Nightshade

Backstory: The Aquafire Clan had enemies since the day Nira and Olivia fled from the Maren Kingdom and set out to bring peace to Sornieth. Although, the Duskfury Clan was one of the Aquafire Clan’s most powerful enemies. Tensions had always been high between the Aquafire Clan and the Duskfury Clan because of their drastically different views. The Duskfury Clan worshipped the Shade and sacrificed the weakness members of their clan to the Shade. Female dragons were not allowed to learn how to fight. Females of the Duskfury Clan were also required to prepare food for the males and tend to the hatchlings. The Duskfury Clan despised how Leon and Nira ruled their clan together and had chosen a female heir. However, the Aquafire Clan’s attack on the underground serthis plantation in the Tangled Wood had been driven the Duskfury Clan to wage war on the Aquafire Clan. The Duskfury Clan had supported and from profited from the the serthis plantations for a long time so the Aquafire Clan’s attack angered them to say the least. The Duskfury Clan launched an attack on the VeroKitty Clan, one of the Aquafire Clan’s closest allies, in order to send a the Aquafire Clan a warning. Members of the Duskfury Clan brutally murdered many of the dragons in the VeroKitty Clan. The leader of the Duskfury Clan, Daroth, killed all but one of the VeroKitty Clan’s hatchlings. Daroth had let the final hatchling live because the hatchling had fought back against Daroth and managed to claw out Daroth’s left eye. Daroth knew that a hatchling with such great fighting instincts would be very useful to his clan so he kidnapped the guardian hatchling. Daroth named the hatchling Nightshade before hiding the small guardian dragon in the darkest part of the Tangled Wood. Then, the Duskfury Clan had attacked the Aquafire Clan and killing many of their hatchlings. The Aquafire Clan declared war on the Duskfury Clan days as response to the horrible wrongs the Duskfury Clan had done to the Aquafire Clan. This declaration greatly surprised the Duskfury Clan. The Duskfury Clan had attacked other clans in the Tangled Woods before. Since the Duskfury Clan was acquired so much territory and members many small clans were afraid to stand up to the Duskfury Clan. The Aquafire Clan was still pretty small when it declared war, however, it’s warriors were strong and resilient. For four years, the Aquafire Clan battled against the Duskfury Clan. Many minor clans, including the VeroKitty Clan, aided the Aquafire Clan in its battle against the Duskfury Clan. Even the Shadowbinder sent some of her minions to help the Aquafire Clan because she too hated the Duskfury Clan. Although, the Duskfury Clan did not fight alone. The Breakneck Clan sent many of its strongest warriors to aid the Duskfury Clan. Although, Nightshade didn’t know about the war. Daroth had wanted the hatchling to focus on his training. Since Daroth was often needed at the front lines of the battle field, the leader of the Duskfury Clan left Nightshade under the watchful eye of Shadowing. The guardian hatchling believed Daroth to be his biological father, which seemed logical since Daroth was a guardian dragon too. Now, Daroth was very strict with Nightshade and would hit the hatchling with his tail if he misbehaved, but Daroth still loved Nightshade. Nightshade loved Daroth too, but the hatchling was oblivious to Daroth’s horrible crimes. Nightshade was too young to remember being kidnapped. The hatchling didn’t know that his toys were carved from the bones of the unlucky hatchlings from the VeroKitty Clan, nor was he aware of the fact that Daroth truly enjoyed killing things. All Nightshade knew was the happiness and safety in the shadows of the Foxfire Bramble...or least that until the day they came. Nightshade was sleeping (during day as usual) when he heard a loud crack and then, the roar of charging warrior dragons. When Nightshade opened his eyes he was nearly blinded by light as the Aquafire Clan bursted through the thick thorns. Daroth had been staying in the Foxfire Bramble for a lot longer than typical. Nightshade had though Daroth was staying in the Foxfire Bramble because the leader of the Duskfury Clan wanted to spend more time with his son. In reality, the Duskfury Clan had been defeated and Daroth (along with other high ranking members of the Duskfury Clan) had thought they could escape the wrath of the Aquafire Clan. Leon and Nira knew that if they let Daroth live, he would rebuild the Duskfury Clan and continue his regime of senseless slaughter so they attacked the Foxfire Bramble. Once the Aquafire Clan’s warriors broke through the thick thorn-filled vines encasing the Foxfire Bramble, Nira found Daroth. Nira and Daroth engaged in a deadly duel against one another. Daroth had ordered Nightshade to run and threatened to wip Nightshade if he disobeyed that order. Nightshade reluctantly followed Daroth’s orders. The hatchling glanced back at his home one more time, only to see Nira snap Daroth’s long neck. Nightshade stopped running and watched as his father collapsed onto the ground. His neck bent at an odd angle and his eyes were wide open, but had a vacant look to them. Nightshade fled to the deepest part of the Foxfire Bramble. It was there were the hatchling wept for his wept for his father in the shadows. Nightshade vowed to the darkness surrounding him that the Aquafire Clan would pay for want they had done. From that day forth, Nightshade began developing a vast network of spies with Shadowing’s help. With his arsenal of spies, Nightshade watched the Aquafire Clan and waited for the right time to strike. Opportunity knocked on Nightshade’s door, when he discovered that a member of the Aquafire Clan’s royal family was going to be attending one of the weekly parties the Shadowbinder held in the Forum of the Obscured Crescent. Since the Shadowbinder let anyone attend, Nightshade slipped into the party easily. For a couple hours, he waited in the shadows for a member of the Aquafire Clan’s royal family to arrive. His sources had said that either Nira or one of her children would be attending the party. Nightshade knew that he would try to kill Nira the moment he saw her, but if he found one of Nira’s children, the guardian dragon planned to kidnap Nira’s and use it as randsome ware. Nightshade hoped Nira herself would come. The guardian dragon had tried to remember the names and faces of of all of Nira’s children, but Nira had a lot of kids (and that was an understatement) and Nightshade didn’t have a five star memory. Three hours into the party and Nightshade still hadn’t found any members of the Aquafire Clan. Nightshade was starting to doubt the credibility of his source, when he heard a female dragon cry out, “Stay away from me!” Nightshade gravitated towards the commotion. Nightshade was surprised to see three former members of the Duskfury Clan at the epicenter of the commotion. Serike, Josh and Revenous had been good friends with Daroth and Nightshade has thought they had been killed during the Aquafire Clan’s raid. Nightshade rushed over to greet the three dragons, but stopped once he realized what was going on. Serike, Josh and Revenous had formed a circle around a tiny little fae dragon. They touching the fae dragon and taunting her. The three burly dragons told the fae dragon that they wouldn’t hurt her if she gave them a night full of pleasure. Nightshade was surprised by their actions. His father had called Josh, Serike and Revenous honorable dragons. Nightshade knew he should leave and continue searching for the royal members of the Aquafire Clan. His father would have ignored the fae dragon. However, when Nightshade looked the fae dragon in the eyes, he felt a deep desire course through him to protect the small dragon. Nightshade stepped in and fought off the three burly dragons. Nightshade told the small fae dragon to run home (that way Nightshade wouldn’t have to worry about her), but she refused. The fae dragon explained that she had been handling things perfectly before he showed up and that she was enjoying herself at the party. Nightshade decided he’d stay by the fae dragon for a few more minutes, but those few more minutes became the rest of the night. The small fae dragon said her name was Fiona. Name sounded familiar, but Nightshade wasn’t sure where he had heard it before. She forced Nightshade to learn how to dance and to try some of the smoothies at the Shadowbinder’s bar. Nightshade completely forgot about his original reasons for coming to the party and started enjoying himself. Once the sun rose and the party ended, Nightshade realized he had missed his chance to seek vengeance on the Aquafire Clan. Worser yet, Fiona said she was going to attend the Shadowbinder’s next big party. Nightshade knew he couldn’t let Fiona go alone, not with dragons like Josh lurking in the shadows and that protective tug within his chest. So Nightshade began to go to all of the Shadowbinder’s parties. It wasn’t long before Nightshade was counting down the days until he could see Fiona again. The guardian dragon came to the conclusion that Fiona was his charge. Although, Nightshade didn’t tell Fiona about his charge nor the fact that he could barely stand to be away from her. Nightshade afraid that the little fae dragon didn’t feel the same (which would make sense because Nightshade was a lot older than Fiona). Although, all of this changed when Fiona said, “Well, the sea of a Thousand Currents is two hour flight from here so I better get going” at the end of one of the Shadowbinder’s parties. Nightshade asked Fiona why she was going to the Sea of a Thousand Currents. Fiona explained that she lived in the Sea of a Thousand Currents and that she was actually a water element dragon. Fiona always wore purple eye contacts to the Shadowbinder’s parties because she had heard that members of the Duskfury Clan sometimes attending the party and often harassed dragons that belonged to the water element. After Fiona left, Nightshade frantically flew to his home. He had etched down a list of names of the Aquafire Clan’s royal family. He skimmed the list and found what he dreaded most: Fiona’s name was on that list. She was the daughter of Daroth’s murderer. She was the one Nightshade had plotted to kidnap long ago. Fiona, the dragon he had fallen in love with had turned out to be the dragon he had hated. Nightshade didn’t go to the Shadowbinder’s next party. His mind was whirling. Eventually Nightshade came to the conclusion that he would tell Fiona everything. He would tell her that he was once a member of the Duskfury Clan, that he had hated the Aquafire Clan, and that Fiona was his charge. If Fiona was truly the supposed rich, pampered snob that his father had claimed all of the Aquafire Clan’s royals were, then she would leave Nightshade. And the guardian dragon rationalized that it would be a good thing if Fiona left because it would mean his father wasn’t a liar. A few days later, Nightshade arrived the Shadowbinder’s party, early. Unbeknownst to Nightshade, Josh, Serike and Revenous had brought other strong dragons with them and were planning on attacking Nightshade because the guardian had made it impossible for them to harass female dragons. Josh, Serike, Revenous and their goons quickly overwhelmed the guardian dragon and started violently beating him. They were about to kill him, but Fiona came down upon them. Now, Fiona had been trained by Sahara, the best battle dancer in Sornieth, so she took down all of the large dragons that were trying to harm Nightshade to the tune of “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” by Panic at the Disco. Josh, Serike, Revenous and their goons had severely injured Nightshade so Fiona carried Nightshade to the VeroKitty. Once Fiona quickly explained what had happened to Frost and Frog, the VeroKitty Clan’s leaders, the members of the VeroKitty Clan were happy to heal Nightshade. Nightshade’s biological mother, came to help to healers treat Nightshade. As soon as Pearl saw Nightshade, she knew he was her son. Nightshade was unconscious at the time she came to this realization so the pearlcatcher dragon waited with Fiona for Nightshade to come to. Nightshade didn’t believe Pearl when he woke up. Fiona told Nightshade about the Duskfury Clan’s raid on the VeroKitty Clan and the Aquafire Clan. Nightshade told Fiona that the Aquafire Clan had done much worse. That comment made Fiona furious. The two got in a fierce debate about which clan was good and which one was bad. By the end of the argument, Nightshade stormed off. Shadowing, who had been circling over the VeroKitty Clan, came up in Nightshade. “Pearl and Camoen are your real parents,” the hippogrif said, with a look on his face that held deep sadness and regret. That was the first and last time the hippogrif ever spoke to Nightshade. The next day, Nightshade apologized to Fiona. He told the fae dragon that she was his charge. The guardian visited his parents. Nightshade would always remember his father as a good dragon, but he realized he couldn’t hate the Aquafire Clan anymore. Nightshade decided that he would develop the Aquafire Clan develop a spy network so the clan could learn more about their enemies and keep innocent hatchlings out of the crossfire. And of course, spend more time with Fiona.

Personality: Nightshade is very serious and pessimistic. Nightshade doesn’t believe in taking breaks and refuses to do anything fun until his tasks are complete. Fiona is the only one capable of making Nightshade procrastinate. Nightshade can see in the dark and is nocturnal most of the time.

Clan Position: Spymaster/Warrior

Soul Mate: Fiona

Familiar: Shadowing was Daroth’s charge. No one knows if the hippogrif approved of Daroth’s actions or not. Daroth asked the hippogrif to watch over Nightshade before he died so Shadowing is very protective of Nightshade. Shadowing never talks (no one knows why that is) and is very reclusive. The old hippogrif doesn’t get along with any of the other familiars in the Aquafire Clan. However, Nightshade often looks to Shadowing for guidance when he is unsure of something.