Pah

Pah’s story began in the outskirts of the Tangled woods. This was once a peaceful location for settlers until the shade came. Of course, the shade was defeated and banished from Sornieth eventually but it left behind it’s tainted touch on certain beings.

The village where Pah was born was terrorized by shade touched beastclans. There was never a moment of peace for the inhabitants.

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“Pah, we need to hurry!” her adopted father hovered over her tired eyes fighting to stay shut. Pah never knew her real parents. She was found as an egg in the woods and was brought home by two generous souls that had adopted several other hatchlings much like herself.

“Ye--es,” she moaned, rising from her comfy stack of hay and rubbing matter out of her eyes. She went straight to her mother and stretched out her arms. Mother drew a cloak onto both her arms and threw the hood over her head. “Let’s go, children,” she said to a room that was seemingly empty. The other eight hatchlings were already invisible. There was no reply but she knew they were ready to leave. “Pah, front of the line, behind Ma,” said father.

Every morning was the same routine - wake up before sunrise to gather food and water for the day ahead. Dragons big and small, young and old, wore their invisibility cloaks and crept out of their dens before dawn. Tip-toed, with restrained breaths, nobody ever spoke once outside.

The mother lead the family into the woods with the youngest, Pah right behind her and the father followed at the very end to protect the hatchlings from behind. It would have made sense that only the two older dragons went out to hunt and gather but in this village that wasn’t an option. Everyone had to gather enough for themselves or it would never do. There was no coming out again once the light was out. Plus, it was good to train hatchlings to live in these apocalyptic lands right from when they could comprehend danger.

Pah was in charge of gathering berries and insects and so when they reached a safe spot, or so they assumed, she began her daily gathering routine. To anyone else, this would have been a weird sight! There were berries coming off of bushes, fish rising out of the water, fruits travelling down in lines from trees - being moved around by what seemed like the wind. But it was just the invisible dragons. All in all, it was a magical setting in otherwise troublesome times and the dragons found great joy in these simple moments they shared together.

But this would all end on this dreadful day. Somebody coughed...and that was all it took to destroy an entire family. Possessed, enraged beasts appeared from nowhere and they unleashed black voids from their throats. No invisibility cloak could help escape the damage that invaded the woods and the skies. The dragons were separated...Pah ran in some direction and dove into a burrow where she would wait for hours.

She emerged by late noon, something she feared doing but had to do. The little hatchling had tears streaming down her face, in absolute silence as she walked back to the spot where her family should have been. Nothing remained. She would have sat there and cried all day but something moved behind a tree. One of the shade-touched beasts was still patrolling the region.

Before she could think, it darted towards her and all she could do was close her eyes and hold her arms out against it.

The beast pounced. As soon as it touched her, something strange happened. It started writhing on the floor...and then it was motionless, dead. Pah did not understand but she knew there was no time to waste here. “Father is dead, mother is dead...my brothers and sisters,” she fell to her knees, beside the still beast, black veins strewn across its skin. “This beast is also dead…”

Others will come...and they will surely hunt her down in broad daylight.

She ran and she flew as fast as she could. For days, she switched between her legs and wings, tiring them out to exhaustion until she was too weak to even crawl. She reached a place she never knew existed. Nothing existed beyond her village as far as her family knew. It all seemed so unreal and then she blacked out. Darkness and sorrow consumed her dreams as she slept.

But Pah was saved by a gentle sprinkle of water. Her eyes opened to a young, strange looking coatl standing above her and a large monument overlooking them both. She was still in a daze until the sounds of a thousand footsteps clamored in her eyes - she was not used to this much noise. There were voices - laughter & yelling. She panicked! “Keep quiet,” she said, freaking out and holding the coatls arm to raise herself. “Tell them to keep quiet!” she pleaded. “Why?” he said, confused. “They will come for us! The beasts will come for us!”

“There, there, calm down now!” Another older dragon helped her get to her feet. “It’s just our annual tradition of the Sun Dial Terrace. You’ve had a bad dream, you poor thing. Where is your family?”

“My…”
Pah looked around, to a sight she had never seen before - dragons, freely roaming in the light! There were hatchlings running and playing, while the adults seemed to pace up and down the outer frame of the large monument. Some of them were using stone and others chisels and they seemed to be tracing the shadow of the monument. Pah was still confused.

“Well, where are they?” asked the young coatl.
“My family is dead,” she said, turning to him with a blank expression.
“Oh I--uh, I’m sorry, my dear,” said the older dragon. “You...come with us. Let’s get you some help. And you can explain everything to the ringmaster.”
“The who?”
“The ringmaster!” yelled the coatl, loudly in her ears.

Pah was taken to a strange new place, yet again.
There were colorful tents, caged animals, strange looking dragons with mutations and painted faces with expressions that were meant to be happy. But they all looked sad.
“Now, what is this fresh hell?” she asked herself.

“Come, come,” urged the happy little coatl, holding her arms and dragging her into a large tent in the middle of all the others.

There were many dragons inside who seemed to be very busy but they weren’t really doing anything that made sense - some were hammering nails into biscuits, some were chopping the manes off of others and sticking them on dolls while others were cooking boots and twigs in large pots.

At the very end of the tent, was a huge chair made of balloons. A signboard above it read, ‘Throne’ and a fat, acne-ridden dragon dragon sat on it, eating something slimy. He wore a silly hat and even sillier clothes, with no shoes. “It’s probably his boots they’re cooking.” she thought to herself but even that didn’t make sense.

“What is this place?” she asked the fat dragon.

“This is my kingdom, you impudent brat! And you will call me ringmaster!” he screamed, in a rather feminine voice, opposed to his otherwise over-sized stature. He raised his body to one side and let himself release some horrible pungent gas. She wanted to laugh and vomit at the same time but held it in.

“If it’s your kingdom, then shouldn’t I call you King?” she asked him.
The ringmaster wanted to tell her something nasty in return but before he could...a balloon on his ‘throne’ popped.

He shouted “CENWYN!” as if the dragon wasn’t in the room. But apparently, Cenwyn was the coatl that was with Pah. The tiny coatl ran up to the fat slob of a dragon’s make belief throne, picked up a fresh balloon from behind the curtains and started blowing with all his might. He placed the new balloon in the empty spot with much care. “There you go, my mighty ringmaster!” said the coatl and the ringmaster slapped him on the back of his head, wickedly, and said, “Thank you!”

The little coatl flew a feet in front, face planted on the ground, with a tear in one eye. Pah, who was properly agitated, helped him up and asked him if he was okay.

This was the way of the Burnsblum Travelling Circus. The ringmaster sneezed his mess everywhere and everyone else had to wipe his face. And she learnt to be a part of it eventually.

Here is where she discovered her ability to kill things when she was threatened. And so they released her into cages and let vile beasts inside to feast on her. On touching her, they would die and the crowd would cheer.

The coatl was more of a foot servant, she observed.
Days went on like this until she was alone with the coatl one night.

“We need to get out of here. I’m sick of killing things...even if they’re trying to eat me. They’re only hungry animals…” sighed Pah.
“Where will we go?” asked Cenwyn.
“Somewhere...anywhere....let’s leave NOW. I want you to go with me! You have to go with me,” she stressed her urgency and he bowed his head in thought.
“Okay! Let’s go! But I have to bring my friends...wait!”
“No, no, no!” she insisted but he was already running into his tent, calling out several names.
Of course she didn’t want anyone else knowing what was going on.
Moments later, he appeared with a hoard of cats.
“These...are your friends?”
“Apart from you, yes!”
“Ok, no problem,” sighed Pah in relief. “Let’s get out of here!”

The pair ran and flew for days. The journey reminded Pah of her first escape from her village and a lump grew in her throat. But she held in the pain.

The ringmaster found out about their escape the next morning. He knew losing Pah would mean losing his best income. So he set his wraith hounds out on the hunt. It’s a good thing that wolves can’t fly because Pah and Cenwyn were miles away now and only a faint hint of their scent was left behind on the ground for the hounds- the rest of their journey was in the air, with the cats riding on their backs.

They came to a strange land, once again - barren of vegetation, full of ruins and covered by a looming darkness that seemed threatening. But somehow, they felt safe here. They landed beside a campfire, surrounded by a group of dragons dressed in torn clothes and rusty armor. The pair were offered drink and food and they spent the night listening to the older dragons singing songs of lost homes and lovers. Pah wanted to cry but watching Cenwyn enjoy himself was comforting.

This was where they would make their home, in the Hewn City, among a band of outcasts and runaway soldiers and knights. Pah and Cenwyn grew wise and powerful to rule this very spot, where their clan would flourish in the years to come. The lost dragons who sang their songs in poverty sing now beside Pah and Cenwyn, but wealthy with resources in abundance.

Pah has learnt how to control her powers and she protects her clan with all her might.

This isn’t the end of Pah’s story though. It’s only the beginning.