Macathi, the Forsaken

'You were born with old colors in a new world. A clansdweller's life was never meant for you. You will stay and serve here, Macathi of the Fortress.' His mother was insistent, as usual.

He continued staring at the wall of honored frozen. At the entombed, contorted spectacle. At his love and friend, Carrin.

They said she had gone with the Icewarden willingly. Her eternal scream suggested the opposite.

He bowed his head, and his tail twitched to the ache in his heart. All his life he'd been raised at the Fortress of Ends. All his life he'd lived the Exalted Path. He'd been expected to serve the Icewarden, as generations before him had. It was unquestioned tradition.

But Carrin, oh Carrin, Carrin had told him otherwise.

'Old colors - the remnants of the last age! Nobody will want you, and that is the truth. No clan will take you in. But the Icewarden will, for He is generous with His blessings.' She spoke loud and stern, but Macathi heard a quaver of anxiety underneath it.

They'd toiled and suffered all their lives in the name of a dragon - one they'd only see once, when they could toil no longer. All this, for ... ? It did not seem fair at all.

'You'll get lost. You don't know the way around, without His guidance. And the Flameforger's put a bounty on the heads of the Ice Flight. It's dangerous outside without His protection. You cannot leave.'

He didn't care. Any death was better than a fate like Carrin's.

'You will serve the Icewarden with us,' His mother pressed. 'If you do not, you will not ...' She faltered. 'Will not be considered my son.'

'I would be proud not to have any parents, if all they do is mindlessly exult the Icewarden.'

His mother was briefly speechless. The hurt on her face, it shamed him so.

'Your father - I cannot, your baby siblings, alone - ' But what could he do? This life here he resented.

Macathi shook off the snow encrusting his wings, and turned his back away from the Fortress of Ends.

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Guardian
exalt bait swap

Savannah/peregine/spines