Jade

The progenitor of her clan - granted life by the Gladekeeper herself. Blest she was - with her mate. All was peaceful and calm. Yet as the fledgling clan started to take root - plague swept it. Crimson eyes - red water, rust-colored tracks left in the mud as Jade was forced to flee. Her grove was rotten. When she return all the wears were shredded, the hoard ravage. To twist the knife deeper, the raiders left alone egg left in the nest - the rest shattered. That egg wasn't hers, it was made by the vial cur that exposed her domain. Jade cursed that egg. Her roots uplifted. She failed her flight. She disappeared to the grove, braved the woods, and vanished into the thick trees above.

She rested there for years, with her fellow exults, serving directly under the Gladekeeper. She was but a seed among many - a single fluff in a dandelion's bundle. She did not care. For moons she was able to repress the turning thoughts, the last sight that she saw - the egg.
That lone egg she abandoned. The egg.
The calling.
The last fragment of her clan.
The egg.
She left it.
The egg.
She abandoned an egg.
The charge. The curse that Tidelord cast upon all of his image. She repressed the thought for years. The egg, it was her calling. The last tie she had to the grander world. It gnawed at her mind until that chewing became drilling. The egg she left - the egg she needed to protect. She begged the accolades of the Gladekeeper to free her from her shackles. When they rejected, the screaming became too much. Jade clawed to the top of the world tree - and flung herself to death.

What she met wasn't the hard ground nor the next life, but a complex mess of vines. She was riding the twisting cascade of bramble that was growing rapidly right before her eyes. Jade's claws dug into the thick coarse hide of the plantlife attempting to yield - but gravity continued to carry her through the interweaving weeding. The joyride soon ended in a ramp, launching her into freedom away from the exalted ones. Jade saw only her chance for redemption - and spent little time thinking about the true force of nature that gifted her freedom.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Gladekeeper watched the Guardian fly past her air patrol - all of them in shock at Jade's gliding speed. It wasn't long until her nature sprite fluttered down next to the holy mother and rubbed her chin in astonishment.

"Yet another one you let free... You haven't told me why for your sudden change of heart still."

As her master spoke, new plant life started to bloom from her minty breath bouncing off the ground.

"True love is like fluff from a dandelion. It can not take root unless you give the seeds the choice to fly from its stem."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jade returned to her little grove, now long overgrown, protected by her mother's grace. Yet as she walked over the rusted mud and crimson steps - the egg was gone. This sparked her journey to travel the world looking at as many dragons for she knew once she saw their face - the Tidelord's curse would tell her that "this is the one".

That day thankfully came during a Thundercrack Carnival. She was perusing the festivities. She made it her mission to visit every festival of every flight, for that was the largest congregation of dragons in the world. The booths were full, plenty of sellers, yet in the chaos - a fake whisker's bogsneek took her attention.

"Is that... Baitinclaw?"

She met several of her old clan members during her travels, but this is the first time she's found one of the little hatchlings that lived up to adulthood. She ducks and weaved through the crowds and looked at the stall the sneaky snake was selling. Jade watched him seduce a many of fool to stare at his hoard of familiars. A lovely smile and a small chuckle came from Jade as she watched him from afar.

"Once more, attempting to steal coin from passers-by. I remember when you used to take the "good boy acorns" from the other hatchlings to buy more treats from Nana. Some things haven't changed have they?"

Charmed by his hustle she took steps forward to the stall to see if she could bond with an old face even though she was well prepared for him not to recognize her. As she approached, a cast shadow from many of the longnecked ridgebacks started to loom over her. Baitnclaw spotted the guardian approach and started to give her his song and dance.

"Come on over, there's plenty to buy. Look up at my buddy Tigana, there's more on his head"!!

She gazed up, only because she recognized that this ridgeback was the true owner of this stall - then stopped dead in her tracks.
Decorated with familiars of all sorts - trees blooming from his shoulders - akin to hers from the joy of the festival, yet sporting the banners of the Lightning Flight, she found him.
The son of Pestis and Malika - the Traitors. The last egg in the nest. Her charge.
The roar of the festive dragons passing by - the roars of the ones of the Plague eyes. Both the present and the past started to blur as one. Her claws dug into the sandstone. Her breathing unrelenting - generating magic by accident. Vines started to uproot from her scales; half in bloom in joy, the other wilting in pain. Her fixation was soon released when her charge loomed down and lowered his head to her.

"Hey!"

Jade's eyes dilated as she scanned over the pail purple Ridgeback with horns decorated with familiars plenty.

"Are you interested in the ones resting up here?"

The Spirit of Wind rapped around shoving the others away. Jade's exposure to the exulted ways allow her to know the spirit's true intentions - it gravitated to ones who were destined for a life long adventure. That omen was . . . somewhat troubling to her given her want to return to the Gladekeeper one day. Still, Tigana spoke once more.

"The little guy was eyeballing you back as well. I've never seen him so lively. I'll cut you a deal since he likes you. They can be yours for a low price of 15 gems"

Jade blinked, and forced the drool back down her long throat, and forced the tears of anticipation and joy from showing. There was so much she wished to say, so much she regretted, but she held back - for she wanted her charge safe and sound.

"But of course... I ... I couldn't help but stare at them. Dare I say, he might become my new charge. Haha..."

Her laugh fell flattered then the snake falling from Tigana's horns to Jade's/. As the transaction was made - Tigana jerked back seeing that Jade gave all the wealth that she had in her pockets - 433k gold and roughly 500 gems. Shocked at the amount, Tigana grabbed the Guardian's tail that was starting to walk away in the crowd like a cat grabbing a mouse.

"Wait Miss. This is too much money for just-"

The Guardian turned around and rested her claws on his hooked thumb. She spoke from the heart with such passion - odd for "a stranger". The intensity yet softness of her words made the Ridgeback pay attention to nothing else but her.

"You....What you give is worth far more than any gemstone in the world."

She nodded with a teary smile, then slipped away into the crowds, hiding in the corners of the venues where she cried away the pain. Her new familiar could only comfort this poor adventurer by squeezing her horns ever so tighter. Her journey only just begun.


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"He must come home...He will come home... With me... And when we return... we will live in bliss ...under our Mother's protection... Forever..."

"I do not know why my heart does not yearn to be in their embrace. I held him when he was but a hatchling... And it could not be because he is the kin of our enemies!... Perhaps... Perhaps because he's far too gone... in the clutches of the forsaken Shadow... Yes... This must be why..."


"My largest hurdle that separates me from my charge... I will overpower them... if not by smarts, then by force..."

"If she was any smarter, my mission in retrieving my charge from these savages would have escalated ages ago."

"There is still time for this little seedling to sprout to the correct reality. They spend much time with my charge... That is good... May him and The Glade guide you, little sprout...Or... Hmm, perhaps you can be used as a tool... I will not overlook this option."

"He is what I thought my fellow progenitor was, strong and courageous. A shame one day we might come to blows... Perhaps I could keep our little con going...just for a little longer... I do enjoy his company..."

"Our acolyte spies identified this one working with exults on various Emperor-related projects within the far depths of The Spire. I do know that one mere dragon does not represent their whole Flight, even as easy to smear one like Plague... But how deprived of morals must one be to stoop so low? A toxic combination, of the work culture and the plight does make. The longer I stay in this land of dunes and volts the more I loath it so."

"The second largest hurdle I must overcome. I don't know who else even lives in that hobble because she's constantly present in the entry hall. How does one best an Arcane dragon? ...Hmm... Perhaps some hypnotic shrooms to distract a curious mind? "

"I have not had the honor of facing this combatant yet in our grand conquest. One day I wish to trade blows with General Brook. Her ivory skin would be suitable fertilizer, Hmhmhm~ "

"The recent explosions of the elements are the only reason why I am not even further perturbed by this serpent's many eyes along their flank and sides... What abominations still rest within the Wyrmwound? I shudder to think of such... I pray that the First Seed will finally break through from its confinement and transform that desolate wasteland into the thriving jungle it should be. Sooner these two-headed mockeries of dragon kind's image are subjugated or eliminated the better..."


"The collection of goods they hold is....satisfactory for my needs... to say the least. They're also quite the expert fisherman I must say...And not a half-bad cook too... Their bird familiar is fascinating to me... It reminds me of the trees that were eaten hollow by fungi..."

Spirit of Wind

Familiar

An ephemeral spirit animal that contains the essence of wind. (Mistral Jamboree Holiday Familiar 2018.)

0

"No matter how vigorously I shake my horns, this plight still stays attached... I regret ever buying this nuisance ... I should have bought the deer. Why didn't I buy the deer?! I'm such a fool... I pray His presence does not curse me and make this trial any longer in the grand name of "adventure" . . ."

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Nature Runestone

Dragonmade

An ancient stone bearing the ancestral rune of the Gladekeeper. Such a find should be kept as a prized possession.

110

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