Small stories
Echoes rumble and reverberate, shifting the air and cracking apart earth. Something groans in the deep…
“Nope.” lewa went to flee, but cyriss, without moving his head, whipped his tail out and curled it around the fae’s arm, tugging him back. Momentarily it knocked lewa’s hood off, he panicked at the feeling of the sun directly on him and struggled to pull it on again.
“I’m not a guard! This- this is your job!”
“I’m going to need a witness” cyriss said, adjusting lewa’s hood.
“I’ve witnessed all i need to” lewa said, trying to pry the pearlcatcher’s tail from his arm. Cyriss began to approach the strange crack, much to lewa’s dismay.
“Nononono! I am not dying here! NOT with you!”
“we need to know what is causing these cracks.”
“can we.. like bait it? Watch it from a distance?..” there was another groan from beneath the earth, causing lewa to scream and cover his face reflexively. Cyriss did jerk back, but then walked closer once more. He stared into the darkness, deep in thought. If only he could focus deep enough to block lewa’s voice…
He sighed and turned, sick of lewa’s rambling. He loosened his grip on the fae.
“Alright, go back to the Oasis and bring reinforcements. Specifically, tell cabaleta” the fae, surprisingly, didn’t rush off as cyriss’s tail slid off him
“Y-you’re staying here? With.. that thing?!”
“It’s either i go or you go” cyriss said with a small, sarcastic smile.
“Come with me”
“No, that thing could spread without supervision” lewa groaned in anguish, there was a very thin line between stupid and brave, unfortunately many of his clan mates crossed that line.
“Fine, but just, stand further away” cyriss walked forward a few steps
“Better?” lewa huffed
“Better… just don’t go any closer to it!” with that he fled, looking nervously back to make sure cyriss stayed away. The fool, of course, moved back closer to the crack, inspecting it.
Lewa determinedly rushed back to the Oasis, certain that at any moment, cyriss could become the next missing dragon.
——-
“Claywing!-“ she turned to the flurried hustle of claws against rock, her oldest sister barreled over, stopping just short to catch her breath.
“Don’t.. please.”
“Don’t go.. you can’t make it. I know she’s cruel, i know the thought of what power we could possess is inspiring! but you do not understand. The shade is not on our side-“
“I dont want to be on its’ side. I use it like it used our kin. I turned it into a tool. You know, like we are supposed to!”
“You won’t be able to hold it at bay, Claywing. Please, Earthshaker is out there helping us. The deities, they know what they’re doing!” Claywing gazed upon Mountainwing’s exhausted form with a cold glare much like her mother’s. As the tensity became palpable, Claywing smirked.
“The deities don’t care about us. Not Earthshaker, not tidelord, no one. We should not rely on them, or anyone, to save us. We have the power to control the shade, we can bend it to our will if we just train hard enough. Together, we could be the new deities. The guardians of dragonkind!” Mountainwing shook her head in frustration.
“This is no way to go about it. I can’t let you make this mistake. I won’t let you end up like sunshade or icewing.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“I can and will.” to Claywing’s surprise, shade aura began to seep from under Mountainwing’s front paws. Claywing then, reflexively, drew her wings back before quickly flapping them forward, sending a rolling tide of shadows crashing into Mountainwing who was knocked onto her back. Causing Mountainwing to cough up a couple plumes of shade, like smoke from a chimney.
She turned to look at Claywing, shade slowly dissipating from the resistant guardian’s chest and shoulders. Claywing felt remorse for her actions, thankful it hadn’t been done on someone not from her family line.
She snapped out of her shock and quickly made her way into the sky, turning to address Mountainwing, who was still stunned by the display.
“When the deities are dust, and you and I stand alone over this plane... you will finally understand.” with that Claywing flew away. Mountainwing pulled herself up as she heard her daughter’s voice.
“Mum! Are you okay?!”
“I’ll be fine, Kyra. I need you to go back to your fathers, i must see grandma and grandpa” kyra nodded, hoping somehow that what she had secretly witnessed was just a huge misunderstanding.
