Lyric

Lyric, whose singing could be considered as wonderful as a siren’s when intoxicated, is the local drunk of the fair. She is a bard, who can always make a good buck by singing sea shanties throughout the day; she mainly does this for her own drunken enjoyment instead of money, however - or so she claims. It’s rare to see her not under the influence, so her true personality is hard to describe. Although, she is very extroverted, loud, and friendly, always wrapping her arms around anyone who sits beside her. She is even able to get those she wraps in her arms to sing her slurred shanties with her.

The true story behind her somewhat overbearing persona is a painful tale, a tale that relies on her current mask of cheerfulness to be kept hidden. Lyric was always a friendly soul - that part of her never changed. She was born to a wealthy family, and she had almost everything she wanted. Lyric isn’t discouraged from mingling with other dragons from a “lower class”, though - she is an extrovert through and through, with a penchant for drawing in a crowd wherever she goes. What was truly special about her, however, was her charming voice - a talent that she had once only used to sing to herself in the rare moments when she was not surrounded by other dragons to keep her company.

Surprisingly enough, despite the endless encouragement from her family to pursue her interests in singing at a professional level, Lyric refused - keeping her talent hidden from the world. Despite her general outgoing personality, she felt oddly shy and reserved about using her voice in this manner - no matter how hard she tried, the very thought of showing someone else who wasn’t her immediate family made her self-conscious to the point of fearing the very idea of performing on stage. Her parents had admittedly said that this was a huge shame, but they never pressured her further.

This changed when Lyric stumbled upon a little troupe of street performers - she was captivated by one of their performances, but even more so by their lead singer, who was a handsome Skydancer with an equally stunning voice. Her gaze was drawn to him immediately, and much to her embarrassment, he caught her staring and offered a wink in response. Lyric’s heart skipped a beat there and then - it sounded like every cheesy novel she had read during her childhood, but she felt like there was definitely something between the two of them.

The dragon in question - Stanza, introduced himself to her shortly after the performance ended, and his flirtatious nature caught Lyric off guard - for the first time, she found herself tongue-tied and unable to lead the conversation effortlessly as she usually did. Stanza bade his farewell with another wink, leaving a weird warm feeling in Lyric’s heart as she returned home.

That wasn’t the last time the pair would meet - from that day onwards, Lyric would frequent Stanza’s performances, slowly getting to know him after each one. In return, she told him all about herself - her family, her hobbies, and even the one thing she never revealed to anyone else - her hidden passion for singing, and her dream of some day performing in front of a crowd.

Stanza had encouraged her like her family did - and somehow, Lyric found herself listening to him, gaining the courage to finally join him in one of his public performances. The crowd went wild - her already lovely voice being used alongside the music their troupe played created a heavenly sight to behold. While Lyric stood in amazement at the fact that she had conquered her fear - Stanza stunned her even more by kissing her once they were alone again, declaring that he was so proud of her.

Once their relationship was established, Lyric found herself glued to Stanza’s side, being equally as supportive of everything he did as he did for her. She was hopelessly in love, fully believing it to be mutual - and how could she not? He really was the sweetest dragon in the world - polite, humorous, affectionate, knowing all the right ways to treat a lady. He was almost too perfect, just like the prince charmings she had read in those fairytales. His devotion to her was unmistakable - he would shower her in the loveliest of praises, telling her how much she’s grown and how she had unquestionably surpassed his own skill. Lyric, being the young lovestruck maiden, never questioned any of this, believing that she had found her happily ever after.

Little did she know, Stanza had never cared for her nor her voice; the moment he found out she was from a wealthy family, and the fact that she was so willing to talk about anything that she handed over all necessary information on a silver platter, he had made plans with his troupe in secret. The group had only been after the riches all this while - what Lyric had was way more than what they’d ever earn in a lifetime of their performing. It took almost a whole year to fully work out the details - all while Stanza kept Lyric blind to his true intentions, acting like the perfect boyfriend who helped her develop her newly found passion until she was known as a star singer amongst the common folk.

On that fateful night it happened, Stanza told Lyric that he had the biggest surprise in store for her - a surprise that she’ll receive after performing in front of the largest crowd they had gathered. Lyric agreed without hesitation - the adrenaline she had gotten from performing on the streets for so long could not rival the surge she got when she stepped on the big stage. When the crowd erupted in thunderous applause and flowers rained down upon her, Lyric looked around for her beloved in the crowds, eagerly awaiting his promised surprise as she basked in the giddy elation from the success of one of the best performances of her life.

Neither Lyric nor the crowd were aware of the sinister plans that lurked in the shadows, not until the whole theater was plunged into darkness and the emergency alarm was sounded, sending everyone into a panic. Suddenly filled with fear, she ran for her life, but also out of concern for her boyfriend who was still nowhere to be found. The whole area where she lived seemed to have its power supply cut off, which only fueled her worry as she raced her way back to her own house to seek help from her family - whom she had failed to notice was never present in the crowd.

She arrived at an empty house, gripped by the chilling aura of death as her jaw dropped at the sight of her entire family laying at her feet, lifeless. Only one dragon was still alive and standing in the same house with her - the dragon that she had grown to love so deeply, holding a bloodied knife and wearing a crooked smile.

“Surprise,” he had said, with nothing but venom in his voice. Terrified and simultaneously angered at the betrayal, Lyric snapped and attacked him, ignoring the fact that he was armed and she wasn’t. Her size and strength surprisingly helped her overpower him in her rage-fueled state, but not before he managed to cruelly cut off one of her head fins - something that had her nearly passing out from pain as her screams tore through the night. Those screams were what saved her life - the authorities were alerted and came to her rescue just in time before Stanza or his minions could cause any more damage - while he was occupied with her, they were hauling the goods they could find from her home; a plan foiled once security was called.

Stanza was apprehended and eventually punished for his crimes, taking him far, far away from Lyric. She inherited the wealth her family left behind, being the sole survivor, and it didn’t take much effort to find a doctor willing to fix up her injuries and even attach an artificial fin in place of where the real thing once was - leaving it as good as new. Yet, as much as her physical pain could heal - her mental ones could not.

For a long while after the incident, Lyric did not leave her home. She spent days locked in her own room, haunted by every moment of the night. Her mind was filled with horrifying images, visions of her being attacked and physically wounded constantly surfacing, her paranoia making her lock every door and keep every part of her house guarded. While her wealth made it possible to accomplish all these, there was nothing that could soothe her pain, her despair, and the emptiness that was left behind. Her heart, that she once thought fully belonged to Stanza, was nothing but a hollow shell weighing her down as days went by. Concerned dragons would stop by every so often to make sure she was still eating and taking care of herself, but Lyric rejected any advances made to communicate with her.

She had to snap out of it eventually - her wealth won’t last her forever if she did nothing to maintain it, or that’s what she tells herself. Lyric is too traumatized by the event that she has never used her voice to sing again - until one day, after drowning her sorrows in alcohol, she received the all too familiar praise and adoration after, for the passing dragons had caught her singing in a drunken state. Despite her lack of consciousness, her talent had apparently never left her.

With this newfound knowledge, Lyric left her old life behind, moving to the docks where she earned her new moniker as the “local drunk bard”. Only while intoxicated could she fully let her amazing voice be heard - she could care less about the money, but it was her way of coping. While others simply think it's her life’s calling, it couldn’t be further from the truth - it was her way of escape, her only way of fully numbing the pain and embracing the denial of the fact that she has, in fact, lost everything. Only under the alcohol’s influence she is able to once again show affection to whichever dragon that ends up getting hugged by her, maybe even being the recipient of her drunken flirting - it all doesn’t matter anyway. Lyric won’t remember it once she becomes sober - for she’ll only look forward to the next time she can lose her sense of self again.

Because what sense was there remaining for her to lose, anyway?