Dan

"Delight."

...

"Delight."

A sharp claw poked Delight in the back. He recoiled a bit with a grunt, and opened his eye a crack to see who it was. Hope. Of course it was Hope, one of the most annoying dragons in the world. (Not as annoying as Fidelity or Loyalty; those old droopy-snouts were super strict when it came to sleeping schedules and were probably ancient enough to have taught history to the Earthshaker. But Hope was still close.) She was only a little younger than Delight, but she was always up early, jumping around the cave where the younger Obelisks slept. A mischevious grin split across her face. "Let's go scare my sister!" she whispered, though her "whisper" was almost loud enough for the deities to hear.

Hope's sister, Hysteria, was just the opposite of Hope. She was quiet, usually curled up with one of the scrolls Courage and Serenity found while exploring deeper in the cave. Right now, she was sleeping in her stone form; a beautiful statue made of pure, shining jade reflecting the small drinking river.

"Do it yourself," he growled, rolling over so his back was towards her. Hope huffed, and then Delight heard talonsteps going away from him. Then, suddenly, something hit his back with enough force to fling him about a foot away. He barely surpressed a yelp, and quickly stood up with this muscles tensed. In front of him stood Hope, who stared back innocently. Delight shook his pelt; he wasn't bleeding, as Hope's horns were barely more than stubs and quite dull, but it still hurt to be rammed by them."Why do you want me too wake your sister up so badly?" growled Delight. "Why do you want to avoid waking her up so badly?" Hope shot back. Her face went from innocent to smug. "Oh, I get it!" she said with a snort. "Get what?" asked Delight, but he already figured it out. He realized he was still tense and forced his muscles to loosen up. Hope narrowed her eyes. "I guess if you don't help me, you won't be able to stop me from telling her your little... secret." Delight's eyes widened. He wanted to yell at her, but then that would alert the whole cave. Swallowing all the vulgar retorts he wanted to say in that moment, he simply asked, "What secret?" "Oh, don't play dumb!" Hope took a deep breath. Delight tensed his back legs, ready to pounce. "LOOK'S LIKE SOMEONE'S GOT A- oofmmblrmmf!"

Delight covered her mouth with his paw, but not before Bliss woke up from the noise. "Eh? Waaazgoinon?" groaned Bliss, her words barely coherent. "Nothing, everything is fine!" replied Delight quickly. "Then why is Hope eating your taloooommmmm..." Bliss slipped back into her sleep mid-sentence. Delight looked down. Hope was, indeed, biting his talon. "Aye!" he exclaimed, yanking his talon away. Hope grinned and gestured towards Hysteria. "Fine, I'll help you!" growled Delight. "What do you need me too do.. YEEEOOOOOWKS!"

Delight stumbled back. The sleeping cave started vibrating violently. He looked at the entrance and saw dragons flooding into the main caves. A strange light was shining from the ceiling, getting larger and brighter. Dragons were taking on their statue forms, filling the cave with lifeless dragons of limestone, basalt, and other stones speckled with shining blue and red. Courage charged into the hatchling sleeping cave. "Stone forms!" he yelled, and then collapsed, panting heavily. Bliss was already transforming, along with Zeal and Ecstasy. Hope was frozen in place, as though she were unconscious on her feet. Delight put his talon on her back, transferring some of his power to her. She took on her stone form: perfectly white marble dotted with evenly-spaced specks of gems in many different colors. Delight took on a low-power form, turning into a cracking stone statue no bigger than his own head. The last thing he saw was three strange dragons emerging through the hole in the main cave, and then he slipped into darkness.

It'd been a while since the Obelisk wound up at the river. He didn't know how long he'd been in his statue form, but his memory of the underground was fuzzy and he was a lot bigger than he remembered. He also got a flare of anxiety when he talked to other dragons, which he couldn't recall feeling in the caves. But the caves and the river were not his problem right now; all he knew was that the underground was far behind him and he needed to eat soon. He looked in his small bag at the plants he'd gathered. They looked edible, and smelled very sweet - maybe they'd be enough to trade for some fish at Antiquity. He could just now see the towering architecture of the town in the distance, and some of the taller tents that marked merchant stands. "Heeello, sir! You are a sir, right? Or shall I call you sir-ette?" The Obelisk whirled around to face whoever snuck up on him. It was a strange looking dragon, standing on two legs instead of four. Her wings were much larger than most dragons he'd seen, and she has a sleek, slender build while also appearing well-fed. "Oh, I guess it would be easier to call you by your name. What is your name?"
...
What was his name?

The Obelisk searched his brain for a moment, running through all the named he remembered. Hope? No.. Hysteria? No. Fidelity? Heck, no! ..Rapture? No. Oh, aha! "D-" "Oh, it's Dan, isn't it? Hello, Dan!" The Obelisk tried to correct her, but the other dragons continued in her speedy tone. Dan. I guess that's a more normal-sounding name. I'll use that, I guess. "You know, you kind of stand out. All bright and everything. Oh, I know!" She (not very carefully) placed a hat on Dan's head and threw some scrolls in his talons. He caught them clumsily, his vision partially obscured by the hat. "Have a good day!" the weird dragon said with a bow, and then she took off, leaving a cloud of sand. Dan coughed and rubbed his eyes, then curiously opened one of the scrolls. Strange patterns outlined the paper, and in the center there were a few strange twisting patterns surrounded with different colors. Wiping the sand that got on it off if the page, he took a closer look at it. But he almost immediately jumped back as he noticed the fur on his talon changing colors...