Chance
Creator and destroyer

"a clan elder will intrust you with an important task"

lore is a wip

Chance, like Belladonna, didn't know his parents- but unlike his mate, who had to fight from the day she was born, Chance- then known as Mercury, for his coloring- was found by a friendly Pearlcatcher and brought up to be kind and hardworking, learning alchemy, engineering, and science.
Mercury found his calling in these arts- learning to create gadgets, prosthetics, potions, and even robots.
But his passion and intelligence couldn't protect him from everything.

One day, while visiting a scientist in the Shifting Expanse, he was caught in a storm. Lightning was attracted to metal, especially the silver in his wingplates (he wasn't a strong flyer, especially in rain!), and as he navigated his way through the tempest he was struck with the full force of the Stormcatcher's might.

It should have killed him.

Why didn't it kill him?

According to his research before and after the accident, direct lightning strikes were almost always lethal, and the smaller the dragon the worse the effects would be.

The Pearlcatcher attributed it to the deities' intervention. The scientist said it was his armor. But the dragon who caught Mercury as he fell from the sky, electricity coursing through his veins, told a different story.

"It was luck," The Mirror told him. "Pure chance."

Luck, Mercury thought. What an odd thing to survive.

And when the Mirror asked for his name, he called himself Chance.

~

The Mirror said that she was named Belladonna, and had been traveling through the Shifting Expanse for days- she'd fought for a place in a Lightning pack and lost, and had been seeking new territory ever since.

"I've lived on my own for most of my life," Belladonna said, "And I know I should be used to it by now- but Mirrors are social dragons, y'know? We're not meant to be on our own. I've gotten lonely."

"I could go with you." Chance blurted out before he had a chance to second-guess himself.

What was he thinking? He'd known this dragon for all of five minutes, he had no idea if she was secretly a murderer or not (her scars suggested she very well could kill him if she wanted to), what if they got lost? What if she abandoned him when she realized he couldn't hunt? What if-

Belladonna smiled faintly. "I'd like that."

So, after saying goodbye and promising to write to his adopted father, Titus, he set off with Belladonna.

Towards new adventures, he thought, and new beginnings.

~

Chance didn't notice the markings until a few days later, when the two of them passed through a town and his scales drew stares from the townsdragons. It didn't bother him until a merchant refused to let him inside his shop, as the Coatl looked him over and sneered, "I don't associate with dark mages."

Dark mages?

He glanced down at himself and blinked at the faint, slightly jagged markings that sliced across his scales like a vein of silver in a mineshaft. They were the exact color of lightning.

Oh.

He took a step back, but paused at the sound of a voice behind him.

"I hope I heard you wrong."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the black-and-purple scales and magenta eyes he associated with Belladonna, and lifted his wing in a hello, it's okay, I didn't need to get those materials much anyways way.

The shopkeeper sneered at Chance. "Run along, runt."

But Belladonna gently pushed past him, smiling at the shopkeeper in a way that Chance knew meant trouble. "I said," and there was absolute ice in her voice, ice that made him warm inside because he realized, this is for me, she's doing it for me even though I don't need it, she's protecting me, "I hope I heard you wrong."

"And I said that there ain't no dark mages allowed in my stars-cursed shop!" The Coatl yelled. "

Dragons were starting to gather. Chance fidgeted with one of his wingtips and watched Belladonna.

Belladonna's crest flared, and the merchant's feathers fluffed up. Oh, no, please don't fight over me-


I played the 1,2,3 game with Chance (predict morphology and shuffle genes 3x)-- and it turned out great! I might try to get him to this eventually.