Evanos

From the moment she was born, her life had been agony. Since young, she was treated with nonchalance at the very best and abuse at the very worst, leaving her broken and despairing. She grew up before she had a chance to be a child. She had to. Otherwise, they would just have more fun picking on her. She learned to internalize these things, to not respond to the pain. She learned to shut up and stop crying, for they enjoyed her sorrow more than the process of abuse. She learned to dodge every other dragon in the clan as though they were giant, rabid Phytocats stalking the woods. She learned, as a child, that she was not loved. And the moment she could walk, she was on her own.

The dragon named Evanos learned to suck it up. She learned to keep her head down, striving quietly towards the day when she would grow up and be able to leave. Every minute of her life was spent preparing to leave her clan behind, and it was a ferocious struggle. Many times, she was shoved to the ground and stepped on. Many times, she was beaten and trampled. Many times, she was mocked and laughed at.

Evanos didn’t care. She’d had worse. Whatever they did to her as a young dragonling, they’d done worse when she had been a child who’d been unable to do anything about it but cry. She just bottled it all up, kept her head high and moved on. Her motivation was the clear skies high above, and she dreamt of taking to them one day without ever having to look back.

She’d come back one day and give them a taste of their own medicine, she decided. Their biggest mistake would’ve been messing with her. She maintained that mentality until she was sent to tidy the clan archives one day alone, and it was there that she’d found a scroll. It was a reckoning of sorts, a fated tale, rolling to a stop by her feet as though it was drawn to her. And so Evanos picked it up, unrolled it, and began to read.

That was the moment Evanos changed her mind about her clan’s biggest mistake. She had been wrong when she thought her clan’s biggest mistake had been to treat her badly. Her clan’s biggest mistake had been murdering her parents, destroying their lives, and then using her like a stage puppet.

She had been wrong. And when she rolled up the scroll, her heart was still. Evanos no longer felt the fluttering of ambition, and the skies seemed too bright for the tragedy she’d just found out about. She felt cold, like the winter had settled into her bones, and as she stared into nothingness, she felt the last semblance of her tolerance leave her.

Did they think they had gotten away with it? A cruel smile made its way to her lips. Her claws dug into the parchment, and the aged paper ripped softly under the pressure. Did they think she would never find out? Did they think they would never get what they deserved?

They were wrong, for the next time the sun rose, the only living dragon left in the clan was Evanos. She’d considered sparing the hatchlings, but when she thought of the scroll that held the last remnants that proved her parents’ existence, a fury so primal took hold of her, leaving her helpless to resist. And the moment she was done with them, she flew away, her wings flapping madly of their own accord. Evanos didn’t exactly know what she was doing. She just knew that she had to get as far away as possible from the massacre.

Maybe then it would wash some of the sins off her, she remembered thinking. Maybe it would cleanse her, somehow make her a happy hatchling again. And then she wouldn’t have to be strong anymore. She could cry in an older dragon’s arms and be swaddled with warmth and comfort.

She’d had hope at first that her story had a happy ending. But as she travelled from clan to clan, hoping to find a family, the scent of death never left her. She doesn’t look too friendly. Maybe we shouldn’t keep her around too long. She’s a stranger- who in their right mind would let her in? Send her away now, before she steals all our eggs and burns all our archives. Always these words, over and over, negative and cutting. Her colours bring misfortune. She scares me, Mom. Why does she never smile?

I don’t like her, she remembered one elderly dragon husking grumpily. Look at her eyes. They’re cruel and merciless. She’d blinked and kept quiet because she’d heard worse, but as more and more clans began to advise her to look for new shelter, her hope withered like a flower in a desert.

My eyes are cruel and merciless? Evanos would laugh if she’d ever been taught to. Perhaps they’re a mirror, and perhaps what you see in them is your own soul. Cold, heartless, uncaring- you’re all the same. You’re all the same type of monster.

And so Evanos left again. From then on, she kept to herself, building walls as high as mountains, her heart harder than diamond. Her unceasing ambition now landed on seeking to regain the childhood she had been so cruelly denied; Evanos decided she wanted a potion for eternal youth. And when Evanos decided she wanted something, she would have it at any cost.

It wasn’t her fault. Her clan did this to her. They taught her their greed and avarice, thickened her skin with abuse, and mocked her for weakness and vulnerability. Evanos had been conditioned from the beginning to emotionlessly forge her way through any hardship. And hence she would go to any lengths to get what she wanted.

That burning desire led her to chase the elusive elixir, running from clue to clue, always on the move, seeking out her next goal. Evanos decided during this journey that she liked it better when she was always moving. This way, her mind had no time to plague her with diseased thoughts from the past. She became a machine with only one purpose in mind, and anything else unrelated to that she buried and swallowed and stuffed deep down inside her. Day after day, she flew and travelled and searched, barely stopping to rest, fuelled by the phantom flame within her that wouldn’t put itself out no matter how many drawbacks she encountered.

When she finally achieved her goal, as with all greedy people, it wasn’t a feeling of great triumph, but rather, a feeling of weird emptiness. After shrinking back into the form of a hatchling, Evanos studied the elixir, confused. This was what she’d wanted. So why was her chest so hollow? Why didn’t she feel happy? Why didn’t she feel anything at all?

Greed is a dangerous thing. Greed teaches you to always want more than what you have. Greed devalues something as soon as you own it, and redirects your focus to something even greater. Greed does not differentiate between something achievable or unachievable; greed merely fills you with want. Greed has you chasing your own tail. Greed is exactly like passion, scarily so; except that it has no substance to it. It evaporates like smoke the moment it is touched. Passion solidifies and becomes the next flight of stairs you ascend. Greed dances out of your reach, taunts you, and reappears somewhere else, somewhere more difficult.

It wasn’t her fault. Evanos’s unfortunate beginnings had cursed her. No child can prevent themselves from learning the behaviours of adults, even through conscious decision, and Evanos had learned their spite and their greed. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault.

She was faultless. She was not to blame. She had been doomed from the very beginning.

Evanos didn’t care what happened to her or what happened next, as long as she was going somewhere, because if she was going somewhere, it meant that her mind couldn’t bring back the memories of mistreatment and isolation. And so she picked a direction and began walking, her childlike form feeling lighter and bouncier than her adult body.

Evanos took a while to adjust to this new size. Greed was a lot less tangible than passion, and yet, the monumental realisation of finally reaching a long-awaited goal did not change. She was breathless, utterly confused by the fact that she now had forever to herself. Conceptualising is incredibly easy; understanding and accepting not so much. Evanos couldn’t decode anything about herself: not her emotions, her inner workings, her motivations, her past, nor her directionless wandering. She just kept moving, chasing away the demons of the past with the spirits of utter exhaustion, and never looked back.

The weather warmed. Evanos didn’t stop walking. The leaves dried up and fell. Evanos didn’t stop walking. The first snow fell. Evanos didn’t stop walking. She walked through rain or shine, her body tired. But her legs were busy and her mind was occupied, and so she continued to walk.

One day, she stumbled upon a gusting island. She remembered that day; the leaves of the trees were red and gold, the tree bark dressed with autumn lacquer, the weather cooling and leisurely. It felt like the world had slowed down, and was encouraging her to do so too. So Evanos stumbled towards that island against her instincts, her muscles screaming with fatigue, her limbs heavy with tiredness. And the moment she stepped past the threshold, she collapsed.

She woke to a white Spiral’s concerned face. Evanos’s instincts finally kicked in, and she sprang out of the nest, baring her fangs. The Spiral blinked at her, gently picked her up and simply deposited her back inside.

Right. She was a child now. Evanos’s heart sank. She no longer had her claws or her teeth. She was tiny. If there was anything this Spiral wanted to do to her, she would be helpless.

The Spiral didn’t do anything, despite Evanos’s constant expectation of betrayal. Each time the Spiral brought her food, she eyed her intently, horribly suspicious. It wasn’t her fault. Her old clan had taught her that. Her old clan had taught her to be vigilant, for if she encountered the wrong dragons, she would be beaten like a party pinata.

“I’m Blizzard,” said the Spiral. She brushed a lock of pearly white mane out of her face. Her eyes were gentle and calming. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Evanos became even more suspicious at that. No one had ever been glad to have her around. Surely some form of vicious abuse was on the way. There was no hope for her.

But nothing came. Evanos expected to be thrown to the ground and stepped on like a plaything, but every mealtime, her belly was filled with warm food. Every illness that befell her, Blizzard nursed away. Every winter, her nest was insulated with feathers that Blizzard had collected from somewhere. Evanos didn’t understand. She kept waiting and watching, wanting to catch the moment the white Spiral dropped her gentle mask, but it never came. Blizzard would hold her like she always wanted, croon her to sleep, and kiss her forehead softly.

Evanos had had so many chances to slit her throat, but she found herself not wanting to. Blizzard had disconnected something within her, something raging and disturbed, something that had been flaring and roaring since the day she read that scroll. If it had been a blazing inferno beforehand, it had now dwindled down to a candle flame.

Evanos lives with Blizzard’s clan now. Her past is still shrouded in mystery. She has never opened up about it before; she’s too busy waiting for someone to betray her. But the walls are cracking, slowly but surely.

Maybe one day, Evanos will tell them about everything. And maybe when the dragon that had known nothing but abuse and neglect her entire life finally opened her mouth to speak, someone would care enough to listen.

@/kawacy








Background:
- When she was younger, she did not have parents.
- Instead, she was raised by a different clan, one that didn't like her and treated her like trash. (Thus the name Xenos, as they never accepted her)
- When she grew up, she found out that the clan she was raised by killed her real parents, and upon finding her egg, decided to keep it so that they could use the hatchling inside.
- So she killed them all
- She ran away from the destruction, going from clan to clan to seek refuge.
- But she reeked of blood and death and desperate sharp edges
- Rejected
- On her journey, she realised that dragonkind were all cruel and decided to rename herself to Evanora, meaning wicked witch.
- She then begin a journey to find the elixir of eternal life
- She thought she found it
- But she was mistaken
- It was actually for eternal youth
- And so she reached eternal life
- At the cost of her age
- Now she wanders the lands seeking knowledge to further herself (was taken in by Blizzard who did not know about her adult side, instead believing her to be a child who was cursed)


Personality:
- Struggles between her kid side and adult side
- Kid side loves candy and likes taking risks.
- Also likes exploring
- Kid side is basically energetic and also slightly sarcastic (I diagnose this dragon with DEAD)
- Dislikes boring people
- Adult side plans murder and is more calculating
- Likes reading
- Comes off as cold and aloof
- Dislikes slow(mentally) people
- Most dragons do not know about her adult side


Powers/Abilites:
- Witch, so can make potions and stuff
- Can do a couple of basic nature spells
- Can fade into shadows except you can kinda see her capsule
- Can kinda talk to spiders, as in influence their thoughts to do something, but not complete control
- Knows how to recognise herbs and plants
- Can partially mimic voices but is not very good at it


Weaknesses:
- Fire. Just fire.
- Doesn't do so well against technology because she is inexperienced with it and can't defend herself against tech
- Flies pretty slowly
- Can't swim either :p
- Also has bad bad eyesight


Etymology:
The adult version is called Evanora, which means wicked witch.
The kid version is called Xenos, which means stranger/alien.
The merged version, due to both versions existing at the same time, is Evanos, which means wicked stranger or witch alien. Basically someone who is "wicked"(not really), a witch and isn't accepted easily.














"The bubbling cauldron and the copper scales, vials of dusts and gems and preserved relics. Sour apple and cherry, a love of sugary foods, charcoal sketches and books of failed experiments. Gloved hands and old eyes, the artful flourish and the misdirection. The trees intwine, a bower of ash and willow, windowsills filled with precious stones and coins. A premonition, as though the world could be unwound and shaken just so."