Silver

-lives to serve his clan. usually a coliseum fighter, but since other dragons have been training with Evewern full time, he's been stuck on the sidelines. he decided to turn to geology (translation: stealing precious rocks) so he can keep providing treasure to his clan
-is the calm, collected type. He has a noble air about him, which is why the clan was shocked when they realized he'd turned to stealing
-works in a tag team with Candal. they pretend not to know each other, so Candal annoys the owner of the gems, which Silver does one of a couple things that may include making a noble gesture by 'shooing' Candal away, or just using her distraction to steal the gems. either way, the pair are quite good at this
-Silver is at least somewhat opposed to stealing in general, but he's found this fast and easy way to make money so he's still following through with it.. for now. he might just trn to digging for gems in the future instead

TW: mildish blood and gore

I never thought I'd have to fight dead dragons, but hey, I also said I'd never steal anything, so here we are, I suppose. Silver ground his teeth together, mirth spurred by irony threatening to curl his lips upwards in what is definitely not a snarl. He usually only fought monsters until they were dead, he wasn't sure how to defeat something that already died. Four rotting Imperials stalked towards him, the heavy scent of long-dead flesh quickly destroying the grin threatening him. He gagged, backing away from them. The closest one swiped at him, a glancing blow that he almost laughed at. Winding up, he smashed his claws into its head. An imprint of his foot was dented into the skull of the corpse. The dragon shivered before collapsing to the ground. Silver turned his attention to the next one, who was heading towards him sluggishly. Silver backhanded the Imperial, knocking it to the ground. Still treading back, he locked eyes with the next and growled. The dragon made no indication of hearing him, stalking closer. Silver bunched his body up, preparing for his next move. As soon as the nearest was in range, he jumped his upper body forward, grabbing the dragon's head between his paws. He flapped his wings strongly, taking the dragon just off the ground before dropping it. The corpse flailed before landing on its back with a heavy thud. Silver looked at the three downed dragons, disbelief flooding him. What, is this the only fight the undead have? Even hatchlings have more in them than this. The moment the thought passed through his mind, a sharp pain gripped him by the tail, and he was yanked out of the air.

His breath was crushed from his lungs as he hit the ground, and with a sickening crunch his wing sent a dizzying flood of pain through his torso. Gasping, he rode the waves of pain until it lessened enough for him to be aware of the rest of his body. The dragon that pulled him down was chewing on his tail, claws digging in on either side. Lashing out with his hind legs, Silver slashed the head of the dragon until his tail was free. Rolling carefully onto his feet, Silver stood to cautiously eye the dragons. They'd arranged themselves in a circle around him, blocking him from trying to make a run for it. Silver gritted his teeth, annoyance flickering through his head. Hooooo boy, this isn't going to be fun

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They just wouldn't stay down. Silver panted, crouching into his defensive position once again as one swiped at him. He retaliated with a fierce blow, claws leaving angry tears in the skin of the dragon. The dragon fell backwards, momentarily stunned. Its hide was covered in similar marks, Silver's assault for the past hour taking its toll on the dragon. Yet it stood up again, the bloodless marks neither slowing it down or putting a dent in its attack. All of the dragons were the same way, the only exception being the one who was missing a front leg. It was considerably slower than the other three, and could only attack with its fangs. This didn't stop the other three from continuing their tireless assault on Silver. Red gashes covered Silver's body, and his life was treacherously dripping into the snow underfoot.Silver was beginning to run on empty and he felt light-headed, both feelings he did not like. But, despite the dragons being horribly slow, there was no opportunity for Silver to make a run for his lair. He wasn't a fast enough dragon to outsprint these ghouls, all of which could still fly, somehow, and he couldn't fly with a broken wing. Panic simmered in his belly, his heart stammering in his chest. Of all things to die from, Silver never expected it to be already dead dragons. I guess all those monsters I've defeated are coming back to haunt me. Silver hooked his swipe to smack the dragon approaching him in the head. The hit dazed it, its head bobbing like a piñata, and in that moment Silver smashed its head with a blow from the other leg. Its head disconnected from its body, the body collapsing to the ground the second the connection was lost. Silver shrieked, every bit of fur and scale on his body standing on end. The head's mouth slowly ground its teeth, lips wrinkling into a snarl as it stared at Silver with zombified eyes. He couldn't take his eyes off it, all his muscles locking up in horror. Why is it still moving??????? Only the sharp pain of one of the other dragon's claws pulled him back to reality. He turned to face it, knocking it back before eyeing where its head met its neck. He switched his gaze over to examine the same thing on the other two. He swallowed nervously, eyes flicking from the downed zombie back to the ones still standing. Nausea shoved all the panic out, bile replacing it. He knew what he had to do, but he sure as heck didn't want to do it.

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The last dragon fell to the ground, twitching once before becoming still. Silver's head was swimming, but some part of his brain urged him to separate the bodies, to move them far enough away from each other to not risk an Emperor appearing. He staggered back, turning in the direction he thought the clan was in. It was more important to get away from there right now, he'd move them back when he had the chance. He limped away, his wobbly path leaving a red trail behind him. All of his pains were dampened by the fog in his head, his wing a distant part of him that felt almost disconnected. The edge of his vision was going fuzzy, so he shook his head to try and rid himself of it. It didn't help, only disorienting him even more. Was that the camp up ahead? Silver squinted. His vision began to fade out, and he could feel his legs folding under him. His brain screamed, but he still felt his consciousness fade out.

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Pride

Kasai

Panini

"Well, that's not good." Kasai's flat statement momentarily drowned out Panini's gagging sound. Pride stared down at the familiar Imperial, their stomach churning. They vaguely recognized the dragon as one of the coliseum fighters, and a damn strong one at that. They nervously scanned their surroundings, looking for the beast that could have inflicted this kind of damage to him. Panini crouched nearby, avoiding looking at the bloody Imperial. He gasped, his shallow pants rocking his body. Kasai turned tail after one final glance at him, getting Pride's attention with a stomp. "I'm going back to the lair to get help, you and Weak Stomach here keep an eye on him." She ran back off in the direction of the clan, only the wobble in her steps outwardly showing how seeing Silver like this affected her. Pride sat back on their haunches, their eyes trained on Silver's chest. They watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, their eyes purposely avoiding looking at any of the gashes on his skin. Panini padded over before weakly bumping his head against Pride's shoulder. He curled up, back pressed against Pride. They leaned on him, a soft sigh escaping their throat. Their eyes wandered around the surroundings again.

Evewern

Candal

Gabriel

Tamaran

Wolfram

In about half an hour, a gaggle of dragons came into Pride's vision. They alighted nearby, wary glances to the surroundings affirming Pride's worries about a monster. Something scary was out there, why else would Evewern, the captain of the coliseum fighters, bring such a large group? Evewern dashed up to Pride and Panini, causing the drowsy Skydancer to jump in alarm. Behind her, Pride could see Tamaran recoil at seeing Silver's body, ducking back to lean into Gabriel. He whispered to Gabe, his ears pinned back. Gabriel bumped noses with Tamaran, unfolding his wing and draping it around the Imperial. Wolfram dropped down next to the pair, their trademark grin missing from their face as they stared at Silver, their nose twitching as they scented the air. Their brow furrowed, a haunted look gathering on their face.

"Hey, I asked you a question." Pride flinched, their focus jumping back to Evewern. She stared intently at them.

Panini jumped in, saving Pride from having to ask for the question. "No, he wasn't conscious when we found him." An orange blur, Candal, streaked across the sky above the other dragons. Panini ducked his head again, eyes turned to the ground.

Evewern clucked, then turned her head to the others. "Wolfram, Tamaran, I want you to carry Silver back to camp." She paused, glancing back at him again. "Be careful with his wings, one of them looks broken." The trio approached haltingly, Tam being coaxed forward by Gabe, while Wolfram stalked stiff-legged, head on the swivel as they scented the air. Gabriel stood by Evewern, eyes trained on Candal's flying. Tam approached Silver cautiously, shooting Gabe a worried look. Wolfram halted entirely, lips curling as their nostrils twitched.

"Wildclaw, I smell more Imperials." Evewern's tail flicked in annoyance.

"And?" Wolfram's lips curled even farther, their gums above their teeth becoming visible.

"They don't smell alive. Your Imperial pal reeks of them."

Evewern took a step towards Wolfram, a dangerous glimmer in her eyes. "What are you suggesting? That Silver killed multiple dragons?"

Wolfram barked out a laugh, an eerie, mirthless sound. "No, he doesn't smell of blood other than his own. He smells like rot." They paused for effect, staring Evewern down. "Those Imperials were already dead. And there's no other dragon or monster scents on him, so where could his wounds have come from?"

Silence descended upon the clearing, the chilling implications of Wolfram's words dawning on the others.

"Not to interrupt this lovely conversation we're having," Gabriel drawled, his blasé tone attracting the tension between Evewern and Wolfram, "but shouldn't we get the injured dragon back to camp, then argue about what did this?" Evewern stared at him, eyes narrowing at his demeanor, before turning back to Wolfram.

"Ok, I'll send two dragons with you so you can see what's at the root of this. Candal, Pride," Pride perked up, "Go with Wolfram and find the dead Imperials. See if they also died at the hands of whatever hurt Silver." Wolfram snorted, but held in their comments. They spread their wings and flew up to meet with Candal. Pride did the same, tailing the two dragons while watching the four below. Tamaran slithered under Silver, lifting him up when he stood up. Gabriel and Evewern stood on either side, heads on the swivel for any possible foes. Panini walked point, feelers bobbing in the chilled breeze. Pride turned their head, focused on following the two ahead. Candal darted around Wolfram, flying circles around the larger dragon. Wolfram scanned the ground ahead, paying no mind to the Spiral. Their head stopped turning, their eyes locked onto something on the ground. They started to descend, so Pride followed suit. Candal stayed just as high, looping around the area. Wolfram landed before the dead Imperials, the fur on the back of their neck and shoulders raised in alarm. They immediately made their way over to one of the carcasses, and with a mixture of hopping and flapping, proceeded to drag it several meters away. They flew back and grunted at Pride.

"Move one of the bodies away from the others, this is an unsafe setup." Pride nervously approached one of the headless Imperials, watching Wolfram grab another and proceed to drag it away. They wrapped their paws around the neck of the Imperial, trying to drag it with a combination of hopping and flapping. It didn't work very well; Pride had barely traveled a meter before tripping over a lumpy object and falling. They stared at the object, uncomprehending and not wanting to comprehend.

It was the dragon's head. It was staring back, lips curled back in a silent growl.

Pride's skin almost jumped off their body and they froze, eyes locked on the groggily chomping head. It rocked from side to side with each bite.

"Hey what's that? That looks an awful lot like a-" An orange comet broke Pride's trance, and they looked up to see Candal narrowly avoid becoming a Spiral pancake. She rose unsteadily in the air, eyes huge. "Is th-that a head??" Pride swallowed and nodded, bringing their eyes back to it. They flinched when Candal alighted on them. "Rare..." She murmured, curling instinctively around Pride's neck. "Why is it moving??" Pride shook their head. Why was it moving? It was something already dead, there was no way it should have been able to be moving.

"Someone reanimated these Imperials." Wolfram's pearly fangs glistened in the sunlight, the fury and disgust in their eyes glittering just as bright. "This is despicable. They were already resting in separate places, their souls already free, and someone reanimated them and they've been left like this." Wolfram gestured to the almost circular configuration of the bodies, "Their souls could easily been pulled back in to create a,,, a,,," Wolfram couldn't finish the sentence, instead choosing to spit and snarl. "I hope whoever used these dragons as puppets knew about the possibility of creating a monster worse than the gods." Their eyes narrowed. "I hope they weren't banking on the fact."

"Wolfram, what could have been created with these Imperials?" Pride stared at Wolfram, pleading with their eyes. "What- um, could that be the reason Silver was attacked?"

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