Brook

BROOK
Grove Guardian


Brook swam through the depths of the currents, three large dorsal fins in the place of wings allowed her to glide gracefully through the waters at a speed defying her size. Glowing sensors along her shoulders, fins, and horns allowed her to detect everything about her surroundings. The currents, temperature, far away movements, little escaped her notice. Or wouldn’t have had she been focused, instead of cartwheeling playfully through the water, playfully chasing around a bubbling goblin, the much smaller creature teasingly darting around her.

For a moment, her current mission was forgotten, the journey for a charge, something to protect, a purpose in life. She’d only recently been turned out from her nest, her mother having taught her everything about the sea she’d known. How to hunt, how to fight, how to protect, how to roar loud enuogh to warn others off. All the important things, of course, as well as how to control the powerful water magic inherent to her bloodline.

She paused in her chase however, the bubbling goblin noticing her hesitation and slowing to drift around her face instead, watching her in a silent question. In truth, she didn’t know herself why she’d stopped, she’d felt…something? A current, she could feel it now as she held still, tickling just barely at her sensitive spines. Nothing out of the ordinary, except it stirred a deep instinct within her. Diving down she swam with it, seeking out the destination of the current. It was so light, even her finely attuned senses found it hard to follow.

After a few minutes of swimming she came upon something unexpected, a hole in a stone wall towering up from the ocean floor. It looked like an ancient structure of some sort, a stone wall carved by something, or someone. Many holes lined the wall, but only one had the current drawing into it, strange indeed. Instead of feeling afraid or cautious, Brook felt a strong curiousity pulling at her. She had to know what was at the end of this tunnel.
“You stay here, I don’t know what’s in this tunnel. If I don’t come back in a few days, well…” She explained to the goblin that had been following her, trailing off awkwardly at the end. The goblin’s eyes widened and it chittered at her worriedly, but she just rolled her eyes and pushed it away from the tunnel entrance. “Stay.” She said simply, but took a moment to gently nuzzle the creature before turning and entering the tunnel.

For a few moments enough light flitered in for Brook to see. Smooth, circular walls curved around her, weather worn smooth by water and time or by hands she didn’t know. She imagined if not for the strange out of place current that was traveling up the tunnel unnaturely, the water here would be stale and ancient. She had the feeling she was the first dragon in a long time to enter this tunnel.

Quickly, however, the light dissipated and the tunnel quickly extended into an inky darkness. For a moment Brook felt fear stutter in her chest, even her glowing scales cast little light against the tunnel, but took a calming breath, casting out with her magic instead. Her magic seemed to pulse out away from her in a ripple, traveling along the walls, painting a mental picture of the tunnel in her mind. At least able to see where her claws were moving, she continued down.

For a few minutes the tunnel continued horizontally, Brook able to pad down it. But then it began to slant up, eventually at such an angle that Brook was no longer able to climb against the slope, forced to swim with the current, now racing quickly along the tunnel. Her scales prickled as she thought about what might be at the end of it, having no doubt that this current was created by magical means. There was no other explanation for how it was traveling against gravity as well as originating from the middle of nowhere in the seas.

Before she had time to grow anxious at her thoughts, light began to filter down into the water, and Brook excitedly sped forward, her exctiment now overpowering her fear. The light grew brighter and brighter, the walls growing farther and farther from her, until suddenly, she could no longer sense the edges around her. She swam in what seemed to be open water, before finally breaking the surface.

She blinked away water to find herself staring up through a crumbling stone cieling, multiple layers holed away to allow a small beam of sunlight to filter down, directly into the middle of a large pond she’d surfaced in, the tunnel must have opened up at the bottom of it, the strange current now swirling through the pond, which broke off into several small streams that branched off into the surrounding landscape. Looking around in awe, she looked at large stone walls and pillares, but more surprising than that, lush green grass, trees, vivid flowers, all manners of vegetation grew around her. It seemed surreal, the flora around her thriving so much it blocked off the edges of the area, making it seems as if Brook had stumbled into a small forest of sorts.

“Um.” A soft, tinkling voice drifted over, and she turned to look at the shore of the pond, suddenly realising the presence of other dragons nearby, to caught up in her surroundings to have taken note. A skydancer stood at the edge of the water, looking at her with green eyes wide with surprise. Around neck coiled a brightly scaled spiral, sharp eyes watching her with a more aggressive caution. The skydancer tilted her head as she took Brook in.

“Awww, Mirth, it’s just a child.” She cooed softly to the spiral, her voice sliding over the water to Brook, though the words clearly weren’t meant for her ears. The skydancer turned her kind gaze back onto Brook, who suddenly felt self conscious, wanting the skydancer to accept her.
“Who are you?” She called out to Brook, who had slowly began to swim closer.

“My name is Brook.”
“What brought you here?”

At that Brook hesitated. Now that she’d adjusted to her surroundings, she could feel that strange feeling from before all around her, pulling her to this place, leaving her desperate to stay. She had no doubt that this area had become what she was meant to protect, though she had no clue why her instincts had pulled her here of all places.
“Um, I’m a guardian in search of my charge, the thing I’m desinted to protect with my life.” She explained awkwardly, watching the skydancer’s expression.

To her credit, the skydancer’s face didn’t twitch, remaining soft and kind, eyes unjudging as she smiled up at Brook, who now stood a few steps from them. The spiral around her neck bunched up a bit however at the proximity, sharp eyes staring Brook down as it remained silent.
“Well I’m Kallah, I’m part of the Cartico clan, though few actually know of my existence. This is my home,” Kallah spoke softly, spreading her wings out to indicate the entire grove, “and this is Mirth, he keeps a current pulled through the pool so the water stays healthy.” She added, glancing down at the still staring spiral.

Brook’s eyes shifted to him, shuffling self consciously at his unimpressed glare. Kallah snorted and jostled her shoulder, Mirth’s eyes widening as he bounced against her back. “Oh, don’t mind him. He’s not used to other dragons, honestly.” Kallah explained apologetically, stepping back and motioning for Brook to follow. “Honestly, I’d love to have you. But you have to promise to listen to me and Mirth, we’ll teach you everything about what we do, and how to keep this area thriving.” Kallah spoke, the two walking away from the pool.

Brook agreed readily, walking off as she listened to the skydancer. Her heart swelled happily, she hoped distantly that her siblings had also found a home, that her parents would be proud of her.