Abrafo

He is technically the firstborn from Volcano and Barracuda, his old clan's leaders. As such, he strongly desired to protect the clan. His father wanted him to be next in line to lead, so he tried to help Abrafo find a mate as soon as he was able to breed. Together, they found a lovely female Skydancer named Sapphire, and she accepted the invitation into a new home in the Ashfall Waste. Things seemed to be going well, Abrafo and Sapphire had their first nest, Abrafo was training as usual, though something was wrong. Abrafo... didn't really want to be the next leader. I mean sure, he wanted to protect the clan, though as a warrior, not as a negotiator or one to take control in a political or social setting. Heck, the only thing he wanted to be the leader of was his own family, with Sapphire, and his hatchlings.

Unfortunately, Abrafo was pressured even further for preparations to be the next leader, and he would have snapped had it not been for Sapphire's comforting and empathetic nurturing. He never told his parents that he preferred to be on the battlefield rather than overseeing the day-to-day business of the clan, and he couldn't be sure if they could tell that or not. Thankfully, one day, his sister Adalwolfa was born, and she was almost instantaneously leader material. She seemed to want nothing more than to lead the clan to victory, and Abrafo was relieved at this. He then took on the duty of training his sister so she could be strong enough to not only defend herself, though to defend the rest of the clan if needed.

After training Adalwolfa, Abrafo quite bewildered, watched as his sister easily trained up quite a few of the other dragons, and decided that it would be best to allow her to do the rest of the training, so that he could finally work on his own goals of defending the clan. He considered setting up strategies with some of the trained dragons in case of defending the clan, or taking the fight to the enemy, whatever the enemy might be, though his mate suggested he took a break for a little while, which he reluctantly did.

A few weeks later, a couple of dragons came to visit from the Shifting Expanse, and they brought three bright, glowing blue eggs with them. Of course, Volcano and Barracuda welcomed them with open wings and immediately set up housing arrangements for them. Abrafo was quite indifferent to this, as dragons would come to stay for a while and then leave quite often. He did think it was strange that they would bring their eggs with them, though he could understand if they did it so their hatchlings would grow muscles, and see the scenery, during their trip back home.

Not long after this, however, on one fateful night, the ground began to shake and crack beneath them, and their lair began to erupt. Of course, they were not expecting this, as they were pretty sure they had done nothing to anger the Flamecaller, though that was clearly not the time to think about it. The ones who were awoke were panicked, though the ones who were deep sleepers were unfortunately trapped inside their caves from the lava. Adalwolfa instantly knew that this was her chance to lead the clan to safety, so she called out to the clan as loudly as she could and instructed them to follow her as she leapt into the air and started to fly. What was left of the clan followed her in a rush, all except for Abrafo. He noticed how one of the eggs from the couple was sitting alone and clearly abandoned, and he did not want to have that on his conscience. He told Sapphire to get out of there and that he would find her, which she tearfully complied to.

He dashed back into the erupting lair, snatched the egg up into his claws, and started to fly out of there, though during his rescue, he ended up getting most of his body singed and charred. He was successful in his rescue attempt, and eventually caught up with the rest of his clan, ironically because of Peridot, Adalwolfa's mate, having to swim the whole way and watch where to go from the mass of dragons above him because, being a Snapper, he could not fly. Abrafo ended up flying lower than the rest of the clan, and close to Peridot. Though the two of them did not say much in their journey together, they bonded immensely in that time. They did pass through and over the Sea of a Thousand Currents, and Abrafo explained their predicament. Some even offered to take some of their clan in, though Abrafo knew that most of his clan members would not take too kindly to living underwater, and they wanted to all stay together, so he kindly refused their offers.

Eventually, the clan made it to the Sunbeam Ruins, and decided to take a rest there and look for a new home, though no one could or would take in so many dragons at once, as most of them didn't have the lair space. The clan continued to rest for a while after a long flight/swim, and they were grateful that they had at least hit land. Sapphire joyfully reunited with Abrafo and worriedly told him that she did not see him fly with the clan. He shrugged it off and told her that he was flying low to keep Peridot company, even though that was not the only reason. Sapphire nodded and said she would look below her the next time they fly.

The clan started to travel on foot from there and happened across the Tangled Wood, and being as they had no Shadow dragons with them anymore, they decided that was probably not the best idea to blindly brave the thorny environment. Damor, Emperor, and Topaz, what was left of the clan's Nature dragons, suggested going to the Viridian Labyrinth, as Nature dragons were normally very welcoming and might allow them to stay there. Adalwolfa agreed, especially being that most of them were Fire dragons, and if their new hosts tried anything against them, they could easily fight against them. Abrafo kept silent during this and simply brought the lightning egg up to his eyes, checking if there was any damage or cracks from within. Thankfully, it was still completely intact.

The clan then walked to the water's edge between the Tangled Wood and Sunbeam Ruins and took flight once more, Peridot slipping into the water, and Abrafo flying right above and beside him once more. They flew much longer than before, and some of the dragons joined Peridot in the water to give their wings a rest.

When they finally reached the Viridian Labyrinth, most of the clan passed out from the sheer exhaustion. Abrafo was not one of them, though he did lie down with the rest of them, and put his wing around Sapphire, keeping his nearly comatose mate close to him so his heated body would keep her warm. He couldn't help but try to look inside the egg. It was so bright that it hurt his eyes peering into it so deeply, though from what he could see, there was definitely a hatchling in there. He couldn't tell what species it was, though from what the parents were, it had to be either Ridgeback or Skydancer... or it could just be one of those strange eggs that they found in the wild, so really it could have been anything.

After hours of resting, most of the sleeping dragons awoke. The ones who were not awake were clearly going to need more rest, so some of the dragons put them on their backs, as hopefully they would not need the use of their wings again for a while. Abrafo ended up having to put Sapphire onto his back, and he held the egg against his chest with one arm. The clan then resumed their search for a new home. The first lair they happened upon was absolutely lovely, there were thousands of plants decorating it, mostly flowers. Even though it was in the jungle, it was clean, neat, and tidy somehow. Not long after admiring the scenery of this lair, the clan noticed the large amount of familiars and animals that were living there. Before they could think that no dragon lived there due to all the food running amok, a golden, flower-covered Skydancer flew into the lair, handing out berries and other fruits to the animals that it seemingly just collected.

When the Skydancer sensed the presence of dragons, she turned around only to be startled at how many of them there were at once. Adalwolfa came forth and introduced herself as the leader of the clan and explained their predicament. The Skydancer gasped and introduced herself as Aphra and immediately welcomed them into her lair. She said that they must be starved from their long flight and quickly brought food for her new clanmates, not bringing the animals that were living in the lair, of course. The clan quickly ate their meals and decided to settle in. Abrafo was a bit hesitant at first, wondering why Aphra was the only dragon in the lair until that point and he started to become suspicious, making sure Sapphire was still securely lying on his back and the egg still clutched to his chest.

Aphra gathered as many fiery trinkets as she had and attempted to place them into the section of the lair that the survivors were in, though they vehemently opposed, saying the last thing they wanted to see at the time was fire. Aphra understood, apologized, and put the trinkets back into her hoard. When Aphra returned, most of the dragons were asleep. She seemed to be glad, and left them to rest. Abrafo fought it, though he eventually fell asleep as well. Some of the familiars and animals began to investigate the new dragons while they were asleep, trying to see if they were friends or if they were going to eat them.

Of course, with most of the dragons having to eat meat, most of the animals backed off, though some of the familiars were curious and decided to snuggle next to some of the dragons. Abrafo awoke after a while to find a Hippogriff that nudged itself under his wing and was sleeping close to his body. He was of course surprised, and checked on the egg between his claws, which thankfully nothing had happened to it. He realized then and there that he could no longer be responsible for this egg, he was obsessed with its safety, to the point where he could tell he was taking his mind off the more important things. He didn't want Sapphire to know about the egg, as he didn't need her thinking that it was secretly his own.

He waited until the other dragons awoke, and he went to Tourmaline and Topaz, two very caring parents from the clan, and explained how he could no longer care for this egg. Topaz was a bit hesitant at first, wondering where he got the egg, though Tourmaline immediately took it in and thanked Abrafo for giving them an opportunity to take their minds off of what happened.

A few days passed in the new home when Abrafo couldn't help but wonder if the egg even hatched yet... if it would hatch at all. He waited for a moment where Sapphire had gone out to teach their new hatchlings how to fish and sneaked away to Tourmaline and Topaz's portion of the lair. They happily showed him their new adopted daughter, who they named Safiyyah, which meant "pure" and "sincere". He was very grateful to see that the hatchling was healthy, and ironically, it was a little Skydancer! He played with the hatchling for a little while, almost seeming to immediately have a strong connection between them... almost like Saffiyah somehow knew what he did for her. He stopped as soon as he realized what he was doing, and tried to shake off the feelings of attachment, to which Tourmaline giggled about and informed Abrafo that he was welcome to visit Safiyyah any time he wished.

He still couldn't help but feel that he was still responsible for her, and thought about becoming her mentor. He walked back to his and Sapphire's portion of the lair, where he was greeted with a group of Mirror hatchlings tackling him and laughing. Sapphire showed him how much seafood they were able to catch and told him how much more plentiful the food was in their new home; though she looked away for a moment. Abrafo asked her what was wrong, though she simply replied with a tear streaming down her face, saying that she should go back to look for other survivors. He immediately told her not to, and that they had no idea how dangerous it could still be, after all, it had only been a few weeks since they left. Sapphire gloomily nodded and decided to change the subject.

When the all the hatchlings grew up, some of them left to explore the world, though Payara, the child that Abrafo felt would best carry on his mother's legacy, stayed to train with her father, and her best friend, Safiyyah. Abrafo never did tell Sapphire about his rescue of the egg, though he did tell Payara. The two were nearly inseparable, training together, hunting together, and telling secrets to one another. Abrafo hoped Sapphire wouldn't be suspicious of his training Safiyyah along with Payara, even though she never said anything about it. One day though, Sapphire told her mate that she didn't care how dangerous it would be, she had to at least go back and try to find more survivors. He still said it was not a good idea, though he could respect her reasoning. Sapphire told him that she would be back, and that it was a promise... even though she never actually did come back. Abrafo waited for days, weeks, even months before falling into a deep depression.

He thought that by training Safiyyah and Payara even more than usual that it would take his mind off of Sapphire, though he did not allow that to show. Payara really enjoyed this extra bonding time with her friend and father, though Safiyyah seemed to see right through Abrafo, and took extra time to comfort him outside of training. He complained about her doing so at first, though eventually gave in and allowed her to help him. Strangely, it actually did help, and quite quickly. It was almost like she could read his thoughts and emotions, and knew exactly what to say and do to make him feel better. This time together made their bond grow immensely.

He started to have very strange feelings swelling inside of him, he started noticing how beautiful Safiyyah was, especially when her crystalline-appearing wings shimmered in the sunlight. He knew what the feelings were, though he was confused as to why he was feeling them for someone who was so young... someone that he trained his own daughter with... someone that he watched grow up into the amazing dragoness she is today. Abrafo decided to hide his feelings, though apparently he did not hide them well enough.

Payara approached her father one day, in private, and accused him of being in love with Safiyyah. Of course, he tried to find an out to this accusation, though Payara was very precise with her questions and demanded an answer. He eventually gave in and confessed, only to have Payara flare with rage. She scolded him for not waiting long enough for her mother to return, and judged him for potentially pursuing someone who was younger than she was for a mate. After that, the two began arguing very harshly, both of them saying things that they would eventually regret.

In the middle of this, Safiyyah burst into the room, trying to fix whatever was causing this distress in the two people she was closest to, only to have Payara berserkly lunge at her upon seeing who it was. Clearly confused, Safiyyah could do no more than defend herself as though it were a training exercise until Abrafo was able to grab Payara, who was still violently scratching at the air. He held her tightly until she tired herself out and collapsed into her father's arms in tears. Abrafo pulled his daughter close to him and wrapped his burnt wings around her, ending up letting a few tears stream from his eyes as well.
Safiyyah was still bewildered and was frozen in place until Payara opened one of her wings and invited her into the hug, apologizing and begging for her forgiveness. Saffiyah seemed to tell that she was being genuine, regained her composure, and joined in the hug, weeping as well.

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Lore written by me... HOLY FLUFFSICKLES THAT WAS A LOT OF WRITING o-o