Ifan

The World

The young Coatl fixed his scarf, careful as to not disturb the small snake sleeping around his neck, and looked around. He had somehow ended up in the shattered plains and was trying to find his way to a safer place. Ifan had been alone for most of his life, as he was abandoned as a hatchling.

He was now travelling Sornieth with his two best friends, Nakita, a small corn snake and Spot, a calico kitten. The rings on his tail rattled as he started moving west again. "I don't think we'll ever see anything other than these rocks again..." he huffed. Ifan was tired and thirsty and he wasn't trying to hide it. "Just stay positive!" Spot meowed from her spot between his wings. "Easy for you to say, you aren't the one walking, Spot." the Coatl said, turning his head to face the small creature. Spot, however, looked in front of them and pointed her paw toward something in the distance.

Ifan tried to see what she was pointing at, but all he could see were the same rocks all over the place. "Wha-" he started, but stopped as he realised what Spot was pointing at. There was a cliff, fairly hard to see. He trotted towards the drop and, once they reached the edge, looked down. Far below was a thundering river. Ifan spread his wings and the small piercings jingle quietly as he carefully descended towards the water. He landed on a large rock sticking out of the water surface. Spot jumped down from his back and started drinking the cool liquid. Ifan lowered his head as well and let the water run down his dry throat. Nakita peeked her head out from the scarf as well to slurp a few drops of water, before retreating again.

The young dragon looked around and took in his surroundings. To his right was Dragonhome, where he had come from. To his left was The Tangled Wood, he didn't really want to deal with shadow dragons again after what had happened the last time... And before him towered The Scarred Wastelands, an unforgiving place he had been avoiding out of fear. He only heard stories from different clans that had been there before. Stories of half rotten dragons and cannibalistic clans had kept him from there and used to plague his nightmares when he was younger. It was the only place in Sornieth he hadn't travelled yet, and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't curious if the stories were true.

"You aren't actually planning on going there, are you?" he heard Spot's voice from his back. "I don't know Spot... Aren't you curious?" Ifan asked with a small smile on his face.

She just sighed and shook her head at the young Coatl. "Fine let's go then... But if the stories are true we are leaving as fast as we can!" she said. Ifan nodded and took off towards the rotting piece of land in front of them. He landed on top of the purplish ground and instantly cringed.

The ground felt mushy and soft, almost like skin and Ifan was sure he could feel it pulsing beneath his paws. If his gloves and spats weren't ruined before, he was sure they would've been now. He started walking and looked around. Most of the flora was dead and there were bones scattered around every few meters. He had heard stories about The Abiding Boneyard. Things like travellers that are brave enough to actually cross it to reach The Wyrmwound vanishing for months or even eternity, or stories about mutated dragons that kill everything they see. Ifan was on edge and kept looking around to see if anything tried to sneak up on the three friends.

A loud crack snapped Ifan out of his thoughts and he looked down. He almost screamed when he saw what had made the sound. Ifan had stepped on a bone and it had broken in half. "Calm down, Ifan." a low voice said. Nakita had woken up and stuck her head out from the scarf to look up at the frightened Coatl. He took a few deep breaths and started walking again. The sun began to set and the three of them had no place to spend the night in sight. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..." Ifan whispered as he curled up underneath a dead tree. "You don't say..." Spot responded from her spot under Ifan's wings. Ifan lay awake for several hours, simply listening to the strange sounds coming from around him.

He must have fallen asleep at some point though, because when he opened his eyes again the sun had already risen and Spot was staring at something in front of her, fur standing upright in fear. Ifan lifted his head to see what she was staring at and as his eyes landed on the dragon in front of him he felt his jaw drop.

The white Pearlcatcher in front of him had dark red runes decorating her body and a dark birdskull mask hid her face, but what made his jaw drop was the fact that her scales were missing on some parts of her body and rotting flesh was visible. Her wings were only shreds of skin, held together by the wing bone and a small line of skin left on the ends of her wings. A small beige and purple Fae was hovering next to her. Ifan flattened his feathers to seem as small as possible and he was sure that he was shaking.

"Do not be afraid, young one." the rotten Pearlcatcher said. "You leave Ifan alone, Zombie!" Spot hissed. "Spot, come here!" Ifan told her quietly, afraid that she might get hurt. "I'm trying to protect you!" she hissed back. "I don't need you to protect me! Besides, you're too small and you might get hurt!" he said, reaching out to pull her back towards him. "You can speak to animals?" the Pearlcatcher asked. She shared a confused look with the Fae beside her, who was just shrugging.

"Look, I am not going to hurt you, even if I look scary... My name is Lilith and I lead a clan at the Wyrmwound and this is Selene, she is a writer. You look like you've been on your own for a long time, so how about you join us?" she asked, extending a red paw for the Coatl to shake, the pearls of her bracelet rattling together slightly. Ifan looked at her paw for a few seconds before looking down at Nakita and Spot. "Having a clan does sound nice, right?" Nakita asked quietly. Ifan nodded his head and then looked at Spot, awaiting her take on the situation.

"I don't know, Ifan... The Pearlcatcher is half rotten and the Fae hasn't said a word, I don't trust this!" she meowed. "It's fascinating how he can speak to them, right Selene?" they heard Lilith ask the Fae quietly. Selene nodded and signed something with her paws to which Lilith chuckled and nodded her head slightly. "So that's why she hasn't talked... See Spot, you're always too suspicious!" Nakita chuckled lowly. The cat sighed and agreed to have a look at the clan. "Then it's decided!" Ifan exclaimed and walked towards the two dragons.


by Kytheen