Darius

Rusted Crown

Trinkets

This crown was not made for a dragon, though it's fun to balance it on your head.

320

Unicorn Dust

Organics

A pinch of unicorn dust and happy thoughts can allow a dragon to fly! It seems impossible, but it is true!

48

Courageous Warhorse

Familiar

Its name is Courage: the courageous warhorse.

500

Slinky Band

Trinkets

A glossy metal wrap that's considered quite fashionable.

44

Intricate Weaving

Dragonmade

These blankets are prized for their craftsmanship. The pattern is too delicate for most dragons to reproduce.

32

Gender: Male (He/him)
Orientation: Bisexual
Alignment: Lawful Good
MBTI: ESFJ-T
Theme:

"There's a good reason why Imperials like me aren't desired around these parts and I often don't believe I should be the one in charge of this castle, this kingdom. I suppose that i'm... afraid, for the worst, that is."

Darius explained, pondering, staring far into the distance. The Imperial stood on the edge of his balcony, staring at the gorgeous, red sun settling down, while his partner, Chryses, stood on the edge of the balcony bars, carefully wrapping his wing around the much larger dragon as a sign of comfort.

"Cheer up, Dari. I know you have it in you. We don't like to see the monarch boy moping around, now do we?" the Coatl said with warmness and humor in his voice, curling closer to the Imperial. This in turn, made his sorrows drift away, giving out a small, relieved smile.

"I'm just worried, is all."
He answered briefly, staring at his partner thoughtfully.

"Don't be."
Chryses exclaimed, giving a wide grin to Darius and leaning in further. The duo stared at the sunset for a bit, mostly just taking in the wonderful breeze and the allaying evening songs by the garden doves, enjoying the moment, until darkness began to fall and the city below started to grow more and more silent. Chryses simply lend out a weary yawn, almost drifting off next to his partner, while Darius seemed to only daydream, staring at Goldenrod in awe. Alongside Chryses, it was his greatest treasure, the very thing he swore to protect.

The duo was soon awakened by the sound of guards rushing out of the castle grounds, passing below the king's balcony. Chryses snapped out of his dozing state.

"Alright darling, I should call it a night."
He said to Darius quietly, while caressing his cheek. Both of them knew what the guards thought of him, despite such a strong bond with the king, he wasn't exactly welcome into the castle, so the two kept their meetings as private as they could.

"Thank you, Chrys."
Darius simply thanked while embracing his ray of sunshine briefly, the Coatl then took flight, the rustling of his large, feathery wings alerting some of the guards currently passing right below him. Seeing the shadow that just flew out of the king's grounds, this alarmed some of the guards, who in turn looked at their king above them, glowing gloriously on the balcony, as the backlight from his room illuminated his shiny, golden scales.

"Your highness! Are you alright?"
They asked and before being able to chase after the "intruder", did Darius simply order them to stay put.

"Yes, i'm fine. Don't bother."
He answered briefly, with a sense of downer in his voice.

"What's the hustle about, tonight?"
He followed up, asking the couple of guards that stopped from the rest of their squad.

"Oh, just a fight on Glimmer Street. We don't yet know the details, but we should have it under control. No Divine intervention needed, sir."

This made Darius fall silent for a moment, staring worryingly at the guard, then Goldenrod. Night time crime and disturbances were always going to happen, but they had been rising increasingly in the past few months, within other strange and unexplained commotions, often involving rather disturbed individuals. Darius could only wonder... could it happen again?

"Your highness?"
One of the guards asked, worried about her king's long silence.

"Understood. Best of luck to you!"
He answered, keeping it brief.

"Thank you, sir!"
The guards then rushed back on track, making their way towards the city grounds. Darius could only lend out a deep sigh, deciding to call it a night, as there was no use wrapping his head around a potentially insignificant brawl. He wanted to protect his people to the best of his abilities, but it was just common sense that he couldn't always be present, nor take place in every possible alert. Goldenrod had grown too big for one dragon to handle, yet he still found himself feeling guilty if he had to take a back seat on some matters.

The Imperial fell onto his bed, slowly drifting off despite his busy mind. Sleep had never been easy for him and he sometimes found himself staying awake for days upon end, however, perhaps today, he would get a peaceful night all to himself.

...
...
...

The strong scent of blood suddenly invaded Darius's senses. His eyes snapped open, as he looked around in worry and confusion. Loud noises creaked into his ears and the sounds of fire breathing, shocked charges and claws ripping into scales. He snapped out of his bushy bed, finding himself in the magical woods of Starfall Isles.

It didn't take him long to find the source of the noisy commotion. Two dragons, █████ and ██████ were in a middle of a fight. And not just any fight, but a clearly charged up, violent battle. Both of them already having grim looking wounds, as to be expected when two dragons with sharp teeth, claws and elements engage in something fierce and unforgiving.

"This clan now belongs to Pandora, fool!"
█████ screeched, his eyes...unstable. It wasn't the dragon Darius was used to seeing. His lightning-charged eyes were full of fury and hate, full of, well, Pandora's ideology. Most which consisted of chaos and violence.

"Try me, you two-faced waste of air!"
██████ shouted right back, not fairing much better in terms of her insults, her eyes too, were seemingly blurred with clear hatred and adrenaline. Although, they lacked the same insanity, as, well. She was the one who had been on JJ's side.

"JJ may be gone...but he..-"

Before ██████ could continue, launched █████ on top of her, charging lightning off his fangs, almost acting feral, with not much remorse behind his leap and attack. Tackling the fire dragon into the ground, lightning fueled in his teeth. Darius panicked, his chest tightening as he instinctually launched forward. This did not look good.

"█████, stop!"
He yelled, yet it fell for deaf ears. Before Darius could counterattack or even reach the duo, the lightning-powered dragon simply delivered a swift, yet enormously charged attack onto his old clanmate, biting her neck with such force and such a charge of electricity that... well.

"HE IS NOT COMING BACK, DEAD. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD."

He only screeched, as he then kept clawing at ██████, who in turn wasn't moving anymore. Darius simply stopped, standing there in shock and staring at the scene that had just unfolded, trying to process the situation, before deciding to raise his voice and shout at the erratic dragon, who was still pursuing the fight that was already decided.

"Stop, just stop! She's... I, there's no point anymore."
The Imperial exclaimed, glaring at █████ with such disgust and anger, he simply couldn't put it into words, neither did he want to. He hated to even think about it, but this wasn't the first time. Nor was this the first time he was virtually powerless in the matter. They were supposed to be a clan, right? They were a clan.

█████ seemed to finally snap out of it, blood flowing out of his mouth, as he slowly turned to face Darius, who simply towered over him. There was no emotion in his eyes anymore, no satisfaction, no achievement, nothing. Although, seeing the clear, silent outrage in Darius's glimmering yellow eyes did arouse a vile sneer in him.

"You're lucky i'm too tired to fight. Otherwise, you'd be next."
He said, chillingly. Showing no fear or respect to the older and more experienced clan member. Although, at this point, why would he? He showed no remorse for ██████ either and he was clearly delirious, as blood loss was clearly weakening both his mental and physical state.

"Hey, █████, that was a solid show! Although, you don't look too good yourself, huh buddy?"
A raspy voice echoed above a nearby hill. More of Pandora's supporters had emerged, seemingly sharing the same hatred and bloodthirst as the murderer who was loosing blood by every second. The one who spoke was █████████, who had never been opposed to using violence and power to solve problems.

"Oh, Darius. Wonderful. Look, i've been meaning to ask you, now that JJ is out of the picture.."

Darius knew what was coming and tried to keep himself as steady as he could. The casual mentioning and gloating of what happened to JJ is what really got to him, disgusted him. How could they all be so disrespectful, so truly horrid, as to not show any remorse for the clan's second leader. What had these dragons become, and most importantly, why?
These were the thoughts that raced in Darius's head, before █████████ could finish his question.

"Who's side are you on?"

The raspy voiced dragon simply said. Darius's face fumed up. Side? What side!? You really wanted a side in this matter? As if the hostility, bullying, violence and downright killing that you do, as opposed to half of the clan couldn't answer the question for you.

Before the Imperial could gather up an answer, did he find himself unable to speak. Suddenly, pink goo started to gush out of his mouth and he started to feel strange, he didn't feel himself, nor did he feel alive. What... what was happening?

"We'll change your mind. Pandora has always pondered... how amazing would it be, if you could control an Emperor? Hm, Isn't that right, Darius?"

Darius didn't even have time to fathom what on earth █████████ was talking about, he simply began to lose control, he felt himself become aggressive, uncontrollable, several heads of unknown Imperials starting to morph out of his body. Or, at least he thought it was his. He began growing in size, losing his consciousness that was replaced with feral and monstrous desire to kill everybody, destroy, survive, grow. Everything was turning pink, this had to be Pandora's work, it had to be... but, no. He didn't want to. Why? Just, why? He was still alive, right?

The Emperor he had become started to destroy the clan's huts, all their belongings, their homes, them, before crossing lands of population, crushing everybody on the way, making its' way to Goldenrod, where it began to do the same.

No, this couldn't be happening, no! I swore to protect, but I can't! Stop! No... NO!"

...
...
...

Darius snapped awake, feeling himself drenched in cold sweat. The Imperial was breathing rapidly, hyperventilating as his hands shook, he slowly started to calm down and retain his senses, realizing that it was just a nightmare. Horrible one at that. Before the gilded Imperial could sigh in relief, a strange creak from the dark corner of his desk grabbed his attention.

"A blast from the past, hm? With, well... some hint of insecurity thrown in?"

A strange voice echoed, as Darius illuminated the corner and revealed the shiny, glimmering gems of a dark blue Obelisk, his tan mane sparkling wonderfully against the bright light.

"Who are you?"
Darius was stunted, although the presence of this mysterious Obelisk brought him strange comfort and familiarity, alongside the glimmering that took place around him, not only limited to the jewelry that he was wearing.

"The name is Endymion, your highness. Newer addition to your old, let's say Ethereal friends. If you didn't already figure it out, I can see your dreams. I'm forever bound to the night, so, don't expect to see that much of me. But occasionally, I may visit to check if your dreams are fruitful enough."

A Divine. Okay, this made the intrusion far less creepy than it was initially. But the question remained... why did he...?

"Now, how about we write that down?"
Endymion preened, suddenly possessing a book and a quill on the desk with a simple title of:"Goldenrod", with no further explanations given. Darius stared blankly at the book for a second, then back at the Obelisk with this slight, evocative smile on his face. It shouldn't have made any sense, but somehow it all did.

"On the condition that I may read it. And, well, leave out the Emperor part, alright friend? Surely, that's just an irrational fear that I possess."

Endymion simply glanced at the Imperial, clearly pondering something for a minute, before obliging, albeit with slight hesitance.

"Sure thing, your highness."

Lore in progress
One of the oldest members of the old clan that eventually evolved into a stable castle city with different districts surrounding it. Was led to Sunbeam Ruins by the call of the Divines and vastly considered the king and a new founder of modern Goldenrod.

Full clan lore in Endymion's bio.

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