Eros

A shy gardener, Eros tends to spend more time with his roses then his fellow clan members. He has an eye for all things botanical, quite an unusual trait for an Ice dragon. He tends to a garden among crumbling ruins to add color in his shadowy home. Due to his past he doesn't trust others easily nor does he let anyone except Laurynus stay in his garden for to long.

Born in the tundras of the Souther Icefeild but raised in the Scarred Wasteland under the birth name of 'Claw' he was groomed from the day he hatched to be a fierce warrior. While his siblings caught on to the life of a warrior swiftly Claw was always a bit different then them. He was capable enough as a solider but when it came time to fight he could never bring himself to kill an enemy, he always showed mercy and let them flee. Claw grew to realize he didn't want to take life like he was taught, but wanted to nurture it instead. When his clan found out his true feeling they were furious. His siblings saw him as a weak link in the clan that needed to be eradicated and swore to get rid of him. They tried to kill him but Claw fled and escaped to the neighboring region of The Tangled Woods, his blood-thirsty siblings not daring to enter the shadows and be lost to them. He wandered the dark forest for what felt like weeks before he was found by the starry Tundra, Frija. She took him into her clan and changed his name to Eros, his decision to take a new name symbolizing leaving his past clan and their teachings behind. Eventually Eros found a love for tending to plants and Frija allowed him to claim part of the surrounding ruins to nurture the garden he now cares for so much.

He was once betrothed to a Guardian warrior in his clan but neither of them had much feelings for one another. He had one clutch with her but has not seen his past mate nor hatchlings since his exile. He is currently mated to Laurynus and the two have a loving relationship. Laurynus is one of the very few dragons he fully trusts, and the only one he can be around all the time.

The Skydancer known as Claw hailed from the Southern Icefields but was raised in the Scarred Wasteland as a ruthless fighter. He and his siblings were bred for the battlefield, and while Claw was an adept warrior, he was never able to bring himself to kill an enemy. He was kind, reserved, and nothing like his siblings who fought over bones. As merciful and kind as he was, his siblings saw him as a weak link and conspired to kill him. Claw found out, however, and, fearing for his life, fled to the neighboring region of the Tangled Wood. There, he became lost in the strange lands where his murderous siblings ceased their pursuit. He wandered for days...or was it weeks? He could not tell. The only light came from the flickering glow of the mushrooms on the forest floor. The only sounds were the rustling of hidden creatures, dragon and beast alike, moving through the wood, watching Claw with glowing eyes. He wandered the wilderness for days, forgetting the sun, forgetting the stars, but not his past.

Then, one day, the Skydancer saw a light in the distance, not the eerie glow of fungi, but a true light, the sun. He ran to greet it, only to look upon the stinking lands of the Scarred Wasteland, and his siblings raising their heads to greet him with snarls. Saddened, Claw saw the only solution to this problem was to retreat back into the wood. This time, however, he was met by a starry Tundra, who called herself Frija. She offered the Skydancer to join her clan, and he couldn’t have been more eager. The clan welcomed him into their midst, and Claw was very grateful, albeit somewhat shy. He was not used to the closeness of many in the clan and preferred to keep to himself. Upon request, Frija changed his name to Eros, like the ancient god of love and art. It symbolized his new start as a completely different dragon than Claw who lived in the Scarred Wasteland.

Eros kept to himself in the beginning. He felt out of place in the clan, for his time in his old clan never taught him to trust or express himself. He found pleasure, however, in the tending of the gardens of the lair. He grew roses, with Frija’s consent, on the ruins on the edge of the lair to add color to the seemingly rotting wood and hedges to keep what lived in the woods away from the delicate blooms. He would spend all day in the gardens, obsessively weeding and watering and clipping. It was the only thing that kept him sane and from sinking back into thinking about his time in the Scarred Wasteland. On some days, he could still smell the blood...see the rotting corpses come back to life. So, he dug more holes and planted more trees.

It was a summer day when the air in the Tangled Wood was warm and the woods, birds, and insects buzzed with energy. Eros was tending his beloved roses, humming a song he’d heard not long ago. Strangely, he felt himself being watched. He looked up to see a rich-red Imperial standing before him. Eros swore his breath hitched in his throat. He turned, out of shyness, and fled from the gardens. He had wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the words, let alone the courage.

Undoubtedly, Eros came back later in the hour to find the Imperial dancing through the gardens, but dancing seemed to be too crude of a word to describe what melted Eros’ heart. To Eros, it seemed like the Imperial was weaving threads of silk cloth with the flow and curves of a river. He watched, entranced by the dragon, from behind a curtain of climbing blooms. Perhaps the Imperial sensed he was there because as the dance finished, the Imperial looked Eros in the eyes and gave a graceful bow. It was all Eros could do to keep his claws planted in the ground. He swore, it wasn’t him that spoke next, but some invisible puppeteer, controlling his actions. “That was magnificent,” he breathed. The Imperial stared, seeming as equally frozen as Eros. “May I have your name?” He said, finally, to which the Skydancer said, “Eros.”

The summer blooms had nearly reached the end of their time when Eros next saw Laurynas. He was wandering the gardens, looking for something to tend to, but in this season, there was little. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Laurynas, however, but he soon became defensive. The Imperial was picking the petals from his precious roses, an unforgivable feat. Eros rushed to challenge the dragon, whom he found himself nose to nose with. He was small compared to Laurynas, but the Imperial seemed scared nonetheless. Eros, realizing that Laurynas did not know better and meant no harm, backed away from him. He told Laurynas that he liked it when other dragons walked the gardens to admire the flowers, but none of them really understood the work and heart that he put into his flowers. Laurynas told the Skydancer he felt the same way when his family shamed him for dancing. They walked the gardens that evening, talking, laughing, and finding truths and feelings within themselves that only the other had been able to bring out.


Soon, as summer turned to fall, and the orange chrysanthemums bloomed when nothing else did, so it was between Eros and Laurynas. The two were inseparable, fond to only the company of each other and indifferent to anyone else. The garden was a perfect place to practice dancing for Laurynas and Eros loved the company that the Imperial gave him when he was tending his flowers.Eros once tried to teach Laurynas the ways of gardening through books and scrolls, only to have his companion fall asleep out of boredom, which both of them found humorous. In the colder months of Sornieth, when the snow-covered Eros’ beloved gardens, the Skydancer fell depressed, so Laurynas introduced him to a tradition he’d brought from his home in the Sunbeam Ruins. They decorated all of the evergreen bushes and trees with silks, candles, fruits, and marzipan cookies to brighten up the dead wood of Eros’ garden. The hatchlings of the clan would climb the trees to get the sweets and the older dragons would ooh and ahh at the beautiful sight in the snow. In the end, it was Laurynas who taught Eros to trust in love and Laurynas, especially when he had nothing else.