Glace

Ripped from his lair by a brutal storm, Glace finds shelter within the lair of a Hundred Songs. He finds himself growing attached to the inhabitants of this interesting place, but his true lair is too far for spontaneous visits. He must decide - what does his heart want? Where will he stay?
-oceanic03


He stayed until the bi-yearly visit by the trading pair, Glaciem and Maxima. By then, he'd changed. No longer was he the friendly, outgoing young dragon that went missing in one of the biggest storms they'd ever seen; he was now a battle-hardened warrior who's body had adapted to fit the surroundings. He was actually really happy to see them, with some of his old enthusiasm shining through, and that sealed his decision: He was going to go home.

During the week that the two ambassadors/traders stayed, he questioned them about everything that had happened since he was lost. He learned about a new-ish discovery around the lake that housed the Clan of the Crystal Snow, a long-lost city of endless night and nightmarish beings. It piqued his interest, but he was told never to go there. It was far too dangerous for any one dragon. He decided that he was going to look from afar when they got back, but until then he was going to have to hide his curiosity.

He said not a word about it till they arrived back home. By that time, it felt like his desire to learn more about this mysterious place was burning him from the inside and he had to physically restrain himself from asking all his questions. He stayed in a tensely excited buzz on the last stretch of flying; he was going to see his home and his friends again for the first time in months! He was so excited!

~~~

He snuck out that night, making sure that everyone else was asleep before sneaking past the night guards around the perimeter and setting a fast pace down the path leading to the city. He'd asked some questions earlier, but the only answers he got were either very vague or simply that he shouldn't go there. You'd think that with so many people saying how dangerous that place is he would stop to think, but apparently not.

He came to a split in the path, one going off to the left and one going straight ahead, towards the distant silhouette outlined on the horizon. Of course, he chose the path ahead, because why would he go the other way?

As he got closer, everything started to go eerily still and silent and the moon stopped moving, staying fixed in the middle of the sky. He slowed his pace, still exceptionally curious about the effects of the city. He looked around in wonder at how still everything was, like it was frozen in time.

He heard the sounds of waves lapping at a beach and realized he must be a lot closer to the boundary than he had thought. He immediately veered off the path to go towards the sounds, starting to sneak and watch his feet so as not to step on an item that would make noise and alert everything around to his presence, y'know, cause he's not a complete idiot. Simply a partial idiot.

The sounds of water slowly faded as he got nearer, completely confusing him. It should be getting louder, right? He emerged from the darkness of the trees and was stood on a black sand beach. The water was right there... but it wasn't making sound as it moved. Something wasn't right. He looked around, all his previous curiosity replaced by anxiety and fear. Nothing. He could see nothing. Then that all of a sudden became very literal, and he lost sight of his surroundings. It seemed like he was standing in a void.

He strained his senses, trying to feel anything at all, but he could hear and see nothing; he couldn't feel the sand beneath his talons either. He was starting to panic, but couldn't tell if he was actually breathing here so he tried to stay calm.

Something moved off to the right.

He whirled around to face the direction the movement came from, a breathless snarl falling from his jaws as he did so. Still nothing.

More movement, just out of the corner of his eye. He spun to face it, only to freeze as he saw that it was a pair of eyes, just staring at him. The eyes blinked and another pair appeared to the left. Another pair of eyes, and another, and another, until there were dozens, hundreds of eyes surrounding him, watching him.