Arka

Eclipse may have spent lifetimes seeking that which kept him held in a labyrinth of unknown history, only feeling farther from answers with each attempt to grasp the strings of his own fate. The fickle thing about fate, however, is that it cares not for what you understand or believe and it exists beyond such bindings. Midsummer was the first change. A glimmering fleck in an obsidian yarn. As who he was now became less dependent on who he may have been, a boon was offered. In sharing his power, his burden, and caring for another he took a step forward. Building instead of simply seeking. A single pebble moved from the mountain of stones covering his past but should you watch it fall, you would see the ripples it cast in wide rings upon a glassy lake below. Tired of the metaphores? I do suppose it is time. Go on then Arka.


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Arka awakened stiff and slow to a blinding light. She had no memory of any place or who may await her as she opens her eyes. Blinking against the blinding white she saw a pristine room that felt frozen in time. Sunlight poured through ornate windows of carefully arranged mosaic glass, every pane clear as crystal. White columns and marble statues lined the room and a throne sat beneath the window. It was a garish thing built of ivory spikes and sharp points like icicles colliding to form a symbol of power to frame whoever sat upon it. It felt familiar. Welcoming. Unintelligible whispers clawed at the edges of her mind as she took a step towards it. Her claws on marble tiles being the only sound aside from her own breath. As she moved to lower her foot a second time, she felt a fist grab her heart and gaze and turn her away. As she whipped around her eyes fell on the previously blank wall behind her to see it shimmering as an image appeared and voices echoed throughout her hall.

"What is in that one?"

"You know it may take time to determine that, child."

"I'm sorry..."

"Never apologize for seeking knowledge, young one. Let us find out together, shall we?"

The dragons beyond seemed monstrously massive as their gaze turned to her. Muddled feelings filled her heart and mind.

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She was not ready to understand these feelings. She reached out to touch them but found her movement stopped where the wall had been as the image rippled. It felt wrong. She felt weak and small when moments before she had seen the throne and felt immense and powerful. A hiss tore from her throat as her tail lashed and she reached for something deep inside her that she could not name but found only a vast and frightening emptiness. She felt incomplete and was overcome with a yearning to fill that void. The giants on the other side of the illusion stared at her unseeing before stepping forward. The wall rippled and shimmered like a disturbed lake before fading to the white wall it had been when she first awoke. In a room frozen from time one can get lost in its passing. Arka was unsure if it was seconds or years that passed while she waited for the images to return or to make sense of it all. What she did know was a part of her heart yearned for the wall to ripple to life once more while another pulled like a great chain drawing her to sit upon her throne... In this moment, she stood frozen as both forces compelled her equally. Only time would tell which might prevail...

Eclipse had spent eternities searching the portals, hoping whatever reason he was held in his fallen castle might be on the other side and rightfully so. Unfortunately, it was a bit more complicated than simply walking through and had always been beyond his grasp. Becoming the dragon he was now, taking in Midsummer, these steps had moved him closer but fate is a fickle thing. He was left unknowing of the ripples he had cast from dislodging the pebble; but as they grew so to did the sand of the hourglass begin to fall, marking time until those ripples would become waves and crash down to engulf him...