Araliciena

Known as the clan’s fiercest warrior and time and time again putting her life on the line for the ones, she calls family.

I would rather not speak of it too much but it… Irene took me in when I was just a hatch. Funnily enough though is that we deemed each other as enemies at the time, not really understanding how different races of dragonkind worked, not knowing that physical appearance wasn’t the same for everyone else. We were just hatchins and she was tiny, as small as a bird. We were both lost and at the complete mercy of the Gladekeeper. The forests here are no joke. They are dense, filled with predators and plants waiting in the shadows, lurking, waiting. Not to mention the beastclans.
This was all ages ago. When I heard Irene for the first time it was after I had been attacked by a bunch of stranglers and others were waiting nearby. This is my story…

I honestly don’t remember much from the early days, not who my parents were or how I ended up in these woods. Though I have found solace in it over time. Anyhow, enough about that.
I was slowly losing conscience due to the brutal ambush of stranglers that had been chased of by sorchpaws, I was nothing but bitten and bruised. I was bleeding out, defenceless without my clan, without my home. I was horribly lost and afraid. A cacophony of wild noises, predominantly those of prowling animals, filled the air, and were backed by the roaring of a nearby waterfall. Plants started shifting around me, coiling onto me and started dragging me away. In sheer panic I made one final plea of help and there it was. It was as if the Gladekeeper herself appeared out of nowhere and sent a Fae my way. Considering the size difference, I was at least ten times larger than she and she knew, that if I wanted to, I could just swat her away, but she wasn’t afraid of me or trying to end me. Just a gentle flutter with a peaceful set of emerald eyes in its finned skull.

It flew up to me in curiosity, examining me then the plants and gave them a pat and in a voice I did not yet understand. The plants loosened their hold of me, and a gentle giant came forth from the forest.

Treebellow was a young adult treant of about 30 years. They stood at about 4.5 meters tall and had a thin crown of many, but slender branches with leaves in reds and yellows ready for autumn to take them away. A mouse had made a nest beneath their roots one season, though the mouse hadn't returned one day or ever since. Many creatures enjoyed the company of the treant, and the treant in return tried to learn as much about them as they could. Their budding trunk was home to a variety of insects and critters; the treant learned from them all the same.

Their face had become visible; a vine had grown across what could be its cheek. Long arms wrapped around their trunk and ended in vine-like tendrils. Though not the mightiest of treants, they possessed a good deal of strength; capable of lifting small boulders, though this was nothing yet. Surprisingly long legs grew beneath the treant and left distinct marks in the ground with each step they took.

I blacked out.

I awoke to the echoing of a trickling river. I couldn’t move a muscle, my body feeling nothing other than broken from the attack. A tree loomed over me. I fall back asleep.

Yet again I wake, but this time I woke to the singing songs of birds, swaying treetops in the wind and in a different location. I coughed, trying to move. A sharp pain shoots up from my side. I remember looking at the source of the pain, still in a bit of a haze of course. There were both bandages and what to seem to be pulp of various plants and some flowers to give a much better scent. It hadn’t been a dream after all… I wasn’t back home with my siblings… If I just hadn’t… nevermind, it doesn’t seem to matter at this point of time. Strange. The same tree loomed over me as the last place. Feeling weak I pass out yet again, covered in tears.

Things were never the same after that. I found myself sprawled out in front of a warm yet inactive volcanic pool. There emitted still enough heat that would repel most living beings. Luckily enough, I’m a dragon though I didn’t know it at the time. The warmth of the pool relieved some of the aching stiffness in my body. I found myself in a low purr, relaxing as danger seemed far off.

That was the moment I decided to try and find the same little dragoness who rescued me from the jungles mighty many forces of nature. I hold back a scream as more pain shoots up from my side. I look again and there were bandages with dried blood. A soft fluttering could be heard as a strong scent of berries and flowers made its way into the small cave. It seemed to have some medicine with her. It seemed lonely, whoever this may be. The fluttering had stopped as it perched itself on a rock. Looking intently at me, probably wondering if she is in any kind of danger around me. It chirped.

“Hello, my name is Irene… We saved you from a few… notorious stranglers.” She paused. “What happened to you? Who are you? When we found you were barely alive, we hoped to nurse you back to health and so we did.” Such a strong character for such a small dragoness.

Struggling to find my voice I tried to speak, only to cough. Straining to say something, anything at all. “My family…” Memories came flooding back. I teared up, making it even more difficult to talk. “W-we were attacked by another clan; I don’t know how or why… Mother was teaching us to hunt and father was teaching me how to fight because he said I had a spirit of a warrior… During our training a clan of the beastclans took advantage of the moment and…” I writhe in pain as I finally concluded what could’ve have happened to my family.

Irene stepped down from the rock to rest her paw on me. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you may be going through…” There we sat in silence. “From now on, I’ll do my best to protect you. We’ll be your family from now on, if you’ll have us.”

I sighed in sadness. “I am thankful for your help… Maybe I’ll stick around after I feel better and see how that goes.” Ever since then me and Ire have been close friends, sisters even.