Kleio

Her belly is transparent, showing within it a shiny liquid with which she bathes her pearl in a iridescent hue. Both her hide and her pearl are bathed with this substance, giving her the beautiful sheen that makes her shine in the sunlight.

The pearl of a Pearlcatcher is their most valuable possession, it's the first thing they gurgle up when born and its growth is determined by how often they add layer upon layer of the sludge they produce.

This Pearlcatcher comes from a well-established family, she loves beauty and is beautiful, but isn't so vain that she'd prefer to live a passive lifestyle following through the motions of the haughty Pearlcatcher society with it's cliques and cliches.

But not only did she want to depict its beauty, she wanted to do it with feeling. After all, a story conveyed with lots of emotions was better than an epic portrayed boringly in academic texts. This would later prove to be her calling.

Each new story that she wanted to remember, she tried to imbue her pearl with, same for each interesting landscape she saw. And it worked.

The liquid contents of the gene can acquire different properties, but for disinterested minds it's just a fancy sludge to imbue their pearls with, while for inquisitive dragons it can become healing elixirs, potent venoms or beautiful inks with which to paint, among many other things. She found out that in her case, her love of everything beautiful, the arts and good stories made her sludge liquid enough to work as an ink with shifting hues and thickness.

Art and history would be her calling, and so she set out to study in The Radiant Eye University where the path in her life would soon be made apparent.

For the inhabitants of Her domain, Light means truth and certainty, unveiling hidden meanings and casting light on mysteries previously unsolved.

They also learnt that the brightest of lights are blinding, veiling the truth from onlookers. Therefore Light dragons don't take anything for granted, not even eternal rest after their death. They investigated, they studied, they were Scholars through and through.

The same principles that governed their decision making prevailed even when naming hatchlings. Pearlcatchers knew that most of their pure bred children would make it to adulthood, but you could never be too certain, as they all had seen how every now and then a seemingly healthy Imperial hatchling met an untimely demise due to their failed magic nature. Anyone could perish, be it by faults in their creation that they were unaware of, warring between the Flights or accidents and illness.

As Pearlcatchers were painfully aware that they didn't, and couldn't, know everything with utmost certainty about the world they inhabited, they took the calm and cautious approach to naming their offspring.

First they took meticulous care of the egg and made sure the hatching process went well. Once that process had been successful, the tiny Pearlcatcher hatchling had to gurgle up their pearl, as it represented their soul, their very being. The hatchling would spend the following days or sometimes even weeks growing their pearl to a larger size, and once reached, they were ready to be given a name as they had survived their first period of life in this uncertain world.

Sometimes you could see small pearls in the mausoleums of Pearlcatcher families, sometimes even worn as pendants by relatives in family reunions, each pearl pertaining to a hatchling that didn't make it, all remaining Unnamed, but still respected and considered part of the family.

Once the hatchling had survived long enough to grow their pearl it was time to start the namegiving ceremony. Each Clan, breed, and territory had their own traditions, but common among Light Pearlcatchers was to invite a Light Oracle that would scry a name out of the hatchling's pearl, almost as if they were a fortuneteller.

In preparation, everyone related to the child and important friends of the family were invited, and those that were closest to the hatchling and were Pearlcatchers themselves would place their pearls alongside the child's. It was said that their memories and feelings would be imprinted on the hatchling's soul, their well-meaning intentions, hopes and dreams, traditions and lifestyle informing the Light Oracle of what kind of future would hopefully await the child. Those invited and that weren't Pearlcatchers merely placed a claw on the pearl, wishing the child well.

Thanks to these shared memories, the Light Oracle could invoke the Light within the hatchling's soul, making the pearl as brilliant as a Light Sprite's luminous orb.

The Light from within the child's pearl would wash over everyone present and whisper a name to the Light Oracle, a name befitting the hatchling's future yet to be unveiled.

Our protagonist was a healthy hatchling, her pearl grew steadily when coated with the resplendent ink from her belly. She was a bright hatchling, befitting a child of the Light.

Her family was a well-established Pearlcatcher Clan, her life would be comfortable, even opulent. She needed not to worry about performing menial work, and she could spend her days enjoying life and serving only Her Holiness' wishes whenever it was asked of her. They were well-off, but as Her creation, they were always willing to serve The Lightweaver.

Her name would be Kleio, which was derived from a dead Second Age tongue meaning to ''make famous, renowned, history''. It was said that these people knew about the deities slumbering in The Pillar, even if they didn't know that they were draconic gods. Its believed that the deities were revered, as their magic still influenced the world even though they were asleep.

These peoples' religions were pagan and of course, they took on a life of their own. Kleio was said to be the name of one of the Nine Muses of the Arts, she being the Guardian of History.

Our little hatchling would grow up to love stories, beautiful art and storytelling. The magical ink in her belly imbued her written words and artworks with an extra layer of emotion and clarity. You could truly experience what had happened when she painted a scene or retold in writing an exciting event.

Kleio always loved the arts, but she would grow to love history, but love isn't always beautiful. Love can turn into passion both good and bad, and in the worst case scenario it can become an obsession, hers being to obsessively seek to document and preserve history no matter the cost. Light means truth and beauty, but just like the brilliant Sun, it can also be blinding if you stare at it directly for too long.

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Kleio was a fancy dragon from a well-established Clan, money was never an issue and that could be seen in her choice of outfits. She loved beauty, and oiled her already iridescent hide with the inklike substance from her belly giving it an even more shiny appearance, so did she do with her lustrous mane as well. Well dressed, fancy, opulent, precise, everything she wore either enhanced her appearance or served a practical purpose. Dress for success is something she lived up to, even if she might not have used those words herself.

Daybreak Decorations Apparel Decorative jewelry depicting bright sunrays. (Brightshine Jubilee 2020 Holiday Item) 0

As an art student at the Radiant Eye University, the students always wore a beautifully crafted shawl, but art students usually added custom made jewelry to their outfit since item design was considered a core subject, something important for every future artist and designer to at least have a basic understanding of, no matter their future career. Kleio loved the lake from her childhood were she used to sit and listen to interesting stories while seeing the sunrays break through the clouds and the water's surface. The rays from the sky hitting the lake's tranquil surface at different times of the day was a sight beautiful to behold, and so when she was given her first design project she decided to make a homage to the Light and the sunrays she so much appreciated. The right lighting could change the appearance of a landscape in magical ways at different times of the day, which as an artist she loved. The sunrays were modeled after the Light Flight's emblem, and the decorative circles scattered across the wing jewelry and holding the emblems together represented the bodies of water the sunrays passed through.

The ink in her belly could take on marvelous hues with the right amount of work, but getting it to take on the right colour was a process that could take days. As an artist and writer she used the ink every time she could to enhance her work since its magical properties imbued it with the power to evoke the right emotions in the beholders of her work. Since it took so much time to ''brew'' the right ink, and she usually needed so many different ones, she made sure to always carry vials and bottles of ink with her. To do so she wore a leather toolkit tastefully dyed in a shiny white with golden decorations. With it she could always carry with her many small and large hardened glass vials containing the brilliant ink she had made.

Golden Glow Alchemist Tools Apparel An alchemist's tools of the trade. 900

Glowing Gold Clawtips Apparel Softly glowing nails are the mark of an alchemist who has dipped their claws into their cauldron one too many times... 250

She wrote and she drew and she painted and so tirelessly did she work that when inspiration struck or a new story was told to her she would rapidly try to get it on paper. This sometimes meant that she dipped her clawtips in ink when unable to find her pencils rapidly enough. After years of continuously doing this, her claws always had a glowing shine to them, the most beautiful of polish. She obviously didn't use all of her clawtips to paint all the time, but sometimes she even used her wingtips to scribble down something when her claws where occupied. She was mindful of her appearance, though, so she took on the habit of using her ink as clawpolish so no tip was left without colour, thus avoiding a tacky appearance.

Working as soon as inspiration hit meant being able to get to work at all times of the day, even nighttime. As a Light dragon invoking light giving spells wasn't usually an issue, and the ink in her belly could take on self-luminescent properties, but sometimes it was unwieldy. Sure, she could write something down in complete darkness since each word was lit up when it hit the paper, and her belly could give of a gentle sheen, just enough light to sketch a small drawing. But juggling invoking a proper light spell with painting a larger picture was cumbersome, and the light from her ink simply wasn't enough. Therefore she learned how to make her own magically imbued floating candles, and she always carried some in her toolkit. The candles' flames gave off a powerful light and left behind them a gentle glowing smoke when floating beside her, enough to allow her to see properly even in the darkest of places. When consumed, she either reused the wax to make new candles, as she wasn't wasteful, or even used them to make fancy seals or even as a source of colours for her paintings, even though candle wax was somewhat harder to work with than her usual inks.

Ethereal Flame Candles Apparel A spooky assembly of mysterious floating candles. One must be careful when making sudden movements to avoid being singed. 1400

Pale Kelpie Mane Apparel A bleached swath of unkempt hair and weeds. 0

Kleio had always cared about her appearance, her mane being a splendid golden colour that glistened in the sun thanks to the oil she produced from her wonderful tertiary gene. Her mane was long and flowy, so she braided it in a neat pattern and added shiny beads to it as decoration. She always received compliments, and continued to properly take care of it even when busy as she found brushing her mane relaxing. Things wouldn't always remain the same, though, as when time passes the priorities in a persons life can change drastically with it. She had lived a comfortable life and went to university, gotten many friends and thrived in her art career. But then she discovered history; her love of a good story, the enjoyment she got out of writing, and her magical ink that aid her in her work made her obsessed with her newfound interest. She set out to study Art History, but little did she know that her love would turn into a painful obsession. Years passed, she was no longer a fancy art student from a well-off family. She had no use of friendship and family, nor did she even care much about meticulously brushing her gorgeous mane any more. Day after day she scavenged among the darkest corners of The Hewn City, her hair which had gotten its lustrous shine thanks to the brilliant sunlight soon losing its gorgeous colour, eventually turning bleak. She still oiled it, and occasionally even brushed it, but in comparison to what it once had been, it was now the bleak hair of a witch with the occasional weed and vine tangled into it.

She didn't need Light, as she was her own light source thanks to her magical inks and floating candles. She didn't need to look pretty, as no one could see her in the darkness. The only thing she would ever need was a magical book to write on, and her pearl. Her pearl she would never let go of, as even when she couldn't paint or write something down, she would coat her pearl with a new layer of history from her findings in the ruined city.

The Lightweaver had deprived this place of Light, but wasn't it a Light dragon's duty to always seek to unveil the truth and shine a light on the darkest of secrets? So did Kleio think, she believed it with full conviction, and so she abandoned everything she had ever known to pursue the truth and forgotten history that her Deity had tried to keep hidden from Her Flight.

Kleio was willing to sacrifice the delightful feeling of warm sunlight shining on her wings while looking out over her favourite lake in exchange for truth; eternal darkness was a price she willingly paid in order to document whatever was hidden in the shadowy Hewn City.

History was not to be forgotten.

The book was splendid and she carried it with her everywhere, especially considering that this had been a gift from her grandmother who recently passed away. She had last seen at her favourite lake and by its shore the elderly Pearlcatcher told her one last story about the time when she herself as a young fledgling almost got lured into the forgotten city.

''You're young and will certainly want to go on many adventures, as books don't always provide enough excitement. Believe me, I know, I understand, but be careful my dear.''

Kleio had never told her grandmother about the dreams she had been having every night as of late, a dream where she went into the forgotten city and unearthed its secrets. She had taken an interest in history thanks to the friendship she had made with a fellow student, a young Wildclaw named Apollo and his friend, a Light Goblin named Galileo who worked as an Art Historian.

They had met in art class, as the young Apollo was a skilled artist. They decided to discuss different art techniques since Apollo had seen how good she was at painting light reflections with her gilded ink, which she gladly obliged to tell him all about. So did she meet Galileo as well, who always made sure to spend his free time together with his draconic friend.

While talking about inks and lighting in landscapes, Galileo commented on her name and how beautiful it was to be named after a muse from the Second Age.

She had heard that her name was that of a historic muse, but had never thought much about it. The Art Historian went on a long lecture explaining all that he knew about the Nine Muses, as well as their connection to the Deities' depictions in Second Age artworks that was his main field of study.

Her grandmother didn't know about her recurrent dreams about The Hewn City, but the elderly lady did know that her granddaughter had switched majors, from purely Art and Design to Art History. She excitedly told her grandmother everything new she learnt about, and her growing interest in unearthing ancient forgotten art pieces must have given the old Pearlcatcher a hint that maybe she should tell her that story of her youth when the darkness almost took her.

Even her new friends had advised her to not go there, as it was very dangerous, when they first heard that Kleio had taken an interest in the place after studying an intricate, albeit broken, piece of a vase retrieved from The Hewn City. This vase retold a story, but the missing pieces made it impossible to know the ending, and the urge to know how the story ended had placed in her head the idea of personally going to the forgotten city in search of the vase's missing pieces.

Galileo, specifically, was very sternly against the idea. The look in his eyes changed when she told him and Apollo about it; that wasn't her friend, but a servant of Her Holy Light doing his duty. She appreciated the concern, though, and took the advice to heart. She wouldn't visit the place, but read about it and study similar artifacts retrieved by the few who did visit it.

The bright old lady's advice and her friends' warnings would eventually fall in barren lands, as she one day, despite being cautious, got carried away. She hadn't slept well after her grandmother's death, and when walking past the old city she saw a pair of eyes in the darkness, and a whisper calling out to her. ''It's mine… the piece… bring it to me… !''

She was startled, but instantly knew what piece the voice talked about, and so she ran towards the darkness, but the pair of glowing eyes just laughed and screamed… ''The piece, the piece!!! Bring it to me, young one, hahaha… !''

She ran, she knew she shouldn't but she was tired and curious and just as the saying went, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. She truly wanted to know how the story ended.

With caution she approached the area her spell had hit and found a large vase that matched her broken vase piece, she could finally get to know the end of the story! But the vase… it was… unnatural… as it had a pair of large blinking eyes looking angrily at her for breaking it.

''...You're a mimic! You shouldn't behave like that towards us dragons, we could have been friends, I know some dragons who are friends with your kind, but now you're broken… so rest well.''

''You… you caught me, but I'm complete now, it's OK young dragon. Enjoy your little story, if you can.''

In a flash of bright blue light, the life from the vase disappeared, left was its many broken pieces that she rapidly put away in her toolkit, as she was now more worried about how to get out off there. Luck was on her side, though, as a Hewn City Guard had seen the flashes of light from both her spell and from the mimic and found her location. The Guard followed her home to safety, but not before sternly reminding her to never again set foot in the forbidden city.

That night she was exhausted so she coated her pearl with a new layer and went to bed, but couldn't sleep. She got up and decided that she would get down the day's occurrences in her sketchbook, but as she was to grab her beloved book the wings on its cover sprung to life and tried to fly away, but she rapidly caught the book with her right claw and slammed it towards the ground. She wondered if she was hallucinating, but no, the wings decorating its cover had become outstretched and flapped relentlessly, trying to get itself free from her grasp.

She told it to calm down, that this was her grandmother's last gift to her so she would never let it go. She stroked the book's spine, calming it down, its boards slowly opening to reveal a blank page where text started appearing by itself.

The mimic of the vase, when it lost its previous body, sought refuge in a new host, her book being perfect as they thrived in items that had been well-loved.

She was astonished, but she talked with it, and the book answered her back in writing. It told her many things, including the complete story of the vase she had broken into many small pieces. It didn't have a name, though, but they settled on Grimoire since haunted grimoires where a staple in any good adventure story so she thought the name was fitting, and the mimic didn't mind.

They would make a great team, she just didn't know how well just yet.

She rapidly recoiled, but stood her ground, she would not give him the book, it was hers and many others had successfully taken care of mimic familiars, so why wouldn't she?

The Goblin begrudgingly agreed, under the condition that she were to give him the mimic if she couldn't get it to behave, and she agreed. Afterwards thoughts circled around in her head, they swarmed her, especially that feeling of disgust she had felt when Galileo looked her straight in the eyes and it was no longer he who was looking at her. How could she ever have felt something so revolting about Her Holiness, her own breed's Creator? The Light Deity was as brilliant as the purest light, so how could she feel that way towards the Light?

She took on an air of normalcy for a while to regain her friends' trust, nudging and coaxing the flying book to be calm and gentle, to cooperate. It behaved just like a normal book, with six wings and it could fly, but a mostly normal book nonetheless, at least to onlookers.

When alone with Kleio, the words within its pages took on a life of their own, as did the pictures, and even what she had not gotten down in ink the book would help her record, and sometimes it would unveil new paragraphs and pictures she had never seen before. The book's pages were endless, history in its entirety would be able to fit into it, and on the outside no one would know the hidden treasure that it truly was.

One day, she bid her farewells; to her family she told them she would study Art History abroad; to her friends that she had gotten work as an apprentice to a wealthy art benefactor and connoisseur. She took her bearings, only the essentials, and went into the city, her future yet to be fully unveiled and her story yet to be written. We're all part of history, and she would do her part as its messenger.

''History shall not be forgotten'' appeared in golden magical ink on the book's cover that day, the ink was the one its new master used to write with, and thus her new motto and meaning in life was now forever engraved in her eternal companion.

Her family thought that surely she was too busy to write letters or that the few she wrote got lost; who could really trust those Neutral Courier dragons anyway, they never took sides! Did they even care if a letter got lost? Obviously, this was untrue, they knew it, but it's an easier untruth to accept than that of your daughter having gone missing.

The two friends did their best to find her, when eventually Galileo caught word from his fellow Goblins, who worked as Scouts out in the world for Her Holy Light, that they had seen a Pealrcatcher that fit his description.

Apollo listened to Galileo, the Goblin had always been his mentor, and he knew that he didn't only speak to him as a friend, but as a servant of The Lightweaver. They both agreed that Galileo would follow his fellow Goblins to the city and see for himself if she was to be reasoned with, this was much too dangerous for Apollo, even though he was a skilled archer.

A few days later the Goblin went out early with the search party to look after her, and came back late the next morning. He was exhausted, and the look on his face was that of defeat. It had been no use to talk to her, she had given herself to her new goal in life, and the book and other mimics supported her in their mission. Apollo was heartbroken; how could they have let this happen to her? But there was no use in being sad, they had to move on, and so they did.

Her family kept contact with the two friends throughout the years, always asking if they had any news about her whereabouts; they knew where she was, but hope is a strange thing, they couldn't let go. They always looked expectantly at Galileo as if him being Her eyes out in the world meant that he would be able to give them information they didn't already know about. And in fact, he did know more than he told them, so did Apollo, so did everyone who worked with Second Age artifacts.

A strange Pearlcatcher and an even stranger flying book could be seen marauding the ruins, her pearl being described by people who had met her as ever larger for each new encounter, always more lustrous, more brilliant, and glowing. On each report documenting encounters with her, she had almost always left before they could get a word from her, but sometimes she approached unsuspecting dragons investigating the ruins, things she reportedly said being variations of the following phrases:

A few times she had even been seen leaving artifacts she had scavenged on easily accessible places for Guards and the few archaeologists that were allowed entry. Sometimes she had left behind for others to find entire pages ripped by the edge, as if pulled from a book, in detail explaining a historic event or meticulously reconstructing an image of a broken artifact with missing pieces the archaeologists were researching.

The most marvelous thing about the artifacts was that they knew it was from her and not a playful mimic, as they had traces of glowing claw marks and ink stains on them. The pages they found had been torn by one side and seemingly bled a gilded ink as an open wound that rapidly dried, while the ink on the pages retained their golden glow.

Oh, she was definitely a useful resource for everyone working there, albeit scary to meet as meeting a dragon willing to live in those ruins was usually a fail-proof sign that they were possessed by the Shade or had went off the deep end.

Many years passed by, and each year the Wildclaw and the Goblin travelled back to The Sunbeam Ruins to enjoy the Brightshine Jubilee. Clarity was with them, as this had also been her home, and she hoped to someday be able to meet Kleio and extend an invitation from their Dreamkeepers' Founder to join her Clan, as Kleio too had shown oneiromantic abilities.

After all, it was those recurrent dreams about The Hewn City that had led Kleio there, so Somnium the Fae, Leader of the Dreamkeepers, was very interested in her joining their ranks. Every year they tried to find her, and every year they failed, until one day after many years while sitting by the lake Kleio had once loved, two silhouettes could be seen in the distance.

A flying book with a rope attached to an unkempt longhaired Pearlcatcher could be seen together carrying a large pearl that glistened in the sunlight. She approached the three friends sitting by the shore, and asked them if they cared to hear a story, or a hundred. A toothy grin forming on her face while laughing with a hoarse voice, her mimic book flapping excitedly while helping her carry the dense pearl filled with history.

And that was the story of how Kleio joined the Clan; she had finished scavenging the ruins and decided that it was time to share its history with the world. At least part of it, since she would have needed to spend even more time there to unearth all of its secrets. Although for now it was enough, she could always go back later if The Light would let her, as now it was time to do her part and make sure that history wasn't forgotten.

This year the beautiful sunflowers bloomed looking more splendid than usual, their seeds having grown roots and budding sunflowers filled the region on a grander scale than usual.

The dragons and other creatures living there were quick to notice this unusual growth, so they investigated if anything was amiss; maybe a Nature dragon had aided their growth a little too well, but they found that everything was right, so they decided to use the beautiful flowers to their advantage, theming this year's celebration around the Sun's favourite flowers.

The students and faculty members at The Radiant Eye University were among the first to study and notice the massive amount of budding sunflowers. The students decided they had to do something extra special with them, and so they began to work. They wanted the sunflower to be a symbol representing the Sun, which was obvious to everyone, but they also wanted to emphasize that it could be a flower representing unity among dragonkind.

Together, dragons and creatures from many different fights who studied at the University came together to work on the Soirée, including our three friends. Kleio came up with the perfect venue, her favourite lake where sunflowers were already blooming. Apollo contributed the idea that they should make secluded sunflower clearings around the lake, patches of sunflowers with stalks both tall and short, cocooning the visitors and offering a bit of privacy. Galileo the Art Historian was busy with his usual work and other assigned tasks as a Goblin, but he still made sure to offer a helping claw during his free time.

The students designed, and they worked, they moved around sunflowers, engineered new varieties that suited pollen allergic visitors, and they made the sunflower cocoons surrounding the lake as hospitable as possible. The Sunbeam Ruins was a terribly busy pace during the Jubilee, so having a tranquil place to relax in with a gorgeous outlook over the Sunbeam's landscape was a great idea.

It was all perfect; the students were glad with their efforts and everyone was content, the Sunflower Soirée had been a success. Kleio, Apollo and Galileo had been hard at work all week long, but they also had plenty of free time as the University did not approve of the students overworking themselves. Every single year Apollo and Galileo had gone to the Brightshine Bakery that opened a few years back, Baker Ming's special Brightshine pastries being one of a kind. So early one morning they took Kleio with them to the Bakery to avoid the queues, then they headed to the lake to watch the sunrise.

Once at the lake they settled down in a private pod, asking to have a central view of the sunrise, and a force field to have the feeling of being alone at the lake with no noises, no bustling dragons running around them. They watched the sunrise and ate the delicious pastries, and once the Sun came up Kleio brought up one of her notebooks that she had written and drawn in with her magical ink. In it she had plenty of sketches, but also many interesting stories.

Galileo took the book in his lap and started to flick through the pages while resting his back against Kleio who lounged around him on the grass with her tail surrounding her pearl. Apollo rested his head on her back while also lounging in the gentle grass, only occasionally lifting his head to look at the story's pictures. Surrounded by sunflowers and looking out over the crystalline lake with the soft light washing over them, Galileo began to read out loud one of the stories in her book. Kleio listened attentively, as storytelling time by the lake had always been one of her dearest memories, and now she had a new beautiful memory to add to her glistening pearl. The End.

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I wanted to write a short story about how these three friends used to spend the Brightshine Jubilee together before Kleio disappeared into The Hewn City, but I also wanted to provide a glimpse into how the members of different Flights come together to celebrate each Flight's festival, these weeks being of unity and peace instead of warring and conflict. I also wanted to draw a picture with them all together, but I'm way too busy this week so this rough sketch will have to do. I'd have loved to do so much more, but alas, I don't have unlimited time on my hands. There have been many good entries this year, the competition is fierce! I wish everyone the best and I hope you've all enjoyed the Festival. Thanks for hosting this event, Amariel!

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