Arena

A skydancer wearing a wolf's mane gently strokes the head of a sleepy mirror kit. She hums in amusement as the youngling nuzzles deeper into the warm fur. Morgan had traveled to the ice territory to look into a particular dragon's past. She had to take shelter from a blizzard that seemingly came from nothing; she wasn't expecting to find an egg, nor was she expecting it to hatch after finding it. "My, what shall I do with you?"

After a few hours the mirror woke up and chirps at Morgan. She smiles awkwardly "Hello little one, would you like to hear a story?" The hatchling chirps happily, Morgan looks to the mouth of the cave past the fire; making a decision. With a deep breath she starts the tale.
• • •
"Harena was young when she fell. She had lived in the fortress of ends for most of her life, alone, unsure of her past. She was lost, hatched alone in the deep trenches of snow. Her parents long given up on finding her, she learned to live on her own. Eating snow, jumbo shrimp, and juneflowers; she has managed to survive at the bare minimum. She was nearing adulthood when she went to the ice, the best place for shrimp was near Frigid Floes so she would make this trip often.

This time was different though, she was getting bigger and was unaware of the melting ice. Not being a part of a clan can be dangerous so she went during midday while the sun was high. She walked across the ice, enjoying the glittering view. Nearing the hole she fishes from she hears a loud crack moments before her heavy body sinks into the frigid water. She struggles to swim upwards but the strong current drags her deeper. She finally manages to break the surface only to find herself in an odd cave system."

Morgan pauses and looks at the mirror's sparkling eyes "Much like this cave actually." Which leads to excited chirps and soft laughter lost to the storm outside. She continues the story.

"Harena searched the caves and found several murals of Tidelord and Earthshaker creating the world. She found herself excited by the concept that these two had created a world where there was little to no ice. She had been shocked by her response at first but knew she really hated the snow. She knew she would need to find an exit that didn't include the water so she moved deeper into the caves. She spent years learning the cave's secrets and eventually found an exit into the plague territory, to her depression as she wanted to find the earth god.

She fully intended to travel to the proper land, but was intercepted by a large blue imperial dressed in white. It was her first interaction with another dragon, and his claws pressed painfully into her throat as he growled once again asking how she found this cave. She attempted to free herself but the temperature dropped with his voice. "Move again and I will end you, brat." She freezes and looks in fear at his chilling gaze. "Now, answer me."

Her eyes hardened slightly, she finally freed herself from that ice box only to be trapped by a dragon that embodied death to her as he cut off her air supply. Her vision blurred as the lack of oxygen started getting to her, in a final act she grabs the imperials wrist tweezing slightly before blacking out."

The hatchling shivers, be it from the cold or fear Morgan wasn't sure. She reassuringly patted the hatchling before continuing the story.

"Harena woke to hear hushed whispering, she couldn't understand them but she could tell that the female voice was seemingly scolding the male. She opened her heavy eyes for a moment before passing out again only seeing a flash of red and black.

The next time she woke it was due to the cool rag placed on her forehead. She blurrily took in the dragon. It was a female skydancer, though first glance she thought it was a wolf. The skydancer seeing Harena awake smiled "Glad to see you conscious, we were starting to worry." Harena looks around and touches her head as it spins. The skydancer hums "Rest some more, we'll talk later. I have to interview some dragons."

Harena waits a few moments and decides to follow her. She finds a large room filled with dragons. The skydancer introduces herself as Scarlet and instructs the nervous looking dragons to tell her why they should be the ley-line to Earthshaker. She listened for a little while as the candidates told what they believed to be correct but she knew better than murals taught her and she felt a tug with every incorrect fact. Finally she had enough.

Entering the room she spoke in a strong voice "You are clearly fools with no connection to him if you believe those blatant lies. A war with Tidelord? Please, you tools will believe anything to further your dominance. You" she points at an earth mirror sneering at her "claim to be a priest? HA! You don't even know that he carved and molded the mountains you call home. They never wanted a war!" As her rant continued the room was stunned silent until a laugh broke through it all. She spins around to set her glare on the culprit only to shrink in fear, it was him. The imperial that nearly killed her. . . Scarlet didn't miss the change in behavior.

With a clap all attention fell to Scarlet once more. She tells all the dragons to leave but stops Harena, "Your name?" Harena replies hesitantly. Scarlet grins "Harena, would you like to be our earth rep?" She gestures to the sand colored body "I mean you look the part, and you have the heart." With a nervous smile she accepts, this was the start of Harena's path."

Morgan smiles to see the hatchling asleep again. With a sigh she mumbles "Goodnight Arena, child born in the cave of ancients" before falling asleep herself.

Harena's slow journey to trusting the ice dragon that horrifies her was not easy. Several years of refusals and avoidance slowly became a close friendship. Foston was instructed to help her adjust as a mentor as they were both ice dragons, and I mean, who else could enter the cave of ancients? She would have to awaken to those memories eventually; Scarlet knew that her loyalty would be tested then and figured no one would be better suited.

Breed Change: Skydancer

Specialty Items

Changes the breed of one dragon to Skydancer. Skydancer dragons are an uncommon breed with a 25-day breeding cooldown. (KS-Sponsored by Scorpius)

40000

Primary Gene: Skink

Specialty Items

A scroll that will change the primary gene of one dragon to Skink. This item can only be used once and will disappear after it has been applied.

0

Secondary Gene: Seraph

Specialty Items

A scroll that will change the secondary gene of one dragon to Seraph. This item can only be used once and will disappear after it has been applied. (KS-sponsored by WarriorJames.)

12500

Tertiary Gene: Capsule

Specialty Items

A scroll that will change the tertiary gene of one dragon to Capsule. This item can only be used once and will disappear after it has been applied.

250

Crimson Arm Silks

Apparel

A fine piece of deep red silk, elegantly draped to echo the movements of the dragon wearing it.

0

Crimson Silk Veil

Apparel

A fine piece of deep red silk, elegantly draped to echo the movements of the dragon wearing it.

0

Crimson Silk Scarf

Apparel

A fine piece of deep red silk, elegantly draped to echo the movements of the dragon wearing it.

0

Dusty Sage Lantern

Apparel

Dirt-caked, flickering lanterns make for a dusty sage!

1600

Raven Sylvan Dress

Apparel

A graceful raven dress.

0

Crimson Leg Silks

Apparel

A fine piece of deep red silk, elegantly draped to echo the movements of the dragon wearing it.

0

Dried Wing Garland

Apparel

A gorgeous string of dried flowers to decorate the wings.

1700