Ancient Beginnings

[CYDA LUVA83]

"James!" Cydae snapped at the archer as she covered the Pool of Visions with her wings. "Be careful when we're messing with Fate. Cutting too many could cause mass genocide, famine, or an epidemic. Remember what happened a few years back when you decided to pop in? Bubonic plague!" The dragon shook her head back and forth like a dog, shaking the food out of her mane and off her face.

 

Cydae uncovered the pool and went back to pulling out the webs of fate and cutting the ones that looked old and brittle, laying those particular strands gently back into the pool as they dissolved into the swirling water. She pulled out a strand of fate and looked it over, as if reading it like a book. "Found it."

 

~~~~~

 

Lydia got up and stomped the ground, furious. She felt something pull her to want to go outside and apologize to Ashur and be heartfelt about it. The white dragon looked up at the sky and growled. For shame! The goddess had indeed entered her life and was altering the direction of her actions. She felt the tug again, this time as if were a physical pull. Lydia staggered as the force pulled her along, stopping when they reached the door.

 

The white dragon gave in and walked through the fort, her intent to apologize for her actions. She walked outside the fort and over to the pond, sitting down a few meters away from Ashurs. "I'm sorry... For what I did. I overreacted, Ashur... That's hardly happened before, so I applaud you on making me ticked off enough to lose my temper and then some."

[Ælex]

'She's alive alright. -Varaug confirmed while they walked.

'Pardon the interruption, by the way. We had an outbreak of 'stupid' in our medical centre. The symptoms confirmed it all too well. -he sat down and grinned a bit- 'Lack of good judgement, an overinflated ego, rash decision-making and childish behaviour. A most dreadful disease for which, sadly there is no cure. -the magi glanced over towards the medical tent- 'Wherever Ashur's family might be, I hope for his and our sakes that they are alive and reunited with him. Otherwise we're looking at more such incidents in the near future.

 

But that was irrelevant, and he knew it all-too well. They had a friend to save, but by the looks of Fiyara's expression, she was stumped on the matter.

'We'll find her. I promise you that. -Varaug gave the horison a quick glance- 'How hard could it be? She's a Guardian of Nature. A dragon that powerful will be like a magical beacon. All we have to do is track it down. The search, however, is difficult. We have over six hundred clicks worth of land to scour and not enough time to do it all.

 

He looked at the ground and thought for a moment. Varaug was well familiarised with the arcane arts of magic. He knew a vast wide array of utility spells and incantations to aid him in any situation. Except this one...

 

'Unfortunately... I haven't the slightest bloody idea how we're gonna track her down! -he paused, then added- Yet.

 

'You could try asking a human about it... just saying.

 

'What the... -Varaug's ears perked up when he caught Alleks' message.

'Yes you, the two talkin' about an abducted friend. Talk to a human about it. He knows...

Now excuse me, I have a face to punch in from all this punch. Jaaaaaaames! Come here!

 

======================================

 

'Are you... apologising? -Ashur could hardly believe his ears.

'Are you feeling okay? Did Var's restraints cut the bloodflow to your head? -he wanted to say but cut the sentence short and the rest came out as a thought.

'Nevermind... yes, I know. You kinda flipped out. I'm sorry for provoking you. It was a scumbag move. Aaand sorry about the town. Aaaaand sorry about... causing all that racket, calling Varaug... -the grey's head went lower and lower towards the ground as he listed the things- 'The restraints... the attitude... -he sighed and pulled his face up from near-ground level.

 

'I think that's everything!

Edited June 1, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

Lydia cocked her head, she had not expected an apology in return. She stood up suddenly, and idea forming in her head. "Well, now that that awkward conversation is over, might as well go for a dip. I'm sure there are some fish we could harvest while we're down there." She said before turning around and running back about ten meters. The nurse took a running start before taking off and leaping into the pond, causing a huge splash the drench the shore... and Ashur.

 

~~~~~

 

Cydae covered the Pool of Visions with her wings again, trying to be careful with the human world. "Eh! If you guys are going to duke it out, go to Latou's portion of the house, leave me alone so I can mess with free will in peace."

Edited June 1, 2012 by CYDA LUVA83

[Ælex]

'Every... -Ashur shook the water off- ..goddamn.. -he shivered and sneezed- ..time! he was near the lake and someone decided to take a dive, every single time he ended up in the splash zone.

 

'Ah corkscrew it! I'm hungry! -he said, unfolded his wings, ascended vertically a good dozen meters, then made a sharp nose dive right into the water next to Lydia, snagging her tail along the way and pulling her sharply down into the water.

 

Payback!

 

==========================

 

'Erk.. -Faelan flinched when the loud splashes broke the silence.

He'd zoned out for a bit, because now there were not just two, but four dragons in the area! Question was, were they friendly or not? He was pretty sure none of them was Raiden. They looked nothing like what his father described.

 

Still, the two by the lake seemed innocent enough. One was a white after all, and he knew they were quite docile.

Or at least the ones in Scotia were...

But he couldn't just sit there till he starved, or worse, was eaten by something.

 

The little magi cautiously approached the water's edge and waited for one of them to re-surface.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

Lydia gawked as Ashur nose dived from such a high altitude. Surely the impact would knock him out when he hit. She looked away and cocked her head, no, never underestimate this dragon again, he'd be fine. Lydia looked back up and gasped as he dove trough the surface of the water and grabbed her tail, dragging her down with him. She was about to claw at his eyes when she realized he meant no harm.

The white dragon flared her wings to catch the water and slow their descent. She hadn't been in the pond that many times, but she knew the bottom was closer than most thought. "Hrm. While we're down here, I might as well show you something." Lydia telepathed as she started to pull Ashur to one of the underwater caverns. This particular one had a large quantity of blind fish and oysters with pearls. Good trade objects, those pearls were.

[Ælex]

'Oysters and fish. That the best ya got? Wait till ya see this... -Ashur dove down and started to tap the wall of the lake. he continued until he heard the all-too familiar sound of a thin wall hiding an air pocket. Just like how he'd found it over two hundred years ago...

 

'Brace yourself! -he telepathed, backed up and shoulder-slammed the wall, crashing right through it and revealing a tunnel, once dry, now flooded. The inflow of water managed to pull them both in, but wasn't powerful enough to toss them against the solid tunnel wall.

 

Ashur gestured for Lydia to swim upwards as he did so himself, following the underwater passage, until he surfaced in the age-old opening in the ground leading to the gemstone cavern.

 

'Great gods almighty it's still here. -he mumbled and looked around in awe. He hadn't been there since early childhood and it was exactly how he remembered it. Every patch of the surrounding walls was covered up in gems, sapphires, rubies and crystals of all sorts and colours. Some glowed, others hummed, and still others did both.

[Doomkaiser]

Jamie teleported away into his room and walked over to his mirror. "Well now...what are we doing today now James?" He said, staring into his mirror, which showed him an image of James, sitting on a bench. "Let's spice his life up a bit, shall we...Ritaka, get over here." An eagle flew over and landed on his shoulder. Jamie quickly wrote a letter and handed it to the eagle. I flew off and he smirked, his idea would help him a great deal. He returned to his mirror just in time to see the eagle fly down.

---------------------

The eagle flew down to James, landing on his shoulder and extended it's claw. "Hey there little guy, what's this you have here?" As James grabbed the letter, the eagle flew off, back to Jamie. James opened the letter and scanned through it, his eyes widened as he finished. He put it in his pocket and looked at the barrier where Ellen should be. Sure enough, there she was. He stood up and started walking towards the barrier, his hand on his tomahawk.

[CYDA LUVA83]

Ellen didn't notice James approaching as she was laying on the ground asleep. After staying up during the night trudging here and dragging herself and James out of the wrecked blimp, the heiress had lain down and drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were nightmares, scenes of dragons tearing apart hearth and home, slaughtering her family and destroying her livelihood. These nightmares terrified her, making the young woman cry out in fear while she slept.

 

~~~~~

 

Lydia swam after Ashur, immensely curious of where he would be taking her. When they had reached the cave full of gemstones, Lydia looked around in wonder, she had never seen such beauty. "What is this place?" she asked. "In all of my years of searching down here in my spare time, I've never seen this place before. How did you find it?" The nurse wondered as she looked around the beautiful, glimmering cavern.

[Ælex]

'With my face. Literally. -Ashur jested- 'I was learning to fish back several centuries ago when I swerved out of control and crashed right through the self-replicating barricade we went through, face-first. Whoever put this here really has an eye for shiny things. -the grey elaborated a bit- 'Or it could have been used as a mass energy storage facility like the ones Varaug kept babbling on and on about when he wanted to reinstall the barrier.

 

'It's impossible to just 'find' so I can't imagine it wasn't originally supposed to be hidden.

 

'Buuut there was this one little detail. As pretty as this place is it has strange effects on its visitors. Causing memory lapses, sudden fatigue, headaches, stomach aches... sometimes good things too, healing minor injuries, recovering one their strengths, making the problems of the world seem smaller. Helps ya think, somehow. I dunno, I'm not a wizard to know this crap. I'm just listing things that've happened to me sometimes when I've been down here. -Ashur shrugged and looked up at the centre of the cavern's ceiling where the largest, crystal-clear blue sapphire hung in mid-air.

 

'That thing's been there since forever ago...

Edited June 2, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

Lydia looked around the chamber, her jaw still hanging open in amazement. All this had been beneath them and they had not a clue! She listened as Ashur listed off the things the gems did, her curiosity increasing with each second. "These gems have magical powers...? But I thought gems were just... rocks..." The white dragon said as she looked up at the sapphire. She spread her wings across the water to keep her afloat so she wouldn't have to keep pumping her legs.

"Maybe what that old hedgewitch said was true..." Lydia mumbled, recalling a conversation she had with a deer not long ago, the doe had said something about crystal healing, but the nurse had never put any trust in it.

 

"Ashur? What keeps it suspended in the air like that?"

[Ælex]

'Okay, it's a giant floating crystal hovering in mid air, I don't know what it does, I don't even know what's keeping it up there. It's just there. It never did anyone any harm is all I know, and I'd like to keep it that way. -Ashur sighed, got out of the water pool and onto the solid rock floor, reached over to the opening in the ground where Lydia was still floating, took her by the paw and helped her out of the water and onto solid land.

 

'We don't want to be there when- -a loud gurgling noise escaped the passage and the water within it drained away, leaving a hole roughly a dozen or so meters deep. The way had re-sealed itself up. -yea, that. I got stuck like that once.

 

'What did you say just now, by the way, I didn't quite catch it.

[CYDA LUVA83]

"Ah... Something about crystal healing. I had a converstion with a hedgewitch who said something about it..." Lydia said dumbly as she watched the water disappear and the hole in the wall reform. "We're not trapped here are we...?" She asked, her voice small. Being buried alive was always a fear of hers after she had gotten stuck in the ruins trying to get to an injured Grublin. The white dragon was either claustrophobic or extremely paranoid. Lydia started to pace beside Ashur, her steps quick and hurried. "Because... If we're stuck here, then that means... That we'll never see the sun again, and Farengar won't get his dinner, and my tools will get dusty... And, and..." She took a deep breath and sat down, try to calm herself.

 

~~~~~

 

"My gods, I love playing with this dragon! So far she's gone from the strong yet silent type, to freakishly outraged, to apologetic, then adventurous, now she's paranoid as Zille!" Cydae said, laughing.

[Ælex]

'The exit just sealed itself as if it were an automatic door. We can re-open it easily. -Ashur shrugged. This place was getting to Lydia, that much was obvious.

 

'Okay, let's get out of here before something falls on one of us. -Ashur looked straight above himseof to the hanging gemstones. They did look heavy...

 

He lowered himself down into the now empty passageway, using his nails to slow his descent down the steep vertical slope until he reached the thin layer of rocks and dirt separating them from the lake waters.

If memory served, then he was in for a thorough splashing.

 

'Here goes... -he mumbled and took a deep breath, pushed the layer outwards braced for the impact. The entire blockade gave way in an instant, sending the wall of water right at him. Still, again the tunnel was wide enough to stop him from having a visit to the medical tent again.

 

He re-surfaced in the opening leading to the cavern.

'There, it's open, for now. Let's go. Unless, you'd rather stay, ofcourse.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Ælex

[Krissi2197]

Keisha was staring at the piece of meat in Doom's hand, her stomach growling. She hadn't remembered the last time she ate... She didn't eat since they were freed. Mouth watering, Keisha inched closer to Doom, lightly nudging him with her tail. "Uh... Yeah. Got anymore for the lady?" She smiled.

[Doomkaiser]

As James neared, a twig snapped and he cursed to himself. "Porqué las cosas nunca pueden ir bien..." He said to himself quietly, his voice rich with an andalucian accent. He closed in a bit more, wondering in his head, why the hell would he want him to do it. He needed to get rid of her, since the dragons don't necesarily like her.

-----------------------------

Doom looked at Keisha as he cooked the meat. "There's enough for you, don't worry." He said, nuzzling her. He watched the meat cook slowly in the cauldron, the fire burning nicely underneath it. Once it was done, he cut it in half and gave one half to Keisha. By some sort of magic, one half was rare and the other well done. "Food is served M'lady." He said in an impersonation of a posh dragon.

-----------------------------

Jamie had done all he could do. "Now what...OH I KNOW, I'LL ANNOY LATOU!" He poofed away and reappeared inside Latou's section. "OH LATOU, WHERE'S MY FAVOURITE EEEELF." He yelled loudly into the castle.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Doomkaiser

[Lato_Dato]

Fiyara pondered this for a second. That was sure a heckuvva lot of space to cover. She was almost unwilling to do it with the threat of human blimps and airships piled atop it. She wrestled with indecision for a moment before coming to a steadfast decision; if it meant finding Lita, she'd do it. She owed her that much after leaving her stranded with vengeful elements for this long... She shook her head, coming to a halt. Varaug didn't know! She had to -

The voice from nowhere cut into her thoughts like a knife through butter, and she looked around cautiously, a startled expression on her face. This voice was helpful, and that immediately made her suspicious. But it had a valid point; a human would probably know where the rarest captured dragons would be kept...

But still, she was dumbfounded. Where had that voice come from?!

She cast an inquisitive glance towards Varaug, thinking it might be an invisible something he had conjured up from somewhere or other...

=================

Latou's part if the castle was empty and barren. Suspiciously so. There was a thick coating of dust everywhere, and it seemed that it hadn't been stepped in for a hundred years at least.

 

Wherever she was, Latou had officially flown the coop.

[Ælex]

'That... was weird. it's unusual for them to intervene like that. -Varaug mubled, then looked back at Fiyara- 'Whatever that was, it has a point... And I think I know just the human to squeeze the infomration out of. We just need a translator.

 

'Ey Ashur! I need some help with that human we brought in some time ago. Get your lazy hide over to the second floor ASAP. -he sent a telepathic message.

 

'Hell, no. Sorry brah, I'm busy. -was what he got as a response.

'Doing what?!

 

But he got no response thereafter.

'Great, once I need Ashur, and he's busy... -Varaug grumbled and looked down at the ground. He so hated delays...

 

'We really need a translator for this. Ashur's the only one I know. Or Lydia, but she's probably busy tending to the wounded... And in a bad mood after the lil incident earlier. Or Fusion, but... no, no-no. No.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

"Now let's see what else we can do to this poor soul..." Cydae mumbled as she bent over the pool, picking out several webs of fate. "What do you think, Alleks? Drunken mistake time? Well, maybe not drunken." She asked, holding out the long silver string of fate that would make it happen.

 

~~~~~

 

Ellen still lay asleep, not having heard the twig snap. In her sleep she did not toss and turn. No one would have known she was having terrifying nightmares if the young lady did not yell and scream.

 

~~~~~

 

Lydia nodded and steped back into the water, tugging Ashur along as she swam out of the cavern. When they reached the surface of the pond, Lydia noticed something strange: a little magi hatchling on the banks. "Well, look at that..." She mumbled softly. "Do you know that hatchling?" The nurse asked Ashur.

Edited June 2, 2012 by CYDA LUVA83

[Doomkaiser]

Jamie poofed into the Room of Visions. "Guys...have any of you sen Latou in the past hundred years?" Jamie said, his face filled with curiosity. He backed a way a bit from Alleks and looked towards his dragon sister and shrugged. "I know I haven't, just went to her section and it looks like it hasn't been touched in ages." He said, sounding a bit worried. He loved annoying Latou.

---------------------------

James heard a small sob from Ellen and broke down, making quite the ruckus as his back hit the tree behind him. Wait, why did he break down...His mind was a mess. He just looked up at the sky and pondered. "Why am I the only pilot that gets himself into situations like these" He said to the sky, wondering if anyone would answer. Jamie heard it and shouted into the Pool of Visions. "BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT, DUH!" He said and then started laughing. James sighed and rolled his eyes. "And there's the voice I've come to despise." He said to himself, bringing his eyes back down to where Ellen was supposed to be.

[Ælex]

'Nope! -Ashur exclaimed simply and climbed on shore.

'Hey lil' one, you lost? -he called out to Faelan.

 

The little magi shrunk back a bit when the big grey dragon spoke to him.

He hesitated going over to him, but then reminded himself of the "what else, starve to death?" thought he'd had earlier. He scampered over unsteadily and looked up, then mumbled: 'Hello...

 

'Where are your parents? Momma and poppa, are they around?

'They're far away in Scotia, but they'll find me. Mom went to help the others greet the visiting clan, but then all those fires came up...

'Fires? Visiting clans in Nova Sc, oh no. -Ashur kept a straight face, even though he already understood what'd happened.

'...then daddy gave me this, and told me to run, then went to get mum... -Faelan showed them the golden engraved ring on his index finger.

 

'Can I see that? -but Faelan moved his paw away. No. -he said, then sneezed loudly several times.

That cold was hitting him hard.

'Ow, you've got the sniffles eh? -Ashur asked, getting a silent nod in response.

 

================================

 

'Bah, do what you will. But know that I wholeheartedly disapprove of this messing with their free will. -Alekks waved it off.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

Cydae hung her head, slighty annoyed at the griffon's lack of enthusiasm. "You're no fun, dear Brother of Space. No FUN at all." When Jamie barged in yelling something about Latou missing, the red dragon growled. "Alright, Jamie, we'll take a look near all the major forests, gardens, and geothermal hotspots for Latou." Cydae reached down into the Pool of Visions and used the dull sides of her claws to move the webs of Fate to the edges of the pool, revealing something of a fluid crystal ball. "You got lucky, Child of Tears..." She mumbled as she did this, using the term she had made for dragons. "Show me our sister of Earth, of plants, of ruling mass." The dragon commanded when she sat back up, her claws moving in a swirling motion in the water.

The image that was shown to the trio was foggy and misshapen, but it was definitely Latou.

 

"I can't tell where she is..."

 

~~~~~

 

Lydia followed Ashur out of the pond and to the little magi hatchling, shaking vigorously to get rid of the water as she did. Something felt strange, perhaps it was because she no longer felt the god hovering over her life. she was safe for now. When the poor little hatchling started to sneeze, her motherly instincts went to work. She started to take a step towards the child, trying to not scare him as she slowly unfurled her wings and wrapped them loosely around him. "Let's get you warm, okay?" The white dragon said softly. "We have food you can eat and a place for you to get better. All you have to do follow us to that building over there." Lydia pointed to the fort. "Or you can get on one our backs and we'll carry you."

 

~~~~~

 

Ellen opened her eyes wearily when she heard the ruckus made by James. "What on earth..." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Blinking a few times to get rid of the feeling of dry eyes, the woman looked around until her gaze rested upon James. Her expression changed from tiredness to anger, then from anger to fear. Why was he being so silent? And why was he returning to her after being with the dragons? She didn't like the situation. Ellen may have been a brat, but she was far from unintelligent.

Edited June 3, 2012 by CYDA LUVA83

[Doomkaiser]

James looked at her, his eyes narrowing, he got up and walked over to her, his mind still deciding whether to carry out the deed or not. He sighed and cursed himself for what he was about to do. He threw the letter he had removed from his pocket at her. "Here...Read it..." He walked over to the tree and said to her. "I can't do it...I just can't..." He said softly, pounding the tree with his fists.

-------------------

Jamie sighed and put his hand up to his head. "Wonder where she's gotten to." He said, thinking hard, which was the first time in years he had done it. "Also, you need to relax a bit, you seem...tense." Jamie said, looking at Cydae with a worried look.

[CYDA LUVA83]

Ellen stared at the note as if it would scorch her hand if she touched it. After a few moments, she reached forward to gingerly pluck the letter from the dirt. Her eyes scanned the note, widening in surprise as she read it. "Who sent this?" Ellen asked, bunching the paper in her hand as it curled into a fist.

 

~~~~~

 

"I am not tense..." Cydae mumbled grouchily.

Edited June 3, 2012 by CYDA LUVA83

[Ælex]

Faelan took a few steps back. He didn't want to go with them, he needed to find Raiden. Just before he opened his mouth, he caught something. A presence, an influence of sorts...

'Cydae. -he mumbled to himself and looked at Lydia- 'I have to find someone before they move on again. I've been tracking them down for the last fifty moons, and every time I get close, they run very far away. -he explained and looked over at the castle- Thank you. -he added, already imagining having a proper meal of meats rather than berries and roots.

 

The little magi proceeded to walk away, but paused after a few feet, turned about and said,

Beware the antics of the goddess of wrath. -and then scampered off towards the castle's main entrance, now certain it was safe to go inside.

 

=======================================

 

Ashur arched one eyebrow and traced Faelan off as he ran through the grounds and towards the main castle gate.

'That... was weird. Poor kid though. He probably has no idea his home got torched.

It was a sad realization, especially since Ashur knew Faelan's parents from centuries ago. He'd recognised the identical ring his father wore. It was enchanted too, grows and shrinks to any finger size depending on its wearer.

'What did he mean, beware the antics of the goddess of wrath?

What is that, a quote or something?

Edited June 3, 2012 by Ælex

[CYDA LUVA83]

Lydia was dumbfounded. Her mouth was agape and she sat back on her haunches. "Uh..." She curled her wings and rested them at her sides again, still in shock. "Eh... no. It's not a quote. And that hatchling is a little bugger." she mumbled, her voice trailing off. "Well... what do you think: Good idea to let that black dragon and his guardian girlfriend show him where the food is? Or follow to make sure nothing happens?" Lydia sat up, shaking her head.

 

"The goddess of wrath, eh? Guess that explains the divine voice from earlier." Lydia said, emphasising her words in a somewhat mocking tone.

Edited June 3, 2012 by CYDA LUVA83