Ember

She has known REDACTED the longest, it saddens her to see his old self dwindle away. She is firm and direct, often trying to talk with REDACTED when she can see him. It never goes in her favor.

When a flame that has stood too long finally begins to dwindle, there remains ashes and a few surviving embers, too strong to give out even when there is nothing left to burn. This name could not be more suited to such a dragon as the young nocturne born in the trenches of the Molten Scar. Ember hatched from her nest with the energy and fiery passion customary to dragons native to the Ashfall Waste. From the moment she was born, there was a noticeable spark in everything she did, an enjoyment of even the smallest mundane tasks.

It was not to last, as her clan required that every young dragon enter forge work as soon as they came of age. Ember was put to work, not that she took any issue with that part of the deal. No, what changed her was what followed. Her optimistic and jovial attitude stayed strong for the first months of hard factory labor. She bonded with some of the other young dragons who also worked there, as well as a sweet orange parrot she called Cinder.

Cinder was Ember’s closest friend, and the pair could rarely be seen apart from one another. The bond she’d built with the bird was absolute and wholly unbreakable. Cinder would help Ember in her daily work and provide companionship in her time off. Even under the blistering heat and lethal flames of the forge, Ember could still find a reason to enjoy it.

One day, a disaster befell her factory. Not an uncommon occurrence, but certainly a deadly one, one of the forges became lodged with debris. Every dragon fled, but Cinder was not so lucky. The bird was caught in the onslaught of debris as the metal forge erupted, sending fragments of iron and steel cascading across the factory in pools of molten lava. While Ember barely made it out alive, her beloved friend was not so lucky.

This was the first tragedy that Ember had ever witnessed, and even if it was something so small as a common fire bird, it was enough to show the young nocturne that the world was not a place of bliss and joy. From this moment, Ember was quieter. Less jovial and cheerful. However, there was newfound strength in her heart. She was resilient and would not easily be moved. A new flame surged in her heart, and it was not a passionate one, but a determined one.

Though she mourned the loss of her dear friend, she felt the spirit of Cinder with her. Like a force that no one else could detect and something she could not fully explain. She had no need to explain it, however, as the factory incident caused her to leave her clan and strike out on her own. The nocturne traveled many days, trying to find a new place in the Ashfall Waste to settle down. Her plans were offset when she happened upon a traveling imperial by the name of REDACTED. He was a young leader with the ambition to start an empire. She admired his ideals and as they began to speak, Ember started to care for him.

It wasn’t until the powerful dragon also acknowledged the presence of Cinder’s spirit that Ember saw him in a new light. He wasn’t simply seeking power; he was more than that- seeking to spread his family and influence. So Ember found herself developing feelings for him, and the young imperial admitted to returning them. They were mated and took up a home in the neighboring Sunbeam Ruins, a softer, more gentle place than the blazing heat to which Ember was accustomed and safer than the savage wilds in which REDACTED had grown up.

Over time, however, things began to change. Something vile began to gnaw at REDACTED’s brain. He changed, and he changed for the worse. Disease consumed him, as did chaotic and cruel thoughts. His children began to despise him, and Ember had to watch all of it, powerless to change a thing. She was often direct and honest with him, trying to garner a decent conversation about what was happening to him, but things always ended badly. The nocturne had to watch every piece of the dragon she cared for fall away to only a husk of himself.

Even so, Ember had not given up. Such as her namesake, even if the raging fire has died, her life remains. She will continue on, for there is nothing else for her to do. Now, even as she sees her children become the same sort of creature that their father is becoming, even as she watches him lose himself, Ember keeps her head held high and her eyes on the bright horizon. In these dark times, she has resolved to be her own light.

[Lore from here]