MOTHER

I should have known what I was getting into, but I didn't, and I may never know the full scope of my error. It didn't seem that important to me at the time, of course, but that changed as soon as it happened.

As usual, I was trawling the AH, on the search for a dark-range Coatl with a red-range tertiary, Iri/Shim/Glim. There was nothing that day, of course; such colors were rather hard to come by. Finding the male had been problematic enough.

Having had no luck, I went about my dailies. I gathered more food for my ever-growing collection of dragons, fed them, and incubated my nests. Only a day until one of them hatched, and I could finally use the lore I'd written. I checked the forums, read my dailies, and finally wandered to the Marketplace to see if there were any familiars I didn't have.

I was caught off-guard, however, by a new tab, simply labelled, "Dragons". Had I missed an update? There was nothing about it on the front page, nor was there a forum update. Just to be sure, I put up a thread asking about it, but no one else had seen anything. I did receive a message from one of the admins, however; Undel had sent me a message titled "Marketplace". All it said was, "We'll take care of it. Don't open the tab or purchase any dragons. It'll be gone in a few minutes."

Now, my curiosity was piqued, and I couldn't help but pop onto the Marketplace again. The tab was still there, waiting for me at the top of the page, and so I clicked into it. Exactly as it was labelled, dragons were listed at 5kt each. They were barely anything at all, but they were absolutely stunning- and the Coatl I'd been searching for was listed first. In a blaze of excitement, I snapped her up, then set her next to her mate in my lair. They had identical colors, which made the pairing a dream come true. They instantly went onto a nest.

The children were beautiful when they hatched five days later, perfect quadruplets with that uncommon coloration, all Iri/Shim/Glim. They were sure to fetch a pretty fee, especially if I wrote them mini-bios. After adding a lore tidbit to each, I put them up on the AH for 70kt each, then went to bed for the night.

In the morning, I logged on to Flight Rising immediately, eager to see if I'd had any buyers. To my surprise, all four had been bought in the night, leaving me with enough treasure to buy a lair expansion. I hurried to my lair to do just that, but I paused to look at the dragon I'd bought a week before, the female. I didn't remember buying her an accent, but she seemed to have one that looked like tears. Clicking on her showed no accent listed, but the appearance of one remained. I hadn't written her a bio, either, yet her information had words in it: "Why did you take my babies from me? What kind of monster are you?"

A bit disturbed, I headed back to my lair to buy the expansion, hoping that I'd just imagined it all. The button didn't seem to be working, however, so I posted a complaint on the forums in the hopes of having it fixed. Another message from Undel soon appeared in my inbox.

"You shouldn't have bought her," it read. "This is your fault."

Extremely unnerved now, I clicked back to my lair, looking again at the female. Her accent hadn't gone away, but the dragons around her now had accents as well- tears, but blood as well, cuts and exposed bone. Her bio now read, "If you don't understand a mother's pain, I'll make you understand."

My mouse flew to the exalt button, but it had vanished. Instead, it read, "Kill". I was only surprised for a moment, however, and quickly clicked the button. I received no treasure for her, but she vanished from my lair, and I considered the matter over with. I was able to purchase my lair expansion, and all of the new accents vanished by the end of the day.

A month later, however, when her mate was able to breed, she reappeared. For a moment, I thought I was imagining it, but clicking on her revealed that it was indeed the same dragon, a red slash marring her throat. Her name was "Dead", now, and her bio had only one sentence.

"You murdered me," it said, sending a chill down my spine. The exalt and sell buttons were gone, as was the option to breed with any dragon but her mate. Her children's names had all been changed to "Stolen".

I hurriedly logged off, hoping that I simply needed more sleep, but the next morning showed no difference. I couldn't get rid of her. When I bred her, I couldn't get rid of her children unless I sold them. When I did, their images appeared in chains, locked in cages, weeping, and their bios were pleas for their mother.

I've managed to ignore her for the past month, but I can't go any longer. Her bio is accusing me. The dragons around her are accusing me, and the tears have returned. Hatchlings and nests have started disappearing. Nothing is working.

I never should have bought her.