Harbringer

"expect the unexpected... unless you're already expecting that."

(formerly haven)

When the river-colored dragon introduced himself as an augur, Haven wasn't expecting much. Theatrics, some vague nonsense about their future or past- seers didn't exist, not since the Tidelord vanished.

But as soon as he touched Haven's outstretched palm, his eyes rolled back and he fainted. Haven stumbled backwards as the diviner (whose legitimacy was growing likelier by the second) collapsed onto the ground. Pale green smoke curled out of his mouth, and his half-open eyes were glassy and.. almost glowing.

Loud gasps and whispers came from the crowd around them, and they curled in on themself. Why had the explorers chosen their statue? If they were Earthborn, they reflected ruefully, their statue form would have blended into the cave walls.
They shrank back further as a dragoness padded forwards, an effortless command in the way she carried herself. She was wearing a mask that would have looked ridiculous on anyone else but looked downright terrifying on her. Earthshaker's sake, these dragons had such odd tribenames- was she a.. Mirror? A Wild Claw? Proper tribenames had symbolism, like how their own, as did regular names. Haven's referred to-

The dragoness, who'd been looking between the collapsed seer and Haven in a way that made anxiety seize at his throat, nudged the augur with her tail. He awoke violently (it seemed that many things in this Clan were done in such a way), leaping to his paws and lashing his tail.

Haven shrank reflexively back at the glazed terror in his wide eyes. They were definitely glowing, no iris or pupil visible- just a ghastly green light. Smoke of that same color spilled out of the seer's mouth as he spoke, sealing Haven's fate.

"A harbringer," he snarled. "An omen of death."

~

Haven was less than pleased to be known as an omen of death.

Their tourguide informed them that a situation like theirs was utterly unprecedented. She was a plucky little dragon, small enough that he was constantly tripping over her pale green tail because he just couldn't see her. She seemed nice enough, though, and eager to talk. Apparently there were a few dragons in the Clan that had made the seer (Downdrift was his name) worried, but they were the only one that had caused him to faint.

That was most definitely not ideal, and the rest of the Clan seemed to share Haven's sentiment. A wide-eyed batlike dragon, pink from snout to tail, squeaked and slammed his window shut as they passed. They were watched by a rainbow of eyes, most of them pink.. Arcane dragons? Was that it? (There weren't many non-Earthborns in the caverns, and it wasn't like they'd had the chance to read up on the outside world before they'd been unearthed in the center of this strange clearing like a present at a hatchling's Eleventh Day.)

"What's your name?" they asked their tourguide, who turned to him with an utterly blank countenance. Most dragons would have probably been put off, but it was hard enough for Haven to remember what expressions he was supposed to make without constantly guessing at the emotion behind others' expressions as well. At any rate, she hadn't startled at his rumbly voice, an octave or two below most others.

"I'm Caiman."

"And that's a..." they ventured.

"It's like a Toridae, but less venomous and more lizardy."

Haven had no idea what a Toridae was, but they replied, "Right."

A group of hatchlings peered around a corner, laughing. They were barely older than him.

This was the worst.

-

That night, Haven sat underneath the Evertree and prayed for the Earthshaker to take them away from this place. It was bad enough that they weren't even Earthborn like the best of the Obelisks, but this? The staring. The fearful murmuring. The hissed insults. The invasive questions. He hated it here.

He'd managed to get the story from Caiman. Some of the Clan's explorers had caught wind of something going on; they'd taken part in the expedition that led to the unearthing of the Obelisks' cavern. Thinking the Obelisks were statues carved by the Earthshaker himself, the explorers were allowed to bring a statue back to this Clan to study, and they had picked Haven.

He half-wished they had let his stone form shatter.

-

Two days later, Haven had decided that if the Earthshaker wouldn't take him away, they would do it themself. He would travel back to the cavern and try again, connect with whatever Obelisks were left there- would there be any left? They didn't know. But anything would be better than being the only dragon like them. He'd just picked up his few belongings and taken one last look at the sprawling clearing when he heard wingbeats. They were loud in the nighttime quiet, as dusk had long since fallen and the other dragons had retired to their dens, and sounded odd. Clumsy, like the dragon was injured.

Haven backed up until they were hidden in the shadows of a nearby tree. A blurry form came cresting over the canopy and swooped down into a clumsy landing, like they didn't know their own strength. Haven barely registered that as odd, though, because it was another Obelisk.

It was another Obelisk.

She was the color of charolite, with glossy dark scales and a vibrant violet mane. Monochromatic; she would match her statue form perfectly. (Some of the cavern Obelisks prized that sort of thing.)

Haven stepped out to greet her.

-
awakened: omen, nightmare / day, courageous warhorse / la, crystal carrier / obbie, wicker dragon / belonging, transmuted treasure