Heavencall

.:HEAVENCALL:.
~Macabre Soul~

Is she real? Or is she not? That's the greatest mystery surrounding this dragon.

A very small number of Sojourn Island residents have claimed to see a ghost-like, white Imperial stalking the world below. She's always said to be wearing bloody bandages that obscure her face. Some say she's a specter, or a demon, or even a zombie or an angel of death. Stories claim that any dragon who hears her rattling howl will perish within a few days, earning her the name of Heavencall.

A daring few have tried searching for her to discover the truth behind her, but none have ever succeeded. All sightings of her have happened purely by chance. Or at least, that's what most dragons believe. There is, in fact, one dragon in the clan who knows her quite well, and that is the red Wildclaw, Valentine.

He knows that she is a real dragon and not some monster. He knows that her true name is Gardenia, and she was a beautiful Wind dragon from a clan neighboring his old home. He fell deeply in love with her elegance and kindness, and the two became inseparable soul mates. But tragedy struck when a strange and horrific disease began ravaging her clan.

The dragons would first develop open sores on their body. These often became infected, and if that didn't kill them, then they would slowly become deranged and violent, attacking and slaughtering each other. The situation got so out of control that some of the infected dragons escaped the area and went on to kill dragons in Valentine's own clan. Seeing the turmoil, not wanting to become ill themselves, Valentine and Gardenia fled. They flew far, far away and thought they were out of trouble...until the sores started to appear on Gardenia.

By then, Gardenia was already pregnant with Valentine's eggs. She wanted nothing more than to raise her children alongside him, but she knew she would succumb to the disease eventually. She did not want it to spread to her new family, and she did not want to hurt them if her mind were to deteriorate. So, she urged Valentine to take their eggs, find a new home, and father the children without her. Though it pained him to do so, Valentine knew it was for the best.

He took care to travel some place where he thought she wouldn't find him. Sojourn Island seemed like an ideal location, as it often floated far above the earth in the clouds and was always moving. But as Gardenia's condition worsened, primal instinct replaced her willpower, and she set off to find the red Wildclaw that she now only vaguely remembered. She ended up near Sojourn Island anyway, where she called out what she thought was Valentine's name.

But her voice had already become a ghastly death rattle and had no real semblance of speech.