Tales of Order

Selarth's Alphabet

2009-07-19T21:06:00.001-07:00

Not so much a story as it is a hilarious snippet based on an OOC joke. Selarth recently had Azu added to his blightling collection, and well... one wonders what Selarth would teach...

Selarth's Alphabet

A is for Aegror. They're big, pussy, fat, and ugly. Mabey stupid while I'm at it. They'll eat you.
B is for Blight. Delicious good stuff.
C is for Cat. Don't let the fluffy adorable kittens fool you, they make excellent snacks.
D is for Dung Pile. If you survive rolling in one and come home covered in it, I'd sooner kill you than bath you.
E is for Everyone. Learn to hate them, they tend to do the same.
F is for Fighting. Because its fighting and stuff dies and you make it die.
G is for Grass. Yucky living grass.... It needs more blight. BLIGHT IT.
H is for Human. They're boring, and they're everywhere.
I is not in "Team" but there is an M and an E.
J is for-- ...Hrm... Its a fish hook... hee hee hee... fishy...
K is for uhm... 'Kat'. See 'Cat'.
L is for Line. See this is my side, the line is here, that on the other side is YOUR side.
M is for Mud. Its dirty and fun to squish bipeds in.
N is for No. You'll be hearing it a lot from people.
O is for Ogre. They're big and stupid and make excellent fodder in aegis armies.
P is for Pygmy. They tend to be ogre slaves and about as annoying.

...

Update!

2009-06-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

Tales of Order had a big update tonight. Here is what I added:

Derec - "The Shape of Things to Come"
Maekrux - "Requiem of a Phoenix"
Maekrux - "Waere Ulhar Maurg"
Maurger/Maekrux - "Not Even Ashes"
Daza - "Journey of Morality"
Myrra - "The Beginning"

Myrra - "The Beginning"

2009-06-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Original forum post by Myrra on June 18th, 2009

The contract

Through the net, I see the sky.
And clouds.
And all bright toys which wave under the roof of the home with wheels.
I get ready to spring up, I wait for lurches stop for a time and JUMP.
I’m hanging by two paws under the net and, my arm through the holes in the net, I attack toys and I clink them.
A lurch makes me fall, but I land on my paws and I spring up again.
After some time I get tired and I lie down on my cushion.
Rocked by the movements of the home with wheels, a sunray on my fur, I fall asleep.

It is a beautiful summer day, birds singing in the distance I hear the rustle of a river, the path is straight and relatively flat.
My husband pulls the handcart which contains the provisions and in which Myrra plays.
I laugh when she hangs to the safety net and attack the jewellery that we keep to attract shoppers.
She’s full of life, our daughter, it's heart-warming to see her happy, while all around the war against Aegis is raging.

The lair is in sight.
It is time because I am tired of sleeping outdoors.
This night we will have, if not a roof, at least a ceiling above our heads.

Miauw!
I roll down my pillow when the house stops and lean.
Mom remove the net and take me in her arms.
I look around, there is no sky, there's rock all around us.
Oh no the sky is behind Mom, at the end of a corridor.
I feel a flow of hot air on my neck, I turn the head and ...
MIAAUWWW!
A huge head sniffs me!
By reflex I snuggle into the arms of my mom but I calm down quickly because she purrs.
"Do not be afrrrraid Myrrrra. They are drrrragons and they are nice.
The white one is a mom like me and the rrrrred is a dad.
Mommy and Daddy are going to work for them."

I look around me and I see them...
She is smaller, all white, with several small horns throughout her head, while he is huge, red with black patterns and two large horns that extend its head.
Father, next to the red claw, could not see the other side because the claw is so tall.

As Mom says they are nice, I trip to the white and try to climb on her paw, but it's too polished to climb and too high to jump. She lowers her neck and give me a lick on the head, then present me a claw top-down, so I can climb onto her paw, then slowly she turns it and tada! I'm sitting on the white paw, proud of my achievement.

Mom takes me for the feed and we both purr while I drink warm milk and knead the fur of mom, then she lay me down on my pillow for a nap and I fall asleep, rocked by the voice of Dad, and the deeper but stifled one of the Red, who explains what he wants.

~~~

The Nest

I wake up because of the noise of Dad unpacking his tools.
They probably agreed to do the work, it means that we will stay here, as previous other times.
And this is not the same here.
The tunnel with the sky is gone, there is rock all around, with fingers out of the ground and hanging from the ceiling.
I look to all those on the ceiling ... it would be fun to jump and catch but it is much too high for me.

I climb a finger from the ground. It’s slippery and all hard, but with my claws I manage to climb to its top. From there, I look again to the fingers hanging from the ceiling , but it’s still too high... and no taller finger from the ground in sight...
I get down and explore my new playing room.
It's full of holes and hiding places, I get my ball in the house with wheels and train my hunting skills with it. After that, tired, I seek a place where I can relax and watch dad and mom.

From the ledge I am resting, I see mom prepare pieces of yellow stone while dad transforms inside the fire.
It makes a lot of noise. I do not like that!
I go exploring, I'm looking for the White. may be she will play with me.

The house of dragons is large.
And there are plenty of hiding places and passageways.
There are even slides and I have fun playing on them.
And then, exploring, I find a huge room with a river and another with fire that flows, and coloured stones as big as me.
But they do not smell rock, and they do not touch like rocks. I try to lick one and it does not taste...
ROOOAARRRR
I flee as fast as my legs can carry me, but something catches me by the scruff of the neck and lift me, high, very high...
It is the Red and he looks very, very angry.
He will eat me, I’m certain. I am so scared that I dirty my fur and meow to call Mom.
Fortunately the White comes and roars, and then takes me in her paw and gently put me back on the ground.
I can’t walk. I tremble all. Then the White face licks me and makes noises like a song. After a while I have no more fear and she say "my husband does not like people approach our babies. You must not touch them, they sleep and we all must wait until they wake up without being bothered."
"They sleep in coloured stones?”
"These are not stones, aorban, these are eggs.
My eggs. And my husband’s.
If you're still here when they are awake you can play with them but not before, and beware: no claws or my husband will get angry."

This last point makes my stomach twist once more, but there's nothing in it anyway and I'm already dirty.
She push me towards the exit and I go clean myself in the river.
I do not like to tongueclean me when I'm dirty like that.

~~~

Interlude

The work takes long, but it slowly go on.
The finery will probably be a masterpiece that will never be done again, because the work is too fastidious and uses too much gold and gems.
There is also the fact the raw material arrive at a slow pace, as the Red is not good at all at mining, but that’s something we better not tell when he can hear us, or when Myrra can hear and repeat it.

We don’t care, we have time, as with the war, we don’t have many customers, and slowing our work a little let us more time to play with our daughter and train her to hunt and to craft.
We once thought to go to the mine ourselves, or do the work there, but the lair is too far and the mine not a place to live, so we abandoned the idea and so we’re still there.

Our hosts are charming, and don’t bother when Myrra springs from nowhere and attack their talons, and when she wanders everywhere in their lair.
She found their clutch and go often see if they have hatched. It makes the Red a little nervous, but his mate managed to convince him Myrra is not dangerous at all for their eggs.

I saw them, those dragon eggs. One blue, one pink, one yellow and two reds, all with spots or stripes, and the white told me that means the dragons inside will have markings or stripes.
While I was speaking with her, about the birth of Myrra, and the nurturing, and all things only females talk about, she told her eggs should hatch two or three weeks later, and she would be glad if Myrra could play with her hatchlings.
She told me she had told Myrra her babies are sleeping in the eggs and they must not be awaken, so now Myrra quietly waits.

Well quietly for the eggs, indeed she spends her energy with other games.
Myrra asks me lots of questions, she don’t understand why the babies sleep so long. She’s too young to be told about the things of life, but I feel the time will come soon.
Time flows so fast…

~~~

The Assault

Every day I come to see if the baby dragons are awakened, several times a day, but they do not move.
Once I even sat still in front of them for centuries, and I did not hear even a breath, except mine.

Sometimes the big dragons watch me, sometimes the White lies around her babies so I do not see them, but I know that, if they wake up, she would say. She is nice, she.

Sometimes I look Mom and Dad at work.
They make a huge huge yellow collar shining, but when I look close with nuzzle on it, I see that there are many many small small parts.
He’s very skilled, my Dad, nobody can do as well.
That's why even dragons ask him to produce artworks.

While I’m not with dad or dragon babies, I wade in the river near the nest, or I glide on the slides.

Today I’m playing on the slides, it’s my preferred game but I stop when I hear a roar.
It is Dad’s voice, and now mom shouts, too.
I run towards them, to go see what is happening, but I fall and I tumble when the two dragons rush past me, creating a storm.
Meeeowww !
I approach the working room, and now I hear snarls and roars, and screams that I do not know, and sounds of tools being hit very very hard.
I’m near the working room, one more slide to climb but then the White comes and take me in her claws and pull me away from dad and mom.
I fight, trying to escape, I claw, I bite, but she doesn’t seem to even feel it.
Behind her, the Red shout something that I do not understand... something like "save the clutch”.

She let me down to the ground by the river and say
"We’ll play a game.
I will stop the river, and you will go through her path, and I will push my babies to you.
Behind the wall, there is another cave, a hidden one, and you will hide inside it with my babies, and stay hidden with them until your parents come to find you, ok ? "
I do not want to play, I want Mom and Dad, but she is gentle and seem to really want me to play with her, so I want to make her happy and I nod.
She takes a big stone and place it in the river, which stops and starts to grow a lake.
I walk through the tunnel of the river and a little further there is a small cave.
Soon I see the tail tip of the White approach, and it pushes a pink stone-dragon-baby. I take it and push it gently on the side, carefully as I don’t wish to wake up the sleeping baby.
I return to the path of river to grab the next one, a blue this time, but I do not have time to get him out of the mud, out of a sudden I hear roars at the other end of the tunnel and, as i look, i see the river flowing again along the way.
I am caught with blue stone-dragon-baby.
I get a grip on a finger from the ground and shout at the baby in the rock blue to wake up and swim.
He goes to a finger from the ground and the rock breaks, but the baby blue dragon does not wake up, nor swim and he disappears in the depths of the river.

I hear nothing more than the sound of the river, which fills all the tunnel to go to the White, and I can not pass, then all wet, cold and trembling, I go to the pink stone-dragon-baby and wait, and then I fall asleep, too tired.

I hear no noise anymore, except the one of the river, flowing normally again, the walls glow a little and I see that the river is less high.
Using my claws I can move forward in the path of the river.
It is wet and cold but I'm hungry and I want mom's milk.
When I reach the large room, it smells terrible, and the White is completely broken on the floor, and she smells like the food dad brings for him and Mom.
The stones of the dragon babies are also broken but the baby dragons are nowhere to be found.
I climb back in the house of dragons to the room Mom and Dad were crafting.
I'm very hungry now.

When I enter the room, everything is broken here too, the great Red dragon is lying in a corner and he is all broken in parts.
I can not find Mom and Dad.
Only scraps of fur like the day they came to fetch me in the bush full of little animals and they had to tear their fur to get rid of them.

I call Mom but she does not answer.
I call dad, but he also does not answer.
I go in the house with wheels to look there... It broken and there is nobody inside, but there is some food for dad and mom, then I eat.
This is not good but I am too hungry.

I do not know when Mom and Dad are gone.
It's been centuries I think.
I've looked everywhere in the house of dragons, I even found dragon food, but it’s as disgusting as dad’s food.
I called from the mouth of the house, where I can see the sky, but nobody answered.
So I brought the dragon food near the pink stone-dragon-baby and now I wait he wakes up.

It's not fun to play alone.

Daza - "Journey of Morality"

2009-06-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Original Forum Post by DazaBlackDragon on June 4th, 2009

((Sidenote: This is the backstory for Daza's disappearance for the days that I was stuck without a computer.))

I love you.

The words of his mate rang in the black dragon’s mind as he was taken through the large prison by two heavy-set dragons. His muzzle clamped shut, and his eyes blindfolded.
This was a mistake. He thought to himself, fear ripping him inside. He was ready to take his words back and return to his new home, though, the inner conflict within him needed redemption.
The blindfold and shackles were taken off the dragon as he was forcibly shoved into the small cell. The dank, dirty and lonely cell in which he had once been on the outside of, laughing, was now his own prison.
“Enjoy your stay, Doommaker.”

Doommaker. I hate that name.

Tears welled within his eyes as the regret of his actions made its way to realisation. He promised his mate he would return alive, and he was determined to. But when would he? What of his family? He spoke nothing to them about this. He had left so quickly, so suddenly. Who would notice him leaving?

In his past, he was exiled. Many decades had passed in this realm during the dragon’s time on Istaria. The dragon had returned to his home to redeem his conscience. Returning to the castle to take the toll of his actions. He was no longer a warmachine, though he refused to be called a deserter.
The Prince who had been a friend of his in the past was now the King. This worked in good fortune, lessening the sentence from execution to seven years serving the kingdom. Seven harsh years. Five years in prison, two in the military. Make his life hell… I am sorry, Daza.

“Sorry indeed.” Daza spat as he looked out the bars into the snow-covered town.
Anyone without eyes would know the bloodshed now reeking it, the entire town seemed almost red. Morality had departed this once peaceful place; executions ran within the city on a daily basis, turning into massacres.
The black dragon turned around to face a human, standing there proudly. The fat on his body seeping out of the gaps in his armor, jiggling everytime the fatman moved.

“If it isn’t Doommaker. Our amazing warrior of the land. Though, what happened to you?”
“Wha-“
“I didn’t say you could speak. Prisoners should niether be heard nor seen. And in fact, you shouldn’t be seen here, either.”
“What?” The weariness of the dragon’s trek here was evident.
“You see, there was a mistake. You belong lower down the building. Remember where that leads?”
When no reasponse came, the fatman snapped angrily, “Answer me!”
“You just told me not to.”
“You foul creature.” The guard snarled, pulling out a large whip, on the tip, a flash of metal was seen before it was flung at Daza’s left shoulder, the blade digging into his flesh. The dragon roared loudly in utter pain. “Answer me. Where does it lead?”
“Solitary confinement.” He wimpered as the blade was pulled forcefully from his shoulder.
“Good. Take him there, but let him see where he is.”

Daza didn’t resist as he was pulled and shoved through the prison. Each prisoner looked more destroyed than the last. No one dared make a sound, no one dared move a muscle. Discipline and horror had struck each one to the bone.
“Meet your new life, Doommaker. We will strip your name, and you will be lucky to have one again that won’t make you cringe.”
“My name is Daza.”
A shriek of pain flashed through the dragon’s body as he was whipped again, this time the blade dragging itself along his tail, ripping multiple scales with a line of flesh. “Doommaker.
Another forceful push, the door was slammed shut. Daza could smell the stench of a corpse in this dark room, though the only light he had was a small square from outside the peephole in the door. This was Solitary Confinement, it hadn’t changed.

*

The next day, Daza was taken to the interrogation chamber, tied to a large plank of wood. Each chain connected to a pulley. This was the beginning. The same guard stood in front of him, waiting to begin.

“So, Doommaker. Where have you been?”
“Hiding.”
Another whip, followed with another shriek of pain.
“Where?”
“Where what?”
One more.
“I’ve been hiding underground. With the thieves.”
“Ah ha. Now, how did you get your eye? It is well known, Doommaker only had one eye.”
Daza gave up, he knew that there was only one way to protect the identity of his realm and everyone he knew and loved. “It didn’t. It’s an illusion.” You idiot.
Multiple whips, each more painful than the last. Tears welled up in the dragons eyes again, though he refused to answer the guard’s interrogation.
“I… I… a healer. A healer.” Daza spluttered between coughs of blood.
“And the healer’s name?”
“Rolly-polly Fatboy.”
Again. The whips became harder and more intense.
“This is your first day, dragon. Don’t make it be your last.”
“Make my day.”

~~~

Each day continued like the first. Solitary confinement, interrogation, torture, back to solitary confinement. Daza tried his hardest to gain control over his emotions and stress, however, it was begin to lay thick; it was almost impossible to keep his head together.
The amount of wounds on his body had grown to cover his entire body. He could barely look to find a piece of unblemished scale on his body. The guards were becoming rougher. Yet, he still refused to give any information. He refused to put his family in danger, though he knew the cost of this may one day end up being his life.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, he regretted his decision, only wishing to return to the family he now loved.

“None of your stories ever match up, Doommaker.” The newest guard had taken control of the room, this one was built like a bull. It was to Daza’s amusement that the armor they wore never seemed to properly fit their body size. “All we want is for you to answer this simple question; Where did you come from?” The guard spat each word with emphasis.
“No, please. I can’t.” Daza’s voice had cracked long ago, each word sounded as if a hatchling was whining to its mother. He had given up on resisting them with sly remarks, but now, he was pleading for them to stop. “No…”
“Answer our questions.” The guard raised a mace above his head threateningly. He laughed as Daza bawled , attempting to cower despite having been restrained on all six limbs.
“No! No! Please!” There was great fear in his voice as he tried to break the restrained and pull away. Each thought of death was nullified from the thought of his loving mate. The one who would make all this better; to make the pain go away.

The mace came down with a large crack on Daza’s wing-shoulder. The sound of snapping bone could be heard throughout the room. “Two years, Doommaker. You’ve been here two years, and yet you still refuse to answer our questions. Perhaps we need to take more serious measures.” The guard put his mace on the table opposite the helpless black dragon,
“Did you know, Doommaker, that we, in this realm, carry our lives on our spirits? That, despite having a new body, we may have multiple spirits?”
The thought of the true Daza and Daza’s Istarian spirit fighting in his body came to his mind.
“No… enlighten me.”
The back of a large metal glove struck Daza’s cheek, “I was planning to.” The guard paced up and down the room, inhale and exhaling as emphatically as he spoke, “Our spirits are similar to Chroniclers; they write down and memorise every little detail in our lives, past and present. It Is believed that, with certain extraction, we can find these memories ourselves. However, it has the dire potential to destroy the spirit itself. To, not only kill the body, but also the spirit.” He shrugged, “This means that you would not only die, but, your spirit would be unable to pass on its memories; you would cease to exist.”
“No…”
“Then tell us.”
Daza could hardly take any more threats, he had only to feel the strain of one more weight, and he would snap. Unless he already had. “I was hiding.”
The mace was picked up once more and struck upon Daza’s left horn in such a flash, that it startled Daza at the same time. “We know that!”
“Hiding with… with…” He searched quickly for a name. one that existed, but was obsolete. “Tylmar.”
Daza remembered his little sister telling him the story of an evil elf named Tylmar attacking her once. Apparently, one who had claimed she was a fiend.

“Tylmar, an Elf. He was hiding me in the old battleground of Al’zarkith.”
“Al’zarkith? The place where Doommaker last fought his battle before transpiring to destroy the kingdom?”
That’s what they’re being told now? “Yes.”

Daza had managed to get some time to survive, but how long would he? He still had three years in this hell. He began to wonder if he would survive in this. If he did, how would life be on the outside?

~~~

The door opened to Daza’s confinement cell. The black dragon shielded his eyes from the light outside, something he had grown accustomed to doing.
“We found Tylmar. However, he is neither an elf or admitting to have known you.” The fatman had returned.
I was hoping it would buy me more than a month.
“Also, he was found far from these lands, on another continent. In fact, he wasn’t even born during the battle.” The guard lent against the doorframe in a condescending manner. “What do you say?”
“I… I was mistaken… sir.” Daza stayed to the far wall of the cell, refusing to be any closer to the guard.
“Do we need to jog your memory?”
Daza jumped, the need to jump out of his scales rose sharply, “No! No! No, there isn’t!” He was truly afraid of punishment now.
“Good,” The guard elongated the word with a hiss, “then who was it really?”
“It…” Daza had to think quickly, or else it would be another day of torture, “A… red dragon. Yes. Esker Darkfold.”
“To save time, you’ll tell us his last known residence.” The guard petted his whip with passion.
“In this city, close to the market district.” Daza shivered, his eyes welling with tears.
“Good dragon.” The door was slammed, making Daza jump once more.

What have I done?

The black dragon felt stiffer than usual. He needed to move; he needed to cower. He needed to scream; yet to stay silent.
He needed to apologise for his mistake.

~~~

“He’s dead! He died years ago! How could I hide a dead dragon?!”
The crowd gathered around the guillotine, Daza being forced to the front, held by a leash. He stared up at the red dragon, the look of complete guilt covered his face as the red dragon looked him in the eye.
To the two, there were no others, there was no sound. Only the two staring.
“You… how could you?” The dragon hissed lowly to the black. “After all I did.”
This bewilderment for both had given the guards enough time to rig the red into the deathtrap. The crowd went silent, waiting for the inevitable moment.
“Doommaker!”
The crowd roared with cheers as the red dragon’s head rolled on to the ground, landing in front of Daza’s feet.

Two dragons had spent their entire lives together, supporting each other within the military. Each day, each battle, each celebration. The two dragons were inseparable. On the fateful day Daza swore the death of the Empire, it was this dragon that convinced the commander to call off the search. That he had personally killed the black dragon.
And now, due to his own selfish actions, lay the head of the dragon that saved his life. The head of Esker Darkfold.
The final word of that dragon cut through the black like the blade that had done so for the past two years. Doommaker, the name Daza despised. But what was he?

Daza, lost in his own thoughts, hadn’t noticed the constant whipping and torture he had been receiving due to his lack of movement. He could not hear them, see them or feel anyone who was supposedly around. He followed orders, but knew not what they were.

He sat in his cell for weeks, never moving, never talking. The guards had received their information and now had no use for him. He was fed once a week, though this food soon went to waste, for the black had no reason to eat. To him, eating was a privilege he did not deserve.

Doommaker. I am just that. He was my closest friend, and I threw his life away as if it were meaningless. Have I changed at all? Am I still the monster I was before? Did I dream of my time in Istaria? No, I couldn’t. They mean so much to me. But would I throw their lives away?
I haven’t changed.

The same thoughts, the same events rolled through the black dragon’s mind as he stood in the corner, his head hung low. Any command went unheard, any hit went unfelt. The dragon had become entranced in his own bitter, guilty thoughts.

A hiss was heard through the dark room. Finally, Daza rose his head, looking for the sound. The hiss was familiar to what he heard from the spirits. It was a spirit.
The form of a black drake appeared in front of Daza before twisting and writhing around the dragon, and finally around the room once more.
\You never change. That’s what I like about you.\

Maurger/Maekrux - "Not Even Ashes"

2009-06-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Original Forum Post by Kaerisk on June 13th, 2009

Maurger left behind a steaming pile of goo near Chiconis after his rapid flight from the lair. His sister had insisted that he had the shadow of Maekrux all over him, and he felt rid of it now, finally, that the Blue Phoenix was dead and digested.

His prize still rested inside him: the Egg of the Phoenix.

It had been a strange experience, to form the internal functions necessary to sustain it another week to term; he came to understand how his victims felt a little better and it made him feel quite pleased with his work. The egg had undergone no small amount of trauma already, having been taken when Maekrux was crushed and then altered by the goo-dragon’s unique Dark Primal properties in order to fit through the air vents of Maekrux’s stolen lair. The life was still within it, though; Maurger could feel it. This would be his first child, one he would begin raising to adhere to the ideal society.

His ideal society.

Tirelessly, he had transformed Waere Ulhar Ausixen into his testing grounds, to learn what his society must need – huntresses, breeders, soldiers, guards, leaders, crafters – and all had played their roles perfectly. He learned that ancients reacted more strongly to the transformation and that male hatchlings were better off killed outright. He learned that loyalty could be garnered through special treatment and love to the loyal and cruelty to the disloyal. He learned how to turn his victims into his puppets by invading their brainstem and taking their nerves – perhaps what he may have to do with his future leaders.

And of course, for the second time in his life, he felt what it was like to be the one in control, who called the shots, who got what he wanted, and had all the power.

Had his experiment been completed, he’d probably have left Maekrux to live with his shame, but he wasn’t ready when Amethyr and Daza stormed the lair. This turned out to work in his favor, as he found that, within Maekrux, there was a great and untapped power that Maekrux himself did not even realize he had – the nexus energy of an entire world. Now he would master this power and he would be unchallenged in his own home again. He would have his ideal society.

Nevertheless, he wanted the egg to hatch first. He’d complete the experiment on his own.

At last, the time came. Maurger didn’t lay the egg, by any stretch of the word, but merely expelled it from his gel-like body, traveling through an arm and resting on the created nest. The fluids of birth followed shortly after, drenching the egg in them. Maurger leaned down to stare at its strange and wispy looking surface. “Daughter, you shall become the first of a great society…” he trailed off, sniffing the egg. He snarled viciously at it, roaring his anger to the heavens.

It was male.

He knew what he learned. He lifted his claw to smash it, as he had other male eggs. He loved the feeling of their gooey insides oozing through his fingers, the malformed life within, so delicate and crunchy when fried after being extracted from amongst the shells. This he told himself to make him strike with his claw. He could not. This had become his egg, in a way. He would leave it to die, exposed to the elements. He snuffed his frustration and took to the sky, leaving to begin study of his new-found power.

~~~

Amethyr looked at her son, then back at the pile of goo, "Trace elements indeed." Amethyr and Daza looked at the spoor left behind by their quarry, but he had long since escaped. The attention instead turned to what they hoped was the kill and its return. Daza didn’t say much as Amethyr began drawing a circle of runes around the goo. She sprinkled the circle with blood she collected from Kaevaeri; this would serve as a base for the recreation of a body. “Ready, son?”

“I'm supposed to do something?” he asked.
“Stand at the south point and face the circle. I want you to think solely about Maekrux - hold his image in your mind,” she said.

Daza rolled his one good eye. “Alright.” He sounded so inconvenienced.

Amethyr placed a paw against the circle and began to pour power into the runes, far more power than would otherwise be necessary. Perhaps she did not wish to take any chances. The goo had decimated Maekrux’s body and soul, the former utterly gone, the latter in tatters. The small shreds of it began to rise from the goo like little drops of water, floating upwards and slowly beginning to coalesce under the power of the spell. Between the focus of the two, Maekrux’s spirit formed into its correct shape and size but something about it, to anyone but those focused on completing the process, would have seemed a little off somehow. It was as if there was something still missing, despite the powerful runes, the blood, and the will of the two at the circle.

At last, the blood was infused with the energy, and the spirit had formed. Amethyr cast her Primal Rebirth, and light erupted over the two, momentarily blinding as the spell activates. But Maekrux was incomplete, and all the energy of the spell filtered into him like a sponge. He reformed, but not as he was.

Where an ancient should have stood was a small blue hatchling, holding his head which rang with such pain. He hissed like a feral at the two nearby, stumbling as if he had never used his legs before. Amethyr and Daza looked on with confusion at the hatchling, wondering what had gone wrong – she had poured enough power into the runes to resurrect an army! Daza denied any blame and suggested that Maekrux didn’t want to come back. But no, Maekrux loved his family and wanted vehemently to return.

Maekrux spoke, though moments after speaking he couldn’t remember what he was saying. Everything was a blur in his mind, alternating between his past memory as an ancient and his current experience. He started at his paws again for the first time, wondering and marveling at them. They decided to take him to Daza’s lair and his son, Kaevaeri.

Kaevaeri had missed his father greatly since he watched Maurger kill him. Perhaps it was at the hatchling’s urging that Maekrux be brought back. He was saddened to find his a’meo did not remember him and had lost his memory and perhaps his mind. Nonetheless, he brought Maekrux to his grandson, Ausixen, who Kaevaeri shared everything with. “Ausi! A'meo is back!” he proclaimed.

Ausixen looked at the hatchling, initially confused. Maekrux smiled wide at his grandson, almost as if he had any idea who he was. Ausixen looked back to Kaevaeri. "That's not a'meo."

“Use your nose,” Kaevaeri said.
Ausixen shooks his head. He hated when Kaevaeri said that – it always made him confused and angry. "D'na. You always say that, you have since I first met you. It doesn't matter what I smell, he's not your a'meo."

“He is,” Kaeveri insisted, “Daza said his mother brought him back, though something went wrong.” Maekrux was initially confused by the exhange, but then shrugged his wings heavily. He was no longer wearing any runes. He went to lays down beside Daza, churring lovingly at his son, though this only illicit irritated growls from the black.

Ausixen sighed, shaking his head. "D'na... Ieo don't know what to believe Kaevaeri.” He paused for awhile, lowering his head. “Ieo am going back home.”

Kaevaeri looked somewhat dejected at this. “I will bring A'meo home once he is ready...”

Ausixen nodded, looking at the hatchling once more, who seemed hurt at Daza's tone and shifted away from him. "A'na. Ieo will do the same." With this, he walked out, returning to the now fallow Waere Ulhar Ausixen.

~~~

The plan to extract Maekrux would never have made it past the entrance if it were not for Maekrux’s purple grandson, Ausixen. He was born from Nidhogg and Maekrux’s eldest daughter, Aerioch. In some ways, he and Maurger shared much in common – both had lousy childhoods and both felt entirely abandoned by their sires. But Ausixen had always had something Maurger never did: his grandfather. He learned everything from his grandfather, who he adored more than the stars themselves: what it was to be a Dragon, the history of the race, the complexities of Primal magic, the joy of rending prey and devouring it, and even the traps and passages of Maekrux’s lair, where he had lived near all his life. Ausixen had lived comfortably without being detected by any, and he was pleased with it that way – he saw most of his kyn as having fallen from what it was to be Dragon, the only gift left to him by his parents who broke their Bond.

Indeed, even when Maurger overtook Maekrux’s body and controlled his brainstem, forcing him to reset every ward in the lair, Ausixen continued to live there, only leaving to try to find someone who was Dragon that he could beg for help. Ausixen had settled on helping Amethyr, who was the only dragon who knew about him. He had disengaged all of the wards without Maurger realizing they were done – not realizing that another dragon would go marching up to the brood chamber and force the trap to spring.

“Why was I so foolish… I should have trusted Maekrux to free himself. My grandfather was just waiting until -” Ausixen held a paw to his chest. His heart hurt, though it was not physical. “Until Kaevaeri and I were safe…” He could have done something to save Kaevaeri, and then it would have been alright. Everything would have been alright.

It was no longer alright.

No one knew Maekrux’s lair better than him, except perhaps Ausixen. In fact, Ausixen knew not only the secrets of what the murals did, but the secrets of what the secrets did. That is why, when Daza stormed the unprotected lair, he reactivated the ward in the foyer: the Runic Dragon.

He stood before the mural again, placing his paw on it. The Runic Dragon erupted from the mural with a frightening roar of pain and anguish, its body a swirl of blue energy, rings of runic letters that were tiny and glowed, obscuring their form and making him appear as wires of brilliant blue energy. The Runic Dragon shook its head, looking down at Ausixen. “Grandson? I must have been killed and had the Gift taken, then,” the dragon said.

“A’na Keir A’meo. Do you remember what happened?” the purple asked.
“Everything except the murder. I last remember Daza facing down Maurger,” the Runic Dragon said. He looked at his wire paws. “I hoped would never have to use this.” Maekrux’s soul had been captured by the runic dragon mural – a failsafe in case the gods found a way to circumvent the Gift and kill him. “Strange – that shouldn’t happen.”

“W-what?” Ausixen asked, fearfully. He couldn’t take any more bad news.
“Part of the Gift has come with me. I do not need the mural to sustain this form.” Maekrux the Runic spread his brilliant blue wings and took to the air of the lair, flying around it and laughing merrily as the air rippled through the rings of his body. “Perhaps with this, I can do some good in the world.”

“Keir a’meo?” Ausixen asked, not understanding.
The Runic landed, smiling a glowing smile at his grandson. “When I died, I wondered if I had ever done any good with my life, and I feel like I haven’t. Now I need to do it. That is what is Dragon.” Ausixen looked up at him, confused. He had the soul of a Dragon, but no longer the shape. Did that not preclude him from being Dragon? “Secure the lair, Ausixen. I’m going to go out for awhile.” With this, the Runic left the lair.

“Wait! I haven’t told you -” Ausixen’s words were too late. Ausixen knew he’d be back as long as he secured the lair, and so began reactivating all of the wards once more.

Maekrux - "Waere Ulhar Maurg"

2009-06-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Original Forum post by Kaerisk on May 30th, 2009

A barrier had been placed over the entrance of the Phoenix’s cave.

It crackled quietly, the formerly open and inviting lair sealed away from the outside world. True, the Blue Phoenix had become more reclusive of late. He had given up teaching en masse like he once did, and he had begun looking towards the internal problems that dragons had. He had tried to solve them.

Could the Ancient truly have given up? It was so against his nature. Indeed, the very reason he was called the Blue Phoenix was because he always rose again. He never gave up. Why? What had happened then that he should shut himself away? He spoke to no one of it.

The barrier crackled softly. Who would even notice he was gone?

~~~

Descending into the foyer, one can feel a lingering sense of grief, one of pity. The once whelming hall has become a cold and forgotten chamber. No longer are guests entertained here and only the sound of the rushing water drowns out the sounds from deeper within.

The Upper Layer, filled with beautiful waterfalls and sparkling crystals of blue like the Blue Phoenix himself, seem dimmer, tarnished, disused. The runic mural hums angrily, the policeman watching for any sign of trouble. A hush has fallen over the welcome hall and chambers where once there was happy noise – of hatchlings, tiptoeing or scurrying about, quick to learn, quick to their next adventure. Of bipeds, maintaining and visiting, friendly and happy words shared. All has fallen silent.

And yet, if one listens hard enough, blocks out the sound of rushing water and the silence, one can hear, through the air ducts and tunnels, a pitiable sound of moaning and pain. Deeper still this lair goes…

~~~

Scrying deeper, or looking into a memory, one would next remember the heat, wafting up the deeper levels. It radiates from the burning heart of the lair, the Dragon Layer. One might overlook the guest chamber if they have a purpose in mind in that hall, and the small purple hatchling hiding within.

Beyond this point, astral projection is the only hope of scrying further. The Blue Phoenix liked his privacy from the prying eyes of the gods – perhaps nothing has changed, or has only grown worse? But even this projection is not flawless. Time, space, memory, fact, thoughts – all become jumbled. But still, one must scry deeper…

The Lunus hall at the heart of the lair has seen less use of late as well. “I WON’T LET YOU HURT HER!” The sound echoes through the hall randomly, rising from the deeper lair. The sound of a blue hatchling scurrying as fast as he can, heading to the upper lair follows. The silence returns, only the bubbling lava remains, but streaks begin to pass in and out, as if time has sped up. Black, white, black, blue, pink, black, white – the streaks are people, but it is impossible to tell who. Standing before the Private Lair, one can hear an angry voice.

“Ieo am going to change nieo now…”

~~~

Blood. There was blood in the Private Lair. Here, the defenses are strongest – it is hard to tell if it was here or another place in the lair, now or several years ago. But there was blood. And it felt fresh.

In the first chamber, the sound of eggs cracking: hatchlings coming into the world. A beautiful thing. The black one, youngest and slow, still fought his sisters for the nest, but he was never able to claim victory or defeat, as the fight was stopped. He would have lost. But whose hatchlings where these? When were these?

Passing beyond, many happy memories of two hatchlings, white and black, working diligently on one of the chambers, and then residing within it. Maekrux often sat there and smiled. But he wasn’t there any longer. Passing deeper still, a sense of confinement. Like the walls were closing in. A trap? A memory? Who can say?

The path turns up from here. “Ieo am going to take /everything/ from nieo...” the memory voice says. Why? Still more voices echo down from above, just over the sound of wailing and pain that may very well be current. “Other dragons won't let you do that!” the small, female voice protested. It fell deafly. “A'me- oh no!” A black streak followed this small voice. The black streak returned again, saying, “You see, little hatchling, it's too late. This is my lair now.”

This is my lair now…

~~~

Further up the path goes: the Brood path. Maekrux had no use of this path and so it was last to be constructed. Ah, but if Maekrux could ever take a mate, it would be very beautiful to show: sparkling lights, beautiful blue and red crystals, warm, spa-like waters, lava at the very top to maintain the heat against eggs. But this is only the shape of things, not the truth of them.

“Your a’mea is in the brood chamber. Why don’t you go introduce yourself to her again?” the voice said, the blue streak heading up the path. Ascending, one finds a moss-covered stoneworking chamber. The moss helps maintain the air at that depth. There a scene plays out, a black figure and a pink one. The black speaks, the same voice as before. “I never wanted to see you again. To be honest, I’m not sure I want to see you now.”

“What? Why do you say that?” the pink asked.
“Because I’m not your son anymore, Biniki.” The voices cut out, the sound gone, but they are still talking, the pink cowering back and the black standing proudly. And then they are gone.

Up and up the path winds. Here one might stop at the essence chamber, many beautiful lights hovering in the air. “Sparkly!” a young and naïve voice fills this place.

“How about this one? Or is there not enough water?” The voice was muted slightly, held down, gentle, but it was the same as the black. It was as if the black were nuzzling someone.

“Mes like. Sparkly shiny like essence chamber at home,” she said.
“This is now niea room, so you can sleep here whenever niea want. Ieo want to keep you with Ieo forever.”
“Mes no live forever.”
“D'na. But all k'ieo life.” The black was insistent. The small voice agreed without reservation.

Further up, the pinnacle. The Brood chamber itself. One cannot deny it anymore. The sound of crying, of screaming. Something terrible has occurred beyond, cloistered far from prying eyes. Even the projection fades here. But going so far, can one truly stop here? One must try to peer inside.

Two blue forms rest within the brood chamber, one large and one small. Unmoving, and yet growing. Blood again wafts through the lair. Why do they not rise up? If this was the one who once owned the lair, there is none who could fight him and defeat him in his own home!

Then the vision of it comes. Black, fluid tendrils, thick and angry, writhing about madly. The shape of a dragon is there, but with vision so distorted, the truth is there, and maddening. The gibbering maws, the eyeless tendrils, the clawing appendages, writhing. And it is growing. It has touched all in this lair, and it has left its mark. “This is my lair,” he had said, and the sound echoes from it again, but now it is distorted, darker. The very Prime itself buckles and caves under its abhorrent amorphous structure. And all the while, a controlled hate radiates from it, a purpose. It has already won.

“Nieo thought that nieo could kill me? Nieo thought that nieo could rule me? Ieo want no part of kor world... and now nieo are going to become a part of mine...”

An ideal world awaits. The blackness covers the vision in darkness and devours it utterly. Only one realization remains in that darkness, that inescapable darkness.

It is changing everything – and it has changed everyone within that lair to the very core.

Maekrux - "Requiem of a Phoenix"

2009-06-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Original forum post by Kaerisk on June 5th, 2009

(Well. This wasn't what I was hoping on writing. Alas, sometimes RP takes unexpected turns and leads to unexpected places. It leaves me on some unsolid ground and has kept me from sleeping, so now I get to share it with you all. Don't ask me where this is going yet. I really don't know.)

---

A bold plan. The return of an estranged son. Dealings with darker powers than the captor. A hatchling that knew the way to circumvent every ward. Truly, it was a daring and remarkable plan.

If only it had worked.

--

Maurger stared at the black dragon before him. “I should have dealt with you when I last saw you,” Daza said. Even though his body was riddled with cuts and wounds, he seemed powerful. Maurger could fight him, here in this lair, with all the wards that Maekrux had so unwillingly provided for him.

It began simple: the two dragons exchanging words and taunts, seeing who would crack first. Then followed their expressions of strength: Maurger, showing his dark-primal powers, Daza displaying his Star Dragon abilities. Had it stopped there, would things have ended differently? Perhaps. But Maurger knew that was the problem with males. It never ended there.

When Starthyr escaped, that was the cue. Aegis suddenly swarmed into the lair, controlled by the blighted feral persona of Amethyr. Amethyr herself soon joined them, intent on extracting their revenge on Maurger and taking back his prize: the transformed Blue Phoenix. All of this was possible with the help of Ausixen, Maekrux’s grandson, who knew his lair even better than he did. They must have reasoned that, when faced with insurmountable odds, Maurger would flee.

No.

Maurger was not the hatchling who ran anymore. Not without taking his piece. He had suffered too much: born a disgrace, cast out from his loving lair, abused and neglected by his truant father. Maurger had built a world from the ashes of the Phoenix he had extinguished in revenge. They had taken that world from him – once more his happiness was taken. This was an insult that demanded immediate recompense.

Maurger did the only thing he could. He surrounded the Blue Phoenix in his gel-like body and crushed him utterly. Taking from him the Gift, his body, his soul, and absorbing it into him. Not even ashes would be left this time. He then left without another word, though they tried to stop him. Maurger hoped vehemently that they would suffer for their insult to him – know that their attempt to save Maekrux was what ultimately led to his demise.

Maekrux Vythulhar, born by a different name, had experienced many passings of the sun. He was raised Lunus, but he chose Helian. His heart was large, perhaps too large. He risked everything and lost, all to save his friend. And that was only in his hundredth year. How many lives had he touched? How many had he helped as hatchlings? What good had he truly done in the world? These questions would surely plague him now, if he still had sense for them.

Maekrux was approaching 600 years of age. May he rest in peace.

--

A bold plan. The return of an estranged son. Dealings with darker powers than the captor. A hatchling that knew the way to circumvent every ward. Truly, it was a daring and remarkable plan.

If only it had worked.

--

In Pace Requiescat. Resurgat.

Derec - "The shape of things to come"

2009-06-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Original forum post by pajlizard on May 13th, 2009

ERRR kay. Been meaning to do this for a while. Derec and Lir's backstories~ Ohoho. Kiiiinddaaa slow to start, but I promise it'll get pacey-er later XD Lir has a whole battle to experience after all, and Derec has a few houses to move. :B
This'll go on until they both meet (and the point at which Derec first arrived in-game) or untill I completely give up the will to live! *manic grin*
Der's starts.. Ffff.. 'Years' ago.
Also probably makes little sense at this point either. XD
Anyway, enough yadda yadda.

~~

The evening glow was perfect that night. Shining through the canopy of leaves it coated the forest floor in a mosaic of amber, gold, cinnamon and pearl. Nestled between sunspots, the silvery ribbon of a stream wormed it’s way though the masses of ferns and gnarled tree’s roots. Nestled by the stream, two figures- a boy, and his father.

Calanthe stood by the edge of the brook face turned up while his youngest fished with a basic wooden pole. Mere twigs and line, he didn’t expect them to catch anything. Perhaps alone he would have been an imposing figure, tall and lean with moonlight hair and a weathered face that bore the lines of too many sights best left unseen, but here in the heart of the woods, alone with his child, his eyes seemed to crease and soften- a great deal more then the old military captain would have liked, had he known.

Derec looked a lot like his mother, he thought, tan skin smeared with freckles; dark briar hair. But like his mother, Calanthe had been noticing a certain grayness and harshness under that tan. Nothing like the flesh of the ill, more like that the blood underneath ran pale and slow somehow. He mused, and being not naturally of a poetic nature, found himself trailing again into inevitable circles. The idea of sickness in his clearly healthy son caused him concern. The idea of sickness brought back memories of the Blight.

It was more than once that evening he found himself dredging up visions he’d tried to forget. The war had been… It had been indescribable. The death and the pain and the loss and the death and the dead coming back again- No, he was glad it was over…. But Tazoon hadn’t been the end of it. Oh no. He could remember the horrible churning feeling he had in the very pit of his stomach, marching into Feladan, past the scorched corpses of trees and ruined homes. The horrible choking fog, and screaming creatures made of tacked-together flesh, the legions of bone.

The fighting…

Getting separated, wandering and unable to find his platoon (Would he really want to? Had they all been turned?) Staggering over the bodies, and catching a glimpse of that glimmering, twisting.. thing. They called it a tempest blight, but all Calanthe knew was the echoing wail and scything talons, bright, hate-filled eyes. Subconsciously, his hand found it’s way to his abdomen, clutching at where the claws had all but filleted his flesh. Yes, he’d been lucky to have survived that. Lucky to have been found and taken back, nearly a cripple. Other’s weren’t so lucky-

“Dad- Dad! Look! I caught one! Dad! Look!”

Jerked out of his stupor, he turned his face down to meet the eyes of his son. A grin spread from one of his softly pointed ears to the other, held in his arms was a gaping silver fish, it’s mouth formed in a surprised little ‘o’ as if even it couldn’t believe that this cackling youth had caught it with what in all rights was an insult to all fishing equipment across Istaria. Calanthe chuckled and took the fish by the gills, looking it over appraisingly.

“Well done, my boy. We’ll be eating well tonight!”
He lowered a hand and ruffled Derec’s hair, producing a chorus of exasperated moans and waving limbs.

“Daaaaaad, don’t!”

The elf merely laughed some more and hoisted his son to his feet, gathering up the tackle box and handing the catch back to the catcher, turning and making his way back along the trail to home.

“Dad?... We really gonna eat the fish?”

Calanthe smiled but didn’t turn round.

“Most certainly! Your mother will have a recipe somewhere, and we have herbs in the larder.”

Derec paused, looking forlorn, clutching the fish like a treasure, and trailed after his father, scuffing his toes.

~~

“Argh! Give it back you- You slithering little snake!”

The shout was loud enough to startle birds screaming out of the undergrowth, had there been any birds around to startle. Instead, the boy Derec came hurtling out of the bushes, half smirking, half gasping for breath, and holding triumphantly above his head- a spear that was bigger than he was.

Reason would have dictated that such a young boy would not have been able to carry such a large and awkward weapon, let alone run with it, but Derec had never been one to take Reason’s opinions seriously, so he did it anyway.

Close on his tail, Ericai, his elder brother and second son of Calanthe, staggered and swore as he tripped up over himself for the third time, quickly recovering and renewing his pursuit. Like Derec, he had his mother’s hair and father’s moon-blue eyes, but he was taller, more sinewy and his skin was eggshell smooth, not a mark or freckle in sight. Calanthe watched from the porch, sniggering quietly to himself and enjoying a glass of something amber-coloured and warming. The sound of frying and light aroma of well seasoned fish slithered out from the window behind him and curled in the air about his nose. His wife Sheilah was a talented cook, having none of the finesse of a high class chef, but all the welcome care of the mother that she was, and could be heard whistling while she cooked. Perhaps it would have been scandalous once; a high ranking elf in the Feladani Militia becoming wed to a human of merchant-stock, but the Aegis had taken care of that at least. With the war, any objections would be withheld in the face of a greater problem- And after The Great Peace Accords Calanthe liked to think they were all one race now, the Living Race.

Up a tree now, Derec pulled faces and displayed his tongue, resting in the crook of the corkscrew-trunk, just below the canopy itself. Eric, not one for trees or heights, flailed his fists upwards, shouting obscenities his father would rather not have had him know, and slowly turned red around the cheeks until finally, he stamped over to where Calanthe reclined and crossed his arms, pouting.

Calanthe gave him a Look that said he had seen all and heard all, and Yes Mister, I heard all your parts too and Eric opened his mouth as if to complain, but at that moment Sheilah stuck her head out the window, smiling that sort of weary smile that only a true mother knows and gets away with.

“Honey, kids, food’s ready.”

~~

Inside, the room was lit with a dewy glow and the steady snicker-snack of knives and forks only complimented the comfortable, homely atmosphere. The food was as delicious as it’s appearance promised, and the three eldest chatted happily about their days, conversations broken only by the odd peals of laughter and glug of re-filling glasses. The youngest smiled along with them, having little to comment on, and pushed his fish around the plate with his fork, eating none of it but appearing happy all the same.

Later at night he lay awake in bed, toying absently with the tip of his ear and looking up into the darkened slant of his ceiling. As the house consisted of only one true floor, Derec was given the attic for his room, as no one could expect the two brothers to share and for both of them to still have all their limbs in the morning. The house itself was a seemingly flimsy structure, mostly wooden planks and boards, and had it been situated anywhere else it would have been blown apart by a strong breeze or stray dragon years ago. But here in the forest the trees both supported and sheltered it, keeping it mild in the winters and shaded in the long summer days. It was small, and a large amount of furniture they had no room to put out was stored up in Derec’s room. Stacked chairs and boxes took up almost half the space, and the young boy’s bed was squashed up in a corner, more a nest of throws and pillows than anything else. But this was the way he liked it.

Silently, he slipped out from under the covers, feet barely making a sound as they crossed the dusty boards towards the stairs down. He paused on passing an old mahogany dresser, a relic of his mother’s, it’s mirror now bleary and surface unseen due to the mass of smooth river-pebbles that had accumulated onto it over the years. It felt cold in this room, he thought, and that mirror only seemed to add to the coldness. No amount of covers could shield that coldness from his bones, and it had been getting worse. He listened to the grumbling snores of his brother, and the restless tossing of his mother, and the small well of silence he knew his father occupied as he slept. He descended, opened the front door, and slipped outside.

Even though the night was at it’s darkest, the air was heavy and balmy and filled with the chirping songs of a thousand unseen insects. The mossy ground gave a little under the child’s bare feet as he searched for the spot he knew would be there. The uneven earth meant the house was built with gaps underneath, and here behind the ivy was a spot where the floor of the house failed to meet land. It was here that he got on his belly and crawled.
His hands run along what to him was the ceiling as he shuffled his way in deeper. Foundations gave way to naked wood, and he curled up, worm like, under the house in which he dwelt but not in it. He recalled the fish, choking on the perfumed evening air on the way home. The time it took for its fins to cease jerking and for it’s panicked eyes to become dull and glazed. The silver of it’s scales had never looked quite so repulsive than when they were set upon his plate as a meal. It all seemed unreal somehow.

He sighed, feeling better for escaping out here, becoming unseen and unseeing in the dark. Laying his head on the soft bed of soil, he let the lullaby of the still night air finally carry him off to sleep.

Rayos/Rayas - "A Family Ascension (Murphy's Law)"

2009-03-30T00:40:00.001-07:00

Murphy's Law - A family Ascension

The spotted blue hatchling sat at the entrance of his adopted mothers lair, his mind beyond set in his plans. Looking out over the valley set before him covered in a thick fog, seeming as dreary as his A'meo Shashomaru's memorial had been many days before it. The tower loomed in the distance poking through the fog like some ethereal island or haven of lost souls, almost looking like an unreachable sanctuary. He dreamed Shashomaru was there looking down over them... he still could not accept him having fallen in battle.

This vissage before him seemed a rather iconic sight with where his life had lead him, The roads he had traveled to this spot had been long and filled with loss, fear, and darkness. Back in the beginning he had been nobody; a scruffy dirty little hatchling with no past, no future, and until A'mea Krimsonflame had found and adopted him, he had no family.

He reflected back to waking on Skaalkar no memories except from that instant forward. Having no memories at the beginning were not at all a bother to him, and the days had drifted one into the other over and again... Until he had been attacked.

Rayos scowled for quite some time thinking--that one attack killed the care free know-no-evil hatchling, forever opening his eyes to the darkness this land seemed to breed. He actually had known no happiness for quite some time after that, that was until the human Lykopis managed to open his eyes again.

Smiling he recalled that scared human acually fighting her fears to say hello to the equally scared hatchling: truly she had been Rayos' first friend outside his own family since the attack. He had even gone as far as doing his adventure tasks with her... Adventure tasks, Rayos sighed at that. They had seemed to drift apart after he stopped doing the tasks, not that he didn't want to do them, it was just with the opportunity he had been given, the knowledge for the tasks would be lost. He had hoped to just go hunting with Lykopis, but that had never happened.

The opportunity, if all went well he would not be adopted anymore. Just thinking of that made him churr with excitement. Rayos had gotten a taste of being in a family, but it left him wanting more. One could say the desire was selfish, but he was willing to make the ulitmate sacrifice this opportunity required.

He couldn't keep the thoughts out of his head, what would it be like to remember hatching? What would it feel like being different? Would it finally feel real once he was actually related to them? Rayos sat clawing at the rocks in the spiral thinking about these and more. Alot about what Yukii had told him earlier as well bothered him.

Rayos furrowed his brow in thought. He had figured that the binding had to be done as the egg was forming, Yukii told him the only way it would work would be if his soul was there before any egg started to grow. That had ment it had to be done soon... and... Rayos scratched at the ground worried, would his mother agree to it so far in advance?

He wanted to be awake when Yukii transferred him. He had to be awake when the ritual started: how else could he tell her one more time he loved her and was giving his soul to her? Shaking his head he stood to check on his sleeping A'mea again.

Creeping through the lair to where she slumbered, her bright scales nearly made his heart skip a beat. Being adopted by her was the most joyous thing he had known... but... he could barely contain his heart when he thought up the way to actually be her son. And even now the thought.... his chest scales barely contained the happiness.

Slowly slipping up to her slumbering form her nuzzled her gently. "A'mea? A'mea are niea awake?" pausing, the blue hatchling waited for a response. Instead his hearing picked up the unmistakable rustling of Falkor's wings. Looking up he smiled, seeing the suitor he hoped his A'mea would pick. Not only did they look so perfect together, Falkor seemed to have a wonderful personality and he always seemed to be there. Also he was kind of hoping for Krimsonflame to chose him, as he really wanted to inherit a bit of Falkor's good looks. Obviously more selfish desires, oh well. He had been waiting for one of them to wake, and Falkor definitely counted as one of them.

Falkor managed to spot Rayos fairly quickly, "What are nieo doing bothering your A'mea when she is sleeping aorban?" he landed next to Rayos and Krimsonflame lightly. "Nieo know your A'mea has been having a hard time with the loss of your A'meo, nieo should let Krimsonflame sleep Rayos."

"But Falkor, ae is important new information ieo have learned from Yukii earlier. Ae is different than how ieo first considered ae... "

Falkor cut of Rayos abruptly, "Now nieo know Krimson and ieo have d'na yet even decided to be bonded, she has, other options still open. D'na can do anything untill ae is the right time Rayos, ieo do know how eager nieo is to do this, but we cant rush into anything."

"D'na Falkor, A'meo, what ieo learned from Yukii changes ae, if we wait for that "right time" that we were thinking, ae will be too late." Rayos looked up at Falkor eyes giving off a pained look. "Yukii said ae is possible, but only before A'mea and nieo ask Dralkar for an aorban. If the egg has started forming, ae is too late and the egg will all ready have a soul. Ae has to be done before A'mea is even yet gravid and anchored there. So the new egg can latch onto ae instead of ae to the egg."

Falkor furrowed his brow, "But what if ieo am not chosen by your A'mea? Nieo might not be hatched or nieo might have another A'meo." He peered down at Rayos inquisitivly.

Sighing sadly Rayos nodded, "A'na, ae is true A'meo Falkor, but d'na matter. Ae is better to do ae soon so ae is ready if and when A'mea asks Draulkar for a new aorban." He gave Falkor a pleading look.

The large blue adult shook his head and sighed, "This will be a delicate matter to attend to, ieo will have to speak to Krimson alone, nieo go out front of the lair and play until ieo call nieo."

With a squeak Rayos rushed up the lair and out front to continue his fog gazing, even though he could not help but wonder what was being spoken inside and wanted more then anything to listen.

Many hours later the little blue hatchling had dozed off when he was suddenly nosed awake. A brief meep of disorientation left him gazing up into the warm eyes of his a'mea, seeing that he purred and licked her nose lovingly. Purring back Krimsonflame layed down and curled around the hatchling.

"It is a brave thing you ask to do aoretao, You do know I love you just as you are? You dont have to give up your being for me. This is such a risky thing you want to do, I dont want to lose you."

Rayos cocked his head and embraced Krimsonflame's neck. "But A'mea, ieo d'na desire anything else in the whole world but to truely be niea's aorban. To no longer feel ieo pretending to be family. With all niea have gifted me, ieo am willing to risk ae all to be able to carry the honor of carring on niea bloodline later. Ieo am nobody now, d'na know where ieo come from. Ieo want to know where ieo come from... and ieo want that to be niea's." His eyes glistening from forming tears, Rayos peered right into Krimsonflame's eyes as he spoke, as if baring his entire soul to her to show how truthful he was in his desires. "An.. an.. and ieo got this to use as a focus a'mea, ieo have inscribed it in recognition as well." Rayos sniffed as he handed Krimsonflame the lifelike statue he crafted for her--a statue showing a certain blue spotted hatchling sitting on it's haunches with a rather lifelike grin on it's muzzle.

The statue was enough to bring tears to Krimsonflame's eyes as she gathered Rayos in her wings and hugged him. "Thank you aoretao... I... I dont know what to say. I will let Yukii try, but I don't know if it will be Falkor I chose as a companion. Are you sure you wish to do this now? You could wait for when I have chosen my com..."

"D'na, weather ae is Falkor or another as a'meo, ae d'na matter, ieo just want niea as my A'mea. Ae is better if ieo am ready at any time. D'na know when ae will happen and Yukii says once ae is set niea will hold me close inside niea untill niea is ready. Ieo will always be with niea then A'mea. Please let me give this to niea." Rayos looked up with pleading eyes, a look that could almost break through Reklar's blighted heart.

Krimsonflame rumbled in joy as she lifted Rayos and held him tight. "Yes aoretao, then next waking we will do this, there is much to prepare though. But you, you need to sleep." She chuckled as she sat Rayos down and ushered him off to the lair spiral. Indeed, much to do, was she ready to go though that pain again? She shook her head, she wasn't sure she wanted to inflict on another male what Shashomaru had to endure, but Rayos seemed determined to gift her with another blood aorban... one she already knew she would love... And she knew loved her.

----

Curled up in the lair the following day Rayos and Krimsonflame sat together enjoying the bliss that this joyous occasion would bring, the small blue hatchlings doing all he could to remain respectfull, knowing while it might be his day, it is also theirs. As Rayos reached over to Nuzzle his a'mea he noticed the shadow bassing in the corridor behind him. He knew who it was and happily greeted Falkor.

The darker blue spotted adult reached down and nuzzled Rayos at the same time Krimsonflame nuzzled Falkor, she then looked deep into his eyes. Noticeing his a'mea's look the hatchling tucked himself under her wing as Falkor smiles and looks deeply into Krimson's eyes. Purring Krimsonflame started, "Iea have made a decision." Falkor noded at that "Niea have? what be thy decision?"

Krimson flame gently lifts and places Falkors paw into hers resulting in a warm smile from the drake. The seemingly forgotten hatchling peered up at his a'mea and began purring quietly. Continuing to peer deeply into Falkors eyes, quietly and lovingly Krimson flame says, "Ieo choose... nieo if nieo still wants iea to be mate" Falkor's eyes gleam as his smile widens across his muzzle "Ieo would be honored to be niea mate!

Rayos's eyes go wide for a moment then narrowing, he remains silent aside from the purring trying to dissapear so this perfect moment doesn't end for his a'mea and, apparently, actually his a'meo. Looking up he furrows his brow... and breaks his silence to whisper quietly to Krimsonflame. "Niea do this for niea, d'na ieo right?" Krimsonflame nods, her eyes never leaving Falkor's, "Iea have known Falkor and been close for mmost of our lives, would have happened anyways." Bubbling over Rayos begins to pur a little louder.

Falkor clears his throat and asks, "Krimsonflame, would niea be my mate forever? our hearts and souls as one?" eyes glistening the beatuifull red dragoness nods gently, "Iea will be aeos mate forever as one"
Eyes glowing brightly with his heart pounding Falkor kisses his mate deeply "Ieo love niea with all my heart." Krimsonflame responds naturally in falkors embrace, "And iea love nieo Falkor... guess there has always been the strong bond." Giggling and purring happily the forgotten hatchling adds, even though it feels kinda out of context, "Ieo love nien both!" as he beams happily at both of them.

Krimsonflame and Falkor both smile at Rayos and gently nuzzle, then Falkor looks back into the loving gaze of his mate, "Ieo truely think niea is my soul mate, my savior." Lovingly looking at Falkor, Krimsonflame adds,"And together we will be strong"

Falkor looks to Krimsonflame, "Niea ready?" he appear slightly nervous but still manages a smile. Krimsonflame closes her eyes then gently nods to him while holding his paw. Nosing at her wing, the hatchling thinks a moment then with a sigh says "If ae is asking too much of a'mea, niea d'na have to do ae." Rayos then drops his head to peer at the ground, "Ieo would understand." Smiling, d'na Rayos, nieo should call Yukii." Nodding in agreement the larger drake says, "Nieo may call aea."

Grinning and without another word Rayos quickly contacts Yukii, looking up he smiles, "Ae may take a few... How about we wait for Yukii in the hall?" Falkor holds and rubs Krimson`s paw between his paws as he looks up to his mate. Krimsonflame smiles and says, 'a'na'

---

Rayos looked up at Krimsonflame and Falkor. His heart felt like it was trying to leap out of his body and race around the hall faster then anyone could ever hope to catch it. He idally pawed at his broken horn. 'Not to much longer' he mused, 'and you will no longer exist'. Oh Drulkar where was Yukii? His A'mea and A'meo were dozing while waiting, and he was so tense he could almost see the air.

"Aoretao, calm down before you faint." He heard his mother chuckle as Rayos looked up. "She will be here soon. You don't need to worry Rayos, everything will be fine." Krimsonflame's eyes were drawn to the entrance to the hall by a shimmering light. "Ahh, See Rayos? There she is. Come in Yukii, we have been expecting you."

Yukii shimmered as she greeted everyone, smiling gently as her light filled the area. "How yous today? Rayos told yous all what to expect?" As Falkor and Krimsonflame acknowledged it the light dragon beamed. "Goods goods!" She looked down to Rayos warmly emitting a comforting and protective aura into the room. "Yous know yous don't have to do this right? I am sure theys are happy as you are."

Shaking his head, Rayos was far from turning back. "D'na Yukii white dragon, ieo want with all my heart to do this for a'mea. Ieo want her to have a real aorban with my soul in ae. D'na backing ways." Krimsonflame purred loudly and pulled Rayos to her chest, her gold eyes gleaming with tears.

"Rayos, I am so proud of you and love you so much. I will miss you aoretao, I will miss you alot." "D'na A'mea, ieo d'na go anywhere, in fact untill ieo hatch again ieo will always be with niea."

Falkor looked down from next to Krimsonflame and nuzzled Rayos. "Ieo am proud to call nieo my aoretao as well, and ieo will protect your mother while you are... asleep."

Yukii grined as she felt the love in the room, "Now Rayos, yous know I has to kill yous to workies this rights?" She patted Rayos' head as he nodded, wide eyed. "Yous will not feel a things. But sit up here on hers legs and lean against her chest." She looked to Krimsonflame, "Yous has the statue? Cans I see its?"

Digging though her pack Krimsonflame pulled out the treasured item and hesitatingly handed it to Yukii, "This won't hurt him will it?" "Nopers he wont feelies a thing. I assure yous of that. Are Yous all readys?"

As everone nodded Yukii began. She proceeded to write in an unknown language, utter mysterious phrases. Runes appeared on the statue and around Krimsonflame, going up her tail and stopping mid back. Yukii gently placed the statue directly between Krimsonflame and Rayos and then dispersed into a bright glowing mist proceding to encircle the blue hatchlings body ready to catch and direct the spirit as it recalled to where it was bound.

Rayos peered up to Krimsonflame and Krimsonflame smiled at Rayos lovingly in return. "A'mea, ieo love niea and ieo am ready. D'na matter how this turns out, remember ieo love niea A'mea... mother. Ieo am not scared anymore a'mea." A tear rolled down Krimsonflame's muzzle as she mouthed "Iea love niea Rayos" but no words could make it out as her voice failed her. Yukii gently entered Rayos's body and sent the hatchling into a deep slumber. From within she began to disrupt the normal impulses of his body; causing his to slowly fade into death and slump onto Krimsonflame's chest. Krimsonflame froze: the cold of horror brushed her as she felt the life pass from the small blue hatchling.

The mist form of Yukii slowly circled the spirit as it departed Rayos. She guided it carefully into Krimson's body, using the runes as a guide for the young spirit to follow. Once inside she marked a few runes around where the egg would be: hopefully the spirit would stay within that area until it is time and anchored it to the statue so it does not lose cohesion. As this happens Rayos' body shimmered and faded, like the bodies of Gifted tend to do as they follow the souls to be reunited. Lacking a soul to reunite to however, the body was lost to oblivion.... that teardrop finally maked it to the end of Krimsonflames muzzle and fell, splashing on her legs where Rayos had rested for the last time.

Yukii stayed in her mist form, having used an enormous amount of energy to accomplish the task. She echoed happily, "There...that shoulds do it...." as she faded from the room she managed to add "If yous... needs me I must meditate and regains my energies... find me in a days or two.... " and then, she was gone.

The silence drifted into the hall as Falkor watched Krimson, unsure of what to do. She continued to stare at the spot on her legs where Rayos was; where he had faded... her claws silently gripped the statue... and she began to sob, curling around the stone image. Stepping close, Falkor pulled her to him in a tight embrace and whispered, "He is not gone, he will be back Krimson, sebea..." "Yes, I know, I... I.. I can feel the warmth from him, as if it's waiting. I.. I.. I wish I knew what the future held for him. I... miss him already." Krimsonflame pulled Falkor close and continued to cry lightly on his shoulder.

Azaraen - "An Outsider Looking In"

2009-03-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

((At first I thought of writing a long story, but I think keeping it like reading through countless scrambled and confusing memories would be more suiting to the character. The memories tend to jump and blur sometimes, and it is intended...))

Runos never knew that Azaraen, as strong willed as her soul is, could look through the memories Runos' soul held. She had seen many things beyond the blue drake's knowledge... and although she sat in the tavern of new trismus, pondering over all of them, she couldn't bring herself to tell the blue. Perhaps Yukii has seen everything too, the same, when she looked through the runedrake, to demonstrate it never hurt to Sssargon.

With a sigh, sitting in the chair, her food in front of her going cold, she sat back and reflected on everything she knew, but the memories she shared were always so chaotic, reflecting the spell she loathed to admit was now attached to her soul too...

Darkness... Voice outside, actually, many of them... This little space always so comforting and warm, filled with water or fluid... And the voices outside always seemed to speak and echo softly, but only one held a great attachment... as it never went away, it always was there outside... and through a long time of sleeping and waking, voices, silence... the world changed forever as somehow the warmth and embrace of the tiny universe left, draining away, but from where is unknown... Light? So bright... voices so happy... but so bright... Whats happening?! Everything is different! Where did my little place go?! the thoughts ran through the little one's mind, and it screamed loudly like all others normally do, just as the new world and new experience was frightening to it...

"Renos! My long lost friend, how are you today?" a voice sounded behind. Turning to meet it, white platemail attempting to resist her from rising with their sheer weight, but she had been trained and conditioned to move in it effectively. In shock, she drops the book she had been reading verses from, meditating upon them and their meaning.

"Oh, hello! I have not seen you in some time. Where had you been?" she asks... but the memories blur...

Screaming, lots of it. "Ruin'osun! Help!" the villiage is burning, raiders on the backs of horrible black beasts slaughtering the peace... "Help! My children! No!!" the great white wolf that this life granted the soul was trying... everything it knew was being destroyed. With a howl, the dragon-sized runed silver worg charged forth with howling words in a frenzy, devouring and killing the raiders that stood in its path, reserving the most brutal acts for the most brutal of the murderers and their beasts. And all the while around it, the flames licked closer and closer... An inferno, a firestorm that would never be put out... And at last... a flash and a howl of pain.

"Renos? Are you okay?" the man behind her asked. "Oh .. nothing." she smiles. "I'm just trying to think, theres a bit on my mind it feels like, but I can't get at what I feel is there, to find out what it is. I'll have to meditate some more later on."

Laughter, playing with other young ones... throwing a ball, frolicing in the grass. It is interruptted by a giant cat, a cougar, stalking from the trees nearby... it takes down one of the children with ease... In shock, she grabs a stick and either through bravery or stupidity pursues the giant cat, hitting it everywhere. Face, paws, body, legs... anywhere to try to get it to drop the friend... finally with a little thrust the stick landed in the eye socket of the cat, and in agony it dropped its prey, fleeing. Screaming in horror at the blood, the parents finally arrived, crying and embracing the little ones. "Osanor..."

"What did you do to yourself this time? My word. You always do the stupid things..." she said, holding some kind of healing rod over an individual who looked like he was mauled to near death by a fearful beast. The wounds were closing, but the warrior could only smile. "Well I'll finally admit, mabey I like to do stupid things, just so you'll patch me up again like new with your talents, Suranos." he said, reaching a newly healed arm up to her face.

"Ruin'osun..?" a little child tugged on the creature's leg, the parents of the child looking mortified for something like this. Leaning down to gently sniff and lick the child, the wolf asked with its voice, something that sounded always like a rough purr: "Yes?". The child looked up curiously. "What are all the lines everywhere on your fur and skin? They glow funny!" he giggled. "Oh, they are special. I wish I could get rid of them, but I cannot remove them." the wolf purred, gently nudging the child back toward his family.

Standing up and shaking, spikes bristling... the creature was ready. The spearhunters of the shadows were too many in number... if only... "Die, truranus!" ...a spear ran through its chest, distrupting runes that they had hoped to take as a prize victory, the white runed beast, empress of the race she was now... a giant flash and a roaring scream, hunters scattering in horror...

"TRAITOR!" she screams, talons risen and feathery wings folded out. "You... you were a rider... but... You killed..." the winged thing screeched. "You killed your companion. You killed my rider. My friend... And for what, an empty promise of immortality and power from a demon we are trying to lock up?! LET JUSTICE BE SWIFT ON MY WINGS!" the giant screams, coming down upon the deserter.

((OOC: Yes, this is what meetings end up being for the gaming clan I'm in. Means I never try to miss one, they're hilarious.))
"Is everyone here?" spoke the behemoth of a warrior, his "clan" of sorts arranged around him, kneeling to their "khan". The clan had gathered in an isolated location of the world, a cavern deep below the frozen northern wastes of the world, one impossibly hard to get to so that their gathering could only be disturbed by the odd wandering monster. No big deal to a mass of trained heroes. "Yes Khan, looks like all have arrived at your call. Let us begin." speaks one of the council members of the clan. Pointing at one who was formerly one of them, the khan speaks. "This one was one of our brothers, but he, thinking the grass was greener on the other side, left us... Now he wishes to return to our embrace. Speak, deserter." The deserter speaks his case... to gain favour of a mass of individuals who really wondered if it was worth it. They are at last allowed to roast him what whatever questions they may think of, to try to test his loyalty. At last, the one sitting at the side of the room is allowed to speak. "I question you... are you just polishing shit to gain our favour? Good thing I don't have the ranking yet to take a bondsman, you'd find me to be hell." the quick tongued druid snorts. The initiate manages to survive the roast. Turning away and huddling to vote in secret, those of an appropriate ranking. "One to let him in, Two to deny him, in fingers..." the khan speaks. "... Three if you want that guy to fluff the khan..." one of the council members jokes, a few members in reply holding out three fingers. "Ah I hate all of you..." the khan laughs jokingly, turning to the deserter. "They have voted in your favour. My descision is final..."

"...Suranos, look... the sky... how is it you can control the weather, do all these things? Is it the marks on your skin?" her mate asked. "I don't know how it works, I know I can just do it. Mabey it is the will of gods... why I was born like this."

"Renos, lets go. The horses are ready and have their barding on." the trainee said. "I hope we can learn a lot on this trip!

A tower... a wizard... so angry... but why? What did this person do? The ground is glowing, something catches her four legs, they can't move... as it creeps up, the field of time that was stopping to catch and restrain her... in an instant the tower changes, as the field decays. The tower is dilapiated, the wizard she had been so angry with for some reason gone... her skin... it burns... pain! lots of pain! the room stinks of searing flesh and smoke as the pattern carved onto her soul binds forever. Looking around, she could only remember the town... but looking out it wasn't there anymore, only a grown city. Wandering in, and asking around the townsfolk who were helpful and friendly, she was shocked... 700 years had passed by before the timefield had weakened enough to free her, and all in an instant.

This town... after many years... a flash... and nothing. She wakes somewhere new, and always a flash, and agony in the end.

Runecasting and the Frenzy

2009-03-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Two major events of the day, although only one is now available on tales of order so far, as chatlogs can be an editing nightmare:

- Selarth gets what was coming to him for picking on and spooking the hatchlings repeatedly. Runos stands up and starts the fight, Selarth already FUBARed, then double FUBARed as Sereamha runs in for the crunch. He ends up losing his blight powers as Runos carves a purification rune into his skull.

- Siivyra has been granted permission to learn basic runecasting, discovering that there is such thing as cold fire and hot ice with the right touch. (To be posted)

Selarth/Runos - A Battle of Blight and Fire

2009-03-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

((I was starting a hunt with Akrion in the northern deadlands, but ended the hunt as I couldn't fight undead swarms and selarth too. Too much typing and not enough attention span. Any irrelevant ooc is not here, so you can read the actual event easily.))

[03/23/09 15:36:52] [Dragon: Selarth] *yawns and stretches in the spot where he slept, ponders gliding in to where the others are*
[03/23/09 15:37:27] [Dragon: Rayos] *peers out from under Nyya's wing meeps and pulls it down*
[03/23/09 15:38:45] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Crawls out form under Runos' wing and lies down close to her with his big bag of bells, lining them up in a seemingly random order*
[03/23/09 15:40:08] [Dragon: Nyya] *noses rayos comfortingly*
[03/23/09 15:41:19] [Dragon: Rayos] *whispers* Ieo gonna stay here 'cause that stinky one d'na can find Ieo here... Ieo blend with nie*
[03/23/09 15:44:51] [Dragon: Selarth] *slowly pads in, eyes scanning the others. He leaps up to his rock ledge, circles around a few times and lays down. Flicks his tail*
[03/23/09 15:45:28] [Dragon: Nyya] *casually waves to selarth then looks away*
[03/23/09 15:45:30] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Flicks his tail at the new presence and continues to organise his bells
[03/23/09 15:45:38] [Dragon: Rayas] ((ignore the funky name... for now)) *stays curled up under Nyya's wing out of sight of Selarth
[03/23/09 15:45:52] [Dragon: Runos] *looks up to selarth narrowing her eyes annoyedly.*
[03/23/09 15:46:31] [Dragon: Nyya] *uses her paw to gently slide rayos up against her side. she keeps her wing over him*
[03/23/09 15:53:52] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Sticks his head into his bell-bag, looking for more bells to take out*
[03/23/09 15:54:49] [Dragon: Selarth] *spots Sssargon and is tempted to spook him, but his mother is around. Taps a claw in mild annoyance*
[03/23/09 15:59:59] [Dragon: Runos] Selarth, iea hears you were busy yesterday bothering sssargon..
[03/23/09 16:01:19] [Dragon: Selarth] Hmm... I wasn't bothering him, not directly anyways....
[03/23/09 16:01:48] [Dragon: Runos] With a blight puppet.
[03/23/09 16:02:53] [Dragon: Selarth] I made a puppet yes, but not to bother him with it.
[03/23/09 16:03:07] [Dragon: Polydore] *yawns, picking his teeth with a crooked claw*
[03/23/09 16:04:15] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: then you must have been spying on us
[03/23/09 16:05:09] [Dragon: Selarth] I was expirimenting with my abilities.
[03/23/09 16:05:11] [Dragon: Runos] *peers* Iea has heard differently.
[03/23/09 16:05:29] [Dragon: Runos] Sssargon, what did you tell A'mea earlier about a dragon wanting to eat you?
[03/23/09 16:07:24] [Dragon: Polydore] *nibbles Seventh's fins*
[03/23/09 16:07:57] [Dragon: Sssargon] Just that an-other dragon was say-ing Sssargon was going to be eated when he was scared and in the hold-ing thinggy.
[03/23/09 16:07:57] [Dragon: Seventh] *churrs and gently licks Polydore's neck*
[03/23/09 16:08:03] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Trembles slightly*
[03/23/09 16:09:18] [Dragon: Selarth] Rayos ran around babbling something about hatchling-nappers when Saphire was collecting them up. I said she was the one going to do the eating.
[03/23/09 16:09:26] [Dragon: Polydore] Nrrrrn. *looks around, notices Selarth and dips his head to him slightly*
[03/23/09 16:09:30] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: that ws you saying that selarth *glares*
[03/23/09 16:10:00] [Dragon: Selarth] *tilts his head* Was it?
[03/23/09 16:10:22] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: i heard every word selarth. you were laughing and saying sssargon was gonna be eaten
[03/23/09 16:10:32] [Dragon: Rayas] Dna... Nieo said nieo was going to make stew out of Sssargon!
[03/23/09 16:10:35] [Dragon: Seventh] *mirrors his brother, staring curiously at Selarth*
[03/23/09 16:11:11] [Dragon: Selarth] I meant Saphire was going to make stew out of him. She was the one plucking you all up.
[03/23/09 16:11:40] [Dragon: Runos] Iea knows saphie better than that.
[03/23/09 16:11:46] [Dragon: Runos] ((^saphire))
[03/23/09 16:12:03] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: you were lying just so you could get a kick out of scaring hatchlings to death!
[03/23/09 16:12:14] [Dragon: Selarth] Obviously she'd never do that. But for some reason the hatchlings believed me anyway.
[03/23/09 16:12:44] [Dragon: Polydore] *muttering to Seventh* -Scared- to death. Now there's an interesting concept.
[03/23/09 16:13:04] [Dragon: Sssargon] Sssargon was scared! Of course he will be think-ing he is eat-en when he is scared!
[03/23/09 16:13:09] [Dragon: Selarth] *glances at the twins and flicks his tail*
[03/23/09 16:13:53] [Dragon: Seventh] *nods slowly* Curious! Does it work?
[03/23/09 16:14:17] [Dragon: Polydore] *Both twins smile 'sweetly' at Sel, simultainiously tiliting their heads*
[03/23/09 16:14:30] [Dragon: Polydore] .. Hrm, who knows. We could try it on grouks.
[03/23/09 16:15:00] [Dragon: Rayas] *curls his blue self under Nyya's wing*
[03/23/09 16:15:03] [Dragon: Runos] *growls* Let me tell you something blightbeast. Iea will not stand for it anymore when you pick on the hatchlings, especially my own.
[03/23/09 16:15:04] [Dragon: Selarth] *peers back at them* What, scaring things to death?
[03/23/09 16:15:42] [Dragon: Polydore] *nods slightly* Uhhuh. We haven't tried -that- yet.
[03/23/09 16:15:45] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: *gently nuzzles rayos and holds him close to her protectively*
[03/23/09 16:16:03] [Dragon: Seventh] Indeed! Experiment, we should!
[03/23/09 16:16:18] [Dragon: Seventh] Though gruoks... Feh. Brainless flesh-bags!
[03/23/09 16:16:32] [Dragon: Selarth] *looks back to Runos. He hms in a nonchalant way* I can't help it if your kid freaks at every little thing.
[03/23/09 16:16:33] [Dragon: Polydore] It being puurreeely psycological. No physical repercussions. Prehaps.
[03/23/09 16:17:18] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Droops his earfins and hides under Runos' wing, leaving his bells behind*
[03/23/09 16:17:30] [Dragon: Seventh] Hrrrm, no claws and teeths! Just.... scariness. Sounds plausible, we think.
[03/23/09 16:17:43] [Dragon: Selarth] *snorts out a little bit of blight-fog and wafts it over to the twins*
[03/23/09 16:17:58] [Dragon: Polydore] Unfortunately, grouks are too stupid to be sca- *snaps the fog out the air*
[03/23/09 16:18:43] [Dragon: Severa] *keeps glaring at selarth*
[03/23/09 16:18:47] [Dragon: Seventh] Indeed, stupid like... *gleefully swipes at the fog*
[03/23/09 16:19:01] [Dragon: Polydore] Like big-dumb. Only stupider.
[03/23/09 16:19:25] [Dragon: Severa] nyya:...
[03/23/09 16:19:26] [Dragon: Seventh] ... Well. Even gruoks aren't as stupid as THAT.
[03/23/09 16:19:45] [Dragon: Polydore] They can barely even remember what they did the day before. Big-Dumb seems to barely even remember how to speak.
[03/23/09 16:20:03] [Dragon: Polydore] Ominous silence. And more ominous silence.
[03/23/09 16:20:07] [Dragon: Rayas] *snickers quietly below Nyya's wing*
[03/23/09 16:20:19] [Dragon: Runos] *stands up and stretches out her body* Pfft. Tired of this. *traces various runes on her body, activating them, and making them glow *
[03/23/09 16:20:51] [Dragon: Selarth] Yes. I guess the others have nothing more to say. *looks up from the twins to Runos*
[03/23/09 16:20:55] [Dragon: Seventh] And more omnious silence. And then maiming. Pffaw, atmosphere. We better with "smarter" gruoks!
[03/23/09 16:21:33] [Dragon: Polydore] And then the- *strangled noises* grllgkckk- Ow. *blinks*
[03/23/09 16:21:53] [Dragon: Rayas] *blinks and looks up at Nyya*
[03/23/09 16:22:10] [Dragon: Runos] *coats herself in blue fire that slowly burns from the inside and becomes a raging blaze. She begins heading toward selarth...*
[03/23/09 16:22:34] [Dragon: Seventh] *stares, confused, at Polydore* We mean the- *chokes loudly and grimaces* GACKACK! Hrm.
[03/23/09 16:22:54] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Scampers off to Nyya, the effects for yesterdays slight brain modification still there. He then hides under her wing with Rayos*
[03/23/09 16:23:00] [Dragon: Rayas] *meeps and tries nuzzling the Nyya's side reassuringly*
[03/23/09 16:23:29] [Dragon: Polydore] *blinks again, frowning- before his head turns sharply to Runos, tenses, staring at the runefire*
[03/23/09 16:23:30] [Dragon: Runos] Nyya, please ensure the safety of the young ones.
[03/23/09 16:23:47] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: *puts the claws on and they begin glowing strong gold*
[03/23/09 16:24:00] [Dragon: Selarth] *flicks his tail, spikes raising slightly* Well this'll be interesting... *he stands on his rock perch peering down at Runos coming near* Someone other than hatchlings picking a fight with me. *smirks*
[03/23/09 16:24:38] [Dragon: Seventh] *follows Polydore's gaze, tilting his head curiously at Runos* ... Hmm... *mutters to Poly*
[03/23/09 16:25:00] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: i feel something...*a large wisp of gold erupts from the claws and flies toward runos, entering her body and greatly increasing her strength and magic*
[03/23/09 16:25:25] [Dragon: Polydore] *mutters back rather hurriedly, and stalks a few paces towards her*
[03/23/09 16:25:38] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep

((I found this comment block hilarious. Thanks DharSii. XD))

[03/23/09 16:25:53] [Dragon: Selarth] ((She doesn't need to get any stronger! She's already 30 seasons above Sel. D:))
[03/23/09 16:26:15] [Dragon: DharSii] (Thats what you call FUBAR)
[03/23/09 16:26:28] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((And angry D: protecting hatchlings.. that makes her stronger toooo D:))
[03/23/09 16:26:37] [Dragon: Selarth] ((What's FUBAR?))
[03/23/09 16:26:48] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep meep!
[03/23/09 16:26:50] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Effed up beyond all recognition XD))

[03/23/09 16:26:54] [Dragon: Severa] ((ok fine, forget that happened then))
[03/23/09 16:27:01] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Or reasoning :P))
[03/23/09 16:27:08] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Oh. :P ))
[03/23/09 16:27:35] [Dragon: Runos] *continues moving toward selarth, opening her mouth to roar once, showing an array of teeth and liquid fire in her maw as her eyes begin to glaze over, as if she has reached a mental state of being in a frenzy... she suddenly charges foward at selarth with a thunderous roar!*
[03/23/09 16:28:23] [Dragon: Rayas] *meeeeps and huddles under Nyya's wind*
[03/23/09 16:28:35] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Pulls Nyya's wing down and trembles*
[03/23/09 16:28:42] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps questioningly at Rayas, thinking she may have found someone who speaks Meep-
[03/23/09 16:28:45] [Dragon: Rayas] -wing
[03/23/09 16:29:17] [Dragon: Severa] *hurridly puts the claws back into her scalepack and picks up rayos and sssargon in her paws and flies over to a farr corner away from the fight*
[03/23/09 16:29:22] [Dragon: Ausixen] ::pads into the cave for the first time in over a year, looking about::
[03/23/09 16:29:28] [Dragon: Selarth] *Selarth's body tenses, a psychotic grin spreading across his maw. Having the high ground he has a bit of an advantage, but Runos has much more expirience than him. It doesn't matter to him though, there will be blood. He leaps body engulfed in a whirl of blight energy*
[03/23/09 16:29:49] [Dragon: Lithiane] MEEP! O.=.O
[03/23/09 16:30:03] [Dragon: Lithiane] -stands there frozen-
[03/23/09 16:30:12] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Someone grab Lithi!))
[03/23/09 16:30:16] [Dragon: Rayas] *places his paws over his head not wanting to see or hear any*
[03/23/09 16:30:18] Gunder has logged in.
[03/23/09 16:30:39] [Dragon: Severa] *notices litiane and flies over, picking her up and placing her next to rayos and sssargon*
[03/23/09 16:30:56] [Dragon: Severa] ((is lith male or female?))
[03/23/09 16:31:01] [Dragon: Runos] *as the auras begin to touch each other, her fire licks at the blight, burning at it and neutralizing each other. She waits until selarth is almost near before attempting to throw him off with a tail strike when he is in range.*
[03/23/09 16:31:06] [Dragon: Ausixen] (She's made of ash, does it matter? ;p)
[03/23/09 16:31:20] [Dragon: Lithiane] ((Neither, really, she's a golem, but is generally regarded as female))
[03/23/09 16:32:03] [Dragon: Runos] ((As a note: I try not to play god, I dont control the battle so you'll have to decide hits and misses as long as you are fair about it. :))
[03/23/09 16:32:06] [Dragon: Polydore] (( Mendi's been worried sick about her D: ))
[03/23/09 16:32:46] [Dragon: Lithiane] ((D: I's soooooorrrrryyyy for disappearing! But I'm back now! <3 sev =" Nyya." worries =")" wb =")">Brass Bell]-
[03/23/09 16:47:53] [Dragon: saphire] *yawns waking up*
[03/23/09 16:48:34] [Dragon: Selarth] *before her teeth or claws can close arond him, Selarth leaps backward putting some space between them. He watched her trying to read her movements, his battle-lust giving way to actually thinking about how best to win. Flinging himself at this one would surely get him killed. Getting killed by Hrough was a fluke*
[03/23/09 16:49:15] [Dragon: Severa] *quickly but gently flies over to ausixen, picks him up and carries him to the other hatchlings and goes ack to shielding them with her wings*
[03/23/09 16:49:46] [Dragon: saphire] *remakes a hatchling nest for a large number of hatchlings and starts to put them in said nest*
[03/23/09 16:49:47] [Dragon: Rayas] *clings to Nyya's leg*
[03/23/09 16:50:00] [Dragon: Lithiane] -is scooped up and put in the nest- o.=.O
[03/23/09 16:50:06] [Dragon: Rayas] D'na! *stays with Nyya*
[03/23/09 16:50:14] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Thats it. Logging Nid)
[03/23/09 16:50:14] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep!
[03/23/09 16:50:28] [Dragon: Selarth] ((*is reminded of the chicks in the animal science room at school*))
[03/23/09 16:50:36] [Dragon: saphire] iea mean no harm rayas iea trying to keep you safe
[03/23/09 16:50:44] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Scrambles under Nyya's belly*
[03/23/09 16:50:48] [Dragon: Severa] *helps saphire put the hatchlings in the nest for safety and joins them in there*
[03/23/09 16:50:54] [Dragon: Rayas] Ieo AM safe. *clings to Nyya*
[03/23/09 16:51:18] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep meep d'na nieo meep.
[03/23/09 16:51:25] [Dragon: Runos] *narrows her eyes, looking at selarth growing and showing her fangs. She pauses her movement, etching a rune on the ground, and slamming her foot on it. A similar rune appears under selarth, and an earth spike tries to strike him from below with alarming speed.*
[03/23/09 16:51:34] [Dragon: Runos] ((^growling))
[03/23/09 16:51:44] [Dragon: saphire] ana aorban it is d'na safe for aorbans
[03/23/09 16:51:53] [Dragon: Rayas] But the dangerous ones in a cage.. dna the non dangerous ones *furrows his brow rige and refuses to let go of Nyya*
[03/23/09 16:52:00] [Dragon: Rayas] -put
[03/23/09 16:52:17] [Dragon: saphire] no cage just a nest a warm nest to keep you safe and warm
[03/23/09 16:52:51] [Dragon: Lithiane] -sneezes-
[03/23/09 16:53:19] [Dragon: Severa] rayos, please stay in the nest for your own safety
[03/23/09 16:53:29] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Clings to the underside of Nyya's belly* Ieo not like-ing nest!
[03/23/09 16:54:02] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps pleadingly at Ssargon-
[03/23/09 16:54:04] [Dragon: Rayas] D'na way to escape, no place to run to hide
[03/23/09 16:54:30] [Dragon: saphire] its easy for hatchlings to get out if they so wish
[03/23/09 16:54:46] [Dragon: SSiscor] * with the coming of twilight he approaches the clearing from the shadows *
[03/23/09 16:55:02] [Dragon: saphire] *eyes ssiscor*
[03/23/09 16:55:32] [Dragon: Rayas] *stays with Nyya in the nest or out... as he feels safer with someone that can protect him.
[03/23/09 16:55:50] [Dragon: Selarth] ... The hell?! *pupils narrow to slits as he realizes what she's doing, but it all happens so fast. He flinches away from the spike, but it spears up trough his right wing tearing through muscle and bone. If he had been a few seconds slower it would've been his chest that was skewered* AGGH!!
[03/23/09 16:55:53] [Dragon: SSiscor] Hello Everyone * nods to Saphire *
[03/23/09 16:56:09] [Dragon: Severa] *stands there with sssargon clinging to her belly not knowing what to do* saphire, they seem to not want to be alone in there, is it ok if i go in there with them?
[03/23/09 16:56:31] [Dragon: saphire] *snorts and goes back to trying to protect the hatchlings* who are you severa...
[03/23/09 16:56:38] [Dragon: Lithiane] -takes out the [Brass Bell] again and starts slowly swinging it back and forth, watching it and listening to it ring-
[03/23/09 16:56:44] [Dragon: Severa] ((sev = nyya XD))
[03/23/09 16:57:05] [Dragon: saphire] ana
[03/23/09 16:57:07] [Dragon: Runos] *uses the opportunity to lunge at selarth, in an attempt to pin him to the ground ((if it connects, the spike will break))*
[03/23/09 16:59:11] [Dragon: Severa] *manages to pull sssargon off from her belly leaving some nice cuts from his claws. she holds him close to her chest and steps into the nest with rayos, ith, and ausix*
[03/23/09 17:00:00] [Dragon: Rayas] *stays in the nest with Nyya there*
[03/23/09 17:00:14] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Clings now where Nyya Held him against, wings wrapping around her neck, not too tightly, and wing claws latching to eachother like a necklace clip*
[03/23/09 17:00:17] [Dragon: Lithiane] -hypnotizes self with the bell- o.=.@
[03/23/09 17:00:21] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Just letting you guys know that I'm here OOCly~ Xeff's out of comission AGAIN, for a day or two.))
[03/23/09 17:00:32] [Dragon: Lykopis] (who kicked her butt this time?)
[03/23/09 17:00:34] [Dragon: Selarth] Hnn.... *he slams his body into the spike shattering it, he falls onto his back ready to take Runos's attack with teeth, fore and hindclaws, and his tail as he can't scramble out of her way in time. He blasts another wave of lightning at Runos*
[03/23/09 17:00:35] [Dragon: Seventh] ((HUZZAH! *fireworks*))
[03/23/09 17:00:42] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((*snicker*))
[03/23/09 17:00:43] [Dragon: Ausixen] ::shakes himself from Nyya's grip, growling irately but nodding appreciately; he steps a short distance away form the otehrs, but no closer to the fight::
[03/23/09 17:00:53] [Dragon: Ausixen] (::cheers for Xeffer~)::)
[03/23/09 17:00:56] [Dragon: Rayas] (((oooh maybe it will be a clockwork Xeffer that comes back D: ))
[03/23/09 17:00:57] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Uhm.. I'll let you guess xD))
[03/23/09 17:01:12] [Dragon: Severa] *noses the four of them and lays down*
[03/23/09 17:01:13] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Points an accusing finger at Ausixen.-x-))
[03/23/09 17:01:35] [Dragon: SSiscor] * stays clear of the fight but prepares a few defensive spells *
[03/23/09 17:01:41] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Hi Ser)
[03/23/09 17:02:03] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Hi Ser!))
[03/23/09 17:02:07] [Dragon: Severa] ((hey ser. nyya here))
[03/23/09 17:02:15] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Ssis always prepares spells and stuff but never does anything. Well not during Sel's fights anyways... >_>))
[03/23/09 17:02:26] [Dragon: Lithiane] ((O hai Mal. ...Ser?))

((And then Sereamha lumbers in... Selarth probably was going o_o "Oh damn."))

[03/23/09 17:02:29] [Dragon: Sereamha] *the pale dragon roars and jumps deftly in, orange eyes burning wtih anger at Selarth, she sprints full speed at the blight dragon trying to slam right into him*
[03/23/09 17:02:42] [Dragon: SSiscor] (You don't want him Sel)
[03/23/09 17:02:48] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Ask Xeff what happens )
[03/23/09 17:02:50] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: mother! no!
[03/23/09 17:02:54] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((>->;;;;;))
[03/23/09 17:03:04] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Huddles into a corner.-x-))
[03/23/09 17:03:10] [Dragon: Lykopis] (hah)
[03/23/09 17:03:23] [Dragon: saphire] ((... *glares at ssiscor remembering*))
[03/23/09 17:03:32] [Dragon: Selarth] (( ^_^; Heheh....))
[03/23/09 17:03:53] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps in alarm and tries to burrow into the nest as best she can with soft claws-
[03/23/09 17:04:14] [Dragon: Runos] *takes the bolt squarely gritting her teeth at the pain, but comes down on selarth with her own teeth and claws, attempting to deflect the blows. Her fire aura is obviously very hot standing right over selarth..*
[03/23/09 17:04:14] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Psh, you got it easy Saphire. Be happy your character didn't become an unwilling blood donor~))
[03/23/09 17:04:32] [Dragon: Ausixen] (So that's where they've been getting their fix.)
[03/23/09 17:04:35] [Dragon: Lykopis] (o.O)
[03/23/09 17:04:47] [Dragon: SSiscor] (You can always try to do something to him directly Sel)
[03/23/09 17:04:47] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((No not THAT xD I didn't mean it literally..))
[03/23/09 17:05:04] [Dragon: Runos] *begins aiming with her maw and claws at his limbs based on when he leaves himself open, trying to snap selarth's limbs in two*
[03/23/09 17:05:18] [Dragon: Severa] nyya: *keeps her wings draped over the hatchlings protectively*
[03/23/09 17:05:26] [Dragon: Sereamha] ( did ser slam him or no? )
[03/23/09 17:05:36] You tell Sereamha, '((Will still etch a rune on his face when I manage to pin him.))'
[03/23/09 17:05:40] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Remains tightly clinging to Nyya's neck*
[03/23/09 17:05:46] [Dragon: Selarth] ((*typing* One at a time! T_T))
[03/23/09 17:05:54] Sereamha tells you, '( ser tryin'
[03/23/09 17:06:05] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Well Runos is over him so Ser would slam into her...))
[03/23/09 17:06:13] [Dragon: Keithron] (No excuse Sel. Type faster! :P)
[03/23/09 17:06:18] [Dragon: Severa] ((XD))
[03/23/09 17:06:32] [Dragon: Rayas] *looks around blinking...* Ieo need to go somewhere quieter... *pulls away from Nyya and leaps from the nest if he can to run out of the clearing*
[03/23/09 17:06:41] [Dragon: Runos] ((nuuuu slamming into runedrake. D:))
[03/23/09 17:06:55] [Dragon: Sereamha] ( She'll take whatever she can slam into Sel with that's available )
[03/23/09 17:07:23] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep ~.=.~
[03/23/09 17:07:28] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Depending on what happens to Ser Ssiscor will get in on it...)
[03/23/09 17:07:29] [Dragon: Severa] rayos get back here!!
[03/23/09 17:08:13] [Dragon: Rayas] *has left the clearing*
[03/23/09 17:08:26] [Dragon: Selarth] *pushes against Runos with all his strength her claws ripping through scale and skin. He spikes up his tail and tries to whip it into Runos's underbelly trying to gut her. Being clawed at and burned by the aura, he doesn't notices Ser charge towards them, but even if he did, there's nothing he'd be able to do about it*
[03/23/09 17:09:16] [Dragon: Severa] *is panicking in her mind, wanting to go after rayos and bring him back but she can't leave the others*
[03/23/09 17:09:40] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Okay... so when Selarth actualy mauls hatchlings (I know it's Slee and Soraii but still..) no one does anything. He teases them saying saph is going to eat them and everyone goes balistic. xD)
[03/23/09 17:10:10] [Dragon: Lithiane] ((Slee got mauled? o.O))
[03/23/09 17:10:36] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Nyya got in on the slee one.. and no one likes Soraii XD))
[03/23/09 17:10:39] [Dragon: Sereamha] ( Sel's the local moron bully XD getting taught a lesson )
[03/23/09 17:10:43] [Dragon: Runos] ((I do remember soraii, but the one time I've seen it and came back to paying attention I went "No. D:<")) [03/23/09 17:10:53] [Dragon: Nidhogg] (You are asking everyone in DC to make sense O_o) [03/23/09 17:11:02] [Dragon: Severa] ((nyya wasnt much of a thinker back then XD)) [03/23/09 17:11:27] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Yes! Yes DC make sense!!!!)) [03/23/09 17:11:40] [Dragon: Lykopis] (If it does, I need another drink...) [03/23/09 17:11:43] [Dragon: Severa] ((afk a sec)) [03/23/09 17:11:47] [Dragon: Selarth] ((But anyways.... back to where we were.)) [03/23/09 17:12:04] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((Hah, I would have but you always catch me on Male when you attack the hatchies~.)) [03/23/09 17:12:45] [Dragon: Selarth] ((hehe.)) [03/23/09 17:12:50] [Dragon: Sereamha] *She slidles along and ground when she gets close, maw opened to wicked looking fangs. She lunges full force at Selarth's neck* [03/23/09 17:13:38] [Dragon: Polydore] (( Slee got mauled. Did some mauling of his own though. The nose still feeling fine? :P )) [03/23/09 17:13:39] [Dragon: Severa] ((back)) [03/23/09 17:13:39] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Ewwww blighted blood!!)) [03/23/09 17:13:52] [Dragon: Severa] ((XD)) [03/23/09 17:13:53] [Dragon: Runos] *Roars loudly, putting all her weight on selarth's body, making it harder to move. Its followed by a ravage, bite and a goldrage at random limbs.* [03/23/09 17:13:56] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Yay Flankface!!)) [03/23/09 17:14:29] [Dragon: Selarth] ((C patched him up. Just looks a little... off? I Guess. XP He still scratches at it when no one's looking.)) [03/23/09 17:14:32] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps questioningly, at no one in particular, but apparently curious as to why they are fighting- [03/23/09 17:14:56] [Dragon: Nidhogg] (Yay lag ) [03/23/09 17:15:04] [Dragon: Severa] *noses lith and sssargon comfortingly* [03/23/09 17:15:48] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Holds on tighter at the nosing, face burring in Nyya's chest scales, wings still wrapped around her nect like a necklace* [03/23/09 17:16:09] [Dragon: SSiscor] * seeing Ser going for a bite he prepares a multicst * [03/23/09 17:16:15] [Dragon: SSiscor] (cast*) [03/23/09 17:16:21] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps in alarm and runs away- [03/23/09 17:16:49] [Dragon: Severa] *watches the fight fearfully* [03/23/09 17:18:43] [Dragon: Selarth] *being pinned under Runos, Selarth can't escape Sereamha's jaws. Razor sharp fangs close around his neck cutting into him. He gives a gurgling gasp in anger. His blight pulses around them turning into a corrosive force in a frantic struggle to stay alive, but it was already too late. Selarth gurggled again still struggling as his blood drains out into Ser's mouth* [03/23/09 17:19:18] [Dragon: Sereamha] *she doesn't feed, just biting really to make him go limp* [03/23/09 17:19:43] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Bad blood... really XD )) [03/23/09 17:19:48] [Dragon: Akrion] ((Aaaaaww yeaaaah! You go Ser!)) [03/23/09 17:19:58] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Yeah I wouldn't drink it...)) [03/23/09 17:20:01] [Dragon: Severa] ((=))) [03/23/09 17:20:16] [Dragon: Rayas] ((And it is yours :p)) [03/23/09 17:22:03] [Dragon: Runos] *Uses the opportunity to lunge forward and grab selarth by the base of the head securely with one claw dug into his neck. Shifting her weight off his body, she moves so he can clearly see her face as she twists it to see his forehead scales, still securely holding on....* Blightbeast. *snarl* [03/23/09 17:23:07] [Dragon: Seventh] ((Poor Selarth! D':)) ((Poor selarth: One line too early.)) [03/23/09 17:23:10] [Dragon: Runos] *with her free claw, she digs it in very deeply into his forehead, engraving a rune of purification into his skull, watching as a similar blue fire to hers erupts, feeding off the blight.* [03/23/09 17:23:11] [Dragon: Malaquion] -slowly shifts some and wakes up. She blinks, and is promptly startled awake by the sounds of the fight- [03/23/09 17:23:15] [Dragon: Selarth] *the blight whirls around trying to eat away at Runos and Ser's scales, it also tries to force it's way into their eyes, nostrils, and mouths in an attempt to eat away at them from the inside out* *his claws automatically start trying to pry Ser off of him* [03/23/09 17:24:12] [Dragon: Severa] *remains in the hatchie nest with sssargon, lith, and ausix [03/23/09 17:24:37] [Dragon: Sereamha] *the blight does not affect her at all, smirking as she clamps down harder, waiting for the fainting effects of the bite to take place* [03/23/09 17:24:49] [Dragon: SSiscor] * watching the blight Sssicr eyes narrow and he changes his tactics calling on his blight skills * [03/23/09 17:25:37] [Dragon: SSiscor] * wills the blight towards him * ( 1436 skill in blight ) [03/23/09 17:26:06] [Dragon: Selarth] *No! Damn you all! He keeps scratching at Ser's face, but all his struggling makes him cut himself deeper on her teeth. He suddenly roars out as the rune is carved on his head, excruciating pain writhing through his body* [03/23/09 17:27:03] [Dragon: Sereamha] *she closes her eyes, taking the pain through gritted teeth, though the claws don't do very much to her pale scales* [03/23/09 17:27:40] [Dragon: Runos] *snarls at selarth, proceeding to clamp her maw onto his neck too.* [03/23/09 17:28:08] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Wants to get in on the action.-x- Dx)) [03/23/09 17:28:19] [Dragon: Lykopis] (... *is too fleshy*) [03/23/09 17:28:23] [Dragon: Severa] *cant watch anymore and lowers her head to the ground and closes her eyes* [03/23/09 17:28:31] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Is too crispy.-x-)) [03/23/09 17:28:45] [Dragon: Rayas] ((KFX!!)) [03/23/09 17:28:52] [Dragon: Severa] ((*was tasked with protecting the little ones*)) [03/23/09 17:28:59] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*orders some original recipie*)) [03/23/09 17:29:04] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Hangs upside down from Nyya's neck, back bent backwards slightly as she lowers her head to the ground* [03/23/09 17:29:41] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*is off speaking mind link so someone not even awaks ;P )) [03/23/09 17:30:03] [Dragon: Severa] ((*has nothing to emote about*)) [03/23/09 17:30:17] [Dragon: Runos] ((I am a banana. /random)) [03/23/09 17:30:32] [Dragon: Rayas] (( *has too many (('s)) [03/23/09 17:30:37] [Dragon: Selarth] *continues to thrash about, but his movements slowly become weaker and weaker. His blight was being sapped from him and the deep cuts on his neck and shattered wing bled profusly. His eyes start to roll up into his head. Eventually his trashes become nothing more than slight twitches* [03/23/09 17:31:29] [Dragon: Severa] *is sweating oceans from the fear* [03/23/09 17:34:31] [Dragon: SSiscor] * directs the blight to an area without anyone near [03/23/09 17:35:08] [Dragon: Runos] ((Is dead or barely alive? >.>))
[03/23/09 17:35:29] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Barely alive.))
[03/23/09 17:38:27] [Dragon: Selarth] ((*doodles pictures*))
[03/23/09 17:38:59] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*watches az Tazoon is vaporised* :p))
[03/23/09 17:39:37] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Grows a beard.-x-))
[03/23/09 17:39:55] [Dragon: Severa] ((*oooohs at all the pretty colors*))
[03/23/09 17:40:04] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((.... -x-Strokes it.-x-))

((Frenzy dragon is frenzied. Um.. *inserts channel is having technical difficulties sign over the gorefest*))
[03/23/09 17:40:12] [Dragon: Runos] *Unable to hold still for long in a frenzied state, she pulls her jaws away from the neck with the chunk in them, dropping it, and proceeds to go around mauling and breaking the limp body that look outright horrible.*

[03/23/09 17:40:16] [Dragon: SSiscor] * summons a batch of brambles around the gathered blight *
[03/23/09 17:40:41] [Dragon: C`gan] ?
[03/23/09 17:41:04] [Dragon: Selarth] ((C, I don't think you'll be able to patch him up this time.... >_>))
[03/23/09 17:41:52] [MarketPlace: Tagath] Greetings.
[03/23/09 17:41:58] [Dragon: Tagath] Greetings.
[03/23/09 17:41:58] [Dragon: Runos] *exhausts her frenzied state through the rampage, ceasing to burn with fire with a snort.*
[03/23/09 17:42:25] [Dragon: Ausixen] ::tilts his head with an disinterested frown:: Ieo wonder if nien will eat aeo too.
[03/23/09 17:42:26] [Dragon: SSiscor] * approaches Ser *
[03/23/09 17:42:42] [Dragon: Severa] *gently noses sssargon and notices the roars of battle have died down and looks up. seeing selarth's mangle and ripped body makes her scream a little*
[03/23/09 17:43:14] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Last time I checked she's still holding him by the neck.))
[03/23/09 17:43:55] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Trembles rather vigorously, head still burried in her chest scales and thinking the worst of her scream. He begins sobbing and thinking his a'mea is hurt*
[03/23/09 17:44:34] [Dragon: Severa] sssargon its ok, youre mother's fine *hugs him close*
[03/23/09 17:44:53] [Dragon: C`gan] *looks around* And just what is going on here?
[03/23/09 17:45:09] [Dragon: Severa] ...your...
[03/23/09 17:45:28] [Dragon: Selarth] *is now nothing but a broken and bloodied body, claw and teeth wounds covering his frame. His blood pours out onto the ground turning it dark red. He bleeds to death. His soul starts recalling to where it's bound*
[03/23/09 17:46:36] [Dragon: Runos] *quickly engraves on the corpse another purification rune to clean up the mess, and to prevent the area from becoming blighted.*
[03/23/09 17:46:57] [Dragon: Severa] *looks around at everyone* is...is it safe for the little ones to come out?
[03/23/09 17:47:13] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*imagines Selarth showing up at his bind no longer blighted because of the runes XD*))
[03/23/09 17:47:38] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Dead bodies just like... turn to dust right? Well gifted ones anyways.))
[03/23/09 17:48:08] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Not sure )
[03/23/09 17:48:22] [Dragon: Severa] ((not sure exaclty))
[03/23/09 17:48:23] [Dragon: Ausixen] (It's... actually not clear in the lore.)
[03/23/09 17:48:26] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((They are teleported to your bind spot as far as I can make it out.))
[03/23/09 17:48:29] [Dragon: Sereamha] *she lets go and smacks her lips*
[03/23/09 17:48:48] [Dragon: SSiscor] *Casts Resurrection I on Sel, keeping him weak *
[03/23/09 17:48:57] [Dragon: Selarth] ((It'd just be kinda weird to go back to where you died and see your mangled corpse lying there.))
[03/23/09 17:48:58] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((*Goes against what she really means and imagines Ser smacking herself* Ouch D:))
[03/23/09 17:49:03] [Dragon: Ausixen] (some RP that their bodies are taken and restored (as there are no bones) others say dust and new body is made... I persoanlly think you are jsut restored to physical wellness, as that doesn't ignore physics. ;p)
[03/23/09 17:49:10] [Dragon: Runos] *looks at her own wounds, digging another purification rune briefly into her skin to flare up and burn the blight out of her system. She heals up with primal health, and walks over to the hatchling den, briefly saying thank you to ser.*
[03/23/09 17:49:34] [Dragon: SSiscor] Are you arlight Ser?
[03/23/09 17:49:51] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((Well, I'm against new body primarily because of what happened to Ryson.))
[03/23/09 17:49:56] [Dragon: Sereamha] ooh fine actually 8she chuckles*
[03/23/09 17:50:03] [Dragon: Runos] ((Ryson?))
[03/23/09 17:50:06] [Dragon: Severa] sssargon, youre mother is fine. please go to her
[03/23/09 17:50:16] [Dragon: SSiscor] * looks to Runos * Are you alright?
[03/23/09 17:50:26] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((Ryson Stormbringer, the NPC on the biped starting island.))
[03/23/09 17:51:13] [Dragon: Severa] *sits on her haunches and tries to pry sssargon from her neck*
[03/23/09 17:51:14] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Remains attached to Nyya, not really hearing her and waiting for his a'mea to pick him off*
[03/23/09 17:51:17] [Dragon: Selarth] *his soul floats back to his corpse, the worst of his wounds rapidly healing. When his body is no longer mortally wounded, his soul rebinds to it*
[03/23/09 17:51:43] [Dragon: Ausixen] (Ryson was a unique example though.. an explosion of pure energy that interfered with the Gift... who is to say what it means for the general population.)
[03/23/09 17:52:15] [Dragon: Severa] *steps out of the lai and pads up to runos with sssargon clinging to her neck as tightly as ever*
[03/23/09 17:52:19] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((I thought the reason he gave was that the explosion completely destroye his body?))
[03/23/09 17:52:22] [Dragon: Severa] ...nest...
[03/23/09 17:52:50] [Dragon: SSiscor] (he also was killed in the pax istaria story)
[03/23/09 17:53:02] [Dragon: Runos] *peeks into the den* *turns to ssiscor* Iea is fine, little cut up but the fire protects her from poisons and diseases as it eats them mostly. As far as iea is concerned, if he touches my aorban he will be mauled again. *turns back into the den.* Sssargon, *puts her claw on him back so he can let go and lay on his back to get to the ground safely.*
[03/23/09 17:53:27] [Dragon: Runos] ((^touches aorban again))
[03/23/09 17:53:54] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Releases his grip on Nyya and clings to Runos, whatever was closest*
[03/23/09 17:54:08] [Dragon: Selarth] *slowly regain conciousness. He finds himself still covered with slash wounds and lying in a pool of his own blood* Nnrrgh... *tries to stand*
[03/23/09 17:54:27] [Dragon: SSiscor] * Aproaches Selarth *
[03/23/09 17:54:42] [Dragon: Severa] *gently nods to runos and pads back over to the nest* it's safe to come out now little ones
[03/23/09 17:55:33] [Dragon: Sssargon] *As he clings to her, his body glows purple and yellow, the colours mixing to blue after a second and the glow slides and crawls towards the various wounds on Runos, any that may have been missed by the healing spell before, helaing them completely*
[03/23/09 17:55:34] [Dragon: Runos] *settles down in the hatchling nest and curls around sssargon until he can calm down, speaking softly so he knows she is fine.*
[03/23/09 17:55:51] [Dragon: Selarth] *his legs give out and he collapses. He glares at Runos and Sereamha with murderous intent, but he looks away and concentrates on trying to stand again. Doesn't pay attention to SSiscor*
[03/23/09 17:56:31] [Dragon: Severa] *walks up to ser and ssiscor* mother, daddy, are you two ok?
[03/23/09 17:56:52] [Dragon: SSiscor] * In a low tone so only those close by can heaar he speaks to Selarth * You seemm to have an affinity for blight
[03/23/09 17:57:15] [Dragon: SSiscor] * Calls back to Nyya * I'm fine
[03/23/09 17:57:38] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Okay, been wondering the for a while now. Why does she call SSiscor daddy? Oh wait... SSiscor... is Rocsiss backwards.... *gears in brain turns*))
[03/23/09 17:57:50] [Dragon: Severa] ((lol))
[03/23/09 17:58:07] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Yup)
[03/23/09 17:58:23] [Dragon: Severa] *nuzzles ser and wraps her forelegs around her tightly*
[03/23/09 17:59:02] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((*Is so lost somewhere West of dralk and being chased by fire golems* Ahhh!!! o.O))
[03/23/09 17:59:25] [Dragon: Selarth] *pants, and spits some blood out. He turns to the sslik* No... *coughs* kidding...
[03/23/09 17:59:52] [Dragon: Runos] *purrs to sssargon* Iea thinks that he will not torture you anymore, but if he somehow comes back again or is gifted, and if he touches nieo again, there will be pain...
[03/23/09 17:59:54] [Dragon: Selarth] ((RUN!))
[03/23/09 18:00:17] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Oh god, not fire wolves now D::::))
[03/23/09 18:00:24] [Dragon: Selarth] ((*is gifted*))
[03/23/09 18:00:36] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Flee for your life Sssargon!))
[03/23/09 18:00:36] [Dragon: Runos] ((On the coast? O_o Oh I may know where you are.))
[03/23/09 18:00:56] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((im trying to find a way ouuut XD ))
[03/23/09 18:01:16] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Nods shakily* Sssargon is w... want-ing to s-stop fight-ings!
[03/23/09 18:01:46] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((being ground-bound does have its disadvantages xD))
[03/23/09 18:01:58] [Dragon: SSiscor] *smircks * Then you sshouldn't mind this * casts Weakness V on Selarth * I suggest staying away from those hatchlings. Next time... I'll do worse
[03/23/09 18:02:25] [Dragon: SSiscor] * smirks
[03/23/09 18:03:08] [Dragon: saphire] *gives sssargon a shiney bell*
[03/23/09 18:03:16] [Dragon: Sereamha] me too.... *her tail flicks*
[03/23/09 18:03:38] [Dragon: Selarth] *growls at SSiscor before collapsing again*
[03/23/09 18:03:51] [Dragon: Severa] *keeps hugging ser* mother why did you do that? it wasnt your fight
[03/23/09 18:04:11] [Dragon: Sereamha] I warned him when he was young
[03/23/09 18:04:25] [Dragon: Selarth] *he swore he was going to murder them all one day*
[03/23/09 18:04:31] [Dragon: Sereamha] I would butcher him daily if he became evil and morbid
[03/23/09 18:04:52] [Dragon: Severa] *sniffles and nods* you and atlanna were right allalong about him
[03/23/09 18:05:29] [Dragon: SSiscor] Hmm... potions >_>
[03/23/09 18:05:34] [Dragon: Selarth] *drags himself out of his pool of blood. His forehead burned... *
[03/23/09 18:05:56] [Dragon: saphire] *lays down preening her scales*
[03/23/09 18:06:21] [Dragon: Severa] *hugs her mother again tightly* im so glad youre ok, but the most important things is the little ones are safe
[03/23/09 18:06:25] [Dragon: Runos] ((FOOD GLORIOUS FOOOOD.. foodteims... :D))
[03/23/09 18:06:35] [Dragon: Selarth] ((lol))
[03/23/09 18:06:38] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((XD Good meal!))
[03/23/09 18:06:41] [Dragon: SSiscor] * notices him moving and casts Root V * You can stay there for a while while it sinks in
[03/23/09 18:07:41] [Dragon: saphire] leave him be hes had enough for now...
[03/23/09 18:07:45] [Dragon: Selarth] *snarls as the roots grab him, he tears feebly at them unwilling to give up*
[03/23/09 18:07:54] [Dragon: Siivyra] *pads in quietly, having arrived early enough to hear Ser's words. She sits canine-like under a tree nearby and eyes Ser.* Butcher him daily? And what would that make you, a shining example?
[03/23/09 18:08:14] [Dragon: SSiscor] * shakes his head and walks away *
[03/23/09 18:08:28] [Dragon: SSiscor] (did Ssiscor do enough this time?)
[03/23/09 18:08:53] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Moar violence plz.))
[03/23/09 18:09:02] [Dragon: Sereamha] never said I was an example, but would make him think twice about harming hatchlings
[03/23/09 18:09:04] [Dragon: Selarth] *he tries to summon his blight, but every time he did so his forehead burned abominably* RARRRGGHHH! *pant pant*
[03/23/09 18:10:44] [Dragon: Selarth] *thinks of some very unkind things to say, but holds his tounge. He's in no position to argue or talk trash. They'd probably just maul him again* *Pulls weakly at the roots*
[03/23/09 18:11:11] [Dragon: saphire] *walks over to selarth with a scalepack of ice*
[03/23/09 18:11:16] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((XD))
[03/23/09 18:11:17] [Dragon: Rayas] *wanders back in and quietly curles up waiting for his A'mea or A'meo to wake*
[03/23/09 18:11:53] [Dragon: Siivyra] *watches Selarth for a few moments.* It looks like he's been taught a lesson already. *she looks around at those present.* Anyone care to explain the situation to me so I don't take things the wrong way?
[03/23/09 18:12:21] [Dragon: Selarth] *glares up at Saphire* Y'all not done with me yet!? *snarls and tries to gnaw through the roots*
[03/23/09 18:12:21] [Dragon: Severa] *lays down next to ser still sweating a little*
[03/23/09 18:13:07] [Dragon: saphire] *sets the ice scalepack gently apon selarth's head*
[03/23/09 18:14:10] [Dragon: Selarth] *spikes bristle as the cold touches him, it burned at first but then the cold became soothing*
[03/23/09 18:14:23] [Dragon: SSiscor] I think she would be best to explain * turns to runos *
[03/23/09 18:15:02] [Dragon: Severa] *looks over at runos*
[03/23/09 18:15:12] [Dragon: saphire] just stop attacking other's aorbans ok?
[03/23/09 18:15:39] [Dragon: Selarth] Don't tell me what to do... *snarls*
[03/23/09 18:15:48] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Continues to cling to Runos' forepaw, glowing purple and yellow, unaware of everyone's gaze*
[03/23/09 18:16:17] [Dragon: Sereamha] I'll use your tongue to paint my lair next time, Selarth
[03/23/09 18:16:23] [Dragon: saphire] *removes the scalepack and with it selarth's pain on his head returns some*
[03/23/09 18:17:26] [Dragon: Siivyra] *At Saphire's words, her gaze turns to Selarth and her.* He attacked hatchlings?
[03/23/09 18:17:29] [Dragon: saphire] the aorbans have done nothing to you so there is no need to attack them
[03/23/09 18:17:38] [Dragon: SSiscor] I just revived him and kept him there for a while while this all gets cleared up
[03/23/09 18:18:14] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Looks at the others, eyes gleaming* He.... he is not attacking Sssargon.. just bool-ee-ing.
[03/23/09 18:18:47] [Dragon: Severa] he wasnt attacking them, but scaring and bullying them

((Seconded o_o))
[03/23/09 18:19:24] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Wow, if teachers mauled bullies at school, no one ever would do it again...))

[03/23/09 18:19:39] [Dragon: Sssargon] (( XD they arent gifted though.. the kids))
[03/23/09 18:19:48] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((And Selarth is a grown-up D:))
[03/23/09 18:20:00] [Dragon: Selarth] ((In body, not mind.))
[03/23/09 18:20:15] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Stilll he iiisssss in the hatchlings' eyes a grown-up :P))

[03/23/09 18:20:26] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Yes.))
[03/23/09 18:21:08] [Dragon: saphire] just stop bullying hatchlings ok?
[03/23/09 18:21:13] [Dragon: Selarth] *snorts*
[03/23/09 18:21:17] [Dragon: saphire] *sets the iceback on selarth's head*
[03/23/09 18:21:22] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps at Sel-
[03/23/09 18:21:47] [Dragon: Siivyra] *looks around in a shade of shock.* He was bullying them? He didn't hurt them?
[03/23/09 18:22:29] [Dragon: Sssargon] If... if Sssargon could die of scared-ness, he would have died many times by Selarth.
[03/23/09 18:22:38] [Dragon: Selarth] *unable to use his blight, he conjures up his primal healing, but it is weak from being unsued on it's own. He regains a little strength, but still is pretty much imobile*
[03/23/09 18:23:03] [Dragon: Sereamha] yes he did
[03/23/09 18:23:09] [Dragon: Lithiane] -sniffs at Selarth-
[03/23/09 18:23:10] [Dragon: Sereamha] *she nods to Sii*
[03/23/09 18:23:52] [Dragon: SSiscor] How long do you want to leave him like that?
[03/23/09 18:24:40] [Dragon: Severa] i only know of one instance where he physically attacked a hatchling, but he's proven that he doesnt care who he hurts
[03/23/09 18:24:49] [Dragon: Sereamha] *she yawns and stands, happy to see he's been taught a lesson*
[03/23/09 18:25:09] [Dragon: Selarth] *he snarls at Lithiane trying to scare her off*
[03/23/09 18:25:59] [Dragon: Severa] this last time he was using some kind of blight puppet
[03/23/09 18:26:17] [Dragon: Lithiane] -meeps, backs up a few steps, but then cautiously comes poking around Selarth again-
[03/23/09 18:26:21] [Dragon: Sssargon] He is use-ing it before.. and Sssargon is hurt-ing himself out of scared
[03/23/09 18:27:16] [Dragon: SSiscor] * smirks * Was he now
[03/23/09 18:27:46] [Dragon: Selarth] I wasn't trying to hurt any of them with the puppet... *glares at Lithi* Just expirimenting... And Slee and Soraii decided they were gonna try and take me down.
[03/23/09 18:27:49] [Dragon: Severa] *looks over at ssiscor and nods* yes. i knew it was him doing it but didnt say anything cause i didnt want to start a big fight
[03/23/09 18:28:16] [Dragon: Severa] dont lie sel! you admitted to me that it was soraii who gave you the idea in the first place
[03/23/09 18:28:25] [Dragon: Lithiane] -shies away slightly under the glare, but doesn't leave-
[03/23/09 18:28:53] [Dragon: Sssargon] No more fight-ings please!
[03/23/09 18:29:05] [Dragon: Selarth] I'm not lying. He did give me the idea to use it as a recon device.
[03/23/09 18:29:16] [Dragon: Selarth] Ask him next time he's awake...
[03/23/09 18:29:19] [Dragon: SSiscor] * mumbles to himself *
[03/23/09 18:29:22] [Dragon: Severa] so you admit you were spying on us?
[03/23/09 18:30:11] [Dragon: Siivyra] *Looks around the clearing scrutinizingly, before nodding once.* If he's hurting hatchlings, then I can justify the 'lesson.' *she gets up to pad over to Selarth and reseat herself a few yards in front of the bound blight-dragon.* The lesson you should learn Selarth is that you need to accept the consequences of your actions.
[03/23/09 18:30:26] [Dragon: Selarth] To test it out yes I was. But is there really anything I could learn from idle chit chat?
[03/23/09 18:31:03] [Dragon: Runos] ((*rolls in* issogood-garlicbreadnmeatballsnpastas D:))
[03/23/09 18:31:18] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((*Steals it and runs far far away*))
[03/23/09 18:31:29] [Dragon: Rayas] *wanders up to Nyya quietly and noses with a smile whispering*
[03/23/09 18:31:51] [Dragon: Severa] *gently noses rayos back and listens*
[03/23/09 18:32:26] [Dragon: Selarth] *turns to Siivyra and snorts* Don't talk to me like a hatchling that needs an explanation. I know what I did and I know what they did. *bares his fangs slightly*
[03/23/09 18:34:26] [Dragon: C`gan] *looks over Selarth's wounds*
[03/23/09 18:35:13] [Dragon: Selarth] *hisses at C'gan comes near*
[03/23/09 18:35:21] [Dragon: Siivyra] *AS to the baring of fangs, she does nothing besides hardening her gaze slightly. Even though both are adults, one might get the sense that Siivyra is older than she may seem.* Bare your fangs at me all you like, you hold no fear for me. I merely wish to impart that violence begets violence. What you do with the information is on you.
[03/23/09 18:36:07] [Dragon: Runos] *her wounds finish closing slowly as sssargon's healing talents do their work.*
[03/23/09 18:36:44] [Dragon: Runos] *nuzzles sssargon* Is nieo okay to leave the den?
[03/23/09 18:37:06] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Nods, clinging to her forearm*
[03/23/09 18:37:22] [Dragon: Severa] *keeps whispering to rayos*
[03/23/09 18:37:32] [Dragon: Selarth] Like I don't know that! *tries pulling at the roots a little more, he growls as he tries to summon his bilght again trying to ignore the searing pain on his forehead, but he quickly gives up on that* Grrrrnnnhhh....
[03/23/09 18:37:36] [Dragon: SSiscor] * seems uncomfortable and leaves the area quicklly *
[03/23/09 18:37:42] [Dragon: Runos] ((Ricepuddings in 1/2 hour toos :O *bounces in seat like a hyperactive kid*))
[03/23/09 18:37:52] [Dragon: Sssargon] (( XD ))
[03/23/09 18:38:13] [Dragon: Lithiane] Meep? o.=.O
[03/23/09 18:38:21] [Dragon: Lithiane] -tentatively pokes Selarth...-
[03/23/09 18:39:04] [Dragon: Siivyra] *tilts her head.* Then you were expecting this?
[03/23/09 18:39:09] [Dragon: Runos] *smiles at ssargon, standing up and walking outside* *narrows her eyes as she sees someone ressurected, albeit rooted, selarth.*
[03/23/09 18:39:58] [Dragon: Sssargon] No more fight-ings a'meaaa!
[03/23/09 18:40:14] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Clings tighter, indicating that he won't let go*
[03/23/09 18:40:27] [Dragon: Runos] I guess it could be worse... he could have recalled and been restored. *taps her chin, but looks down and nods to sssargon* No more fighting.
[03/23/09 18:40:55] [Dragon: Rayas] *wanders over to Yukii and Nuzzles*
[03/23/09 18:41:14] [Dragon: Severa] yukii!! *smiles and waves*
[03/23/09 18:41:21] [Dragon: Selarth] ((I think that age and mentality wise, Sel would be equivalent to a 15-year-old or so.)) Heh heh he... I was. In fact... I enjoyed it. *sneers slightly* *well he enjoyed that first rush of adrenaline, but afterwards it kinda sucked*
[03/23/09 18:41:23] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Releases his grip slightly*
[03/23/09 18:41:31] [Dragon: Runos] ((Hey yukii, was told you are an instructor for hatchlings and wanted to confoirm for listing?))
[03/23/09 18:41:34] [Dragon: Rayas] Ieo.... Ieo wish A'mea would wake up. *looks antsy*
[03/23/09 18:41:34] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((I get that same idea of him. :P))
[03/23/09 18:41:54] [Dragon: Runos] ((Strongheaded teenage male. :D))
[03/23/09 18:42:03] [Dragon: Nyoko] *pads her way in, glances around before heading over to the shade of her usualy rock, crouching down beside it.*
[03/23/09 18:42:32] [Dragon: Rayas] *waves to Nyoko
[03/23/09 18:42:34] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Exactly! :3 ))
[03/23/09 18:42:41] [Dragon: Yukii] ( sure! instructing for hatchlings? sgn me up )
[03/23/09 18:43:03] [Dragon: Nyoko] *blinks with a tilt to her head, then waves a wing back at Rayas.*
[03/23/09 18:43:11] [Dragon: Selarth] *glances at Lithi again and flicks his tail*
[03/23/09 18:43:19] [Dragon: Runos] ((Ok, will send you the standard article questionaire I have for the teachers.))
[03/23/09 18:43:25] [Dragon: Lithiane] -eyes instantly dart to the tail...-
[03/23/09 18:43:42] [Dragon: Runos] ((Its like a mini interview to give people an idea of what you are like))
[03/23/09 18:43:50] [Dragon: Yukii] ( got it :) )
[03/23/09 18:44:25] [Dragon: Siivyra] *chuckles.* Well then. I suppose the lesson is for naught. Either way, it has been dealt.. *she proceeds to cast healing spells on Selarth, some of them with effects that can remove the roots.*
[03/23/09 18:44:40] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((What exactly IS all this interview stuff you're doing, Runos? o.O))
[03/23/09 18:45:09] [Dragon: Severa] *turns her gaze to sii and sel*
[03/23/09 18:45:40] [Dragon: Selarth] *sharply inhales as the roots release him, the blood rushing back into his limbs. He closes his eyes and feels some of his strength returning*
[03/23/09 18:46:24] [Dragon: Runos] ((I run a site called tales of order, where I store the stories on the forums as a backup and sometimes ones that are from in game, that dont go to the forums. But this also has a small resource section now for people to read, so this one is for the hatchling instructor resource list so people can see who is teaching, what they teach and if they are open to new students.))
[03/23/09 18:46:48] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Ahhh, cool.))
[03/23/09 18:47:02] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Thinks back to Disciplinary Xeffer.-x-))
[03/23/09 18:47:02] [Dragon: Severa] ((sounds cool =) ))
[03/23/09 18:47:19] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Don't forget the weakness vyra))
[03/23/09 18:47:31] [Dragon: Siivyra] Keep in mind, Selarth, that I myself will not hesitate to deter you from attacking or scaring hatchlings if I am here. *she recasts Primal health when it recycles.*
[03/23/09 18:47:58] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((I haven't. Her spells are fine-tuned for someone else very similar to Selarth. ;P))
[03/23/09 18:48:29] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Heh... and Ssiscort has been preparing to deal with those like that)
[03/23/09 18:48:33] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Ssiscor*)
[03/23/09 18:48:42] [Dragon: Severa] nor will i *glares at selarth*
[03/23/09 18:49:11] [Dragon: Selarth] *sits up on his haunces and gazes at Siivyra* I wouldn't expect less. *chuckles and gives a weak but toothy grin*
[03/23/09 18:49:35] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Maybe he will get to see that spell again :P.... Maybe it will be Ssiscor's turn)
[03/23/09 18:49:59] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((Heh. Even if he does, all it really does it tick him off..xD))
[03/23/09 18:50:00] [Dragon: Selarth] *eyes flick over to Nyya* Same goes to you...
[03/23/09 18:50:11] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((*does is))
[03/23/09 18:50:34] [Dragon: SSiscor] ( Why? that he hasn't learned that spell yet :P?)
[03/23/09 18:50:53] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((No, 'cause it hurts, like, really bad. xP))
[03/23/09 18:50:55] [Dragon: Severa] *isnt phased at all by sel's comment*
[03/23/09 18:50:56] [Dragon: Runos] ((Which spell? :3))
[03/23/09 18:51:14] [Dragon: SSiscor] (Exsanguinate)
[03/23/09 18:51:21] [Dragon: Runos] ((ooh ok.))
[03/23/09 18:51:28] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((-x-Cries-x-))
[03/23/09 18:51:33] [Dragon: Siivyra] ((xD))
[03/23/09 18:52:00] [Dragon: Severa] i see you still remember what happened duing our fight last time
[03/23/09 18:52:20] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Sel would sooner throw himself into a pit of spikes than stop having his kind of fun whatever the consequences are.))
[03/23/09 18:52:36] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Poor Sssargon D:))
[03/23/09 18:52:50] [Dragon: Runos] *watches as siivyra for some reason frees and heals selarth, angrily gritting her teeth, but she had told sssargon she would not fight.*
[03/23/09 18:52:56] [Dragon: SSiscor] (( Poor Sel.... he may get to see how fun that spell is too)
[03/23/09 18:52:56] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((You may find yourself with a dead character, then. People won't take that shizz for long, methinks.))
[03/23/09 18:53:07] [Dragon: Atlanna] ((Hi everyone...ack Save Sssargon!))
[03/23/09 18:53:14] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((Hey Atlanna.))
[03/23/09 18:53:17] [Dragon: Severa] ((save sssargon!))
[03/23/09 18:53:17] [Dragon: Sssargon] (( XD Hey Atlanna))
[03/23/09 18:53:20] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Hi Atlanna!))
[03/23/09 18:53:23] [Dragon: Runos] ((I try to be nice though incharacter mommy is like a mommy bear. D:))
[03/23/09 18:53:29] [Dragon: Lykopis] (Not quietly, anyway)
[03/23/09 18:53:32] [Dragon: Nyoko] (Hello Atlanna.)
[03/23/09 18:53:39] [Dragon: Siivyra] *smiles somewhat slyly at Selarth when he speaks to her, then looks over at Nyya wondering vaguely what she's referring to. She does not notice Runos' looks.*
[03/23/09 18:54:33] [Dragon: Selarth] *lifts his right wing which was impaled by Runos's spike. It's pretty much healed, but when he holds it closed it tilts down slightly* I do remember... How could I forget? *watches Nyya*
[03/23/09 18:54:40] [Dragon: Severa] you see sel, unlike you. i dont take joy in scaring hatchlings, and i certainly dont attack them
[03/23/09 18:54:58] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Even if he dies. I want to play someone people will hate. Or dislike a whole lot.))
[03/23/09 18:55:13] [Dragon: Xeffer] ((xD Well then, by all means, enjoy~))
[03/23/09 18:55:59] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Might open a slot for a biped or something... I have only three slots. >_<))
[03/23/09 18:56:12] [Dragon: Selarth] Good for you. *curls his tail around himself*
[03/23/09 18:57:14] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Lets go of Runos' forearm and drops to the ground*
[03/23/09 18:57:17] [Dragon: Severa] im watching you sel, so dont try anything funny
[03/23/09 18:57:46] [Dragon: Siivyra] *covers her mouth with a wing-wrist as she chuckles at Nyya's words softly.*
[03/23/09 18:58:12] [Dragon: Severa] youve seen what i can do *summons one of her dark energy orbs* so dont get any funny ideas
[03/23/09 18:58:33] [Dragon: Severa] *absorbs the dark energy orb back into her paw*
[03/23/09 18:58:44] [Dragon: Selarth] *slowly raises a foreclaw to his forehead and touches the rune* *he chuckles* Okay... I'll be a good dragon.
[03/23/09 18:59:19] [Dragon: Severa] *gives him a venomous look* good
[03/23/09 19:00:22] [Dragon: Siivyra] *shakes her head quietly, smirking, and saying aside to Sel, soft enough that likely only he will hear.* You don't have to take up lying as well, you know..
[03/23/09 19:00:28] [Dragon: Rayas] *ponders then whispers* ((Rune = no blight for selarth. :( ))
[03/23/09 19:01:36] [Dragon: Selarth] *the idea of another fight excites him somewhat, but then he remembers the rune. After thinking about the mark on his head for a few seconds he felt like he was going to be sick. His blight was locked up tight within him, he could hardly feel it. He wanted it back... needed it. He sighs*
[03/23/09 19:04:29] [Dragon: Selarth] *he glances at Siivyra* Heh. ((Um, lol?))

((This lol moment brought to you by yukii:)
[03/23/09 19:04:37] [Dragon: Yukii] ( GO CRY IN A CORNER SEL! *punts him* )
[03/23/09 19:04:56] [Dragon: Selarth] (( D: ))
[03/23/09 19:06:38] [Dragon: Yukii] (*mean characters get no sympathy from me XD*)

[03/23/09 19:07:39] [Dragon: Selarth] *decides it sucks being a "normal" dragon* ((Well... as his player I'll give him sympathy! Okay no... Even I wanted to punch him and yell at him to shut up...))
[03/23/09 19:08:21] [Dragon: Atlanna] (bah meanies make the world a bit more interesting XD ))
[03/23/09 19:08:39] [Dragon: Selarth] ((True. I'm having a lot of fun. :3))
[03/23/09 19:09:10] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Meanies make Atlanna go to sleep so Rayos cant talk to her IC D: ))
[03/23/09 19:09:35] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Awww. Poor baby!))
[03/23/09 19:09:50] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*roasts Selarth*))
[03/23/09 19:10:05] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Owwie! I was showing sympathy!))
[03/23/09 19:10:27] [Dragon: Atlanna] ((I'm not asleep!!! I'm on an epic journey! *cues superman music*))
[03/23/09 19:10:34] [Dragon: Runos] ((Even I feel slightly bad for selarth but whee o-o))
[03/23/09 19:10:36] [Dragon: Nyoko] (Oh my...)
[03/23/09 19:10:41] [Dragon: Rayas] ((Sorry, force of habit ;) ))
[03/23/09 19:10:46] [Dragon: Selarth] ((lol))
[03/23/09 19:11:32] [Dragon: Runos] ((Thought originally he was like essence of blight so it would ash him but it just normalized him, I guess. >.> lol))
[03/23/09 19:11:37] [Dragon: Rayas] ((*imagines Selarath going to help someone and getting mauled for it.... him going WTF!? them saying the.. sorry force of habit :p))
[03/23/09 19:12:15] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((*Cant even imagine Selarth offering help*))
[03/23/09 19:14:46] [Dragon: Runos] *sits down, watching from a distance next to sssargon, seeming to be lost in a mess of mental communications.*
[03/23/09 19:15:11] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Noses Runos' foreleg*
[03/23/09 19:15:43] [Dragon: Runos] *looks down smiling to sssargon* Tomorrow Iea will take you to meet someone.
[03/23/09 19:15:50] [Dragon: Severa] *gives selarth another warning glare before padding over to some rocks and laying down*
[03/23/09 19:16:08] [Dragon: Sssargon] Who is Sssargon go-ing to be meet-ing?

((Perhaps he will learn?))
[03/23/09 19:16:10] [Dragon: Selarth] *starts padding away, but he stops and glances back at Siivyra for a moment. It kinda puzzled him that she healed him up and let him go, that she wasn't against him like the others were. They seemed perfectly content to let him rot there all tangled up in roots. He turns and continues on*

[03/23/09 19:16:53] [Dragon: Runos] *whispers in sssargon's ear* Iea has managed to talk to yukii, so we will go to meet her tomorrow.
[03/23/09 19:17:10] [Dragon: saphire] *sighs and gets rid of the scalepack she had for selarth*
[03/23/09 19:17:13] [Dragon: Rayas] *sees Nyoko and runs over and nuzzles
[03/23/09 19:17:42] [Dragon: Nyoko] *blinks and raises her head, then hesitantly returns the muzzle, a questioning look on her face.*
[03/23/09 19:17:44] [Dragon: Severa] *looks over at yukii* good to see you again grandmother *smiles*
[03/23/09 19:17:58] [Dragon: Nyoko] (*Nuzzle)
[03/23/09 19:18:03] [Dragon: Rayas] *whispers*
[03/23/09 19:18:22] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Nods at Runos*
[03/23/09 19:18:36] [Dragon: Siivyra] *watches as Selarth leaves and smiles at him as briefly as his glance to her. Afterwards, she stands to walk back over to a shade tree on the outskirts of the clearing, laying under the branches and watching the others.*
[03/23/09 19:18:55] [Dragon: Atlanna] ((*winks winks and nudge nudges Saphire* Heyyyy...was it an...Obsidian scalepack??))
[03/23/09 19:19:23] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((oooo share with me too Atlanna ;D))
[03/23/09 19:19:37] [Dragon: Atlanna] ((my precioussss!))
[03/23/09 19:19:44] [Dragon: Selarth] ((Sel needs a granite one!))
[03/23/09 19:19:49] [Dragon: Severa] ((switching back to nyya))
[03/23/09 19:19:57] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((You can have my old one! :P))
[03/23/09 19:20:09] [Dragon: Nyoko] *hums at Rayos.*
[03/23/09 19:20:30] [Dragon: Rayas] *chuckles*
[03/23/09 19:20:38] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Oh for crying out loud.. I hate these ogres T.T Come out of mowhere and beat my behind))
[03/23/09 19:21:12] [Dragon: Runos] ((Sel: Just wanted to make sure you aren't annoyed at the rune, if you don't like it we can work on something for rune to remove it somehow O_o))
[03/23/09 19:21:23] [Dragon: Runos] ((In the futures))
[03/23/09 19:21:52] [Dragon: Sssargon] ((Just rub your head against a sharp rock, might nick the brain a bit but itll go away ;D))
[03/23/09 19:22:13] [Dragon: Selarth] *pads over to where his old hidey-hole used to be. He chuckles as he remembers it. He curls up in front of it still too weak to fly to his lair. ((He can keep it for now. Makes things interesting. :3 But it will get removed somehow with time.))
[03/23/09 19:24:33] [Dragon: Runos] *peers in siivyra's direction, as if sending a mental note for her to sit with her.*
[03/23/09 19:25:01] [Dragon: Sssargon] *Curls up beside Runos with a wide yawn, closing his eyes to sleep some form all the fighting* ((Im off for a while, may be back in a few hours, may not :D Cyyyyaaaas for now!))
[03/23/09 19:25:26] [Dragon: Runos] *nuzzles sssargon, curling her tail around him protectively*
[03/23/09 19:25:39] [Dragon: Atlanna] ((lates Sssar))
[03/23/09 19:25:54] [Dragon: Selarth] *curls up tighter and falls asleep* ((Time for me to get some shuteye.))

((And lastly, runos asking about the healing.. she just can't understand why someone would heal a puddle of gore she worked hard to turn into a puddle of gore.))

[03/23/09 19:26:43] [Dragon: Siivyra] *feels eyes upon her, and looks in Runos' direction. She raises an eyeridge, and eventually gets up to pad over and sit on her haunches a few yards away.* ..Yes?
[03/23/09 19:27:44] [Dragon: Runos] Iea saw you healing him. I do not understand this, and simply ask of your reasoning for healing selarth there.
[03/23/09 19:28:43] [Dragon: Siivyra] *seems confused and tilts her head.* He was attacked and killed for his actions, was he not?
[03/23/09 19:29:00] [Dragon: Runos] Yes, he was.
[03/23/09 19:31:13] [Dragon: Siivyra] *returns her head to her normal position as she looks at Runos impassively.* Then the punishment was exacted. No need to leave him there half-alive. Surely everyone deserves mercy.
[03/23/09 19:32:00] [Dragon: Runos] *taps her chin thoughtfully* Hmm, yes, perhaps you are correct. The rune iengraved in the bone of his skull should be enough for now.

((Let the next story begin... XD))
[03/23/09 19:32:39] [Dragon: Runos] The other matter, you wished to learn of runecasting still?
[03/23/09 19:33:16] [Dragon: Siivyra] *nods.* I wish to learn all I can.
[03/23/09 19:33:39] [Dragon: Runos] Shall we meet in your home? *puts a sleeping sssargon between her shoulders.*
[03/23/09 19:34:29] [Dragon: Siivyra] *nods with a smile this time.* Certainly.
[03/23/09 19:34:41] [Dragon: Runos] *pads off with siivyra*

New Look, New Posts.

2009-03-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the newest edition of Tales of Order! The old template was starting to get out of hand in my opinion, and navigating the link lists was well.. evil. This new template lets you browse much more easily than before.

Also, with the search box, we no longer have the fragments (They were a royal pain to manage anyways). Find what you like, and use ctrl + f to find where you left off in the stories.

A new addition too is the Resources. So far there are two resources in progress, one for Runecasting, my unusual thing I have have for my adult dragon, and an article about Order's Hatchling Instructors, for all those happy parents looking to send their hatchlings to school.

They both are under construction yet, but so far are readable.

Runecasting Theory

2009-03-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm always doing something with a rune as Runos. I never thought of it until now but I thought I could probably write up the theory behind it so it makes more sense, especially since Siivyra has asked if she could be instructed in the arts.

Now, most of the time I just try to make things up as I go, but I try not to be evilly overpowered about it. If I fight someone, chances are you'll get tagged with an inscription but I will always let you decide if it works or not.

~~~

Most runes only work in reaction to the runic hide curse, a complex spell bound to Runos' soul that burns onto the flesh of the vessel containing it to keep it bound. When the body is utterly destroyed, the soul will linger in the spot a moment, then forcibly latch onto the nearest body, sometimes even able to reach between worlds and planes to grab one if others are not close enough. The previous owner's soul will either be subdued until the soul expires, or the soul will be expelled (unless the individual has a strong will, in which case they may share the body like Azaraen). The spell originally was developed by a wizard gone insane, using Runos as his test subject (He botched it on himself when he was content and exploded). The original rune pattern was pretty unstable, and Runos in the course of her life has exploded more than once, leaving devastation, and taking another body (it is entirely possible Runos has been more than just a dragon over many lives, but she wouldn't remember what she started out as). Overall each rune has been arranged for a purpose, some regulating body functions like breathing, others are binders to make sure two runes will work together.

~~~

Think of it as like speaking a language. As in language, which is composed of many words, you will have some basic words. Here you have the base runes, which are for things like elements. Of them, the list is small, composing of runes such as Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Cold, Energy, Life, Death, Spirit, and there is a unique rune called the anchor or the binding rune that holds everything together.

Now when you begin to look at these runes and begin to derive 'words' out of them, you get new 'words' or rather derived runes. For example, a spell I like to not use on people often unless they have caused some annoying trouble is "Burning Obsidian"; they become heavily encased within exactly that. It is composed of forms similar to fire and earth, and another variant has the obsidian always restoring itself if they struggle to break pieces of it off by adding life...

One rune not often used is the death rune, as it is very dangerous, unstable, and does not work with many other runes.

Another similarity to language is grammar, there is always an order and a way to do it, and consider how the rune is shaped to be how you pronounce it. There is only one way to pronounce a word sometimes. :)

And lastly, the words themselves. Sometimes words do not exist until the word is invented, while other words simply will never exist as hard as you try. The runes can do many things but.. always they are limited to the vocabulary of the language.

~~~

About forms I've used:

Obsidian Prison: Uses earth variant with the anchor variant to make it stick around the target. Add life for a creeping prison. Add fire variant for burning obsidian prison.

Anchored Teleport: Uses Air and the Anchor. You can teleport things to something you have a focus over, or you can anchor it to a marker rune. Add spirit to do runos' old "Leave the statue" trick (which doesn't work anymore because she does not occupy a statue anymore).

... to be continued.

Resource: Hatchling Instructors

2009-03-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

So you adopted a hatchling, and its all adorable and cute, but its growing up and needs a little education in between the crafting and the hunting. There are a few dragons on the order side who in essence, will accept students for their lessons. Think of it as sending the kids to school.

In this I would like to note the known teachers, what they generally teach, and whether they are accepting new students or not. And better yet, I will go to each teacher to get more info straight from them.

Each teacher will be asked the following:

1. Tell me a little about yourself as a teacher, such as your personality, why you teach, or anything you would think important here.
2. Do you teach dragons only (would you accept a biped under your instruction if they came)?
3. What do you expect of your students?
4. Do you have any entry trials, tests or exams for a hatchling to be enrolled?
5. What field is your expertise of teaching?
6. Do you have any additional comments that you feel are important?

Their status will be noted, whether they have retired from teaching, are not currently accepting a student, or are available.

This is still under construction and may be for a few days, but keep checking back. Likewise, I also feel it would be fair to ask the bipeds if they do 'schools' for themselves.

If you are looking for more information on an instructor below listed in the Index, use ctrl + f to find their name.

(Those that have been talked to so far)
Index of Instructors:
Maekrux
Hraefn
Yukii

(personal notes of people I have heard to be teachers)
Needs to be talked to or confirmed:
Amethyr

Maekrux
1. Tell me a little about yourself as a teacher, such as your personality, why you teach, or anything you would think important here.
"I am one of the eldest of the teachers of our race, next to the trainers who taught me. I've a long history of being a teacher, but some have questioned my traditional methods of teaching before - primarily in my shamelessness when it comes to the perfection of dragon form. I teach because I worry that no others will, and that our culture will be lost without teachers to remind us of what we are."

2. Do you teach dragons only (would you accept a biped under your instruction if they came)?
"I used to teach bipeds as well, but I no longer do. I've given up some Helian sensibility to focus on our failing race."

3. What do you expect of your students?
"Total honesty, obedience, and adherance to the traditions. My lessons require a great deal of trust between myself and my students."

4. Do you have any entry trials, tests or exams for a hatchling to be enrolled?
"When I was still teaching actively, I had little requirements of the sort - I spent my days in New Trismus, asking hatchlings to take heed of my words. In terms of actual students, I judge their level of dragon virtues informally - and then decide whether or not to actually include them in my life. Sometimes, however, I also work with the worst of them..."

5. What field is your expertise of teaching?
"My given and trained role in dragon society is Historian - I keep the lore and culture of our race and those are my strongest points. I am also a strong user of both prime and tooth and claw. I also have advanced study in Istarian Runic, but Star Runes I will not teach - Star Knowledge should not be spread if it can be helped, to maintain the purity of our race, and the lack of discretion of - discretion on the part of others has proven this."

6. Do you have any additional comments that you feel are important?
"While I share wisdom freely, actual pupils under my tutelage are rare, especially these days. To be actually taught by me is a great honor, at least to most eyes, and it is never to be taken lightly."

Maekrux is currently not accepting new students, but may in the future.

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Hraefn
1. Tell me a little about yourself as a teacher, such as your personality, why you teach, or anything you would think important here.
"I offer a word of caution to those who would seek my guidance. My lessons cover every shade of gray. I believe that to understand the world, you must understand every facet of it: light, dark, and every shadow found between. I teach this because too often fear and hate are the primary defenses against that which we don't fully comprehend. Trust is important, just as it is in every teacher-student relationship."

2. Do you teach dragons only (would you accept a biped under your instruction if they came)?
"I am afraid that bipeds will never be counted among my students."

3. What do you expect of your students?
"I expect my students to take my lessons as guidelines. I expect them to keep an open mind while maintaining a mature point of view about the things I teach them. It is perfectly fine to disagree with what I have to impart upon them and I welcome an intellectual argument from time to time. In the end, my classes are simply practiced advice. Whether they choose to follow and learn from what I have to share, is their own decision."

4. Do you have any entry trials, tests or exams for a hatchling to be enrolled?
"In a sense, I do. It's a small series of interviews that vary from dragon to dragon. Depending on their answers and actions, I accept them. If I reject them the first time, I'm open to second, third, or fourth attempts in most cases."

5. What field is your expertise of teaching?
"My lessons cover anything and everything that a dragon might wish to know of. If our discussions meander across something I am unsure of, we take the steps together to find the answer to our query."

5. Do you have any additional comments that you feel are important?
"I believe everything that needs to be said has been stated already. Beyond that, I send my greetings to any future students."

Hraefn is currently accepting new students.

Special sidenote: In another post Hraefn has stated that she hand picks her students and is not open about being a teacher, IC.

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Yukii
1. Tell me a little about yourself as a teacher, such as your personality, why you teach, or anything you would think important here.
"Wells, I like to thinkies that I am a nice personses, and pretties patient with peopleses. I likes to teach so I cans help peoples with anythings they needs, but I ams not a doormat, that is important to knows."

2. Do you teach dragons only (would you accept a biped under your instruction if they came)?
"I teach anyones who is willings, and who has good intentionses, dragon or not."

3. What do you expect of your students?
"I expect my students to follow my teachingses, and keep their promises. I wills not tolerate lieings."

4. Do you have any entry trials, tests or exams for a hatchling to be enrolled?
"Yes, I do has a bit of a test befores I woulds teach one. They must lets me totally in their minds so I cans read their true spirit and intentionses."

5. What field is your expertise of teaching?
"My field? Wells, I am a healer, and a very talenteds magic user. For the students whos get to know me, they wills learn there is no better healers than me!"

6. Do you have any additional comments that you feel are important?
"Mmm....wells...I wills not teach anyones who plans are to hurtie peoples. Remember thats."

Yukii is currently accepting new students.

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Maekrux - "The Nexus War (And Return)"

2009-03-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

Dessert for the Phoenix stories! The original forum post was by Kaerisk on February 6th, 2009

((I've been meaning to put this together for some time, but it's been nearly impossible. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with a strong structure as to how the story should be told. Ultimately, I decided to do something crazy, throw structure out the window, and show the story as Maekrux is currently seeing it, which is somewhere between haunted and post traumatic stress.

Towards the end, the reader will probably get confused, which is precisely how Mae is feeling. This is due to his Istarian life merging and running onto his memories, his fears, horrors, all the things that happened in the past. I've managed to keep that *mostly* chronological though... so, uh. Good luck~))

Maekrux was a noble dragon. What is he now? He no longer knows himself.

His soul was tugged. He felt it call to him, across untold distance of space and time. The promise he made to the Blue Aspect would not go unfulfilled, for Maekrux was a dragon that never went back on his word.

This is the story of his bitter promise.

~~~

Maekrux opened his eyes. His shifted space had been torn open by a red dragon claw. Floating in the cool air of the pocket realm of the Eye of Eternity, the Dragonqueen, Alexstraza, faced the unfamiliar blue in wonder. “What creature is this that wears the shape of a dragon, but has not the mark of the Travelers upon him?” she asked. She was joined by a host of red drakes, mortals riding on their backs, who flapped their wings with the pride of dragons that Maekrux had seen lost in the battles on this world, on his own, in his own kyn.

“I am the Star Dragon, Maekrux Vythulhar, Dragon of Istaria-born, Ulhar Ausixen: the Blue Phoenix,” Maekrux said angrily, though not defiantly. He had grown tired of war.

“Star Dragon, I am Alexstrasza, the Red Aspect, Life-binder and Dragonqueen: She who is Life. You must know of me if you served Malygos in the Nexus War,” she said. Maekrux gave no reply, holding tightly to the twisting power with claws coated in Prime energy. Alexstrasza peered at the energy gathered and determined that Maekrux was not planning on using it against her – indeed, Maekrux could only hold it together with the use of Prime. “You… you hold the Leylines together?”

“For how much longer, I do not know,” Maekrux said through gritted teeth.
“This must be rectified immediately,” she said. Turning her head to face her drakes. “Drop off the mortals in the Nexus. We must quickly reroute the leylines before they erupt. Direct the mages to attack the Surge Needles in Crystalsong and Dragonblight first.” The drakes immediately rushed off, much to the displeasure of the bipeds riding them. “I will remain here, Star Dragon, and aid you.”

“As you wish,” Maekrux said. The Dragonqueen widened the Rift and floated up into the magical stream, taking it in her foreclaws, holding it with her superior life energy. “Will the killing of dragons by dragons finally stop?” he asked.

The red looked at him surprised, and then smiled. “Yes, Maekrux. It finally will.”

“I came here to fulfill my promise to him. I wish to return to my family,” he said. His eyes were distant and filled with energy; his mind was directing the latent energy to Istaria, creating a physical image of himself to be with his family. Alexstrasza slowly began to realize this as she held the power, seeing Istaria through the link shared through the energy.

“Malygos was once a great guardian of this world. He lost sight, for he let his pride blind him. His dedication was not what brought him down, but his sheer-minded determination to prove a point. I fear you have done the same to come here,” Alexstrasza said.

“I have. And even if I go back – even if my sacrifice makes a difference in the community – how can I face them? Knowing what I’ve done?” Maekrux asked, the magic leaking from his eyes like tears.

“Life bears many scars, Maekrux. I was forced to undergo many horrors as well, this war only the recent among them,” she said. Maekrux did not reply. “You must recover your life. You will have a chance to build it into something beautiful – as beautiful as the world I see through your eyes. Will you be able to?”

Maekrux was quiet for a long time, his eyes closed, his paws shaking slightly against the column of energy. “… I do not know.”

~~~

Maekux nuzzled his children as they went to sleep in his lair. He had just adopted a third, Birdrayga, when the call came. His mind and heart tried desperately to ignore it. As he sat, his head poked into his hatchling’s room, he watched them with distant eyes, trapped in the memory of it.

Malygos stood reproachful over Maekrux-Resurgam, who sought to return to the people that mattered most to him. “Second, you must keep your oath,” the Blue Aspect bellowed, “This will not be the final battle; Korialstrasz has spoken it. It is possible that when the two mortal factions invade these lands with their mindless, bloodthirsty adventurers that the mages of the Kirin Tor will use them to strike at us. When that time comes, I will send for you to fulfill your vow and we will fight to defend the Nexus once more.”

“Will there be dragons among those adventurers as well?” Maekrux had asked.

“I do not know,” Malygos replied without care.

“I cannot go back on my promise. My word is my bond. To forfeit that is to be unworthy of the pride of being dragon.”

Maekrux shook his head, refocusing on his hatchling, sleeping so unaware. “What good is pride anymore? We have lost it beyond hope. Pride is still as dirty as it was when I was torn asunder,” Maekrux thought. His tail shook back and forth apprehensively. “And to leave my hatchlings behind, when they are still so young…”

Maekrux stood. He could look on them no longer. For his heart was still dragon and his pride still mattered to him, even if it was only the tiny shred he had been left. At least he would not be made a liar. This was not about his kyn. Not this time. This was the only way he could be the dragon who could tell his failing race what it must and must not be.

In the morning, he told Athina and Daza of what must come, and Birdrayga too. They were none too pleased. They worried for him, and rightly so, for Maekrux was going to war. Still, he would not leave them to fend for themselves. He placed them in the care of another dragon whom he had come to know and trust and ensured that their hoard and education would not be lax. He spent every waking moment he could with them, seeing that his lair would be left in order, making sure his student, Xeffer, caused no trouble with his family and had a place to protect while he was gone. And me made sure that each of his children knew just how much he loved them and that, just as he promised to go to war, he would promise to return. To a dragon like Maekrux, that promise would drive him forth until the end of his days if it was not completed expediently. He had already spent two hundred years trapped in the Rift doing the same.

At last the day came, and he nuzzled his hatchlings and said goodbye. His trip began: Maekrux returned again to that ancient land to fight the Nexus War.

~~~

He walked the winding paths of the Rift for months to reach his goal. In the gray nothing between realms, time flowed differently – more time, sapped by the hateful Rift, he thought bitterly. But this time, something was different. When he arrived at the closest point between the Rift and the Realm he was to visit, there was a great swirling white vortex of energy flying in and out, rapidly pulsing. He realized it was the very essence of magical energy, condensed so greatly that the space between the Rift and the Realm had begun to twist and tear. He contemplated whether it was safe to try to phase between realms, but his presence caused a sudden reaction in the energy, which rose up like a wave and engulfed him. Pulled violently between the worlds, he landed on a platform overlooking the massive tear through which he had fallen. Above him, mana-creatures struggled to escape as their energy was lost to the tear, the hungry Rift threatening to seize it all.

Sparks dew Maekrux’s attention. Directly ahead was a magical beast stronger than the others; it was an anomaly of magical energy that seemed to have been formed from the very rift itself. It roared to life with Maekrux’s presence, desiring to tear his body and soul apart to add to its own power. Maekrux instinctively tried to take to the air, but the tear was interfering with the Primewind, which Maekrux and other Istarians needed to fly. From the short vantage point he got before crashing to the ground, though, he saw that other blue dragon-creatures fought with similar beasts of energy. He would receive no aid for this battle. The rift-creature sparked rapidly, lifting its burning white arms.

Maekrux turned to face the beast in full, spread his wings wide behind him, and lifted his voice in a mighty roar, which echoed even over the rushing wind that escaped into the Rift behind him. Charging the beast, his claws glowed with the energy of his hoard. Channeling the Prime from within them, he unleashed a devastating series of blows upon the anomaly, tearing into its sparking not-flesh and releasing bursts of energy. Threatened, the creature shrunk down and channeled its power into two places, creating a barrier that made itself immune. These smaller tears had substance that Maekrux could grasp, but from them flooded elementals of Rift energy. Maekrux reached up and channeled a ball of Prime energy into his foreclaws, its effect greatly magnified upon this realm, and with a single blow, shattered one of the tiny rifts. The elementals clawed at his flesh, searing through his scales to the flesh beneath; he responded with a withering burst of flame that snuffed the smaller elementals completely. Freed to attack the anomaly directly, he tail-whipped the torso-shaped beast clear off the platform. He followed with a powerful leap, biting, clawing, ravaging the beast until it finally loosed the whole of its energy and remained behind as nothing more than a solid core of dead energy.

The other blues saw him at last and cheered. “Brother Resurgam has returned! The hero of the Floating City Battle has returned!” they called, quickly ending their opponents to greet him. When their battle had ended, the group of dragon-creatures met with him: some standing like bipeds and using weapons, others with four legs but also biped arms and torsos – both were scaled. Maekrux knew of these, bipeds who had served the blues to the point that they were worthy of transformation; they served as worthy foot soldiers, and Maekrux always wondered what it would be like to see such things on his own home of Istaria. Bitterly wondered, perhaps – but that would be a matter he would reason at another time. “The Nexus War has come! Lord Malygos wishes to see you immediately!”

“Take me to him,” Maekrux said. The dragons immediately agreed and led the blue dragon through the familiar crystalline halls, up from the Nexus and into the pocket-space known as the Eye of Eternity. As he traveled, he noted how few blue dragons of unfiltered origin he saw.

Maekrux had not been allowed in this sacred chamber before. It was from here that Malygos oversaw the ebb and flow of magic on his beleaguered world. It was here that he languished for near ten thousand years; it was here that he at last awoke to find a world consumed by the overuse of magic, of bipeds ruling and killing each other, of demons clawing forth from realms yet unknown to conquer and devour. It was a simple space at first glance: a blue-gray platform hovering in what looked to be an endless expanse of stars. Maekrux found the Blue Aspect in the air, tending to a blue portal of magic – a leyline – that was slowly filtering power into this place. Magical runes and text floated downwards like banners constantly writing and rewriting itself; this hidden Astronomicon and Magical Lexicon Maekrux had only brushed in his study of runic hundreds of years ago under Malygos’s tutelage, when he first passed through in search of his way home to Istaria. “That presence-” Malygos murmured. His face turned, his crystalline horns shimmering like the dragon’s glowing eyes, his mouth turned to a great smile. “So you did not abandon me, Maekrux. I have been calling long.”

“I know this. But I had to remain a while longer for my family’s sake,” Maekrux said. He had tarried as long as he could.

“Saragosa!” the Aspect called. From the portal through which Maekrux had traveled came another blue dragon, this one female and noticeably smaller than Malygos himself. “Take over for me, dear. I must tell Maekrux what his role must be.” She flew up beside him and began to tend to the same blue portal. “And no eating the power this time. We will need every bit to combat the reds,” he added sharply. She glared, but said nothing. Malygos landed and smiled brightly at Maekrux once more. “Welcome to my sanctum. In these times of war, I am afraid I cannot indulge in pleasantries such as private space.”

Maekrux tried to smile. “Then I suppose I will not be afforded them either.”
“You’re catching on. Come.” Malygos led Maekrux out of the Eye and up to the top of the floating rings of energy. From the very top, where the guardian dragon Eregos oversaw the movement of mortals and dragon as they maintained the Oculus, Maylgos showed Maekrux his plan. “Behold, Resurgam. I have redirected the leylines to this point.” With that, Malygos lifted his wings and powerful magic rushed up through and around the rings, coating the sky in brilliant colors. They were then captured by several stations nearby, carved into the walls of the Coldarra, and channeled into the Nexus for further storage. The tear in space was the work of Malygos himself.

Maekrux began, “This seems incredibly reckless, Lord of Magic. I had to fight for my life from the moment I arrived because of this-”

Malygos interrupted him. “You will continue to. The Nexus War has begun, Resurgam. And I have many tasks for you.” And so Malygos revealed to him the beginning of many horrors to come.

~~~

After several months of battle, the war ended and Maekrux returned to his home. He found his hatchlings had all survived without him, that the elder he left them with had treated them well and kept his lair in order, and that his home was now invaded by a new clutch. Even as he played with the new whelplings, he could not help but brood over what had occurred.

Invaders had arrived from the dual factions that vied for control of the war-torn world: the mortal races banded together for mutual survival and destruction. They had come to do battle with the Aegis – well, the Scourge, but the same principle – and found themselves caught up in the same war that Maekrux himself had. From the raid on the Nexus, the battle at Wyrmrest, the corruption of Crystalsong, the death of Eregos, it seemed as if the war would never end. By the end, Maekrux was a changed dragon. He tried so hard not to think. With Eregos’ death, he had been given command of the Oculus, which he had used for his own ends – to return in spirit to his native home of Istaria while his body was used as a conduit to channel the incredible forces of the Oculus. The Prime had a strange affect on the magic of the world. Malygos used the rune that Maekrux had given him magnificently, his Vortex a direct copy of the Prime spell of Gust, magnified by the energy of the redirected leylines.

But even that would fail him.

It was for the best anyway. But when Maekrux opened his eyes from this vision, he knew something was wrong. He was no longer playing with the hatchlings. He was facing an impossible egg. He knew not how. But there it was.

“Things are always complicated. You will learn this with you hatch, aorban... but I seem to have made things ever more complicated for myself,” he spoke to the egg. He knew that eggs needed that love to grow. What if the hatchling was going to be changed, altered, imperfect? He had so many worries, his mind could not hold onto them, spilling over into memory.

“What became of the Netherdrakes?” Maekrux asked Eregos.

“Alas, the master decided that they were abominations. All of them were hunted down and killed,” Eregos said plainly.

Maekrux gasped. “How can you be so nonchalant about it? They were dragons-”

“Shells of dragons. Nothing more. Impossible for them to dream of being anything more than drakes,” Eregos said, grunting.

Maekrux looked at the white, but found it wasn’t a white egg, but a white dragon. He told her the truth. Now Maekrux finally understood. So long as he held onto his foolish dreams of being the dragon he pretended he was, she could never be happy. It would hurt, but he told her everything. All of the horrors he had done – on Istaria at least. He needed help. He sought it. He would not find it. Just like at Wyrmrest.

“Where are the Azure?” Maekrux bellowed, his claws holding a massive ball of primal energy in his claws. It was further empowered by the leyline routed behind him; he threw it at the temple, creating massive scorch marks in the earth at the temple far beyond.

“Brother Resurgam! We fly!” young, whelpling-like and untrained voices came. At his sides came five Azure Drakes, artificially aged from the egg by the magic of the leylines, bodies covered with runes to allow them to use powers far beyond their natural limit.

Maekrux’s eyes went wide when he saw them. “You are but children! And those runes – you cannot sustain them! They will kill you!”

The drakes looked about themselves, confused, unfamiliar with death. “We fly!” they said, and took to the air. Maekrux flew after them. They tore viciously at the reds in the air, drakes of natural age and even their adult defenders, but one by one, the drakes fell from the sky. Maekrux could do nothing to stop their deaths, for he could not fight well in the air. And none would come to his aid.

Maekrux stared at the tavern roof of New Trismus. His indelible mark was left there, in the bent boards, the broken thatch, and the imprint of his body. There he had spent so many hours teaching hatchlings, or just waiting for the chance to teach. He had helped many hatchlings from this place. But no more.

Maekrux sat brooding in the silence of the early morning, thinking about the night before. In the time he was gone, his family had near fallen apart, and his dream of finding a mate seemed to be slipping away. No – last night he had given up that dream completely. He couldn’t have known how much he hurt her. No, he did. In hopes of freeing her. Freeing her like Keristrasza?

The runed form of the red lay at his claws. The wards that held her frozen in place had been smashed by the same claws, claws that dripped now with blood. One by one, he carved the runes from her flesh, until his entire chest was red as the dragon he had freed from her hellish, mind-breaking servitude. He dragged her corpse from the Nexus while mortal envoys stormed the Occulus. He threw her battered form impotently towards the Transitus Shield, knowing they would recover her and bury her with her kyn in the Dragonblight. At least Malygos would torment her no longer. When he was not wholly consumed by his madness. The flows of magic ripped at reality even outside the anomalous Rift.

Maekrux was telling a story in New Trismus. That is all he realized when he came out of his nightmare. Thank goodness it wasn’t what he was remembering, he thought. When the story was over and the crowd grew restless, he took his leave to rest. As he did, he heard the voice of a hatchling behind him, telling him that his story was the first good memory he had of Istaria. Why? Why did he have to give up teaching?

Maekrux saw the eggs around the Nexus, carelessly exposed to the horrible flows of energy. They had grown crystals of all shapes and sizes, some of them penetrating the egg and killing the unborn creatures within, staining the eggs and ground red. Others had been outright destroyed by the very axes intended to defend them, stolen from their dead guards. No, this was not how hatchlings were to be raised! And the new drakes, forced to grow before their time, runes placed upon them to manipulate that flow – could they even speak? Whelplings! They were whelplings, how could such ignorance –

Daza was asking him if he was alright. He told him that it was the nightmares again. He didn’t go into detail. He couldn’t. He was too ashamed. At least his family was near and loved him. He fiddled with a ring around his finger – one that appeared from a distance to be cobalt and obsidian, but upon closer inspection was something else entirely. It brought him some comfort. He stretched his wings. He had to. Anything to keep moving.

He flew by New Rachival, stopping a moment to stare down at the decorations. “Maekrux, we need to talk.” The voice belonged to Sereamha.

“There has never been once in my life that a dragonelle has said that to me that everything has turned out alright,” Maekrux laughed. It was clear there was something serious on her mind, and so they returned to Harton together. There they spoke of harsh matters, of hatchlings in need of guidance. Who was he to offer guidance, they wondered? They knew not what kind of dragon he was! Did any?

“Resurgam, you are the only dragon I can trust to maintain the Occulus,” Malygos said.

“You cannot entrust such a thing to me. I am better on the front lines,” Maekrux said, though he was loathe to admit it. His Prime magic was incredibly altered in this realm and it had battered Wyrmrest in their initial contact with it. It was only Alexstrasza’s magic that pushed him back and the mages coming to barrier the temple. Still, to risk seeing more whelpling-drakes explode into rains of blood -

“The magic of the Occulus is building to a crescendo. If it becomes too much, your energies will be needed close to maintain the flows until they can be unleashed at the floating city and Wyrmrest both, and then even the fallen prince beyond,” the Master of Magic said to him. He walked around the ring of the spout of the Occulus, pushing Eregos’ slashed and battered corpse off the edge. “Took all his organs they did. He will be missed,” he said, callously. “You are Ley-Guardian now, Resurgam. Do not fail me.” And the Aspect retreated once more into the Eye of Eternity, weaving the energies together.

“Run away! I need you to protect the hatchlings!” the blue screamed. Blood and chains, bones, animate and inanimate, crystal of unholy energy. Maekrux carved his anger into the stone roof and flew away. Could there be any stop? Where was he now?

He sat in front of the lair that was not his. The black and pink hatchling asked him, “How it happen? Now Ieo have nothing, am nothing. Life gone, taken! Make it go back! You so strong! Make it go back!”

“I have no strength, Maurger. Not where it matters. Not at all.” He sighed. He wanted to snap the hatchling’s neck, to roar in rage, set fire to the trees. But he did nothing. He was bottled up, fighting off the nightmares.

Maurger was gone. A white and turquoise told him that the blue had been replaced with ease. Maekrux only thought was that he deserved. What ill hadn’t he done? How could he be reborn from this? What frightened him so much was that he had nothing to live for, and so much more to lose. So much more.

“You will have a chance to build it into something beautiful,” the dragonqueen said, “as beautiful as the world I see through your eyes. Will you be able to?”

Maekrux was quiet for a long time, his eyes closed, his paws shaking slightly against the column of energy. “… I do not know.”

“… I do not know.”

Carenath - "Son of the Phoenix"

2009-03-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

A part of Maekrux's blue phoenix story.

Original forum post by Carenath on November 14th, 2007

OOC: Its probably about time that I added my 2¢ to this story. It starts back after Carenath's ascention. When I found out that Maekrux ended his life. My memory is rather bad, and I only have the chatlog of the conversation between Carenath-Ziroth and Maekrux yesterday, so, events are not entirely accurate, some bits may have been left out inintentionally.. and other errors are present, but this is what I remember.

IC: (The day after the ascention - finding out)
I woke up the morning after my first flights as an adult, Sha'to, the biped friend of Tyroth, kindly made me a Steel Rune Stylus which I needed to complete the Khutit form quest. I had heard from Ulkjen, a Sslik child, but a good friend of my Guild Master, that my A'meo Maekrux took his own life after an argument that ensued on the terrace of his Lair as I slept. So I returned to the lair, to find blood on the terrace, and shattered Runes.

Unsure what to make of it, I went looking for the rest of the family. I found my nephew Ausixen, and my brother Nidhogg in Dralk, so I headed there to tell them what I just discovered.

Niddhogg mind-spoke with Miira and relayed what she said to me. She said that Maekrux had called the meeting, said who had attended, and said that Maekrux had taken his own life. That he removed the Runes that bound him here, and he was torn appart.

I already held a bitter dislike of Miira and didnt trust her one bit, so I didnt accept what she had said through Nid, he told me to talk to others of Tsargoth's family and ask them.

(the next day - confronting Gald, Merc and Ski)
Still seeking to find out the truth of what happened to his father, he sees that Galdethriel is awake, I ask her if I can meet her, to speak to her about what happened, she agrees, so I fly to out to meet her. She was with Mercurius and Skyliark at Granitefall. I asked her to tell me what happened, she told me the same thing that Miiralaeuntryr had said, that he took his own life. I fought back a growl, blasphemy I thought, how could these two, two that I once considered family say such horrible things about my father.. I told them that I disliked Miira, which enlisted a harsh response from Skylairk. I needed time to think about what they were telling me.. it didnt make sence.. it wasnt like my father.. I would have to talk to others.

(that night - Maekrux returns)
As I was sitting on the mountain peak, thinking to myself, pondering the events, Maekrux called me, he was alive.. he had come back. He asked me to meet him in Cloud's Reach, Chioxin's lair in Harton. I ported to Harton, and flew to the lair to find him inside, alive and well. We discussed the previous events, and began to reconstruct things. Maekrux had concluded that others conspired to murder him, he seemed to blame Aika and Miiralaeuntryr and others who were present at the time. I couldnt accept this so easily, so I told my father, that I would continue my questions, and get to the truth of what happened. He told me, to stay out of this "war", that he did not want his family to get involved. This wasnt a problem for me, so I left to return to Heather, to snooze on the roof of the shrine where Aika and Hraefn often gather.

(a day or so later - Speaking to Tsargoth)
Seeing Tsargoth had awoken, busy as usual with guild business, I mind-spoke to him to ask him what had happened, still not trusting Miira or the hatchlings version of events, suspecting that Miira had corrupted them. Tsargoth, my trusted friend, confirmed what I had heard, to my dismay. Maekrux had indeed done this to himself, I was heartbroken, betrayed, my own father had rather taken his own life, then confront his mistakes and problems like an honourable soul. He couldnt believe it. He still loved his father, but, yet, he felt like his trust and respect had been misplaced. But he couldnt just disown him, no, it would have to wait to see what happened, perhaps there was a way to save face.

(that night, I think - Zexoin returns)
Zexoin, though not related to Carenath directly, was like an uncle to him, he himself, a son of his Guild Master of whom he had grown close too since Zexoin had introduced him to me a few weeks before. I flew to Zexoin's lair to talk to her about the events that had happened, hoping to get some much needed advice on what to do, he told me, that whatever happened, he would be there for me.

(the next day - Warning the others)
The next day, I decided, that I had to betray my own father, and warn my other family of his intentions and his return. I found Mercurius and he told me that Shian, himself and Galdethriel had ventured to Harton, to attune. I was almost furious, but I held my temper back.. I knew Maekrux had returned, and I was fearful of what he would do to them if he had caught them, I shifted about uneasily still wrestling with my concionce, deciding if I should come forth or not, but this action told me I had to. "Maekrux has returned" I told him, "He came back a few days ago, and called me, he blames those at the gathering, particularly Miira and Aika, for his murder".
Merc insisted that he tell everyone. I told him we have to be careful about this, that I was taking a risk in just telling him, that Mae may well come after me for betraying his trust. I told him I would warn the rest of the family, and seeing that Tsargoth was awake, I set out to Cresent to warn him.

At Cresent, I told Tsargoth what I had said to Mercurius, and he told me it would be best if I was not seen with him, that it may draw Maekrux's suspictions, and that it may be best that I lie low in my Lair till events blow over. But I am not a dragon to hide away like that. I returned to Zexoin's lair to let him know about Maekrux, he told me he was thankful, and that he and the family, would protect me, if Maekrux felt a need to seek vengence on me too when he finds out. I thanked him, but I knew I also had the protection of my guild.

~ some days pass from then and now ~

~~~

(confronting the blue phoenix)
“What is it you need, son?” he asked. I had come here to confront him, I had already lost all respect I held for him after hearing the truth from several trusted dragons.

“This was the most convenient spot we could meet. I found out the truth behind what happened on your terrace. But I don’t believe you will accept it. You were not murdered by your own kin,” I told him straight and calm.

“How did you come to this conclusion?” he queried, I suspected he was taken aback by this so I explained to him:

“By speaking to many, trusted friends. Friends I have known, for longer then you have known me. They were at this, gathering. They told me what they witnessed, which is consistent to what you remember. Only.. they did not approach you,”

“So you do not believe me?” he demanded

Annoyed that he could be so sure of events, that he had no memory of, i replied “Ask yourself, what you remember, how can you know for certain, that you were killed by your own kin. The process, robbed you of some of your own memories, just as I lost some of mine, when I died for the first, of many times in my life. You cannot be certain you were murdered. I am not saying I don’t believe you, per se, I am saying, you do not have all the facts,” I argued “Therefore, to take part, on acts of justice, so blindly, would be.. improper, you would risk making things worse for yourself, and me by extension.”

He shook his head. “Perhaps. But the act of murder was one I never planned on taking personal justice for.”

“Draexiira told me the last things you said: The only reason I have these blasted things, is because Istaria itself wishes to expel me. This is really going to hurt. But everything I have done, I have brought on myself. My family is more important to me than anything, I wish you would have realized that. You said this to Aika. She still loved you, right up until the point... you tore the runes from your own body. You killed yourself, did this to yourself. Miira cannot manipulate others so well.” I continued.

“It wasn't her I believe manipulating,” he spat, he thought for a moment before asking “Carenath, you're worried about me, aren't you?”

I ignored his question and continued “Nor can Aika, one I have a lot of respect for. She had to earn my respect, the hard way, like everyone else. And she earned it.” I told him. Of course, I wasnt insinuating anything about Mae not having earned my respect, but stressing the point, that Aika had earned my respect, and my friendship, while Maekrux seemingly thought of her as nothing but a withered scale. And through his actions, lost my faith and respect.

“Likewise, Mercurious, Galdethriel, Zexoin, they are all family to me.” I told him.

He tilted his head and asked "What are you saying?”

I told him firmly “I am saying, I wont let you harm them. They did not wrong you that day. You told me once, your biggest downfall, is your pride.”
Maekrux looked stunned, as if he could not believe he was hearing this from his son.

Finally, he murmured, “So, I see... Even my own family turns against me.”

“I have not turned against you. I am trying to save you,” Carenath said. “If you cannot see that...”

“Do you truly think you can save me by killing me?” he demanded.
I tilted my head, confused as to what he was trying to say, I had no hand in his death, I was actually asleep at the time, much to my annoyance.
“Why would I kill you? I love you. Others are not out for your blood as you seem to believe.” I quizzed.. the thing is, I did love him as a father..

“You seek to kill me the same way Aika did...” he said. what was he on about though, Aika never killed him in the first place, she bore him no ill will, she still loves him, just as I do. So I had to ask:
“How did she kill you again, refresh my memory".

Why couldnt he just tell me, instead he just just gave me this cryptic response:
“I didn't choose this chamber by accident, Carenath. This was where Aika adopted me. I care about her, even now. I suppose I shouldn't, given that she's killed me twice now, but I suppose I'll always be a bleeding heart. I've had too much practice.”

I interrupted with a snarl, “She loves you still. I know this for a fact. If you would only swallow a hefty bite of your own pride, you could sort this”.

“Aika chose her other family over me. She broke my bleeding heart and killed me that day.” He paused a moment, staring at the blue crystals that glistened there. “She could not possibly love me still, Carenath. Even if she did not kill me, she believes I stand for everything that seeks to change her and break her.” I never was fully aware of the whole story between them both, she did not have time to tell me fully the last time I spoke to her, and I did not wish to pressure her on it, she had been hurt, and I didnt want to cause her any more pain. But I know what I felt from her, and I knew she still cared about him, but he kept pushing her away, and hurting her.

“She STILL LOVES YOU. I can feel it from her. I can feel it in her own heart,” I repeated, exasperated at his unwillingness to realise what I was telling him was true.

“You see me as doing this out of pride, Carenath. It is true - I am prideful. But it is not my greatest weakness. It is grief. Fearing to act. The same thing that plagues Aika.” Hmm, if that is true, then perhaps there is hope for them.. if only he can swallow his **** male dragon pride.

I gave a sigh before blurting out, “I told Tsargoth, Zexoin, Merc, Aika and Draexiira of your return. They had to know you were back, I feared for their safety, they are my family too.” I knew this bit would sting, this fact would hurt him more then anything else, he would see this as a betrayal on my part. Ironic considering that I already felt betrayed by him in the first place.

Maekrux was stunned by what I said, he took a moment before saying something “I see... so you betrayed my trust?” I shook my head, but he interrupted “Even if you are doing it for the right reasons, Carenath, you still betrayed my trust...”

I sighed before telling him my reasons “I could not, in good concience, keep them in the dark, while you planned to act against them. You have to trust me on this one. For once, in your many years, trust me.” I could see from his reaction, that what I had done, had really hurt him.

He hung his head lower to the ground and sighed, “You must do what you must, Carenath. I would expect no less from you.” I knew that I had hurt him deeply, and I did feel a guilty for it, but I had to tell him the truth. It would be better he heard it from me, then from the gossiping winds.

“Nothing good will come, if you act against them. Things will only grow worse, I am certain of that, as certain as I am, that you still love me. I am not now, nor will I, have a hand in your death. Nor will Aika. Nor will those I have told.” I told him warmly, trying to reassure my father, that things can be done better, if he is prepared to listen to me, and do what has to be done, even if he doesnt like it.

“What then do you believe I should do? Just turn my tail up and let them mount me?” he demanded. I just shook my head a little and looked back at him before replying.

“And you have the wrong end of the biped. Your pride got you into this. Somehow.. you have been reborn here... changed. How so? I am not certain, I would have to speak again to Valiturus, and ask him about this Runic magic.. unless you will tell me what you know of it. I don’t want to lose you. But I always follow my heart. You raised me well indeed. I don’t know how I could patch things up between you and Aika.. unless you can swallow your pride, and admit your mistakes. The two of you, are as stubborn as ssliks.” In my heart, I never truely felt that I was Maekrux son, I always felt like he never understood me, understood what I felt. Ever since Zexoin introduced me to his father, I felt like he understood me better then Mae could. He and I grew closer, and I began to drift appart from Maekrux as a result.

“Have I changed, or has your viewpoint changed? Is the story they told true, or is it as I have felt it?" he asked "I made many mistakes regarding Aika, Carenath.” he told me.

I answered his questions, and told him what I felt he had to do “You have indeed changed.. something has indeed happened to you.. but regarding Aika.. it is time to stop running from those mistakes. You need to... to coin a biped phrase... mend the bridges. Stop running.”

“I think you are right.” Hmm, was he being sincere, or was he just telling me what I wanted to here, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Recalling what Draexiira had told me earlier at the meeting I quizzed Maekrux “Draexiira has told me, you dabbled in necromancy.. that Aurak found a scroll in your lair.. care to tell me?”

“I did not dabble in necromancy, actually. I hadn't gotten around to it... I had sought to speak to my father for advice and to beg his forgiveness. Unfortunately, Aurak stole the scroll and I will never be able to do so.”
Now I didnt trust, nor had I any respect for Aurakvoar, he was a most unpleasent individual that I had little time for, and I was rather angry that he had the gall to violate the privacy of another's lair, to vandalise it and cause damage to another's property, was most dishonorable, no matter what the intentions. Even so, what Maekrux was considering, was no better, dabbling in forbidden arts.

“I suppose it did not occur to you, that there are other ways to do this. Without attempting necromancy.” I said, an obvious bluff, I didnt know, but I knew someone that might.

“I suppose there reaches a point in a son's life when he no longer needs a father.” He said, sounding broken and defeated.

Expecting him to outright disown me, I replied softly “Aye, that time, was always on the horizon. But I told you once, and I will tell you again, two things. 1. I promised you, as long as you are here, I will always be. 2. I told you, I will always turn to you when I need advice. You are, many years and seasons above me. I would always consider your wisdom. But, on occasion, there also comes a time, when a father must learn from his son. Unless you believe that I have hurt you too, that I will, somehow.. betray you.. unless you outright, disown me. You will always be my father. And I will, till the day I die, love you now and always.” In my heart, I had already disowned him, but I still cared about him.

“You already have hurt me, Carenath.” he said, resting his chin on my muzzle “But I understand why. I will always be your father, Carenath. I will consider what you have told me, and do my own research. Perhaps I need not seek justice for my murder.” I sighed softly, while the events of recent, served as a catalyst, they were not the only reason for my "betrayal", I had already grown distant from him, I could not help but find it ironic, the similarity of these events, to the story that I had heard about him and Aika. How things ended up happening as they did before.

“A wise person once told me, sometimes, you have to be cruel, to be kind and please do. I wish I had been there, I would have seen it with my own eyes. Also consider this, the actions you take, bear on your family as well. Just as the actions I take, reflect on you.” I said, hoping to save face, and end the meeting on better terms. I really hope he will try and set things right with Aika, but I dont expect much.

“I will. Please leave my, son. I have much to deal with now.” he said softly

“Just remember what I said. And take care of yourself.” and I left, to return to the gathering in the town square.

Tsargoth/Maekrux & Others - "Ashes of the Phoenix"

2009-03-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

The initial event behind Maekrux's blue phoenix story.

Original forum post by T-Sar-Goth on November 3rd, 2007

While the memories of the previous night were still fresh in his mind, Tsargoth tries to remember how this all began. He clearly remembered Maekrux taking his paw and moving it under his wing, ripping something free of his scales. Thinking again on Mae’s last words, ‘This is really going to hurt… “, he said, “But everything I have done, I have brought on myself. My family is more important to me than anything. I wish you would have realized that. I would never have disowned you if I did not believe you needed to know-” The magic in the unstable rune he removed then erupted, tearing Maekrux’s body apart. It also broke, removing what was left of him beyond the realm of Istaria. Why did Maekrux do this to himself?

Tsargoth did not go to Maekrux’s lair with the others to pass any judgement… he only wanted an explanation for Mae’s past actions. But now that is impossible. Thinking again to himself, he began to reflect through Maekrux’s final moments. As Maekrux said “’There is no beginning or end, but an infinite sting of events.”

The confrontation began in the dragon’s den when Maekrux was accused of spreading rumors and lies and when it became obvious that more than one dragon had quarrel with him he retreated out of the public’s watchful eyes telling those that wished to pursue this matter that they should come to his terrace. It is there that gathering began, hatchlings, adults, ancients, even a Sslik child, alike in Harton Valley, a group large enough to face the challenges of the Rift. Mae himself jokingly admitted to this gathering was the most he has entertained at once time but this was clearly no laughing matter.

After a brief discussion on which issue should be the first to be addressed it was decided that Aika should began her tale on how she and Maekrux met. Tsargoth, having not ever heard the tale in is entirety, kept is anger in check. He would be given his chance to air his greavances, because that exact moment he knew his daughters were safe. Miiraleuntryr, her brother and his mate, his A’mea at his side and two more cousins were on their way to the gathering on Maekrux’s terrace. It could wait a few more moments. Aika began her tale, “I arrived in Istaria 86 moons ago,” Aika said, “after my parents cast a spell to send my sister and I to safety from Ralgol. I first met a dragon, by the name of Raugainon and he assisted me for a time… he was the first I found and to be honest, we matched quite well and I greatly enjoyed his assistance… we are still in touch now, but we are rather close it was not long after that, while crafting, that Maekrux happened upon Raugainon and I he happened to overhear me speak of my home world and so dropped in to learn more…. I presumr presume… rather.”

Maekrux then responded “When I first met Aika, I knew she was special. I had heard her speak in the dragon den before, and I knew she would have a hard time finding her claws here, especially when so few believed that she was a Star Dragon. But I knew that life intimately, and so yes, I came to find her.”

The story continued for a time with both dragons alternating their perspective on the events they were discussing. Tsargoth remembered how when he first met Aika that only few that accepted her story. True or not it is clear that she had lost her mother, father and sister. Tsargoth decided he believed her tale as she had not given him any reason to do so otherwise. Lost in his own memories of the events Aika was disclosing he snapped back to that moment when Aika stated “you, Maekrux, said you were going to try to ‘crush Ralgol’ from me so I could adapt to life here”. Maekrux denied the words but Aika continued “I feel those words keenly, even now. I would not forget them. you said, ‘Despite my efforts, I have failed to crush the memory of your homeworld from you” Aika admitted to the wounds being deep then spoke of how Ainura found her in depression. Wounded as she felt, she turned to Ainura and Favoran for guidance.

Tsargoth remembered Ainura well. He taught Ainura some of what he knew of crafting and she was a very bright dragonness and quickly reached Tsargoth’s skill. He had feelings for her in those days. Pushing down the memories he returned to the moment and the tale at hand. Progressing with the story Maekrux said “From that time on, Aika stopped spendign as much time with me. She begam solely dedicated to her craft and becoming stronger, never realizing how much I feared for her, never realizing I had somehow hurt her. It was the beginning of the cycle that has led to this point.”

Aika replied “and Ainura offered to adopt me, and as I focused on my craft, it became my passion, and so I became Ainura’s pupil, vowing that I would become as great as a crafter as here. I found comfort from both the craft and Ainura and Favoran’s acceptance of who I was. I did not feel that way from you, because you seemed so determined to make me forget who I was and where I came from.”

At this time Maekrux asked “Tell me Aika: Did you come to hate me at that point? You have claimed you did not replace me, yet you have so admit that you sought acceptance from others instead of facing me.

Aika responded “I became fearful of you, because it felt like you were trying to take something very dear from me. I sought others, who understood and accepted who and what I am, I felt as if you would take everything of my world that I held dear from me and so I withdrew further, seeing as you were still having troubles with Aerioch, until you learned that Ainura and Favoran had adopted me’. Tsargoth also remembered Aerioch. She was a student and a friend and knowing now what he knew he then wondered if Maekrux had tried something with her as well? Believing he would be given his chance to ask, the tale continued.

Maekrux then admitted “I had no idea that Aika had been so disullisioned with her worth in my eyes that she fled from me.”. The discussions drifted for a time when Maekrux said “Let us continue, for our conversation has led away into the problems that began to hound us. When Aika felt she was ready, she began to tackle the Rites. I knew that it was against tradition and that she would be further ostrazied for doing so, and so I tried to warn her, but she would not listen, only stating that she had to do so for many of the reasons she had stated previously. I did not learn that Ainura’s imminent death was a driving factor until later. I told her that if she were to ascend early, she would have to face the concequences of that choice. And she agreed -readily and without question - to whatever concequence that came.She never asked what that concequence might have been.” Tsargoth wondered, did Maekrux not realize that Aika was already above fiftieth season at least in her craft? Did he think a crafter is a lesser dragon than an adventurer?

Aika then questioned “wouldn’t it have been prudent to inform me, as my mentor that some would disown me? as my mentor, I expected you to tell me everything I needed to know, regardless of whether asked or not.”

Maekrux replied “When Favoran and Ainura begame your parents, it became their place to tell you.”

A convenient argument, thought Tsargoth, if he felt he could not be a mentor to Aika and since she had parents why was there no such issue when it came to his own daughter. He thought that Maekrux was simply making an excuse. Aika’s question was legitimate.

Aika commented “if you had directed that to me with the question ‘Why did you choose to do what you did? I could have told you, but you did not offer me that small comfort.”

“It is done.” said Maekrux.

In Tsargoth’s mind Maekrux had no legitimate reason for not telling Aika and by his simple statement of it already being done, it was clear he didn’t want to discuss that particular matter further. Tsargoth believed Maekrux realized his omission was an error but that he was unwilling to admit he had made a mistake.

“you disowned me and dismissed me” responded Aika.

“Or at least, it should be done, but as we can clearly see by the voyuers in attendance, it is not finished. Tell me this, Aika: If I offered to take you back as my niece, right now, would you accept?” questioned Maekrux.

After a moment Aika replied “I would have liked that, but recently, things you have said have cut me deeper. I could have… if you had not spoken such things to me”

At this point Draexiira looked to both Aika, then to Maekrux. and decided to finally speak. “I have heard you equalled her to a Withered Scale. Is this true?” she asked.

Aika and Maekrux both repsonded and together they told the story of the early rites of passage. Aika finally ended the story turning to Maekrux and saying “you finished the story and I specifically said, ‘it is a shame that you compare me to the Withered Scales. your exact words were, ‘it is a shame, but I must.” She was quite clear in her belief that Maekrux compared her to dragons that were corrupted by the Aegis a grave insult indeed, the most foul insult Tsargoth could ever remember hearing. He knew of no dragon that deserved being called such at thing. In his mind, even with all he had done , not even Maekrux deserved to be called such a thing.

Having no further comments on the matter Maekrux responded “Very well. I am a horrible dragon. My heart bleeds and so do so many slip upon my trail of blood. Who else has grieances to air with me?’

The rage building within Tsargoth with Maekrux’s last statement Tsargoth realized that it was his turn to speak but his emotions were too strong. He looked to Miir who then quickly spoke. She questioned Maekrux on his actions “You stated that it was favoran’s and ainuras job to teach their daughter yes? Then why were you teaching my daughter. Why were you guiding her instead of sending her to us. Also.. making advances upon her in an unacceptable fashion as a hatchling.“ She shook with anger.

Tsargoth’s rage was near a point of erruption. His daughters and his whole family mean everything to him. At her young age she did not even understand the meaning of what Maekrux suggested. How could anyone even consider that such a thing was acceptable?

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to?” repsonded Maekrux.

“You know well, inviting her down to your private chambers when she was barely out of the egg.” retorted Miir.

Maekrux replied “perhaps it was a way of judging the level of maturity the hatchling had, a type of guage of her true age. Season alone does not much matter.”

Tsargoth thought about that comment but still said nothing. How could it be that season alone does not much matter for this but when it is about completing one’s rites it suddenly becomes very important. It’s a double standard. Either season matters or it does not. It certainly mattered when he disowned Aika, so how could it not matter with Tsargoth’s daughter’s innocence at stake. Perhaps, he though, Maekrux may truly be worthy of his own insult he used on Aika. He forced the thought away. Anger would not resolve the situation. He wanted answers.

Miiralaeuntryr retorted “Admittance then, that you would take a hatchling out of the egg because their season didn’t matter?”

“It’s not their season, but their age. I had not pegged you for a traditionalist, Miira.” responded Maekrux.

“’Its not tradition, its morals.” Miir replied.

The exchange was harsh but Maekrux finally responded “You don’t know a thing about me, Miiralaeuntryr. Your ignorance is frightening to me and my only regret now is that I did not take a more active role in raising Galdethriel. She will surely suffer under your blind guidance.” Tsargoth was completely stunned by Maekrux’s comment… that he even COULD say such a thing. It’s clear that Maekrux’s defense is to quickly place fault on someone else.

“The only thing she suffered was your mentorship as well as any here can speak for. Even Ulkjen and Merc have seen its effects. Voar amongst them.” retorted Miir.

Tsargoth could see that Maekrux had no explanation for his actions. He wondered how safe Maekrux’s own children were and how safe his still young grand children would be and any others he may have preyed upon. How could Tsargoth tell his old and close friend Aerioch what Maekrux had tried to do?

It was then that matters came to a startling conclusion. Maekrux exclaimed , ‘I am the Blue Phoenix. Now and forever. I die this day, but some day I will be reborn again.” He then took his paw and moved it under his wing, ripping something free of his scales.” The ony reason I have these blasted thigns is because IStaria itself wishes to expell me. This is really going to hurt… But everything I have done, I have brought on myself. My family is more important to me than anything. I wish you would have realized that.”

Aika commented “by doing what you have done now… that shows otherwise”

“I would never have disowned you if I did not believe you needed to know-” were his final words before the magic in the unstable rune erupted, tearing Maekrux’s body apart. Fortunately, the rune also broke, removing what is left of him beyond the realm of Istaria.

Hraefn sighed and her breath became a snarl as soon as the rune broke followed immediately by Aika who roared after Mae, “YOU DAMNED HYPOCRITE!!! I LOVED YOU !!!” But it was already to late for Mae’s body had already disappeared.

The group stood for a while surprised at the drastic action Maekrux took by expelling himself from Istaria. But this was the path he had chosen. He retreated from Istaria, still leaving matters unresolved. Maekrux said he would be reborn again and Tsargoth wondered if would he still be the same when he returned.

Hraefn was the first to speak “A pheonix… A pheonix does not run when the fire is too hot!”

Miiralaeuntryr looked to Mercurius under her wing “This is why, dragons must learn some form of humility lad. Otherwise they betray themselves.” she said.

Draexiira again spoke “There is one other things that has not been brought up due to Aurakvoar’s.. snooze.. I suppose I should speak for Aurak here. Earlier, he found a scroll in which to bind souls, inside of Maekrux’s lair.”

“I have some information as well” added Aika.

“Do you Aika? Care to share.” asked Miir.

“yesterday, Mae summoned me to his terrace, just before Care’s ascension” ,replied Aika,”he said he was trying to use forbidden magics to be able to summon his father back, she he could ‘apologize’ to him… I think we can take that as an admittence to practicing necromantic arts so he could… rather’
Aika said, “he said he hoped that scroll had been destroyed that ‘perhaps it is better this way he believes it to be destroyed that is all I was able to gather from him without exposing myself as a suspect”.

“Perhaps dabbling into necromancy is what has made him so.. “ included Draexirra as she tried to to think of the correct word.

“diabolical?” Aika responded.

Draexiira agreed, “That’s the word.“

With Maekrux gone the group, disappointed in the lack of resolution to all of the matters of that night, left his terrace knowing one day he would return. Where these matters would go from here would be up to the Blue Phoenix. But we now know the truth… there is no explanation for what he has done. Things will never be as they once were.

Note: Quotes have not been modified. Any error present in the original roleplay will also appear in the story above.

Original log file

Maekrux - "The Blue Phoenix"

2009-03-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

This story is possibly one of the most deep stories to live on order, and has many parts from many views. Out of them two posts were made other than this:

The initial event (posted by Tsargoth) provides backstory for all to come.
The son of the phoenix (posted by Carenath) provides a different viewpoint.

Original forum post by Kaerisk on October 30th, 2007

"I will tell you something about stories
[he said]
They aren't just entertainment.
Don't be fooled.
They are all that we have, you see
all we have to fight off
illness and death." (1)

There had been many times he had been tempted to break the runes. There was a particularly tumultuous time, when he was truly alone, as alone as he had been when all he had within him were ideals, and dreams. How the dreams had always haunted him, unrealized, unfulfilled, for over five hundred years. Those dreams that led him to the fate of needed the rune-crutches with magicks unknown to Istaria. Those dreams had never changed, but had been ignored, more ground-work to be lain before any down-trodden could so trod. Ah, and the promise. No, Maekrux knew he would indeed return, and prayed his family would remember the promise he made to them. That had to be put aside, for now. There was a pressing matter that had entered into his life that could no longer be ignored. Who was he to even try, when none others dared? He, who was not even native to Istaria anymore?

It took him awhile to compose himself, rather literally, in the Rift. All he had wanted was to say goodbye, to see that some final matters were dealt with in case it took him too long to return, and to make those who had betray him understand why he had to leave. Perhaps it had been too emotional, perhaps he should have ignored their voices to say what was necessary; but such was not his nature. If anything, he was one who sought to bring understanding and healing to the world, but there was no room for that in Istaria, it seemed to him. He was so bitter -

No, it was not that he wished to be bitter. He had lost perspective. That was why he had to leave. He needed to decide if this was truly worth all his heart, all his energy, all his soul to perform. There was only one place in the whole of Realmspace he could think to go. And so, his body restored, he began to wander the Rift, looking for the gentle beacon that had led him home once before. He hoped that beacon would be able to do the same once more. There was always the promise, yes, but he would not return empty handed.

1 - Ceremony, by Silko.

~~~

Maekrux woke up at the shrine in New Rachival. He wondered how he had come to this place, trying to recreate the events in his mind, but something was wrong; it was as if something had been torn from him, as if the memories themselves were distorted and broken. He remembered his terrace, inviting his kyn there, a huge flight of dragons perching there and then...

Maekrux shook his head. He could not remember what had happened clearly, only sparse details of hate and pain. He turned to the portal, nearly stepping on a gnome; normally, he would have apologized but today he felt no need. It was as if he felt the spirit of Sire Vythulhar spurring him forward.

Returning to Harton Valley, he saw that the dragons had left; their smells were on the wind and he recognized each one of them in turn. Taking to the air he returned to his terrace and looked around. If they had attempted to enter his lair, they would have been turned back by the runic warding on the -

Blood.

He sniffed at it. His blood. He had bled out here. Unbeknownst to Maekrux, it was not the claws of his kyn that had made the grooves in his terrace, but the magic of the runes that had torn his soul in two. But he came to the only conclusion he could.

"My kyn have turned against me and have broken our sacred laws. This will not be forgiven."

Mighty Maerkux was, but if he had been so torn asunder before, he knew he could not face them directly. No, there was only one thing he could do. Carving the foreign runes all over his entrance with his own blood and claws, he defended his lair. "I will find a way to see Drulkar's wrath upon them for this injustice. This perversion of all I have stood for cannot be healed. I shall take all I am and pit it against them. Drulkar willing, the flame will burn away the fallen dragons. The only redemption left is the purification flame that turns everything away!" He turned his maw to the sky and set fire to it, the flames falling onto the long-abandoned biped plots below him. As the firelight caressed his form, he turned around and retreated into his lair to pray and prepare.

~~~

Isolation is not a strong enough word to describe what it feels like in the Rift. Its barren rock bridges lead infinitely to nowhere and everywhere. To topple from them is to risk being torn apart by the underlying forces behind them, twisting and writhing, always a dark, nebulous beyond. How easy it is to topple from them, though, for the bridges can be narrow or profound, unstable and crumble. And the Rift is very strange: it is impossible to summon a Primewind in there for very long, the very nature of the Rift to disperse and end energy. Flight is near impossible, sustainable only a few moments. Maekrux knew all of this going into the Rift. He knew all of this even before he was on his final path to ancient-hood. Somewhere, deep inside him, he knew that he belonged here, now. His body always attempted to return here. Here, in total peace, and isolation, and loneliness, here where he knew he would someday go to die.

Why was he here again? His mind seemed to fog, trying to recall the events that had led him to seek refuge in the only home his body knew. No, this was not home, Istaria was his home - wasn't it? Yet, had he not made it there, only to be unable to reach those he considered close to him? Yes, it was coming back now. Maekrux knew that the Rift could play tricks on your mind. He did not know his memory lapse was not the doing of the Rift alone.

Climbing over yet another gray hill, he spotted a Rift Wraith. He shuddered at the sight. It lumbered about, confused and disoriented, throughout the same paths Maekrux traveled. As he wandered, it phased in and out of sight, its body almost completely erased by the spreading laws of the Rift, unable to live in any realm now and soon to be unable to exist at all. He sighed and walked by it; he tit not even realize Maekrux was there. If it had, it may have attempted to devour him, to survive - to take the parts of Maekrux yet untouched by the energy of the Rift and devour them to sustain itself, a few more days, weeks, years, who can say in that desolate nothingness.

He felt the beacon of energy grow closer. It was darker here; in the twisting darkness below he could sense demons unknown to Istaria, demons that tried so rapidly to claw into the realm below. The realm Maekrux had phased into purely by chance once before. It was a strange realm, much different from Istaria, but it was ruled by warring factions of bipeds. And yet, like so many strange realms across the vast cosmos, here too were dragons. It was here that Maekrux had been inducted into an aspect order, purely upon the whim of its leader. He wondered if he would still be welcomed back after all this time, after returning a failure.

No - he steeled himself. He would come back not as a refugee, but as a compatriot. They had shown him a great deal of guidance and compassion when he last visited. It was for that he had come and no other reason. On Istaria, he felt as if he was the only one to turn to for guidance - save Drulkar, of course, but Drulkar never answered him directly - so it had to be here. He had to learn from these distant and unrelated kyn once more. It was not selfishness this time that spurred him, the need to return home, but instead to make a home for himself, his family, and for all of his kyn. And yet, did all of his kyn deserve it? This question plagued him the most.

He carved an unknown symbol into the ground, a rune: words that speak the world into existence. It glowed, but not of Maekrux's power, or that of the rift.

"I never believed you would return," the rune spoke.

"I seek your guidance and to be among friends. Am I still welcome?" he asked the rune.

"Of course. I am most interested to hear of your journeys." The rune opened into a vortex of blue energy and Maekrux dove into it with a deep breath, hoping and praying he would find what he sought.

~~~

Meanwhile on Istaria, Maekrux left his lair. It was not yet apparent to him that he had lost his runes under his wings; indeed, it was not apparent that he did not need them anymore. His mind was focused, a blue-steel trap snapping at ideas of vindication and justice as they teased across his mind.

He was in a position of knowledge. His kyn had asked him to abuse that knowledge. Firstly, Aurakvoar. Maekrux knew immediately when the dragon landed that he had been the one who had vandalized his lair. He had lured him out as a suspect when he announced that his lair had been attacked and sealed it off, but what Maekrux did not say was that he knew the smell of the dragon who had been there. And Aurakvoar's stench was rife in Maekrux's mind, though his odor had long passed from Maekrux's lungs. From this information, he had what he needed to defame Aurakvoar. A defamed dragon is one most likely to make mistakes. Maekrux knew this, and that was why he had left his lair. He had been defamed, murdered in fact. Every step of his plan must be perfect.

He next transported to Spirit Isle. Few dragons alive were welcome there; Maekrux simply had gone there, dragon and biped alike, in his day. His first time as a Gifted was before the induction of Skaalkar. When he was still the leader of a living guild, he had fought against a necromancer of the Aegis, by the name of Adryl. He was no ordinary necromancer: Adryl had been alive within the ranks of the Aegis at the time of the Gift. Inadvertently, he had received it. He struck in the darkness, summoning bone golems behind Chiconis and attacking the city. Maekrux only managed to beat him by capturing him, forcibly binding him to a shrine, and tearing his body apart over and over until his soul was in shreds. Then and only did did the Gifted Aegis depart beyond this realm - Maekrux hoped - never to return. He had left behind several cursed items, necromantic scrolls, evil trinkets Maekrux thought best locked away forever. He had been tempted to use them in the past, even the recent past - he had taken a scroll used to summon the dead from the head, which he had buried elsewhere. Could Aurakvoar have taken it? Possibly... that would require more research. But to the matter at hand: he found what he was looking for, the incantation to encroll a Blighted creature. It was similar to the magic used to enslave the satyrs, but much more direct. Yes, this would do for the next.

What about Tsargoth? He had been there. Quiet, true. He somehow doubted that Tsargoth could have a hand in his murder, least not a willing one. It had to be the influence of that horrible wurm, Miira. Truly, Tsargoth had probably suffered enough just being close to her, Maekrux thought. Besides: he was confident enough he could take Tsargoth head on if necessary. That only left his tarnished-gold partner. Tarnished, he thought; perhaps that wretched creature has something to hide as well? It requires more research.

Hraefn? The Hatchlings? Her return - no, it would be wrong to dig up the past anymore than he already had. He covered the headless body and clicked the dirt from his claws. They were mere voyuers in this. Accessories, perhaps not.

Aika... yes. The lynch pin of the lynch mob. How she had worked so tirelessly to lead everyone to this conclusion, twisting words, intentionally failing to realize, breaking sacred oaths and shaming him. Perhaps in reward, he could send her 'home' through the Gate of Embers and into the Black Void beyond the Rift, beyond the sky - No, that would be too simple. Surely he could put his mind to work to a more devious plan.

Yes, it began to come together in his mind. A devious thread of fate woven with the splitting of his soul. Just a little more time while he had the element of surprise, and one by one they would fall when the thread was tugged.

He prepared to take to the sky and paused. No, there was something he was forgetting. His family came first, even above his pride, even above the sacred laws demanding vengeance. He would not see his true family pulled into this conflict. He would not risk his son, who he knew fiercely protective of him, in this matter. It was not that the Maekrux left behind was the dark side of his soul - no, there is no such thing as that. Rather, Maekrux's change was that he no longer saw all his kyn as family. Dragons had become as foreign to him as bipeds. Dragons had become as weak and conniving as bipeds. None of them deserved his respect, none of them deserved his attention, none of them deserved his wisdom. None of them had earned it.

Oh, but those dragons in attendance at his 'funeral' had earned something else. A dragon lives a long time. He only fights to the death for three reasons: to protect his family, to protect his way of life, and to honor his gods. They had threatened all three. They would know divine wrath, every one of them.

~~~

((We're currently waiting on RL issues, so the RP that goes along with this can't be done just yet. In the meantime though, I think I'm going to speed along Rift-Mae's story, since a lot more time actually passes for him and since it's only getting worse for everyone in his absence.))

"You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories." (1)

In realms beyond realms, Maekrux was blissfully unaware of his own potential and deviousness. The passage into the realm was frigid. He shuttered, a cold that chilled him to his very soul leaving a sort of emptiness there he could not explain. How could he know that an emptiness did exist, and that it burned behind him, threatening to destroy everything? A phoenix’s flame gives and takes away life.

Two dragons came to his side. He stood in a white circle of energy, laced with runic patterns, shaping magic, shaping existence. Around him: blackness. He could see nothing but darkness beyond the runes, but he could see the dragons, blue, regal, cold as they came to him, as if they stood in sunlight, their every feature illuminated. They lifted his wings with frigid claws and placed two runic discs upon his scales, just under his wings at the shoulders, which fused into his scales with an incessant sting of heat. When they had seared their way into him, Maekrux breathed a sigh of both relief and sadness: he was to be here until the lord of Blue Flight released him. Only the Blue Aspect could remove those runes now, both shackle and umbrella to the very forces that constantly tugged on Maekrux’s body, begging to have him, begging to end him.

“Resurgam. Welcome back to my halls,” the voice came. The Lord of the Flight had spoken.

“Keir elder, I appreciate and respect your naming of me. But I would wish to be called Maekrux while I am here,” Maekrux replied into the darkness.

“Would you prefer Daystar? That was your true name, was it not?”
“I have no right to be called that name. No one save my family has ever set their eyes to the heavens when in thought of me,” Maekrux said, bitterly. But was that really true, or did he merely think it to find comfort?

“You would preferred to call Leader then? Or Leedur, as it is sometimes spoken by bipeds here. Your name, after all, is a corruption of the word.”

“It seems fitting. My attempts to lead have always gone astray somewhere.”

“I prefer Resurgam. It tells to me that you wish to find your way back. You had no qualms with it when you last visited this realm, did you?”

“It was the last time I was here.”
“You are a Bronze now, are you, speaking to me of the passage of time. Ah, but there is much that I found to admire in you that I have not told you. And so Resurgam I wish to call you.”

“As you wish, Lord Malygos.”
The ground shook as a creature stepped forth from the darkness, illuminating itself. He was twice as large as Maekrux, in the form of a dragon to be sure, but with small wings for his size. His scales were a crystalline in form, pure azure with a sheen that pulsed back and forth from silver to blue. His talons were as ice, but his eyes betrayed a kind of warmth. “I am pleased to see you return to my realm, brother Maekrux. But why? Did you not find your way home?”

“I have come to question what I consider family. I needed guidance, for there was no one else to which I could turn,” Maekrux admitted with a lowered head.

“Tut, there will be time enough for that later. Come, let us go deeper into the Nexus and I shall tell you some stories. They are, after all, all we have.” Malygos was a dragon that Maekrux could not deny. It was not a commandment of mind or will, but of heart; Maekrux had stumbled upon him at the right time and so Maekrux knew only hospitality and friendship of the mighty creature. He saw The Spell-Weaver as a dragon much stronger, wiser than he. Ah, but if Maekrux could only have understood: there is more than one type of knowledge and what Maekrux needed was not his help.

The pair made their way from the room of darkness and into another area of the crystalline cave. The cave appeared to be made of a pure, un-melting, un-cold ice, like crystal but not true crystal. Much of it made up the magical Nexus in which Malygos and his surviving brood lived. He brought Maekrux to a large room with a massive circular disc in its center. Sensing more that a story was to be imparted to him, Maekrux prepared. “What do you wish to show me, Keir Elder?”

“When you last visited me, it was a much different time in my life. I shall tell you of that as I did not then, in time. For now, I would rather catch up on current events. Behold,” Malygos said, and the disc hummed to life. Radiating out from the perfect circular disc was an image of three dimensions, wavering momentarily as it materialized, Maekrux beheld a world. Red and blue coursed up and down the sides of two massive strips of land; an immense tempest swirled in its center; to the north, the frigid ice-land Maekrux had come to know on his last visit, red and blue creeping onto it; on the other side of the world, undiscovered lands yet to be explored. “Your adventures throughout the realms of the cosmos were of great interest to me, noble Resurgam. I have visited many other realms since that time, my heart greatly restored. And – sadly – it is as you have said. Magic maintains the heart of evil in the hands of unwary souls.

“Look here: this is the spread of the mortal factions. Their wanton war continues to this day and now it threatens to spread here. Perhaps, they seek to do battle with our own Torrin, hmm? Doubtful. They are representative of but one possibility, as your Torrin was with his people. Doubtless, the seeking of power they face will lead them down the same path as the one they seek to conquer. Yes, I am seeing many, many parallels with the stories you told unto me in your last visit. No longer to I simply oversee the reconstruction of my brood: I have chosen to fight for them.

I have found redemption among the blacks, in the form of magic. So infused with the nether, they have become whole again. Daily, my daughter brings more of them back. Deathwing’s progeny once more has hope, as I do. Finally, I can stand on my own four claws again proudly. But let us speak of that later. What I want you to understand is this.” Malygos pointed at the two encroaching colors and at a black point even further to the north. “First, I must allow these barbarians upon my sacred land. They have proven resourceful so far – having conquered the Other-Land of which I told you – and they will continue right to the Lich King’s throne. When both sides have seen unacceptable losses, we will strike and cut the heads of all three snakes at once. Then, it will be a simple matter to assail the remaining stores of magic and be rid of the magic users on this land once and for all. The so-called Kirin Tor will be the last to fall, huddling behind their barriers.”

“Lord Malygos, how can you hope the Lich King will have unacceptable losses? If living die at his feet, he will raise them again, just like Torrin did on my world, right?” Maekrux asked.

Malygos nodded. “You are as astute as ever. But I have an idea on that as well. I shall show you soon-”

“Lord Malygos! Forgive my interruption, Blue Father!” a drake exclaimed, rushing into the chamber. He landed and bowed his head deeply to his lord and father.

“I am entertaining a guest. Is this important?” Malygos demanded, stepping around from the world to face the drake.

“Y-yes, Guardian of Magic. Dalaran is gone!”
Malygos huffed his surprise, peering at the drake. “Gone? How can it just be gone?”

“It has taken to the sky and moves towards Northrend! We believe that Dalaran knows of your plans, Lord Malygos. There was a defector.”

“Betrayal!” Malygos roared, shaking the cavern and sending bipeds scattering in fear for miles. “Betrayal! How can my own blood turn against his kyn?! Let the betrayer burn in the ashes of Dalaran! Let his name never be spoken! Let his body be torn apart by winter wolves!” As Malygos growled menacingly, Maekrux understood the emotions that were rolling from the crystalline aspect’s shoulders. Yes, a parallel: perhaps that was what Maekrux needed to put his betrayal into context?

But Maekrux was not betrayed.

Though he did not realize it, in the viewpoints of many, he had been the betrayer. His actions were too complex, too multi-leveled to be so understood. He had been filled with the morality of intentions, and his intentions had always been good. But if that could have saved him, Maekrux would not be here now. No, Maekrux’s only hope was to learn a new way. In this cold, desolate region, filled with conflict, he did not know if he could find a new way. But he felt he would find answers. And so…

“Lord Malygos. I will pledge myself in his stead to fight in the battles to come.” Maekrux’s words rung like the tolling of bells through the frosty chamber.

“Resurgam, I – I don’t know what to say. I accept. Let it be known that our brother, Resurgam, has taken the burden of combat upon his shoulders. Let him be forever praised for his strength. Let not the betrayer ever return to the Nexus. Go, and let it be known,” Malygos commanded.

The drake rushed to the air and out of the chamber, screaming, “Brother Resurgam has returned! Let not the betrayer’s name be spoken! Brother Resugam has taken the burden upon his wings, let him be praised, so commands the Blue Aspect!”

Yes, here Maekrux felt like all his kyn were family again. Here, Maekrux truly felt pride. Here, Maekrux would stay.

“Come, Resurgam. You asked a question and I wish to show you the answer,” Malygos said.

“At once, Lord Malygos.” And so Maekrux and Malygos left the chamber and Maekrux began to forget about the world he had left behind, piece by piece, his soul being blown away like ash.

1 - Ceremony, by Silko.

~~~

Two spider-beings scuttled across the frozen tundra. Their abdomen was hairy with black and blue bristles and six chitinous legs protruded from it, weaving like waves through the snow. Two more appendages protruded from the torso, which was almost upright: arms and claws. The head saw with four eyes, black as death, with two massive, hairy fangs comprising the major focus of the jaw. They twittered in the cold. The two spider-brings callously walked over the bones of a massive dragon and disappeared into a hole, hidden inside the skull.

The two spider-beings were accosted by three more like them, only bronze in color and shelled on the abdomen, hiding beetle-like wings. Two of them held weapons in their claws, and the one in the back, large and grizzled, stepped forward. One of the black spiders did the same and met with the beast, chittering and clicking, waving their hands and creating signs with their claws. At last, the large bronze spider-being wailed with what might be described as laugher and nodded. The two guards stood down. “It is always a pleasure to have you here,” the bronze spoke, “Lord Malygos.”

The leader of the two spiders replied, “It is good to see you again, Majis’Tomon. This is Resurgam, a recent ally of mine and one of my Blue Flight.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Resurgam. I am Majis’Tomon, lawgiver of the Nerub, 77 years of age.”

“I am Resurgam, Maekrux Vythulhar, Blue Phoenix and-” Maekrux pondered how old he was now. He had spent at least three hundred years in the Rift previous to this journey, and had been alive almost two hundred years before that. How many years would it be before he saw Istaria again? The thought was only a whisper. “Five hundred and fifty years of age.”

The spider gave its wailing laugh. “A ripe age! But you will have a long time to catch up to your Lord in age. Spell-Weaver, I take it you are here to speak with the queen of these recent events?”

“I am,” Malygos said.
“I am certain you remember the way. I’m afraid I cannot accompany you today. I must risk the above-ground to assess the efforts against the interlopers,” Tomon said.

“Be careful, friend. It is dangerous out there,” Malgyos said.
“I shall tread with the delicacy of a queen with her eggs. Excuse me.” He weaved around the two disguised dragons and exited through the hole from which they had come. Malygos motioned for Maekrux to follow and so the two made their way down into the tunnels.

“The Nerubians have been my allies for quite some time now. To be honest, I would have rather they did not made their Sundered Monolith here in the Dragonblight, but it is the safest place for them, since they have been driven near extinction. Moreover, they have been relatively effective at keeping the Scourge from raising more bone wyrms. They are my secret weapon against the Aegis of my world.”

“But how?” Maekrux asked. The two passed into a massive underground chamber with solid stone architecture. The stone was black as obsidian, but the brick was inlaid with gold in the shape of insects and foreign symbols. One of the largest structures lay ahead and the Spell-Weaver led Maekrux into it.

“The Nerubians have tunnels all throughout Northrend. Some connect, some do not; most importantly, though, they are in strategic locations. Initially, the nerubians did very well against the Lich King. They cannot be mentally dominated, anymore, and they are immune to the plague of undeath. Unfortunately, when killed, they are still subject to the necromancy. They lost to attrition and their race is almost extinct now,” Malygos explained.

“If they are near-gone, should we really be asking them for help?” Maekrux asked.

The Guardian of Magic laughed. “No, no, you have it backwards. We are helping them. Come and see.” The tunnel of stone gave way into a living, squishy wall, almost as if the underbelly of the ziggurat was alive. This terraforming was well-insulated and Maekrux felt warm here, welcome somehow. After traversing the soft tunnel, they came to a large chamber, filled with massive green eggs, pulsing as if breathing. They were webbed to the ground and guarded by no less than four nerubian warriors. At the far end of the cavern was a nerubian with a massively distended abdomen. It flexed wildly, oozing green fluid from the tip, and at last a white-green shape appeared there, stretching the muscular exit. Pressing her abdomen to the ground gently, the green ooze formed a bed for the egg, into which it soon fell. The queen turned around and weaved the goo into a web-like structure, supporting the new life growing within it. The queen took a deep breath and wheeled back around to face the two newcomers.

“Lord Malygos. You must forgive me, but being the queen of a shattered people is a full time job. We must rebirth our race as soon as possible,” she said, recognizing the dragon in disguise immediately.

“You should not push yourself so hard. You can only do so much,” he said.
“I do what I must, nothing more. You have come to see the egg?” she asked. He nodded, and so she beckoned the two over to the far back of the room. Maekrux had to try very carefully not to step on any of the eggs with his six legs. Finally, in the far back, away from the other eggs, was an egg that glowed a bright, magical green. It was not truly from the individual inside the egg, but something that had been incorporated into the egg, and it was growing into that individual. “The new caste grows well. If this experiment is a success, Spell-Weaver, you have our permission to create as many of them as you need.”

“Caste?” Maekrux asked.
“Forgive me, Azhuul’Mehab, this is Resurgam, one of my colleagues. He will be helping in the war effort. Resurgam, this is Azhuul’Mehab, Queen of the Sundered,” the Blue Aspect introduced them.

“We nerubians are born into castes – roles for which we were born. This experiment of the Spell-Weaver is to be a new caste: a new role.”

Malygos turned his attention to the egg. “The energy is not weakening the individual inside, it appears. How long?”

“One month. As soon as he is hatched and ready, he will be tested under your supervision,” Mehab said.

“Excellent. Dalaran is on the move. I fear the Kirin Tor might be wise to our plans. You may wish to move this one deeper into the Sundered Monolith, lest we be discovered,” The Spell-Weave said.

“Understood, Lord Malygos. I shall prepare him for transport immediately. Is there anything else?” she asked.

“No, but do be careful. With the activity to come, I fear an awakening of our mutual friend.”

“We owe you greatly for freeing us from the Forgotten One. That act shall never been forgotten. Azshan’Aqir, Lord Malygos.”

“Azshan’Aqir. Come Resurgam, it is back to the Nexus with us.” The two made their way from the chamber, returning to the frozen tundra.

“What does that mean, those words?” Maekrux asked as the two skittered rapidly across the frozen wastes.

“It means, Honor of the Aqir upon you. It is one of the highest statements of respect the nerubians have.” The Spell-Weaver lowered his voice as he ran closer to Maekrux. “The creature in the egg is my secret weapon, should it work. It will make it impossible for the corpses to rise again.” He moved away and chattered a chuckle. “You should take note of the magic; you might need it again someday.”

“It certainly seems so in this undead-infested land.” Malygos laughed and nodded, and the two of them retreated in secret back to the Nexus.

~~~

(Well, RL issues can be ignored for the time being, since the storyline just got kicked in the tail. Observe: )

Elsewhere, Maekrux on Istaria was close to enacting his plans. As he was about to act, his son suddenly contacted him. “I wish to speak with you further.. away from prying eyes,” he said. Maekrux agreed readily, and Carenath chose the cave on New Trismus as the meeting ground, insinuating that Harton was being watched. Maekrux was immediately wary at this development: had he somehow been discovered?

Weaving into the caverns, he came to the spot he had been adopted by Aika. It was here that Maekrux shared a bit of his past with her and tried to help her to understand that a Stardragon should only be a Stardragon in the company of others, something Aika would ultimately and fatalistically refuse. She claimed, in retrospect, that Maekrux was trying to beat the Stardragon out of her; how was it that Maekrux and Aika had been so unable to communicate that they had to rely on translations of the past to the point of murder?

Maekrux moved to nuzzle his son as he arrived, but his son stood firm and rigid. “What is it you need, son?” he asked.

“This was the most convenient spot we could meet. I found out the truth behind what happened on your terrace. But I don’t believe you will accept it. You were not murdered by your own kin,” he immediately blurted out.

Had Carenath been compromised by the lies that spread around? Could he truly have lost all his love and faith in his father? “How did you come to this conclusion?”

“By speaking to many, trusted friends. Friends I have known, for longer then you have known me. They were at this, gathering. They told me what they witnessed, which is consistent to what you remember. Only.. they did not approach you,” Carenath explained.

Maekrux was right. Carenath had been compromised by the subjective truth. He seemed to pause so Maekrux demanded, “So you do not believe me?”

“Ask yourself, what you remember, how can you know for certain, that you were killed by your own kin. The process, robbed you of some of your own memories, just as I lost some of mine, when I died for the first, of many times in my life. You cannot be certain you were murdered. I am not saying I don’t believe you, per se, I am saying, you do not have all the facts,” Carenath argued. Maekrux pondered this. What if Carenath was right? He did trust his son, after all. “Therefore, to take part, on acts of justice, so blindly, would be.. improper, you would risk making things worse for yourself, and me by extension.”

Maekrux shook his head. “Perhaps. But the act of murder was one I never planned on taking personal justice for.” Had he failed to make Carenath understand that it was not just the murder that had wounded him?

“Draexiira told me the last things you said: The only reason I have these blasted things, is because Istaria itself wishes to expel me. This is really going to hurt. But everything I have done, I have brought on myself. My family is more important to me than anything, I wish you would have realized that. You said this to Aika. She still loved you, right up until the point... you tore the runes from your own body. You killed yourself, did this to yourself. Miira cannot manipulate others so well.”

“It wasn't her I believe manipulating,” he spat. He felt bad after he did though, his eye trailing around the tiny cavern. He looked back to his son. Was he afraid that Maekrux would be hurt in his revenge, and that was why he sought to impede it? “Carenath, you're worried about me, aren't you?”

“Nor can Aika, one I have a lot of respect for. She had to earn my respect, the hard way, like everyone else. And she earned it.” Did he just insinuate that Maekrux never earned his respect? “Likewise, Mercurious, Galdethriel, Zexoin, they are all family to me.”

Maekrux tilted his head. "What are you saying?”

Carenath replied, “I am saying, I wont let you harm them. They did not wrong you that day. You told me once, your biggest downfall, is your pride.” Maekrux wanted to scream out, it was not only the day they carved my scales that they had wronged me! But he was silent for a time.

Finally, he murmured, “So, I see... Even my own family turns against me.”

“I have not turned against you. I am trying to save you,” Carenath said. “If you cannot see that...”

“Do you truly think you can save me by killing me?” Maerkux demanded.
Carenath seemed a bit taken aback and confused by Maekrux’s words. “Why would I kill you? I love you. Others are not out for your blood as you seem to believe.”

“You seek to kill me the same way Aika did...”

“How did she kill you again, refresh my memory.” The way he said it sounded so heart-breakingly incredulous. How could Carenath understand? How could he explain it to him?

“I didn't choose this chamber by accident, Carenath. This was where Aika adopted me. I care about her, even now. I suppose I shouldn't, given that she's killed me twice now, but I suppose I'll always be a bleeding heart. I've had too much practice.”

Carenath interrupted, “She loves you still. I know this for a fact. If you would only swallow a hefty bite of your own pride, you could sort this.”

“Aika chose her other family over me. She broke my bleeding heart and killed me that day.” Maekrux paused a moment, staring at the blue crystals that glistened there. “She could not possibly love me still, Carenath. Even if she did not kill me, she believes I stand for everything that seeks to change her and break her.”

“She STILL LOVES YOU. I can feel it from her. I can feel it in her own heart,” Carenath tried to argue.

“You see me as doing this out of pride, Carenath. It is true - I am prideful. But it is not my greatest weakness. It is grief. Fearing to act. The same thing that plagues Aika.”

Carenath sighed and blurted out, “I told Tsargoth, Zexoin, Merc, Aika and Draexiira of your return. They had to know you were back, I feared for their safety, they are my family too.”

Maekrux could hardly believe what he had just heard. “I see... so you betrayed my trust?” Carenath shook his head but Maekrux continued stronger, “Even if you are doing it for the right reasons, Carenath, you still betrayed my trust...”

“I could not, in good conciance, keep them in the dark, while you planned to act against them. You have to trust me on this one. For once, in your many years, trust me.” How could he dare ask for trust after admitting that trust had been broken? The image of Carenath blurred.

Maekrux shook the water from his eyes, “You must do what you must, Carenath. I would expect no less from you.” He had taught his son too well. He has to do what he believes is right, even if it is what Maekrux knows is wrong. Still – wasn’t that what happened with Aika?

“Nothing good will come, if you act against them. Things will only grow worse, I am certain of that, as certain as I am, that you still love me. I am not now, nor will I, have a hand in your death. Nor will Aika. Nor will those I have told.” Perhaps hundreds of years later, Carenath would wonder if he had killed his father that day, as Maekrux wondered about his own father. How could Carenath know that in preventing Maekrux’s claw from falling, he was dooming his father to an even worse fate?

“What then do you believe I should do? Just turn my tail up and let them mount me?” Maekrux demanded.

“And you have the wrong end of the biped. Your pride got you into this.” Pride? Carenath had learned to think with his heart, and not his head. Pride was no longer the factor involved. “Somehow.. you have been reborn here... changed. How so? I am not certain, I would have to speak again to Valiturus, and ask him about this Runic magic.. unless you will tell me what you know of it. I don’t want to lose you. But I always follow my heart. You raised me well indeed. I don’t know how I could patch things up between you and Aika.. unless you can swallow your pride, and admit your mistakes. The two of you, are as stubborn as ssliks.”

“Have I changed, or has your viewpoint changed? Is the story they told true, or is it as I have felt it? I made many mistakes regarding Aika, Carenath.”

“You have indeed changed.. something has indeed happened to you.. but regarding Aika.. it is time to stop running from those mistakes. You need to... to coin a biped phrase... mend the bridges. Stop running.”

Maekrux stood up. He had heard enough. “I think you are right.”

“Draexiira has told me, you dabbled in necromancy.. that Aurak found a scroll in your lair.. care to tell me?”

“I did not dabble in necromancy, actually. I hadn't gotten around to it... I had sought to speak to my father for advice and to beg his forgiveness. Unfortunately, Aurak stole the scroll and I will never be able to do so.”

“I suppose it did not occur to you, that there are other ways to do this. Without attempting necromancy.” Ah, but that had occurred to him. There was no way to contact a spirit after it had traversed the stars to the realm of Spirit, except through necromancy. But Maekrux was no longer in the mind to share that with his son.

“I suppose there reaches a point in a son's life when he no longer needs a father.”

“Aye, that time, was always on the horizon. But I told you once, and I will tell you again, two things. 1. I promised you, as long as you are here, I will always be. 2. I told you, I will always turn to you when I need advice. You are, many years and seasons above me. I would always consider your wisdom. But, on occasion, there also comes a time, when a father must learn from his son. Unless you believe that I have hurt you too, that I will, somehow.. betray you.. unless you outright, disown me. You will always be my father. And I will, till the day I die, love you now and always.”

Maekrux sighed. Carenath had blinded himself to the truth. “You already have hurt me, Carenath.” Before he could reply, he placed his chin on Carnath’s muzzle. “But I understand why. I will always be your father, Carenath. I will consider what you have told me, and do my own research. Perhaps I need not seek justice for my murder.” In the back of Maekrux’s mind, he knew that murder was only one thing for which he needed justice. But the events of his ‘demise’ and of Carenath and Aika’s betrayal had severed the link between love and trust irreparably and he said nothing.

“A wise person once told me, sometimes, you have to be cruel, to be kind.” Ironic, to hear Carenath say that. Such had been Maekrux’s reasons for disowning Aika in the first place. “Please do. I wish I had been there, I would have seen it with my own eyes. Also consider this, the actions you take, bear on your family as well. Just as the actions I take, reflect on you.”

“I will. Please leave my, son. I have much to deal with now.”

“Just remember what I said. And take care of yourself.” And Carenath left.

What now? Maekrux no longer had the heart to act. Even if justice needed to be done, who did it serve? There were no strong dragons left in the world; he realized that now. He had hoped that somehow his trials and divine retribution would inspire and make the next and current generation understand what it meant to be dragon. But it was becoming obvious to Maekrux that, day by day, what it meant to be dragon was completely and permanently lost to his kyn. To act now would be for no reason other than pride, for no one else would see the benefit or even understand why he had acted as such. They already seem to think I have multiple personalities or something! Maekrux thought. The Destructive Flame within him was dying. The phoenix within him was dying. Maekrux did not leave Istaria to give up, but to find direction. The Maekrux left behind, however, was now considering it. When Resurgam returned, there would be hell to pay. Maekrux was dying.

But no one yet knew it.

~~~

"Their evil is mighty
but it can't stand up to our stories.
So they try to destroy the stories
let the stories be confused or forgotten.
They would like that
They would be happy
Because we would be defenseless then." (1)

It had been three months for Resurgam just getting to the realm, and now he had spent two months there. The experiment had been successful and the Lich King was unaware, just as Malygos had planned. All was going according to plan for the Blue Flight, but not for Maekrux, for Maekrux had almost forgotten the reason for which he had come. He worked on his runic; forever had he found power in symbols and enjoyed the thought of writing existence into being through the runes. Malygos had commented that his calligraphy was poor, to which both laughed jovially, and so that was where Maekrux found himself, practicing his calligraphy with all five digits. Carving the magic into the air, claw tips dancing and glowing as they moved side to side, round and around as the hands that held them turned and waved, long runic stories came into existence only to fade away upon reading, never to be perfectly repeated again. It was a serious meditation upon the power that stories had and upon the patience and reverence to let things come and pass that would drive the industrious mad. But Maekrux understood the value to such patience, for Maekrux was dragon.

Once more the symbols faded into nothingness, leaving behind only their memory. As they did, Malygos stepped into the chamber and lumbered around Maekrux, curling in front of him. “Brother Resurgam, I would like to thank you.”

“Thank me? Why, Lord Malygos?” he asked.

“For me to answer that question, I must tell you a story. When you last visited here, many years ago, it was a different time indeed. I was a tired and unfeeling wreck. And that too requires a story which I shall impart to you now.

“Long, long ago, over ten thousand years, we dragons were whole. We had been empowered by the Travelers to defend this realm from all forms of evil – those who sought the destruction or subjection of this land. We discovered in time that such evil did exist and it made itself known as the Burning Legion: the infinite evil that has threatened this land since the Old Gods were subdued. When they came into this land, we dragons came together to decide how best to withstand their threat. Our youngest aspect and my greatest friend, the Black Aspect suggested that we turn all the power of the dragon race against the interlopers through an artifact called the Dragon Soul: his own creation to be imbued with the essence of every living dragon. It would permit us to share our power, every dragon’s power in every dragon, and form a nigh undefeatable force. Some were skeptical of this sharing, but I stood by my brother’s side. I urged the others to contribute to the Dragon Soul. And so the dragons were convinced. But the Black Aspect, unbeknownst to us all, did not contribute his essence. He had been tainted by something ancient and evil. With it, he took control of every dragon at the apex of a great battle. We blue dragons, masters of Magic, were the only ones who were able to resist the control and so we tried to stop him. But though we could not be controlled, we could be killed and through the magic of that infernal device, my entire Blue Flight was destroyed in a cloud of blood. I survived only for my strength, but I was unable to resist again. He – he who became Deathwing had destroyed my heart. The blood of my children rained down upon me, and I wept.

“Though he was eventually deprived of the Dragon Soul and forced into hiding, my heart had broken beyond repair. I cared for nothing but my own grief and sealed myself away in the Nexus. In retrospect, I might have been considered insane, for my viewpoint was so skewed that I saw all as unnecessary, un-alive, unforgivable. I raged internally amidst my sorrow. And for ten thousand years, I saw none, inconsolable.

“I was approached by Krasus, a red dragon in disguise. He wished to free my sister, Alexstrasza, from the binds of the orcs. Though Deathwing could no longer use the Dragon Soul, he had duped others into using it for him. I did not care, though. For inside I was bitter and broken still. But then he offered me hope: my sister, Alexstrasza is the Life-Binder. She would be able to restore some of my flight to me, not those who had died, no, but to give to me new children, another chance. Begrudgingly, I agreed. We fought with Deathwing while the mage Rhonin destroyed the Dragon Soul with a scale from Deathwing himself. With Alexstrasza freed and our powers fully restored, we attacked at full force, and Deathwing was defeated.

“Even this did not restore my sanity. Killing my brother was only the first step at healing for me, for the wounds had festered for ten thousand years. That was when you arrived, Maekrux. Resurgam. I had been overseeing the few children Alexstrasza had given to me, when you arrived. I was interested in you, for you were different, a distraction. At first, I thought you one of my own children! Perhaps that is why it was so easy to call you Brother. But you were a distraction from the pain. In your stories, I began to see that I was not the only one who had suffered. Perhaps you have not suffered on the scale that I have, but you have known what it is like to be completely without family. You have known was it was like to be without friends. You have known what it is like to be without power. And still, you tried. I was so amazed at how you had suffered and yet still continued to try. That was why I took you under my wing; that was why I helped you: I wanted to be like you, Resurgam. I wanted to be able to rise again.

“And so that is how we came to this place. I have found redemption for the blacks, I have found hope, and I have found conviction – sweet conviction – the purpose for which I now must live. I cannot express how good it is to see you again.”

“Lord Malygos, I don’t know what to say… I am honored,” Maekrux said after a pause. He was struck by the Spell-Weaver’s candidness. How could so ancient and great a dragon as Malygos have fallen so far? How could Maekrux have been the one to raise him up again?

“You are more than honored, Resurgam: you are blessed.” If only Makerux knew it.

“I am glad to be here, Malygos. But-” he paused. But what? He had come here for a reason, but he could not remember what it was. He had family here and – ah, that’s right, he had questions about family. “Malygos, you found redemptions in the blacks. They all turned against the other dragons, didn’t they?”

“Yes, though the evil of their Aspect. But through magic, they have been restored. Come and see.” And so Malygos led Maekrux from the chamber and to another place within the Nexus.

1 - Ceremony, by Silko.

~~~

Maekrux erased away the last rune on his lair. No traps, no wards, no living thing remained within its bounds. He stared at the entrance for a long time. It had been over a year since he abandoned Selen for a lair of his own. This place was supposed to have been his fortress of solitude, with only one secret path up to it. How strange, he thought, to have longed it was not so, only to now, with his lair being so often visited, wonder why he had so longed for it. He had considering collapsing the entrance, but he had put too much work into it. This lair, which he had built for his family, his mate, would lay as dormant as his family and mates were now. Perhaps it was to stand as testament to what might have been, just as one of his dead hatchling’s lair in Snowfall was. “And so, I retire,” he said to no one in particular and took to the air.

It was a long and heavy flight. Maekrux did not have many worldy possessions, compared to others of his age; still, he needed some construction materials and items of importance, relics of the past, knick-knacks, and mementos mostly, memories of things now gone. It was hard to explain how Maekrux felt during that flight. Anguish, bitterness, grief – these words are merely words. Maekrux’s heart dug at him and tore at the walls of his chest like a trapped animal.

At last, the old and half-blighted isle came into view. It made sense to him. It was an isle of duality, of many levels, of history, and of loss. Where else could he go? If he was not to fight, if he was the last of his race, there could be no other place for him. Here, where knowledge and history and learning had been cast aside, torn asunder by hate, death, and evil; here, where scholars of old had once retired, where they became old teachers; here, where shadows of two generations and their teachers still wandered. He would retire to Draak and let his knowledge die with him.

He took up the high ground, a bit removed from the other three dragons who continued their watch. There would be time enough to carve a hut in the side of the cliff. For now, he merely took to the shadow of some rocks and curled up in them. It brought back memories. Maekrux’s first ‘lair’ was a series of rocks not far from Kirascant. It was there he had first found love and entertained guests. Of course, he fit in those rocks a lot better back then. Now that he was an ancient, he felt rather childish, curled up in those rocks like a hatchling. Still, he found more comfort within those tiny confines than he did at his relatively massive Harton lair.

Maekrux stood up again, unpacking some of his equipment. The first was a series of large travertine bricks, carved with runes. They would keep the Aegis at bay, should they wander up the mountain, though the other dragons should be watching that daily. Maekrux could not trust them, though. Not because they fled at the fall of Draak, but because he now distrusted all his kyn. He saw them now as wurms – wingless dragons who had lost language, culture, and vision along with their wings. It was a sad and bitter fate for one who had given his life to the pursuit of a dream of building a community. He dropped the last block into place. But for the first time in his life, Maekrux had given up.

He rested between them and thought of his son- no, wait. He no longer had a son. Carenath had decided that Maekrux’s crimes were so heinous, such a betrayal of trust, his faith had been irreparably shaken. This, at the same time he discovered within him another self that made him feel as old as Maekrux. Maekrux supported his son – protégé, as he was now – in his choice. Not because Maekrux wished to be rid of Carenath, but because he loved him dearly. Indeed, as Carenath had mentioned, the similarities between Aika and Carenath had become eerie. Carenath disowned himself to find his own path. Maekrux has disowned Aika so she could find hers. And Maekrux himself? Oh yes, he also disowned himself to find his own path in life. Seems that sort of thing ran in his family. No wonder they wished to be rid of him, rid of the past.

While this was only a half-truth, Maekrux no longer desired to see. The great and proud hypocrite, paragon of the dragon race, was no more. Pride had become dirty; hypocrisy had become dirty. Duality, building, seeing beyond the ground level of things; clearly they held no further value. The dragon was dead. The dragon was dead and the Empire had killed it. We have killed it, Maekrux thought.

He couldn’t go to the Rift, which was what he really wanted to do. For some reason, his ancient-rite Rune of Teleportation no longer worked for him and he had no need for the runes on his shoulders. He loathed himself for wanting to run, bitter and raged amidst his own internal struggles, his family gone – again – with only a daughter who had flown the nest and was well into her own life.

And yet even here, voices bugged him. Tsargoth, welcoming him back to Istaria after his ‘absence’ which had merely consisted of hiding himself with magic. Hiding was entirely unnecessary since Carenath’s good-conscience betrayal. What’s the worst they could do, kill him? Death had no meaning any more than life did to him now. A human who had precipitated meeting with Aurakvoar the day before and ultimately leading to Carenath’s self-disownment; he was rambling madly about some possession or other in Galdethriel. It was the first Maekrux had heard of it. That made him even more bitter and angry: perhaps Miira and Tsargoth would not have so readily turned against him if they had just bothered to face him and ask for help? Maekrux would have willingly given it then. He could not now. No, there was no reason to help. His race was dead. The only merciful thing he could do now was to take his memories and knowledge with him to the grave. Never should the wurm race know what it once was, lest it felt the utter shame of what it had become. They had killed the stories and left Maekrux to deliver the deathblow. They would be happy to see the stories confused and forgotten. Perhaps ignorance could be bliss.

He stared out at the blight surrounding him on all sides, at the walking corpses of his tiny kyn below. He sighed as the stench of blight filled his nostrils as the wind shifted. Even though three dragons lived nearby, he felt as isolated as when he was in the Rift. There were only two who might pull him back now, but he would not expect them. He surveyed this new, empty, desolate domain. “And so, I am home,” he said and curled back into the shadow of the rocks.

~~~

Several netherdrakes clustered in a large open chamber, with a great flame in the center of the hall. Their scales were lucid and almost see-through, like a translucent skin of gel, usually black or blue. The larger dragons had been so irradiated by magic that their skin was white-blue, not see-through, but clouded and ghostly. They sought the warmth of the flame as they shivered in the cold. “Malygos, what is this?” Resurgam asked.

“These are the netherdrakes. They were eggs left behind by Deathwing on the Otherworld I told you of before. When the Otherworld was destroyed, they were irradiated in the egg by the cataclysmic magical energy and were wrenched free of their father’s tyranny and corruption.”

“Have you done any of this to them?” Resurgam asked, bewildered.

“I have experimented some, yes. To see if those more black than others might be rectified of their heritage of evil more completely,” Malygos admitted.

“I can’t believe this,” Maekrux murmured, looking about. Though some of the dragons held themselves proudly, most were huddled, broken, by the fire. Could these rift-spanned creatures truly be dragons? No, how could they be? Their very name, netherdrake, denied them even the pride of being called dragon.

“It was pure luck. We have saved them, Resurgam. In time, they will be able to stand on their own four claws. For now, we are in desperate need of shelter more suited to them,” Malygos said.

“How can you claim to have saved them? They no longer even look dragon! Are they free to follow their own wishes, Malygos, or yours alone?” Maekrux demanded.

“What are you saying, Resurgam?” Malygos asked. The commotion was rousing the netherdrakes, so Malygos ushered Maekrux back out of the chamber. “Some of the netherdrakes are not here by choice, yes. They do not realize that what is left of the Otherworld will be destroyed soon enough by – you guessed it – meddling magic using blood elves. The worst of all the addicts here. So I must bend a few to my will! It is good for them ultimately. They will have time enough for their own choice once they are settled here and have a good dose of their history. It is my only hope of ever reconciling the past and the mistakes of my once-kyn Deathwing.”

“Do you really wish to make up for his mistakes or is it a matter of pride?” Maekrux asked.

“Pride? Of course there is some pride. True dragons will experience pride, you know that well.”

Maekrux could not deny that fact, so he changed direction. “They must be free to make their own choices though, must they not? You have interned them here. Do you consider them family as you do me?”

“They will have time enough for their own choices.” Malygos was silent on Maekrux’s second question.

“When I left, I-” Maekrux paused, trying to remember why he had left. “I was no longer certain if I could believe in my kyn. I had lost faith in them. They had taken one of their own, me, and vilified me to serve their own purposes, be it consoling of grief, release of anger, or to have some moral ground to hold themselves somehow better than I. I had begun to believe that my kyn were no longer dragon. This broke my heart, because I love my kyn. I have spent the days since I returned home finding love, teaching hatchlings, adopting hatchlings, telling the stories of our race and history, building my lair for my family and all to visit, and building a greater community for all. Again and again I have tried, for that is my name, my heart. I never give up. But this-” Maekrux turned his pained gaze onto the curious netherdrakes looking at them standing in the hall. “This is not treating them as family, is it, Malygos? Surely there is another way that does not destroy their heritage.”

“Their heritage is one of corruption and death!” Malygos roared, causing the curious netherdrakes and some others huddled in the room to cower. “They are better off to be rid of it.”

“But if the cataclysm freed them and not your magic, did they not have a culture of their own, free of the black history you so hate?” Makerux asked. Malygos was stunned into silence. “I know better than to destroy history and culture. I disowned my niece not long ago, not because I hated her, but because I loved her! She needed to find her own path in life, to find her own balance between that which made her a Stardragon and that which made her Istarian. She did not believe she could find it with me – this I knew. It made me hurt; it made me anguish. And others took my grief for maliciousness. If they did not, I would not be here!” Maekrux spoke with fury until his last sentence hit the frigid air. Now he remembered well. His kyn had been unable to take the sky and free themselves of their wurmsight. The tradition of waiting to fifty seasons, to make one weary of wurmsight, to dawn in a dragon’s perception such depth that goes beyond mortal comprehension. Had his accusers waited? Were they not stuck in wurmsight?

But was that not what Maekrux was trying to do? With his teaching of history, of hatchlings? Of telling stories, of keeping culture? With the Community Rites, one might expand their perceptions and roles in life to be more encompassing. If they could not see beyond their own wurmsight, someone had to help them. Someone had to lift them up. That dragon should have been Maekrux. The only one who had failed was he.

“I believe I am beginning to understand. I should not have come here,” Maekrux said after a period of uncomfortable silence.

“Resurgam, don’t say that. Your insights are very valuable to me. Perhaps between the two of us we might-”

A blue drake rushed down the hallway to the two dragons. “Lord Malygos! The city of Dalaran has suddenly appeared in our skies! They are beginning an attack on the Nexus!”

“What?!” Malygos exclaimed. “We must prepare for war immediately. Prepare the countermeasure and set our brothers to flight. We shall meet them and retake the skies from these impudent mortals!”

“My lord, that is not all. The mage city is followed by – by red dragons,” the messenger said.

“Betrayal… BETRAYAL!” The voice of Malygos echoed throughout the Nexus. War was upon him and his kyn.

~~~

"He rubbed his belly.
I keep them here
[he said]
Here, put your hand on it
See, it is moving.
There is life here
for the people." (1)

In the sky loomed purple death. The floating city was covered in a shield of energy that allowed it to be defended from the blue dragons who had lined up in rows in the frigid wastes. Only one red dragon hovered in the air near the barrier, looking down at his kyn below. He was waiting. At last Malygos strode onto the frigid battlefield, walking to the front. Maekrux had taken his place among his blue family in the ranks; for this, Maekrux was not special, merely another solider in a war to come. As Malygos looked up at the hovering threat, the red dragon called down to him.

“Malygos! You must stop this mad ploy at once! Magic is the gift of the Creators and a necessity in this time! The magicians have as much of a right to life as you do!” the dragon shouted.

“They will only bring greater misfortune upon us all! Magic only serves to pervert the unwary mortal, who seeks only power and prestige! Without magic, the Legion would never have come to this world! If we do not take the magic back from them, they will turn against us! Look now at the city that floats beside you, Korialstrasz! How long will it be before they turn on you as well?” Malygos demanded back.

“We should work together with them to lead them, Malygos! If Magic can corrupt, should you not be the one to teach them? Should you not then guide their hand and help them to not fall into darkness?” Korialstrasz argued.

“I shall save them by ending their magic-use forever! You will not dissuade me! Magic is my domain and its use and license is my affair. You and the Reds have no place in it!” Malygos shouted.

“You seek to assert your rights by denying us Reds of ours! If you will not back down or find another way, we Reds must stand against you!” the crimson dragon bellowed.

“Then let our dispute be settled in blood!” Malyos trumpeted back, raised up onto his hind paws and summoning a great flame to his talons. This he did not launch at the red but instead turned against the ground, burning away the snow with a rapid sizzle of heat. Revealed was a circular crest of runic. Malygos fell back down to his forepaws, shaking the ground as he summoned arcane energies into his claws, activating the seal. The runes lit up with a callous purple-blue light, which suddenly erupted into a massive beam six yards wide. The beam shot into the sky and crashed against the barrier of Dalaran, the light at first parting around it, spreading more like jelly than light. The true nature of the spell came into view, however, when the blue-purple energy began to eat and tear at the purple shield like acid, until the shield itself was completely destroyed, despite the efforts of the several exposed mages who had been maintaining it.

“You leave us no choice, Malygos. Reds, to the aid of Dalaran!” Korialstrasz exclaimed. At his command, a hundred red dragons suddenly leapt into the sky from behind the mountains, flying up into a square formation to intimidate the blues with their size.

“Blues, to the sky! It is time to reclaim our birthright!” Malygos shouted. The blues had only about two hundred dragons on their side and a few of the stronger, more willing netherdrakes. Maekrux, too, took the air, noticeably concerned at the battle to come. Maekrux was not overly afraid; even here, the Gift would work. Rather, he was apprehensive about fighting in the air. He had never done so before, though as he flew along side his blue family, he started to wonder why dragons on Istaria hadn’t tried it since the Battle of Tazoon.

As the dragons vied for airspace, the mages of the Kirin Tor were not idle. Several mages had taken up two detachments of about thirty wizards with a single grizzled mage in the front, looking down from the edge of the land of the floating city. “Korialstrasz! Be ready!” he shouted.

“I know that voice… Rhonin! The mage who destroyed the Dragon Soul!” Malygos exclaimed, mostly to himself.

“Fire!” Rhonin exclaimed. The mages weaved together lines of arcane energy, forming into several patterns of squares overtop the heads of the two mage detachments. The purple-white energy launched from them and the mages began the spell again. The spell they had launched flew through the air swiftly and the blue dragons attempted to scatter out of the way, but with so many in the sky at once, two dragons were caught by the spell, which wrapped around their wings and caused them to fall ingloriously to the ground. To compound matters, once a dragon had been brought down by these energy nets, they launched themselves back into the air, trying to grab another victim, causing confusion amongst the blues.

“Charge!” Malygos shouted, leading the way towards the floating city, his Blue Dragonflight eviscerating the air as they sliced through it at breakneck speed. One of the purple nets launched at Malygos himself who tore through the magical fibers like paper. Several dragons managed to land on the floating city of Dalaran, but the red dragons rushed into the gap as well, crashing into the blues and grappling with them in furious combat, weaving, falling, flying along side one another, clawing at each other, breathing flame, breathing ice. Malygos himself was prevented from landing by the Consort of the Wurmqueen, Korialstrasz. The Blue Aspect and the grizzled veteran of combat hissed wildly at one another: these once-comrades had become blood enemies.

Maekrux made it safely onto the ground of Dalaran, relieving some nervousness since he would not have to fight in the air. Maekrux and his blue comrades engaged the wizards on their own ground, cleaving through scores of them with powerful claws and bites and magical spells. Runes of frost were placed upon the dead corpses of the mages, in case their priests managed to bring them back to life; some tried and found that those who had been marked were incased in a solid block of ice the moment their breath returned to them. The blue dragons also had a seriously detrimental ability to the mages: the ability to force their own magical aura out around them and reflect all magic that was thrown against them. Maekrux, not having this ability, turned to errant mages and eviscerated them cleanly with his Gold Rage attacks, letting his brothers take the fore.

The tide turned upon the ground when several heavily clad warriors followed by men and women in priestly garments rushed out to aid the falling mages. One after the other, these warrior shouted taunts at the dragons and struck at their hides with their glowing blades. The dragons turned their claws and breath upon these newcomers, but with the powers of the priestly men and women behind them, the warriors continued to stand and continued to fight, and continued to draw the ire of the Blue Flight. Maekrux watched this confrontation almost stunned. Why were they not killing the ones healing the metal-encrusted meatshields?

The air battle was fairing no better. The red dragons did not have the numbers, but they did have the strength. Physically stronger, older, and more used to fighting in combat, these dragons were slaying some of the younger blue dragons outright. Their blood rained upon the snow below, staining it pink as it melted from the heat of the passionate blood. Malygos and Korialstrasz seemed to be evenly matched. “Call off this foolish attack, Malygos! Your Blue Dragonflight is still crippled; you would risk killing off all your kindred again!” Korialstrasz exclaimed.

“If I must sacrifice my entire brood so that none will ever die to magic again, then so be it! Netherdrakes, to me!” Malygos shouted. Several of the translucent blacks rushed to Malygos’s side, and then crashed into Korialstrasz, taking his attention away from the Spell-Weaver. As the red dragon tore drake after drake from his body, breaking their necks, spilling their purple blue, Malygos dived down to the ground and took one of the nets tangling a blue dragon. Rushing back into the sky, he channeled his own chaotic magic into the net which began to flare wildly. “Blue Flight, to the ground!” Those dragons still in the air immediately disengaged their targets. Some of the reds immediately gave chase while others paused to see what was being planned. Those that paused were soon sorry for it, as Malygos launched the writhing net into the air. It spread out like a cage over the sky and arced down against those still in flight and struck all save Malygos with a powerful arcane-electrical force. The motor functions of the reds were completely shot. Some died of heart attack before they hit the ground. Others were helpless to prevent themselves from landing on their necks. Most landed in poor health on the ground, Korialstrasz and the netherdrakes who had attacked him included. “See now the folly of daring to oppose an Aspect in the right! This battle was ours from the start, for our moral obligation to protect this world far exceeds your right to allow mortals their freedom to destroy it!” Malygos bellowed.

“Now! Use the Double-Ocular Device!” Rhonin shouted. From the blemished white towers that had seen great previous battle, five mages stood in concert, chanting in ancient tongues as a green-purple eye-shaped gem floated between them all. Powerful and dark energy erupted from the gem, an amalgam of the Eye of Dalaran and the Eye of Sargeras fused together by forbidden magicks. From it erupted a massive beam of energy that struck Malygos head on, sending even the mighty Spell-Weaver reeling and falling to the ground. He managed to regain control and land hard on his feet, spraining his left hind ankle.

“Lord Malygos!” the blue dragons exclaimed from Dalaran’s proper. They had done significantly better since Maekrux rushed into the gap and eliminated the troublesome healing priests. Now freed, almost all of the Blue Flight upon the floating city abandoned their post and tried to strike at the tower. But once more the eye fired, not a single beam this time but several in all directions, turning and weaving like dragons through the air, cutting and slicing and tearing the poor dragons to pieces.

“No!” Maekrux shouted as his comrades were torn apart in a bloody cloud of scale and bone before his eyes. Maekrux had little time to mourn their loss, however; one of the ribbons of death tore through his shoulder and the ground on which he had been standing. Maekrux tumbled down from the floating isle, painfully struggling to right himself, his wings well enough for flight, but each beat pulling and tearing on the hole through his shoulder. He landed a little more gracefully near Korialstrasz and Malygos, who was being counseled by some of his kyn.

“Malygos, we cannot fight against a city with a weapon of that magnitude!” one of the blues exclaimed. Malygos’ eyes were wide in horror, in his mind reliving the death of his kyn at the hands of Deathwing.

“Give up Malygos! If you do not, your entire flight will be wiped out once again!” Korialstrasz exclaimed.

“Silence you!” shouted one of the blues at Malygos’ side, “They would not dare use that attack on you while you were down here!”

“We reds knew the risk. Rhonin is instructed to end this, even if it means the death of the reds helping them. This is but a faction of our children, blue. You are all there is to be had,” Korialstrasz said.

Maekrux looked out at the frigid battle field. Purple death still loomed in the sky. Those he had called family lay dead and dying in the unwelcoming snow. Blood had rained thick upon this land, but it was not blue dragon blood alone. Here, too, were those he might call kyn. By some arbitrary distinction had they been born red, but were they not dragons too? Were they not dead and dying around him, staining the battlefield in their blood, fighting for their values and beliefs in this heartless civil war? It made Maekrux sick. There was a time when he was violently ill for putting down the corpses of hatchlings on Draak for his rite and now he was fighting kyn to the death? These were not dragon either. These were fools. “No more,” Maekrux murmured, turning his eyes skyward. “No more can I be kyn to these creatures!” Maekrux shouted. He waved his wings back and forth, grimacing at the pain it caused his shoulders, but he continued, drawing in all the power of the Prime he had. Its entrance onto the land of Azeroth had a strange effect of multiplying and what would not have even reached the floating city had suddenly become a gale-force wind that crashed against the city and the tower. The tower was sheered and fell to the floating city, but the floating city itself also began to fall and strain under the intense pressure of the storm.

“Lord Rhonin! We must retreat from the battle!” a mage advised him.

“But we have almost won! If we can strike now the crusade of the blues is finished!” Rhonin exclaimed.

“There is no time!” the mage shouted, pointing to the side of the city. The winds were threatening to crash the floating isle into the mountains from which the red dragons had sprung; such an impact would shake the isle apart and surely kill all its inhabitants.

“Blast! Order the mages to advance to the sky and retreat,” Rhonin conceded. “Korialstrasz! Dalaran must fall back! Get your dragons out of there!”

“What strange power is this?” Korialstrasz asked. Hearing Rhonin’s voice, however, he hobbled to his feet, tossing the corpse of a netherdrake from him. “Reds, to the sky! We must retreat to lick our wounds. Leave not a living comrade behind!” The dragons that were strong enough carried those who were not strong enough to fly away as they retreated. “You have not seen the end of this battle, Malygos. Your crusade will become known to the Horde and Alliance before long and this internal matter will spiral out of control. I beg you, give up this fight. Farewell.” And with that Korialstrasz took to the sky and flew after his comrades, his wing beats slow and injured.

“Resurgam, you – you have saved us!” Malygos exclaimed, surprised. Maerkux looked down at the corpse of one of the blue dragons, remembering the traitor who had warned the Kirin Tor, the one whose place he had taken.

“It was a mistake.”

“What?”

“It was a mistake to have come here. Malygos, you are old and you are wise, but about some things you are an even greater fool than hatchlings fresh from the egg, innocently ignorant of the world at large. But even they know the beauty and love that a dragon feels for another. The racial bond that they share that they will never let broken. You have tossed those values away and become nothing more than a wise husk.”

Malygos was stunned and silent. Maekrux walked away.

1 - Ceremony, by Silko.

~~~

Maekrux now had a problem. He tugged at the runes, feeling significant pain. Something was wrong. It was not the runes so much as it was a hole in his shoulder, which was very slowly healing. It felt different than other wounds Maekrux had received in the past. It reminded him of the way he had felt when he had injured himself as a hatchling, growing up, fleeing from the lair. The pain was somehow more real and there was a fear that teased at the back of his mind, a mortal fear of death. The wound was not healing as quickly as it should have and Maekrux, in trying to get away form Malygos and his Blue Dragonflight, attempted recall and failed. It was not that the runes bound him there as they did. It was as if the power had never existed at all. If he somehow managed to break the runes, he might be expelled from Azeroth and he could find his way back, but it would likely kill him. Without the Gift, he would merely be easy pickings for the powers of the Rift.

Malygos entered into the chamber Maekrux had been living in since his return. He was slow, as his sprain had not yet been healed. “Resurgam-”

“I will not suffer you to call me that name anymore, Malygos. I am Maekrux Vythulhar, the Blue Phoenix.”

“Maekrux. I am sorry. Things have not turned out the way we want them to, but this is always a possibility in war.”

“There should be no war between kyn, Malygos. I realize now that my place is among my people. Even if they do not want my leadership, help, or even presence, that is where I must be. If I am not there to guide them, they could suffer an even worse fate than civil war: losing their souls to nothingness.”

“I cannot allow that Maekrux.”

“What?” the Blue Phoenix asked.

“You are our secret weapon, Maekrux! That attack you did was phenomenal. It is only that gale that saved the Nexus and our race. To let you leave would be to open ourselves for genocide,” the Spell-Weaver said.

“It is magic that should not even exist here. You warned me about spreading magic to realms not native to my own, do not ask me to change that now,” Maekrux said.

“Then at least teach it to me, so that I might better save my people! Do this and I will let you leave.”

“I cannot. It is not just that creed you taught me; the power of the Prime is my birthright, the birthright of all dragons of Istaria. It cannot be utilized by any but we native to it,” Maekrux explained.

“Then I will not allow you to leave,” Malygos said firmly.

“Then you leave me no choice.” Maekrux took hold of the runes firmly.

Malygos laughed. “You are Gifted, Maekrux, if you die, I will merely reclaim you.”

“Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something has happened. I do not know what yet, but something happened, possibly before I ever arrived here. I’m not Gifted anymore. If I fall, I will die permanently. I’m not even sure this wound on my shoulder will heal, even with the healing forces you have present here. If I break these runes, you still lose your former brother as well as opening yourself to genocide. Therefore, I offer you a choice: lose gracefully, or lose sloppily.”

Malygos pondered his options. “I will not lose at all. Is there any way you can create a rune that could emulate that attack you did?”

“I suppose it is possible. I could channel my Prime energy into it, but it would eventually run out,” Maekrux said. His claw still danced on the glowing rune.

“Then I will free you on two conditions: one, that you create that rune with a renewable power source. I will help you as best I can in this regard. Second, you must keep your oath. This will not be the final battle; Korialstrasz has spoken it. It is possible that when the two mortal factions invade these lands with their mindless, bloodthirsty adventurers that the mages of the Kirin Tor will use them to strike at us. When that time comes, I will send for you to fulfill your vow and we will fight to defend the Nexus once more.”

“Will there be dragons among those adventurers as well?” Maekrux asked.

“I do not know,” Malygos said plainly.

“I cannot go back on my promise. My word is my bond. To forfeit that is to be unworthy of the pride of being dragon. I accept your terms on one condition of my own. If a rechargeable source cannot be found, I will still be free to leave,” Maekrux said.

“So be it. There may be a long enough term solution. It will not be long now. The ships already begin to be staffed and the wind already fills their pillaging sails,” the Spell-Weaver said.

And so the two dragons worked side by side one more time, their wounds being looked at by the most adept of healers amongst the blues, attempting to create a rune that would allow Malygos and his kyn to remain safe until the time of the crusade’s revenge.

~~~

Atop the mountain on the isle of Draak, Maekrux yawned. His wurmkyn and Nidhogg had given him at least some semblance of peace and the only three living natives to the isle had taken kindly, if detachedly to Maekrux since his coming. For the most part, Maekrux had been left alone, except for one individual who continued to return. “I have to admit, it's pretty peaceful here now that people have given up on me.” Maekrux paused, reconsidering. “Except for the Shadow Dragon. And enslavers. And walking undead dragons. But up here, it's pretty nice. Except for the occasional smell.” Maekrux sneezed as the wind changed. It may have been his weakened state, but he was beginning to believe he was allergic to blight.

Once more his little black visitor returned. The cynical bitterness in the back of his mind made him wonder how long it would be before his mother showed up and scolded Maekrux of ‘teaching’ this hatchling as well. But Maekrux’s habits were hard to break and that bitterness was pressed to the back of his mind when the hatchlings were around. Not that it remained there, for his heart now bled bitterness. The hatchling beamed, saying, “You're awake!” Panting, the hatchling settled to his stomach at the base of the pile of rocks and attempted to catch his breath.

Maekrux chuckled. “You must be a very bored hatchling indeed.” Maekrux’s eyes were pained, for two reasons, but he hid the pain well.

“No, Sire. Not so much,” the little black said.

“Ah, a lunus, then?” Maekrux snickered to himself. The bitterness was always creeping out.

Hrajiel smiled. “Maybe. Maybe in the future, I might be.”
Not wishing to be accused of poisoning the youth, Maekrux explained his question. “Mm. Lunus are no better than helians are no better than lunus. Lunus are simply more known for their tormenting of their victims.”

“Does my company torment you so?” Hrajiel asked.

“I do not mean to offend little one, but it wounds my soul. I took an oath to take my knowledge to the grave, but that does not mean I do not still desire to teach. It is torment, though I have brought it upon myself.”

“Mmm… I no longer seek to know what you might tell. I will not ask you for such things if it pains you,” Hrajiel said.

“Just... ask me not for any stories, and you are free to keep my company. That I shall miss the most and it broke my heart to hear you ask it last time,” Maekrux conceded. “Why do you seek my company, though?” he asked.

“I don't know. When I ran here today, I thought it was to hear what ever it was that you might tell me, but when I reached the blight, I longed for something else. There is something about you, your words maybe, that speak to me in a way different from anyone else.” Hrajiel sighed, looking frustrated, as if his explanation did little to explain his feelings.

“You are a glutton for punishment, I think. I am hardly enjoyable to be around these days. Not even I wish to be around me.” Maekrux finally slipped out from his rocky crag, shaking the dirt out of his scales. Hrajiel shrugged lightly before stepping aside. Maekrux had become noticeably weaker. He had not eaten for several days now, having spent no energy in moving or even thinking about his own well being. It no longer mattered to him. So little did. Hrajiel frowned at the sight Maekrux’s thin frame; it was clear to Maekrux that the hatchling had noted the change, but he had yet to mention it. Maekrux took a deep breath before settling himself back down, closer to the hatchling who had spent much of his time removed from Maekrux by the steep rocks. “Still, I appreciate it. Even if it is in ignorance or in truth, it is nice to feel wanted for awhile.”

“I appreciate you letting me be here, Sir,” Hrajiel said.

“Mm. I do not own this mountain.” Maekrux peered over at the dragon rump-shaped hole in the rocks. “That's all I own around here.”

Hrajiel looked to the spot, smiling faintly at the shape of it. “Even so…”

Though Maekrux had spent time with the hatchling since they happen to cross paths on the hatchling’s wanderings, the only thing that Maekrux knew about Hrajiel was that he was Hraefn’s hatchling. “Tell me of yourself, little one. It is unfair for me to ask you for a story, so if you like, tell me only the barest facts.”

Hrajiel became notably uncomfortable with the question; he seemed to swallow the feeling though and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Well, the first thing I remember is a blue-violet flame. After that, there was Mother's wing and then the lair falls.” Maekrux nodded slowly, listening intently to the black hatchling before him. “I'm not much of a crafter, or a social dragon, but every now and then I craft. I’m in crowds almost every other week, but that’s because Mother and Father gather in groups to tell stories with others.” Maekrux expressed a look of sadness and pride at the last piece of information, but said nothing. He did not hide these mixed emotions well, for Hrajiel cringed. “I'm sorry.” After a short pause, he continued. “There's really nothing all that special about me but I do… Sire, do you know anything about dreams?”

Maekrux pondered a moment. “My father once told me that dreams were answers to questions we did not know how to ask. Why do you ask?”

“I… I have the most vivid dreams of times and places not of here. And I'm hardly ever myself in them,” Hrajiel admitted.

“Given your parentage, I'm hardly surprised... Still, if you wish to tell me of them, I will listen.” Though Maekrux did not know about Hraefn and her history, her mate was another matter, a well-known Stardragon.

“I just don't know how to take them.” He took a deep breath, clearly replaying the dream in his mind so he could retell it to the ancient before him. “There is one that I’ve had a few times now. When I can first remember it, there is a war. Mostly there are bipeds and though I'm not one of them, I command a small group. Through the battling masses, I urge myself and the others through to reach a tower in the center of the field. I don't know what's in the tower, but whatever it is, there is dire urgency to get to it, but…” He paused, as if feeling it in his mind. “But before I ever reach, I am cut down. By searing blade, I lose my life. After that instant, I wake.”

Maekrux reflected on the story. It seemed familiar, very similar to one his father had told before. “Mm. One might translate that dream in many ways...” He rubbed his frail chin gently. “If one is to take it purely as an answer, then one might say that to risk the lives of others and yourself for a goal too fervently is to lose sight of everything that truly matters: in the dream, your life and the lives of your soldiers...” Though Maekrux had not intended to mention it, he could not help himself from continuing, “Still, that does remind me of something your father once told me. Have you ever shared your dreams with him?”

Hrajiel looked to his claws as he scritched a line in the dirt. “I've only met with him once, honestly. And then we had no time or place to speak privately. Especially of things like that.”

That fact was more telling than anything Hrajiel had told of himself when Maekrux had asked. It seemed possible that Hrajiel had come to look to Maekrux as a father figure. It made his heart ache, but he tried not to show it. “That is... most unfortunate.” He knew he would not be able to hide it without emotion, so he turned the sadness he had for Hrajiel’s state inward, as he often did. “Though, perhaps your father is right. I was very close to my son and he disowned me.” He shrugged his wings weakly.

Hrajiel frowned. “I'm so sorry to hear that.” The hatchling had not managed to extract much from Maekrux, to be sure. Maekrux was doing his best to keep his oath, despite all desire to teach this hatchling as he had so many before.

“Still, your father seems to have a bit of a history. By that, I mean he has a unique and displaced history. I can't recall if he is a Stardragon or not, but he might as well be. He, too, once commanded bipeds in battle. Perhaps this is, somehow, his dream, something that he recalls, reincarnated within you... or perhaps, it is that you and your father are very much the same in this strange displacement.” The strange connection was baffling to Maekrux, but he could not think as well as he could a few days ago. His eyelids had grown heavier and his thoughts were slowed.

“Mother says he is to wake in a few days,” Hrajiel said, breaking Maekrux from his trance, “maybe I'll have a chance to talk to him then.”

“Perhaps. Do not hesitate to press time with your father; I cannot speak for him, but a true father loves his son. No matter what.” How Maekrux still loved his son. Hrajiel nodded softly while Maekrux cracked his huge neck, trying to get the blood flowing. “Mm. I should move around more, perhaps...”

Hrajiel chuckled. “Making it out to you ensures me my exercise.”

“Ha, I would imagine so! You should get your wings as soon as possible. The tradition dies with me.” Even Maekrux himself couldn’t tell if he was happy or bitter of that fact.

“No, I like the run to here. Besides, I would follow in my mother's footsteps to adulthood.”

“Good thing you don't want to follow in mine. I was over a hundred years old when I first took to wing.” He chuckled softly, but then choked. His throat had become sore of late, an illness setting in him.

Hrajiel laughed quietly. “That is quite an age.”

“Mmm... it was a ripe young age. Age no longer maters to dragons. Well. Unless it is a political matter. Of course.” Maekrux still took offense to some of the things he had heard about him.

Hrajiel stretched languidly only to sit upright almost just as soon. “It does to me. I have a high respect for yours, Sire.”

“I thank you for that, little one. But the truth is, there are hatchlings not but three months old who take to flight. It used to be we dragons-” Maekrux caught himself. How desperately he wished to break his oath. “Age no longer matters to dragons. Perhaps it still matters to individuals, though.”

Hrajiel smiled, as if understanding the block. “Maybe so. I do see hatchlings though that would belittle their elders. It angers me to see it.”

Maekrux lowered his head to his forepaws; he was tired of holding up his neck. Simply the effort of raising his head proudly had become a great and laborious effort and was yet another chain around Maekrux’s heart. “Elders rarely hold a sacred position in this society. Rather, to be an elder is to be blemished and scorned for it.”

“It seems wrong that it should be that way…”

“You are perceptive. That is all I shall say on the subject.” Maekrux shivered a little, feeling cold. He slowly shook to his feet and began walking for his rock, but stumbled from fatigue, crashing to the ground and kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Hrajiel lifted quickly and rushed to the Elder's side. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Maekrux sighed and summoned the strength to stand again. “I am fine, little one, just - just fine. I have not been eating much of late.” Maekrux continued to struggle up the rocks, claw after claw until he finally pulled himself into the little hole his body had made and pressed himself comfortably within it.

“I had noticed some… I brought a few things with me, not very nutritious, but still... Would you like some?” Hrajiel asked. He was perceptive indeed, though had not worked up the courage to admit to this knowledge until this point.

Maekrux smiled slightly. “I'm sorry, little one, but I am already full...”

Hrajiel didn't seem convinced, but he didn't argue the matter. Instead, he followed after Maekrux, taking a smaller ledge noticeably closer than he had sat before. “Do you know anything by the phrase, ‘Darkness wings?’” he asked.

Maekrux shook his head. “No, I'm afraid not. The phrase is too general to ring any bells.” He huffed and rested his head on his paws, smiling brightly, but weakly. “You don't look convinced that I am full, little one. But I am full, you see. I am full on history, on stories, on culture and language and past and present. I keep my stories in my stomach, so I shall never go hungry. I keep them in my stomach where they still grow...”

“Stories might fill your stomach, but they won't keep you healthy, Sire…” Hrajiel appeared to mull over a thought for a moment before looking resolved, nodding ever so slightly.

“On the contrary. Stories are all we have. All the presses back sickness and death. I was once a great story weaver; I know what tale I still spin.” Maekrux was spinning an end to his tale. Hrajiel reclined his neck slightly more, as if taking this point into miserly consideration, before letting it pass. Maekrux breathed slowly and evenly, his eyes half closed, almost as if he was dreaming.

Sorting through his pack, Hrajiel pulled forth a thick piece of Kwellen Hide and placed it at the inner corner of the ledge. Atop the hide, he placed a small mound of dead mice and, next to those, his freshest variety of Chocolate Covered Beetle Legs. “To keep the stories company, should they want it,” he said.

Maekrux peered at the mice on the hide and laughed softly. “Ha! Mice as an audience for them. They shall sit in a circle in my stomach and tell stories, mm?” He sighed softly. This was how he had wanted to end his tale; here, with a hatchling looking over him, begging him to his last breath for one more story. Of course, Maekrux had thought it would be with his family, his grand children, great grandchildren, his community. But things never went according to plan with Maekrux. All his grand designs and marvelous dreams burned and burned and burned but always turned to ash at some point. “I thank you, little one. Please leave me.” Hrajiel smiled and nodded. Lifting, he ran to Maekrux's shoulder and nuzzled it quickly before recalling.

With the hatchling gone, he looked over at the pile of dead rats. They danced with his thoughts to the music of the spheres. Maekrux did not wish to prolong his suffering. And yet, what about his family? What about Aerioch and her mate, his grandchildren? What about Carenath; what about Aika? What about this young hatchling who kept pestering him to live? He had become a miserable, parasitic existence. But, at least someone still wanted him around.

Bit by bit, he ate the offering brought to him, trying desperately to keep each piece down.

~~~

Try as the two wise old dragons might, there was no way of getting around the problem. The Istarian Dragon’s existence was intimately tied to the power of the Prime itself, the realm of which Istaria was crafted. Whereas the gods of old had imported their own energies and mingled them with the Prime to create the other races, dragons had come to Istaria already created and crafted forms out of the very Prime itself. Deep within them, their souls of flame still burned, but their bodies were completely Prime, the only implements capable of drawing and manipulating Prime energy. After a few test spells, seeing how much the Prime was magnified upon this existence, Maekrux summoned three massive balls of Primal energy into his hands and sealed them within three separate runes inside the Nexus. The last was placed outside the Nexus proper, linked to these three power sources. Into the last, Maekrux channeled a fourth ball of Prime energy and crafted the runes in such a way that they operated more like a spring-trap than the conscious effort of their user. Still, this trap would last for only four shots, but Malygos believed it would be enough.

Maekrux’s shoulder had been healed, but it still ached considerably. With Malygos’ permission to leave and the runes complete, Maekrux turned his attention to himself as he followed Malygos to the black chamber. Physically, nothing was wrong with him, besides the irradiation of the Rift and the dull ache. He did not wish to stay and study this change, however, lest Malygos changed his mind. The two walked into the black room with marble columns. Maekrux stood once more in the center of the room, the white runes lighting up beneath him. Malygos returned to the front while the two dragons who had first bound Maekrux in this room came back to the Istarian’s sides. Malygos looked at Maekrux with sad eyes. “You do not need to leave. Perhaps there is some other way?”

“This is what I must do, Malygos. You have taught me a great deal and shown me much about myself and my own people. But now, I must return to my realm and become a leader to them. I am not a perfect leader, to be sure, but it is most important that I go back and do all that I can. Without me, who else will they turn to? Who else will remember the stories? Who else will try to heal the wounds of the Schism and of battle? Who else will warn them of the biped they are becoming? Istaria is where I must be.”

“Then Istaria is where you shall go,” Malygos said. He nodded to the two dragons and they stepped forward, releasing the runes gently from Maekrux’s body. Maekrux’s form immediately began to fade and flicker, the powers of the Rift itself calling him back. Though the runes kept Maekrux in a realm, they were not perfect solutions; over time, that energy could build up pressure on Maekrux’s soul until it crushed him. He had discovered that if he did not return to the Rift once in awhile to release that tension, he would suffer a death even the Gift could not save. Maekrux’s thoughts were interrupted by Malygos, who was standing on his hind legs, his relatively small wings flared out behind him, his forepaws weaving energy. “You are a noble dragon, Makerux. Go back to your people and begin your own crusade against ignorance.” With that, Malygos lowered himself and his energy onto the runes upon which Maekrux stood. The runes temporarily glowed purple-red, and then Maekrux’s body and soul were forcibly shunted from Azeroth, flying through the Twisting Nether – the Rift – towards Istaria.

Maekrux landed in familiar Rift territory. The Guardian of the Heart stood nearby, ever fading as its power was devoured slowly by the Rift. Maekrux shook himself off from the harsh landing, still feeling the pain in his shoulder, before stalking over the twisting, barren wastes of the Rift to the pad he had long set up before. Maekrux was about to use it as a focus for reentering Istaria when he paused. He still did not know anything about what had caused that strange sensation at the battle. This was the first thing he remembered after leaving Istaria, when he knew things were fine. Whatever markers had been left behind were, of course, gone – torn apart by the energies of the Rift. He instead used the gem of the pad to look inward: to scry upon Istaria.

He first looked to his lair, which was exceedingly bare. Strange – there were marks that appeared to have been runes carved all over his balcony. How could that be? Save one other, Maekrux was the only one who knew runic extensively. He scried into the dragon den; not much had changed here. He scried upon those who had tormented him: Miira had hatchlings in the meantime! How they had grown. Her hatchlings might yet have the benefit of a wise and old dragon. For Hraefn, life had continued as normal, though Maekrux noticed a hatchling with her he had never remembered seeing before. It seemed nothing much had changed; he was probably a distant memory to them by now anyway. Maekrux looked to Aerioch and Nidhogg; ah, Nidhogg was up and about, but Aerioch still slumbered. He looked to his son.

His son was with another.

Surely there must be some mistake, Maekrux thought. But no, it was clear; Carenath loved this dragon as his father. Maekrux had been displaced. Had he somehow felt that his promise was broken? Had he not had the patience the traditional wait should have taught him? Either way, Carenath had broken his promise to him, Maekrux thought. Carnath had promised to always be there for him, waiting. Carenath clearly no longer waited for him. Indeed, Istaria needed a guide more than ever, Maekrux thought. Maekrux’s heart lurched. Still, there had to be a reason. Maekrux scried around, looking. He noticed that the hatchling with Hraefn was gone. Peering around for him, he saw that the hatchling was going towards Draak. At his strength? Maekrux thought. He was strong enough to begin the Rites, but anything on that isle would have been more than a match for him. He followed the path of this hatchling with wonder. He ran and ran as fast as he could, sneaking past the blighted area and running up the hill. Perhaps he was doing one of the easier parts, just talking with the dragons? Maekrux wondered. But no: this hatchling stopped halfway up the path at a series of rocks. Maekrux manipulated the view around to see at what he looked.

Sitting in the rocks was Maekrux Vythulhar.

“How could this be?” Maekrux shouted into the empty Rift. He scried down closer at this imposer, looking at him carefully; no, this dragon could not be him! His form was frail; his scales were thin; his eyes were defeated. Who or what had created such a misshaped figure of clay, that it should mock the greatness and pride that Maekrux Vythulhar had and stood for?

It occurred to him. He had died when he left Istaria, though he shouldn’t have. The transition should have been as gentle as when he left Malygos. He turned his attention onto himself, looking beyond his body, looking deeper than his spirit, even as far down as his soul and he saw. He saw the emptiness in his soul. He had been only half a dragon. No wonder it had taken him so long to see Malygos for what he had become, why it had taken him so long to remember why he had left. This half-dragon must have caused as much problem on Istaria as he had remembering on Azeroth! Maekrux continued to scry this frail half-self to reconstruct what had happened. He must have done terrible things to have ended up in this state.

The Maekrux called Resurgam would be bitterly disappointed. Maekrux had never acted. He had merely suffered further at the hands of those he loved and finally his heart had broken without repair. He had been turned into a shell of what he had once been, for the grief for his kyn and from his kyn. This had to be rectified.

Resurgam began to prepare for his rebirth.

~~~

"And in the belly of this story
the rituals and the ceremony
are still growing." (1)

Exhaustion and lack of resolve prevented Maekrux from going hunting. Even after the small offering the hatchling had brought him, he had been unable to move far and what little dragon left in this dying wurm had remained where it was, slowly dying. He could not lift his head proudly anymore, if he felt he had any pride left. It rested against the thin paws of the wurm-kin, the muscles of the dragon cannibalized in his body’s last-ditch effort to save itself. It was close, his time was close, and Maekrux could feel it. He welcomed it. He could do no more, for his heart was broken.

The hatchling, Vhazshyn, came upon the stoically dying beast, jammed into the rocks. It hid most of his form, the frail head and flaps of scale hiding the emaciated paws beneath them. His face sagged somewhat, and he no longer looked like the Maekrux that Vhazshyn had come to know, when he had agreed to look over this hatchling as her a’mea slept. Vhazshyn stopped and looked up at the blue ensconced dragon nestled in the rocks, blinking. “Who are you?” He gave no reply at first, so she continued, “It's a funny place to rest...”

“Mm...” Maekrux said, coming to life, for the moment, “It is where I have chosen to rest.”

Vhazshyn grins. "Obviously." Maekrux coughed weakly, his head resting heavily on his paws, causing her grin to fade. She tilted her head, at the cough. “Are you alright?”

“Mm... I.. Ieo am fine…” Maekrux said.

Vhazshyn frowned a bit. “It seems to me that when it's said like that it's probably not true.”

Maekrux looked about himself with tired eyes, a small smirk teasing across his thin lips. “Mm. no, I look fine. Fine, like a fine thread, minute and slender.” Vhazshyn rumbled in agreement. “Why are you here, Vhazshyn?”

Vhazshyn raised an eyeridge. "You know me?"

“I considered you as a daughter, for my love for your mother. But those days are dying. Dying,” Maekrux moaned the last word.

Vhazshyn moved to get a closer look, peering up at the dragon. After a moment, her eyes widened. “Maekrux! I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you...you -are- so thin, and your colour is off...”

“I am just... Ulhar now, I think. It is fine.” Maekrux flickered his eyes, huffing tiredly. “It is how it must be.” Vhazshyn sighed ambiguously and stepped further across the boulder she perches on to look out toward Draak. Maekrux eyed her as she looked out over the dead land of Draak. "It is not much of a view, I know. My other lair had a better view."

“Auxixen?” Nidhogg shouted, breaking the solemn air. He and his daughter, Verdeia, came up to the two. He asked Vhazshyn, “Have you seen Ausixen?” Nidhogg was panting from the run up there, having to protect the very young emerald dragon with him, and Ausixen, who had gone missing on the way up.

Vhazshyn frowned. "I have not..."

“Keir a'meo!” Verdeia exclaimed.

Ausixen shouted back, “Ieo am Fine! Ieo will get up there eventually!” Vhazshyn looked relieved to hear Ausixen and sat, draped over the crest of a boulder.

Verdeia shouted, “Hurry, brother!”

Maekrux looked tiredly at his grandchild, then to Nidhogg. “Hello Verdeia... I thought you had faded...” This was the first he had seen Verdeia awake in months. This thought slipped from his head, though as he focused his weak eyes on Nidhogg. “What are you doing here?”

Ausixen rushed up the hill and joined by Verdeia's side. "Keir a'meo!" he exclaimed, but stopped when he saw how thin and weak Maekrux had become.

“They wanted to see you,” was all that Nidhogg had to say.

“You are aware that I did not tell Ausixen where to find me,” Maekrux said.

“He said he didn't know where to find you,” Nidhogg admitted.

Verdeia worked her way up higher than Vhazshyn had managed, causing Vhazshyn to smile. “Keir A'meo,” Verdeia said, “what happened to you...” Verdeia continued to approach Keir A'meo, but then stepped back, unsure.

“Mmm.. I was disbanded, little one. I have come here for my rest…” Maekrux said.

Ausixen shuddered at the sight of Maekrux, so weak and thin. “Ieo thought you were on vacation...” He took his place under Nidhogg's wing.

Maekrux’s eyes looked temporarily to the hatchling under his son-in-law’s wing, causing him to growl his irritation in protest. “I did not want my grandchildren to see me in this way, Nidhogg. Have you become nothing more than a tormentor now?”

Nidhogg was unphased; Maekrux was not certain if he was unaware of the immensity of his cruelty at that moment, or if he had somehow planned it as such. “Do they not deserve to hear the truth?” Nidhogg argued, “Verdeia awoke after so long and wanted to see her Keir A'meo. Should I deny her that?”

Verdeia nodded. “Iea wanted to see you, Keir A'meo!”

Maekrux grunted. “You would cloud their judgment. I would have been better as a memory to them.”

“You are not a memory,” Nidhogg said.

“Not yet,” Maekrux replied with a cough.

Verdeia climbed further up the rocks to her grandfather and nuzzled him gently. “You are no memory to me. Iea am happy to see you again. You can't fade! Iea need you.”

“They braved the dead lands to see you!” Nidhogg exclaimed.

Maekrux leaned weakly into the nuzzle of his granddaughter, his eyes dripping with tears, now certain that Nidhogg was completely clueless. "Is there no where on Istaria I can hide?"

“Why would you choose to hide?” Nidhogg asked. “If you rather we left…” He trailed off as if seized by another thought, “Ausixen thought you were going on a vacation.”

Verdeia asked, “Why you hide from me? Why you hide from your family?” So innocent, so ignorant of what Maekrux was trying to do. She did not deserve to see this.

Maekrux tried to stand up, shaking to his feet. "No dragon wants to be surrounded by others when-" He tried to walk out, but his body was too weak and he fell, sliding down the rocks and landing hard on his side. He lay there, silently for a time in a cloud of dust and lost hopes, his sunken sides rising and falling against the now visible structure of his ribs. He groaned. "There is nothing graceful as a wurm-death…"

“Keir A'meo!” Verdeia exclaimed, jumping off the rocks and joining Maekrux, nosing him in comfort. “Are you ok?”

“What is wrong?” Nidhogg asked, the extent of Maekrux condition finally dawning on him, “You... you are dying?”

Ausixen came up to Maekrux, rubbing his forepaws over Maekrux’s thin and malnourished form. "I-Ieo have been taking care of your lair. Ieo want you to come back to it..."

Maekrux wheezed slightly. "Perhaps when my vacation is over, I shall once more haunt my lair…" He grinned morbidly.

“We would all like you to return,” Nidhogg added.

Verdeia nodded. “Keir A'meo Maekrux... Please, you are missed... Please, come back with us.”

Vhazshyn descended the boulder, moving to Maekrux's other side.

Maekrux was most tempted. To see thigns go back to the way they were, was this all he could hope for? But the reality of the situation was great as his mind told him to stand and his body did not listen. “I... I am not even sure I can move from this spot, little one…”

“I can bring sheeps!” Vhazshyn exclaimed.

“We can help!” Verdeia tried.

Maekrux just lay there, breathing slowly, his ribs pressed against his skin with every rise and fall of his side. The dragons who had come to his deathbed began casting all manner of healing spell they knew on him, trying to somehow raise him from this wurm-death. The act caused Maekrux to laugh, bitterly. No healing spell in the world could make up for starvation – perhaps, as he was hoping, not even the Gift. He shook his head. "Even… healing spells, cannot nourish my soul..." He laughed and cried at the enormity of it all. "Such ignorance. I birth such ignorance into this world..."

“It is all the knowledge we have left... We need a teacher. We need you,” Nidhogg said.

It only made Maekrux lament more, for he would not break his oath. “I have sworn to die in this way... to take my knowledge with me... that teacher is already dead, the body has but to follow…”

“I will bring sheeps,” Vhazshyn said, repeating her previous suggestion, quieter, and this time as a statement. She then promptly recalled away to look for them.

Ausixen came around to Maekrux's snout, staring into his eyes. Then, without warning, he raked his claws across Maekrux's snout, causing him to whine more than roar in agony.

“What was that for... little Phoenix?” Maekrux asked.

“If you're going to die, you should at least feel it! You are no better than a nakadragon to die like this!” Ausixen exclaimed. Verdeia roared in agreement with Ausixen.

Maekrux closed his eyes as his snout bled. "I know. None of us are anymore."

“Don't say that...” Ausixen said. He rested his head on Maekrux's snout, closing his eyes as well.

The statement seemed to offend Nidhogg and Verdeia’s pride and they gave protest of its veracity. But Maekrux didn't hear them. He just breathed lightly. "Ausixen..." he groaned.

Ausixen mistook Maekrux's word as calling to him. "Yes Keir a'meo?"
Maekrux churred weakly. "Ausixen smells like me." It reminded him of his own father and how familiar that scent was. It was comforting. It was confusing. It made him want to live again. “I am... very hungry right now.”

“What food do you seek?” Nidhogg asked.

Maekrux pondered his weakness for a moment, then grinned. "Hope. Nothing less can sate me."

“How can we help? You already have it.” Nidhogg said.
“If I had hope, Nidhogg, I would not be dying a wurmdeath. But… for some time, at least... I will survive, for your sakes. Least until you two are grown,” Maekrux said. Verdeia sighed with relief and then nuzzled her grandfather happily, knowing that he was healing even if she doesn't know why.

“And I hope longer,” Nidhogg added. Verdeia nodded. Nidhogg smiled.

Ausixen sighed, resting against Maekrux's chin. "Ieo will keep your lair ready for your return."

Maekrux sighed. “I… will still be living here... the only difference is that I will not be dying for awhile...” He peered around. "I think the other little one ran off to find food. This is all very silly...” The absurdity of it all was so overwhelming. It would have been nicer to have passed with grace. Even then he thought he would have to find a more hidden place to dig his Death-Chamber.

Vhazshyn arrived, panting to catch her breath from the non-stop return journey. Verdeia greeted her, causing Vhazshyn to nuzzle her, and then she deposited between Maekrux's paws three sheep and a deer, the fuzz already scorched off the sheep.

Maekrux groaned and snuffed at Vhazshyn. "Thank you for prolonging my suffering, little one." Despite this, he weakly pushed Ausixen off his snout and began to eat. Vhazshyn blushed, uncertain, but hopeful. Maekrux groaned, trying to keep the offering down. "I… thank you for coming to see me, all. But you're really destroying this 'hermit' thing... I feel like Lantenal."

“Will you be okay? Do you need help reaching your resting place?” Nidhogg asked.

“I will get there in... due time... I do not need too much help,” Maekrux said, trying to retain some semblance of pride. Dismissing them all, they said their goodbyes and Maekrux devoured his meal, depressed, but still alive.

1 - Ceremony, by Silko.

~~~

Erstwhile in the Rift, Resurgam was watching. He was pleased at this turn of events; it meant that there may yet be hope for this part of Maekrux and that he would not have to give up the Gift as he was prepared to do.

Yes, the oddity had become clearer the more Resurgam had scried and prepared. Maekrux had been torn apart by the forces of the runes acting upon his soul. The only significant difference between these two Maekruxes was that one was Gifted and the other was not, and Resurgam was not Gifted. The minor differences between them had been their focuses, their narrow wurm-like focuses, Resurgam on his race of kyn and their place in his life and future, Maekrux of Istaria on his family. How sad it was to Resurgam to see that some parts of his family had abandoned Maekrux! But it was a distant, sympathetic feeling, one that Resurgam could not empathically share, for he did not live it and that part rested on Istaria, longing to be reclaimed.

Despite these positive portends, Resurgam was still at a loss for what to do; he had simply been granted more time. Away from the pad which he used to scry, he tore at the dust furiously, writing theory after theory into existence in runic letters, most of them fizzling out and dying in the barren dirt of the Rift. The merging of souls was a complicated art, one that bored and most frequently fell into necromancy, a practice and understanding of which Maekrux only had knowledge enough to combat, not to perform without the specific guidance of a scroll such as those he had taken from Adryl long ago. Even if Resurgam would stoop so low, necromancy was out of the question; not even the Gifted Necromancer, Adyrl, was capable of such a high level of magic. Who then was left to turn to? Resurgam thought and thought, tapping his claws against his horns distractedly. “You’re on your own now, Maekrux,” he said. “You’re the expert, figure something out!”

No, he thought, chastising himself. Was that not what he had learned on Azeroth? A kyn is only truly alone when he turns his back on his people, when he attacks his kyn, when he turns his back on the values and traditions of what it means to be dragon, to the whole of the community or to whatever separate group that may be. Yes, he would need the help of many of his kyn if he was to get Maekrux of Istaria to recover from the fatal blow to his heart. He would need not only the willing and active participation of many of his kyn: he would practically need a miracle.

A miracle.

There was still one he could turn to, but Resurgam did not know if he would listen. Long ago, when Maekrux had passed through his realm before, he had insulted the being and at last understood the hidden past of the Dragon, the past that had been washed away with Jarl from the Imperial Record, the past that must not exist. That secret Maekrux had kept for many, many years, and might likely take to his grave, but it was the one that gave him such great pride in his race and his people. Still, to turn to him now after he had refused, 150 years into Maekrux’s original journey through the Stars, to even send him back to his natural home and condemning him to another hundred years of wandering – would such a fickle being listen to him?

He would need a mediator.

Stalking the now-familiar pathways, Resurgam slither-flew swiftly through the dusty, lifeless maze of rock and void. Up and up he climbed until at last he came to a great precipice. Below burned four torches blazing with blue light, holding back the hell of the Rift. There lay, like a mountain carved into a statue, The Sleeper, the second dragon. This indestructible paradox still remained, still waited, still slept. Ancient legends say that when The Sleeper lifts its head, Drulkar will return to Istaria and bring the cleansing flame of destruction and creation with him to burn away all non-dragon life. But The Sleeper has yet to lift its head and instead it waits patiently in the Rift for the one who might come seeking the blessing of Drulkar, a blessing only it can approve. “Why hath thou come to me, Ancient? Thou art Dragon and thou should be amongst thy people,” The Sleeper spoke.

“I am, at once, here and amongst my people. That is why I have come. I am Maekrux Vythulhar, son of Sire Vythulhar, whose name I will not speak for reverence to him and for I gave up my claim to my family name.”

“Thou remember the old ways of things. Thou of the Clan Maek, who hath knowledge of such things, whyfor hast thou come in search of thy god?” The Sleeper asked.

“I fear that I abandoned my god, and that he abandoned me in turn,” Maekrux admitted.

“Thou wear the form of an Ancient, and it is no forgery. It is not this one who grants thee thy ancienthood; this one suppliants in thy stead to Drulkar, but it is still up to Drulkar to decide. If He hath truly abandoned thee, then thou wouldst know it.”

Resurgam sighed in relief, bowing his head reverently. “I must beg a favor of Drulkar. He is the only one who can put me back together.”

“Thou art truly wise, for only Drulkar can put all dragons back together.” At the edge of the precipice, a burning circle opened before Maekrux. “Go now, and venture where thou hath once stepped before, Maekrux Vythulhar. Drulkar is waiting.” Resurgam steeled himself and leapt into the portal, disappearing for a second time into the Realm of Fire.

~~~

Who in Istaria is like a dragon? Who in Istaria can truly breathe fire? The strength of lungs, the resilience of their walls, the unconquerable will? Who in Istaria can truly breathe fire? These questions Maekrux wondered as he found himself floating in a sea of flames, breathing the fire into his body and fighting with the flames for the burning, life-giving oxygen, expelling black smoke which disappeared into the oppressive heat around him. His wings burned, his scales burned, his eyes burned; the blue of his scales took on a metallic sheen as all impurities on his body were consumed as fuel for the endless and eternal flame. And then a flame more intense than all the others reached down into the sea of flames and closed their mighty orange talons around him, lifting him up and causing even the flame–resistant body of the dragon to sear painfully. The flaming talons deposited Resurgam onto a small and desolate piece of rock, adrift in an ocean of lava that fell over a seemingly infinite precipice into the flames from which Resurgam had been pulled. The falling lava seemed to fuel the flames of the burning sea and the flames of the sea seemed to rise up as if wishing to devour the blue dragon again.

Maekrux’s rescuer was nowhere to be seen, but Maekrux knew he was close, in the same way a guilty hatchling knows when its mother has spotted it. The ocean of lava around him rose and fell, sometimes with bubbles of gas, sometimes something more, something bigger, cresting up like a solid obsidian subduction, shaking Maekrux to the core. And then, silence. All that broke it was a strange protrusion, black and red from the lava; a new rock? No; this protrusion had eyes, glowing like angry red suns. It disappeared once more beneath the slow moving flows of the magma ocean. And then behind Maekrux, he erupted into being, lifting up and shaking the whole of the Realm with his roar. Maekrux spun around, staring up at the massive dragon-god. His skin was like obsidian and was cracked with ever burning magma, pulsing and glowing brightly, igniting the air, a fiery mane traveling down the dragon-god’s back and cresting in fiery wings. He lifted one massive claw from the magma, the paws of jagged obsidian but the talons tempered by liquid flame. This claw began to glow a bright yellow-orange and into his hand rose gas and steam and magma and below him the ground hardened; the dragon god absorbed the very heat of the lava below him into himself, creating a platform and making the cracks between his obsidian form intensify in heat and color, his wings an even brighter blaze. Upon that platform, the dragon-god sat back upon his igneous haunches, his molten tail lashing like whips of flame as he grew comfortable with his creation, now prepared to scrutinize another. “Behold, Maekrux Vythulhar: I live.” Maekrux lowered his head reverently to the dragon-god, causing the being to churr its pleasure like the sound of the earth breaking under the stress of a magma sun. “You may speak. The honor is given.”

“Lord Drulkar, I have come to beg you a favor,” Maekrux began.

“You would dare ask me for a favor, wretch? You, who prefers history over theocracy? When last we met you denounced me with the fury of a molten core. You, who hold the secret of Jarl, the pride of my children in your withering claws, you dare ask me for anything?!” His words were like searing succors, blasting Maekrux with hate.

“Drulkar, I know that we have not seen eye to eye in the past and that in meeting you I came to many decisions about myself and my faith, but-”

“Silence! You are aware, by now, that you are no longer Gifted. I could not end you then, though I had considered breaking my own laws to do so, but now you have come before me, your undying half with one talon into the grave and your other capable of being cut from the body. I gifted you with the form of an Ancient and felt our dealings were forever done. And still you dare come before your god with this supplication?” Maekrux remained silent. The First Dragon’s tail whipped about in irritation. “If I should do anything for you, it would be to kill you and somehow recover the soul of the dead Phoenix upon Istaria. You are aware, yes? If you merge with the dead Phoenix, you will once more be irradiated by the Rift. That one loves his family. Perhaps in time his heart will recover and he will seek out a mate. At last, he would be able to have hatchlings of his own, able to spread his Clan Maek and his blood into Istaria. That was all you desired when you came through here, two hundred years ago. It was here that you learned the truth: your blood was never to spread throughout Istaria. You were never to have a family; your blood was to die with you! For this reason and others did you turn your back on me: not even I could find a way to break you from your sterility. Let your experiences die with you, submerge yourself into the lava until you reach the elemental core of this realm and be completely eradicated, and I will find a way to bring Maekrux to life once more.”

“If you could not save me from my sterility, how could you give me any hope at all?! Never in my life have I given up. It was here that I truly became a Phoenix, Drulkar, for despite the limitations of your being and my being, I swore that I would raise a family of my own! I took something from him, Drulkar, a part of Maekrux you could never hope to emulate. The unconquerable flame that you claim to have; that divine spark that all mortals share!” Maekrux shouted back.

“You dare speak such blasphemy to my face?!” The First Dragon roared, his tail slamming against the ground which he had created, shattering it and sending igneous rock flying in all directions, some pieces crashing into the rock on which Maekrux stood and crumbling it.

Taking into the air, Resurgam rose to face Drulkar in the eyes, flapping his wings powerfully, defiantly. “Yes. Kill me if you dare; even without the Gift, I shall rise again.”

Drulkar’s claws burned with intensity, the liquid flame solidifying into plasma. His eyes burned with pride and contempt for this creature before him and he lifted his claws. Behind Maekrux, in the distance, what seemed to be a ball of fire flew through the air, but no, up and down beat the wings of flame. The God of Flame saw the phoenix flying behind him and stayed his talons, grunting. “Land at my feet and we shall discuss what should be done, Blue Phoenix.” Drulkar was no fool. If he killed Resurgam in such a way, there was still a strong chance that the soul would not be destroyed but instead enter into the other upon Istaria, to give him all that Maekrux might desire – the ability to have a family of his own blood, recover his pride and will to live – and reason enough to spread the secret Drulkar so deeply feared.

Maekrux landed at the dragon-god’s feet. Drulkar knew that such an imprint might be left behind as did Maekrux, but Maekrux knew more of his situation; to be lost in such a way would lose him the knowledge of runic and of the terrible events he had discovered on Azeroth. He would not be able to help his kyn as a whole and he would become another insular creature and never fulfill his other burning dream: to build a world community of Istaria. To be reborn in such a way would not nullify his oath, either, and he would never teach or tell story again. “I believe that we can come to a mutual benefit, Lord Drulkar. Since you gave me my Ancient form, I began to regain my respect and faith in you, Lord. You must know this.”

“I know that you built a shrine to me within your lair and that you speak favorably of me to others. Still, you are no prophet and your worship is fickle at best,” Drulkar grunted.

“Is not the flame itself fickle?”

“Speak not to me of my own element. Get to the point.”

“I have the ability to create a pocket dimension. Normally, a pocket dimension only connects to one realm in a certain place, but I can connect the pocket to two realms, creating a kind of in-between space. It would be this I would enter into with my other half and-”

“I would be able to reach you with my molten power and fuse your souls back together,” Drulkar interrupted. The God of Flame’s tail twittered thoughtfully. “What is it you have to trade, then? I know well enough that you will not make this pocket dimension large enough for me to pass.”

“Before I left, I began work on a Community Rite, one that would help dragons to find their way in this world. It was not finalized before I left, because my faith had been shaken, but now my faith is strong and the project may soon begin again. I would send those who complete the Rite to the place of that pocket, and you may speak your blessing to them, and they might better know their god and his power. They, in turn, would have their faith inspired and, in this godless time, you would not have to rely on ancient trinkets to regain your foothold in our world.” Maekrux looked up at the dragon-god, hopeful.

The talons of the God of Flame dimmed back to their original liquid flame. “So be it,” Drulkar finally said. “You may begin immediately. Yet, I must ask: how will you get your other half into the portal? You are certainly aware that to merge at this moment would put your soul out of balance.”

“I have some idea of how I might put things into order, but I must admit, even I am not sure yet,” Maekrux said. His claws danced along the unstable ground, drawing runes into being that would poke into the very essence of realmspace, a thread by which he could connect the Realm of Fire to the pocket he would build upon Istaria.

“I would remind the historian that myth and history are intimately interconnected. Long ago, there were ceremonies of flame by which one might be healed. You remember the old ways, Maekrix-ux, Leader of Platinum Shine, even if some of the words have been lost to you: ierikc clax vur svent verthicha, shar earenk haurach,” Drulkar said.

“What do you mean?” Maekrux asked. He had taken the name Maekrux because he had believed the Elder Draconic word to mean ‘leader,’ but he had later learned that it was a mispronunciation of the word.

“It was not a mispronunciation,” Drulkar said, as if reading his thoughts, “it is a combination word like Ausixen or Vythulhar. It is a combination of both Platinum and Leader. Still, the days when those ideas in words were spoken have faded, and you are one of the few who still remembers. Has all the knowledge of those days faded from your mind? A poor historian you would make.” The First Dragon’s molten tail crashed once more against the rock upon which it rested, cracking it apart. On a small, defiant rock, sticking up from the rest, there was a medallion of obsidian with an Elder Draconic rune upon it, and a chain of platinum connected to the circular item.

“What is this?” Maekrux asked, flying over to it and taking it in his talons. He landed once more at Drulkar’s feet to look at it in more scrutiny, as the dragon-god’s molten tail fell gently into the lava, sinking below the slow moving waves of the magma ocean.

“It is the Dragon Heart medallion. Fill the rune with your blood and its power shall activate. Whoever then wears that magical chain shall speak to the very heart of the one whose blood flows through it. I warn you, it will affect both the dead Phoenix and you, Maekrux. But it will be needed for the ceremony and none of those medallions still remain upon Istaria.” Maekrux put the item into his scalepack as Drulkar lifted his talons over him. “Now go, Blue Phoenix. Make good on your oath, as I know you will.” The First Dragon surrounded Maekrux in a canister of lava and fired him from the Realm of Flame.

When Maekrux recovered his senses, he broke free of the now-hardened canister and found that he had been returned to the Sleeper. The ash quickly blew away into the hungry Rift, anxious to devour the bound energy of the flame which had expelled him. The Sleeper lifted his head. “Go, thou Blue Phoenix: Ossalur ekess earenk, ossalur okarthel,” the Sleeper said. Resurgam shivered in the cold of the Rift and returned to the pad to prepare the ceremony.

Azaraen/Runos - "Big Blue is Back in Black"

2009-03-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

A few Istarian days had passed since the arrival, and the irritating scene in Tazoon of being laughed out of the council hall. "Big Blue" as she often thought of her draconian friend sleeping in her own heart was still pretty drained. The magic wasn't dead in this world, the process if done the same way as in the past might overload and explode. But thankfully, the blue one in dreams still could tell the little lady exactly what to do, and also thankfully was not overly bossy about it at all.

She finished up the basics of learning the art of blacksmithing, annoyed that while her teacher Guran complained about all the work to do, he stood around and watched her do it rather than take part in alleviating the problem. No wonder the townsfolk of New Trismus always complained they never got their orders, or they were long overdue... lazy dwarf. She felt the urge to kick him in the shin, but for the sake of being overall a good person, resisted and continued working.

Other things that had happened is that while she learned a little bit of how to handle a two handed weapon, she also felt like she needed to help people as she found many were getting themselves hurt, like Nyya. As of recently, Nyya got herself into a fight with Selarth... both ended up battered and had to be numbed out by C'gan and Tagath. As such, she had a good talk with the cleric trainer and joined their order. The magic healing spells were a new concept, in fact, magic was foreign to her, and it took a great many tries to get the hang of the basics, and practiced on the battered Nyya to try to get her into a better shape.

Of course, while she had been keeping busy and getting accquainted with the istarian residents (especially the dragons), she secretly was looking around for the required ritual components as if it were a giant scavenger hunt.

Status check! Phylactery... lacking. Statue thingy... also non-existent... materials find-them-now... big blue... still sleeping and weak... lunch ... you forgot to eat again.

Her quartz crystal was probably still in char on the floor of Siivyra's lair, she would have to go get it and hope it was okay still so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble again of charging an object, so she went to go do that first. The volcanic area for her was unbearably hot, so she tried to make it as short a trip as possible.

Inside the lair was a little better in most places, with the waterfalls, while some of the hallways remained an oven. She did get to the place where she had come forth originally after a lot of exploring and getting lost, happy to see the crystal in the ashen floor. She picked it up and placed it in her backpack, quickly retreating outside and to the nearest portal.

Phylactery: Acquired, albeit I hope it still holds the attunement to us from the last two times.

Next important task was noted by the sleeper, something to revitalize the soul's energy. Of course, it would be the most disgusting thing Azaraen would have ever consumed, but it was for a good cause. She really didn't know how to get the stuff, so the local consigner came in handy for several units of essence pulled from wisps. She diluted the essence in a glass of water on command, and drunk it down....

Yeck. Blargh, blech... Tastes like drinking electric cement... thick, binding, disgusting tasting and gives you shocks all the way down...

But it did what it was supposed to, revitalizing the drake within, and that is what mattered... Azaraen came to know from a few whispers to ask other dragons about a statue. Of course, when she did, a few looked at her funny, others asked what in the heck a human would need with a statue, and she was sure at least one considered her a worthwhile snack, but didn't act upon it.

"Um... I er..." Azaraen said, biting her lip. She hated telling things other than the truth...

"I.. I.. I want to make a statue of big blue to give her as a gift in her lair..." Azaraen nervously noted. Trying to conceal the fast she was carrying Runos' soul was getting difficult for her, one day if she didn't separate soon she'd crack under the guilt. "I would make it but I'm pretty bad yet with the crafts, would disintegrate the stones..."

"You know you need granite bricks for this?" said Heartshadow, with a peering gaze.

"Oh... I will go find someone who can get that stuff..." Azaraen spoke softly, looking to the ground.

"Pfft, just giving you a hard time. I'll go get the bricks..." Heartshadow grinned, running off.

... Statue, check, or at least I hope so. Looks like we have everything except the preparations complete. Big blue, you get a nice new body...

... Providing Azaraen didn't mess it up this time. Last time, the second time she had the Runedrake around her world, in the separation before sending Runos away... the little human couldn't stay focused. Too many problems on her mind had risen, mostly in her life as a result of the first visit.

She lost the favour of her family, who had thought she was mad, insane, delusional. Her loved one... one she gave her heart to willingly... told her secrets to... he made a bad choice in life, which ripped her heart out. Runos controlling her body, trying to deal with this man who couldn't understand why she would become a different person at random, but always loyal and adoring no matter what... and despite it all, he broke his loyalty, spending a night with someone else, only to return to her the next day and see the truth, the whole ritual in progress... and he assisted in her focus breaking enough to make the body remain as black marble, rather than become flesh. Incomplete. She never forgave herself or him for it, and she wouldn't mess it up this time.

It took a while, but she stayed within the tavern of New Trismus waiting for Heartshadow to finish, examining her quartz crystal and the water within it. Upon delivery, she thanked the huge drake, although he overheard her talking aloud to herself.

"Looks like we are off the a good start..." Azaraen mumbled to herself, making Heartshadow give her a weird look before she realized he was looking at her. Coughing, she spoke: "Sorry, was thinking aloud..."

Placing the precious statue on her cargo disc and securing it tightly, Azaraen moved over to the lair of the runedrake. Upon arrival, the driver of the body swapped the reins...

The biped stretched. "Naka duskael are awkward to control, but let me begin." the dragon-infused human said, etching all sorts of runes all over the place, and spanning several hours of focused work over the watchful gaze of two damned bandits the runedrake recently acquired as ornaments and toys. When Runos finished the work, she walked up and gave each frozen bandit a pat on the head, saying "Oh, you thought I was gone? Too bad." They looked at each other, quivering in their prisons.

The statue was a good start, but needed to be more like its owner, so Runos carefully adjusted the shape of the statue to be better fitting. Preparations had been completed.

The control swapped again, but only for the two to argue with each other briefly. "I can understand the reason for those two but keeping people like that is inhumane and I want you to fix it!" "Nope." "Damnit! FIX IT." "The bandits can eat my big scaly behind before I allow them freedom, they have a date with judgement anyways soon." "Bah... lets get this over with."

The biped, controlled by Azaraen, placed the quartz pendant on the statue's neck. Picking up a runestone in one hand and readying her other hand, the ritual began. It was not a quiet ritual though... the powerful forces were magnified in a word where magic was alive and well, causing a great hurricane to form overhead that remained through the duration.

Progressively as the focus built up, runes illuminated softly until the cavern was engulfed in them. Softly, the hand without a runestone in it was pushed forward, softly connecting a rune in front of it with a solid hit, breaking that rune. Azaraen's chest burned and screamed in pain as it tried to grip onto the second soul bound into it, as it transferred to the quartz. A great wave of energy sprung outwards from the impact like a shockwave, further intensifying the storm outside, and breaking the runestone in her hand.

Maintaining her position, she carefully stomped upon and wiped out various runes at her feet, releasing their energy into a single one, all the while keeping her hand on the statue's chest.

When she broke the last one, her body stoped screaming and trying to grip at the distant soul in the pendant, as it transferred to the statue. The statue stood still for several moments as Azaraen collapsed onto her knees exhausted. The result however, showed it was a great success, as the stone ceased to be stone, and gained life.

Looking at the freshly restored dragon, the first thing to come out of Azaraen's mouth was along the lines of: "Don't blow yourself up again, you have no idea how tiring this is!"

Big Blue was Back in the Black.

Aika/Cupil - "Pearl Reflection: Exile from Ralgol"

2009-03-02T05:28:00.000-08:00

((Note from Tales of Order: This post is full of HTML Errors for some reason, so the formatting will be off until I can really squish them all.))

Original forum post by Litarath on November 28th, 2007

OOC: Okay... I saw so much good RP and writing I couldn't resist the opportunity to do my part... as well as shed a little light upon some things that Aika and Cupil went through before coming to Istaria.. I hope you find this an entertaining read... Note, this is taking place in a memory..

ic:

The pale, sickly, light of the tainted moon cast an eerie glow upon the Imperial City of Corel. Darkness perpetually filled the sky with its velvet cloak as it had started doing so since Nox's return to power and no stars would dare show themselves in the tainted airs; even the moon seemed to be too scared to shine in its true glory and had been lit with a dim and darkened glow as the poison of Nox's powers continued to spread over the lands, despite the Alliance's best efforts.

Only a day or so past, the Princesses Ai'ka'fi'na and Cu'pi'la had returned from Gargantua to recover from wounds they had suffered while fighting against Nox's forces beside their parents, Dra'ki'ne'shi'ne're'thi and Fi'aha'ra'on'iz, whom had not yet returned, but were still well per messengers relaying status reports to the two young Princesses who watched over Corel in their parents' absence.

The two brave Princesses had returned under full guard per their mother and father's orders. Their parents insisted that they return home to heal and recover before returning, much to Aika's dismay. Aika, of course, had argued against it the whole way and tried on a number of occasions to escape the guards to return to her parents' sides, but due to Cupil's interference, her plans had failed each time.

On this night, or day, (one could not ever be certain of the time flow now with the perpetual darkness clinging to Ralgol's lands) Aika rested in her library, immersed in books of study and transcripts of Nox's exploits in the past, she was certain there was a key of some sort that would enable her family to overcome Nox and her forces. Cupil, on the other hand, was tending to matters of court, much to her dismay, for Aika had insisted that she do so while she researched on topics about the Dark Arts that Nox practiced to see if she could find a loophole that the Imperial Alliance could exploit and perhaps use to their advantage.

Aika and Cupil had heard news of an impending attack somewhere within the influence of their kingdom and were scrabbling for any information they could find in hopes that they could turn it to their advantage, but alas, nothing they researched or sought revealed what they wished to know... Everyone seemed to be on edge and the guards of Corel seemed to press closer to the two Princesses in order to better to protect them from any threats, which, needless to say, Aika found quite annoying.

As it were, one of Aika's good friends, by the name of Sa'le'thi Darkshroud lingered near her, keenly alert for any signs of suspicious activity while Aika did her research. As much as Aika enjoyed the company of her friend, she found it irritating that she felt that she had to protect Aika so devoutly.

Finally, it became too much to bear for Aika and she looked up from her texts, "Veil, why don't you just go somewhere else for a time... I hate how everyone is clinging so closely! Nox would not dare to attack Corel, relax a bit and do something... I don't know... more productive! I am not a hatchling that needs its Sire or Dam to constantly look after her! Go check on Cupil or something, you are making even me edgy!"

"Princess, you are my friend, I can't just leave you unprotected... You know that Nox would dare to attack Corel. She attacked another settlement not too far from here the other day, while you and Princess Cu'pi'la were gone."

The Princess sighed irritably, "I know, but still, I can't stand all this tension! It is going to drive me insane and give me reason to jump into the hordes of Darklings just to distract myself from it all! Please, give me some space. We are safe enough within the halls of the castle, I am certain."

Veil, knowing how Aika could get when her temper got short, decided to oblige the Princess, "Very well, Lady Aika, I shall step out for a time, but I will be near should anything happen, the orders are to make certain that you and Lady Cupil are safe." The ebony-violet dragon then stepped out of the library to give Aika a sense of privacy while the emerald dragonelle perused her books.

Even though one could not easily tell it from Aika's disposition; she was worried about the possibility of an attack from the Darklings upon Corel. In a recent battle against a Darkling General, Aika had learned that Nox did indeed intend to sack Corel and kill the royal family in an attempt to remove the leadership from the Imperial Alliance.

The times were dark and all those capable were often called to battle, such was the threat of Nox's forces, of course, Ai'ka'fi'na and Cu'pi'la were often forced to stay behind. However, Aika often made daring escape plans and dragged her sister into them so they could be at the front lines with their parents.

As it were, Aika hated for others to fight for her when she was well capable of fighting as well, though the Darkling forces often proved to be far more of a challenge than she would ever anticipate and more than once, she had gotten herself wounded too badly to fight. Time and again, their parents would force them to return to their bases to rest and recuperate. Most recently, Aika and Cupil had faced against a Darkling General, the very one that had told Ai'ka'fi'na that Nox intended to attack Corel, though a set in stone day had not yet been determined.

Dra'ki'ne'shi'ne're'thi and Fi'aha'ra'on'iz, in an attempt to catch Nox off-guard, had chosen to press an attack, hoping to draw Nox's attention away from Corel, where their two young and wounded daughters were trying to heal from that battle in Gargantua. Aika and Cupil could not be certain what exactly it was that her parents hoped to accomplish, but in truth, they did not know the reasons behind their parents' bold move.

The Darkling forces were growing stronger every day, and it didn't help that Renee, a family friend, and her friends had found evidence of the Gigas revival...
In fact, Renee's own aunt was actually the re-incarnation of Shii, a black dragon, Giga of Destruction... Not too long ago, the spirit of Shii had resurfaced and possessed Tanis, morphing her into Shii's true form and sparking a terrible fight between Renee and her friends against the engine of destruction.

In fact, even their father had been the reincarnation of Recumen, a crimson dragon with powers that far surpassed even Shii's. It was only through a concerted effort on Aika, Cupil, Mystia (Dra'ki'ne'shi'ne're'thi), Renee, Esprit (a special wolf) and a couple of Gigas Knights that they had been able to set Fie (their father) free of the possession from Recumen.

Aika herself had fought against Shii some time ago, but had been nearly killed and barely managed to make it back alive...

Aika broke from her reverie suddenly as she looked out the window at something in the distance, nothing tangible, but a sort of power that reeked of death and shadow powers.

She sighed as she set her paws upon a book entitled: Gigas: Engines of Destruction
"How can we end this? It doesn't help that almost all of the Gigas have been re-incarnated... I couldn't even hurt Shii... how can we fight against all of them and Nox? Cupil and I just aren't strong enough... there must be some way that we can do something to help Sire and Dam..." The emerald Princess looked to the skies as if an answer could dawn upon her...

"Great Grandsire... Morkeleb... what would you do? Sire, Dam, Cupil and I have done all we can to try to stop Nox's forces... but still... she grows stronger every day... with every battle and every victory... The Imperial Alliance grows weaker with every stronghold we lose.. Nox spreads over these lands like a plague... unchecked despite our best efforts... Your seals and spells weaken as she grows stronger..."

There was a timid knock at the door to Aika's study and she snorted irritably as she looked to it, "Who is it? I asked not to be disturbed!!! Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Sister, it is me, Cupil." The small voice came from beyond the door.

In a moment, Aika's disposition changed and she jumped off the soft chair she was lounging upon to answer the door, "Oh!! Cupil!!! I didn't expect to see you up here, especially since court has been so busy..." Aika fondly nuzzled her sister, "I didn't mean to snap at you...I thought perhaps it was Sa'le'thi or someone else trying to bug me, but you don't have to knock... Why don't you come in?" Aika used her snout to pull open the door to let her sister in completely and then bounded over to her chair, upon which she had left the book she had been studying.

She jumped up and landed next to the book, but set it aside to make room for her sister, who jumped up with her and lie down, but had noticed the particular book.

"Aika... you don't plan on fighting Shii again... do you?"

"I do Cupil, I owe it to her to teach her a lesson for humbling me... I am a Princess! I do not lose!! I will fight and kill her... just you watch."

"Aika, you nearly got yourself killed last time! Do you really want to die that badly?"

Aika snorted disdainfully at the mention of that fiasco, "Look, it made her spare that city... I gave her a good enough fight so that she saw it fit to let that city live."

"Aika, she only didn't kill you or that city because she knew something about us that we didn't... don't you remember?"

Aika's tempered flared at the mention of the words that Shii had spoken to them, "Don't do it Cupil... don't say those words to me again... they aren't true! They can't be! NO!! THEY ARE NOT!! I am not evil, we are not evil!! It is Nox who is the evil one!"

Cupil set her paws against Aika's forehead, "You need to see... they don't want us dead... they want us... Nox needs us...this is why!"

Cupil set her pearl white claws upon Aika's forehead, to unlock memories that Aika had tried to seal away...

****Memory Flash*****

Recumen chuckles and snakes his head into the cave, looking directly at Sor'celia with his ageless, unfathomable eyes, his gigantic head barely fitting into the cavern...

That is a good question. Sister Dear, why don't you shed some light?

He's not talking to any of the other Gigas this time, but to the dragon, Shii, herself.

"Why, we merely want the Silvanesti Crystal's essence." Shii said, smiling darkly at the twin Princesses, Ai'ka'fi'na and Cu'pi'la.

"I am sorry, but we do not have it." Renee said as she readied herself for battle.

"On the contrary, you do have it. You just never knew it. In fact, you have
both parts to it." Shii said arcanely.

"What on Ralgol are you talking about?" Renee shot back.

"Don't mean to tell me that you did not know that the essence of Bluecorea is contained within those two?" Shii asked, indicating the twins.

"W-what do you mean?" Renee asked, confused.

"Ha-ha-ha, you really are an idiot, Saingly." Shii said disparagingly.

"Tell me what you mean, I am not here to play your games!" Renee warned as she pointed her sword at Shii.

"Very well, since you do not know anything anyhow. Bluecorea was comprised of four essences, Light, Dark, Life, and Death. Did it not seem odd that those two are exactly that? There were two sides to Bluecorea, the darker more evil side, which Ai'ka'fi'na represents and his lighter, more good side, which Cu'pi'la represents. They are the reincarnation of him, in a sense. Did you not notice how connected they truly are? Have you failed to notice that they are never apart? Have you failed to notice that when they are with each other, they are stronger, but when they are apart, they are weaker? You can't possibly have overlooked that point could you?" Shii said darkly, smirking at the looks of shock on everyone's faces, even the twins'.

"I see, you are a bit dumbfounded...So you really did not know....He-he-he-he, how ignorant of all of you and the both of you, So'rc'elia and El'or'in'ethi." Shii smirked, amused at the Ancients' reactions.

"Now, turn them over to us, and we shall be on our way..." Shii said, "If you wish to stay alive for a bit longer, I highly recommend that you do as we ask." She suggested.

The party did not answer immediately, out of shock....

Sor'celia stared at the Gigas and the Princesses in shock and looks down.

"You wouldn't dare, brother! You wouldn't dare despoil these two, who are so innocent. I will not let you!"

Recumen laughed malevolently, "Sister, dear, you forget one thing. You rejected your Gigas heritage. You are powerless to stop us all. And your spawn is but a shadow of yourself."

Cupil had clung closer to Aika at that moment, trembling with fear, "What's going on?"

"So'rc'elia, you really have forgotten your place, your former glory and power and you seem to have forgotten's brother's mentality. Once he gets an idea, he will not back down. As I said before... all you have to do is let us take those two. Would you rather we take them by force and obliterate all of you in the process?" Shii said pointedly.

"I will not let you take Mystia's daughters... Mystia knows that I will protect them, even if it costs me my life." Renee said as she rushed at Shii, who merely looked at the girl and did not budge. A burst of energy cloaked Renee and blasted her through the cave wall and through several trees.

"How can you hope to protect them, when you have no strength compared to my own?" Shii asked as she then turned her attention back to the group.

"Now, give us the twins." Shii said as Esprit leapt at her, but the Giga sent her flying away with nothing more than a thought.

Aika said, getting upset at the Giga, who was hurting her friends so easily.

"Just what are you going to do about it?" Shii asked as the emerald dragon launched a beam of darkness at Shii, who merely batted it away with a single claw.

"Child, you cannot hope to stand against our power." Shii said, doing nothing to the small dragon who kept trying to hurt the Giga.

"This is the last time I will ask you, leave the children to us and no one else has to get hurt." Shii said calmly as Aika fired several more beams at Shii, which did nothing to the powerful Giga.

Aika told her sister, upset that she could not protect her friends, She asked Cu'pi'la, hoping that if they did, the mean creatures would leave Renee and the others alone...

Cupil shook her head in response to Aika's question, "No. They're scary and nasty, even if the big red one is made from daddy."

Aika said, worried for her friends' safety,

"Don't worry....about...anything..." Renee said as she staggered back to the party, with Esprit a short distance behind, limping as they returned.

Esprit growled as both she and Renee tried once again to attack Shii, who irritably blasted them away once more.

"It is your choice, Ai'ka'fi'na and Cu'pi'la, come with us... or they pay." She said as she psychically lifted up the wolf and girl and sent pulses of dark energy into them, hurting them very badly, "It would be a good idea to make your choice quickly, for if I allow Recumen to have his way, there will be nothing left of any of your friends." Shii sinisterly, grinning satanically as Renee and Esprit cried out in pain.

"Your choice you two, make it quickly. If not, then I will kill these two without a further thought." Shii said as she increased the intensity of her energy pulses.

Aika and Cupil both went pale as they saw the torture that Shii was putting Renee and Esprit through.

Aika cried as she fired more beams of energy at the Giga.

"I will, just come with us." Shii answered.

"No....Aika, don't....ahhh!" Renee gasped as Shii silenced her with an even more intense burst.

"Make your choice now." Shii said.

Trembling, Aika huddled next to her sister.

She said

"No way! I'm not coming with you!" Cupil shouted and suddenly held a protective wing over Aika. Elli had glared up and blasted Shii once, making her let go of Renee and Esprit.

"Get away from this place, now, or so help me I'll make the Dark and Light Gigas attack you."

The surprise attack had, surprisingly, caught Shii off-guard...
Shii, however, had recovered quickly, with a snarl of her own, "You disgusting half-breed, you dare touch me? The Light and Dark Gigas pose no threat to us. We are invincible, we are the Gigas of yore, and you have pissed me off!" Shii roared as an evil black aura lanced from her body and darkened the entire forest. Aika trembled in fear, for she felt the taint of the Dark and Death's poison fill the forest.

Cupil squealed in pain and clung tightly to Aika, for she could feel the countless lives of the creatures in the forest go out one by one. Only their friends still stood and now the trees were dead, and barren as winter.

"Recumen, let's take them out and take Aika and Cupil by force." She growled as she powered up a huge surge of energy, which accented the black aura and made purple lightning flash from it.

Esprit's hackles stood on end and she growled fearsomely at Shii.
She growled as she leapt at Shii, who fired the beam at the wolf so quickly, that Renee could not act to stop it and protect her companion.

The beam collided with the wolf and a blood-chilling howl came from the cloud of darkness.A burst of light shone and revealed Esprit, rocketing towards Shii's throat.The Giga turned her head aside and Esprit missed by a long shot, but she latched onto Shii's shoulder and bit down viciously.

Shii roared in fury and smacked the wolf from her shoulder with one claw, sending Esprit hurtling to the ground, but the agile wolf landed perfectly and immediately sprang at Shii once more.

"Esprit, no don't!" Renee cried as the wolf continued to attack Shii, who connected many slashes with her claws to Esprit's body, but the wolf did not care, she only wanted to rip out Shii's throat.

"Esprit, what are you doing!" Renee cried as she leapt to try to intercept the wolf, who nimbly avoided the Saingly's arms and pressed her attack on Shii...

Much to everyone's surprise, Recumen had intervened and suddenly held out his claw, which suspended them in air and immobilized them.

"Shii, do not pursue this foolish fighting. She cannot beat us, but she has a point. The Dark Gigas is indeed powerful. Almost as powerful as me and if there is a Light Gigas, this will not be an easy fight. I suggest we return to the City and build a strength up, and look for a final few crystals."

It had been then when Shii snarled at each of the others present, but directly aimed an attack at Aika, who had been so foolishly bold as to attack her in the first place, "I may not be allowed to kill you, little one, but I can teach you a lesson that you won't forget! Do not dare to stand against the almighty Gigas of legend!" The Gigas used her power to envelope Aika in a terribly painful glowing light of purple and black energy and then blasted her through several trees, much to the horror of those present before the Gigas departed.

"We shall meet again, Princesses Ai'ka'fi'na and Cu'pi'la... don't forget who you are... the Giga, Bluecorea... and one of us..." Shii's malevolent laugh filled the air as she vanished in a burst of black energy, along with the others...

****Memory fade******

It took Ai'ka'fi'na a moment to recover her senses as Cu'pi'la withdrew her paw and stopped the flow of her powers.

Aika shook her head, trying to clear away the memories of that day, so recently ago, but to no avail, "No Cupil!!! I am not evil!!! I am not!!! Shii was lying!!!"

Cupil did not seem at all troubled, but more concerned for Aika, who was definitely not taking this well, "You see... it is because of us that Nox does this... she needs the two of us to restore all of the Gigas.... our souls are linked with Bluecorea's... Bluecorea is the only one whom Nox has yet been unable to get and revive... Nox doesn't want to kill us, because she wants the full power of the ancient engines of destruction..."

Awdz - "Noncas' Story" - Version #2

2009-03-02T05:24:00.000-08:00
Original forum post by Awdz on November 28th, 2007

This is updated to be more in keeping with the official Istarian lore:

Awdz finished hammering out her latest project, a finely-crafted mining pick for a guild member to use on granite. As the ranger lifted it up to check her crafting one final time, she caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning from the public anvil near Aughundell’s main gates, she peeked through a doorway she previously had always ignored.

“Hello?” Awdz inquired. She watched a gnomish figure scuttling about in the back room. “Oh, are you visiting Aughundell?”

“Nope, I live and work here since the siege was lifted. I want to help the dwarves out with tinkering as much as I can,” he replied without looking, then turned around. Awdz gave a low gasp as their eyes met.

The bustling gnome stopped short on seeing Awdz. His eyes widened as he noted her exquisite mithril armor, her well-worn weapons and her capable handling of her equipment. With his next breath, he dove behind a cupboard. Startled, Awdz stepped forward.

“Noncas?” she asked, tentatively coming around the cupboard to look at him. “Noncas Fizzlebot?”

“Please! Don’t kill me! Just leave me in peace!” Noncas huddled in a corner, shaking as if in fear for his life. Awdz paused, confused.

“I’m gifted. I protect the citizens of Istaria, I do not kill them,” Awdz tried to soothe the frightened gnome. “I only kill the Withered Aegis and their minions – you know, like the ones who invaded Rachival.”

“It wasn’t really my fault and I didn’t mean it! Please don’t kill me!” The gnome cringed away from Awdz, terrified of her. Awdz stared at him, puzzled.

“What are you talking about, Noncas? Don’t you know who I am? It’s just Awdz…” She put her hand on his arm to comfort him, and he cautiously peeked over at her.

“Awdz… Could it be?” He looked at her with a mix of hope and extreme sorrow. “You do not know?”

Awdz gave Noncas a look filled with wonder, confusion and a touch of frustration. “I don’t know what you’re referring to… I know you used to work with me Da in Rachival – eons ago when I was a young gnome – before Rachival was invaded.” Awdz stopped speaking, overcome with grief as she always was at the mention of that horrible night. Noncas stood silent and wary of her as she collected herself. After a moment, she looked at him with hope in her eyes.

“Noncas, you worked with me Da right up until the invasion, you must have been with him. Please, can you tell me what became of him?” Awdz gazed at Noncas tearfully, fear and determination warring within her as she waited to hear his tidings.

Noncas shifted his feet uncomfortably and looked away from her.

“I cannot tell you where he is now. I honestly do not know. That… that was a terrible, terrible time. I have tried to forget about it as much as possible, and to make a new life here in Aughundell, where I can truly be of help. I am sorry; more sorry than you can possibly know.” With this last statement, Noncas looked at her, pleading earnestly for forgiveness with his eyes.

Astounded by the intensity of his reponse to her question, Awdz felt ashamed. “Oh Noncas, I am sorry for bringing up such painful memories. I just miss me Da…” At that, Noncas cringed again.

“…But I too have made a new life for myself. I found Gwillimena and Gadzooks!” Noncas looked up, surprised but happy at the news, and let Awdz continue.

“We all joined the same guild. Gwillimena has a house in Mahagra, but Gadzooks and I live in Toku now; my guild has built up a nice settlement. Not many gnomes, but all wonderful beings. Even some dragons! They don’t all eat gnomes after all!” Awdz smiled happily in thinking of how the warnings from when she was little turned out to be less absolute than she’d been taught.

“I did go back to Rachival for signs of what might have happened to Da, but only found some of his old notes and his prototype klava maker. I took it to Gangaf – he’s in Dalimond now – and he was able to help me fix it. We have klava again in Istaria! You must come have some klava with me!”

At the mention of klava, Noncas’ face turned dark and he growled at Awdz: “I will never, NEVER! have klava again! Don’t ever offer it to me!” He thrust her hand off her arm and slumped into the corner against the cupboard.

Absolutely stunned, Awdz knelt next to him. “What is it? You used to love klava, could not get enough of it, kept trying all kinds of new things in it, convinced the most leery of it to try it – and everyone loved it, too – and you were the only one allowed to touch Da’s mithril klava maker besides him. What happened?”

Noncas stared into space. “I just cannot bear the memories it brings back,” he replied.

“Nonsense, Noncas!” Awdz retorted. “We drink klava to celebrate the good memories and to help us move on with creating new ones. You must come have some klava with me!”

“No, Awdz, I cannot,” Noncas said quietly. “You have no idea… there is so much more to it than you can possibly know.”

Sensing a deeply buried, painful truth needing release, Awdz sat next to Noncas and gently said, “Please, Noncas, tell me what happened. I need to know. No matter how bad it is, I promise I will only try to help.”

Noncas searched her face before replying. Seeing only compassion and worry there, he came to a decision, took a deep breath and began.

“I guess it really started couple of weeks before the invasion. As you know, I worked with your Da Egad as his apprentice. Well, back then, I was an eager journeyman tinker, bent on making my mark on the world.

“I had made some key contributions to your Da’s research, refinements to his creations that made them a little more convenient to use, but nothing truly novel. Nevertheless, I wanted him to declare me a master tinker. He refused, saying I was showing great promise but not ready yet.

“I was upset, and determined to show him that I really deserved the rank of master. I tried to think of something truly impressive with which I could convince him of my ability. I did not realize then that it was not a measure of ability but maturity that he felt I lacked. In any event, I could not come up with anything that was not simply a variation on his work.

“I knew that the mithril klava maker was going to be the biggest invention he was going to present at the upcoming tinker’s convention, so I decided to try improving the strength of the klava we could make. I searched for novel ingredients to add to the klava, to test each batch by tasting it myself. I even kept a separate notebook from Egad’s, so I could prove the research was my own. I thought to thus convince the tinkers at the convention that I was ready to be a master tinker even if your Da disagreed.

“A few days before the invasion, I came across something I’d never seen before: blighted resources. Intrigued by the odd glow from them, I harvested some samples, and found a bonus buried deep within them – a substance now known as unstable essence of blight.”

Awdz gasped at the thought of blighted materials in klava, knowing the blight as poison to all the inhabitants of Istaria. Noncas gave her a sorrowful look and continued.

“I put the unstable essence of blight in the very next batch of klava I made, using the mithril klava maker since I doubted the steel prototype would be able to handle the energies it seemed to contain. The klava maker behaved very, very strangely after I added that new component, requesting things I’d never heard of before, soul fragments and spirit oil. I’ve since learned that those go into the making of ambrosia, balancing out the evil of the blight for release of great power without negative side effects. Unfortunately, I neither understood that then, nor had those ingredients.

“Being set on coming up with something to present at the convention and running out of time, I went ahead with the batch of klava, leaving out those requested components. The klava maker steamed and clunked terribly, but
eventually put out a very odd-smelling brew. As was our custom, having made the batch, I tested it by having the first cupful of it.”

Horror grew on Awdz’s face as she listened to Noncas’ story. The thought of anything blighted in klava – no wonder he did not ever want any again! Noncas grimaced at the memory of it and continued his story.

“It really did not taste as bad as you might expect, though it was nowhere near as tasty as normal klava. I felt a rush of power course through me, and felt I could do anything! What I did not know, was that my judgement was
corrupted.

“Having heard rumors of the Withered Aegis nearing Rachival, your Da had another invention he was going to unveil at the convention, that he had created in collaboration with Gangaf Tagley: a sort of sentient, extremely powerful automaton of defense. I had helped with some of the construction of it, but Gangaf had enabled it to move about and Egad had done all of the tinkering to give it limited sentience. In my corrupted state, I decided that I could improve their work with a few modifications.”

Awdz started. She had heard rumors of a tinker turning against the gnomes at the time of the invasion, something about an automaton turning against them, but had never connected it with her Da’s work. Already horrified by the
thought of blighted klava, she had difficulty wrapping her mind around Noncas’ next words.

“I am not really sure of what all I changed in the automaton; my memory while the blighted klava was affecting me is still very hazy. I think I gave it the ability to create lesser versions of itself, and gave it an aggressive nature instead of defensive. I may even have added some of the blighted klava to its lubrication system. In my state of mind, it was supposed to make the construct more effective against the invaders. Finishing the modifications, I christened it ‘Project X’.

“Giddy with my achievements, and wanting to surprise all tinkers with it at the convention, I tried to cover up what I had done. I emptied the klava maker but did not clean it properly; I can only attribute that lapse to the effect of the corrupted klava. I closed up the automaton and left it appearing approximately as Egad had left it last. I had no idea of the havoc my actions would wreak in the next days.”

Tears began to well in Awdz’s eyes as Noncas described the events that followed.

“During this time, your Da had been negotiating with the elves in Feladan for security reinforcements in return for trade goods such as cargo discs. We knew that our city would have a tough time surviving the rumored impending
attack… if only we knew how tough!

“Anyway, Egad returned less than an hour after I finished resetting all his things. He said that a contingent of the elves was due to arrive in a few minutes, and he wanted a fresh batch of klava going in the mithril klava maker when they arrived. With that, he was off to pester Gama Gwillimena and the rest of the womenfolk for a feast.

“By this point, the blighted klava effects were starting to wear off of me, and I was exhausted. I quickly started up the next batch, not realizing that the unstable essence of blight was still affecting the machine. The elves arrived
shortly, and your Da brought them in for a preview of his pride and joy, the klava maker.

“The elves insisted that after their journey, they wanted to drink fine wine. The trimmiteriansk responded by requesting not elven wine, but dwarven brandy be added to it. With raised eyebrows, the elves watched while which I promptly added a keg of brandy to the klava maker. I was so tired, I then headed for bed without waiting for the batch to finish.

“Now, dwarven brandy alone is potent drink. When added to the klava maker with unstable essence of blight in its system, the brew grew too powerful for even the mithril to withstand. As Egad watched in shock, the mithril klava
maker steamed, shook and clanged horribly. The elves dove for cover, one of them grabbing your Da and pulling him to safety just as the klava maker exploded, showering all present with its contents.

“I woke up groggily at the explosion and came running back to see what had happened. The elves stood up, defiled klava dripping from their clothes and causing blotches on their complexions; angrily, they turned on Egad.

“‘What did you bring us up here for, to ruin our fine clothes and give us rashes? How dare you! It will be a freezing day in Dralk before we come back to Rachival!’ Grabbing up their packs, they headed out. With them went any
hope we had of reinforcements from Feladan in the event the Withered Aegis attacked.

“The mayor of Rachival was notified of the events and immediately sent an envoy with an apology to Feladan. Meanwhile, your Da and I tried to clean up and fix the mithril klava maker. Fortunately for me at the time, though
ultimately unfortunate for all, he thought it was just the brandy that caused the explosion. I did not tell him about the new, powerful component I had found, nor about the secret modifications I had made to his project. I still thought I had done something great, and that I could be recognized for it as a master tinker. I had not yet had the sleep I needed to think clearly.”

Noncas buried his head in his hands, weeping. Awdz sat silently crying, too shocked to speak. However, Noncas was not quite finished. Shamefacedly, he picked up his head and spoke on.

“I went to bed so late that night that it was the next morning, and slept through most of the day. When I did get up, I felt terribly guilty about the klava explosion. I knew I’d have to tell Egad about the unstable essence of blight, but I dreaded it. I thought it could wait. And because your Da was busy trying to explain to everyone in town what had gone wrong with the elven negotiations, it was easy for me to avoid him. He had no warning that his invention had been modified.

“The envoy to Feladan, though successful in that the apology was accepted, was too late. I don’t know if the Withered Aegis had spies in place to know the elves had run off angrily, or if they just were very lucky with timing. Either way, that evening, they invaded.

“All of Rachival mobilized as soon as the warning was given. Your Da pulled out the untested automaton that I had modified, and set it loose in the direction of the Withered Aegis. I did not tell him of my modifications to it; there did not seem to be time. And at first, all seemed to be going well. It fought against those attacking us, because they were in front of it and aggressive.

“But in the chaos of battle, the lines began to mix.”

Noncas paused miserably, dreading what was to come next. After a moment, he resumed his tale.

“Instead of having the clear guidance to protect gnomes that Egad had given it, Project X had only my vague, blight-ridden instruction of ‘Attack enemies!’ In the confusion of battle, it must have become mixed up. It began attacking
all non-mechanical beings, Withered Aegis and Rachival citizens alike.

“I was with Egad when the first reports of the trouble with Project X came in. He turned pale upon learning that his invention had begun destroying the gnome guard contingents. He turned to his notes, trying to understand where he had gone wrong, in hopes of correcting it. It was then that I realized that I had destroyed us all.”

Breaking into sobs, Noncas buried his face in his knees. Awdz stared into space for some time, then finally found her voice.

“Did you ever tell him?”

Noncas snuffled, pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose before replying.

“Once I realized how terrible the situation was because of me, I stepped forward and explained to Egad what I had done. I had never seen a face turn so many different, brilliant colors before… white, red, purple, blue, green, gray, and white again, finally settling on red. He told me that it was not my ability he had questioned, just my judgment because of my lack of maturity. He said what had happened was his fault for not keeping a closer eye on his
apprentice. And in the terror of that night, I did not think to contradict him.

“Knowing at last the truth of the situation, your Da assessed what could be done and took immediate action. He scooped up the plans for his automaton and as many parts as were handy onto one of his oversized cargo disks. He also loaded the pieces of the mithril klava maker there, and some food fabricators. He scrawled a quick note for me to deliver to the mayor of Rachival in Feladan, and bid me on pain of eternal torment to get it safely delivered.

“In the note, Egad explained that there was a miscalculation with the automaton that he thought he could fix, given enough time. However, with Rachival fallen, he would seek out the other gnomish center of knowledge for help – the observatory on the peninsula.”

Awdz sat up straight, her full attention caught by Noncas’ last revelation.

“So you do know what happened to him then!” she cried out.

“No,” Noncas shook his head in misery. “I only know that we both set out that night. I made it to Tazoon with most of the refugees shortly after Rachival fell. I did not locate the mayor of Rachival; he was lost that night saving some of the refugees. Instead, I gave the note to the deputy mayor.

“He railed about the incompetence of your Da. When I tried to raise a feeble protest, the deputy mayor warned me not to. You see, in the eyes of the community, if it was not incompetence, then it had to be intentional, and everyone was very angry at what had happened.” Noncas bowed his head in disgrace. Awdz’s head whirled with the implications of that statement as Noncas went on.

“Given reports that some of Egad’s younglings had perished in the evacuation of Rachival, the remaining leadership of the gnomish community chose to take the note as evidence that Egad meant well, and did not seek to punish him or
his family. However, they made no effort to help him either, being overwhelmed as they were with trying to relocate an entire city of refugees. As his apprentice, I was not disciplined, but I was not welcome in the community anymore. No other master tinker would have me.

“I think Gangaf may have suspected something of me, for he best knew your Da’s work on the automaton. He also had seen my skill and temperament when I helped with it. However, his only words to me were a suggestion that
perhaps other races could make use of someone with tinkering skills. Coward that I am, I followed his suggestion and remained in Tazoon when the rest of the community moved on to found New Rachival. At least in Tazoon I was
of some use instead of harm.

“As far as your Da’s travels…” Noncas paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “I always assumed he made it to the observatory. Some years later, when reports telling of Withered Aegis movements south of Chiconis and Dalimond came to Tazoon, my fear for your Da overcame my guilt. Perhaps the Withered Aegis learned of his plans; perhaps the observatory was just a strategic location. Either way, when I heard that the observatory had been captured, I traveled to the human city. There I met up again with Gangaf, where he was working on a cooperative defense effort with the humans. We made a valiant attempt to free the observatory under the leadership of Dreveon, but were not able to get past the undead forces.”

Noncas gazed into his memory, a haunted look crossing his features. “The horror from the invasion of Rachival was replayed there, with our undead kin fighting against us. Our best-tinkered siege machines were no match for the
blight of spirit that seeing those undead cast upon us. Having failed once more when it came to helping our kin, I returned to Tazoon until the siege of Aughundell was lifted. Then at last, among the dwarves, I found a place where my tinkering was of significant use to the community.

“I do not know if your Da was in the observatory when it was overrun. For a long time I prayed that he had found refuge elsewhere, and would come forward with his research completed on an automaton that truly would save us from the blighted ones. After all, he had left Rachival with enough supplies to survive indefinitely if he just had a source of power to draw from.”

“But I think we would have heard from him by now, if that were the case.”

Noncas finished his tale with a pensive stare into space.

Awdz looked at this gnome who had just bared his soul to her, whom she had once admired for working with her Da, and who had caused the downfall of Rachival (and so much pain in her life!). Summoning all the emotional tempering she had gained through her years of being gifted, she fought down the urge to throttle him and sighed sorrowfully instead. Nothing she could say or do to him would undo the past. She had long since taken to leaving the
bitter past behind her, lest she fall into complete despair. Too many fallen comrades, too much lost; it was overwhelming. Far better to look at building toward the future instead.

“Thank you, Noncas, for sharing the truth,” Awdz told him. Stowing the nearly forgotten mining pick in her pack, she stood, and he stood up with her. “At least now I have a new direction in which to search for signs of me Da. I will not expose you for it.”

Their eyes met once more. Seeing the buried pain and disappointment in Awdz’s eyes as she looked at him, Noncas looked down regretfully.

“For what little it is worth,” Noncas told her, “I am sorry.”

Awdz nodded once at Noncas and headed out the recently noticed doorway, resolving to ignore it again for the foreseeable future.

Awdz - "Noncas' Story" - Version #1

2009-03-02T05:15:00.000-08:00
Original forum post by Awdz on November 28th, 2006

Awdz finished hammering out her latest project, a finely-crafted mining pick for a guild member to use on granite. As the ranger lifted it up to check her crafting one final time, she caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning from the public anvil near Aughundell’s main gates, she peeked through a doorway she previously had always ignored.

"Hello?" Awdz inquired. She watched a gnomish figure scuttling about in the back room. "Oh, are you visiting Aughundell?"

"Nope, I live and work here since Rachival was invaded. I want to help the dwarves out with tinkering as much as I can," he replied without looking, then turned around. Awdz gave a low gasp as their eyes met.

The bustling gnome stopped short on seeing Awdz. His eyes widened as he noted her exquisite mithril armor, her well-worn weapons and her capable handling of her equipment. With his next breath, he dove behind a cupboard. Startled, Awdz stepped forward.

"Noncas?" she asked, tentatively coming around the cupboard to look at him. "Noncas Fizzlebot?"

"Please! Don’t kill me! Just leave me in peace!" Noncas huddled in a corner, shaking as if in fear for his life. Awdz paused, confused.

"I’m gifted. I protect the citizens of Istaria, I do not kill them," Awdz tried to soothe the frightened gnome. "I only kill the Withered Aegis and their minions – you know, like the ones who invaded Rachival."

"It wasn’t really my fault and I didn’t mean it! Please don’t kill me!" The gnome cringed away from Awdz, terrified of her. Awdz stared at him, puzzled.
"What are you talking about, Noncas? Don’t you know who I am? It’s just Awdz…" She put her hand on his arm to comfort him, and he cautiously peeked over at her.

"Awdz… Could it be?" He looked at her with a mix of hope and extreme sorrow. "You do not know?"

Awdz gave Noncas a look filled with wonder, confusion and a touch of frustration. "I don’t know what you’re referring to… I know you used to work with me Da in Rachival – eons ago when I was a young gnome – before Rachival was invaded." Awdz stopped speaking, overcome with grief as she always was at the mention of that horrible night. Noncas stood silent and wary of her as she collected herself. After a moment, she looked at him with hope in her eyes.

"Noncas, you worked with me Da right up until the invasion, you must have been with him. Please, can you tell me what became of him?" Awdz gazed at Noncas tearfully, fear and determination warring within her as she waited to hear his tidings.

Noncas shifted his feet uncomfortably and looked away from her.

"I cannot tell you where he is now. I honestly do not know. That… that was a terrible, terrible time. I have tried to forget about it as much as possible, and to make a new life here in Aughundell, where I can truly be of help. I am sorry; more sorry than you can possibly know." With this last statement, Noncas looked at her, pleading earnestly for forgiveness with his eyes.

Astounded by the intensity of his reponse to her question, Awdz felt ashamed. "Oh Noncas, I am sorry for bringing up such painful memories. I just miss me Da…" At that, Noncas cringed again.

"…But I too have made a new life for myself. I found Gwillimena and Gadzooks!" Noncas looked up, surprised but happy at the news, and let Awdz continue.

"We all joined the same guild. Gwillimena has a house in Mahagra, but Gadzooks and I live in Toku now; my guild has built up a nice settlement. Not many gnomes, but all wonderful beings. Even some dragons! They don’t all eat gnomes after all!" Awdz smiled happily in thinking of how the warnings from when she was little turned out to be less absolute than she’d been taught.

"I did go back to Rachival for signs of what might have happened to Da, but only found some of his old notes and his prototype klava maker. I took it to Gangaf – he’s in Dalimond now – and he was able to help me fix it. We have klava again in Istaria! You must come have some klava with me!"

At the mention of klava, Noncas’ face turned dark and he growled at Awdz: "I will never, NEVER! have klava again! Don’t ever offer it to me!" He thrust her hand off her arm and slumped into the corner against the cupboard.

Absolutely stunned, Awdz knelt next to him. "What is it? You used to love klava, could not get enough of it, kept trying all kinds of new things in it, convinced the most leery of it to try it – and everyone loved it, too – and you were the only one allowed to touch Da’s mithril klava maker besides him. What happened?"

Noncas stared into space. "I just cannot bear the memories it brings back," he replied.

"Nonsense, Noncas!" Awdz retorted. "We drink klava to celebrate the good memories and to help us move on with creating new ones. You must come have some klava with me!"

"No, Awdz, I cannot," Noncas said quietly. "You have no idea… there is so much more to it than you can possibly know."

Sensing a deeply buried, painful truth needing release, Awdz sat next to Noncas and gently said, "Please, Noncas, tell me what happened. I need to know. No matter how bad it is, I promise I will only try to help."

Noncas searched her face before replying. Seeing only compassion and worry there, he came to a decision, took a deep breath and began.

"I guess it really started couple of weeks before the invasion. As you know, I worked with your Da Egad as his apprentice. Well, back then, I was an eager journeyman tinker, bent on making my mark on the world.

"I had made some key contributions to your Da’s research, refinements to his creations that made them a little more convenient to use, but nothing truly novel. Nevertheless, I wanted him to declare me a master tinker. He refused, saying I was showing great promise but not ready yet.

"I was upset, and determined to show him that I really deserved the rank of master. I tried to think of something truly impressive with which I could convince him of my ability. I did not realize then that it was not a measure of ability but maturity that he felt I lacked. In any event, I could not come up with anything that was not simply a variation on his work.

"I knew that the mithril klava maker was going to be the biggest invention he was going to present at the upcoming tinker’s convention, so I decided to try improving the strength of the klava we could make. I searched for novel ingredients to add to the klava, to test each batch by tasting it myself. I even kept a separate notebook from Egad’s, so I could prove the research was my own. I thought to thus convince the tinkers at the convention that I was ready to be a master tinker even if your Da disagreed.

"A few days before the invasion, I came across something I’d never seen before: blighted resources. Intrigued by the odd glow from them, I harvested some samples, and found a bonus buried deep within them – a substance now known as unstable essence of blight."

Awdz gasped at the thought of blighted materials in klava, knowing the blight as poison to all the inhabitants of Istaria. Noncas gave her a sorrowful look and continued.

"I put the unstable essence of blight in the very next batch of klava I made, using the mithril klava maker since I doubted the steel prototype would be able to handle the energies it seemed to contain. The klava maker behaved very, very strangely after I added that new component, requesting things I’d never heard of before, soul fragments and spirit oil. I’ve since learned that those go into the making of ambrosia, balancing out the evil of the blight for release of great power without negative side effects. Unfortunately, I neither understood that then, nor had those ingredients.

"Being set on coming up with something to present at the convention and running out of time, I went ahead with the batch of klava, leaving out those requested components. The klava maker steamed and clunked terribly, but eventually put out a very odd-smelling brew. As was our custom, having made the batch, I tested it by having the first cupful of it."

Horror grew on Awdz’s face as she listened to Noncas’ story. The thought of anything blighted in klava – no wonder he did not ever want any again! Noncas grimaced at the memory of it and continued his story.

"It really did not taste as bad as you might expect, though it was nowhere near as tasty as normal klava. I felt a rush of power course through me, and felt I could do anything! What I did not know, was that my judgement was corrupted.

"Having heard rumors of the Withered Aegis nearing Rachival, your Da had another invention he was going to unveil at the convention, that he had created in collaboration with Gangaf Tagley: a sort of sentient, extremely powerful automaton of defense. I had helped with some of the construction of it, but Gangaf had enabled it to move about and Egad had done all of the tinkering to give it limited sentience. In my corrupted state, I decided that I could improve their work with a few modifications."

Awdz started. She had heard rumors of a tinker turning against the gnomes at the time of the invasion, something about an automaton turning against them, but had never connected it with her Da’s work. Already horrified by the thought of blighted klava, she had difficulty wrapping her mind around Noncas’ next words.

"I am not really sure of what all I changed in the automaton; my memory while the blighted klava was affecting me is still very hazy. I think I gave it the ability to create lesser versions of itself, and gave it an aggressive nature instead of defensive. I may even have added some of the blighted klava to its lubrication system. In my state of mind, it was supposed to make the construct more effective against the invaders. Finishing the modifications, I christened it ‘Project X’.

"Giddy with my achievements, and wanting to surprise all tinkers with it at the convention, I tried to cover up what I had done. I emptied the klava maker but did not clean it properly; I can only attribute that lapse to the effect of the corrupted klava. I closed up the automaton and left it appearing approximately as Egad had left it last. I had no idea of the havoc my actions would wreak in the next days."

Tears began to well in Awdz’s eyes as Noncas described the events that followed.

"During this time, your Da had been negotiating with the dwarves in Aughundell for security reinforcements in return for trade goods such as cargo discs. We knew that our city would have a tough time surviving the rumored impending attack… if only we knew how tough!

"Anyway, Egad returned less than an hour after I finished resetting all his things. He said that a contingent of the dwarves was due to arrive in a few minutes, and he wanted a fresh batch of klava going in the mithril klava maker when they arrived. With that, he was off to pester Gama Gwillimena and the rest of the womenfolk for a feast.

"By this point, the blighted klava effects were starting to wear off of me, and I was exhausted. I quickly started up the next batch, not realizing that the unstable essence of blight was still affecting the machine. The dwarves arrived shortly, and your Da brought them in for a preview of his pride and joy, the klava maker.

"The dwarves insisted they would not drink anything unless it at least had ale in it. The trimmiteriansk responded by requesting not ale, but dwarven brandy be added to it. With cheers of ‘That’s more like it!’, the dwarves brought in a keg of brandy which I promptly added to the klava maker. I was so tired, I then headed for bed without waiting for the batch to finish.

"Now, dwarven brandy alone is potent drink. When added to the klava maker with unstable essence of blight in its system, the brew grew too powerful for even the mithril to withstand. As Egad watched in shock, the mithril klava maker steamed, shook and clanged horribly. The dwarves dove for cover, one of them grabbing your Da and pulling him to safety just as the klava maker exploded, showering all present with its contents.

"I woke up groggily at the explosion and came running back to see what had happened. The dwarves stood up, defiled klava dripping from their clothes and beards, and turned angrily on Egad.

"‘What did you bring us up here for, to waste our finest brandy? How dare you! It will be a freezing day in Dralk before we come back to Rachival!’ Grabbing up their packs, they headed out. With them went any hope we had of reinforcements from Aughundell in the event the Withered Aegis attacked.

"The mayor of Rachival was notified of the events and immediately sent an envoy with an apology to Aughundell. Meanwhile, your Da and I tried to clean up and fix the mithril klava maker. Fortunately for me at the time, though ultimately unfortunate for all, he thought it was just the brandy that caused the explosion. I did not tell him about the new, powerful component I had found, nor about the secret modifications I had made to his project. I still thought I had done something great, and that I could be recognized for it as a master tinker. I had not yet had the sleep I needed to think clearly."

Noncas buried his head in his hands, weeping. Awdz sat silently crying, too shocked to speak. However, Noncas was not quite finished. Shamefacedly, he picked up his head and spoke on.

"I went to bed so late that night that it was the next morning, and slept through most of the day. When I did get up, I felt terribly guilty about the klava explosion. I knew I’d have to tell Egad about the unstable essence of blight, but I dreaded it. I thought it could wait. And because your Da was busy trying to explain to everyone in town what had gone wrong with the dwarven negotiations, it was easy for me to avoid him. He had no warning that his invention had been modified.

"The envoy to Aughundell, though successful in that the apology was accepted, was too late. I don’t know if the Withered Aegis had spies in place to know the dwarves had run off angrily, or if they just were very lucky with timing. Either way, that evening, they invaded.

"All of Rachival mobilized as soon as the warning was given. Your Da pulled out the untested automaton that I had modified, and set it loose in the direction of the Withered Aegis. I did not tell him of my modifications to it; there did not seem to be time. And at first, all seemed to be going well. It fought against those attacking us, because they were in front of it and aggressive.

"But in the chaos of battle, the lines began to mix."

Noncas paused miserably, dreading what was to come next. After a moment, he resumed his tale.

"Instead of having the clear guidance to protect gnomes that Egad had given it, Project X had only my vague, blight-ridden instruction of ‘Attack invaders!’ In the confusion of battle, it must have become mixed up. It began attacking all non-mechanical beings, Withered Aegis and Rachival citizens alike.

"I was with Egad when the first reports of the trouble with Project X came in. He turned pale upon learning that his invention had begun destroying the gnome guard contingents. He turned to his notes, trying to understand where he had gone wrong, in hopes of correcting it. It was then that I realized that I had destroyed us all."

Breaking into sobs, Noncas buried his face in his knees. Awdz stared into space for some time, then finally found her voice.

"Did you ever tell him?"

Noncas snuffled, pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose before replying.

"Once I realized how terrible the situation was because of me, I stepped forward and explained to Egad what I had done. I had never seen a face turn so many different, brilliant colors before… white, red, purple, blue, green, gray, and white again, finally settling on red. He told me that it was not my ability he had questioned, just my judgment because of my lack of maturity. He said what had happened was his fault for not keeping a closer eye on his apprentice. And in the terror of that night, I did not think to contradict him.

"Knowing at last the truth of the situation, your Da assessed what could be done and took immediate action. He scooped up the plans for his automaton and as many parts as were handy onto one of his oversized cargo disks. He also loaded the pieces of the mithril klava maker there, and some food fabricators. He scrawled a quick note for me to deliver to the mayor of Rachival in Aughundell, and bid me on pain of eternal torment to get it safely delivered.

"In the note, Egad explained that there was a miscalculation with the automaton that he thought he could fix, given enough time. However, with Rachival fallen, he would seek out the other gnomish center of knowledge for help – the observatory on the peninsula."

Awdz sat up straight, her full attention caught by Noncas’ last revelation.

"So you do know what happened to him then!" she cried out.

"No," Noncas shook his head in misery. "I only know that we both set out that night. I made it to Aughundell shortly before the siege began. I did not locate the mayor of Rachival; he was lost that night saving some of the refugees. Instead, I gave the note to the deputy mayor.

"He railed about the incompetence of your Da. When I tried to raise a feeble protest, the deputy mayor warned me not to. You see, in the eyes of the community, if it was not incompetence, then it had to be intentional, and everyone was very angry at what had happened." Noncas bowed his head in disgrace. Awdz’s head whirled with the implications of that statement as Noncas went on.

"Given reports that some of Egad’s younglings had perished in the evacuation of Rachival, the remaining leadership of the gnomish community chose to take the note as evidence that Egad meant well, and did not seek to punish him or his family. However, they made no effort to help him either, being overwhelmed as they were with trying to relocate an entire city of refugees. As his apprentice, I was not disciplined, but I was not welcome in the community anymore. No other master tinker would have me.

"I think Gangaf may have suspected something of me, for he best knew your Da’s work on the automaton. He also had seen my skill and temperament when I helped with it. However, his only words to me were a suggestion that perhaps the dwarves could make use of someone with tinkering skills. Coward that I am, I followed his suggestion and remained here when the rest of the community moved on to found New Rachival. At least here I have been of some use instead of harm.

"As far as your Da’s travels…" Noncas paused and swallowed hard before continuing. "Perhaps the Withered Aegis learned of his plans; perhaps the observatory was just a strategic location. Sporadic reports telling of Withered Aegis movements south of Chiconis and Dalimond came to Aughundell during the siege. Perhaps your Da was able to reach the observatory before it was overrun. For a long time I prayed that he had found refuge elsewhere, and would come forward with his research completed on an automaton that truly would save us from the blighted ones. After all, he had left with enough supplies to survive indefinitely if he just had a source of power to draw from."

"But I think we would have heard from him by now, if that were the case."

Noncas finished his tale with a pensive stare into space.

Awdz looked at this gnome who had just bared his soul to her, whom she had once admired for working with her Da, and who had caused the downfall of Rachival (and so much pain in her life!). Summoning all the emotional tempering she had gained through her years of being gifted, she fought down the urge to throttle him and sighed sorrowfully instead. Nothing she could say or do to him would undo the past. She had long since taken to leaving the bitter past behind her, lest she fall into complete despair. Too many fallen comrades, too much lost; it was overwhelming. Far better to look at building toward the future instead.

"Thank you, Noncas, for sharing the truth," Awdz told him. Stowing the nearly forgotten mining pick in her pack, she stood, and he stood up with her. "At least now I have a new direction in which to search for signs of me Da. I will not expose you for it."

Their eyes met once more. Seeing the buried pain and disappointment in Awdz’s eyes as she looked at him, Noncas looked down regretfully.

"For what little it is worth," Noncas told her, "I am sorry."

Awdz nodded once at Noncas and headed out the recently noticed doorway, resolving to ignore it again for the foreseeable future.