Galloway

It was a pretty common dare among Plagueling adolescents, although one that was much less frequently carried out. Galloway would not be the first, nor the last to dip a tallon all the way to the toe, into the Wyrmwound because she’d been dared to. She approached the edge carefully, checking for any of the adults who might protest her daring act. She would not allow herself to get caught. For the purpose of this dare, getting caught was just as valid as doing the deed, but there was no glory in getting caught, only a solemn warning from a self-righteous adult, or perhaps a horrific tale of the deadly mutations that the Wyrmwound caused–no, she must not get caught.

Someday she would think about the moment that the bubble on the surface popped and wonder how she didn't notice it, ignoring the fact that her attention was all on not being caught, and not on avoiding exploding bubbles.

She glanced around one last time, proud to note that only her friends could be seen watching her progress. She dramatically raised her front foreclaw, then slowly lowered it into the goo. Then, the bubble popped.

She was completely covered, and as she rushed to find anything to roll in, to get the goo out of her feathers, out of her face, she imagined she could feel her skin burning with a fever, her very structure being twisted into a mythical creature from those monstrous tales. She retracted her previous thought, she would have much rather been caught.


She thought she was losing her mind. The healers from her clan said she was fine, or, as good as could be expected considering, but she didn’t feel fine. She still felt like something was re-writing her very essence, and she couldn’t stand the thought, even if that something was created by the Plaguebringer herself. Perhaps, she thought, especially because it was created by the Plaguebringer herself.

At night she dreamt of the goo, could feel it sliding down her back, dripping off of her wings and sliding into her nostrils. She re-lived those moments of blind panic, rolling in the broken earth surrounding the Wyrmwound, broken bits ripping her skin, opening up her body to the infested goo. She needed to feel clean, and would stop at nothing to do so.

She swam in the Sea of a Thousand Currents hoping to finally forget the feeling of the goo. The next day she decided to seek out a healer from Lightning, perhaps they could see what was happening to her with their advanced technology, but she soon dismissed the idea, who knew how they would react to her presence, let alone what they would discover. Or gods, how they might react to what they discovered, how she might react…No. She would find other options.

Months of searching brought her to a Nature clan of all things. Her thoughts were out of control, almost two separate entities within her. But neither was malicious, both were somehow her. She couldn’t remember the last time her thoughts had let her sleep. She would sign her life away for sleep, even if it meant consulting a filthy Nature healer, and being at the mercy of a Nature clan.

“This will help you sleep,” Luna promised, “I won’t let it last forever, but it might be what your body needs to have a chance to recover.”
Galloway didn’t hesitate, “just let me sleep.”


She woke up to the sound of screaming; very, very nearby screaming. Other than that, the realization that she could suddenly think clearly for the first time in a very, very long time, hit her harder than the wave of sound emanating from the head attached to her shoulder. Wait. She was supposed to be the head attached to her shoulder? She attempted to lurch away from the screaming head, and found it much harder than it should have been for some reason, (perhaps the sleeping draught the healer gave her?) the head appeared to be very much attached.

Galloway was staring at her second head–both heads very sure the other was in fact the second head–when the other dragons arrived. The clan leaders and healers were shocked. Sure, no self respecting clan knew so little of the world to be ignorant to the newfound existence of the Aberrations, but for one of the new ancient breed to suddenly show up unannounced in the den of a Nature clan, was a little more than shocking.

Would love to add more to this lore, show me what her life is now that she's a Aberration. How is she learning to cope and be a functioning dragon, or maybe she isn't?

Would like skin ideas, and scene/vista ideas as well.