Hoara

My first primal!

Also, on December 23 2019, became the mother of my first 5-egg nest!

This eldritch horror dragon belongs to Cryoluxa.

---

Inside

Hoara was never supposed to be. Her parents, through different means, each were infected with small pieces of Shade: something that should never have happened to any Gaoler, who were (at least among dragonkind) the foremost nemisi of the Shade. When Hoara's parents had their first clutch, their individual pieces of Shade likewise came together, producing yet more of the shadowstuff, which entered the pair's eggs. The majority of new Shade poured into Hoara's still-forming body, and the two's DNA fused together, making her half-Gaoler, and half-Shade: two diametrically opposed creatures combined within one form.

This was never supposed to be. Even at the molecular level, the two creatures fight. Hoara's body is in a Gaoler's shape, and covered with the inky darkness of the Shade. Inside, her Gaoler genes fight what it percieves as a harmful agent trying to take it over, and is constantly releasing ice magic inside of her body. As such, Hoara has a very low body temperature, and she never feels completely healthy, as her body is always attacking itself. Sometimes, her inborn Shade abilities activate on their own, as though of their own will. This happened soon after she hatched, in fact.

Not particularly wanting children, the young parents sent their eggs away. Two found new homes. The newly-hatched Hoara, however, partially melted into the shadows, and traveled in a blink to a place just outside of where her parents lived. The two were very surprised to see the little Gaoler there, and somewhat disturbed, too. Perhaps it was her Gaoler half that was drawn to her parents. Perhaps it was her Shade half drawn to other Shade fragments. Whatever the case, neither Hoara nor anyone else understood why it happened, nor why any of her other unsettling abilities and behaviors occur.

Hoara herself only has so much reasoning ability. Part of her thinks like a dragon, and sadly wonders why the world is so strange and scary; why people react to her the way they do. Part of her thinks like the Shade...and perhaps, these are actually the young fragment's thoughts instead. Whatever the case, cold exudes from her, to the point of snowflakes falling in a slow, steady stream from her foggy-sighted eyes, and when she breathes, cold fog twists its way to the ground. She is prone to staring, and is nearly always, (only half aware that she does this) wondering "why."

---

Outside

When Shiv and Garreth had their first clutch, the two decided that they weren't ready to be parents, and sent the eggs off. However, as they were taking a walk together sometime after this, they stopped short in surprise. Both of them could feel it: something was very wrong with the Gaoler child they had happened upon. In addition, somehow, they both knew that she was their daughter. They tried taking her to someone who would find her a home, but every time she was taken away, she would reappear, waiting for them. There was no getting rid of the child.

So, not having much choice, the two accepted her into their lives. They were never able to shake their unsettled feeling, however. The girl's body temperature was always unnaturally cold, and snowflakes fell from her wide, glassy eyes in a slow, steady stream. She seemed to primarily want to be near them for the company, as she was somehow perfectly capable of feeding herself. There was something sorrowful about the girl. She had trouble understanding the happenings around her, even though she could apparently perceive it. She often seemed sad and confused. Eventually, she gained her parents' sympathy, but not their love. Garreth and Shiv just could never shake that terrible "wrongness" they felt about the child.

Due in part to this stomach-knotting, skin-crawling feeling the two got whenever she was around, and in part due to the ice which seemed to penetrate her body, Garreth and Shiv named the creature "Hoara," a play on the words "hoarfrost" and "horror."

---

Other

Hoara really is a pitiful creature. Being torn between her Gaoler half and her Shade half, each rejecting and combatting the other down to the last strand of her DNA, her mind sundered by the Shade and her body ravaged by her Gaoler ice... Her soft, lonely moans often fade into the night. But one night, as she sat in a loneliness she continuously tried to cull with the presence of her nearby parents, something new happened. She jumped in surprise and fear at suddenly feeling a body next to hers. A wing wrapped around her...and she could feel his feelings pouring into her cognition. He reassured her, consoled her, and quieted the deafening cacophony which had always plagued her mind. He brought relief, and understanding. But most importantly, she could feel his compassion...his sympathy...and she knew that, for the first time, she was truly not alone. Snowflakes poured from her eyes and she breathily wailed into the night in her relief. Alioetheus... His name was Alioetheus.

His devotion was strong and his compassion thrummed warmly in her heart. He protected her - set her apart from the collective Shad hivemind which had previously constantly assailed her own mind. She learned from him that their bodies were those of dragons called Gaolers. She learned from him that the other part of her was called Shade. These two were at war, and had been for much longer than she had been alive. The war for the world. The dragons wanted to keep the world in this state of wrongness that it was in, while the Shade wanted to transform it into its own liking: to make it right and reasonable. Hoara and Alioetheus were caught in the middle...to a degree. Hoara was equal parts Gaoler and Shade. Alioetheus had more autonomy than other pieces of Shade, and could navigate both Shade and dragon ways of thinking, even though the dragons' way of thinking just felt so wrong. He could live in both worlds. Hoara wondered if her kind would be able to calm down without Alioetheus' protection if the world became the Shade's. There was no way of telling for now, though.

Despite Alioetheus assuring Hoara that he could protect her through the Shade's collective link no matter the distance, neither of them wanted to leave each other. So, Hoara went with him to his home. Together, they had a nest of two eggs. Despite having only known one another for a short time, they were unfathomably close, communicating heart to heart and mind to mind directly, without the need for words. Hoara felt his warmth always, as though he was constantly wrapped around her in a protective embrace, whether or not his body was performing the act. She could think more clearly than she ever could before, and yet her thoughts were always on her love for him...at first.

Something else entered her mind. Something that had been buried deep in her unconscious -- in her very being. Thanks to her beloved's protection and teaching, Hoara could understand its simple message: Spread the Shade.

It was like a migratory instinct: a compulsion which she had to follow. In an instant, it was communicated to Alioetheus. He traced it back to the pieces of Shade which inhabited her parents, and, in particular, the one who held her mother. It had been the piece to orchestrate the spread of the Shade into dragon DNA, and to therefore grow the collective as the dragons furthered their own bloodlines. The Shade would take over the dragons, and feed off of them like parasites. The dragons' numbers would shrink, the Shade would grow, and in time, the Shade would take over and reshape Sornieth. The world would be set right.

Unwittingly, Hoara's parents were already enacting this plan. Her siblings had the chance to do so as well. And though Alioetheus had the ability to chose to go along with it or leave the plan alone, Hoara did not. She had less autonomy from the Shade than he did, even with his protection. The instinct was strong, and she didn't see anything wrong with going along with it. And so the couple agreed: they would contribute to the Shade's plan with their own offspring. They would expand their family, and set their purpose on creating a better world.

Thus came to be the Gaolitchshade dragons.

After their eggs hatched, Hoara returned to her parents, still carrying the protection from Alioetheus. She also brought the younger son of her and her love's first clutch, Regis, with her. Their elder child, Rhys, stayed with his father. Alioetheus would come to visit again at a later time. And back and forth they would go, between their two homes.

The next time Alioetheus came to her, Hoara introduced him to her parents. She and he also had another nest, from which two girls hatched. The elder returned to Rhys with her father, while the younger stayed with her mother and Regis. The elder's name was Umi and the younger was Ashnyra. For whatever reason Hoara just didn't feel as close to Ashnyra as she did to her other children. It was like she just couldn't connect to her as well. Thankfully, Regis stepped in and made sure to guide and assist his younger sister.