Sandfire

The guardian stays close to the female fae, glancing sideways at her every now and then. I have a feeling she's his charge. I just don't know why. There are so many questions here in this lair. I'm not even sure that the fae is his charge, especially with the way he carries that pearl, never letting it leave his sight, always keeping it close. His eyes are another mystery. In the right lighting they look... orange. Orange streaked with red, whenever the sun shines on them just right. I have a feeling he's no true plague dragon. His eyes... they're really orange, aren't they? He simply calls himself a plague dragon, and it's obvious that the fae believes it. They've been stained. I'm guessing they were stained with blood. I both wonder and worry about this dragon's past. I fear that it may be as bloodsoaked as his eyes. Sometimes, we bury things down deep, deep, deeper than anything should ever go. Deeper than anyone will ever be able to dig to again. And through that, we make sure they stay buried. Some things are better that way.

---

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a very, very good reason. Any self-respecting Guardian would have left this place long ago. Occasionally, some will pass through. They have no idea why I stay. They don't see what I see. They look, and they see a million broken dragons, a million broken pasts, a million broken souls, crushed and scattered in places that we've left behind so long ago. But they don't get it, because they can't. I hide my broken past so well, they can't see that I belong here. They can't see that this place is more of a home than any other before it. They can't get it, they'll stay blind, I hope they never know. I hope my past stays buried where I left it... six feet underground.

---

It was so, so long ago now. So long since I left. I still remember. I only wish I could forget. The day was like any other, or at least, it should have been. There was great jubilation going on within the cave, and it was all too noisy for me. I had gone to my quiet spot, a small cave the rest of the world didn't even know existed. I heard pawsteps echoing as someone approached.
"Who goes there?" My voice hung in the silence, reverberating within the cave.
"It's just me." A pearlcatcher replied. I looked up, seeing her standing in the entrance smiling calmly.
"Fanaa." Normally, I'd be excited to see her. The sweet pearlcatcher always managed to make me feel better, sometimes just by smiling. But this was my private place. No one was supposed to be here, and no one was supposed to be able to find it. It ruined it. It was selfish, but this place was... for me. No one else. And I needed a place like that. Somewhere where I can get away from the crowd. A safe spot. And this was the only place I knew that could ever be like that. No one went here, no one disturbed me, there was no sound, save for the dropping of water off of nearby stalactites."How did you even know this place existed?"
"Did you ever wonder about all the skulls?"
The place was littered with them, it was true. Skulls and pearls.
"Well, no... " I felt my cheeks go red, embarrassed that I never even questioned them. Embarrased at how selfish I'd been. She said it so gently, too. Her voice was soft, tender. She wasn't angry, she wasn't upset, though I couldn't understand why. I'd be blind with rage, but she just smiled sadly. "I just wanted someplace to go to, I never cared about... " I trailed off, realizing how stupid it sounded, looking down, embarrassed. Fanaa sat next to me, wrapping her tail around mine, snout pointing to the ground, but watching me out of the corners of her eyes.
"Its past." Fanaa finished.
"Yeah, pretty much." I stared harder at the ground, wishing I could become a pebble lying in it, camoflage straight into the metallic ore.
"Don't worry. We all need a place we can escape to, sometimes." I felt her wing resting over me as she leaned into me, turning to study that sad smile on her face, her beautiful orange gaze meeting mine, I searched her eyes for truths she would never tell, and knew I'd never know what happened here.
"Come on, let's get going. Things should have quieted down by now." Standing up, she started to leave. I opened my mouth to ask her about what had happened here, but immediately shut it, turning back to the ground, following the sound of her footsteps, then, once I caught up to her, her tail, but never looking up. I decided that I'd never come here again.

It didn't take long for us to arrive back at camp. Everything was so... silent. What was going on? The cave stood before me, large and ominous. No sound came from it. Fanaa stepped close to me, I could feel her shaking just as much as I was. I wrapped my tail around hers, and, nervously, took a step towards the cave. I felt like I was walking towards my doom. Worse, I couldn't stop. I didn't want to. I took another step, then another, then another, until I was inside the cave.
"Hello? Anyone there?" The sound echoed back at me, the entire cave was empty, silent, I felt fear building in me. I heard pebbles rolling on the ground behind me. Turning, I saw this huge dragon, unlike any I'd ever seen. It wasn't any species of dragon I recognized. It... was almost an imperial. But it was... different. It had seven heads, flies swarmed around its mane and its scales and beard were starting to fall out, it was missing some of its eyes, it seemed to have begun undergoing putrification, its features were ill-defined, its wings were almost gone. I saw a cream-colored guardian head fall from its mouth. Dad? Fanaa was staring at something on the ground, fear in her eyes... I followed her gaze, and saw it. A dead Spiral. Her adopted mother. Her gaze drifted to the monster towering above us. Determination shone in her eyes. Turning to me, she whispered,
"Run. I'll distract it." She knew she was going to die here, and she knew it. I turned to her.
"I'm not leaving you like this. It... it's going to kill you." Fanaa opened her mouth to reply, but just then, the creature leaped at her, biting her neck. I heard a sickening snapping sound, and one last scream as Fanaa's severed head fell to the ground, her eyes glassy and unseeing, her blood pooling on the floor.
"No! Fanaa!" My voice cracked, I could have sworn the world shook a little as she hit the ground. That abomination turned to me, lunging at me, I dodged one head, then another. Fanaa's pearl rolled towards me. Was it.... was it her who rolled it?
"Fanaa? Are you there?" I knew she wouldn't be able to respond, but the pearl pressed itself against my scales. Oh my god. Part of her is trapped inside her pearl. The realization dawning on me, I was completely caught off-guard as that... thing lunged towards me, smashing me against the wall.

---

I still remember it. The day things buried long ago dug themselves up. The day the whole world shook. I remember waking up, rock built up all around me, struggling to free myself. Finally, I managed to chip it enough that I could finally get up. I could feel my flesh knitting itself back together, and in my claws was a pearl. I knew, right then and there, that I had found my charge.

---

I had wandered for a long time, trying to find somewhere to settle down. But time and time again, I proved to not fit in. A creature back from the dead... what kind of clan would accept something so broken, something so... wrong?

But then I stumbled across a fae, just beginning to start a lair. She wasn't... quite right. It was almost like she wasn't... quite there. Not mentally, but physically. I felt something tugging me towards her, and I knew that she was, because she had to be. She was something from that day, too. Whatever had happened to her, she just felt... off. In just the right way. There's no explaining that feeling. That sort of sixth sense, that thing like an inner compass, telling me when things aren't quite... right. I can tell immediately when someone or something has anything to do with that day. I knew, right then anad there, that this fae was my second charge. I knew, from the way she looked up at me, as if on instinct, that she could feel it too. She knew that I had something to do with that day. She twitched her frills ever so slightly, then turned away, back to the other dragons. I knew that, should I choose to call this place my home, I would be welcomed. I'd never knew a place like this existed. This motley group of dragons who didn't fit in anywhere else. And even if I had known it existed, I'd never have dared to hope, even for a moment, that it would feel so much like home.