AvonKei

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Mate: Sei-Shun Family: --- Occupation: Third Leader of Nocte, Successor of Asura, son of Asim

Artwork: Album

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Avon-Kei was drawn to the Tangled Wood a long time ago when he was nothing more than a wandering youth. He was directionless, the world a glittering haze he could never quite bring into focus. Magic sang to him like a bird and beneath his fingertips the essence of life breathed.

His seemingly aimless wanderings brought him to his knees before Asim and for the first time, he felt a sense of clarity. The Guardian, who had raised his clan from the inky depths of darkness itself, welcomed Avon-Kei among them and spoke to him with the kindness of a father. He was to soon depart after Avon-Kei's arrival, but he left a lasting impression on the young Imperial's spirit that will never fade.

In his stead, his son Asura took up the mantle of leader, and Avon-Kei followed him dutifully for many years. Through battle and strife, disease and discontent, Avon-Kei grew into a powerful warrior and a good friend. He and Asura stood as close as brothers, bonded by their struggles to form the clan Asim had birthed into something that would last through the ages.

And when the day came that Asura departed for his final flight with the Shadowbinder, he passed his mantle on to Avon-Kei. At first, he refused, but Asura had lost his children and his only living grandchild had no desire to lead. "This is the purpose for which you were intended, my old friend.", he spoke. "You who came to us from lands so far away, appearing from the trees like a mirage; you are who will lead."

Asura's passing hurt Avon-Kei as only the loss of a brother can. But amidst his pain he found strength. A surge of purpose that drew up in him like the magic he wielded. He took to his position as leader with verve, commanding respect even from those who doubted him.

Over time, uncertainty fell away from both the clan and its new leader. Holding to the same purpose and values the clan had been founded on, Avon-Kei led the clan forward. He established new creeds and doctrines, adopting practices brought to them through new members and the dedicated Archivists that made up the clan's foundation.

Their numbers grew, as did their prosperity, but never once did Avon-Kei abandon his practice of knowing each and every dragon by face and name. To him they are, and will always be, not a people he leads but a family he cares for more deeply than any other. He leads with composure and a fair, but strong will that draws his clan together.

Among the number of dragons who follow his careful rule, Avon-Kei kept closest at his side the ever dedicated Sei-Shun. He knew the Pearlcatcher since his childhood, had watched him grow. When he was young he took up the claim of being Avon-Kei's apprentice, never far from his heels and always attentive to each word the elder dragon spoke. But it had been years since the leader viewed him as something so mundane as that, and soon enough he came to realize he kept Sei-Shun close for a wholly different reason.

The idea he had imprinted on his second came as startling, and yet so glaringly obvious he wondered how he had never seen it before. He had kept Sei-Shun so close, made almost every excuse to never be farther from him than he had to. It was his scent Sei-Shun carried everywhere he went, and it was his apprentice whose loyalty meant most to him. Yet Avon-Kei kept his discovery to himself, concerned that perhaps that blessed dedication would lead Sei-Shun to accept him without concern for himself.

He decided to quiet his heart and instead find joy in the bright future of the clan and the warmth of his intended at his side, whether he was his or not.

And yet, not all things fade into the past. Betrayal is often most painful not because of the act itself, but because of those who dare turn their backs on us. Once upon a time, Avon-Kei had regarded the dragon Sepheraph as a brother. They had stood together at Asura’s side, their heads held high and their talons bared in readiness to defend the clan that had taken them in as their own. But time passes, and events come to be that cannot be unwritten. Some wounds do not heal.

Behind a mask of obedience and respect, Sepheraph had spent years steeped in his rage. First, that Avon-Kei would take the helm of the clan he believed should only be led by an heir of Asura himself. Second, for the exile of his mate and daughter; though the choice to do away with them was one that weighed heavy on Avon-Kei’s heart, they had turned their fangs against their leader, and he had no choice. His rage turned to hatred, and in his own private moments he had plotted until his loathing led him down a path darker than any could have imagined.

In secret, Sepheraph had cultivated alliances with the enemies of the clan he claimed to love. Those dragons who loathed them, the Beastclans who abhored them-- Even so far as to reach into the bleakest depths of the earth and call forth dregs of the unholy Shade. He, along with his young disciple Aaloka, led these forces straight to the peaceful clan and set them loose on the unsuspecting dragons within. The revolt came without warning, without preparation, and the results were devastating.

As dragons fought to defend their home, swarming to protect the Annex, Avon-Kei was faced with the betrayer himself. “Why?!” he demanded over the din of battle, his eyes pained, his heart so very weary. “This place was your home! Your life! Why would you destroy all that we have built and fought for?!”

Sepheraph’s laugh will haunt Avon-Kei longer than he will live. Cruel as it was, the madness that suffocated his once powerful voice was almost heartbreaking. Almost. “You have made this clan into a mockery of what Asura built! Asim will cry in his grave for the shame you’ve brought to this grove! I will destroy this place, rebuild it anew in their image, as they would have wanted!”

One cannot reason with madness. The dragon he had once fought beside was gone, lost amidst years of inner turmoil and unexpressed rage; Avon-Kei turned his claws on his one time friend for the sake of his clan. Maybe he had changed the clan, maybe it was not the thing that Asura and his father had created. Maybe that wasn’t so bad.

As war raged around them, Sepheraph and Avon-Kei matched their strength. Sepheraph taunted and spat insults, while Avon-Kei struck out with single minded precision. He was not alone. Soon his second, Sei-Shun came to his side and together they fought against the betrayer. It was almost too easy, and it was only too late that Avon-Kei realized perhaps that had been the intention. Sepheraph’s words echoed as he spoke them. “You have taken everything from me old friend. Now I shall take what is most precious to you.”

Avon-Kei did not have the time to react to the blow that came at him. The sickly magic of the Shade pulsed in Sepheraph’s eyes, seeping out from beneath his skin with an eerie glow. And while he was taken off guard, momentarily winded, Sepheraph attacked again-- Though this time, the damage was not meant for him. It was Sei-Shun who took the devastating strike, and Sei-Shun who Avon-Kei watched crumple to the bloodied earth. Sei-Shun who Avon-Kei screamed for, who he clutched at desperately. A

ll the moments he had so easily convinced himself to bite his tongue and say nothing of the well of emotion in his chest now seemed meaningless, for what if he could never say them again?

If Sepheraph spoke, it fell on deaf ears.

For so long, Avon-Kei had held his grace and poise about him, his thrumming heartbeat a mellow note. The ancient power in his veins lay quiet, and now for the first time it burned within him. His roar of anguished rage shook the heavens and the earth at once, brought a halt to the fighting as it stilled everyone’s heartbeat in a single breath. If he had been aware of the effect his unbridled fury had had on his surroundings, Avon-Kei might have felt a hint of pride, but his thoughts were swallowed by his grief.

After that, there was little fight to be spoken of. Against a force of nature not even the dregs of the Shade stand much of a chance. Avon-Kei tore apart the man who had once welcomed him with a kind smile and a firm nod, now nothing more to him than evidence of his own failures. By the time his rage subsided into weariness the fighting was over. Their numbers were weakened, their allies injured, but amidst it all; Nocte had not fallen.

And neither had Sei-Shun. Though Avon-Kei would be forever haunted by the feeling of his intended, his life slipping away in his arms, it was not destined for them to part so soon. Ming-Ku worked tirelessly to heal him, and after five days where he felt as though his very soul were being stretched over a wide drum, Sei-Shun awoke. He would be scarred by the Shade's power, yes, but he was as alive as he'd ever been. If he had not been so weary, Avon-Kei might very well have cried.

With his consciousness returned, Sei-Shun seemed to have lost whatever wariness he'd had before. His experience had changed him, though not at all in a negative light. He spoke with assuredness, addressing their mutual feelings they'd fought so long to feign ignorance to. How pointless that had been. Avon-Kei had dreamed a thousand ways to tell his one-time apprentice that he yearned to make him his mate, but none of them had included a medical bed and the aftermath of a siege. But that was how it was.

Sei-Shun recovered, and soon he was back at his leader's side, no longer the young shadow he'd once been. He carried the position of Avon-Kei's mate with pride, perhaps slightly more than the pride he showed for his new position as the clan's second in command. Avon-Kei, for his part, felt more alive than he'd been in decades. The future stretched before them and their clan, and now he had his mate beside him, he felt sure that whatever would be built from the wreckage would be thousands of times stronger than what had been before.

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