Achlys

Two male Mirrors loped along the path from the Wyrmwound. They had completed their mission and were returning home to Water. The elder, Deathstrike, was the Plague Representative to Clan Aquaurora. His duties frequently required him to return to the elite lairs of the Scarred Wasteland for counsel.

The younger, Courage, was the son of two warriors. He had been born in the Plague Realm; his sister, Dedication, had been returned there as a tribute, where she served the Plaguebringer willingly. But her family ties were strong, and no one forbade her brother from visiting on occasion. Particularly when he was accompanied by Deathstrike, who, despite not being of the Necromancer race, had managed to imitate, in a small way, the ways of the Necroservi. He had conquered the Mother's touch within him and was able to infect others, and even to control the virulency of the strain emitted.

Courage admired the older Mirror greatly, but had no desire to serve the Mother in that way himself. The immunities that had been gifted him on the day of his birth served him well enough, and he had participated in the grateful rituals of his heritage. But he was anxious to return home to his pack: his mother and father, and...his heart skipped a beat as he remembered the beautiful and deadly Skydancer mage waiting for him. He put on a burst of speed and was around a bend in the road before Deathstrike had time to react.

He growled and dashed after the young Mirror, nearly tripping over him as he rounded the bend. "Plague and fire! What do you think you're doing, you young idiot?"

Courage was reaching out toward a small hatchling, coaxing her to come closer. Although she was clearly suffering a great deal of pain, she shook her small head and backed away.

Deathstrike clamped a claw onto Courage's arm. "Leave her," he said shortly. "It seems cruel, yes. And I can't think what parent would force their child into the Trials at this age. But she must survive on her own. It is the Will of the Mother."

The young Mirror stared at the hatchling in distress. "But..."

The hatchling half-walked, half-crawled farther from the path. Her laboured breathing grew raspier as she struggled toward a scraggly plant. Her whole body trembled from the effort of reaching up and snatching the plant, but she managed on her own. She lay unmoving for a moment. Then, slowly but deliberately, she began to chew the life-giving sap of the herb.

"She knows better than you what her touch would do to you at this time," Deathstrike warned. "She has yet to master the infection. One touch, and you would be dead." He touched the younger one's shoulder comfortingly. "She will survive," he said, with more confidence than he felt. "It is in her blood."

"Doesn't anyone care?"

"She's being overseen by some Necromancer. Trust me, they have their ways of monitoring. Even if she didn't infect you, you'd likely face death for interfering with the Trials."

Courage stared at the tiny Mirror, who was crawling just a bit more strongly away from him and back in the direction of the Wyrmwound. "The blessing of the Mother be on you, little one," he called out despairingly. It seemed more like a curse at the moment.

But the disease-riddled hatchling turned her head toward him, and almost smiled. Then she disappeared behind a rock, and he could no longer hear or sense her presence.

Perhaps thirty days later...
Courage was in the training fields with his new mate, Precision. Neither of them had any regret for her decision to become a Mirror, but it was difficult re-learning how to fight as a warrior rather than a mage. As they sparred each other, they were interrupted by a slight cough.

Courage turned to see a rather thin pre-adolescent Mirror setting down her pack. The virulent strains of the Plaguebringer had been restricted to a row of neat stripes down her back. Her crests were not fully grown, and her wings appeared still too short and stubby to fully support her.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," he replied, puzzled. "Do I know you?"

The female Mirror responded with the words and tone of one far beyond her few months of life. "You pitied me during my trials. It was a foolish deed; one the Mother would not have favored. But it was a kind one. The strength of your caring, I believe, stayed with me and kept me strong." Her confidence faltered. "I thought...perhaps, I could live here?"

Courage took a step toward her, but was shoved aside by Precision, who swept the Mirror girl into an embrace. "As if we'd turn you out!"

Relieved that his mate approved, he also hugged the young Necromancer. "I assume you passed your trials successfully, then. Did they give you a name?"

"Yes and yes. My name is Achlys."

"I'm Courage, and this is my mate Precision." He looked over his shoulder, and saw his parents and the other two Mirror warriors of the clan coming towards them. "Welcome to our pack."

---

Notes:

• Seer of the Plaguebringer's will. Adjunct to the Seer's Den of Clan Aquaurora.
• She is a great-great-granddaughter of Kishna, one of the most powerful on the Necromantic Council.
• 
• She's still a very young dragon, so her personality wavers a lot between shyness and confidence in her deadly abilities.
• Didn't really have a childhood before the trials, trials aged her
• Her adoptive parents, Courage and Precision, try to be supportive but don't really understand her.
• Deathstrike is probably her closest confidant. Deathswirl is too nuts.
• Has difficulty relating to other dragons her own age
• Wants to be friends with Oilslick, but she is turned off by the other dragon's rejection of her Plague heritage
• Phantasmagoria and Woundwort are too stand-offish and fanatical for her
• Like Deathstrike, she teeters on the line of compassion and "the Will of the Mother", but she probably ends up less compassionate than he due to her indoctrination
• She has one Neutralized Ghoul servus, Erixitl, whom she neutralized herself. The Fae follows her around with slavish devotion and annoys her half to death.
• Her mate is Wenyihuo (Fire Imp Mancer)
• Trained as a Kelp Beds Beast
• Aspires to rise the ranks of the Necromantic Council to be Advocating rank; any more than that would require here to leave her Water clan home, which at the moment she is loath to do.
• Primary specialty is Ambassador
• Secondary specialty is Oracle
• Tertiary specialty is Healer

Art by Scorpiontail


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