exalter?" she asked, spitting the last word at him like a curse. Even though he was small compared to Cosmic, Aeron was still an Imperial, capable of dwarfing nearly any other dragon. With a roar Aeron grasped her by the shoulders and shook her.

"He is doing something dark and twisted and you insist on insulting me?! WHERE IS HE?!?" The dragon stared at him, then simply extended a claw. Aeron released his grasp and let the dragon slide to the rocky floor.

Aeron galloped through the twisting tubes of the Taloncry cavern lair, his feet pounding against the rocky floor. Cave after cave blinked past, firelight spilling out from within and casting long shadows against the glassy obsidian walls. Finally his breath gave out and he halted, his sides heaving. He heard the sound again, the rattling of chains now clear amongst the metallic clattering. He proceeded, now creeping silently, his ears tuned to the smallest sound. Then, a light bloomed out into the corridor.

"Take them. Now!" Aeron threw himself into the chamber. A strange dragon, her eyes red and unblinking, clutched an iron cage in her back claws, four tiny Fae hatchlings trapped within. Cosmic glanced up, his claws busy fastening iron chains to her legs and the cage. "Go!" he shouted, as the dragon launched herself into the air. She faltered for a moment, then shot up a chimney-like tube concealed in the darkness of the ceiling.

"No!" shouted Aeron, reaching for the cage. His claws nearly clasped the iron bars before Cosmic caught his wing.

"Now, now, old friend. Can't be disrupting my business." Aeron could only watch helplessly as the massive dragon held him captive, watch the four sets of orange eyes disappear into the darkness. Watch his missing hatchlings be stolen away.

"Your own clan, Cosmic." Aeron spat, struggling to be free and gasping as Cosmic squeezed him in his powerful embrace, forcing the air from his lungs. "Your own clan's hatchlings, sold into slavery!"

Cosmic chuckled, then gave another squeeze. Aeron felt several of his ribs groan, perhaps snap. Then, the pressure released as Cosmic released him. Aeron slid to the floor, helpless.

"You'll never be able to prove it, exalter." With a final laugh, he swept out of the chamber.

Aeron gasped in pain, tears streaming from his eyes in agony and despair. Cosmic was right. No one would believe him. Not yet, at least.

Story by: Hatterlet

Cosmic - The Clan's Guide The revered imperial with golden feathered wings is a gentle soul, carefully guiding hatchlings on their way into the world as they learn to stretch their wings and explore their surroundings. Proud of his duty to the young dragons of the clan, Cosmic gives them his utmost focused attention, watching over them even before they have begun to crawl from the nest.

Aeron - The God's Guide A figure shrouded in darkness, Aeron is relatively unknown around the clan, and feared by the hatchlings. He keeps to himself because of this, not wanting to disrupt the clan. His job is the most important, yet often tarnished role of guiding dragons both young and old into the care of the gods; exalting. He is feared because of the aspect of the unknown in his role, however important it may be.

While Cosmic's role has concrete meaning - bringing up the newborns and guiding them to new clans - Aeron's role has no set rules about it, causing fear in the dragons around him. Cosmic has used this to his advantage. The in fact heartless and cold dragon is in fact a supplier for a large slave trade network, and the hatchlings he raises almost always end up a slave.

Aeron knows this about the Clan's Guide, having been raised by Cosmic himself and escaping the slave trade when he was younger. He is careful around Cosmic for this reason, and the golden brown dragon often stares daggers at him as they pass, yet Cosmic has no reason to actually kill Aeron as everyone's distaste for him and his role leave Cosmic on an untouchable pedestol above everyone, and the crow-feathered Aeron as the scapegoat for Cosmic's actions.

For years, Aeron has tried to rat out Cosmic's wrongdoings, but has yet to be successful as no one will listen to his pleas and warnings. One day he knows he will either expose Cosmic, or kill him, yet that time has not come and they circle each other on thin ice, neither making a move.