Massika

(From the Flirt with a Dragon thread)

Armand


has a strange resonance with

Sora


Armand flew over the shadowed land, trying not to think too hard about some of the things he had seen while in the Tangled Wood.

"I have to look everywhere, or I am not doing this properly," he reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Most of the areas were fine, but he had been foolish enough to delay visiting Shadow and Plague rather than interspersing them with the other areas they bordered on, much to his current regret.

As he approached the Forum of the Obscured Crescent, he felt a familiar push-pull sensation; there was another Walker nearby. The sense of justification helped him cope with his environment as he tried to get a feel for which direction the other dragon was from him. After a time, he noticed they were approaching more quickly than he was flying; apparently the other dragon had decided to investigate the Conflux, rather than avoid it.

"A decisive one, then. I wonder if they have met Walkers before...?"

He found a relatively clean-looking spot below, not particularly wanting to get any closer to the Forum, and waited. After a time, an Imperial with very similar markings to his, but with a wash of orange swirls instead of eye markings, cautiously came in for a landing nearby, standing a bit away from him. When they were at a conversational distance, the Conflux resonated, then ended with what felt like a gong going off nearby; this was definitely the person he was looking for.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my clan's territory? I haven't seen you here before." She had a pleasant voice and a shy manner, and seemed very interested in his markings that were so similar to hers.

He bowed courteously. "My name is Armand, currently of the Polychromic Haven, and I am in search of others who Walk the path of Rainbows." He watched to see if anything about his introduction rang any bells, but it didn't seem to. He sighed lightly. "And you are?"

"Oh! Sorry," she said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm Sora, of Brumal's lair." She tilted her head, looking at him with curiosity and a bit of caution. "What was... that? That strange feeling that stopped just now?"

Armand was relieved that he didn't have to bring it up to someone who was trying to pretend it hadn't happened, like many times before. "I am very glad you asked! We call that the Conflux. It is what happens when two Rainbow Walkers come into close proximity."

Sora looked confused, and a little wary. "I've never felt that before, does that mean I am one, but you're the first other one I have met?"

Armand nodded. "Most likely, yes. From what we have been able to determine, Walkers don't have any kind of awakening, they just walk the path from hatching. The only traits that make it obvious are the Conflux and having rainbow coloration. Would you be willing to sit and talk with me about it?" He looked around for the least unsettling thing nearby to use as a seat, and eventually chose a couple of rocks that looked normal. He gestured to them, and Sora moved to one and curled up on it. He then settled on another.

"We are still working all of this out, which is why I am traveling to see how many more of us there even are," he started.

Sora cocked her head. "Who's we? You keep saying that. Is it this Haven?"

"Ah, no, the Haven is the lair we are using as sort of a hub. And currently, 'we' consists of myself as a sort of explorer, Ceatha, whose path seems to be connecting all of us, and Brightspray, who hasn't worked out what her path goal is yet. We're trying to find the others and determine if there is some larger goal we are all working toward, or if we are just some odd subtype of dragons who have something like Guardians, despite not being that breed. Since there are only three of us gathered so far, we don't know much." He looked a little down about that, which made Sora want to cheer him up.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find out more," she said in a less shy, more cheerful voice. "You found me, didn't you?" She smiled encouragingly at him. Armand chuckled.

"So, if you only have three people, how do you already have all these terms?" She leaned forward, very interested in the answer.

"That's from Ceatha and Brightspray. He's of Water, and she's of Light, and I don't entirely understand how they're working it out, but they are learning what all these things are called, and now we have some idea what's going on."

Sora's shyness had completely worn off due to curiosity by this point. "What is going on, then?"

"Have you ever felt a sort of pull, to go somewhere or do something, other than just generally wanting to or needing to?" Armand wanted to establish baseline understanding before he began explaining more, nervous that he would sound like some sort of cult recruiter.

"Yeah! That happens sometimes, like I usually patrol one direction, but this time I feel like going another is way better, but I can't say why. My lairmates think I'm just being superstitious."

"That is what we call the Path. Each of us has that, on a fairly regular basis, and sometimes we find a place where we feel we are supposed to stay, at least for now. Right now, Ceatha and Brightspray feel they are meant to be at the Haven, and I keep getting pulled out to look for other Walkers. Honestly, I would like a vacation after going through Shadow for so long..." Armand looked a bit aggrieved, then realized he was speaking to someone who lived here. "Oh! Not that it is wrong to live here, it's just not to my taste, you understand."

Sora laughed. "Of course it's not everyone's favorite place. If everybody liked it, it wouldn't be a good place to hide out and plan stuff!" Armand looked a little taken aback by the perspective, then chuckled. "Well, as long as you like it, I suppose."

"At any rate, those little pulls would be you finding something that gets you closer to your personal Path. We don't have enough information yet to know if we are all being pulled to the same thing, but by different Paths, or if we have different end goals, or if this is just something that happens randomly." He huffed a bit in frustration at how much was still unknown.

"That's why I am going around and trying to find others. You are invited to visit the Haven if you are willing; speaking to Ceatha and Brightshine about your experiences with the Path would be very helpful, even if you don't want to live there. It's... not to everyone's taste, either. If not, we can just talk... here." He looked around, obviously still uncomfortable with the twisting trees and shadows nearby. "Or maybe at the border somewhere?" He seemed hopeful that she would take him up on the latter option.

Sora giggled, and considered insisting on staying where she was just to tease him, but she decided she was at least willing to go somewhere that they could talk without him being so on edge. If someone had an explanation for the strange pulls she sometimes felt, she was very interested.

"We can go at least to the edge, but you owe me something in return," she said.

Armand looked at her a bit warily. Her eyes indicated she wasn't a Shadow native, but she did choose to live here, after all. "What would I owe you?"

"A game of Hide-and-Seek that turns into tag!" Sora giggled. "It would be so much fun to play it with someone you can sort of feel, instead of just having to look!"

Armand slowly nodded, and followed as Sora got up and headed towards the south, hoping he wasn't getting himself into as much trouble as he thought he was...