Blade

Uh-oh, looks like little Blade wandered too far from his lair (190689, Midna42), and now he's off to see the world! If ever you feel the urge to exalt, he'd really appreciate it if you could just return him home instead, or to the 'Dragons Off To See The World' thread, here.
Lairs I've been to:
@Midna42, 190689
@dimsum, 207952
@Surpirate, 204428
@SylvrFox, 210409
@Astori, 130142
@Alliud, 289565
@Midna42, 190689
@ShepherdOfFire 220519
@Moeare 171533
@kisher 272996
@lunusdragoness 17407
@Zikul 12962
@Selki 178292
@ZephyrWindSpirit 10375
@RJMac 309765

---

Given away to strangers, Blade is desperate to find his home again. He is trying to find his way back to the Starfall Isles, so please help him out!


Blade did not remember his hatchling days very clearly. The images of both his parents were a blur, but what he did remember was his home: the Starfall Isles. It was a place where immense energy could be felt even in the air. He remembered his first breaths there; the magic entering his lungs.

These were not the Starfall Isles. The Skydancer awakened with a groan. Did he suffer from amnesia? What exactly happened to him? He blinked and examined his surroundings. Water. There was water everywhere. How had he gotten to this strange land?

"Thank goodness you're finally awake." A voice alerted him, but he saw the speaker did not mean any harm. She was a gentle looking Snapper. "I saw you collapsed on ground when I was travelling from the Windswept Plateau to here, the Sea of a Thousand Currents. I brought you here to recover."

"I do not belong here..." Blade did not know why he said those words, or what he even meant when he said them.

"I know." The Snapper simply said. "My name is Kells, and I'm currently on a journey. You seem very lost and afraid. If you wish to come with me for the next leg of my travels, I would enjoy the company very much."

Blade nodded, thankful to his rescuer, and unsure of what else he could possibly do when his head hurt so much...


Blade traveled with Kells for many long days, until they reached the Frigid Floes. There, in the middle of a snowstorm, they met a Guardian dragon named Luminescence, who wore a strange cloak and hat.

She took the shivering pair back to her clan's lair, and introduced them to the other dragons. Kells and Blade decided to wait out the snowstorm there, but as the snow piled up in front of the cave entrance, it became clear they'd have to spend much longer than they'd originally hoped.

Blade, hoping to learn about the path to the Starfall Isles, began to talk to Feathers, another Arcane dragon. However, Feathers had left the Starfall Isles long ago, and he did not know the way back, nor did he wish to return.

Finally, the howling wind abated, and the snow slowly began to melt. Kells and Blade decided to continue their journey, leaving the Ice Clan with memories they knew they'd cherish for a long time.


Tired of snow, they ended up in Mithrandir's clan on the Zephyr Steps at a rather busy moment. Everyone was excited over the arrival of 2 new clan members and Pasqual was getting ready to start some traveling of his own. This meant they were in the middle of a 2 day celebration to welcome the new comers and send Pasqual off.

Blade & Pasqual became friends and hoped to cross paths at least once more before their travels ended. Blade was amused when Conner challenged Pasqual to one last race saying he'd beat Pasqual this time! He didn't. Next Yin challenged Pasqual to a run on the agility course and he just laughed and said no but he'd love to see her do a round. Everyone else in the clan leaped at this and had all scattered to set one up before she could answer.

Apparently agility courses are her specialty. No one in the clan will challenge her but they have lots of fun watching all the other dragons founder trying to keep up. She can be beat but not by many. She certainly impressed Blade! After seeing her in action Blade asked to try it. It was tough but fun. Everyone seemed impressed at his first run. Afterward several others had a go at it. The next day Pasqual was gone and the celebration over.

Blade and Kells stayed a few more days because Yin offered to teach him a thing or 2. By the time he & Kells left he was a sore but proud level 5 with a special offer. This clan had a unique tradition: Any dragon who reaches level 10 earns a pair of woolly antennae. Yin told him if he came back after earning level 10 the clan would provide him his own pair if he wanted them.

Friends from Mithrandir's Lair:


Endowed with new skills in fighting, it was no surprise that Blade next wound up in a clan continuously at war. The moment that he arrived at the rim of the Shadow clan's territory, he was attacked by a furious group of dragons determined to end his life. It took a good deal of pleading and dodging to convince them that he meant no harm, only intending to stay for a time. They accepted him reluctantly, accompanying him back to their lair as if he was their prisoner.

As it turned out, he was their prisoner, as he was immediately locked into a distant section of the lair. It was barely furnished, little more than a ledge or two to rest on and a makeshift table, but there were a few dragons back there. Among them was Tantalus, a dragon who liked few and spoke little. Seele, another dragon in the room, explained that Tantalus had lost his mate recently, and was still grieving for her. She was also kind enough to explain that this was the room where the clan's slaves were kept, which didn't bode well for Blade. He began planning to escape as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, his stay was prolonged by the events of the night after he arrived. In the middle of the night, he was awoken by the entrance of his captors, who proceeded to drag Seele from the room. One of his captors, a young pearlcatcher, was left inside of the room, and witnessed his considerable alarm at this. She attempted to calm him, talking to him about the state of the clan. It turned out that a flurry of illnesses was floating around, taking the lives of hatchlings, and that they were especially short on males. She'd taken a liking to him, and offered him a deal. Father her hatchlings, and she would set him free. It seemed a small price to pay for his freedom, and so he accepted.

The next five days were strange for Blade. The female finally introduced herself; her name was Andromeda,. She was a lower-ranking dragon in the clan, and had been unable to claim one of the few males as her mate because of this. She'd laid two eggs, both of which she cared for obsessively, rarely if ever letting Blade see them. Andromeda was heartbroken when one of them hatched stillborn, dead before it ever saw the world. The other was still alive when he left the clan at last, escorted out the way he'd come in: surrounded by armed dragons, at their mercy. He swore that he'd never come back this way. All this had done was disorient him, making home that much harder to find.

Perhaps the next clan would help him.

Blade set out toward the sea; of what little memories he had of his hatchling home, he knew that it was an island.
He had been flying for a long time over the sea before he realized what sea it was: The Sea of a Thouand Currents. He cursed himself for not realizing sooner, and resolved to ask for directions at the next Clan he saw.

After a while, the Reedcleft Ascent of the Windswept Plateau came into view. Blade landed, eager to rest his wings. He looked around, curious if he had landed in someone's clan. He wandered around a bit, trying to find a dragon that he could ask about his whereabouts.
Between the bamboo stalks Blade saw a glimpse of orange, and chasing after it, soon caught up to a young skydancer.
"Hello," he said cautiously. The skydancer looked nervous, but she replied: "Hi."
Blade tried to remember what it had been like as a newly grown dragon; the world was very large and there was so many dragons to be seen, but not all of them can be trusted.
"I'm lost. Can you help me?" He decided to make her feel better by playing helpless. "I need to see a Clan Leader."
The orange dragon puffed out her chest. "I can do that! I can do anything, Vyrek said so!"
"Is Vyrek your leader?"
"No, that's Tirin. Are you sure you want to talk to her?"
Tirin... The image of a small green and brown dragon flickered in and out of his mind; memories of before amnesia, maybe?
"Yes, take me to-" Blade was cut off as the girl bounced into a cluster of bamboo shouting "Follow me, then!"
He smiled inwardly, wondering if this was how he was to Kells on their travels, then followed the young skydancer. After catching up to her, he introduced himself.
"I'm Blade. What's your name?" She looked at him curiously and replied: "You don't look like a sword to me, but my name is Lyonis."
"No, my name is Blade!" He said, laughing.
Lyonis blushed. "Oh, sorry!"
"That's okay, although I can't say that's ever happened before. So what's your clan like?"
Lyonis thought for a minute then said: "Crowded! There's so many dragons there I sometimes forget their names. That's embarrasing! Vyrek says that they're used to it, though."
"So Tirin is the leader, is Vyrek her mate?" Blade wondered out loud, then realized what he said. "Wait, that's none of my business, sorry!"
Lyonis laughed. "No, they're both girls, silly! Vyrek is my mother. Well, not my real mother, but since my parents..." She became sober and quiet, then shook her head vigorously. "But what about you? How did you get lost?"
Blade looked down at the ground. "I woke up a year ago, and couldn't remember anything. Ever since then I've been trying to find my home: The Starfall Isles."
"That's sad..." Lyonis looked as if she were about to start crying.
"Hey, don't cry, it's fine! Let's hurry and get back to your Clan."

After a few more minutes of walking, the Clan entrance came into view.
"Alright! Let's find Tirin!" Lyonis said, all signs of tears now gone.
She bounced around a group of tundras as they were discussing their... plant store? Blade was too busy following Lyonis to eavesdrop.
Then Lyonis stopped suddenly, causing Blade to crash into her, sending them both tumbling.
"Hey! You're supposed to stop when I do!" Lyonis laughed. "But anyway, there's Tirin's spot."
She pointed to a large cluster of bamboo, "Go talk to her!"
Blade made his way to an opening between stalks, then slowly poked his head in.
Inside, an armored green and brown fae, the same as from his flashback, sat talking to an armored purple guardian. She looked up when he put his head in, and then said something to the guardian Dacio...? - before he nodded and left through the back.

Facing Blade, she spoke. "Well, well. I never thought I'd see you here again."
Blade blinked. "I've been here before? I don't remember..."
"Amnesia.... It happens to a lot of travelers, you know." Tirin studied his face, then continued. "You were here a year ago, just a hatchling."
Blade jumped to his feet. "How did I get here? Do you know my parents? Where are they?"
"Sit!" For a small dragon she could have a big voice when she wanted. Blade apologized, then resumed his place on the ground.
"I don't know who your parents are, nor do I know where you came from or how you got here. I only know that you were a hatchling that needed help, and that was enough for me. Dacio and I were like a mother and father to you. Dacio didn't mind letting you tail him, and you wanted to be just like him when you grew up! But before long you were homesick, so we let you leave, with provisions to last weeks. But soon after you left, a big storm hit. Afterwar, Dacio, me, and a couple others went out to search for you, but we couldn't find you. We could only assume the worst.
"But here you are, proving us all wrong. Dacio saw you two while he and his team were hunting and was just reporting back to me when you came in. I'm so glad to see you alive and well. How have you been?"
Blade was shocked: he had a home here? He couldn't believe that he had forgotten. "I-I've been good, I guess. Still traveling."
"Oh, good to hear!" Tirin's face fell. "But then you'll be leaving again soon, won't you? I will miss you, but I understand."
"I'm sorry..." Blade mumbled.
"Don't be. You're old enough now to do what you want. We'll give you an even better sendoff than before!"


Outside, Lyonis was waiting for Blade. "How'd it go?"
"It went well. Tirin was eager to explain things. But," Blade looked at the sun, sinking below the tree tops. "I need a place to stay for the night..."
"No worries! You can have the empty nest next to mine." Lyonis led the way towards a thick cluster of bamboo with a few indents in the ground, which Blade assumed were nests of some sort. He collapsed into one of them and instantly fell asleep.


The sendoff the next day was great, as Tirin had promised. Blade was happy that he had come the wrong way, for once, but was still sad to leave. Lyonis made him promise that he'd come back someday, and Blade hoped that it would be soon.

---

Next blade traveled east some how turned around from the direction he had intended on going. The landscape became a trusted tangle of disease and rot. Flying further into it he saw the sick festering pool of the wyrmwound. Trying his best to avert flying over it he went along the southern edge where he tried shimmied north again straight into the territory of a large warrior clan. As soon as he crossed into the their territory he was intercepted by two of the scouts on patrol to be escorted to the clan leader. Wildclaws filled this cavern of the lair though many other breeds of dragon lived here as well. He was introduced to a female Wildclaw named Karma. Blade introduced himself and explained he was a traveler, he had not meant to intrude upon their territory. The other smiled but said nothing "If you are a traveler then we welcome you whole heartedly. Many that explore these lands have come this way, and we provide them with food, drink and a place to rest. My daughter Rosella will take you to where you can get something to eat. The female named Rosella led him to a small den kept for travelers. Here he stayed for a short time before he decided it was time to move on


When he came to the Phoenix Guard he was introduced to moonshine but also her mate tolls they told him that fangmist was the leader and that anyone could come traveling in the clan.

---

Searching for home became all the more difficult when a widespread famine struck Sornieth. Months of draught caused herbivore dragons to scrounge for grass, leaving nothing for the wildlife, be it on land or in water, subsequently lessening the population of all other dragon food sources.

Blade witnessed how the dragons he met in his travels became increasingly less healthy. The situation was at its very worst in Light Flight, where the sun had all but burnt the wildlife away. Faes there looked like flying skeletons, and even the Tundras seemed small and scrawny. Blade himself hurried out of the Lightweaver's realm and into the oceans below, making an escape route through the sweet water, which at least he could drink, hoping there were some nutricious algea or another in it.

---

Just as the draught appeared to be at its peak, Blade found himself landing for a rest in the Reedcleft Ascent. The wind flight dragons would dive into the sea in hopes of coming up with food for their lairs. Hungry, tired, he bargained a few nights rest and food from a wandering clan, who offered solace, only for a few.

---

Teetering out of the wind clan's care, the poor Skydancer travelled for days, only to find himself in the scarred wastelands of the Plague region. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Exhausted and famished, he collapsed once more to wake up to a clan noisily arguing who would win in a fight, a three headed ridgeback or an imperial with bad breath.

Surprised by the warmth and welcome of the (as he learned from picking up conversations) Seveny clan, he made quick friends with the dragons there. They hailed from many flights, yet live in harmony.

Blade learnt they had two travellers of their own, son and daughter of the co-leaders of the clan, Kai and Murphy. The real bigshots were Zumba and Jaerobik, but they seemed to be the publicity of the clan, and they were the kindest in sharing their rations.

Bidding goodbye with a newer outlook from the harsh rumours of plaguelings, Blade set off once again, with a little something as a parting gift.

LUGGAGE OBTAINED:

Teardrop Lapis Lazuli Earrings

Apparel

An exquisite pair of earrings crafted from lustrous lapis lazuli.

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