Chapter 2 
Hand: 3♣ 2♣ 7♣
Characters:| 2,3,4: Lanata || 5,6,7: Lucent || 8,9,10: Lyune |
A catastrophic event occurs that changes the world. Lanata is featured the most, and Lucent plays a part as well.
tw: many sharp objects that move really fast. Nobody dies though... yet
Lyune wrinkles her muzzle at Lucent’s bizarre question.
|
Lyune: Why in Plaguemom’s name would I know who you are? We literally just met.
|
Lucent pauses before answering.
Lucent: You’re the first dragon I’ve met since...
He pauses, struggling to find the words. His voice is hoarse, like it hadn’t been used in a long time.
Lucent: I don’t have memories before today. You’re the first dragon I’ve met... Ever.
|
|
Lyune cranes her neck and gives him an odd look.
Lyune: Look, buddy, I just came here to try to find some answers at the Tourmaline Archives, not rescue some amnesiac dragon from drowning. I haven’t the foggiest idea who you are, and frankly, it’s not my job to figure that out. If anything, you owe
me a favor, now.
Lucent stares back at her with those odd, unreadable eyes. The antennae sprouting from his forehead gently wave in the wind.
Lucent: Okay. What favor do I owe you?
Lyune didn’t expect a genuine response to that. She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, trying to come up with an answer.
The Starfall Isles... Home of the arcane dragons. Home of The Arcanist himself.
|
They say there are scrolls that can change the colors of your scales and feathers and skin and talons. That there are vials that can change the look of your eyes, and even make them glow with light or the energy of the gods. There are even scrolls that can change the very shape and size of your body to that of another breed of dragon... Surely, then, surely there was some arcane power on Sornieth capable of changing one’s elemental alignment? Or even just... Dampening its power. Returning one to neutral...?
|
Lanata was close to reaching the end of the Scarred Wasteland. She had to cut through her home region to get from the Labyrinth to her intended destination, and didn’t much appreciate the reminder of her heritage... She was trying to just not think about it.
Instead, she was thinking about all the cool things she might see in this land of blue trees and magenta earth. Growing up, she could always just make out the imposing structures of the Observatory and Oculus on the horizon, viewed from her home on the shores of the Wyrmwound. What will they be like up close and in person? What will the arcane dragons be like?
...Will they help her?
After staring at Lucent for a bit, Lyune decides to change her mind.
|
|
Lyune: Actually, put a rain check on the favor thing. You know what you look like you need the most right now is a nap.
|
Lucent really does look quite pitiful. He’s still sopping wet and can barely stand, his wings are bent downwards and pressed against the ground to further hold his body up.
Lucent: You’re... Probably right. I, uh... What is your name?
|
|
Lyune: Lyune.
Lucent: Ah. I’m... Lucent. I think.
Lucent tries his best to lay down in an elegant manner rather than completely collapsing. Lyune starts to walk away as he rests, but overhears the sound of his stomach grumbling quite loudly.
Lyune: Oh plague and pestilence... I’m too nice for my own good. Wait there and I’ll get you some food.
She heads off to the Archives to see if someone there will sell her a meal that skydancers could eat, since the only food she brought on her travels was for her own carnivorous diet.
The camera pans out to view the sun dipping below the horizon. A little bit of time passes. We see Lyune, now fairly deep within the archives, having been sent on a dumb wild goose chase to track down a meal by scholars that are too lazy to give her clear directions. Lucent is trying to rest, but despite his exhaustion he seems fidgety and bothered by his thoughts. Lanata has just crossed over into arcane territory and entered the starwood strand, where she walks gazing at the trees around her with wonder. She approaches one and reaches out to feel its surface with a clawed hand, but stops herself just before touching it, a longing look on her face.
Lyune experiences the earthquake first. Piles of books are thrown from their shelves as the arcane dragons inside are knocked off their feet. Outside, the ground under Lucent trembles and lurches and he officially gives up on napping, rolling onto his belly to better grip the ground with front and back claws while he looks around in confusion. Lanata looks away from the trees to watch a flock of birds that had suddenly taken to the air, startled into flight by a bright pink light bursting forth from the windows of the Observatory, and then the earthquake hits her too. As a reflex, she grips the nearby tree for support. The bark under her claws grows black and warped as she looks towards the source of the quake. Just through the trees she can make out the form of the Focal Point island steadily rising up into the air. Lanata looks at the odd sight for a moment with visible bewilderment, then takes to the air to get a better look. Indeed, it appears the chunk of earth that is the Focal Point is breaking away from its home in the ocean and rising up into the sky.
Lucent cautiously makes his way around the perimeter of the Archives to the other side of the building so he too can get a better look at the anomaly. Approaching the opposite shore of the island, he climbs upon a tall spire of pink crystal. It isn’t long before the entire island has completely taken to the air, leaving empty water below. Chunks of earth and crystal break off the island and splash into the sea. A few unlucky dragons whose clans had taken up residence on the island can also be seen losing their footing and falling from the side of the island, though most manage to catch themselves on their wings in time and fly to somewhere more stable.
The crystalline outcropping that Lucent is perched upon begins to violently shake. He spreads his wings in anticipation of hopping off to safety, but before he can do so the whole chunk of crystal is thrown into the air. Lyune watches through a window of the archives as, in fact, all of the crystals in the area are launched skyward in the direction of the Observatory. The opposite side of the building is pelted by small pieces of pink crystal and a window shatters. Lyrune watches in horror as the great Crystalspine Reaches start breaking apart and crumbling into smaller pieces, which are then pulled towards the Observatory as if by a gravitational pull. These crystals don’t hover calmly in the air like the Focal Point though. No, they lose little velocity in their approach, and instead orbit around the island like an asteroid field. The area surrounding the floating Focal Point soon becomes thick with spinning rings of crystal shards... And Lucent is still stuck taking an unwilling ride on one of them.
From her vantage point at a window, Lyune sees the hunk of crystal whiz past her with a panicked grey blur clinging to its surface.
Lyune: L-Lucent?!
The sound of shattering windows behind Lyune comes to a halt as a magenta forcefield is erected around the Archives by the resident scholars, a powerful spell to rival the Astrolodome. Lyune slowly comes to the realization that she’s now trapped within the archives.
The scene on the Focal Point is even more chaotic as the resident clans have been put further in peril. Falling off of the floating island is no longer punished with just an unplanned dive into the sea; rather, a dragon could be impaled from all sides within seconds by razor sharp shards of crystal. At this point, Lanata has flown as close as she can to the hazardous scene, and it’s from here that she watches as a particularly large shard careens past her with a hapless grey skydancer perched atop.
Lanata: What in the name of the Eleven...?
Lanata beats her wings and swoops in after the chunk of crystal, getting dangerously close but so far staying out of danger. She shouts to the other dragon.
|
Lanata: What are you doing?! Get out of there, it’s too dangerous!!
|
Lucent: I-
He pauses to duck his head, narrowly dodging a shard of crystal before it can decapitate him. His front legs scramble for a harrowing second until his claws find purchase again.
Lucent: I can’t! I-I’m too weak to fly!
|
|
Lanata: Jump! I’ll catch you!
|
By this point, Lanata has caught up with the high speed chunk of rock. Lucent stares at her a moment, judging her size as well as her character. Only slightly larger than him, she could probably get them to the ground without a fatal crash landing, but could he trust her...?
Now he doesn’t even have a choice. Lucent’s chunk of crystal barrels straight towards another large and extremely sharp hunk of rock. Lucent leaps away and into Lanata’s arms mere seconds before the two rocks crash into each other, spraying shards of crystals in every direction. Lanata and Lucent don’t make it to the ground completely unscathed, small bits of crystals now embedded here and there in their fur and feathers and drops of blood beginning to bead up at the sites... But their wounds are relatively minor considering the alternative.
Lucent’s exhaustion finally catches up to him and he loses consciousness soon after they reach the ground.
Authors commentary: It was very hard to write a “world changing catastrophic event” that would actually impact our characters while still staying lore-friendly, wowie. I think I did it though. Didn’t expect to get a flush on Chapter 2 but at the same time it makes a darn good inciting incident am I right? I sure hope someone here can tell me what’s going on in the Observatory cuz heck if I know.
Also, I got another lore dragon ready to go as soon as I get to add a new character, but even with a cast of four Lucent is still the only male character... I think I’m accidentally writing a harem manga, guys. Help.
J♥ 9♣ A♥
