Bones

Bones, a nomad Mirror without a pack, had been traveling across the continent on his way to the Ashfall Waste, and happened to cross paths with Crowe and Celestial’s clan. He was a bit eccentric, a chatty Mirror, and he told tirelessly of some kind of creatures that had come from the same place the Shade came from, that they had made their way into Sornieth and that the only way to learn more would be to travel to the Ashfall Waste.

Only here, in the land of the passionate, a place south of the industrious delegators and north of the forgotten secrets, would they learn the greatest secret of this new race of dragons that were not really dragons at all.

Celestial wasn’t so sure, but Crowe felt something was not right. She didn’t feel that Bones was lying, or was attempting to lead them astray. Something was just… strange. She couldn’t pinpoint it.

A few nights later, while they were asleep in their den, Undertaker arrived with an urgent message. It was about Bones.

The Mirror was curled up in the temporary nest he’d constructed from branches and discarded scraps. On his arm was a glowing sigil, flickering orange like fire.

“He’s marked,” Crowe exclaimed.

She ran back to her lair, grabbing some old scrolls, books, and papers. By the time Celestial and Undertaker arrived, she was deep in a pile of parchment and ink.

She showed them the combination of legends, science, and her own recent work, and how she too had noticed a shift in the energy and sensed something new, and that she had hypothesized what that could mean. She explained how that led to her questioning some kind of magical couriers, messengers for a secretive race, and how they would be identified.

The Sigil. Crowe had mapped it out, like unearthing a hidden language, and drawn what it should have looked like.

It nearly matched what was on the Mirror’s arm.

And that night a decision was made. They would be traveling to this place the Mirror spoke of, where they would learn the secret of something forgotten.

Not everyone wanted this. Some of their clan departed, bidding farewell and wishing luck. Some were unsure, and simply left. Crowe and Celestial understood, and bid their own goodbyes.

In the end, they still had their original small clan, their family, and together, they packed up their supplies and their belongings and began on their journey to the place where they would make their new home.

And so Undertaker led them on a flight over his homeland, The Sea of a Thousand Currents, and landed them in a new land: the flickering edge of the Emberglow Hearth.