Determination

...If Arkana is the Queen of this clan, Determination would be it's King...
Determination is the dragon that, unlike Arkana, does all the hard work that helps to keep this place in tip top shape. Particularly paranoid of spiders and other creepy-crawly things (Even though he's a dragon), he doesn't need reminding when the doors need to be shut, locks need to be bolted, and which dragon to assign when a breech is detected.

A wild spider appears!

Determination: *Screeches* ORIFADE HELP MEEEEEEE

It's super effective!


That day his captain, Turnstrike, had made the executive decision to go to the golem workshop, presumably to try find some copper filigree armour for himself, but it was way out of their team's league, and it showed. His teammates looked exhausted, unable to battle any longer. Determination looked to Turnstrike standing on the sidelines. Surely he would consent to them pulling out, if they didn't they would be in a lot of trouble. To his dismay, however, Turnstrike shook his head and pointed to the clattercog engineers standing in front of him. He tried to reason,

"Sir, my companions are tired and I-"

"No excuses!" He shouted back. "You will defeat the enemy!"

Determination rolled his eyes and sighed. There was no convincing him, so he leaned back, took a deep breath and landed a perfect eliminate on it.

It was too bad it wasn't enough.

When he next woke up, Determination was in a dimly lit room with a high ceiling and walls lined with bookcases. When he came to his senses he recognised it as the Chief's own living quarters, and hurriedly stood up to salute him. The chief studied him slowly before motioning for him to sit down.

"So you say this is the dragon who ruined it all for you?" he looked at Turnstrike. "He looks like a sensible chap to me."

Turnstrike replied confidently,"Undoubtedly, Sir! He was the one who failed to smother those wretched monkeys." He glared at him angrily.

Determination could not believe what was happening. Was he really getting punished for the inability to carry out the stupid decisions of his leader?

The Chief pondered this situation for a bit. "Are you sure we can just punish him like this? The others might start an uproar...maybe we could stage a trial?"

Don't give him the satisfaction, Determination thought to himself.

"Sir, if it would make Captain Turnstrike happy, I will be willing to leave the clan as punishment for my actions, and you could just tell everyone else that I died in battle."

The chief looked delighted. Evidently he wasn't happy to deal with Turnstrike and was looking for a quick way out of this. "That's settled then!" He cried, without giving Turnstrike a chance to speak. "Determination can leave, Turnstrike has his retribution and I don't have to deal with this any more. Determination, you have my permission to pack your things." Turnstrike spluttered in protest, but the Chief had already gone to sleep. Determination went to pack up, and walked out without looking back.

"I never liked this place anyway," He muttered under his breath.

Arkana had, at that point, been doing quite well by her standards. She had sufficient food, found water whenever she was thirsty, and hadn't really encountered any major storms so far. Thinking back to her old clan, she hoped that her mom had safely escaped from Xesire's grasp. By no means was that a fond thought, she just thought it was such a shame if she was executed. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the rustling of leaves ahead, however the dragon stumbling out of them did manage to catch her attention.

"Hello there, nice to meet you," Determination smiled, holding out his arm for a handshake. Arkana looked at it suspiciously. She didn't take up the sign of friendship. After a while in awkward silence, Determination lowered it. "Are you part of any clan in particular? Could I stay over a night or two by any chance?"

Considering her options, Arkana shook her head. "I'm wandering, looking for my own place to call home." While disappointed that he wouldn't have a roof to sleep under tonight, Determination was excited to find someone else in the same boat.

"Lovely! I too am looking for a new place. Mind if I come with?" Determination asked pleasantly. Why is he acting so comfortable around me? Arkana thought. Shouldn't relationships start with formality? In reply, she carried on walking sullenly.

Well, she didn't say no...

Determination followed her.

"Why are you still here? I thought you'd have left by now," said Arkana, matter-of-factly. She had supposed that Determination would have gotten tired of her not paying him any attention and they would have parted ways by now.

"Determination? It's kinda in the name," he joked. Arkana returned with a glare. It was getting late, and she could not find any shelter for the night, no matter how hard she tried.

"Oh come on. You've got to admit that was a good one."

Arkana looked at the Goldenrod mirror sharply. "How can you still joke? This is no laughing matter. It'll be night soon and we still don't have a place for the night."

Determination sighed, "If you're that worried about your shelter," he scanned his surroundings as he said, "here I'll help you find one. Follow me." Arkana hated to give him the lead, but having no other choice, she did so reluctantly. After a few moments, they presently came to a cave.

"See? If you stop stressing about everything and take it easy, things will find their way to you." A wave of relief swept over her, but at the same time, she felt extremely annoyed. How did this strange mirror do what she had spent hours trying to do? She had mostly spent her life living separate from other dragons in her clan, and was left to her own devices when it came to improving and demonstration of her skills, so she never had full comprehension of the advantages of collaboration.

Knowing what she was thinking, Determination winked, "Magic."

Together, they got a fire starting right away. It was getting pretty cold outside, so they mostly kept themselves situated in the cave without going out to hunt for food. Arkana made herself comfortable with what she had on the floor of the cave.

"So, what brings you here?" Determination gestured at the cave.

"Nothing." Replied Arkana coldly.

"Oh come on. You wouldn't be a wanderer without any reason, would you?"

"No, I do have a good reason. I'm just not going to tell you." Arkana lay down to go to sleep, " I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep, and I suggest you do the same. We'll be travelling far tomorrow, hopefully."

Arkana was in a dark room, darker than she'd ever seen in her life.

"Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?"

Behanu came out from the darkness. She saw him, and he did not look like the healthiest dragon on the planet. "Do you know why I would do this Arkana?" He grinned menacingly.

"Because I love this place! And I love your people! And I would hate to see them perish!"

"But you. You had to ruin everything."

Arkana saw him and stammered, "But... but I killed you! Why are you here?"

Fire came out of nowhere and blazed. Behanu's skin melted off to reveal charred bone. "Arkana, I will find you, and when I do, I will rip you to shreds, and barbecue them over a roast fire one by one and feed your scrapes to your subjects."

"Please! I'm sorry! I'd do anything-"

Determination was woken up with a start by a screaming Arkana. She was still asleep, but clearly having a nightmare. Hurriedly he got up onto his feet and started shaking her.

"Arkana! Arkana! Wake up! You're having a nightmare," he shouted into her ear. To his relief, she opened her eyes and slowly stopped screaming when she realised it was all just a dream. He looked out of the entrance of the cave, noting that it was still deep into the night. The moon smiled down at them, casting her gentle rays of moonlight.

Determination relit the fire in the cave, anticipating a long wait before Arkana could sleep again. She rubbed her face and groaned.

He poked the fire. "Bad dream?" Realistically he knew it was obvious, but he couldn't really think of anything else to ask.

"Yeah," She replied, scratching her claw in the dirt. She didn't really want to show him that she was so afraid. But... what were the consequences anyway?

"Do you want to share what's it about? Maybe I could help..."

No he couldn't, and she knew that. Why didn't she want to share? Would sharing stain her honour? Did she even have any left? She stayed silent.

"I mean, it's fine if you don't want to, but I'll leave that option open to you." Crickets filled the long silence as he watched the fire crackling. Moths danced overhead, tempted by the open fire. After a while, Determination's eyes grew heavy.

"If you need anything, just give me a holler alright?"

In the morning, Arkana looked like she had a rough night, which wasn't really surprising to Determination, but he decided not to point that out. They set out again, looking for a new place to stay.

That night, the same thing happened again. And the next. And the next. Each time, the dream was drawn out longer and longer until Arkana couldn't bear it anymore and was too afraid to go to sleep.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this?" asked Determination with concern as they got ready for the night. Arkana stayed silent, as always.

"Okay then." He got ready to go to bed.

"Wait," a voice said. Arkana couldn't believe it was hers. "I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you..."

After hearing Arkana's story, Determination fell silent, taking it all in. He understood why she had been so cold to him, staying serious, and now she didn't even know who she was as a dragon anymore. He considered his options for a reply.

"Wow, that's... incredible. Only someone like you could go though all of that and seem alright in the end."

"Keyword 'seem'. As you can see, I'm not okay. My past will probably haunt me like some typical ghost story until Behanu's ghost comes out of nowhere and impales me on a stick or something."

Determination smiled. Regardless of whether that was meant to be a joke or not, he couldn't help himself. "If it is any consolidation, I got kicked out of my clan for not living up to my Captain's standards. I know it's not as dramatic or traumatising as yours, but... it was like... they didn't even care," he laughed emptily. To Arkana, sharing about her past felt good, like a huge weight had been taken over her shoulders. Her heart felt warm, like she could share anything with him and it would be alright.

"Come on, let's sleep all this heaviness off," Arkana broke the silence, then lay down to rest.

Some days later, they were situated in another cave, and it was pouring outside. Arkana and Determination shook the water off their wings and went to settle down for the night.

Suddenly, Determination heard a scuttling noise, and froze.

"What...what was that?"

Arkana peered into the darkness. "It looks like a spider."

Determination's face drained white. "A what?"

"A spider. What's wrong with your face?"

"I heard you, I just didn't want to believe it."

"Are you... are you actually scared of spiders Determination?" Arkana cracked a smile, the first time she'd done so in a long time.

"Shut up okay? They are creepy and crawly and I don't like them."

"But they're smaller than you. A lot smaller. They're probably more afraid of you than you are of it."

Determination sharply countered, "Don't give me that excuse. You know what else is smaller than you? Disease. Bacteria. Poisonous mushrooms. The Arcanists experiments."

"Okay, okay I get it. I'll go kill it for you. Wait here. What makes you so afraid of them anyway?"

"Once as a hatchling I was abandoned for a night in the golem workshop, and let's just say the coppercoil creepers weren't my friends that day," replied Determination pointedly. Arkana gave no reply.

"Arkana? Are you there?"

Suddenly, he heard an Arkana scream.

"AAAAAA THE SPIDERS HAVE HIJACKED MY BRAINS AND ARE CONTROLLING MY BODY HELP ME"

Determination screamed and didn't stop screaming until Arkana reappeared safe and sound. He glared at her.

"Oh come on. You've got to admit that was a good one."

Determination seated himself next to Arkana, gazing at the dancing embers in front of him. They've been doing well...so far. But they couldn't go cave hopping forever. The chances of them finding a clan willing to take them in were increasingly smaller. They've found several smaller clans, but when he spoke to them about being a part of their community, they shook their heads in reply. They explained their various reasons: no lair space, not enough food, their colours were not a good fit for their clan's aesthetic. Excuses, Determination thought. They were all afraid. He could see it in their eyes. But afraid of what?

"Hey...Ark?" he started. Arkana glared at him sharply.

"Don't call me that." Then registering her tart reply, she rubbed her face in her hands. "Sorry, just a little stressed, that's all." There were a few seconds of cackling fire. "Determination, what if we don't find a clan willing to take us? What will happen?"

"I was just planning to ask you that." he sullenly poked the fire with a stick. "What if... we started a clan of our own? I mean, we've been living in caves for the past, what, three months now? All we have to do is stick to one and live there."

"I don't think it's that easy," she chuckled. "I mean, what can a runaway 1 and a runway degenerate 2 do?" Determination laughed.

"I'm going to take the initiative here and assume that you're the degenerate." was his reply. He sighed, then prepared to sleep. "Good night Arkana!"

"Goodnight!" cheerily she lay her body on the floor, and closed her eyes. At least her nightmares were gone, and it was all thanks to... thanks to...

Determination woke early, and decided to go out gathering wood, and a hunt a few rabbits for breakfast. He turned to wake Arkana, but when he saw how peacefully she was sleeping, changed his mind almost immediately. Slowly, he got up, and climbed to his feet. He was not halfway out the door when a familiar voice addressed him that sent chills down his spine.

"Ah, Turnstrike, my old captain. How lovely it is to see you." Determination glanced at the turquoise mirror, bigger than him, and probably stronger. His arcane eyes were pink and glowing with anger.

"And same to you." he lunged forward and grabbed Determination by the neck, pinning him to the wall next to the entrance.

Determination coughed out, "Turnstrike, what do you still want from me? I've already been thrown out of the clan. At least you still have a home to go to."

"No more than you do," he cried. "Thanks to you I've lost everything! After you left the team was angered by the fact that I 'abandoned you in battle to die', so they got together to throw me out as well."

"...well good job you! Why'd you want to punish me in the first place for your incredibly stupid actions?" was his snarky reply, before he could stop himself. Inwardly he groaned. Don't play smart alack with someone about to kill you, now he's going to murder you for sure, he thought sourly.

"What should I do to you? Maybe dismember you alive, maybe I should blow up your rock of a lair here! Or maybe... how much do you care about your mate sleeping over there?"

No no no no no, Determination thought. "First off, she's not my mate. Second off, leave her out of this, she's already been through enough. This is between me and you only Turnstrike."

"Okay, fine." Once Determination was released from his death grip he crumpled to the floor. But seconds later, he saw a flash of bright light, and a force hitting him in the stomach. He sailed several meters before crashing into some trees nearby. "I'm going to make you regret all of this!" Turnstrike cried, before digging his claw into Determination's arm. He felt a rush of pain, and screamed.

Arkana awoke with a start, and rushed outside to see the commotion. Her heart dropped when she saw Determination, thrown on the ground, bloody and battered. She made eye contact with him, who only shouted,"Stay out of this! I...I won't let you take the hit. Just leave, run maybe! That's safer. I...I don't want to see you get hurt. It's none of your business anyway." To the left she looked at Turnstrike, mad with power, hands glowing pink. An enfeeble was on the way. Determination wasn't going to make it. She made her decision.

Turnstrike slammed his claw into the ground, transferring arcane energy into its veins. There was a flash of light... a shadow... a sonic boom. Determination couldn't really tell what was going on. When the dust settled he looked up... and saw Arkana's magnificent figure towering over him, quivering from the blow. She looked back at him.

"Hey, your business is my business now," she winked. "That's what clanmates are for, right?" Determination smiled weakly, not having the energy to do anything else.

"Hey!"she shouted back at Turnstrike. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Exacting my revenge on Determination. Get out of the way, you're interfering."

"Over my dead body," she cried, before charging at Turnstrike. He was faster and stronger than her, but Arkana grew more confident with each blow. His hardly hurt at all, but she could see her blood on his hands. This match had to end soon; She was still weak from her battle with Behanu. She glanced over at Determination.

Wait for it...

Turnstrike landed an eliminate, and this time it hurt bad. Her body had a cracking noise as it was thrown to the ground. Quickly, she covered herself in her wings, hiding her hands and her face.

Come on come on get angry... you need this... he needs this...

Slowly she felt the energy rush to her hands.

"Done so quick? I'd have thought that you'd put up a better fight. Check. I promise this won't hurt one bit." Turnstrike thought he had won. Nobody survives any of his eliminates standing. He charged towards her, hurling down bolts of arcane energy, but just when he was seconds away from finishing her off...

Arkana unfolded her wings, grabbed his arm, and turned in midair, using its momentum to slam Turnstrike into the ground, before releasing her energy in the form of an enfeeble.

"Check. Determination! Now!" she shouted to the nearly recovered mirror, who grabbed his body and tossed it over the cliff into the ocean below.

"I believe, my good madame, that he will find that a checkmate." He raised his hand for a Hi-five, and Arkana slapped it.

That night, they decided not to change caves, since they were already tired and worn out from the battle in the morning, instead spending their time nursing their wounds.

"And then I was like 'Hah! Check!' and you were like 'Checkmate!', that battle was amazing!" Arkana laughed as she recalled the day's events, now that the pressure of battle was over.

"Yeah," he laughed along, then leaning against her, he said, in a softer, more serious tone, "hey, Arkana, thanks for helping me back there. I know I told you to leave, but in that moment...I really needed help. Thank you."

Arkana smiled, and closed her eyes. "You helped me get rid of my nightmares, and better yet, you thought me how to feel. No amount of words could express how grateful I am to you. If I left you..." she shuddered at the thought of it. "My nightmares could comeback, except they would be nightmares of you." There were a few seconds of silence, as both contemplated each other.

"Well, now we both have closed books. I guess we start our new one together, huh."

"I suppose so."