Strix

The Stories of the Progens' Offspring:

PHANTOM

Her Birthright
What a twisted family she had been born into. Her mother, Aries, was the matriarch of the Glass Shatter Clan and dominated as a tyrant. Her mate, Falkor, blindly carried out her will. Phantom was deeply disturbed by how much her siblings took after their mother. Each day she watched them get a little more vindictive, slightly more cunning. Each one was as selfish as the last and she quickly came to the realization that she wanted no part of this family. Could it even be called a family when each one did nothing but look out for themselves?

She was disgusted by the hierarchy of the clan. The other hatchlings feared her simply because of her birthright. Unlike her siblings, she yearned for companionship. She wanted a friend. With the best of intentions, she set out to make friends with the other hatchlings. She always found herself abandoned, the parents of the other warning them that a daughter of Aries was not to be trusted. She resented the legacy that her siblings relished. They exploited this preconception by using it to instill fear in their peers. They would certainly be leaders of their own clans one day, but at what cost?

Without a single dragon she could call a friend, Phantom turned to the familiars of the clan's bestiary. They didn't know who she was related to, and they wouldn't have cared anyway.


The Familiars
It started with just one familiar. Her mother had hoarded their familiars deep in the caverns of her icy den. One had wandered from the bestiary and gotten lost in the caverns. Phantom herself had been playing in the caverns that day, and had stumbled upon the lost familiar. She knew her mother would be furious, snapping her jaws to herd the little one back to its place. Phantom knew this was her opportunity. Her protective nature kicked in and she immediately took the familiar under her wing. The familiar never talked back, it never judged her and it was always by her side. She beamed with pride as the little creature followed in her every step.

When one of her siblings tried to take the familiar for himself, she kicked into protective mode. She emitted a low warning snarl, but wasn't taken seriously because she had never attempted to stand up for herself before. Her brother scoffed at her attempt to dissuade him. When he refused to back off, she tackled him. She was much larger than her brother and had caught him off guard. She landed a series of wild blows to his side and chest before she felt the sting of her mother's claws, sending her tumbling away from her brother. They may not have been able to finish their fight, but the message had gotten through loud and clear. No one was to mess with her familiar.

Growing the Herd
Whenever the warriors of the clan brought back a new familiar from the coliseum, Phantom would beg them to let her keep it. They had plenty of extras, so they saw no harm in handing them over to the little dragon. After all, she was Aries' daughter and they knew if they were to cross her, then they risked the chance of angering the matriarch. As her herd of familiars grew, so did her possessiveness. It got to the point that she was hiding her familiars from the other dragons. In her escapades, she had found a small, uninhabited ice cave not far from her clan. She kept her familiars there during the night to keep them from being stolen from her. Some of the familiars that were used to a more tropical climate had protested at first. The den was much colder than the one that her mother had kept the bestiary in and they didn't want to be left there overnight. Phantom insisted that she knew what was best for them, and hiding them here was the only way to keep them safe.

The Ringlet
One day, the warriors had been fighting in the Rainsong Jungle and brought her back a Ringlet Amphithere. The green snakelike creature was so tiny. Phantom fell in love with it instantly, she nearly squealed when the little creature climbed on to her back and fell asleep between her wings. She carried it around proudly all day while the rest of her familiars followed her. At sundown, she brought her herd to their hidden den. The Ringlet shook its head, not wanting her to set it down. Its squeaked as its belly touched the cold floor of the den. Phantom patted its head, telling it everything was alright and she would come back in the morning. It would be safe here.

Making sure she wasn't being followed by one of her siblings, Phantom bounded to the ice den the next morning. She was filled with excitement to spend another day with her newest familiar. When she peered into the den, she was overcome with a sense of dread. Gingerly, she picked up the lifeless form of the Ringlet. Tears began to well in her eyes as she held her new friend's still body in her paws. Falkor heard her sobs and came running to find his daughter. She wanted to push him away, she carried a bitter resentment for her father for allowing her mother and siblings to act the way they did, but as he scooped her up with a steady arm and held her to his chest, she couldn't help but cry into his shoulder. She was still holding the Ringlet close and Falkor knew what had happened. The tiny familiar had frozen to death and his daughter was being crushed under the weight of her own guilt.

He held her tight and let her cry for a long time before whispering to her, "I know how it feels. You just want to protect them. You want to always keep them safe. You do it because you love them, but its a heavy burden to bare." He set her down and helped her stand. "Life goes on. You'll make mistakes, we all do. You're a guardian, a protector. It's in your blood as much as it is mine. It's hard to decide when someone needs your protection and when they just need you to sit back and let them be. It's a line I've learned to balance with your mother and its something you'll learn as you grow with the ones you love." As she listened to his advice she knew he was right... she had spent so much time resenting her family that she had never realized how much like her father she really was. She wiped back her tears and as Falkor left her to herself, she realized that for the first time she felt a sense of pride. She was a guardian. A protector. It was time for her to find her own family to protect, just like her father had.

---

STATIC

Expectations
As the son of the matriarch of the Glass Shatter Clan and her mate, Falkor, there were high expectations placed on Static before he had even hatched. He would be expected to be a leader in his own clan one day. Or, if he decided to accept the honor of serving the Icewarden instead, it was assumed he would represent his clan as a fierce warrior in the deity's realm. Static scoffed at these expectations. Maybe that worked for his siblings, but that was not the way he chose to live.

His mother was a ruthless leader and his father was her dedicated guardian. In this way he was nothing like his parents. He never felt a drive to rise as a leader of a clan and he never felt the compulsion to be anyone's protector. He did inherit one quality from his mother, though. He had an innate ability to manipulate others and he used it for sheer entertainment. He was a born trickster, and he delighted in catching others off guard.

The First Pranks
It started with his siblings. They were the easiest to trick. By default, they trusted him. Why wouldn't they? He was born from the same clutch, and after all, they were all still hatchlings. What could he possibly be up to so early on? But, from the moment he was able to form his first thoughts he was plotting. He was a schemer and he would never be happy unless he was planning his next move. It started innocently enough. While exploring the peaks of the Cloudscrape Crags with one of his siblings he would slip away in a split second when they weren't paying attention. He would hide for hours at a time, watching in delight as they frantically searched for him, fearing the worst. At the moment his brother or sister was finally defeated and ready return to the clan to ask for help, he would charge from behind a snowbank and tackle them to ground. He would laugh hysterically as they chided him for his foolishness. What if he had truly gone missing and someone just assumed it was a prank?

The Warning
Static never took it seriously. He continued to toy with his siblings in every way he could think of. He hid their possessions and accused another clutch mate, pitting his siblings against each other. As he got bolder he would steal bits of food from his parents and frame his siblings, tucking the food in with their belongings. He would simply smile as his parents scolded his siblings, knowing that anything more would give him away. His sister would always say, "It's going to catch up with you, you know? You can't get away with it forever." He just shook his head. Of course he could.

The Next Level
One day, his parents held a meeting with some of the other adults, and left Tragedy in charge of the hatchlings. The dragon who usually watched them when their parents were gone was needed at the meeting, and Tragedy had never watched over hatchlings before. She certainly didn't know what to expect with Static. Static took this as his opportunity to play a prank. He knew how desperately Tragedy wished to please the clan leaders and he thought it would be funny to send her into a frenzy by disappearing as he had done to his siblings. Shortly after his parents left, he disappeared from the nest. He climbed to the top of a pine tree where he could watch the panic unfold from a distance. As expected, Tragedy became frantic looking for him. She searched all around the den where the nests were hidden and checked behind every snowbank. Suddenly, his sister emerged from the den. He couldn't hear what was being said, but it seemed to calm Tragedy and she returned to the nest.

Static's eyes narrowed. His sister must have told Tragedy that this was a trick he had played before, or she would still be looking for him. He waited a few more minutes and when he was confident that Tragedy would not be returning, he began to make the climb down. He was angry, he had wanted to jump onto to Tragedy's back and surprise her when she walked by the pine in search of him. He was so frustrated that he almost didn't spot the wolf that lunged at him at the base of the tree trunk. He screamed and scrambled back up the trunk just in time to escape the snapping jaws below. As he composed himself he saw there were actually two wolves, and they were circling the tree while licking their chops in anticipation of their next meal. They had him cornered. Static called for help, but the howling wind drowned out his voice. The sun was gone now and it was getting cold. The wind whipped against him and threatened to expel him from his post. He trembled as he watched the wolves below. Would he die here? He would certainly freeze if he didn't climb down soon and his muscles couldn't hold out much longer. The wolves were relentless and there was no waiting them out. If he climbed down, they would be waiting for him.

Testing Karma
Panic crept in as he realized his sister might have been right. He was really missing this time and no one was coming to help. He began to whimper when all of a sudden he saw the wolves bolt off. He heard footsteps in the distance. It was his parents! The wolves knew better than to take on than to take on two full grown dragons. With them gone, he was free to climb down the tree. His muscles ached and it was a laborious descent, but he finally touched the ground. Taking off as fast as his exhausted limbs would carry him, he ran back to the den. He flopped down into the nest and closed his eyes. He didn't see the sly glance that his sister shot him, but he could sense her frustration. She would assume that he had simply gotten away with his antics again. She would never know the fear he had experienced that night. If she had, she would have assumed he learned his lesson. She would have been wrong again, because as he drifted in and out of sleep he was already thinking up his next prank.

---

MALICIOUS

She was cold and calculating, with the same ruthless character of her mother. However, unlike her mother, she was able to detach her emotions from her actions. Whereas Aries would allow her anger to dominate her decision making, Malicious was able to suppress her rage. It made her dangerous. Her cold eyes would never reveal what she was actually thinking. And, truth be told, you probably wouldn't want to know her thoughts anyway.

Just her Nature
"Maybe she's a sociopath..." Malicious heard the whispers. No, she wasn't a sociopath. She in fact did have emotions and she did feel empathy... to an extent. She was just good at hiding everything she felt. In her mind, keeping her emotions hidden gave her ultimate control. If someone couldn't read you, they couldn't predict your actions either.

It didn't take long for Malicious to notice that she was different. Once she did, she immediately began to think of ways to use this to her advantage. Being able to remain calm enabled her to maintain control. It would eventually enable her to control others.

The Ice Gathering
It was a typical day in the Southern Icefield when she finally put her nature to the test. Along with her siblings and the Glass Shatter Clan's other hatchlings, she met up with a group of hatchlings from neighboring clans to play on the ice. They did this often when the weather was nice and their parents wanted them out of the lair. The crags of the Icefield broke the wind in the valley and there was a layer of ice over a small body of water. The ice was smooth and the hatchlings would play on it for hours, some racing and sliding, others wrestling on the ice and some just exploring the land. Malicious would simply observe the others, studying their behavior and hierarchy. She never spoke and her emotional distance put some of the other hatchlings at ill ease. She had the sense that several feared her just because she was different.

There was a young male snapper that was considered the leader of the group. He was larger than the rest and bullied the others into submission. If he wanted to play on one side of the ice, then he would drive off any of the hatchlings not in his inner circle with a flurry of sharp bites and menacing snarls. He was large and clumsy, but he had brute strength. Malicious instantly hated him, though she never let it show.

Seizing the Moment
On this particular day the sun had been shinning brightly and Malicious noticed that the far side of the ice was a bit thinner than usual. She heard a soft cracking sound as she walked across it. Her eyes narrowed and lips curled in a nearly indistinguishable smile as an idea hatched in her mind. The alpha snapper had already staked his claim in a different area of the ice, and he was occupied with a childish game of head butting with his closest friend. Malicious rolled her eyes and walked calmly into his space. It took a moment for him to notice her there, but when he did he instantly became enraged. He shouted at her to get out of his territory. She sat calmly, grinning from ear to ear in an unsettling way. When she refused to budge, he bellowed and charged toward her. She took off, running agilely toward the thin ice. She was much smaller than the snapper that was close on her heels, but even she could hear the ice creaking its protests beneath her.

Then, it happened. She heard a large crack and splash and the ice swallowed the snapper. She stopped and walked over to the opening. The earth seemed to stand still as the hatchlings all stopped what they were doing and stared at the hole in the ice. After a few seconds, the snapper's head emerged above the water, choking and gasping for air. The water churned as he desperately tried to pull himself up and called for help.

"No." Malicious spoke in an even voice, her cold eyes boring into the hatchlings now racing to help their leader out of the water. A deep throated growl came from her throat as she stood at the edge of the hole, watching the hatchling thrashing in panic. "No one helps him," she said in her cool and composed tone. The other hatchlings watched in horror, frozen in fear, unable to bring themselves to challenge Malicious. They all waited in silence until the splashing stopped and the young snapper slipped out of sight beneath the ice.

Eerily calm, Malicious stood up and turned to the other hatchlings. "We're done here." Without another word, she walked away from the hole in the ice, the waves in the water still softly rolling from the disturbance. Silently, the hatchlings followed her with heads hung low, unanimously accepting their new leader.

Finding a New Clan
The Glass Shatter was not her permanent clan, she knew that. But, for now, she was content to be the hatchlings' leader. She would never know it, but when the hatchlings met up to play on the valley a dragon from their clan would often check on them without revealing themselves, just to make sure everything was alright. Her mother had happened to be the one checking in that day. She had seen the young snapper drown at the will of her daughter. In that moment, she had never been more proud of any of her offspring. She vowed to find her daughter a worthy clan to join. She had earned it.

---

SPECTER

The Runt
In most clans, being the runt of the litter is insignificant. It happens sometimes, especially within a large clutch. With four hatchlings in one nest the odds were good that one would be smaller than the rest. However, Specter wasn't born to just any dragon, he was the son of a ruthless matriarch. Being the runt of her clutch was a death sentence. There would be no waste of resources or time for a weakling such as him. He might outgrow it, but Aries saw him as a gamble that she didn't want to take on.

It would be quick and painless. She would take him from the nest while his siblings slept and snap his neck before he could even comprehend what was happening. But Aries would come to realize that she underestimated her son. His physical body may not have been as strong as his siblings, but he was just as clever. Before he could even speak he had been studying his parents. Quietly he observed, understanding before she made her move that his mother sought to eliminate him. He knew without having the brute strength to defend himself that he would have to exploit his parents' weaknesses. He learned that Falkor's weakness was his protective nature. He would die for his children, even the ones that hated him. His older brother, Hades, was a threat to his father yet he allowed him to stay within the clan. He would rather endanger himself than lose his son. And his mother... well her weakness was her temper.

A Plan
As he followed his mother from their frozen den out into the cold open air of the night, he had to think fast. Now was the time. He would have to pit them against each other in order to survive. As they passed the sleeping dragons within the lair he saw his father positioned not far from the nest, in order to protect his family should the need arise. He was asleep, but Specter knew he was a light sleeper, he had to be as the guardian of the matriarch and her clutch. Specter tagged slowly behind Aries, and when he was as close to Falkor as possible he sunk his sharp baby teeth into his own forearm. A few drops of blood trickled onto the floor. Downwind of his mother, she couldn't smell the blood.

They had already exited the den when the scent of his child's blood roused the great guardian from his sleep. In an instant he was on his feet and checking the nest. There were only three hatchlings sleeping in it, and Aries was gone. It didn't take long for him to realize what was happening. She was ridding the lair of its perceived burden. He bolted out of the den, never making a sound until he came upon his mate and their child. She was moments away from killing his son. His voice thundered his protest and he threw his body in front of the matriarch. Snow piled in front of Specter as his father positioned himself to stand directly above his son.

Exploiting the Weakness
As expected, Aries flew into a rage. She dove at the ground beneath Falkor, jaws snapping. He had never struck her before, but as he held his ground, trying his best to keep his son from the death that awaited him from his mother's fangs, he knew he had no choice. When she neared him he took one mighty paw and struck her on the shoulder, throwing her off balance and sideways into the snow. "You will not harm him!" Falkor's voice bellowed and reverberated in the pine trees above. Aries was seething in anger, she made another attempt to grab the hatchling but was struck down with a greater force than before.

Trembling with rage, Aries hissed in a low voice to her mate, "He's your problem now. Don't bother coming back until he's gone." With that, Aries turned and walked back, limping toward her den. Specter stood tall, proud of himself. He had protected himself though he was physically unable to do so. He smiled up at his father, but immediately stopped when he saw the look on Falkor's face. He had hurt his mate, and it had broken his heart to do so. Specter understood that he had to leave the clan. There was no staying as Hades had done. He was no longer welcome here, and if he tried to stay he would be sentencing his father to exile. He quietly accepted his fate as he followed his father, away from the clan to find his new home.