Starrun

There are whispers that cross all over the Sornieth sea,
about a terrifying captain, as beautiful as she is ruthless.
Tales of her exploits spread from those who fear her,
from those who live to tell the tale





of Esmerelda the Savage Trickster.

- - -

- - -

Aural sat in her Great Room, at the base of their Shrine Tree. She raised her great head, sensing something unfamiliar had touched the shores of Isla Sombre. Being a stand-alone island in the sea of a thousand currents, that technically belonged to the shadow flight, the Sombre Shade rarely had visitors. And never ones that Aural didn't recognize.

She slowly made her way to the banks of her home, where the sapphire sea touched light gray sand, leaving the thorny vegetation that surrounded the great tree. Her steps were slow and deliberate. They showed her age, but also hinted at a raw, barely contained power. She was huge, a guardian through and through. Her chest heaved with long, even breaths. She had an aura of patience, power, and wisdom.

She found her mark, a wingless drake who laid breathlessly on the shore, water logged and exhausted. She smiled.

"Welcome to the Sombre Shade."

Aural introduced her, Starrun as she was told, to the rest of the clan. Borelus welcomed her with a low nod. Remise glared at her haughtily, from her towering height. But the most interested in her was Verzei.





The mirror stared her up and down before smirking. "I bet you're fast!"

Starrun stayed for awhile, not too long, but just long enough. Most of her time she found herself dogged by Verzei, who wanted to race. Be it in the water that surrounded the isle, or among the roots of the great tree. But never in the air. She never even suggested it. Starrun was always with Verzei, who introduced her to her family. Head guards of the lair, Evo and Alepo, were her father and brother. Her mother was one of the soldiers, who trained dragons of the ilse in combat. They took in Starrun during her stay, and treated her like one of their own.





It was Alepo that eplained the Sombre Shade to Starrun. "We're made up of three parts." He looked up towards the huge branches of the tree. "Magus stays in the treetop. Our magic users and scholars."

He looked out at the edge of the island. "Lethalus stays towards the edge of the isle. Our soldiers, warriors, protectors."

He glanced at the others, the ones who seemed devoted to keeping the clan afloat. "The cooks, the tailors, the armorers, the healers. That's Harmonus. They live at the base of the tree. The roots." he smiled. Alepo looked like an intimidating dragon, but he couldn't be more opposite. He spoke softly, and had a calm demeanor.

It was with Starrun that Verzei met her familiar. They stumbled on a herd of long necked beasts, and chased them down. For the first time, even Verzei had a hard time keeping up! Verzei tackled one, barred her fangs at its throat, but the beast showed no fear. The mirror halted, and let her claws off of it, but it didn't run.

"Skira." She told Starrun. "They're called Skira, and they're a lot of fun to chase!"

They spent a while in the field, with the skira. The one Verzei pinned stayed near her, as if beating it in a race bonded it to her. "I think this means she's my familair now! I'll call her... Noxe!"

Noxe eyed Starrun, then turned and eyed the herd. Slowly, one of the Skira started towards thm. This one was a brilliant blue and purple, unline the others. It's pelt looked like a mottled galaxy. This skira walked right up to Starrun. And at the end of the day, followed her home. Verzei took to calling it "Sympan" Greek for Cosmos.

Verzei and Starrun spent the next few weeks as before, but Verzei could sense what was coming. It was Aural who finally said it.

"I think its time for our darling Starrun to wander again."

Verzei didn't take it at first well, but she eventually calmed. "I'll always have Noxe. And you'll always have Sympan!" she said, with tears in all four of her eyes.


((sending Sympan! @wolfandcrow))

- Show me a dragon, I'll give you a poem -
Crash, child.
I fell from the heavens.
Not for ill, for good, but for fate:
I came too close, longed
Too sweetly, and the gravitational
Pull of the others bound me down.
I fell,
The stardew tickling my sides,
My eyes captured with the last slices
Of wonder.
Stars above, as so below.
This strange new world, I must live,
I must know.