Elias

༻ E L I A S ༺ Unique | Impious | Scared O C C U P A T I O N - Sworn Protector M A T E - n/a E N E M Y - N/a F A M I L I A R - Summer Sphinx T H E M E - Forever Fall x

"Some people fall in love for life // Others never get it right" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prologue- The Chronicler's Notes Since he had been old enough to fend for himself, Elias had always been a warrior for hire. He had created a strict code he followed and never took unsavory jobs. He only took jobs with honest intent in mind. He refused to steal or to kill meaninglessly. His preferred jobs were ones where he was hired to watch or guard. Typically he found himself hidden in the middle of a group of travelers, prepared to fight off any would-be brigand. Despite typically traveling with the large groups he was charged to protect, Elias always traveled alone. He had no idea to who his family was other than his orange eyes: indicative of being born in The Ashfall Waste. Elias doesn't think too much of his missing or perhaps forgotten, family. Although, sometimes when he has taken a job that requires him to interact, or at the very least be around, a close family it feels like a knife being twisted into his heart. It's a cruel reminder of something that others have that he never could. There are so many of those things that others have that he couldn't ever be allowed to have. At first, it was a family. Then, it was a home. His title of a warrior for hire kept him moving around Sornieth constantly. Again, something he would pretend didn't bother him. Then later, as his 'fame' grew, it became love. You see, Elias was a shape changer. He didn’t know why or how he just knew it was. He made the most of it in battle slipping in and out of forms with ease to overcome his combatant. Surely he knew it was something that other dragons weren’t able to do, but he didn’t really care. Perhaps the Flamebringer simply blessed him with extra power? Not that he really believed in the all-powerful might of the deities anyways. Being such a powerful dragon though caused rumors to spread. Quickly. As his fame grew and he took more and more jobs, it was like adding dry wood to a small flame. Without taking a break, it quickly grew uncontrollable. Suddenly, his code wasn't being held up. Dragons threatened him to take more and more jobs that went against his morals. Suddenly, he couldn't trust anyone. Suddenly, it became clear that he couldn't be close to anyone. Finding a companion was now out of the question.

Elias quickly found himself overwhelmed and constantly being used by others for their own gain. Any thought of having what others did was now gone, thrown into the fire along with his code. All he wanted to do was protect others. It's what he was best at after all. But no, his powers, his fame, had grown all out of control. He felt like a Guardian who had lost their charge. Empty, confused and surrounded. He just wished he could go back and time and change it.

He wished someone could save him.

And that was just another thing he couldn't have.




“’You’ll do it, right? You hafta you know? Otherwise-” the Spiral that spoke to him was bigger than he was and far more intimidating. Red eyes ringed by a blackness only amplified the intimidating effect. How did he end up in this mess?

“Yes! I’ll do it. Okay? Then…then you’ll leave me alone?’” Elias was nervous. This wasn't his normal type of work. Then again, the last few jobs weren't either. He turned down the last one and suffered the consequences, he hadn't been able to find a safe place to sleep or eat in the Hewn City for months now. But now, with a dagger at his heart, could he really afford to not accept?

“You have no choice to believe us, don’t you?”

“I-” Elias didn't believe them. Not one bit. But the knife at his chest said otherwise.

“DON’T YOU?” A shout, a drop of blood, a wince of pain.

“Yes! Yes! Okay? I said- I-I said I’d do it.”

“Good. Now make sure you do a good job. Unlike the pathetic excuse for a dragon who hired you before, I won't just be threatening your 'credibility.'” As to emphasize his point, he dug the dagger a little deeper into Elias' skin.

The job was quick, but the faces of those guards as he shifted still haunt him.

---

“Why hello sweetie, glad to see we finally managed to track you down.” Her voice was sickly sweet, it made Elias' skin crawl.

“Regretfully.” Elias deadpanned. Another gang member of gang XYZ- he didn't really care enough to remember the name- managed to hunt him down. Not that it was hard nowadays. Thanks to his now negative reputation, he couldn't find work like he used to. Now he had a booming reputation with the unsavory thugs in Sornieth that he was an unstoppable monster who would do anything for coin so long as you threatened him. Great.

“Now, now honey, I suggest you don’t take that tone with me. Otherwise-”

“Yes, yes I know.”

“Watch it.” Her tone was a cool as the ice that shackled him to the ground.

“I apologize." He wasn't sorry, "what is it you need me for?”

He agreed so much more easily this time. The job was an easy theft, but how easily he wanted to escape from it hurt more than the fact he was stealing from those who had nothing.

---

“No. I won’t do it.”

“Yes, you will Eliiaaasss.” The Fae himself wasn't intimidating, but his impressive use of ice magic was a bit concerning.

“You brought me here because you know my powers. I could shift into a fly and be out of these binds and out the door. I could shift into an Imperial and bring this whole cavern down on us. Hell, I bet I could turn into an image of the Icewarden you so adore.”

“But you won’t.”

“Oh? I’m tired of all these games I keep getting roped into. Why, why won’t I?”

“Because you aren’t perfect. In the second it takes you to change I’ll have a shard of ice in your heart.”

Silence.

“I take your silence as agreement?”

Why? Why did he fear death so much? It was just another string that his cruel puppet masters used to control him. Why?

This was the last straw. In the midst of battle, he found himself not caring if he was defeated or not. He almost wanted to let them.

---

“I’m done! I’m tired of being used by group after group. I’m tired of sick dragon after sick beast killing each other to get their claws on me! Let the whole damn world know I’m some monster. It’s no secret! You can’t make me do this!” Elias snarled. He was in a fury. Brought to another dark, dank cavern to meet with another lowlife dragon. Imperial guards stood by the door. He could take them.

“Done with your little outburst, beast?” The Skydancer who had brought him here, some boss or another of a local ‘surely-up-to-no-good’ group, that sat across from him asked. His name was Kyzara, if Elias remembered correctly, but it was hard to keep them all straight in his head, especially with the fury he was feeling now. Kyzara was relaxed and staring at Elias with a raised brow.

“I’m no beast.” He growled. “Oh, really? You have no clue what you really are, huh? Well anyways beast there is a very simple way of getting you to do what I want. You do it or-” “Or I die? Ha! As if I fear death anymore. Do it! Kill me where I stand and see where that leaves you. “You do it. Or. I kill every last dragon from that clan you helped protect against the Emperor.” Elias felt his eyes grow wide. The clan was small, perhaps only 2 or 3 families and no one else knew about that job. Elias hadn’t been hired for it and it was a total coincidence that he had found himself there that day. How long had Kyzara been keeping tabs on him? Or was this all just general information in the criminal underworld now? Kyzara smiled at Elias’ sudden expression. Damn, there was no faking this out now. “I killed an Emperor, what’s stopping me from killing you?”

“Well, let’s just say you kill me. You manage to kill every other dragon here. I mean, surely I don’t doubt your abilities, otherwise, I wouldn’t hire you for this job. Let’s just say I have a special little dragon keeping an eye on that little clan of yours and when he doesn’t get my message. Well, let’s just say that the Scarred Wasteland is gonna be a little redder.”

“Spawn of the Shade, damn you.”

“What will it be Elias? Your soul? Or the clan?”

“It’s not even a choice,” Elias mumbled.

“I’m sorry?” Kyzara grinned sickly. “Speak up, please?”

“I’ll do your damn job. What do you need me to do?”

“Oh it’s quite a fun one. I’ve heard you’ve slaughtered the Stormcatcher’s guards, stolen rare artifacts from Scholars in the Ruins. Oh! Sabotaging the Rebellion? That one must have been fun-”

Elias groaned, “get on with it please.”

“I’m just teasing. Surely those must have all been so boring for one of your caliber. Anyways, this one will be fun. Fit for a beast like you. I mean, what could be more exciting than a beast hunting down a beast?”

The room fell silent once again. Elias forced himself to not fidget and took another glance around the room. Three Imperial guards, surely a Fae assassin hiding right on the desk, Kyzara across from him surely with a spell preemptively ready to go and just himself, the small Spiral in the middle of it all. He preferred his self-named “natural” form whenever possible. Was it possible for shapeshifter to have a natural form? It was a question he didn’t think about much because it crawled under his scales whenever he did.

He could take them. He wasn’t bluffing when he said so. Even if Kyzara hit him with a spell, even if there were a dozen Fae, even if the Imperial guards charged right at him without any care, Elias could shape change and crush them all in mere minutes. Stars, would he love to. He would love to be free from this horrible gang that crushed dragons they saw below them. Free from this horrible gang that would use him and toss him out once this dirty deed was done. Elias wouldn’t just be free from this one, no he would be free from all of them. Surely if he decimated one they would all leave him alone? But to kill that many dragons, even if they were no better than the scum on the bottom of his boot…

But it wouldn’t just be them he would kill. If Kyzara knew about one clan Elias had saved, what if other gangs knew of other dragons he had saved? It was something he had never considered before. He felt so stupid! Did they know the whole time? Had he agreed too easily?
“Don’t think about changing your mind.” Kyzara’s warning snapped Elias back to reality.

“Too late I already did.” Elias snarled. Kyzara’s eyes widened in sudden fear and the Imperials all took a step forward in unison. “But I will not risk the lives of others who are innocent. Please continue with what you need me to do…”




Elias found himself a small, but busy, inn to stay the night. Other than the small interaction at the counter to get himself a room and a meal he made sure not to speak or even look at another dragon. Which ones wanted to use him? Which ones would become a future weakness? He didn’t want to know.

Elias had done many unsavory tasks over the course of the past few years. They had started off simple enough, steal something here, con someone there, break-in here, destroy something there. They started to get more and more drastic, often requiring him to take another’s life so he could escape. With each job he took, the threats started to get higher and higher. At first, they threatened to take his money or his home. As time went on he hoped that if he stopped caring about that then they wouldn't have anything to threaten him with. So, they went after his life. Then, he stopped caring about that too. He wasn't sure if it was this job or the last one, or hell even the one before that, that made him stop caring.

He didn't wish for death. In fact, he rather enjoyed living. But if it came between him dying or someone else, someone who was innocent, he would certainly give up his own life. Yet, as Elias raised his stakes so did his 'employers'. Gods! What was he supposed to do! If he didn't do the job then a whole clan of innocents would die and Elias would still be alive. He could save them. If he went to warn them, they would have to spend their entire lives in fear. Elias would have to constantly be by their side to protect them. Eventually, Elias would fail and they would die. It would all be Elias' fault!

And if he did the job... they would live. But at what cost to himself? No, that doesn't matter. He only has 2 choices. Either he does the job. Or he finds a way to outsmart every other possible outcome.

Elias slumped into the bed, both brain and body exhausted from the day. His mind drifted to his last job and shuddered to think about if this current one would be worse than that one. He was to break into a clan’s nursery and shatter one of the eggs. Elias was worried that they would kill him on the spot- and then go to shatter the egg anyways- that he didn't refuse. He thought that maybe he could find a way out and at the very least save the egg.

He eventually reached the nursery with little trouble, and that’s when everything fell apart. Elias wasn’t going to smash one of these eggs, no matter how much he was threatened, but the guard that was there didn’t know that. Elias even tried to warn him that it was very likely there could be another attacker, but still, the guard didn't believe him. The nursery guard called an alarm and quickly the room was filled with warriors. They were shouting at him, questioning him, threatening him, but it had all become a roar in his ears. Was it really so bad for him to die now? After all that he had done, after all the lives he had ruined, did he care anymore?


Broken, but not yet destroyed, Elias made an attempt to escape. It was careless and sloppy but someone Elias made it out of the disaster he made. He still isn't sure how he managed it even now. The only thing he remembers is a horrible buzzing in his head like he had been thrown in a pool of electrified water. One minute he was staring at the soft glow of unborn Arcane hatchlings, the next he was in the middle of the Starwood Strand.


He had heard stories about dragons being lost in the Strand and never being able to find their way out. Some would be lost to madness, others killed by strange beasts. Either fate seemed appropriate for him. The roaring in his ears turned into a maddening, painful buzzing. Just as he thought he was going to lose himself to the madness of the Strand, he stepped out on the other side of the trees. The buzzing vanished.
Elias is still not sure how he made it out. Isn’t it if you enter the Strand without a guide, you’ll get lost? Maybe he got lucky. Or maybe…

---

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