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Chapter 54: Friends of a Feather
Two dragons were flying over the ocean, mostly gliding and enjoying the currents off the Windswept Plateau’s coast. Their flight path looked almost aimless, as though they had no set destination. The Aberration, Pleeha, spoke, “Nothing like riding those winds and tasting the sea salt in the air, eh, Ajal?”
Ajal, who tended to be quiet due to the bullying he received as a hatchling, replied quietly, “Yes...Are you sure you want to be flying with me? You know that the flock saw me as a bringer of ill fortune.”
One of Pleeha’s heads rolled her eyes and the other looked at Ajal seriously, “You know the elders are all full of hot air. They wanted to pin all the deaths near the Sea of a Thousand Currents on someone, so they pinned it on you. And it’s not like you caused anyone’s death – you just knew when it was going to happen. But I guess a warning doesn’t necessarily fight one’s destiny,” Pleeha trailed off in thought.
Ajal frowned, “But what if I predict when you will get into danger, maybe even die?” This time, both of Pleeha’s heads looked at Ajal, “Then I will be happy to know I spent my life with someone I care about instead of bullies and airheads from the flock.” Their eyes looked at each other for moment, a silent sort of exchange of love that was still uncertain at where it will go.
However, both of them broke eye contact when a bright light entered their sight. It was like an asteroid was falling from the sky, giving off a green glow and tail. At first, its projection seemed to indicate that it would fall among the green plains of the Windswept Plateau, but what was likely a large wind gust blew it off its trajectory and towards the water. With a large splash, the egg-like capsule hit the water, fell beneath the waves, and then with a plop, floated to the surface.
Ajal, being worried about the new arrival, flew down towards the capsule without hesitation, with Pleeha close behind. When Ajal got close, there was a hissing noise and a small door that opened from the floating portion’s side to reveal a tiny Aether hatchling’s head.
It looked angry and was chattering in frustration, “I thought I calculated for all the air currents above the Windswept Plateau...stupid wind...now how am I supposed to get out of the water?”
“Umm, hi there. Need a claw?” Ajal asked shyly. The Aether glowered at Ajal, still fuming, but Pleeha returned a glare at the Aether that made it shrivel. “What I think my partner here so graciously offered was some help to get you to someplace dryer,” Pleeha said, with a little bit of grit to her voice.
“Oh, um...yes…” the Aether said, and Pleeha retorted, “Yes, what?” By this point, all the anger had completely left the Aether, making it look deflated, “Yes, please.”
After some careful maneuvering, the Aether was atop Ajal’s shoulders while Pleeha was holding onto the spacecraft. “Be careful with that!” the Aether said, “Please,” it added after it saw the look in Pleeha’s eyes, “It’s everything I have.”
“So where did you come from?” Ajal asked, curiosity shining in his eyes. “Oh, um, just from a small space station up there,” it replied, pointing to a small light that looked like a star off the horizon, “I couldn’t stand being surrounded by all that metal and space, so I planned and planned to escape and go someplace greener.”
“Won’t your parents worry about you being missing?” Pleeha asked, grunting slightly while carefully holding the spacecraft. The Aether shook its head, “I have hundreds of siblings. They won’t even know that I’m gone.” Ajal had a pained look that crossed his face, “I’m sorry…”
“Why be sorry? I’m finally free! Well, almost...once I get to dry land, I’ll be able to go where I please,” the Aether said, puffing up its chest happily. “But why not just fly?” Pleeha asked pointedly. The Aether blushed and said it only loud enough that Ajal could barely hear it, “Uh...um...I can’t fly.”
“Huh, what? I can’t hear you,” Pleeha called back. The Aether muttered, only a little louder than before, “I can’t fly. We couldn’t really practice flying in zero gravity.” It made Pleeha grinned, “Well then, guess it was a good thing we found you. Haven’t heard any thanks for that yet.”
“Right...thank you both. My name is Clover,” Clover said meekly. Pleeha looked surprised, “Clover, like a lucky clover? Seems like you weren’t so lucky today,” Pleeha said. Ajal quickly spoke as he saw Clover’s defeated face, “But that’s okay! I’m bad luck too! My name is Ajal. This here is my friend Pleeha. If you want, we can show you around Sornieth. It’s much quicker to fly around here.”
Clover smiled gratefully, “Thanks, Ajal. I’d like that a lot.”
“What is this?” Cabaletta held out the scythe in her hand so Atropos could see it. Atropos, looking terrified, asked, “How did you find that?”
“It is my home. There’s very little that I can’t find, although I congratulate you on your hiding place. Among the ingredients, near the bones – pretty genius actually,” Cabaletta nodded then shook her head, “But why would you hide this? What’s been going on?”
Atropos was hesitant to speak. Zi saw the hurt reflected in zir mother’s eyes, and zi knew it was the moment their trust was shattered. Swallowing, Atropos began zir tale of the dreams to limbo and of Edel.
“...and that’s when Edel escaped limbo, right after I used the scythe to tear a hole that bridged that place to here,” Atropos finished. Cabaletta was quiet during the entire story, for which Atropos was grateful for, but there was an unreadable expression on her face.
After a moment of silence, she said quietly, “Where did I go wrong?”
“Are you saying there’s something wrong with me?” Atropos said, pain ripping at her heart.
“No! No, that’s not what I’m saying at all...I just thought...I thought you’d come to talk to me about these sorts of things, about anything…”
“But I did talk about them! But I was so small, and you figured it was just a hatchling’s nightmare. I didn’t think you’d ever believe me since then,” Atropos said, heading looking down in shame as zi mentioned the first nightmare zi had.
Realization washed over Cabaletta’s face, “I’m so sorry...it was all the way since then that you’ve been there?” Atropos gave a small nod. “My pearl, I -” Cabaletta said, but she was interrupted by a rumble that shook the waters around them and the house itself, “What in all of the ocean was that?!”
It didn’t take long for another rumble and force to knock Atropos and Cabaletta back and even cause a few items on the shelves to fall over. Atropos looked at zir mother in fear, but Cabaletta pushed the scythe into zir claws and began gathering items into a pouch.
“I don’t know how he found us, but he’s here and trying to break the force field to protect and hide our home. You need to - ” a rumble caused Cabaletta to momentarily lose balance, but she continued to hastily gather items, “You need to get out of here and find someplace safe to hide. I’ll try to find you once I am able to lure Dakila away.”
“Mom...I’m scared. How will you get away? Can’t you just come with me?” Atropos said, as zi gripped the scythe tightly, uncertain at what to do.
“No, Dakila can’t know of your existence. If he does, then he’ll hunt you down, just like he’s hunting down me,” she handed Atropos the pack she just filled, “Can you use that scythe here?”
“Huh?” Atropos said, confused. “Use that scythe. Escape to limbo. Stay hidden there and maybe escape to a different place in the ocean,” Cabaletta explained hurriedly, “Dakila may see you if you escape my shield, but he probably won’t see you in limbo.”
This time it was Atropos’ eyes that widened in realization, “I don’t know. Maybe I can.” Cabaletta gave Atropos a hug, “I know you can do it. Now hurry. My force field won’t last much longer.”
After Atropos shouldered the pack, zi turned towards an open portion of the house and readied the scythe. Visualizing the world of limbo by closing zir eyes, zi then opened them and immediately used the blade, revealing a tear that led to the wispy world of spirits.
Zi turned towards zir mother, “Please, come with me. We can both escape.” Cabaletta shook her head, “I have to lead away Dakila. I’ll come find you when I get away, I promise.”
“I love you,” Atropos said. “I love you too, and...I’m sorry,” Cabaletta said. This time a force shook the house so strongly that Atropos fell backwards into the tear and looked in horror as it sealed up in front of zir.
Please stay safe, mom. Atropos thought, zir heart filled will worry.
Cabaletta was on the ground, rubble lying around her as she blinked open her eyes.
“Come on out, Cabaletta. It’s been so long since we last spoke, and we have so much to catch up on.”
The voice drove a chill down Cabaletta’s spine. She could feel the malice and hatred in his words, but she dared not speak, realizing that he didn’t see her form amidst the wreckage of her home.
“You best not be lying to me, Edel. You told me I would find Cabaletta and her daughter here,” Dakila spoke.
“Absolutely, your liege. Maybe your magic was so strong that it destroyed them both with that force field,” an unknown voice said, who Cabaletta thought must be Edel, the dragon that Atropos helped to escape limbo.
“No, she wouldn’t go down that easy,” Dakila coldly replied, “and my contract won’t let me kill her. That’s where you come in.”
“Me my liege?” Edel said in disbelief. “Why else would I bring you here? Prove your worth to me by killing Cabaletta and that alleged spawn of hers, if that kid even exists,” Dakila commanded.
Meanwhile, Cabaletta was rushing to gather what supplies she could find and then throw them into her cauldron, which thankfully was still intact, even with the ceiling covering most of it. Once she had enough of the needed ingredients in it, a purple smoke leaked out of the cauldron and covered the area in a purple fog. While she was more hidden, Cabaletta was able to grab a few books and ingredients and stash them in a bag of her own. Then, she stood up to face her foes.
“It’s been awhile, Dakila. Thought you would find me sooner,” Cabaletta said tauntingly. Dakila approached Cabaletta with Edel beside him, “You always liked to play hard to get. Have to say, I did like that about you. But this time, I won’t let you slip away from my claws and meddle in my plans,” Dakila spoke and gestured to Edel to go forward.
Edel looked annoyed at the prospect of dirtying its claws, but whatever was needed to gain Dakila’s favor had to be done, “Let’s get this over with then.” Cabaletta eyed Edel smugly, “Seems like there is some
dead space in those heads of yours if you think you can kill me.” Understanding the emphasis that she added, Edel gave a deep-throated growl, “The only one who will truly be dead here is you,” and with that, Edel’s heads snapped forward and closed its jaws on Cabaletta’s throat.
However, the Cabaletta that it thought it was talking to was only a shadow, dissolving between Edel’s teeth. Furious, Edel’s heads looked wildly around to find the true Cabaletta, “Where did she go?!”
“Up to her usual tricks, it seems. As I said, she is hard to kill,” Dakila said, tail flicking with agitation, “But she’s out there, and there is only so much ocean that she can hide in.” He turned to Edel, “You may have some use yet, even though you failed me today.”
Edel humbly bowed its heads, “Whatever my liege commands of me, I shall do.”
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HeatherAKARoses
Overdue chapter for my two adult dragons but just in time for my Starfall hatchling! Figured we’d expand to some dragons affected by Tusitala’s terror be introduced. Hopefully, they’ll survive long enough to fly into the Second Chance and join their crew! And the rush of Dakila coming in to attack Cabaletta after Atropos’ secret was found out. Maybe they’ll be able to reunite? Time will tell… And another dragon in Dakila’s army, a sort of undead one at that. As long as Edel can gain power afterwards, it’ll do all it can to please him.
If you’re wondering what happened to all of my art pulls, here’s the plan! I think I will use them in October as a sort of Inktober focus.
What I’ll do is use a RNG for each art pull I saved and use that number to choose the prompt (rather than the day because I don’t have that many art pulls for a full month) and the pick the dragon that most inspires me for that prompt. A little spin on the art pulls that makes me more excited to do it!
She seems out of the fever stage (for now) but is still so congested -_-;; if she can stay asleep for a time tomorrow, I'll be busting out a chapter introducing 3 new characters, including the Arcane hatch today! Very excited to get this idea down in text, which I hope to tomorrow....