Phorcys

Phorcys
Water Warlord of the Order
Twin to Thalassa
One known as Aegaeon
Previous Host to Iku-Turso
Keeper of Thalassa

Twins born in the same nest in different eggs but twins all the same. The mental connection is strong and they are aware of the other who resides deep within them. They are happy. The sun is bright, the waves are warm, their sister chirps, and their parents watch over them and teach them meditation to keep the other at bay. All is well in their world.
______________________________________________________________________________

He splashes in the shallow pools, there is a twinge of annoyance from his sister and he deliberately splashes closer to her disturbing the fish she was trying to catch. He dances away from her when she growls at him, sending his amusement singing along the bond. The other isn’t as restless as it can be when he’s burning off the extra energy and what few whispers he hears are no longer intruding on his thoughts. The other grumbles through him and he can feel his sister touch on their bond. He runs towards her, splashing her and fleeing when she goes after him, letting the unease fade away.
______________________________________________________________________________

Their sister has long since left and now it’s just him and his sister. The malady that has plagued him all his life has been getting worse. The whispering in his head has slowly increased over time. He avoids the bond he doesn’t want his sister to know. He should be able to control this. The meditation should be helping but it’s not anymore. He’s frightened by the words whispered by the other, these days and more and more often these words are accompanied by violent images that he can’t quite block out. Sparring with others of his clan doesn’t even help anymore and most of them refuse to fight him anyways. He doesn’t know what to do.
______________________________________________________________________________

One night the whispers are worse than normal and he tosses and turns as he attempts to use his meditation to push back the other so he can get some much needed rest. He manages an hour or two at a time but the near constant stream wakes him and leaves him tired and shaking. It goes like this for several hours and he finally gives up sleeping and leaves the den go and swap stories with the others of his clan that is still awake. They don’t seem bothered by his presence and most of them are clan guards and the more nocturnal of his kind. He sits and listens to them talk occasionally inputting an opinion or two here and there. He stops talking abruptly as once again the other floods him with images that he just barely manages to push back, but instead of stopping when he pushes them back the flow of images just starts up again. He doesn’t know how long the mental assault continues but he knows that he falters and the other takes advantage of the brief weakness pushing him back and taking control. He struggles to gain control again and failing that he reaches for his sister through the bond but he never knows if his warning gets through before the other strikes at him and all he can think about is the pain. He begins to drift in and out of consciousness.

He blinks and he sees himself attack his clan mates with no warning, friends and family fall without warning. One manages to put a warning call out before the other strikes them down and begins to gorge itself on their magic. He blinks and there are more dead around him and he is facing his father and despite the fact that the older dragon is more experienced he doesn’t have the size to keep the other at bay. All too soon his father falls to his claws and teeth and the pain returns a thousandfold. He blinks and he sees the crumpled form of his mother across the clan’s clearing and he sees that his sister has arrived and is watching in horror. He blinks and his sister’s eyes are black and her hide has darkened and she is halfway across the clearing charging him. He blinks again and he can feel how tired his body is and how badly they are losing, the other can’t use his magic and he can feel something resembling terror from the other now. The last thing he sees is what looks like shade covered chain linking from his body to his twin’s as her chest splits in a grotesque impression of a mouth and he hears a voice “Mazu, No!!”
______________________________________________________________________________

He awakes, his body aches but he is in control of himself again. He can’t feel the other anymore and when he looks up his sister appears to be attempting to tear herself apart. It takes him a few times to get to his feet but he manages it and approaches his twin. The female ridgeback notices him and looks at him and the black eyes make him still as he realizes that this is not his sister. He approaches again and the Shade controlled dragon goes back to ripping at itself. He takes the opportunity to launch himself at her and pin her down. The dragon struggles for a moment and then goes absolutely still. She twitches from time to time but makes no real effort to get him off of her. Finally she shudders and blinks the eyes changing from that flat black to the deep blue of his twin. He carefully lets her up and once he’s sure that she’s in control at the moment he moves over the still bodies of his clan to fetch food and bandage from the hoard for his sister. He falls asleep first the drain on his body evident.

Over the next few days they bury their clan and mutually decide that it might be for the best that they should leave. He’s seen her eyes change to black several times between then and now and occasionally she snaps at him but other than that there so far seems to be little change in her now except for the fact that her hide has not changed back to the seafoam colors he was used to. In spite of their agreement that they should leave, she seems hesitant to actually leave the clan and several times she claimed she was too tired to leave yet. He begins to patrol the borders of their clan. One day he sees a familiar shape fleeing from the edges of their territory and knows that they have to leave before their old clan mate brings back others to kill the shade tainted. It doesn’t take long to convince his sister and from the way her eyes go distant from time to time he doubts that he’s the only one who wants to leave this place. They leave the next day.
______________________________________________________________________________

They travel alone for years, and in the beginning they fall in with various groups for a brief time before going their separate ways. He’s taken his father’s name. As they travel, he notices that his sister’s eyes change more often and she has become more violent. It takes longer and longer to break her out of these moods and sometimes she no longer what is happening during her break outs. They begin to deliberately avoid interactions with strangers and if he sees signs of the other taking control he makes sure that there is no one around to notice this. He begins to teach himself to fight in order to defend his sister in the few times they have come across those who believe that an only good Shade touched is a dead one. She has begun to disappear at nights. He doesn’t know where she goes and he doesn’t bother to ask. He tries not to think too hard about the smears he sees on her hide. They are usually gone by the morning.
______________________________________________________________________________

By time they encounter the order, his sister is rarely in control of her own body for more than a day at a time. It seems that she cannot keep the taint that she took from him under control by herself and has allowed the other- no Mazu- to take control for now. They follow him because he is familiar and safe and he won’t let the others hurt them. He is grateful for their trust although he fears it is misplaced. He was shocked when the large imperial slide out to meet them as they passed by the large Fire clan. He was ready to attack the imperial to give his sister time to run when the dragon chuckled that they only wished to help. He was weary but he was eager at the chance to assist his sister. They followed the imperial back to the clan and was shocked to watch as the imperial shifted from an imperial to a small dark colored fae who fluttered over to land on his sister’s head. He watched as the fae worked spells and magic to push the imprisoned taint back enough to allow his sister control. When they were done they led the two ridgebacks to a small den with two fledgling golden imperials, one female with grey eyes and one male with gold and black eyes. The female imperial smiled at them and hums while the male simply watches them for a while before nodding to the fae. They are told that they are welcome to stay as they would not cause damage to the clan. He is hesitant but the feel of his sister through the bond makes him smile and nod at them. They will stay, they will let this become their home and he will fight for them and his sister in exchange for a place where they can be safe.