#lore archives

                                                            --+--

       Diving fast and low, Burr, Brittle, Bella, and Tahara trailed after Phobia against the steep cliff side. The skydancer was leagues ahead of them, and the diplomats had to rely on watching Tahara weave through towering bamboo and jagged stone to not lose their way.

       Eventually they arrived at a seaside cliff face that caved inwards gently. The ocean water matched the slate grey stone, reflecting the cloud cover above as Phobia dove to the boulders below. Tahara joined her on a nearby rock, quickly hopping from his perch to gently press his head to Phobia’s flank. The skydancer panted, and Tahara listened to his wife’s racing heart.

       “Breathe. It’s going to be alright. We’re going to get this resolved,” He muttered. Phobia drew in a long breath and held it before exhaling. She pressed her beak to Tahara’s horn in return.

“I hope so.”

       Burr landed on the shore behind them with a head thud, Brittle and Bella perching on the boulders nearby. Tahara turned to face them while Phobia began making her way up the rocks, towards the cliff face. As she gracefully scrambled from one unsteady ledge to the next, Tahara addressed the group.

       “I want each of you on your guards. If the intruder attacks, Phobia and I will be there to intervene and protect you, however we have no idea what power this creature holds. If it becomes aggressive, the first thing you are to do is retreat to the kingdom and inform Toxin of these events. Do not wait for us. The kingdom’s safety is top priority. Am I understood?”

       The diplomats nodded. Tahara watched as Burr began following Phobia along the grey stones, pawing at each rock before putting his wait on it. Brittle followed behind quickly, staying close to the guardian. Bella stopped by Tahara and nudged him gently.

“I’ve never seen Phobia so shaken up,” she murmured. 

“She’ll be alright, once this thing is dealt with. I was planning on sticking around her for a while afterwards.”

“I’ll join you.”

       The two began to follow the others, keeping their conversation low. Phobia stood sentinel on a large over hang, keeping a keen eye on them. Her head snapped to Burr when one of the rocks he had been testing came loose, and the two watched it tumble into the waves below.

“Do you think we’ll be okay?” Bella asked. Tahara glanced at her, and watched her scan the make-shift path nervously. 

“If we’re careful, we’ll be fine,” Tahara said. He watched Brittle launch himself onto the ledge, joining Phobia and Burr.

       Once Bella and Tahara made it to the ledge, Phobia guided them down the winding path that slowly entered the cavern hidden away from the outside. The group carefully traversed the rickety wooden bridges and slick ledges that lead to the entrance of the black obelisk that rose out of the pool of saltwater. 

       The inside of the obelisk was just as intimidating as the outside. Intentionally dim and difficult to navigate, Phobia continued leading them deeper into the structure. Brittle was directly behind the skydancer, squinting against the darkness as he followed. Burr kept his steps carefully and quite, his hulking mass a low-lit figure in front of Tahara. Bella used the glowing lights of her husband’s coat as a guide through the dark, the electricity pulsing every now and then through the mess of wires and tubes. 

       Eventually, Phobia stopped the group at the base of a set of steps that connected to a network of landing platforms and staircases. Her antenna twitched back and forth, and her feathers slowly puffed up, making her seem bigger. “It’s at the end of this corridor. Stay behind me.”

       Brittle narrowed his eyes further, as if he believed that if he looked at the darkness ahead just right he could see the intruder. Bella shifted nervously, and stood next to Burr. The guardian in question was looking straight ahead, eyes wide and wary. 

       Phobia began carefully walking the hall. The diplomats kept their distance, and Tahara trailed behind them. A soft sound echoed from the other end, and the group stilled. 

In the darkness, two white eyes peered at them. 

       Brittle hummed in surprise under his breath. He trotted up to Phobia to stand by her. “Hello,” He said. His voice seemed quite and small in the silence. “How are you today?”

       Silence and an intense stare was the only response Brittle got. An awkward beat of silence passed before the tundra spoke up again.

       “It’s a lovely day outside, nice and warm. The cloud cover’s going to go away soon, and the sunshine looks wonderful on the water. I’m Brittle, by the way, and my friends and I were wondering who you might be,” The tundra kept a calm tone, lilting with a gentle curiosity. “We don’t mean any harm, or to be rude, but we don’t really get a lot of guests in.. here.”

More silence. 

       “Are you from around here? The plateau, perhaps? Or maybe the currents? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want too of course, but, here’s the thing; no one’s really supposed to be in here. We have a lovely kingdom a couple miles from here that you’re more than welcome to stay at, if you’d like.”

       The eyes narrowed at the group. More movement, and the dragons watched as whatever it was snorted at them. A puff of chilled air emanated from.. somewhere in the shadows.

“We are not leaving,” A deep, roughened voice growled in response. 

       “I am sincerely sorry about this, but civilians can’t...” Brittle trailed off as he watched the creature lurking at the end of the hall come into view. The dim, red glow of the torches illuminated massive, gnarled yellow horns that curled and branched around the head. Long, thick fur patterned with brown and orange spots outlined in black like cracked pottery against white dragged along the stone floor, each heavy step accompanied by the click of curling yellow claws. The beast was large, and despite the stubby wings, it appeared to be a formidable foe. 

       Phobia’s muscles bunched instinctively, and Tahara fanned his wings out, ready to take flight to gain range for his attacks. The diplomats took a few steps backwards- Burr almost toppling Bella over, and Brittle shrinking in on himself, lowering his body to the ground. 

       The monstrosity curled its lips back, revealing dangerously large and curved fangs as it let out a genuine growl. Cold air puffed around it’s maw and trailed up into the air.

       As her friends cowered around her, Bella stood still. Her antenna twitched, and she tore her gaze from the massive creature in front of her.

“...We?”

       Before the intruder could speak or lunge, a squeak echoed down the corridor. The creature’s demeanor softened, and it glanced behind itself to another shape in the shadows. A much smaller shape.

       Stumbling into the soft light, an orange pile of fluff with bright blue wings darted between the legs of the intruder. Burr had to try very, very hard to suppress a smile as the group watched the little one sift it’s way through the leg fluff of the larger beast. Affixing it’s large blue eyes on Brittle and Phobia, it begins sniffing at them. It tries to walk towards them on stumbling legs, but the hulking furred creature gently pulls it back into it’s embrace. The babe chatters at the group instead, and Bella feels her heart melt at how cute it is. 

       “Why did you come here?” Phobia asks. While the rest of the group has relaxed somewhat, she keeps her wings slight expanded and her form loose, ready to launch into action at a moment’s notice.

“Shelter. Security. Purpose,” The creature responds.

“You can stay here, but you’ll earn your keep,” Brittle, Burr, Bella, and Tahara glance at Phobia. 

The intruder nods its head slowly. “Very well.”

“What is your name?”

“Arlow.”

“And the little one?”

“No name. Yet,” Arlow says. He gently catches the tiny ball of fluff as the child tries to squirm away and investigate the new comers. 

“I am Phobia, and I am the warden of this prison. You are to report, respond, and retrieve commands from me, and me alone. Do you understand?”

Arlow nods. 

“You make an abode for yourself in the kingdom nearby, or create your own quarters here. It is your choice.”

“We will stay here.”

“Very well. I will return with a list of duties for you in the morning tomorrow. I expect to see you at the entry point, understood?”

Arlow nodded.

“Then you are dismissed. Welcome to the Obelisk.”

                                                             --+--

       “Phobia, what, in the name of the eleven, was that,” Tahara asked. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the situation, especially the impulsive decision of letting two monsters for all he knows stay inside a highly secret area.

“What are you talking about?”

      The two dragons had drifted behind the others. Burr and Brittle were talking about the encounter with trepidation, confusion, and excitement. Well, Brittle was excited. Burr was very confused, and very wary. Bella threw glances at the pair over her shoulder every now and then, just to check in on them.

      “You let two complete strangers live in your jail at the drop of hat, just because one of them is tiny and cute? Phobia, you’re not impulsive, not like that, so I’m wondering just what went through your head when you opened your doors wide open to them,” Tahara huffed. The darkening cloud cover seemed to match his mood.

      “They already knew, Tahara. Arlow said they were looking for purpose, he must have known the Obelisk’s purpose.”

“But why would they want to live in a prison?”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t sense anything untruthful from him. I just.. I need you to trust me on this.”

       Tahara glanced at his mate. His attitude softened, and he lightly bumped her wing with his. “I trust you. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

       “I know. Thank you. I don’t know why but I feel that letting them stay was the best choice. I know I don’t make spur of the moment choices like that but..” Phobia trailed off.

Tahara nudged her again. “Phobia?”

The skydancer looked at him. 

“Don’t worry about it. If things go wrong, we’ll figure it out together.”

                                                              --+--

       “Kord, I’m sure you’re telling the truth, but I really don’t think regenerating into an entirely different dragon is just a weird thing you can do.”

“I am sorry, but I don’t know how else to put it.”

       Wisteria glances over at her companions. Athena has been keeping pace with Kordanas, occasionally righting herself to keep from crashing into him. The imperial -no, guardian, in question seems to be doing alright so far. He’s not lagging behind, so Wisteria is going to take that as a good sign.

       She’s not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to fly all the way home, but she’s not going to fight it. It’s a nice view, at least.

“Does anyone else know you can do this?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

“I dunno, maybe some weirdo out there made you like this so you could serve them forever.”

“Athena, I really don’t think-”

“It’s a possibility! There’s some weird dragons out there! We’ve met weird dragons before!”

There’s a beat of silence before Kordanas speaks up again.

“Maybe you should stop having stare-downs with Scribbles whenever we visit Tomo.”

“He’s planning something, I know it.”

“He writes things down. How is that suspicious?”

“He writes weird things down. Why does he use invisible ink sometimes? Why is quartz cursed? He knows something we don’t, I can feel it!”

“We could say the same for any of the dragons at the trading post.”

“Uh, not really, no. It’s natural for dragons to have hoarding problems, and Pink’s just trying to keep Crim in check. Swipp has tons of connections- he’s probably in touch with some super fancy seamstress and a familiar breeder.”

“Baldwin literally changed himself from a pearlcatcher to a bogsneak. On accident, Athena. How do you breed change on accident?”

“Well you-”

       Wisteria allowed the next gust of wind to push her backward so she could glide next to Kordanas. “Sorry to interrupt. I think we are getting off track.” 

       Athena blinked and nodded. “Okay, right. So, this regenerating thing. Have you always been able to do it, or is this new?”

       “I have always been able to change when times are most dire. It, ah, it is an ability that was common in my birth clan.” Kordanas’ rumbling voice grew soft as he spoke. The wind almost drowned him out, snatching away his words. Wisteria drifted closer, her claws brushing an errant vine that curled around Kordanas’ wing. “My memory of my first home is fuzzy, but I remember our priestess telling us that our ability was a gift from the Gladekeeper. We thanked her for it every sunset by offering something in return at the old willow in the center of a forest.”

“Our ability? So there were others who had the same power?” Athena asked. 

       Kordanas nodded. “Yes, although I do not remember it being talked about outside of the offering ritual. My clan mates were very.... what’s the term? Hush-hush about it.”

       “What things did you offer to the Gladekeeper?” Wisteria had to push to keep pace with Kordanas. Despite having morphed into an entirely new dragon, he seemed to be doing just fine cruising over the rushing river. 

       “Homemade items, mostly. Figurines made from sticks and grass, flower wreaths, and carved logs were common. Occasionally someone would bring a precious stone or a clawful of coins, but...” Kordanas frowned, and narrowed his eyes in thought. Athena and Wisteria stayed quiet.

       “I think there was an element of shame for not being able to offer something made from nature. No one would say anything during the ritual, but there was silent scorn from the priestess.”

“I wonder why..” Athena mused. “Did your clanmates regenerate a lot?”

       “No, not that I can remember. There was one incident where a group went to investigate something along the border, and only one came back. But they were different; changed from a wildclaw into a pearlcatcher.”

“Did they act differently?” Wisteria asked.

“I do not think so. I did not interact with them much in the first place.”

“Do you know if other clans had this power?” Athena asked

       Kordanas shook his head, “No. We did not get many visitors. Not any that I can remember, at least.”

Athena frowned and Wisteria sighed.

       “That is a very odd power to have,” The little nocturne said. She let her gaze wander to the rushing waters below them, watching their faint shadows ripple over the waves. 

       “Yeah, Wisteria’s right,” Athena said, “I wanna know what your clan did to get that.”

“I am sorry that I cannot tell you more,” Kordanas said. 

       “It’s fine big guy. It’s just weird, ya know?” The tundra said, and gently bumped the edge of her wing with Kordana’s. The guardian smiled and nudged her back. “Every flight has their secrets. I wanna know more about this, but I’m too tired to head back into Nature.”

       “You have a good point, Athena. I too would like to return home as soon as possible,” Kordanas said. Wisteria nodded in agreement.

       The conversation died into companionable silence. Wisteria spent the majority of the time watching the glittering water as the sun rose and fell as the day dragged on. Eventually the trio came to rest along the steep shores of Dragonhome, setting up a small camp on a dusty ledge that jutted over the fjord. Athena and Kordanas focused on preparing the tent that they would sleep in for the night while Wisteria hunted for fresh food on the edge of the Tangled Wood. When the nocturne fluttered back, three walleyes, two ravens and a claw-full of tarantulas and snapdragons, the others had managed to get a fire going. Kordanas had curled around the flame while Athena was rummaging through her packs, triumphantly pulling out a package of dried stalks. 

“Athena. I already got food. We can save that for later,” Wisteria said as she ran her paw over a nearby stone and placed her findings on it.

       The tundra blinked, placed her ration back into her bag and went about helping Wisteria prepare a meal for the three of them out of her haul. Kordanas spent the majority of the evening sleeping, only waking to eat dinner and take first watch. The night went without a hitch, and Athena helped divide the left overs for breakfast.

       The rest of the travel went smoothly, the trio bouncing between Shadow and Earth for camp, and quickly heading off each morning. They were all eager for a break from flight as the mottled brown and red ground of the Scarred Wasteland came into view. The river became smaller as the edges of Earth and Shadow grew closer together, and finally the land of Plague forced the rapids to split into two, one branch leading out to the great unknown while the other fed into the Tidelord’s domain. Pale spires of wood and massive bone stretched towards the sky in the distance, and the sickly hued clouds drifting above became thicker as the group drew closer. The air grew sour with something foul, and Wisteria wrinkled her nose. She could easily imagine the grimace on Athena and Kordanas as they swooped closer to the ground. Green splotches glowed underneath mottled red land that curled like scar tissue, and if Wisteria looked hard enough, she was sure that she could make out the faint whites of bones peeking out of the twisted earth. 

“Hey! My wings are sore as hell, think we should take a pit stop?” Athena called out. 

“Soon as we find a hospitable town. I would rather continue on than get shot out of the sky or travel on foot with no directions,” Kordanas said.

“I agree,” Wisteria said. Athena nodded and the three pushed on.

       It wasn’t until dusk that they found a place that was willing to take them in. A small clan of snappers and a ridgeback that lived in burrowed tunnels granted them refuge in exchange for a portion of the tadpoles they had collected. In the morning they were able to get directions to the nearest town, and off they went.

       Time passed, and by midday the three managed to reach the front gates of Matiken; a spiraling town that lay over a hill, and was protected by a wall made of stone and curling rot, where sharpened bones jutted outwards to the unending expanse of the wandering contagion. Peaks of low buildings were just visible, while second and third story homes towered above the walls. Simple stone and wood buildings seemed to be common from what Wisteria could make out. The rough natural landscape transitioned to rugged cobble and worn paths as Athena, Wisteria, and Kordanas entered the plague town. Occasionally another dragon would pass them, but it seemed that most folks were tucked away in their dens for the time being. 

       The trio eventually reached what Wisteria could guess was the plaza of the clan. The stone path opened up in a diamond-shaped clearing, each side home to a different and equally important looking building. The tall structures loomed over the gnarled ground, casting shadows that merchants had set up shop in as they worked through the summer heat. 

       “Sooo. Who wants to haggle and who wants to look for a place to spend the night?” Athena asked. Her armor and fur had attained a layer of red dirt without her realizing, and it wafted away whenever her tail swiped across the path.

       “I can look for a room. You two are better at talking than me.” Wisteria said. Kordanas blinked and Athena pulled a face at her. The nocturne wasn’t sure what that was all about, but she wasn’t intent on finding out. “Besides. You two have the stuff.”

       “Yeah, alright. Don’t spend all our gold in one place,” Athena said. She began to walk into the plaza with Kordanas in tow. The guardian spared one last glance at Wisteria over his shoulder before turning back to the tundra.