Salathielly's dragon Eztli

Personal Style

Apparel

Skin

Scene

Physical Attributes

Battle Stats

Measurements

Length

6.71 m

Wingspan

8.46 m

Weight

1080.34 kg

Genetics

Mulberry
Speckle

Rose
Freckle

Platinum
Crackle

Hatchday

May 04, 2016
(7 years)

Breed

Adult
Coatl

Eye Type

Ice
Common

Level 25 Coatl

Max Level

STR

AGI

DEF

QCK

INT

129

VIT

MND

Lineage

Parents

Offspring

none

Biography

Eztli
Leader, Envoy, Linguist, Cryomancer

Exiled ice mage Eztli was given leadership of the clan by the founder Emrys. In addition to leading and defending the clan, his skills as a linguist aid him in his role as an envoy and negotiator, both among dragons and spirits in the clan and with allies, neutral parties, and enemies in neighboring and far-flung territories. Discriminated against because of his breed in the land of his birth, Ez founded a coatl colony on the island of Prufrock in the hopes of creating a safe haven for coatl dragons outside of their native Ashfall Waste.

Personal Information

Goes by: Ez
Pronouns: He/Him
Gender: Male

Hatched in: Sevenbranch in the
Southern Icefield
Works in: The Assembly Hall
Lives in: Coatl Cove

Relationships

Mate: Winternight

Half-Brother: Etsu

Niece: Johnna

Great-Nephew: Quercus

History and Stories

The first to assume the mantle of leadership in the clan, Eztli is the dragon with the dream who made the coatl colony on the island of Prufrock possible. Though other dragons in the clan might make better leaders, Ez's pleasant nature ensures he is well liked by all in his clan.

Origins

Ez was born in the Southern Icefield in a region of allied clans known collectively as Sevenbranch, ruled by a famed tundra wizard known as Pentius. Coatl were considered an oddity there and looked down on, for their breed was native to the land of fire, and many dragons thought that they had no place in the icefields...and their predilection for using their native tongue instead of traditional draconic only increased suspicion. Perhaps as a result, his parents were quite religious in their devotion to the Icewarden - almost overly so in an attempt to prove their loyalty to their current homeland. They heavily encouraged Eztli and his siblings to train to enter the Icewarden's service, but Ez had other ideas.

He felt that the rift between the coatl and the other dragons could be solved through better communication, so he spent his time in study with a tundra linguist named Cousat, learning from his teacher how his form and appendages could best imitate the body language of other dragon breeds. His parents and many of the other dragons considered his "hobby" ridiculous, but Ez persevered in his studies until an instructor from the Sevenbranch School of Magic came to test the dragons in his clan for possible recruits and found, much to everyone's surprise, that the young coatl possessed a preponderance of ice magic. He received a letter shortly thereafter admitting him to the school, so he packed his meager belongings and flew to the capital.

Ez was the only coatl in the school. Even lacking ears, he could still pick up on the derogatory murmuring of other students, and he could tell his roommate, the beautiful ice-colored spiral Galin, was less than pleased to have been paired with someone so unpopular. Ez put everything he had learned about linguistics into use, doing his best to appease his fellow students and teachers, but though he excelled in his studies, he failed to make any friends in the school. Craving the comfort of his own kind, he spent much of his time after school in the city's coatl quarter, helping out in a coatl-owned restaurant and bringing books for the coatl Ix to read, as she was too afraid to venture into the city's library after being bullied by some dragons sarcastically wondering aloud if coatl could even read basic draconic.

He had his own experiences with bullies as well, the worst being when a fellow student, a wildclaw who was annoyed that Ez was always at the top of their class, challenged him to a duel. Ez didn't want to get in trouble for fighting and refused; the wildclaw threw a rock at him to provoke him, and it hit Ez in his right eye. The wildclaw and his friends fled after that, as they hadn't intended serious injury and were afraid of being expelled. Ez managed to make it to the school physician's office, but the pearlcatcher in charge told him that she was unfamiliar with coatl physiology, so she gave him some bandages and sent him back to his room. Galin returned to their shared room only to find Ez attempting to bandage his own injured eye. Ez tried to hide the extent of the injury from his roommate, but for once the spiral wasn't ignoring him and instead became outraged on Ez's behalf. He helped Ez with his bandages, though as neither of them knew much about healing as they had not yet begun their training in healing magic, Ez lost his sight in that eye and bore a permanent scar.

It was Galin who purchased goggles for him to wear to hide the scar, and this and other gestures blossomed into a firm friendship. Though being beautiful, talented, and from a prominent family had guaranteed a place for Galin in the school and ensured his popularity – something he didn't want to lose at any cost – the way he and others had treated Ez gnawed on his conscience, so he elected to kill two birds with one stone by trying to make Ez popular and roping the coatl into the school's up and coming. It was strange for Ez to see his status at the school change nearly overnight just by being in Galin's company. Though initially he thought the spiral superficial, he came to learn that there were complications in Galin's life that made him the way he was, pressures from his family to succeed in the capital at all costs, and he in turn was supportive of Galin in all of his endeavors, lending his magic and his communication skills to assist his friend.

The most talented student in each class was always given the opportunity to interview with the Wizard. Eztli was the top student, but he asked the head of the school to share that honor with his friend Galin, so both of them were permitted an interview with Pentius. Though Ez was full of ideas about how interbreed relationships could improve, Pentius reacted with fear when he saw him due to a bad experience he had had with the last coatl who had been a student at the school - as a result of an accident involving the coatl, Pentius had been scarred by fire. The Wizard had been unaware that a coatl had been admitted to the school and told Ez he had no place in Sevenbranch unless he submitted himself to having his magic bound. Not wanted to lose his magic or his liberty, Ez instead elected to leave and invited Galin to come with him. Galin, however, decided to stay and work for the Wizard due to his family's expectations and his own ambitions to exceed all of his siblings and prove himself a worthy heir.

Ez traveled to the land of dreams, the Starfall Isles, and chanced upon the island of Prufrock, where he met Emrys and Elyta struggling to build a fledgling clan. They gave him permission to found a coatl colony on the island – a place where displaced coatl could live and learn together, where knowledge was plentiful and dreams were encouraged and, most importantly, where coatl would not be looked down on. He traveled frequently as an envoy to other clans throughout the flights, setting up trade agreements and recruiting talented coatl and other dragons to join the colony on the island of Prufrock.

Winternight

When in the Tangled Wood recruiting shadow coatl for the clan, a pack of mirror dragons with a young pearlcatcher in tow came to gamble with his host clan, and since Ez thought it would be impolite to refuse, he was roped into the game, though he had nothing to gamble with but a set of bracelets that another coatl in the clan had made for him. Luck was with him that day (or night...it was difficult to tell time in the land of shadows), and he won, granting him everything that all the participants had gambled...including the pearlcatcher's pearl. Ez sensed that the mirror dragons had been intending to frighten the pearlcatcher by gambling his precious pearl but had not actually given a thought toward losing it, but after seeing the demeaning way they had treated him throughout the game, he knew he couldn't leave him with the pack. He took the pearl, gifted the mirrors the bracelets in an attempt to placate them, and left the clan's territory with the pearlcatcher in tow.

He returned the pearl at the outskirts of the clan's territory, but the pearlcatcher refused to leave, insisting, much to Ez's dismay, that he was now his property and had to serve him. Ez deplored any form of servitude or slavery, but after getting a closer look at him, he could see the pearlcatcher was in need of medical attention, so he decided the best course would be to allow him to follow him back to the Starfall Isles where coatl in the clan could, with any luck, heal him.

Ez found himself growing fond of the pearlcatcher, who he learned was named Winternight, as the days passed, though he tried not to become too attached, expecting he would leave to return to the Tangled Wood as soon as he had regained his strength and self-esteem. He was at first wary when Winternight expressed his desire to remain in the Starfall Isles, thinking that the pearlcatcher still had the erroneous notion that he had to repay Ez somehow, but conversations with the clan's resident psychologist Cita revealed to him that Winternight's affection for him was genuine, so he gladly returned it.

Relationships, Roles, and Stories

As the colony grew and potential threats loomed, Ez began patrolling alongside Ely and the clan's other warriors to make the guardian feel like at least one coatl was contributing to the defense of the clan. His abilities were honed to a greater extent when the skilled warriors Vis and Ven joined the clan and assisted with his training. Though Vis verbally berates and belittles Ez, as he thinks magic has no place on the battlefield, Ven is encouraging and is careful to always thank the coatl when he uses his magic to heal them or finish off an enemy.

Ez has bonds with most of the dragons in the clan, some for the oddest of reasons. The tundra Evrain decided that they just had to be friends since they have the exact same colors on their hides, though in different patterns. Ez was happy to be her friend and mentor as she was growing, and now that she is an adult stationed as a lighthouse keeper, he enjoys visiting her in Lantern Port.

He loves studying linguistics and communication methods between various dragon species and does his best to ensure that there are no misunderstandings between the coatl and the other dragons in the clan. When various groups of spirits came to stay in the clan's territory, Ez was persuaded to mediate between them - a very delicate task considering the power of the spirits involved, particularly that of Mahdis, the queen of the moon, and Lazarus, a lord of the underworld.

He accidentally became involved in the prophecy of the Obscurum Castrum Bellatorum and the quest for the dark castle when he and Winternight ate a peach that proved to be the key to the castle. Still more powerful spirits came to the clan after the prophecy's resolution; at times, it seemed there were as many spirits as there were dragons on the island.

Traveling back from the clan of Oakrest in Dragonhome with a young coatl named Shadow in tow, he ran across the pack of mirrors who had tormented Winternight. Recognizing him, they sent their lackey, a coatl skilled at the art of the sword named Indil, to kill him for his "crime" of stealing Winternight from them. Utilizing his magic to protect himself from the sword blows, he employed his communication skills to persuade the other coatl that the mirrors were using him just as they had his mate. Indil finally realized Ez was right and ceased his attacks, though the mirrors fled before the two angered coatl could turn their united attention to them. With the evidence submitted by the two of them, however, the local authorities were able to convict and imprison the mirror pack - something Winternight was relived to hear when Ez finally made it home with Shadow and Indil.

While in the nearby clan of Starvale arranging a trade agreement, he learned that his old home of Sevenbranch was holding an ambassador of theirs, the imperial Princess Liliya, hostage. Because he was familiar with the territory, he elected to travel with Starvale's Prince Liev and assist him in rescuing her. Ez was dismayed to find that his old schoolmate Galin was the one guarding the tower where their princess was being held. The friends reluctantly squared off, but Ez maintained the edge that had made him the first in their class, and he was able to keep Galin distracted while Liev sneaked into the tower. However, Liev discovered that the princess was already making use of the distraction to rescue herself and two other dragons who had been imprisoned with her - a pair of skydancers called Midnight and Sun, who had been detained by Pentius due to a prophecy:

When the midnight sun shows its face in the sky
And drakes in its guise walk the earth
Ice will burn when the coatl returns
Once more to the land of his birth.

Heavens and underworld torn asunder
Await the midnight sun
For its coming alone can heal the rift
And reunite as one –

Spirit and dragon, heavens and earth,
Fire and ice and arcane;
But unless the coatl is quick with his tongue,
All will fall to the tongue of the sun's flame.

After hearing the prophecy and talking more with Midnight and Sun, Ez realized that they were reincarnations of the spirits who had inadvertently caused the conflict between the moon and the underworld. Liliya insisted on going to confront Pentius; to Ez's surprise, Galin agreed with her, saying that it was time that someone finally stood up to the Wizard.

Together, they traveled to the capital and gained an audience with Pentius. When he learned who Midnight and Sun were, he declared that he would imprison them once again and ransom them to their monarchs. Sun panicked, and his magic, already unstable due to his spirit soul resting uneasily in a mortal body, flared wildly, setting the entire palace aflame.

Ez and Galin wove their magic together to shield the others, but it was Ez's words that eventually got through to Sun and tamed his wild magic. His promise to convince Mahdis and Lazarus to let the two reincarnated lovers live together in peace made the flames subside, and once they returned to the island of Prufrock, he made good on his word. Ez expected all of the spirits to return to their own realms upon the resolution of their conflict; however, several of them insisted that representatives were needed in the mortal realm and elected to remain.

Though Ez had optimistically (and admittedly naively) welcomed the spirits with open arms, the clan's exorcists were always worried about the consequence of so many spirits residing on the island, not to mention the effect of extensive traffic through the veil that divides the realms. They occasionally had minor incursions of malevolent spirits, but they always handled it themselves...until they day of the Barrier Breach. The island of Prufrock was inundated with hostile spirits, forcing residents (both dragons and spirits) to fight for their lives, barricade themselves in the library, or flee for the mainland. Ez was saddened and humbled by the experience. Though there were thankfully few deaths, there were many injuries, and a large number of both dragons and spirits made up their minds to leave the island. The Obscurum Castrum Bellatorum decided that the battle had been their last together and officially disbanded; only Winternight's brother, Ashes, elected to remain on Prufrock, and the rest dispersed. Several of the spirits also decided to take their leave, some in the hopes that the presence of fewer spirits on the island would help stabilize the veil, others in eagerness to explore more of the mortal realm. To Ez's surprise, both Queen Mahdis and Lord Lazarus elected to remain as representatives, and though the Queen dutifully sent some of her courtiers away, she was most displeased when Lord Lazarus retained his entire retinue...something Ez has been doing his best to smooth over without offending the powerful underworld lord.

Ez toiled long and hard after the Barrier Breach, working to recruit mercenaries to bolster the defense of the clan and researching new spells to apply to the veil. Once the veil and the clan had somewhat stabilized, several friends insisted he take a much-needed vacation. Both his friend Galin and his brother Etsu wanted to return to Sevenbranch in the Southern Icefield to visit family and friends during the celebration of the Crystalline Gala and encouraged Ez and his mate Winternight to join them, especially as Winter had never seen the icefields. Finally convinced by the combination of his mate's, brother's, and friend's pleas, he joined them and his brother's extended family and made the journey back to the land of his birth.

They first stopped to visit the clan where both Ez and Etsu had been born, but it was a melancholy return home for Ez, as both of his parents had long since left to devote themselves to the service of the Icewarden, and most of the dragons he had once known had also moved on. He brightened up once they reached the capital, however, as he was eager to show Winternight the school where he and Galin had learned both magic and many life lessons. To his relief, though discrimination against coatl was not entirely eradicated - he theorized that it would take several generations for it to fully disperse - they were treated with far more kindness and fairness than would have been possible when the Wizard Pentius ruled Sevenbranch. It was clear that his young regent was doing much to reverse the harm her predecessor had caused his realm. Galin, a noble from a large family of spirals, permitted them to stay in the townhouse his family maintained in the capital while they visited the street fairs and celebrations of the Crystalline Gala.

The Gala's revelry seemed more subdued than he remembered from his youth, however, and Ez felt something was off long before finally realizing what it was - there were no hatchlings running in the streets, playing games at the fairs and begging their parents for treats. Ez was trying to figure out how to politely broach the subject with their hosts when Winternight, unused to the chilly climate, caught a cold. Thankfully a physician maintained an office near Galin's townhouse, and Ez and Winter dropped in to obtain some medicine. The physician, a shadow skydancer named Cindermoon, seemed oddly familiar to Winternight, and after a brief discussion, they learned that he was the son of one of Winter's siblings. They had another surprise when Cindermoon's hatchling son Hazelmist limped in to assist his father in mixing the herbs. Ez remarked that he was the only hatchling he had seen in the capital, and Cindermoon heaved a sigh and explained why. The region of Sevenbranch had experienced a series of severe snowstorms, the fiercest and most devastating seen in years. The regent governing Sevenbranch was desperate, and she finally discovered an old spell and used it to summon a spirit known as the Snow Queen. The powerful snow spirit offered to quiet the storms in exchange for access to the libraries in the Sevenbranch School of Magic. The regent agreed, and the Snow Queen calmed the weather, but when the regent brought her bargain to the school's governing council, they were enraged at her audacity. They said the Snow Queen must have sent the storms herself so that they would be forced to call upon her aid and, in exchange, take down the wards that kept powerful spirits like her out of their school. They refused to honor their end of the deal.

Angered at being cheated, the Snow Queen allowed Puer to steal away all of the hatchlings in the capital of Sevenbranch. An ice hatchling who had run away from home because he didn't want to grow up, he had been taken in by the Snow Queen and gifted with eternal youth. He dwelt in the spirit realm and longed for more playmates, so he came in the night and sang a song that only hatchlings could hear, leading them out of their beds and into the streets, then finally through a crack in a cliff face that led into the spirit realm. Only Cindermoon's son Hazelmist was spared, because he had a prosthetic limb and could not walk fast enough to keep up with the others, so the crack was closed by the time he got there.

Though Ez was loath to interrupt his vacation with Winternight and his family and friends and had, truth be told, guiltily enjoyed being away from the politics and power plays of the spirits on the island of Prufrock, he didn't think he could live with himself unless he at least offered his aid. Thanks to his alumni status and his previous interactions with the ruling dragons of Sevenbranch, Ez was able to gain an audience. Due to his extensive experience with spirits and his skill with delicate negotiations, the regent and the school's council asked him to enter the spirit realm and barter for the release of the hatchlings. The school's councilors conceded to grant the Snow Queen limited access to their materials - she would be permitted to request that a few items at a time be brought to a guarded location off-campus for her to study. Thinking of his interactions with other powerful spirit entities such as Queen Mahdis and Lord Lazarus, Ez privately doubted this would be enough to assuage her pride, but he acquiesced to their request and resolved to try for the sake of the hatchlings.

His fellow travelers from Prufrock offered to go with him, but Ez couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to his mate or his relations, and the spirit realm was always dangerous and unpredictable even in the best of circumstances, so he asked them to allow him to go alone. Galin especially pressed the issue, as like Ez, he was a powerful ice mage, but Ez had to laugh at the thought of even the two of them together trying to threaten an entity like the Snow Queen with her own element. Instead, he asked Galin to watch over Winter and his family and went alone to the cliff face into which the hatchlings had disappeared. Though he hated doing so after the devastation such a breach had caused on his island, he could see no other way to enter the spirit realm, so he used a spell that Lazarus had begrudgingly taught him in exchange for allowing the extra underworld spirits to remain on Prufrock and forced open a gateway between the realms to enter the Snow Queen's domain.

In some ways, her territory within the spirit realm greatly resembled the iciest parts of the Southern Icefield - barren, cold, yet breathtakingly beautiful in its stark simplicity. In the distance he spied a palace, and bundling himself against the frigid winds with his magic and new robes he had purchased during the festival, he made his way toward it. As was typical in the spirit realm, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed, or how much distance he had traversed, but at long last he arrived before the walls. They were guarded by animated ice sculpted in fantastic shapes - some were a bit like the animals or beastclans he knew, but others were entirely unfamiliar. The sculptures did not (or would not) speak to Ez, but when he spoke to them, explaining his purpose there and infusing his words with a little magic, they allowed him to pass, and he entered the palace. The lighting inside resembled the aurora that often displayed in the winter sky and flickered in sconces set along walls made of giant ice blocks. The palace was immensely cold and immensely quiet, though after he had progressed down a long, seemingly uninhabited hallway, he finally heard the faint echo of hatchling laughter. It was difficult to pinpoint, for the halls echoed to such an extent that Ez suspected that sound was magically thrown here and there to confuse the listener, but he was finally able to locate the source - a coatl hatchling who was hovering above dozens of other hatchlings in the center of a vast frozen lake that took up the majority of a courtyard within the palace. Some of the hatchlings were giggling along with their captor and attempting to skate around on the ice; most, however, were huddled together in a shivering, miserable mass. Ez could sense their fading energy, even from a distance - their small mortal bodies would not survive much longer in the spirit realm.

The coatl hatchling darted and danced through the air with an ease that belied his underdeveloped wings. He exuded a powerful, youthful, energetic and whimsical magic, unbound by reason or responsibility; he had long since ceased to be a dragon and was now a spirit, eternally young, never to change or develop or grow. Ez was startled to note that, save for the patterns on his hide, the hatchling looked much as he had when he was young, having the exact same coloration. "I'm here to treat with the Snow Queen," he called out to the hatchling spirit. "Would you please lead me to where she is in this vast palace?"

The little coatl fluttered over until he hovered right in front of Ez's goggles. "I'm no servant," he scoffed, flicking the lenses of the goggles with his tiny claws. "See your own way to her, if you can."

"Why don't we make a game of it?" said Ez, trying to put himself in the eternal hatchling's position, to remember what he had once been like, what he had enjoyed in his youth. "Let's see which of us can find her first and convince her to come back here."

"What do I get when I win?" asked the boastful spirit.

Ez thought quickly. "I'll permit you through the wards around my island so that you can play with the hatchlings there," he said. The spirit didn't seem malicious, only childish and lonely. Better he find playmates in the realm of dragons than spirit them away to a realm none of them could survive in for long, at least without becoming spirits themselves.

The small spirit thought for a quick moment. "Done," he said impulsively, and sped off too fast to follow. Instead, Ez went over to the hatchlings and explained to them that he was there on behalf of their parents and was working to bring them home.

While he was conversing with the hatchlings and doing his best to reassure them, he felt a gust of subzero wind ruffle the feathers in his wings and heard the little coatl's triumphant crow, and he turned to greet the Snow Queen.

She resembled a graceful skydancer the color and texture of unbroken ice with wings like snowfields, but there was nothing delicate about her. She was angular, sharp, and hard, and her magic was as harsh and unforgiving as the winds whipping without mercy across the frozen surface of the lake. "I see you are a dragon aligned with ice," she said, her voice like a rumbling avalanche, "and that your life has been intertwined with spirits before this, for their presence lingers in your aura. It is clear that those who lead Sevenbranch have sent you to treat with me. Have they seen their folly in denying me my rightful payment and relented?"

"They have, your majesty," said Ez, declining his head in respectful deference. "Though because dismantling their wards entirely would allow any spirit - including your rivals - to enter the school and the library, they beg for a concession and ask that they bring any materials that you wish to study to a location outside the school."

"I have no rivals," she snapped quickly - almost too quickly to be believable. "It is foolishness to keep knowledge locked away, to hoard wisdom and dole it out only to those deemed worthy of it. I would enter the library as an equal, or else the hatchlings will remain here with Puer."

"That is something I do not have the authority to grant," Ez said, then continued quickly before she could retaliate. "I do have something additional to offer you, however." He took a deep breath, and though he wasn't overly religious, offered a quick prayer to any of the dragon deities who might be listening. He also hoped beyond hope that head librarian Emrys wouldn't kill him. "I lead a clan on the island of Prufrock in the Starfall Isles, and at the center of our island is a massive library spire containing, if I may boast, a collection that rivals that of the Sevenbranch School of Magic. I was a student there, so my analysis is not mere conjecture. It is possible you have heard of the negotiations taking place on the island between delegations of moon spirits and underworld spirits. Our clan is used to hosting spirits, though we are also warded heavily against them, as the presence of so many powerful spirits on our island strains the boundaries between our realms. If you would promise to take great care when entering and exiting the veil when visiting our island so as not to disturb the delicate balance we strive so hard to maintain - and as you are such a powerful entity, this is something I must insist upon for the safety of all who live on the island - and if you would swear to bring neither harm nor inclement weather to our home, then I would see to it that the wards are adjusted to permit you to visit our library."

The queen tilted her head and regarded Ez for a frightfully long amount of time before, finally, she nodded. Ez barely managed to hide his sigh of relief. "I will accept that as an alternative compromise, as in this way I will be getting more than the original bargain - access to the materials of Sevenbranch, though not the library itself, as well as to the library on Prufrock. Bid farewell to your little friends, Puer - they will be returning to their mortal homes."

"But what if they don't want to grow up?" cried Puer. "What if they want to play with me forever?" A few of the hatchlings looked up, interested, for growing up sounded awfully dull and tedious.

"But if they don't grow up, they can never reach their true potential - never learn what they're truly passionate about, never create anything with permanence, never find a mate to love them always or have hatchlings of their own. There are challenges in growing up, certainly, but the responsibilities of adulthood are a privilege, not a curse," said Ez, hoping to use his diplomatic skills to persuade all of the hatchlings to return with him. He knew how tempting it was to avoid anything unpleasant, to run away from duties, but he also knew that if such things aren't faced, nothing of value is ever accomplished.

Puer protested, but when the Snow Queen opened a rift in the wall of her palace that showed the capital of Sevenbranch on the other side, every single hatchling poured through and raced to return to their parents and caretakers. With a word of thanks to the Snow Queen and a promise to honor the vows he had made to both her and Puer, he followed the hatchlings and returned to his own loved ones. Thankfully the queen had been kind and returned them to a time shortly after Ez had entered the spirit realm, so none of them had missed many of the festivities.

At the end of the Gala, Ez returned to his island with some new arrivals in tow - Winter's relatives, Cindermoon and Hazelmist, and Puer, who was already demanding that Ez prove his word by providing him with new playmates. Emrys and the exorcists sighed at having to work around yet another spirit, but since Ez had promised (and promises to powerful spirits could not be lightly broken), they made adjustments to the magical wards protecting the island and the library to allow the Snow Queen through.

Though he remained outwardly confident and optimistic, the Barrier Breach and other tests of his authority made Ez doubt his ability to successfully lead his clan on his own. His role as an envoy also frequently took him far afield, leaving the clan without a leader in his absence. A solution finally presented itself when the former prince Shadowstar came to the clan and Vespers, another prince and the leader of a long-ago clan on the island, was found sealed away deep in the tunnels under the island. Shadowstar instituted a new government with himself, Eztli, and Vespers as co-leaders, each a member of a triumvirate, along with the newly-formed Council of Eleven containing representatives from each of the island's departments and constituents. Ez was relieved that he now had others with whom he could share the burden of leadership, though he hoped he was making the right choice for the good of the clan he had worked so hard to build and defend.

After the events surrounding the Obscurum Castrum Bellatorum and their prophecy had been resolved, Ez never expected to see the spirit monarch Imago or his servant, Cheshire, again, but two coatl, a lightning dragon named Iason and a fire dragon named Aleksandr, came to the island and presented him with a tome the lightning coatl, Ace, had found in a canyon near his birth clan along with three scrolls inscribed with the symbols for fire, ice, and lightning. The tome contained the tale of the origins of the spirit realm, of Imago and his brother, Speculo, who had turned evil and been sealed away by his sibling. When Imago's magic was weakened thanks to fighting the eldritch being from beyond the stars in the dark castle, Speculo broke loose of his bonds and began hunting down dragons and spirits, absorbing their life force and their magic so that he could grow stronger than his brother, kill him, and take over the spirit realm. The three scrolls were a safeguard created by Imago and could be used to reseal Speculo.

Alek handed Ez the ice scroll, and as the seal on the remaining scroll cracked, a dark shape appeared in the minuscule mirror on the cover of the tome, resolving and solidifying as a spirit in the shape of a mirror dragon: Cheshire, the servant of Imago. Cheshire promised to lead the three coatl to Speculo's location so that they could once again seal Imago's brother away to avoid the terrifying possibility of Speculo taking over the entire spirit realm.

After they practiced reciting the spell on the scrolls several times, Cheshire led them through a mirror and into some tunnels in the heart of the spirit realm. There they met with Imago, who had taken the appearance of a massive imperial. He promised to fight and distract his brother while the coatl read off the spells.

Much to the surprise of the three coatl, Imago's brother had taken the form of a dark pearlcatcher, much smaller than his sibling but no less formidable. He lashed out at his brother, and their blows shook the tunnel walls around them as the coatl struggled to recite the words on the scrolls. Despite Imago's best efforts, Speculo - with the increased power he had obtained from annihilating clans such as Alek's - was besting him, and one of the attacks he threw at his brother went wild, flying straight at Alek. Alek couldn't move in time, but Ace lunged at Alek, the blow striking him instead. For a time, Ez had to read on alone as his companions regained their positions, but finally all three completed their section of the spell, and Speculo was hit with a powerful blast of the combined forces of three elements. Debilitated by being simultaneously burned, frozen, and electrocuted, Speculo was felled, and Imago worked quickly to reshape their attack into a prison that would once again seal away his brother, protecting the world from his jealous wrath.

Cheshire returned them to the island, and Ez was relieved that yet another threat from the spirit realm had been averted. He wondered if the recent rise in frequency in the attacks of the malevolent spirits (and, especially, the Barrier Breach) had been caused by Speculo before he was sealed or if, perhaps, there might be another powerful being pulling strings behind the scenes.

Art

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Exalting Eztli to the service of the Arcanist will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.

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