Morin

With a soft thud, he touched down on the chalcedony spires of the Crystalspine Reaches. Great leather wings glittered in the early rays of dawn, reflections of the vast sea beyond. Curious, he wandered the landscape, drinking in the new sights and sounds.

Raw arcane energy thrummed on his scales, a litany of humming magic and power. It was such a new realm, different from the Southern Icefield he had trudged through just a few days ago. His claws clinked against a loose piece of crystal, and curious, he picked it up gently, green eyes sweeping over it in fascination. It was slightly warm from the sun, a flutter of arcane magic in his metallic grip.

He let out a laugh and put the chunk down, continuing to explore. His wide lime gaze took in everything around him, and he moved with childlike wonder beneath the towering magenta peaks. Wings beating, he leaped onto a particularly high spire, climbing and climbing like his life depended on it. In his wake lay residual pieces of stone dislodged by his excited scrambling, cool gusts of wind trailing behind him as he soared, leaped and clambered.

Morin was having the time of his life. Never before had he felt so free in an element that was not his own, free to poke his nose into every small thing and detail and not be disturbed or interrupted. Tail flicking behind him, he scaled the last few steps and soon found himself awestruck by the vast expanse before him. All around were undisturbed chunks of nature, as well as occasional pockets buzzing with activity where dragons of all shapes and colours congregated and mixed, a colourful blur of movement. Far away, if he looked hard enough, he could even see a colony of Fae spinning their roosts on the edge of another spire with cured tree sap. Magic seemed to spark from their hides and roosts, a clutter of communal energies that mixed and blurred until he could no longer tell individual dragons apart.

It was as he was engrossed in observing individual groups of dragons that he heard Wildclaw footsteps and the soft whisper of Coatl wings behind him. “Hey, there’s someone else here,” a female voice said. Feeling rather rude, Morin turned around to face the newcomers. Before him stood a female Wildclaw, presumably the one who had spoken, and a male Coatl. The Wildclaw had dark purple stripes running down her hide, the Coatl varying shades of warm brown. Both sported pink eyes, and Morin began to become excited once again at the thought of being able to share knowledge with them.

“Hey, I’m Morin. I came here to explore the Arcane realm. Oh, did you know that there are at least 10 different groups of dragons in the observable vicinity, and each carries different activities, energy signatures and dragon breeds? It’s very interesting because I wasn’t expecting there to be so many dragons, much less all the diversity,” he chattered on, practically bouncing on his feet, while the other two dragons stared at him.

“You talk very fast.” The Wildclaw bluntly observed, idly kicking a stone between her two feet, sharp claws gleaming with sunlight. Embarrassed, Morin shuffled about. “You don’t have a lot of social interaction, do you?” she deadpanned, the Coatl giving a soft snort of laughter. “I’m Lyra, the laughing Coatl is Kiril. We’re our clan’s archivists. The way you talked just now was so fast and slightly incomprehensible that it made me remember our current problem with not understanding ancient languages. Especially the ancient Wind ones, which we haven’t been able to decipher for some reason.” Lyra grinned toothily at him, cocking her head in a characteristic Wildclaw manner.

“Ancient Wind ones? I think I might be able to be of help,” Morin enthused, runes blinking in anticipation. His eyes that shone with enthusiasm drew a laugh out of Lyra, who nudged her brother.

“Hey. Were you even listening to any of this?”

“H-huh? Oh. Uh. Yes. Welcome to the team.” a flustered Kiril stammered, awkwardly ruffling his feathers. Morin didn’t know why, but a smile tugged at his face, and soon all three of them were laughing.

This was the right place for him to be.

Art and lore by Tirtouga678


Art by Quetzy