Evika had barely slept the night before her arrival in the Ashfall Wastes. The closer she got, the louder she could hear the song. Visions of a violent conflict crossed her vision every time her eyelids closed. It was horrific. The screams of the Banescales as their forms froze and dropped from the air, shattering upon impact. The sound of the howling wind and the song of the Banescale growing quieter and quieter until finally - silence.
A great crime had been committed here. A genocide of the Flamecaller's firstborn. A tragedy so far gone that no one could remember. How else could Evika, a coatl, be born within the ice flight?
And yet, now that she had the knowledge she had, she felt sick to her stomach. Yet, she persisted, driven my a force she could not recognize anymore. Something was changing.
As Evika approached the Ashfall Wastes, the air seemed to me filled with a thick dark smoke. Unless - no, it wasn't smoke. It was countless dragons, swarming the skies, silhouetted against the warm light of the lava flow below. There were so many of them, it was hard to see anything beyond the great cloud of scales and wings. They poured from a cave, long-buried, the shape of their bodies matching the unfamiliar dragons of Evika's dream.
The banescales were back.
The sight filled Evika with great hope, but even that hope could not undo her heartbreak. These dragons had returned, despite the violence that had driven them to near extinction. Now the crimes of the ice flight were uncovered, visible for all to see. This day would change the future of Sornieth forever.
How many more secrets did Sornieth hold? How many more histories were left unspoken?
"If you should fly free, remember our song: Fly far and fly wide to see the next dawn," Evika hummed, joining the chorus of voices singing the ancient song of the banescales. Her heart bore the burden of all that she knew, but now was a time of celebration. Everything else could wait.
"Care to explain yourselves?" Luci asked, glaring at the two intruders. Gillian shifted uncomfortable.
"Now, there's no need to get your feathers in a twist," Elladan huffed. "We were just doing some poking around!"
"Why? So you could
borrow top secret Thunderforge blueprints? You do realize this is where we make all the parts for the machines, right? How did you even get in here! This forge is supposed to be top of the line security!" The wildclaw ranted. She seemed angry. Gillian tried to listen to her. He wanted to answer her questions, but the song was growing louder, and it was makig it hard to concentrate. He fiddled with the old parchment in his hands.
"Look, we wandered in here through some tunnel. You better check your security. Anyone could have wandered right in!" Elladan pointed out. "So don't blame us, lady. How were we supposed to know where we were going?"
Suddenly, the room began to grow darker as a great cloud passed overhead. The skies outside the windows darkened and a rumble could be heard underground. Gillian jumped in surprise as a fresh lava flow rose from a nearby gushing river, overflowing the banks and growing dangerously close to their little island workshop. The pipes carrying lava into the forge began to gush as well, carrying with it strange looking stones.
Gillian looked out the window once more, surprised to see that the cloud was in fact made up of thousands upon thousands of hatchlings, a breed he had never seen before. Unable to resist the call to adventure, Gillian took off, squeezing through the window and joining the swarm in the sky.
Already unused to flying so high, it was difficult to to maneuver through the crowd, splitting off in a million different directions. He was almost knocked out of the air several times. These dragons still seemed to be gaining sense of their wings. He ducked out of the way of a particularly large one, only to find himself ramming into a coatl. Both dragons almost fell out of the air before catching themselves.
"I am so sorry," Gillian gasped, then he trailed off. The slope of the coatl's face was strangely familiar. When he stared into his eyes, he felt as if he had known them all of his life, like he was staring into the face of his own mother.
The coatl looked at the cloud of dragons with a pained expression. "These children, they don't have a place or a home. Their families have been dead for centuries. What will become of them?"
Gillian turned to look in the direction of the hatchlings. "What will become of any of us? Do we not all leave our families at one point or another? They'll find their place. Just as we all find ours."
"If you only knew what I knew," Evika murmured darkly. "No matter. My name is Evika. And you are-"
"Gillian," the wildclaw introduced himself. "If you don't mind me asking, who are your parents? Do you know Alira?"
"Alira?" Evika said in surprised. "I don't know an Alira personally, but my parents told me I had a sister by that name, though she left long before I hatched. I am the daughter of Umbri and Vita."
"I'm Alira's son," Gillian explained.
The coatl's face softened, as though in understanding. "I knew I would find kinship in the Ashfall Wastes," she said cryptically. "I just thought that meant the firstborn of the Flamecaller, not a nephew."
"I followed the song here," Gillian confessed.
"Me too," Evika admitted.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Gillian asked.
"Be a witness," Evika said, turning to the swarm as it thinned and drew further away. "If you are the grandson of Vita and Umbri, that means you carry the heritage of both fire and ice in your blood, even if you are aligned to arcane. We are a sign that peace has reigned between the two flights, but that does not erase the crimes of the past. Sornieth is changing."
Gillian didn't respond. He didn't feel that he needed to. Something greater than him was happening today, and he got to witness it. Not only that, but he had found family. Whatever his future held, it could wait until the last silhouette disappeared over the horizon, and a new dawn arose.
While Luci was distracted shouting after Gillian, Elladan took a moment to scoop a stone out of the lava to examine it. If it were truly rock, it should have melted into the flow, and yet it remained firm. It was then that he felt a thrum from within, and he realized he held not a rock, but an egg. A powerful heart was beating within the shell, perhaps the same as the new dragons outside.
Elladan may not have found Crius' Vault, but he had found something better. A long lost breed, from the ancient days of Sornieth, one Jett could raise and mould into the perfect warrior.
It was time to get back to the city.
"It was nice meeting ya!" Elladan smirked, and he turned to slip back down the tunnel he and Gillian had emerged from.
"Not so fast," Luci growled, staring at the larger dragon with surprising intimidation. "Where do you think you're going with that? I saw you grab the egg. That is property of the Thunderforge!"
"Oh, so you laid these eggs? My bad," Elladan bowed in a mocking posture. "These are kids, they aren't property of some mega-corporation."
"Oh? And what about you? What are you going to do with a child? You don't exactly seem the fatherly type," Luci narrowed her eyes.
"That's none of your business," Elladan spat.
"It is my business when you are stealing from the Thunderforge!" Luci growled back.
"Now tell me, sweet stuff, what are you
really doing with the Thunderforge? Because I've heard loads about you guys, and you seem to have enough spirit to make it on your own without toiling your life away in service of an organization such as this," Elladan pointed out. Really, she was wasted here.
"Look, I have to make ends meet somehow! You try having a mate duck out on you twice! I'm just trying to make enough money to keep my children afloat, not that they'll speak to me anymore, after the lies their fathers told about me. This here? This is the best I can do right now, so you better not put my job at risk!" Luci spat, all the fury her body could hold flowing through her.
"Then come with me, I can show you a much better life than the one you have here, one where you can grow stronger," Elladan offered.
"Yeah right, it was believing someone like you that landed me stuck in this job in the first place!" Luci rolled her eyes.
"Look, I'm not forcing you into anything, Stardust. I'm just offering a way out. We can part ways as soon as we reach the other side of the tunnel. I'm not looking for a prisoner. Let me keep the egg, no questions asked, and I'll give you your freedom. You can do better than this," Elladan raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," Luci spat.
The two dragons stood, facing off, neither willing to break eye contact first. Tension filled the air, thick enough to slice with his spines. It was broken only when Gillian returned, accompanied by a coatl.
"Ah, there you are," Elladan said, a smiling landing on his face. "What do you say we go home? We can try searching for Crius' Vault some other time."
He turned to glance at Luci out of the corner of his eye. he could tell she was interested - what Thunderforge dragon wouldn't be? Or course, he had no actual intention of showing it to her, but it would be enough to get her back to the Forgotten Kingdom. Hopefully, he could convince her to stay. There was something about her spirit that he liked.
"Elladan? This is Evika," Gillian stepped forward to introduce his companion.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Elladan rolled his eyes. "She can come along to. Let's just get moving. I don't want to spend another week beneath the Sea of a Thousand Currents."
"But you're a water dragon!" Evika pointed out.
"Doesn't change the fact that I like to keep my scales dry, sweetheart," Elladan raised an eyebrow. "That runs deep in any ridgeback's blood, no matter what flight we're born in. Now, are we going to dilly-dally all day asking stupid questions? Or are we going to get moving?"
No one challenged him this time. Taking the lead, Elladan began the long journey back through the Ridgeback Tunnels. The egg on his back thrummed rhythmically. He just hoped they could get back before the time came for it to hatch.
So, Banescales, eh? I'm super stoked for the new breed! I love their lore and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if in time, they began my favourite. They've got a lot of lore possibilities, and I'm glad to have caught their start in my locke like this. I hope I can continue to do that for big Flight Rising events like this!
I have another familiar pull to use, but because I've gotten so many dragons lately and because I hatched a nest today (that I plan on introducing tomorrow) and another nest hatching in a few days, I figured I could use it to justify the Banescale. I was planning to adopt it regardless of getting a familiar pull or not, but I feel this is more justified now because I did fully gene up by Banescale before introducing her, rather than trying to juggle the apparel pulls to do it.
The first Coli round was Pomona, Jett and Ulf. Pomona is level 6, Jett is level 7 and Ulf is level 8. It was nice to be able to train some of my higher level dragons in a higher level venue to level them up, rather than using them to help level up my lower level dragons. The second Coli round was Cecily, Gillian and Pomona and I was able to get Gillian to level 3.
