Creative Corner

So many pieces in play! I am wondering how you keep track of everyone behind the scenes.

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 10 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Encryption[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=56230888] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/562309/56230888.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]You may call me Enki. My maker gave me an overly complicated name, as he is an overly complicated individual, but I like things simple. I like things fun. My plan was simple, all things considered. Step one, build a machine to transport me to the Shifting Expanse. Step two, find an engineer who can fix me so I no longer suffer from this exhausting bloodlust. Step three, profit. And then I thought, wait a sec. How exactly am I going to get my blood fix in the meantime? Prey off the locals of the Expanse? That wasn’t likely to inspire anyone to give me the help I need. And I suppose I could have just brought [i]some[/i] of the Brightwing Clan along to suit my needs. But here’s the thing. I didn’t much care. I set my machine’s range to maximum and let the whims of fate handle the rest. Upon arrival, the first thing I needed was a place to lay low when I wasn’t hunting victims or engineers. Luckily I stumbled across a nice pair of banescales who allowed me to bunk in their lair -- in return for a favor, of course. Spying an egg cozied away in the back of the lair, I had a pretty good idea what that favor could be. I suppose I probably shouldn’t have picked such a cute pink Imperial for my first victim. At the time, all I thought was how even an Imp as young as this one would give me enough blood to tide me over at least a week or so. I hadn’t considered I might lead a mob of dragons straight to my door (well, Lovelorn’s door) demanding my head on a platter. But that’s exactly what happened. I took the moment to scan the group. My maker was there, which was not great. An ornery looking Pearlcatcher held a few big rocks rotating around him with magic: also not great. But the one that brought a shiver through my circuits was the third: a big, glowy-eyed guardian. This wasn’t going to be simple [i]or[/i] fun. My gears whirred as my wings fanned out at full length, electric flashes flaring up from my core and shooting through each of my joints as I willed myself into full power. I ran the calculations and predicted it would take me about fifteen minutes and twelve point six seconds to dispatch the lot of them. Slaughter was never my favorite thing to do -- but when you’re a mechanical vampire, sometimes it’s called for. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center] Morigan - That's a good point! If I remember correctly, you use 'drakaina' in your own writing? Digsie - Honestly, that's why I spend so much time picking out which 12 dragons I'm going to include in a round before I even start writing. After settling on a scenario, I consider which dragons would be most interesting to see involved. Only then do I bring in the random number generator to determine the order :)

((cue boss battle music!)) [center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 11 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Revelation[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=56776839] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/567769/56776839.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Our enemy readied himself, facing us from across the ridge. The sound of whirring gears rang around him as a pair of mechanical wings unfolded from the wildclaw’s back, webbed with fields of humming energy. So he meant to fight us, then. Father didn’t hesitate. Grunting with a release of raw power, he fired a barrage of boulders toward the wildclaw, each one about as large as he was. The attack would crush any normal dragon -- and yet, I held my breath. And the wildclaw smiled. With a click, his three foreclaws shaped together. His wrists whirred to life, revolving at blinding speed. With a single thrust he drilled through the first boulder, shattering it to pieces. He met the second with the same lightning-quick impact, and the third, and the fourth. As the dust settled, there the cyborg stood, unscathed and surrounded by a pile of rubble. Father cursed under his breath. “What, did you build this guy to fight me specifically?” he grumbled to the dark skydancer standing to his left. But before the Blood Mage could answer, our enemy dove toward us, the buzz of his drill-claws drowning out all sound. Another cloud of dust flew up as the sound of impact rumbled through the ridge. I stiffened, fearing he had struck one of my allies. But the wildclaw snarled as he flung torn cloth from his appendages -- remnants of the Blood Mage’s cloak. “I didn’t need that, anyway,” intoned Urias. Fixing his red gaze on his creation, he opened his hand, the air curdling into twisted red smoke at the touch of his unholy craft. But the cyborg cackled at the spell’s impact. “You’re trying to drain my Life energy? What, you think I’m alive? You of all dragons should know better!” At this point I’d had enough of this one’s shrill, mechanical tones. I straightened to my full height, closed my eyes, letting the image of a sunlit sky blaze through my mind: a reminder of the home I meant to return to. I reached forward and grabbed the wildclaw by the neck. His laughter turned to white noise as surprise registered in his electric gaze. He thrust a whirring drill straight toward my face -- only to be stopped short by a barrier of sheer light. He tried again and again, as though the first few times might have been a fluke. “Wh--what?” His wings fluttered helplessly at his sides as I lifted him up by the throat. “Wh-who are you?” “I,” I said slowly, “am the Captain of the Guards of Brightwing. Consecrated Protector of the Clan. And you will transport my people back home. NOW.” “Oh…” The cyborg’s head tilted with a click. “That’s what you wanted? I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you, then. My machine-- the one that transported us here? It’s still down there in the catacombs of Brightwing, underground in the Sunbeam Ruins. Sorry--” His jaws parted into a sheepish grin. “But your people aren’t going anywhere.”[/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center]

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 12 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Glamour[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=57532455] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/575325/57532455.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]I thought we’d seen the last of Enki after those crazy strong dragons dragged him off. Lovelorn was disappointed to lose him, but, eh. I was never a fan. The whole part where he dragged home an unconscious Imperial was especially unsettling, you know? I mean, I’m not squeamish, I’m a hunter through and through, but I’m not exactly a fan of kidnapping young girls. Luckily she seemed to be alright when the crazy strong dragons took her home. Things went back to normal for me and Lorn, but not for long. I was eager for our egg to hatch. After all, Lorn and I are gorgeous, so it stood to reason that our child would be a supermodel of dragons, right? And sure enough, out of the eggshells burst a hatchling with our beautiful wine coloring, slashed with bold streaks of fuchsia. But his eyes… His eyes crackled with bright pulses of electricity. While I stood there half-paralyzed by shock, my mate's gaze glittered in sheer awe. “Well. Would you look at that! Enki said he would do us a favor, didn’t he?” I frowned. “The wildclaw did this?” “He must have.” Lorn shuddered in delight. “Glamour, don’t you see what this means? You asked me before how I meant to harness electricity. This is the way! Our son will achieve my dreams in my stead. He will be a prodigy! He’ll take the world by storm, I know it.” I shifted back onto my haunches, squinting at the newborn. Admittedly, I was still wary. Was Lorn right? Did those strange eyes mean our son was destined for greatness? I could only hope the “favor” the wildclaw gave us was indeed, as Lorn believed it, a blessing… and not a terrible curse. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center] And that's the end of the round! The Brightwing Clan may now know why they're in the Shifting Expanse, but they still have a long way to go when it comes to discovering how to get everyone home... As for the next round - I had quite a lot of fun coming back to these, so it might just be soon! Stay tuned. :) Morigan - Glad you enjoyed the fight scene! I do like writing them, though if I steer away from them it's out of wanting to get more of a dragon's inner thoughts in the entry. You'll notice we don't get a lot of Revelation's inner monologue in day 11, although since he's a new addition I thought that was a good way to introduce him.

It's time for a new round of Dragon Diaries! I apologize for the delay on this one; I had originally planned to post Parts 1 & 2 of the Shifting Saga consecutively and then life happened and here we are several months later. ^^; But that being said, there's some fun things in store so I think it will be worth the wait :D So let's jump right in! As usual we've got 12 days featuring 12 dragons. Comments are welcome! The Shifting Saga Part 2 begins... [center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 1 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Veritas[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=28379713] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/283798/28379713.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]I can’t believe we’re still here. You might think that chaotic thundering skies would be up my alley. And sure, all that raw energy doing battle in the sky, I could get into that. But I’ve seen what Lightning clan homes look like: all those gears and cold steel, the spires and arid canyons. It feels so lifeless, mechanical. And the storms don’t end. You begin to forget what it feels like to stare up into the sky and see the sun blazing down, that intense and blinding light, the warmth on your scales. D*mn. Never thought I’d miss something as simple as sunlight, but here we are. But what I really miss is the Brightwing territory itself, with all those towering structures erected from stone. And soaring above them all is the Academy of Magi. I didn’t love the place when Romance was in charge (good riddance to that creep), but since my brother and I had taken over, I’d become really invested in it. Heck, I’d become really proud of our awesome little crop of mages. Here in the Expanse, Hieroglyph and I put together a temporary version of the place, a makeshift structure I like to call the “Acade-mini” (even though my brother rolls his eyes whenever I say it). We’ve been working really hard in there, day in and day out, on Hieroglyph’s latest project. The thing is, before we were zapped to the Expanse, he’d discovered a way to teleport short distances. Now he is calling on every magic-user in the clan to try and piece together how to do it long-range. Basically, he wants to find a way to poof us all back home. So we’ve been working away these last few months, trying every spell we know, making up new spells on the spot, combining elements, everything we can think of. But so far, nothing. And I can’t deny feeling tired and more than a little frustrated. But what else can we do? Until we get back home, everything else is at a standstill. “Normal” just isn’t a thing we can have -- not until we solve this freaking tricky riddle. And so we push on. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center]