PLAGUER

As he stared through the Foxfire Bramble, Plaguer dreamed of the Wrymwound. Though he had no memory of it, the yellow glow of the pit filled his eyes and burned in his heart. When he was an hatchling, he had been sold to a seperate clan outside of the Scarred Wasteland and for the past year, his heart grew empty. His most recent clan lived so close to the plague lands and yet...he had never journeyed over the border. Did he fear his home now? What kept him from visiting his rightful home?

His ears pricked and he froze as he heard a light shuffling come from the brambles. Much to his surprise, he began to hear a light ticking noise, like that of a clock. From his perch, which was fairly hidden, he watched the Tick-Tock familiar emerge from the undergrowth, its clawed talons digging at the earth and seeming to be looking for something. Then he had a thought. What if this could be his familiar? The gem guardian his clan had given him didn't suit him in any way but this fanged clock? Plaguer slowly began to ease his way to a branch above the familiar and just as he was about to pounce an absolute feeling of dread overwhelmed him, freezing him in place. The familiar began to growl and looked up directly at Plaguer, though he was certain nothing could see him from his spot in the branches. Then...it appeared. Bones clattered against one another along with chains as the wolfs head peeked through the brambles. The glittering red eyes and feathered tufts confused Plaguer but he realized very quickly that what he was looking at was not a wolf but a dragon. A skydancer female bedecked in black fur, chains and bones. Her wings were covered in large red crystals that glittered in the faint moonlight that glimmered through the trees. Strangely, on her back, sat a luminax plushie, one of the few he had seen appear in the world of Sornieth in the past few months. She sniffed the air and turned to the chittering familiar speaking in a language he had never heard.
"Quid est hoc parum est? Quid invenisti enim estis?"
The clock spun its arms and gestured to where Plaguer sat frozen on his perch, unable to move. He desperately tried to move his legs but it seemed as if all his muscles had locked up. The female looked up and grinned, her eyes holding wisdom but a great insanity.
"Re videtur paulo tuus canis perdidit viam. Debemus revertetur ad eum possidebunt?" Again she spoke in that strange tongue he had never heard before. Plaguer attempted to open his mouth and thankfully found he could speak.
"I..I'm sorry I do not understand what you are saying. But can you help me? I seem to be stuck-"
"Silence. I knew you couldn't understand me dog. It is my clan's language after all. And though you were hiding well I sensed you far before my familiar did. Simple protection magic."
She snapped her claws and Plaguers body loosened so violently he lost his balance and crashed ungraciously to the ground. He got up and shook himself off, picking brambles out of his antlers. He was forced back on his haunches as the small female took flight and hovered in front of him, her wolfish eyes glaring into his own.
"You are a plague child and yet you've never known plague. I can change that. You are not happy in your home. Join me child. Adjungite vos quasi leprosum Rose. Fortior fiet Simul immortuos."
And suddenly he understood her words.
"Join the Plagued Rose. Together we will become stronger."
Looking back to his old clan, he set his mind right.
"Please. Take me home."