Rio

Rio Things! Ghostlight Wanderer Umbra Wolf Familiar Umbra wolves are adept at blending into the shadows. The unwary dragon may find itself surrounded by a pack it never saw coming. 2300 Somber Spirit Familiar A bundle of mismatched parts, levitating in tandem through a musty cloud of dark energy. 2750

Ghostlight Wanderer Twisted lushness; powerful green is tricky purple. Amethysts capricious with their light, bring him back if you dare. Blackberry brambles bloom bruises down his cheeks. Synesthesia Blurb by ladylilitu

The Star Wood Strand wasn't a place where one should wander. Rio had heard that far too many times for him to care, and in his opinion, there were things that were a lot more dangerous than the patch of sparkly blue forest that had never once done anything interesting. Honestly, the Strand was good for, if nothing, hunting Beastclans, random animals, and the occasional mutant monster that had escaped from some wayward scientist's lab. In any case, Rio wasn't really impressed with other dragons' impressions of the Star Wood Strand as some kind of forbidding graveyard.

Of course, that might just be because he was mates with one of the most adventurous dragons in Sorneith. Saffron was the type that would stop at nothing (and Rio did mean nothing) to poke one dangerous thing or the other, even if said dangerous thing had a big label stuck on it with the words: "DANGER. DO NOT POKE." (Which is usually all the more reason for Saffron to poke it.) Rio had started off his relationship with Saffron screaming at the other Imperial to stop touching that dangerous thing. Now he was just mildly amused, and so when it came to things like rumours about the Star Wood Strand, he wasn't particularly shaken. He and Saffron had fought far more dangerous things, after all.

This time, they were after some shadowy creature or the other that had been causing the nearby clans and villages trouble. Descriptions of the monster had ranged from “pretty sparkly thing” to “goddamn bane of the friendly neighborhood dragons”. Saffron had been excited. Rio was just resigned. Saffron had been a monster hunter long before Rio had come along, so Rio supposed he wasn’t surprised that his mate would be completely fearless.

Now, they were trudging into the dark forest. Despite the lack of daylight, the Strand glowed with a faint, ethereal light. Saffron led the way, using his tracking magic to locate whatever monster it was that had been causing trouble. The tracking magic was just a safety measure - most of the creatures that dwelled within the forbidding forest couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. It also wasn’t quite helpful when the caster was distracted nosing around in the glimmering undergrowth.

“Focus, please,” Rio said, nudging Saffron along as the other Imperial reached for a flower. “Can you stop getting distracted whenever we’re on a mission?”

“But missions are so boring, and half the time we’re not even sure we found the right monster,” Saffron complained, looking for all the world, like a little hatchling kicking at the dirt. It was more endearing than it should’ve been. Rio bit back the urge to smile.

“Right. So let’s find the monster, kill it, and you can go poke your nose in everything you want,” Rio said, herding him along. “Focus on your tracking magic. This shouldn’t be a difficult job.”

“Fine,” Saffron grumbled, leaning against Rio as he concentrated. Rio would never get used to the magenta glow of his mate’s eyes. He’d heard terrible things about the Arcane Flight and their magic, and while he trusted Saffron enough to not blow both of them up, arcane magic still made him uneasy.

“It’s nearby,” Saffron noted, looking around with wide eyes. “But the energy signature is too faint for me to track it more accurately. Can you sense anything?”

Rio concentrated, but couldn’t sense a thing. He wasn’t surprised. The Starfall Isles radiated so much magic that it was difficult for a non-Arcanite to know where was north and where was south.

“It might be deeper in,” Rio suggested. “Let’s go.”

Saffron nodded, and just then, something moved.

Rio caught the sight of the creature right before it dove. He lunged, tackling the monster out of the air before it could slam into Saffron. It was smaller than he’d imagined, barely a couple meters long, trailing sparkling lights that made it lovely to the eye but dangerous to the touch. Rio didn’t get a better look before he instinctively flung the monster as hard as he could into the nearest tree. He heard a satisfying crack as it slammed into something hard. The creature went limp in the undergrowth and didn’t get back up again.

“Hey!” Saffron complained, spinning around, a protective shield around him. “Why do you always hog all the action!” but he was laughing and smiling, and Rio felt himself relax. “Come on, can’t you at least let me get a hit in?”

“Sure, next time I’ll wait for it to rip your head off before attacking,” Rio replied, giving Saffron a sharp nudge. Saffron just flopped against him, laughing. “Get yourself together. Was that it?” He studied the undergrowth, but there was no movement or life as far as he could tell. The monster had probably died on impact.

Saffron checked with his magic. “I think so.” he looked puzzled. “I can’t believe something that small managed to terrorise the local dragons. I mean, I know most clans around here are terrified of something as small as mice, but this is just ridiculous.”

“Well, it’s small, so it might not be the only one of its kind,” Rio pointed out. “There might be a nest or something.”

“That’s true,” Saffron agreed. “Wanna play it safe and see what else is in Pandora’s box?”

Rio rolled his eyes. “If you insist.” But he was smiling as he followed Saffron deeper into the forest.

After all, simple missions like this one were less work and more time to spend with his mate. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.



“You know, certain things were not mentioned when we took this job. I mean, I realize we got the regular ‘kill these annoying things for us, higher beings’ speech, but really. At no point were we told, ‘go into the Star Wood Strand. Find miniature, sparkly things. Get jumped by a whole nest of them and end up covered in glitter’. I’m never going to wash this out of my scales!”

The diatribe did nothing to stop the wave of tiny black creatures from hounding Saffron. With a frustrated growl, he launched another magical beam into the shadowy mass. Like all of his previous attempts, it merely dispersed the critters. They scuttled into the shadows, tiny streaks of energy and deceptive strength, noticeable for nothing if not the lack of damage Saffron had done to them.

“Oh, come on!” he complained.

“Are you supposed to talk so much during a battle?” Rio asked from behind him, effortlessly smashing a trio of monsters into the nearest boulder. The Nature dragon was making more headway than Saffron, which, if Saffron was willing to be honest, was humiliating. He was the senior monster hunter. He should be the one taking care of Rio!

“Really. I’m not sure you’re mature enough to make that statement,” Rio said, reading his mind, because Saffron was an open book at his worst and Rio was great at reading him in general. That did not make Rio’s ability to perfectly guess his thoughts any less creepy to Saffron, though there was also a nice element to that. Saffron liked the idea of Rio understanding him.

“Look, I’ve taken jobs like this, and while I’m sure I knew at some point what we were supposed to do, now I no longer know, and I want to go home,” Saffron told him.

“Too bad you had to take the job, go deeper into the forest, and stumble into a nest of sparkly things.”

“The biggest insult is that they’re sparkly,” Saffron groused, eyeing the creatures, but they were retreating for now. “If they were a bit more hideous, I would actually have the heart to hurt them!”

“Even if you did, you’d miss,” Rio told him. Saffron swiped at him, but the other Imperial dodged. Rio’s lips curled up, just a tiny smile, but it was his equivalent of a full-body laugh, and Saffron loved him for it.

The monsters lunged, and the two Imperials broke apart. With a vicious swing of his tail, Rio sent them all packing. Saffron still wasn’t sure what they were - the monsters were excellent at camouflaging into the surrounding sparkling foliage, but there was definitely a draconian aspect to the attackers. Depending on what type of creatures those were, it could be either a good or bad thing. Good, because monsters who were dragonlike were usually just as mentally shallow. Bad, because monsters who were dragonlike were usually, well, dragonlike.

“I think that’s all of them,” Rio said, surveying the situation. The ones Rio had fell weren’t getting up, and the ones Saffron had attacked were retreating with no signs of coming back. “Even if we didn’t manage to clear the nest, it seems like they won’t be causing trouble any time soon.”

“As long as they stay away long enough for us to collect our paychecks and hightail it out of here,” Saffron agreed, and Rio rolled his eyes at him. “What? That’s the important thing!”

“I do love how you prioritise things,” Rio said wryly, poking around in the undergrowth for more monsters. Saffron tried to examine one of the bodies, but Rio pulled him back. “They’re dead. And we don’t want to deal with whatever happens when they’re dead.”

Saffron winced. “Right.” Most monsters in the Star Wood Strand blew up after dying a glorious death, because nothing was better than announcing your demise with an excellent arrangement of fireworks. Those who didn’t implode usually casted a curse or something, much to the dismay of the clans brave enough to live in the Strand. Whatever the case, Rio was right. They were better off not touching the bodies.

Rio nudged him gently. “Come on, let’s go.”

“I’m tired,” Saffron complained, despite the fact he knew full well he hadn’t really done anything. “Carry me?”

“No.”

“Why are you so heartless? What have I ever done to deserve this? What--”

Rio surged in close, and Saffron scampered backwards, but not in time to avoid being tackled to the ground. Rio’s face was inches from his, and Saffron could taste his scent - a hint of vanilla in the foresty aroma all nature dragons possessed.

“You were saying?” Rio whispered, his breath warm against Saffron’s scales, his body a comforting blanket over Saffron’s.

“I take everything back, you are the best.” Saffron nuzzled him pleadingly, and Rio let him go with a faint laugh. Saffron got to his feet, shaking the leaves off his body. “Why does that always work on me?”

“Because you’re weak-willed, and you love me.”

“This sucks.”

“Deal with it,” Rio called, leading the way back out, and Saffron followed him without question. They never really discussed it, but Saffron always led the way in, and Rio always got them out. It was a strange bonding ritual for them. Rio trusted Saffron to get them to their goal. Saffron trusted Rio to get them out of trouble. It was trust. It was faith. It was love. Not many dragons based their relationship on each other’s ability to get them in and out of certain doom, but it worked for the two of them.

They followed the trail they’d taken, and Saffron didn’t bother wondering how Rio knew the exact path they’d taken to get to the monsters’ nest. He’d say it was a nature dragon thing, the ability to navigate forests, but he was pretty sure it was just Rio’s ability to pay attention to every little detail. Honestly, the other Imperial’s memory was impressive, and it took a lot to impress Saffron.

As they traveled, Saffron’s mind wandered back to the monsters, thinking about their draconian aspect, the strange way magic hadn’t worked on them, the way Rio had been able to take them out with one hit. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard of a monster like them. Something made his spine crawl, though. Think. Think. Monsters in the Strand all had something in common. Their deaths weren’t to be ignored. That was why, before every mission, Saffron inscribed runes into both his and Rio’s bodies, to protect them from whatever misfortune that -

Oh.

“Hey, Rio?” Saffron called out, more out of the need to hear Rio’s voice than anything else. “You know those monsters?”

“Yes?” Rio glanced back, emerald eyes glowing in the darkness, and Saffron did an internal little dance, because he was a pathetic romantic that way.

“They didn’t set off my runes.”

Rio paused. “What?”

“Usually when Strand monsters die, they either explode or release a curse, right?”

“Yes, but you gave us magical protection for that, right?”

“Right,” Saffron took a deep breath. “But the thing is, even after killing so many of them, I can’t sense the magical protection weakening. That means it hasn’t been triggered. It hasn’t been put to use.”

Rio frowned. “So… those monsters didn’t unleash a curse when they died?”

Saffron tried to make that sentence logical in his head, but couldn’t. “I don’t know. But I think we should be careful.”

Rio nodded as they came upon the clearing where he’d killed the first monster. “Well, I trust your instincts, but I heard their bones break. I don’t think monsters can recover from having their spines snapped.”

Saffron winced. “Why are you so brutal?”

“Stay on topic, Saffy.”

“Oh, Arcanist, don’t call me that!” A glimmer caught Saffron’s attention, and with a quick glance to make sure Rio’s back was turned towards him, he went to check on the sparkling thing. It was buried beneath dead leaves and freshly snapped branches, still shedding cyan light. Curious, Saffron pushed the twigs and foliage aside.

“Do monsters always die when their bones break?” Saffron called.

Rio snorted. “Do you die when your spine snaps?”

“Uh, probably.”

“Then yes. I haven’t met a Strand monster that’d survive that hit.”

Saffron glanced down at the tangled black mass in front of him. His claw reached out, and brushed over scales, over webbing, over horns and spikes and warmth.

The realization hit him too late.

It was still breathing.

Saffron lunged backwards, a warning in his throat, and there was a bright flash of light and a snarl.

The last thing he heard was his name.



It all happened in slow motion.

Rio had seen it, saw the flicker of movement in the corner of the eye, saw the flash that was magic where there should've been darkness, saw the creature move when it shouldn't have been moving. He saw Saffron flinch backward, eyes just the slightest bit wide, before the bright spark and the sound slammed into the pale Imperial and knocked him backward.

Saw Saffron's body sliding, boneless and limp, to the ground.

It had all happened, in the space of one breath, in a single heartbeat, and Rio was running before his mind could catch up to him, a scream that was Saffron’s name tearing from his throat. He launched a bolt of magic after the shadowy creature, but it slipped into the shadows before the energy could connect. A bright flash of cyan light flared at him, and Rio instinctively dodged to the side. Saffron’s limp body was at the edge of his vision, the only fixed point he cared about. By the time he’d gotten a good grip on the ground, the monster was gone, a tiny streak of blue light the only sign it’d ever been there.

Rage was a physical fire beneath his chest, and Rio stared helplessly after the monster for a moment, torn between revenge and preservation. He shook himself. Saffron was still down, Saffron was done, and Rio needed to help him. Shaking off the desire to chase, to hunt, Rio rushed over to Saffron.

It was bad. All his instincts told him the damage was terrible, and Rio’s heartbeat thudded in his ears, even as his brain demanded that the scene before him be a lie. Saffron was lying in a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood, the magic bolt having torn through his chest. His limbs were splayed, twitching in the last spasms of a body that didn’t know it was de-

No, no, no, no

"Hold on!" Rio protested, searching for a way to stop the bleeding, and it was going to be okay. Yes, it was going to be fine, Saffron was an Imperial, and there weren't many attacks that could get past his scales. That pool of blood didn't mean anything, it just looked worse than it actually was -

No no no no

"It's going to be fine," he said, and told himself Saffron was just shocked. That was why his eyes were still open. He was probably just unconscious from the sudden attack, right? Anyone else would be the same. Even if they weren’t, Arcane dragons were different. Arcane dragons were resilient. Saffron was going to be fine.

"Don't worry, there are healers back at the village, you'll be fine!" Rio urged, pressing down on the wound with all the magic he possessed. Saffron would tease him for worrying later, and Rio mentally prepared himself for that battle, because the Arcanist knew, Saffron didn't pull that many on him. "I swear to the Eleven, I'll get you back for this." he stopped his spell as the blood stopped pooling. That was a good sign, right? "Come on, I'll carry you back. You'd better buy me dinner for this."

It took him a matter of moments to levitate Saffron onto his back. The pastel Imperial was a bit heavier than him, but that was fine. Saffron was warm on his back, just like he should be, and Rio was relieved. "Okay, it's going to rough journey," he told Saffron. "I can't fly with you on my back. Watch out for monsters, alright?" he took off at a stumbling trot, and was Saffron's body getting heavier with every step? "What have you been eating? Arcanist's sake, I don't remember you being that much of a glutton!"

He took a shortcut through the woods, ignoring the way the brambles and vines tore at his scales. He'd cleared out this part of the Strand with Saffron before, so he knew there weren't any dangers lurking about. It would be a short trip to the nearest village, and he could rest easy once he got Saffron to a healer. Rio promised himself to take plenty of pictures. He could hold this over Saffron for a good while.

Yes, in the end, it was going to be him and Saffron, laughing together. Just like every mission. Like every trip. Like every day.

Everything was going to be fine.

A tree materialized before him and Rio barely avoided it, tripping over the ground just as he came to the edge of the Strand. Saffron hit the ground with a solid thud and Rio spun around. "Saffron! I'm sorry, I thought I was holding onto you properly." The Imperial's eyes were wide and empty. The magenta irises Rio had feared and admired in equal parts were blank reflections of the Strand, and the village in the distance. "Hey, stop scaring me like that," Rio scolded, reaching out to give his mate a smack. "It's not funny."

Saffron's head lolled to the side at his touch. Rio stared down at the blood on his claws. Why? He'd stopped the bleeding, right? But there was blood on his back, down Saffron's flank and chest, where the magic bolt had torn through, and seeping from his mouth, and his eyes - he'd never seen Saffron make an expression like that -

"Saffron? Please. Please wake up. Please."

Shouts came up in the distance. Rio was only vaguely aware of the blurry shapes rushing towards him. It was going to be fine. It was fine. It had to be -

Something touched him, and Rio spun around, and it was the monster from the Strand, cruel magenta eyes glinting. And it was an insult to Saffron, those magenta eyes, those eyes that Rio had both loved and feared. Claws reached past him, reaching for Saffron’s helpless body, and -

“Don’t touch him!” He snarled, his body a whiplash of force and violence and desperation as he lashed out. There were more monsters now, surrounding him, reaching for him, reaching for Saffron. “Stop!” The word tore from his throat and Rio slammed his claws into the ground. The ground trembled, shaking, tossing the monsters all about as the earth erupted in new growth, tangled roots and trees coming to his defense, and it was going to be okay, it was alright, he could kill those monsters, he had Saffron protecting him, he -

“Rio, stop!”

It wasn’t Saffron’s voice, it was one of the monsters, and in frustration and panic Rio turned towards it, and it was standing over Saffron, it was touching Saffron, it was touching Saffron -

“Don’t touch him!” Rio rushed over, but he slammed into a barrier so hard it made his world spin. Arcane magic, but it wasn’t Saffron’s, Saffron’s magic wasn’t like this, Saffron’s magic was -

“Rio, stop!” The face swam into focus, and it wasn’t a monster, it was a Skydancer, arcane eyes worried and defensive. “Stop, he’s gone already.”

The words didn’t make sense in Rio’s head, so he didn’t bother trying to make it have sense. He stumbled over to Saffron, and it was going to be okay. Saffron’s body was still warm, that faint smile he always had still on his face, his eyes open as always, full of humour and -

No no no no

He nudged Saffron gently, voice shaking. “Come on. Please. I can’t carry you home by myself.”

No no no

“Saffron?” The Imperial was unresponsive to his touch. “Saffron, please. Please.”

No no

“Please.”

No.



“It’s been six days.”

“Do you think he’s alright?”

“I don’t know, he hasn’t spoken since they brought him in.”

“The poor thing. But more to the point - what will we do now? If not even they could take down those monsters - ”

“I’ll send a note to the Observatory. I’m sure they have researchers who can help.”

“We should’ve done that, rather than rely on two unreliable bounty hunters. I should’ve known they were too incompetent to take care of the situation. I’m not surprised that pink idiot died.”

“Shh, don’t let that one hear you.”

The murmurs of the anxious villagers were a faint buzz in Rio’s peripheral hearing. He stared, empty and blank, at the polished stone in front of him. As was tradition in the Starfall Isles, they’d burned the body so no Emperor would rise from the ashes. There was nothing left now, not a single scale to prove that the brightest dragon Rio had ever left had lived.

All that was left was a cold, lonely grave.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Whispers echoed around him, but Rio was numb to it all. He rose slowly from his vigil, his forehead aching from having rested it against cold, hard stone. The scenery in the grove was beautiful, the magical flora of the Strand giving the clearing a beautiful, violet hue. Saffron had always loved this place. But now Rio had no eyes for it. He never wanted to see this place again.

“Should we stop him? What do you think he’s going to do? If he goes back into the Strand-”

“Hush, little one. It’s none of our business. Besides, the other one was the only one capable of finding monsters. It’s not like this one can take revenge.”

“Silence, all of you. They have done us great service in the past. The least you can do is mourn the fall of such a warrior.”

“And as for the other?”

“Leave him be.”

Rio paused at the edge of the grove, looking up at the sky Saffron had always loved flying in.

It was starting to rain.

“I’ll see you again,” he whispered, the words lost in the steady patter of the sky’s tears. “I promise.”