doing a lair purge, archiving old lore here - please dont post i just need a place to put my old writing, even this entry post is a work in progress i gotta copy paste everything
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TOPIC | wip archive - do not post please!!
doing a lair purge, archiving old lore here - please dont post i just need a place to put my old writing, even this entry post is a work in progress i gotta copy paste everything
[columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/68283061][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/682831/68283061_350.png[/img][/url][nextcol]
Written sometime in the summer of 2021, I was new to the site and thought gaolers were really cool and wanted one with the Blossom gene. Since this was my first plague dragon and I was a nature lair, I incorporated that into the lore.[/columns]
[center][i][b]Belonging, In Your Own Way[/b][/i]
[i]"A slimy, writhing pustule, complete with a stench to match... This egg is dangerous, for it incubates a twisted, twitching, virulent creature inside its translucent membranes."[/i]
That's what the shopkeeper had said to Esmerelda, when she came across Acanthus's egg for sale. The plague flight's reputation was questionable, sure, as was the smell and overall appearance of their eggs, but such generalizations tend to do more harm than good.
[i]"Oh, for the love of the Eleven, it's a freaking egg. Do you want my treasure or not?"[/i]
...is apparently what Esmerelda had said in return. It was a story her mentor Shatter would tell her often, but Acanthus never got tired of it. Even hearing about how the clanmates she knew and loved had reacted to Esmerelda's latest haul from the auctions, how they'd complained about the smell, or warned her that a plague dragon would never feel at home there... They were a clan of misfits from all flights, but they were still a nature clan, living in the nature domain. Esmerelda was quick to respond with a whack over the head with one wing.
[i]"Whoever hatches from this egg belongs here just as much as the rest of you do, and don't you forget it!"[/i]
Acanthus wondered if Shatter had exaggerated this part at all, but honestly, that sounded just like Esmerelda.
Eventually, the clan came to accept the presence of the plague egg, aside from the occasional complaints about the strange smell. Many were even excited to meet their new clanmate, particularly the hatchlings. Esmerelda and Thyme often had to pull them back from accidentally poking claw-holes in the egg's membrane.
And eventually, that membrane burst. There were plenty of complaints about the smell that day, and it attracted half the clan to the nesting area, to see a squirming, soggy lump of reddish brown fur, covered in ivory flowerbuds. Esmerelda took one look at those, and immediately turned to the others to say,
[i]"I told you so! I told you it belonged here!"[/i]
Her face was one of either smug satisfaction or motherly pride... or both. It's hard to tell with a fae dragon.
[i]"Alright, alright, you told us... just clean it up before it soaks into the moss already."[/i]
Auriga, one of the clan leaders, flicked his tail dismissively. He had been fairly neutral on the matter, but being a skydancer, his clanmates' apprehension had been getting to him.
[i]"I think she's adorable, hmm? Just look at those eyes!"[/i]
Nimbus tilted her head as she looked down at the hatchling, smiling as she gazed back up with huge, confused, ruby red eyes, blinking in the light. Eventually, Thyme stepped in.
[i]"Okay, everybody, clear out... I'll go clean her off by the stream, Esmerelda, you clean up the den."[/i]
Esmerelda nodded, once again forgetting that Thyme couldn't see it, and started clearing out the plague egg fluid as the rest of the clan went back to their day and the blind tundra carried the newly hatched Acanthus off to get cleaned up.
Her clanmates were accepting of her plague heritage as she grew, all seemed to accept the blossoms growing in her fur as a sign that she belonged in the nature domain. The only thing to make anyone bring it up was her total lack of ability to care for plants. It was as if every plant she attempted to care for ended up withering and decaying. Azurite and Quartz had gotten particularly upset about their gardens. She could tell that Thyme did as well, despite refusing to show it. She didn't dare pet her garden watcher.
Acanthus eventually did have some success with gardening... in a way. She'd left her experimental flowerbed alone for a few days after her most recent failure, and when she finally had the time and energy to go clear it out to prepare for the next project, she found that various mushrooms had cropped up over the remains of her deceased plants. Ironically thinking to herself that this was the most success she'd had at growing anything, Acanthus decided to not clear it out and cultivate the mushrooms instead.
And cultivate them she did. Cindershrooms, mycenas, glowing mushrooms, Acanthus could grow them all. Digging out dark tunnels for her mushroom gardens and fertilizing them with leftover food and other remains, she was incredible at it, and she was so proud of her little decomposition garden. It was strange, she thought, that the plague and nature flights were so at odds with each other. Rot, decay, and disease were all just different forms of life, weren't they? Two sides of the same coin, and she was perched right on the edge, right where she belonged.
[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2167344/7#post_27058148][img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/a118e305-302c-11e7-96d2-13ef97b06e1a.gif[/img][/url][/center]
|
Written sometime in the summer of 2021, I was new to the site and thought gaolers were really cool and wanted one with the Blossom gene. Since this was my first plague dragon and I was a nature lair, I incorporated that into the lore. |
Belonging, In Your Own Way
"A slimy, writhing pustule, complete with a stench to match... This egg is dangerous, for it incubates a twisted, twitching, virulent creature inside its translucent membranes."
That's what the shopkeeper had said to Esmerelda, when she came across Acanthus's egg for sale. The plague flight's reputation was questionable, sure, as was the smell and overall appearance of their eggs, but such generalizations tend to do more harm than good.
"Oh, for the love of the Eleven, it's a freaking egg. Do you want my treasure or not?"
...is apparently what Esmerelda had said in return. It was a story her mentor Shatter would tell her often, but Acanthus never got tired of it. Even hearing about how the clanmates she knew and loved had reacted to Esmerelda's latest haul from the auctions, how they'd complained about the smell, or warned her that a plague dragon would never feel at home there... They were a clan of misfits from all flights, but they were still a nature clan, living in the nature domain. Esmerelda was quick to respond with a whack over the head with one wing.
"Whoever hatches from this egg belongs here just as much as the rest of you do, and don't you forget it!"
Acanthus wondered if Shatter had exaggerated this part at all, but honestly, that sounded just like Esmerelda.
Eventually, the clan came to accept the presence of the plague egg, aside from the occasional complaints about the strange smell. Many were even excited to meet their new clanmate, particularly the hatchlings. Esmerelda and Thyme often had to pull them back from accidentally poking claw-holes in the egg's membrane.
And eventually, that membrane burst. There were plenty of complaints about the smell that day, and it attracted half the clan to the nesting area, to see a squirming, soggy lump of reddish brown fur, covered in ivory flowerbuds. Esmerelda took one look at those, and immediately turned to the others to say,
"I told you so! I told you it belonged here!"
Her face was one of either smug satisfaction or motherly pride... or both. It's hard to tell with a fae dragon.
"Alright, alright, you told us... just clean it up before it soaks into the moss already."
Auriga, one of the clan leaders, flicked his tail dismissively. He had been fairly neutral on the matter, but being a skydancer, his clanmates' apprehension had been getting to him.
"I think she's adorable, hmm? Just look at those eyes!"
Nimbus tilted her head as she looked down at the hatchling, smiling as she gazed back up with huge, confused, ruby red eyes, blinking in the light. Eventually, Thyme stepped in.
"Okay, everybody, clear out... I'll go clean her off by the stream, Esmerelda, you clean up the den."
Esmerelda nodded, once again forgetting that Thyme couldn't see it, and started clearing out the plague egg fluid as the rest of the clan went back to their day and the blind tundra carried the newly hatched Acanthus off to get cleaned up.
Her clanmates were accepting of her plague heritage as she grew, all seemed to accept the blossoms growing in her fur as a sign that she belonged in the nature domain. The only thing to make anyone bring it up was her total lack of ability to care for plants. It was as if every plant she attempted to care for ended up withering and decaying. Azurite and Quartz had gotten particularly upset about their gardens. She could tell that Thyme did as well, despite refusing to show it. She didn't dare pet her garden watcher.
Acanthus eventually did have some success with gardening... in a way. She'd left her experimental flowerbed alone for a few days after her most recent failure, and when she finally had the time and energy to go clear it out to prepare for the next project, she found that various mushrooms had cropped up over the remains of her deceased plants. Ironically thinking to herself that this was the most success she'd had at growing anything, Acanthus decided to not clear it out and cultivate the mushrooms instead.
And cultivate them she did. Cindershrooms, mycenas, glowing mushrooms, Acanthus could grow them all. Digging out dark tunnels for her mushroom gardens and fertilizing them with leftover food and other remains, she was incredible at it, and she was so proud of her little decomposition garden. It was strange, she thought, that the plague and nature flights were so at odds with each other. Rot, decay, and disease were all just different forms of life, weren't they? Two sides of the same coin, and she was perched right on the edge, right where she belonged.
"A slimy, writhing pustule, complete with a stench to match... This egg is dangerous, for it incubates a twisted, twitching, virulent creature inside its translucent membranes."
That's what the shopkeeper had said to Esmerelda, when she came across Acanthus's egg for sale. The plague flight's reputation was questionable, sure, as was the smell and overall appearance of their eggs, but such generalizations tend to do more harm than good.
"Oh, for the love of the Eleven, it's a freaking egg. Do you want my treasure or not?"
...is apparently what Esmerelda had said in return. It was a story her mentor Shatter would tell her often, but Acanthus never got tired of it. Even hearing about how the clanmates she knew and loved had reacted to Esmerelda's latest haul from the auctions, how they'd complained about the smell, or warned her that a plague dragon would never feel at home there... They were a clan of misfits from all flights, but they were still a nature clan, living in the nature domain. Esmerelda was quick to respond with a whack over the head with one wing.
"Whoever hatches from this egg belongs here just as much as the rest of you do, and don't you forget it!"
Acanthus wondered if Shatter had exaggerated this part at all, but honestly, that sounded just like Esmerelda.
Eventually, the clan came to accept the presence of the plague egg, aside from the occasional complaints about the strange smell. Many were even excited to meet their new clanmate, particularly the hatchlings. Esmerelda and Thyme often had to pull them back from accidentally poking claw-holes in the egg's membrane.
And eventually, that membrane burst. There were plenty of complaints about the smell that day, and it attracted half the clan to the nesting area, to see a squirming, soggy lump of reddish brown fur, covered in ivory flowerbuds. Esmerelda took one look at those, and immediately turned to the others to say,
"I told you so! I told you it belonged here!"
Her face was one of either smug satisfaction or motherly pride... or both. It's hard to tell with a fae dragon.
"Alright, alright, you told us... just clean it up before it soaks into the moss already."
Auriga, one of the clan leaders, flicked his tail dismissively. He had been fairly neutral on the matter, but being a skydancer, his clanmates' apprehension had been getting to him.
"I think she's adorable, hmm? Just look at those eyes!"
Nimbus tilted her head as she looked down at the hatchling, smiling as she gazed back up with huge, confused, ruby red eyes, blinking in the light. Eventually, Thyme stepped in.
"Okay, everybody, clear out... I'll go clean her off by the stream, Esmerelda, you clean up the den."
Esmerelda nodded, once again forgetting that Thyme couldn't see it, and started clearing out the plague egg fluid as the rest of the clan went back to their day and the blind tundra carried the newly hatched Acanthus off to get cleaned up.
Her clanmates were accepting of her plague heritage as she grew, all seemed to accept the blossoms growing in her fur as a sign that she belonged in the nature domain. The only thing to make anyone bring it up was her total lack of ability to care for plants. It was as if every plant she attempted to care for ended up withering and decaying. Azurite and Quartz had gotten particularly upset about their gardens. She could tell that Thyme did as well, despite refusing to show it. She didn't dare pet her garden watcher.
Acanthus eventually did have some success with gardening... in a way. She'd left her experimental flowerbed alone for a few days after her most recent failure, and when she finally had the time and energy to go clear it out to prepare for the next project, she found that various mushrooms had cropped up over the remains of her deceased plants. Ironically thinking to herself that this was the most success she'd had at growing anything, Acanthus decided to not clear it out and cultivate the mushrooms instead.
And cultivate them she did. Cindershrooms, mycenas, glowing mushrooms, Acanthus could grow them all. Digging out dark tunnels for her mushroom gardens and fertilizing them with leftover food and other remains, she was incredible at it, and she was so proud of her little decomposition garden. It was strange, she thought, that the plague and nature flights were so at odds with each other. Rot, decay, and disease were all just different forms of life, weren't they? Two sides of the same coin, and she was perched right on the edge, right where she belonged.
[columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/68949064][img]https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/81295916_1WDvq2rm6AAgbbj.png[/img][/url][nextcol]
Written sometime in late 2021, the dragon was a gift from a friend's first hatch, she came with a basic tertiary but giving her the Weathered gene and this cool skin gave me the idea for a withered dryad.[/columns]
[center][i][b]Root-Bound[/b][/i]
Iris had to grow up a lot faster than most dragons. Her parents loved her very much, but traditional gaoler society was as cold and harsh as the ice fields they originated from, and she was pressured from all sides to join an order for as long as she could remember. At such a young age, she didn't even bother to question it. She trained, fought, fell, got back up again, and as soon as she was able, she left her clan in the Tangled Wood to become a Seeker. "Dedicated to hunting the lands of Sornieth to capture and contain Shade creatures..." Not the most ideal job description, but she would get to travel the world this way, and by the gods was she excited.
Her initial destination was Dragonhome. Around the beginning of her journey, she'd heard reports of unusual creatures spotted around the Highland Sanctum, and she felt up to the challenge. She could have gone straight past the Pillar, but she decided to circle west through the Viridian Labyrinth. and explore a little more of Sornieth beforehand.
What the young gaoler had failed to account for was that the Viridian Labyrinth was, well, a labyrinth. Iris spent weeks wandering through the overgrowth, trying to regain her bearings, but to no avail. Growing up in the Tangled Wood, she should be better at this... She was repeating her approach of "walk in a straight line until you hit the edge of the domain" for the 12th time when she heard the strange voice.
[columns][center]"What is one so young doing in a place so dangerous, all alone?"
She stiffened, looking around for the source."
"...M-my name's Iris... and I'm a gaoler warrior of the Seeker order!"
She tried to put some kind of authority into her statement, but the voice clearly didn't buy it.
"Warrior? Seeker? You look barely old enough to seek your own meals, little one."
There was a tone of concern in the voice, but she bristled, searching for who to glare at.
"I'm old enough to know what I'm doing!"
An obvious lie.
"...Well then, little Seeker, in which direction lies your quarry?"
Iris looked down, ashamed of her poor sense of direction.
"...Mmm, I thought so... They call this place the Viridian Labyrinth for a reason, little one, this is no fault of your own."
"...Where am I, then?"
"The north end of the Labyrinth... Beastclan territory. And night is soon to fall."
She stiffened even further. The Labyrinth at night was frightening enough on its own, but she had no chance against a Beastclan's night patrol.[/center][nextcol][img]https://i.imgur.com/WPv8fXS.gif[/img][/columns]
"We can give you a safe place to rest, if you would like."
"...We?"
The voice chuckled, and called out
"Calloth, show yourself, please? And call off our guardians, this dragon is no threat."
On cue, the gigantic tree to the right of Iris unfurled and twisted, revealing a gnarled wooden face that seemed to smile at her. She flinched as one of the large pink bottlebrushes hanging from its branches reached over and stroked her horn. Looking all around her, deerlike creatures made of twisted wood and speckled with garden lace emerged from the undergrowth where they were stalking her, some giving her suspicious looks before going about their business. One of the smaller ones lightly headbutted her, as if asking to be pet.
"Clover, be polite to our new friend!"
The deer's leaves all perked up at once, and it looked up towards the canopy. Iris followed its gaze, only to meet the eyes of another creature made of branches and vines, this time in a more humanoid shape. She chuckled, and jumped down next to the gaoler.
"Your name is Iris, yes, little one?"
The fledgling glared, but nodded, once.
"It is a pleasure... My name is Verdana. Let me take you to my tree."
The branches composing her body began to writhe and twist, and she shifted into a quadrupedal form quite similar to that of Iris. With a flick of her wooden tail, she beckoned for Iris to follow.
"How did you- don't dryads walk on two legs??"
Her eyes were wide as she followed along.
"Most of them, but we Old Growth dryads have far more powerful abilities."
"Whoa... I haven't learned anything yet, but I can do this!"
Iris inhaled deeply, shut her eyes and... sneezed. A large plume of shadow escaped her nostrils, obscuring the air in front of her as she jumped through the black fog. Verdana grinned.
"Not bad, Iris... with some practice you could-"
Before she could finish, a spear flew through the air and plunged through the gaoler's neck.
She collapsed to the ground gasping as Verdana looked on in horror, searching for their attackers. Serthis... she had warned this clan over and over again to leave her territory alone. It was time they learned the hard way.
With an unearthly shrieking, Clover called the rest of the herd of wooden deer to drive off the intruders, but Verdana didn't seem interested in merely driving them off. A glow emanated from within her chest as a deep rumble shook the earth, and titanic roots burst from the undergrowth to ravage the serpentine tribe. That glow was the last thing Iris saw before her vision faded completely to black.
[i]"...Iris? Iris, are you alright?"[/i]
She groaned, and forced herself to open her eyes. She was in an alcove between two roots of a massive willow, blue-green leaves trailing down from hanging branches in a gnarled dome. Verdana was sitting next to her, one branchlike hand on her shoulder. The fear in her eyes lessened slightly when she saw that Iris was awake.
[columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2287471#post_29633470][img]https://s19.postimg.cc/g4oyokydv/013.png[/img][/url][nextcol][center]"...what... How am I alive...?"
She tried to lift her head, but the roots around her neck held her close to the ground. Oddly enough, there was no pain from the wound itself, just a dull ache. That spear went right through her neck, she shouldn't have been able to survive that.
"...Old Growth dryads have... very powerful abilities."
Iris shook her head to clear it, barely paying any mind to the roots that pulled themselves free of the earth instead of her neck.
"Oh... Healing abilities?"
"...Not exactly..."
Verdana looked down.
"I tried to fix the damage, but that spear almost decapitated you, and I could not save you without... binding you to my tree."[/center][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2287471#post_29633470][img]https://s19.postimg.cc/vdew2c4wz/009.png[/img][/url][/columns]
They shared a long moment of silence as Iris processed the implications of this.
"...I can't leave."
"You can go farther than I can."
"But I can't leave the Labyrinth. I can't be a Seeker, I can't... I can never go home.
"...I'm so sorry, Iris..."
Verdana pulled the small gaoler into a hug. She slumped against her, emotionally and physically exhausted. The two spent the night together like that, sometimes talking, sometimes crying, sometimes just sitting in silence, but at some point or another, they fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Iris missed her home in the Tangled Wood, and she grieved her opportunity to travel the world as a Seeker. She told Verdana about what she had seen so far, about the glowing mushrooms of the Wispwillow Grove and the perpetual twilight of her home clan, about everything from the bustle of the Trading Post to the beauty of the Gladeveins at the other end of the Labyrinth. She became better friends with Clover, who apparently did grow actual clovers from his antlers, and was bound to the same tree as she and Verdana were. She even got to know the other dryads in the area, Old Growth and otherwise. Calloth didn't speak much, but he was still incredibly friendly, and often had a flowering wreath to give her when she visited. If she wanted to talk, she could visit the redwood grove a mile southwest, they had plenty of gossip on the local dragon clan, and even talked her into introducing herself to them. Eventually, the Viridian Labyrinth became her home.
Unfortunately, not even the middle of the woods is entirely safe from politics.
The local dryads had been getting more and more stressed lately. Tensions had been rising with the local beastclans long before Iris had been stabbed by that Serthis patrol, and it had only been getting worse. Skirmishes turned into full on battles, and nearby Dominance conflicts had been putting both sides under immense pressure to survive.
Iris supposed it was only a matter of time before they discovered the location of their tree.
Alchemists of the very same Serthis clan that had gotten her into this mess had learned of it a while before, but they took their time in preparing their weapon. Of course, the weapon of choice for this clan of snakes was poison, and what a strong poison it would have to be, in order to take out an entire old growth willow.
They came in the night, staking out the tree for days at a time to teach these dryads a lesson for daring to ally themselves with dragonkind. Iris and Verdana were asleep at the time, but the sudden bolt of pain awoke them at the same time.
[columns][img]https://s19.postimg.cc/dyq2gs88z/009-006.png[/img][nextcol][center]The gaoler's eyes shot open with a gasp, dragging herself to her feet as Verdana began to scream. The only illumination was the few streams of moonlight leaking through the willow's leaves, but for a dragon of the shadow domain, it was more than enough to see the masked serpentine alchemist pouring a thick, caustic sludge over the roots of their tree. Clover's shrieking joined the cacophony, as the wooden deer writhed on the forest floor. Iris wasn't as strongly bound to the tree as they were; the pain was blinding, but not crippling. Before the Serthis could poison them anymore, she lunged at her, pinning her to the ground with one paw. She had grown quite a bit since her last Beastclan encounter, and killing this intruder was an easy matter. But the damage was done.[/center][/columns]
It took hours for the pain to fade away into a dull, tired emptiness. Iris felt drained as she lay on the forest floor, watching the bark of her tree and the skin of her friends wither and bleach into the color of bone. Clover's once lush bark had dried out to an ashen gray, and his leaves had withered and rotted. As she looked down at her paws, she saw the same was happening to her. The roots weaving around her limbs had blanched, and parts of her fur had turned silver. Verdana fared the worst. Her blue-green leafy mane had fully wilted, and parts of the bonelike bark had begun to peel off. As soon as she could, Iris pushed herself to her feet and over to her companion.
"Verdana, what- how do I fix this??"
The withered dryad stared up at her tiredly, her eyes glazed.
"Just... need to rest..."
"There's gotta be an antidote or something to this, maybe-"
Verdana just shook her head.
"...hibernate."
Iris swallowed, and nodded. Gently picking her up with her talonlike wings, she carried her over and placed her against the sickened tree. She had seen this before, but as the tree unfurled to swallow her friend, it seemed to creak much more than usual. Before she returned to her tree, Verdana lifted her head and smiled.
"...I will be awake again before you know it... I promise."
Iris nodded again, and managed a smile in return. As the dryad was fully engulfed by the tree, she wanted to cry, or scream, or anything, but all she had the energy to do was sigh.
A light headbutt against her side pulled her back to reality. Clover looked up at her, head tilted, dead moss hanging from his bleached antlers. Iris stroked his head with her tail.
[i]"She'll be awake again before we know it... We've just gotta keep her safe until then."[/i]
[right][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/cms/familiar/art/23816.png[/img][/right]
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Written sometime in late 2021, the dragon was a gift from a friend's first hatch, she came with a basic tertiary but giving her the Weathered gene and this cool skin gave me the idea for a withered dryad. |
Root-Bound
Iris had to grow up a lot faster than most dragons. Her parents loved her very much, but traditional gaoler society was as cold and harsh as the ice fields they originated from, and she was pressured from all sides to join an order for as long as she could remember. At such a young age, she didn't even bother to question it. She trained, fought, fell, got back up again, and as soon as she was able, she left her clan in the Tangled Wood to become a Seeker. "Dedicated to hunting the lands of Sornieth to capture and contain Shade creatures..." Not the most ideal job description, but she would get to travel the world this way, and by the gods was she excited.
Her initial destination was Dragonhome. Around the beginning of her journey, she'd heard reports of unusual creatures spotted around the Highland Sanctum, and she felt up to the challenge. She could have gone straight past the Pillar, but she decided to circle west through the Viridian Labyrinth. and explore a little more of Sornieth beforehand.
What the young gaoler had failed to account for was that the Viridian Labyrinth was, well, a labyrinth. Iris spent weeks wandering through the overgrowth, trying to regain her bearings, but to no avail. Growing up in the Tangled Wood, she should be better at this... She was repeating her approach of "walk in a straight line until you hit the edge of the domain" for the 12th time when she heard the strange voice.
"We can give you a safe place to rest, if you would like."
"...We?"
The voice chuckled, and called out
"Calloth, show yourself, please? And call off our guardians, this dragon is no threat."
On cue, the gigantic tree to the right of Iris unfurled and twisted, revealing a gnarled wooden face that seemed to smile at her. She flinched as one of the large pink bottlebrushes hanging from its branches reached over and stroked her horn. Looking all around her, deerlike creatures made of twisted wood and speckled with garden lace emerged from the undergrowth where they were stalking her, some giving her suspicious looks before going about their business. One of the smaller ones lightly headbutted her, as if asking to be pet.
"Clover, be polite to our new friend!"
The deer's leaves all perked up at once, and it looked up towards the canopy. Iris followed its gaze, only to meet the eyes of another creature made of branches and vines, this time in a more humanoid shape. She chuckled, and jumped down next to the gaoler.
"Your name is Iris, yes, little one?"
The fledgling glared, but nodded, once.
"It is a pleasure... My name is Verdana. Let me take you to my tree."
The branches composing her body began to writhe and twist, and she shifted into a quadrupedal form quite similar to that of Iris. With a flick of her wooden tail, she beckoned for Iris to follow.
"How did you- don't dryads walk on two legs??"
Her eyes were wide as she followed along.
"Most of them, but we Old Growth dryads have far more powerful abilities."
"Whoa... I haven't learned anything yet, but I can do this!"
Iris inhaled deeply, shut her eyes and... sneezed. A large plume of shadow escaped her nostrils, obscuring the air in front of her as she jumped through the black fog. Verdana grinned.
"Not bad, Iris... with some practice you could-"
Before she could finish, a spear flew through the air and plunged through the gaoler's neck.
She collapsed to the ground gasping as Verdana looked on in horror, searching for their attackers. Serthis... she had warned this clan over and over again to leave her territory alone. It was time they learned the hard way.
With an unearthly shrieking, Clover called the rest of the herd of wooden deer to drive off the intruders, but Verdana didn't seem interested in merely driving them off. A glow emanated from within her chest as a deep rumble shook the earth, and titanic roots burst from the undergrowth to ravage the serpentine tribe. That glow was the last thing Iris saw before her vision faded completely to black.
"...Iris? Iris, are you alright?"
She groaned, and forced herself to open her eyes. She was in an alcove between two roots of a massive willow, blue-green leaves trailing down from hanging branches in a gnarled dome. Verdana was sitting next to her, one branchlike hand on her shoulder. The fear in her eyes lessened slightly when she saw that Iris was awake.
They shared a long moment of silence as Iris processed the implications of this.
"...I can't leave."
"You can go farther than I can."
"But I can't leave the Labyrinth. I can't be a Seeker, I can't... I can never go home.
"...I'm so sorry, Iris..."
Verdana pulled the small gaoler into a hug. She slumped against her, emotionally and physically exhausted. The two spent the night together like that, sometimes talking, sometimes crying, sometimes just sitting in silence, but at some point or another, they fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Iris missed her home in the Tangled Wood, and she grieved her opportunity to travel the world as a Seeker. She told Verdana about what she had seen so far, about the glowing mushrooms of the Wispwillow Grove and the perpetual twilight of her home clan, about everything from the bustle of the Trading Post to the beauty of the Gladeveins at the other end of the Labyrinth. She became better friends with Clover, who apparently did grow actual clovers from his antlers, and was bound to the same tree as she and Verdana were. She even got to know the other dryads in the area, Old Growth and otherwise. Calloth didn't speak much, but he was still incredibly friendly, and often had a flowering wreath to give her when she visited. If she wanted to talk, she could visit the redwood grove a mile southwest, they had plenty of gossip on the local dragon clan, and even talked her into introducing herself to them. Eventually, the Viridian Labyrinth became her home.
Unfortunately, not even the middle of the woods is entirely safe from politics.
The local dryads had been getting more and more stressed lately. Tensions had been rising with the local beastclans long before Iris had been stabbed by that Serthis patrol, and it had only been getting worse. Skirmishes turned into full on battles, and nearby Dominance conflicts had been putting both sides under immense pressure to survive.
Iris supposed it was only a matter of time before they discovered the location of their tree.
Alchemists of the very same Serthis clan that had gotten her into this mess had learned of it a while before, but they took their time in preparing their weapon. Of course, the weapon of choice for this clan of snakes was poison, and what a strong poison it would have to be, in order to take out an entire old growth willow.
They came in the night, staking out the tree for days at a time to teach these dryads a lesson for daring to ally themselves with dragonkind. Iris and Verdana were asleep at the time, but the sudden bolt of pain awoke them at the same time.
It took hours for the pain to fade away into a dull, tired emptiness. Iris felt drained as she lay on the forest floor, watching the bark of her tree and the skin of her friends wither and bleach into the color of bone. Clover's once lush bark had dried out to an ashen gray, and his leaves had withered and rotted. As she looked down at her paws, she saw the same was happening to her. The roots weaving around her limbs had blanched, and parts of her fur had turned silver. Verdana fared the worst. Her blue-green leafy mane had fully wilted, and parts of the bonelike bark had begun to peel off. As soon as she could, Iris pushed herself to her feet and over to her companion.
"Verdana, what- how do I fix this??"
The withered dryad stared up at her tiredly, her eyes glazed.
"Just... need to rest..."
"There's gotta be an antidote or something to this, maybe-"
Verdana just shook her head.
"...hibernate."
Iris swallowed, and nodded. Gently picking her up with her talonlike wings, she carried her over and placed her against the sickened tree. She had seen this before, but as the tree unfurled to swallow her friend, it seemed to creak much more than usual. Before she returned to her tree, Verdana lifted her head and smiled.
"...I will be awake again before you know it... I promise."
Iris nodded again, and managed a smile in return. As the dryad was fully engulfed by the tree, she wanted to cry, or scream, or anything, but all she had the energy to do was sigh.
A light headbutt against her side pulled her back to reality. Clover looked up at her, head tilted, dead moss hanging from his bleached antlers. Iris stroked his head with her tail.
"She'll be awake again before we know it... We've just gotta keep her safe until then."
Iris had to grow up a lot faster than most dragons. Her parents loved her very much, but traditional gaoler society was as cold and harsh as the ice fields they originated from, and she was pressured from all sides to join an order for as long as she could remember. At such a young age, she didn't even bother to question it. She trained, fought, fell, got back up again, and as soon as she was able, she left her clan in the Tangled Wood to become a Seeker. "Dedicated to hunting the lands of Sornieth to capture and contain Shade creatures..." Not the most ideal job description, but she would get to travel the world this way, and by the gods was she excited.
Her initial destination was Dragonhome. Around the beginning of her journey, she'd heard reports of unusual creatures spotted around the Highland Sanctum, and she felt up to the challenge. She could have gone straight past the Pillar, but she decided to circle west through the Viridian Labyrinth. and explore a little more of Sornieth beforehand.
What the young gaoler had failed to account for was that the Viridian Labyrinth was, well, a labyrinth. Iris spent weeks wandering through the overgrowth, trying to regain her bearings, but to no avail. Growing up in the Tangled Wood, she should be better at this... She was repeating her approach of "walk in a straight line until you hit the edge of the domain" for the 12th time when she heard the strange voice.
|
"What is one so young doing in a place so dangerous, all alone?"
She stiffened, looking around for the source." "...M-my name's Iris... and I'm a gaoler warrior of the Seeker order!" She tried to put some kind of authority into her statement, but the voice clearly didn't buy it. "Warrior? Seeker? You look barely old enough to seek your own meals, little one." There was a tone of concern in the voice, but she bristled, searching for who to glare at. "I'm old enough to know what I'm doing!" An obvious lie. "...Well then, little Seeker, in which direction lies your quarry?" Iris looked down, ashamed of her poor sense of direction. "...Mmm, I thought so... They call this place the Viridian Labyrinth for a reason, little one, this is no fault of your own." "...Where am I, then?" "The north end of the Labyrinth... Beastclan territory. And night is soon to fall." She stiffened even further. The Labyrinth at night was frightening enough on its own, but she had no chance against a Beastclan's night patrol. |
|
"...We?"
The voice chuckled, and called out
"Calloth, show yourself, please? And call off our guardians, this dragon is no threat."
On cue, the gigantic tree to the right of Iris unfurled and twisted, revealing a gnarled wooden face that seemed to smile at her. She flinched as one of the large pink bottlebrushes hanging from its branches reached over and stroked her horn. Looking all around her, deerlike creatures made of twisted wood and speckled with garden lace emerged from the undergrowth where they were stalking her, some giving her suspicious looks before going about their business. One of the smaller ones lightly headbutted her, as if asking to be pet.
"Clover, be polite to our new friend!"
The deer's leaves all perked up at once, and it looked up towards the canopy. Iris followed its gaze, only to meet the eyes of another creature made of branches and vines, this time in a more humanoid shape. She chuckled, and jumped down next to the gaoler.
"Your name is Iris, yes, little one?"
The fledgling glared, but nodded, once.
"It is a pleasure... My name is Verdana. Let me take you to my tree."
The branches composing her body began to writhe and twist, and she shifted into a quadrupedal form quite similar to that of Iris. With a flick of her wooden tail, she beckoned for Iris to follow.
"How did you- don't dryads walk on two legs??"
Her eyes were wide as she followed along.
"Most of them, but we Old Growth dryads have far more powerful abilities."
"Whoa... I haven't learned anything yet, but I can do this!"
Iris inhaled deeply, shut her eyes and... sneezed. A large plume of shadow escaped her nostrils, obscuring the air in front of her as she jumped through the black fog. Verdana grinned.
"Not bad, Iris... with some practice you could-"
Before she could finish, a spear flew through the air and plunged through the gaoler's neck.
She collapsed to the ground gasping as Verdana looked on in horror, searching for their attackers. Serthis... she had warned this clan over and over again to leave her territory alone. It was time they learned the hard way.
With an unearthly shrieking, Clover called the rest of the herd of wooden deer to drive off the intruders, but Verdana didn't seem interested in merely driving them off. A glow emanated from within her chest as a deep rumble shook the earth, and titanic roots burst from the undergrowth to ravage the serpentine tribe. That glow was the last thing Iris saw before her vision faded completely to black.
"...Iris? Iris, are you alright?"
She groaned, and forced herself to open her eyes. She was in an alcove between two roots of a massive willow, blue-green leaves trailing down from hanging branches in a gnarled dome. Verdana was sitting next to her, one branchlike hand on her shoulder. The fear in her eyes lessened slightly when she saw that Iris was awake.
|
"...what... How am I alive...?"
She tried to lift her head, but the roots around her neck held her close to the ground. Oddly enough, there was no pain from the wound itself, just a dull ache. That spear went right through her neck, she shouldn't have been able to survive that. "...Old Growth dryads have... very powerful abilities." Iris shook her head to clear it, barely paying any mind to the roots that pulled themselves free of the earth instead of her neck. "Oh... Healing abilities?" "...Not exactly..." Verdana looked down. "I tried to fix the damage, but that spear almost decapitated you, and I could not save you without... binding you to my tree." |
|
"...I can't leave."
"You can go farther than I can."
"But I can't leave the Labyrinth. I can't be a Seeker, I can't... I can never go home.
"...I'm so sorry, Iris..."
Verdana pulled the small gaoler into a hug. She slumped against her, emotionally and physically exhausted. The two spent the night together like that, sometimes talking, sometimes crying, sometimes just sitting in silence, but at some point or another, they fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Iris missed her home in the Tangled Wood, and she grieved her opportunity to travel the world as a Seeker. She told Verdana about what she had seen so far, about the glowing mushrooms of the Wispwillow Grove and the perpetual twilight of her home clan, about everything from the bustle of the Trading Post to the beauty of the Gladeveins at the other end of the Labyrinth. She became better friends with Clover, who apparently did grow actual clovers from his antlers, and was bound to the same tree as she and Verdana were. She even got to know the other dryads in the area, Old Growth and otherwise. Calloth didn't speak much, but he was still incredibly friendly, and often had a flowering wreath to give her when she visited. If she wanted to talk, she could visit the redwood grove a mile southwest, they had plenty of gossip on the local dragon clan, and even talked her into introducing herself to them. Eventually, the Viridian Labyrinth became her home.
Unfortunately, not even the middle of the woods is entirely safe from politics.
The local dryads had been getting more and more stressed lately. Tensions had been rising with the local beastclans long before Iris had been stabbed by that Serthis patrol, and it had only been getting worse. Skirmishes turned into full on battles, and nearby Dominance conflicts had been putting both sides under immense pressure to survive.
Iris supposed it was only a matter of time before they discovered the location of their tree.
Alchemists of the very same Serthis clan that had gotten her into this mess had learned of it a while before, but they took their time in preparing their weapon. Of course, the weapon of choice for this clan of snakes was poison, and what a strong poison it would have to be, in order to take out an entire old growth willow.
They came in the night, staking out the tree for days at a time to teach these dryads a lesson for daring to ally themselves with dragonkind. Iris and Verdana were asleep at the time, but the sudden bolt of pain awoke them at the same time.
|
The gaoler's eyes shot open with a gasp, dragging herself to her feet as Verdana began to scream. The only illumination was the few streams of moonlight leaking through the willow's leaves, but for a dragon of the shadow domain, it was more than enough to see the masked serpentine alchemist pouring a thick, caustic sludge over the roots of their tree. Clover's shrieking joined the cacophony, as the wooden deer writhed on the forest floor. Iris wasn't as strongly bound to the tree as they were; the pain was blinding, but not crippling. Before the Serthis could poison them anymore, she lunged at her, pinning her to the ground with one paw. She had grown quite a bit since her last Beastclan encounter, and killing this intruder was an easy matter. But the damage was done.
|
"Verdana, what- how do I fix this??"
The withered dryad stared up at her tiredly, her eyes glazed.
"Just... need to rest..."
"There's gotta be an antidote or something to this, maybe-"
Verdana just shook her head.
"...hibernate."
Iris swallowed, and nodded. Gently picking her up with her talonlike wings, she carried her over and placed her against the sickened tree. She had seen this before, but as the tree unfurled to swallow her friend, it seemed to creak much more than usual. Before she returned to her tree, Verdana lifted her head and smiled.
"...I will be awake again before you know it... I promise."
Iris nodded again, and managed a smile in return. As the dryad was fully engulfed by the tree, she wanted to cry, or scream, or anything, but all she had the energy to do was sigh.
A light headbutt against her side pulled her back to reality. Clover looked up at her, head tilted, dead moss hanging from his bleached antlers. Iris stroked his head with her tail.
"She'll be awake again before we know it... We've just gotta keep her safe until then."
[columns][img]https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/81295934_F9aC0tyY5r18x1l.png[/img][nextcol]
Written in the summer of 2021, my friend accidentally exalted an unnamed hatchling and then felt so bad she paid the un-exalt fee to bring her back and name her. She didn't really want the hatchling, so she named her Sisi and gave her to me, and I thought that made an interesting lore idea.[/columns]
[center]
[i][b]The Runaway[/b][/i]
[i]"The realm is embroiled in a perpetual conflict called Dominance... the superior flight is usually the one with the most exalted dragons... the dragons who receive such a high honor must leave their home lairs to forever serve under their elemental deity..."[/i]
That was how it was explained to the young mirror, as she watched one of her older clanmates ceremoniously mount the engraved marble pillar to say his goodbyes. This was one of her first and most important memories, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember the name or face of the guardian accompanying her to the ceremony. But she'd never forget the wistful tone in his voice as he said
[i]"...the Lightweaver would be proud of him..."[/i]
And so, the seeds of a life-changing-ly terrible idea were sown.
From that day forward, Sisi vowed to achieve the high honor of exaltation. She watched every training session she could, practicing some of the moves with her fellow hatchlings, and even some unfortunate familiars. The adult members of her clan all thought this was adorable, of course, and praised her, saying she'd make them all proud someday. Sisi just couldn't wait for that day to come.
So, she didn't.
It was less than an hour until that day's exaltation ceremony would begin as she rifled through her clan's hoard to find something to disguise herself. If she tried to sneak out on her own, her bright blue coloring would be seen almost instantly. She knew there was something in here somewhere... perfect. A grayish brown wolf pelt cape. It fit more like a cloak over her tiny body, she could hide her wings under it and blend into the undergrowth perfectly.
The ceremony had started by then. Sisi slunk around behind her clanmates as the guardian on the pillar said her last farewell to the clan, positioning herself perfectly to follow her when the time was right. Finally, the cheers of the other dragons signaled that the dragon of honor was about to depart. As she stepped off the pillar and headed towards the intersection between the shadow and nature domains, Sisi silently followed her trail, excited to fight for her clan and blissfully unaware of the horrors these battles would entail.
- - - - - -
"I spy with my little eye... something... yellow."
"Oh! That wildclaw off in the distance! It's gotta be that guy."
Azimuth looked surprised for a moment, then smirked slightly, satisfied with finally achieving victory.
"Nope... It's the skydancer."
Dusa tilted her head, and gestured towards the yellow dragon slashing at the ground, about a mile away.
"...that one?"
"Yep, you got it on the second try. I still win though!"
"...Azzy, that's a wildclaw."
The imperial turned to glare at his companion, shifting his weight closer to the trunk of the large tree they were scouting from.
"No, that's a skydancer, you're just mad I'm finally winning."
"Hey, if you don't trust me, trust the spiral eyes."
She tapped the side of her head with the tip of her tail, grinning.
"Look again, he's standing up straight now. See? Wildclaw!"
Azimuth turned his attention to the battling dragon in the distance, and let out a quiet growl of disappointment as he realized that Dusa was right. The yellow dragon in question had finished their apparent attack on the ground, and had taken on a silhouette that much more accurately portrayed their species. His spiral clanmate had much better eyesight than he did, but on boring scout missions like this, games like these were the only way to stop her from tying herself into a knot.
"Fine... That wasn't fair at all though, what the hell was he even doing hunched over like that?"
"Hacking up a veilspun from the shadow domain."
"...oh."
The timid imperial had been a pacifist from birth, and though he understood the need of knowing how to fight, (the only reason he had ever let his childhood friend Shatter mentor him in the art,) but the brutal Dominance battle the two scouts had been tasked with monitoring just seemed so... unnecessary.
"Man, I really don't understand this whole Dominance thing..."
Dusa echoed his sentiments aloud, but Azimuth knew that unlike him, she was an avid warrior who had no qualms with fighting beastclans or dragons.
"You mean morally, or like, the rules?"
She looked up at him with a deadpan expression.
"Of course I understand the rules, moron, it's Dominance, not scrying the future."
"Hey, rules can change... Last I checked, you weren't allowed to bring your familiars into battle."
The coiled spiral looked confused.
"You're still not allowed to do that, where do you see a familiar?"
"Just by those guardians over there, someone brought their wolf."
He swished his tail in the direction of a particularly brutal skirmish between a pair of guardians, where what appeared to be a red wolf was trying to stumble away from the conflict. Dusa followed the gesture with her gaze, still confused, but nodded when she saw the small figure. She seemed about to say something, before her sinewy body suddenly went rigid.
"Azzy. Azzy that's a kid."
"What? No way, I know the rules better than that, exalted hatchlings are sent to be trained firs-"
"Forget the rules, I'm telling you, that's a kid!"
Azimuth would've sworn she was messing with him if she didn't look so disturbed, but upon closer inspection, he could see a tiny, tattered blue wing slip out from beneath the red wolf pelt as it collapsed. His jaw dropped slightly, as Dusa somehow prevented herself from tying her tail to the branch.
"...I'm grabbing 'em."
Azimuth didn't even get the chance to protest before she launched herself off the branch and towards the battlefield. No time to make an actual plan, apparently. He let out another growl, and followed to make sure his companion didn't get herself killed.
Dusa wove her way around trees and battling dragons, making a beeline for the little red figure, almost crashing into the ground before winding her way around the half-limp form. She didn't get a chance to give any words of comfort before a shadow loomed over them, and she looked up just in time to see the falling body of one of the titanic guardians about to crush them.
That is, until the screeching blue comet that was her imperial companion barreled into it, knocking both guardians to the ground with a crash. Grateful for the diversion, Dusa got a better grip on the hatchling, spread all six of her wings, and took off. Glancing back at her still-screaming companion who was currently perched on top of one of the guardians, she decided he could handle himself just fine, and focused on taking the bloody hatchling back to the lair.
As Sisi slowly regained consciousness, her first thought was that maybe, just maybe, the horrible events of yesterday had been nothing more than a bad dream. When she shifted, however, the pain that shot through her body disproved that theory very quickly. She squeezed her eyes shut a little tighter, and let out a whimper.
"Hey, hey, don't try to get up yet, uh... Thyme? Azzy? The kid's awake!"
The voice was unfamiliar, everything was unfamiliar. The ground felt too squishy, the den smelled too much like plants. This wasn't her home.
"I'll be right there, is she alright?"
"I, uh... I think?"
Another voice, also feminine, but softer. Sisi forced herself to open her front set of eyes to look around. The heat signature of the spiral dragon near her was easiest to make out, but the approaching shape of the tundra was what caught her attention. Cautiously, she opened her primary set of eyes to meet the newcomer's milky gaze.
"Hi there... are you feeling any better?"
She was silent for a moment, before shakily asking
"...wh-where am I...?"
"You're in my den, in a safe little part of the Viridian Labyrinth we call the Haven... Do you think I could change those bandages on your wing?"
The hatchling hesitantly nodded, and stretched out her injured wing. After a moment, Dusa interjected
"...that's a yes, Thyme"
The blind tundra nodded, and gently sat down to start checking the injuries.
"What's your name, sweetheart?
"...Sisi"
"It's wonderful to meet you, Sisi. My name's Thyme, and that over there is Dusa."
Thyme gestured in her general direction, and she smiled. The hatchling didn't respond. Nervous, she glanced out the den entrance where Azimuth was silently watching, sporting a few bandages himself. He gestured with his head towards the reddened wolf cape, long since dry. Dusa gave him a grateful nod and moved to grab the cape, offering it to Sisi.
"I believe this is yours? We did our best to wash it, but..."
Her eyes widened, and she snatched the cape and hugged it tightly. It was a thing from home. The spiral tilted her head, concerned, and held out a small stuffed myosotis fox.
"...I found this awhile ago, dug it outta my hoard for you... You like dogs, or was that cape just the first thing you found?"
Sisi took the fox, and gingerly shrugged, stroking its green fabric.
"Just needed a disguise, so I could sneak out..."
"You snuck out, to join Dominance battles?"
Dusa looked almost surprised; the idiocy of hatchlings never ceased to amaze her. Sisi just looked down at her fox, and didn't respond. Worried she might have upset the kid, Dusa wrapped her tail around her, careful not to disturb Thyme's work on her wing.
"...you did great out there."
Still no response.
"Seriously... most dragons who try to fight guardians that size just get squished."
Still nothing. Gods, she was bad with kids.
"...I'm sure your clan would be very proud of you... I sure am"
Sisi stiffened for a moment, and just when Dusa thought she'd screwed up, the hatchling buried her face into her. Thyme sighed a little as her bandages fell to the ground, but sensed she probably shouldn't get back to work immediately. Dusa looked back out the entrance of the den for help, only to see Azzy grinning, mouthing the words [i]"You'd make a great mom".[/i] She just stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to Sisi. She couldn't think of what else to say, but eventually the little mirror mumbled
"...thank you."
[url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2379058/1#post_31760570][img]https://i.imgur.com/FD1rkPC.png[/img][/url]
|
Written in the summer of 2021, my friend accidentally exalted an unnamed hatchling and then felt so bad she paid the un-exalt fee to bring her back and name her. She didn't really want the hatchling, so she named her Sisi and gave her to me, and I thought that made an interesting lore idea. |
The Runaway
"The realm is embroiled in a perpetual conflict called Dominance... the superior flight is usually the one with the most exalted dragons... the dragons who receive such a high honor must leave their home lairs to forever serve under their elemental deity..."
That was how it was explained to the young mirror, as she watched one of her older clanmates ceremoniously mount the engraved marble pillar to say his goodbyes. This was one of her first and most important memories, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember the name or face of the guardian accompanying her to the ceremony. But she'd never forget the wistful tone in his voice as he said
"...the Lightweaver would be proud of him..."
And so, the seeds of a life-changing-ly terrible idea were sown.
From that day forward, Sisi vowed to achieve the high honor of exaltation. She watched every training session she could, practicing some of the moves with her fellow hatchlings, and even some unfortunate familiars. The adult members of her clan all thought this was adorable, of course, and praised her, saying she'd make them all proud someday. Sisi just couldn't wait for that day to come.
So, she didn't.
It was less than an hour until that day's exaltation ceremony would begin as she rifled through her clan's hoard to find something to disguise herself. If she tried to sneak out on her own, her bright blue coloring would be seen almost instantly. She knew there was something in here somewhere... perfect. A grayish brown wolf pelt cape. It fit more like a cloak over her tiny body, she could hide her wings under it and blend into the undergrowth perfectly.
The ceremony had started by then. Sisi slunk around behind her clanmates as the guardian on the pillar said her last farewell to the clan, positioning herself perfectly to follow her when the time was right. Finally, the cheers of the other dragons signaled that the dragon of honor was about to depart. As she stepped off the pillar and headed towards the intersection between the shadow and nature domains, Sisi silently followed her trail, excited to fight for her clan and blissfully unaware of the horrors these battles would entail.
- - - - - -
"I spy with my little eye... something... yellow."
"Oh! That wildclaw off in the distance! It's gotta be that guy."
Azimuth looked surprised for a moment, then smirked slightly, satisfied with finally achieving victory.
"Nope... It's the skydancer."
Dusa tilted her head, and gestured towards the yellow dragon slashing at the ground, about a mile away.
"...that one?"
"Yep, you got it on the second try. I still win though!"
"...Azzy, that's a wildclaw."
The imperial turned to glare at his companion, shifting his weight closer to the trunk of the large tree they were scouting from.
"No, that's a skydancer, you're just mad I'm finally winning."
"Hey, if you don't trust me, trust the spiral eyes."
She tapped the side of her head with the tip of her tail, grinning.
"Look again, he's standing up straight now. See? Wildclaw!"
Azimuth turned his attention to the battling dragon in the distance, and let out a quiet growl of disappointment as he realized that Dusa was right. The yellow dragon in question had finished their apparent attack on the ground, and had taken on a silhouette that much more accurately portrayed their species. His spiral clanmate had much better eyesight than he did, but on boring scout missions like this, games like these were the only way to stop her from tying herself into a knot.
"Fine... That wasn't fair at all though, what the hell was he even doing hunched over like that?"
"Hacking up a veilspun from the shadow domain."
"...oh."
The timid imperial had been a pacifist from birth, and though he understood the need of knowing how to fight, (the only reason he had ever let his childhood friend Shatter mentor him in the art,) but the brutal Dominance battle the two scouts had been tasked with monitoring just seemed so... unnecessary.
"Man, I really don't understand this whole Dominance thing..."
Dusa echoed his sentiments aloud, but Azimuth knew that unlike him, she was an avid warrior who had no qualms with fighting beastclans or dragons.
"You mean morally, or like, the rules?"
She looked up at him with a deadpan expression.
"Of course I understand the rules, moron, it's Dominance, not scrying the future."
"Hey, rules can change... Last I checked, you weren't allowed to bring your familiars into battle."
The coiled spiral looked confused.
"You're still not allowed to do that, where do you see a familiar?"
"Just by those guardians over there, someone brought their wolf."
He swished his tail in the direction of a particularly brutal skirmish between a pair of guardians, where what appeared to be a red wolf was trying to stumble away from the conflict. Dusa followed the gesture with her gaze, still confused, but nodded when she saw the small figure. She seemed about to say something, before her sinewy body suddenly went rigid.
"Azzy. Azzy that's a kid."
"What? No way, I know the rules better than that, exalted hatchlings are sent to be trained firs-"
"Forget the rules, I'm telling you, that's a kid!"
Azimuth would've sworn she was messing with him if she didn't look so disturbed, but upon closer inspection, he could see a tiny, tattered blue wing slip out from beneath the red wolf pelt as it collapsed. His jaw dropped slightly, as Dusa somehow prevented herself from tying her tail to the branch.
"...I'm grabbing 'em."
Azimuth didn't even get the chance to protest before she launched herself off the branch and towards the battlefield. No time to make an actual plan, apparently. He let out another growl, and followed to make sure his companion didn't get herself killed.
Dusa wove her way around trees and battling dragons, making a beeline for the little red figure, almost crashing into the ground before winding her way around the half-limp form. She didn't get a chance to give any words of comfort before a shadow loomed over them, and she looked up just in time to see the falling body of one of the titanic guardians about to crush them.
That is, until the screeching blue comet that was her imperial companion barreled into it, knocking both guardians to the ground with a crash. Grateful for the diversion, Dusa got a better grip on the hatchling, spread all six of her wings, and took off. Glancing back at her still-screaming companion who was currently perched on top of one of the guardians, she decided he could handle himself just fine, and focused on taking the bloody hatchling back to the lair.
As Sisi slowly regained consciousness, her first thought was that maybe, just maybe, the horrible events of yesterday had been nothing more than a bad dream. When she shifted, however, the pain that shot through her body disproved that theory very quickly. She squeezed her eyes shut a little tighter, and let out a whimper.
"Hey, hey, don't try to get up yet, uh... Thyme? Azzy? The kid's awake!"
The voice was unfamiliar, everything was unfamiliar. The ground felt too squishy, the den smelled too much like plants. This wasn't her home.
"I'll be right there, is she alright?"
"I, uh... I think?"
Another voice, also feminine, but softer. Sisi forced herself to open her front set of eyes to look around. The heat signature of the spiral dragon near her was easiest to make out, but the approaching shape of the tundra was what caught her attention. Cautiously, she opened her primary set of eyes to meet the newcomer's milky gaze.
"Hi there... are you feeling any better?"
She was silent for a moment, before shakily asking
"...wh-where am I...?"
"You're in my den, in a safe little part of the Viridian Labyrinth we call the Haven... Do you think I could change those bandages on your wing?"
The hatchling hesitantly nodded, and stretched out her injured wing. After a moment, Dusa interjected
"...that's a yes, Thyme"
The blind tundra nodded, and gently sat down to start checking the injuries.
"What's your name, sweetheart?
"...Sisi"
"It's wonderful to meet you, Sisi. My name's Thyme, and that over there is Dusa."
Thyme gestured in her general direction, and she smiled. The hatchling didn't respond. Nervous, she glanced out the den entrance where Azimuth was silently watching, sporting a few bandages himself. He gestured with his head towards the reddened wolf cape, long since dry. Dusa gave him a grateful nod and moved to grab the cape, offering it to Sisi.
"I believe this is yours? We did our best to wash it, but..."
Her eyes widened, and she snatched the cape and hugged it tightly. It was a thing from home. The spiral tilted her head, concerned, and held out a small stuffed myosotis fox.
"...I found this awhile ago, dug it outta my hoard for you... You like dogs, or was that cape just the first thing you found?"
Sisi took the fox, and gingerly shrugged, stroking its green fabric.
"Just needed a disguise, so I could sneak out..."
"You snuck out, to join Dominance battles?"
Dusa looked almost surprised; the idiocy of hatchlings never ceased to amaze her. Sisi just looked down at her fox, and didn't respond. Worried she might have upset the kid, Dusa wrapped her tail around her, careful not to disturb Thyme's work on her wing.
"...you did great out there."
Still no response.
"Seriously... most dragons who try to fight guardians that size just get squished."
Still nothing. Gods, she was bad with kids.
"...I'm sure your clan would be very proud of you... I sure am"
Sisi stiffened for a moment, and just when Dusa thought she'd screwed up, the hatchling buried her face into her. Thyme sighed a little as her bandages fell to the ground, but sensed she probably shouldn't get back to work immediately. Dusa looked back out the entrance of the den for help, only to see Azzy grinning, mouthing the words "You'd make a great mom". She just stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to Sisi. She couldn't think of what else to say, but eventually the little mirror mumbled
"...thank you."
