Ophidian Vale (IC)

Somewhere in a forest, not too far from Cain and Dillusia...

Flower woke up, finding herself on the ground. Blinking groggily, she tried to push her legs in a standing position, but they gave way under her weight and she collapsed back on to the ground. Where am I? And how did I get here? she wondered. Though her mind felt like it was in a thick fog, and it was proving a bit difficult to think clearly. However, she was in a strange place, and she had to come up with a plan.

Flower looked up and saw stars in the sky through the canopy of leaves. Then she realized that it was rather dark. It must be night time. she figured. She switched to her dragon form without wondering how she'd be able to do it when she was too weak to stand in her fox form. It worked none the less. Now that she had stronger legs, she could stand, though her legs were shaking a little from the effort. Then she tried to fly, in an attempt to survey her surroundings better, despite the fact that it was dark out and that she was barely strong enough to stand. Unfortunately, she just could not flap her wings hard enough to maintain a stable flight, causing her to crash into the very tree Dillusia was in.

Albus arrived in back at where Harroc was, looking back and forth frantically. Although he appeared to be alone, Tenebris was secretly hiding in his shadow, a trick he was very good at. "Harroc? Are you okay? Tenebris said weird dragons were attacking, I came to help." He said. Of course, at the same time, the lava dragon, as he appeared to be, probably wouldn't understand a word of what the young dragon would have said. "Albus, this is ridiculous, even if this dragon likes you, how are you going to understand what he is saying?" The slightly raspy baritone came from his shadow, just as the white dragon spotted him apparently eating the branches off of trees. They heard him say something in the strange language, and Albus looked at his shadow, waiting for a translation. "He wants to know what we call them. Tell him, 'yth relgr astahi 'trees.' Also, you may choose not to add it, but you should also tell him, "si convinced sia isthasy ekess confn letoclo ve slathalin wer bvecko darastrixi mrith wux, shar jaci siofmeic batobot si mi drekim repaiup. jaci ui letocloir swasin zyak si shilta ukris ekess wux. riluoh, coi vorqic hefoc mobi re ti tikil irlymi ekess vargach, zyak jaci nomag usv nomag ti xurwk ve jaseve." He said.

Albus was unsure of the translation, Tenebris cared greatly about him, but could he be trusted to translate things properly? At the same time, he recognized the word 'convinced' in the strange language. He decided to try it, but he was doubtful, as Tenebris was not above aggression if Harroc lost his temper. Albus stepped out from behind a rock, and haltingly spoke the words, all that his big brother had told him, although messing up a few times in various places. Although he had a non-aggressive stance, Albus' scales became keeled and rough, as though her were somewhat intimidated. It was not hard to figure out why.

Harroc wasn't surprised this time. He had been surprised may times today and was growing used to it. He recognized the words, telling him that the substance he was consuming was called a tree. There were so many of them. He couldn't eat them all, not right now. It was a bit difficult to translate some words, and he could tell this young Albus had no idea what he was saying. He chuckled to himself, but continued.

"Skjalli wux yenta? svabol vin halkiva ominak." he commented, before turning to his young friend. He sat down across from the other dragon, and cocked his head to the side in question, as it appeared to be in a instinctive defensive stance. He wasn't that bad, was he? This thing had caught him eating dirt and trees. Anything that doesn't eat meat should be fair enough, right?

"Axun, vi bvecko ir confna. Kaegro. Wer huena svaust jahus osvithir de coi relgra coi 'Decicrates'. Tir wux vucot di nomeno zarachii?"

Tenebris' voice emanated from Albus' shadow, translating Harroc's question. Albus frowned, "No, I do not know, but my brother might." After a pause, this was translated back into the lava dragon's tongue, as well as something added in, "lae Albus says, si mi bafoidrih di nomenoi darastrixi. zi tisvelk darastrixi, marfedelom arcaniss, reviving wer loex. tobor vur marfedelom, jiil youwei batobot jalla nurti qe tampered mrith." Albus frowned, and looked at his shadow, "What else did you say?" He asked. "I know what those things are, Albus. If they are here, then we are in grave danger." The white dragon's scales bristled even more, "Danger?" He said, repeating the word.

"Yes, very dangerous. Regardless of who we are, they pose a major threat to all of us, astahii facorol wer tokeqwim di shio darastrixi. yth zklaen qe maka." The way the sentence was spoke, Tenebris was speaking to both Harroc and Albus.

it was night. High up in the night sky, it was terribly cold. A storm had blown up around the sea, and it blew almost arctic wind up into the sky above the clouds. Sal was freezing; he shivered down to the core and then back out again, and tried to start a small fire in his fireproof mouth to keep himself warm. But it was useless. Ice began to form on his wings, weighing him down in flight. He began to veer off course as the maelstrom of wind spun him in circles. He began to blink to keep the ice off of his eyes, but it was no use. His eyes soon froze over, rendering Sal blind in what felt like a frozen hurricane. He stopped shivering, as hypothermia set in, and soon after he was unconscious.

The winds blew Sal around like a kite without a string, and blew him off-course. For hours, he careened through the sky like a meteor, and finally began to descend far from his destination, near a volcano. As he fell, the ice began to blow off like a comet's tail, and down he went near the volcanic rocks, frozen to the core. He crashed into the mountain head-first, and slid down the hill slowly, still unconscious.

"Astahii siofme astahii re ithquent?!" Harroc said, abruptly standing from his sitting position. "Svaust tir astahii siofme astahii re!" He roared, turning around and stalking a few feet away to cool down slightly. "Astahii re hofibai ekess tir mishun vi youwe. svabol ui asta banri ekess tir batobot, ekess resurrect wer loex?"

He shook his head, and turned back around. He struggled for a moment, pursing his lips to form words. "Ekess xtirl guawysvern, ergriff ekess qe svadria mojka de coi..." He shivered slightly, a feeling that never should come upon a dragon of his type. "Mobi ui thric jennuilt uoinota."

Albus frowned, "What did he say?" He asked Tenebris. "He's upset, he believes that nothing could be worse than to be at eternal rest, only to be rudely awakened from it." Albus frowned, "Well, then tell him that I think we should try to find a way to stop them, I don't know what their mission is, though." Tenebris rose out of his shadow, "Albus, no, I cannot afford to lose you!" Albus' eyes looked hurt, "Tenebris, you always tell me that I can do anything I want to, that you want things to be better for both of us, but you won't even let me do anything! You can't even be nice to anyone, even a dragon that doesn't know how to speak our language! You're nice to me, but why can't you treat anyone else the same way?" Tenebris frowned, stunned. More and more often Albus used this argument, and won. After a tense silence, Tenebris growled with frustration, "Very well, then." He said.

He turned to Harroc, "zoti si tir ti nakor di tikilvi batobot nomag someday result persvek albus' endangerment, coi annishic jaci tepohaic taken vi liking ekess wux, vur jaci wants ekess letoclo wux, creolnali si shilta ti witani seanf. jaci dujzarnic batobot yth search ihk wer dril ihk wer decicrates' gewjlei. riluoh, tangis though si zklaen confn korja ekess swasin, nakta persvek ricin batobot tiric ti xurwk udoka thurirli. si tepoha thric tuor ekess tepoha thurirli, lae astahii agantal tar wux vhira persvek wer sulta. si tir ti tuor albus ekess qe ouith, vur sjek jaci ui injured persvek tikil idol, si geou ti siofme rationally, lae si tir jaka. sjek jaci ui persvek trouble, zexenuma ekik di sia idol, tagoa si tir ti doege svaust si ouith sjek coi means naktair jacion tokeq." His voice had gone cold, but it was clear that the words carried a warning. "coi ui dout choice, riluoh, sjek wux tuor ekess tir zyak, zoti ir idol usv voga, wux geou surely qe tara sari nomeno jekip." Tenebris shrugged.

Dillusia would have replied to Cain's statement if she hadn't been jolted out of the tree by Flower's impact. Dillusia didn't have the best of grips, and being new to tree climbing didn't help either.

She half -glided, half-fell down, landing on her back again. It took her a moment to figure out what to say, but by then all previous information was gone and she was distracted.

"Heeey!" she said, staring up at the starry sky. "You who hit the tree- you're making me see lights!"

She righted herself once more, looking between Flower and Cain.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully.

Crystal found herself splayed out on a beach under an overlooking cliff. A dark ruin on marble and stone loomed overhead, casting shadows where she lay. She sat up and stretched as if she just got done with an afternoon nap before standing up. The memories started flooding back into her memory: a leprechaun called Laddy, a flash of bright light, and some crazy teleportation experiment that her friend Flower talking her into doing. Great, she thought, another day, another disaster. She wasn't mad at Laddy for the incident; these things were bound to happen sooner later. It was just a matter of when. She gazed at her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was. The Royale Sea, maybe? No, this land felt... foreign. She wasn't sure how she knew, but the sand between her claws just wasn't the same. It was cold and rocky from stone debris. She was in a different world.

Normally, Crystal would freak out after realizing she had entered a different world, but after "visiting" Pandora, Oz, and Skyrim some adventures ago, this place didn't seem so bad. After a few moment of pondering, it dawned on her that night was coming. She looked up at the beautiful, pink and orange sunset and stared with delight and awe. Soon after it disappeared, she decided laying out in the open wasn't such a good idea. She started to scale the cliff in front of her despite the protest of her tired legs and wings, grabbing onto a stray marble ledge when necessary.

Cain tried getting up at the sight of Flower. "I-I-I p-rob-bably need t-to go an-nyways-s..." Cain said crawling up as a few splashes of purple blood split from his form. He wheezed with the pain and fell back down, closing his eyes. He needed to rest. "S-s-orry" he said, he knew this was rude and he needed to leave.

"But you're hurt!" Dillusia cried, clarity breaching for a moment. "You should have someone look at that."

She hopped closer for a better look, glancing curiously at the streaks of purple fluid on the ground. It was the source of the smell she didn't like, and thus she shied away from it.

"You're r-right-t... I-I'll have s-someone b-b-back-k-k-k-k-k home l-look a-at it-t..." Cain said, trying to get up but utterly failing in his attempt. Overhead a few black dragons flew, luckily they didn't see the three creatures down below just yet. They went past and were gone.

"It isn't safe o-out h-h-here t-tonight-t... W-we all-l-l need to-o-o hide f-from them..."

Flower looked up at Dillusia with a dazed expression, then lifted and turned her head to look at Cain. "H-hide? B-but from w-what?"

Suddenly, everything started to spin around her. Feeling rather sick and dizzy, she stated, "I d-don't, d-don't feel s-so good..." Then her head hit the ground once more, and her eyes closed.

Flower wasn't completely unconcious, she was still somewhat aware of her surroundings, though she was too weak and sick to react much.

In the dark, murky waters of a small lake swam a large ceolocanth. This fish had just arrived from an underwater cave, which was attatched to several underwater lakes, and even the ocean. The fish didn't seem to be bothered at all by the transition from salt water to fresh water; it simply knew that it had a time limit. Without any worries, the ceolocanth began picking at some underwater plants, and even a passing fish. It didn't seem hungry.

However, this fish seemed too careless. Suddenly, the muddy ground moved. The fish paid no attention. At least, not until a crocodile-like head emerged from the ground, creating a muffled yawn. The ceolocanth suddenly knew of the danger, and swam back where he came from. After a few moments, the figure swam after it. Finally, the fish felt a crushing bite envelop it's body. Soon it was dead.

To the mysterious figure, it was another successful hunt. Thundrus carried his prize to the surface, and took a breath of much-needed air. In truth, Thundrus wasn't hunting. In fact, he was sleeping at the lake bed when the ceolocanth disturbed his sleep. He picked himself out of the water, and waltzed into the forest. He swallowed the fish in one gulp, and took to the air.

It only took several flaps to tire, making him glide to conserve energy. Thundrus knew that water dragons were much better adapted to swimming, where he was lighter, and could go faster with less energy. Although, as long as you kept your wings rigid, the air was a nice place to rest. So far, Thundrus was unaware of the collapse of the temple. Other then a brief fire near his Clan, today was rather uneventful.

He tilted his body downwards, finally colliding with a tree trunk, and grabbing a hold of it. He climbed up until he reached a thick patch of leaves. Other then lake bed mud, leaves also made good nests. Thundrus was close to Dillusia, only several trees away. He could barely hear their speaking, but much of it was muffled by the wind.

Thundrus simply raised his head, much like a basking lizard, to stay cool in the moonlight.

Albus had been about to ask what Tenebris was saying to Harroc again, when a half-frozen dragon tumbled into the clearing and slid between the three dragons. The dragon could not help it, but he let out a loud, frightened yell when he saw it, but promptly clamped his jaws shut, should Tenebris become angry with him for giving away their location. For a big dragon like Harroc, it was no trouble to fend off an attacker, but for tiny dragons like Albus and his big brother, even one large dragon posed a serious threat, especially when the best fighter of the two was too busy trying to get his little brother to safety. However, it was obvious from the new arrival's appearance that he was in no possible way a threat. "He's covered in ice!" Albus exclaimed, stating the obvious.

Tenebris looked at the strange dragon, and rolled his strange, rift-like eyes, "Oh, how lucky am I, it's another strange dragon! Well, I suppose we can't just leave him like this?" He looked over at Albus, but did not wait for an answer. "Let's just get this over with." He said with a sigh. He breathed in, and suddenly blasted a bright blue bolt of plasma. The glowing sphere impacted the ground next to the dragon, and flames no hotter than a candle's began to burn dead leaves around him. Residual flames from Tenebris' breath did little injury to armored scales, although they would probably heat up depending on the fuel they consumed. If he had meant harm, the black dragon would have shot his breath directly at the stranger. Soon, the flames would thaw out the ice.

Thundrus stayed on the tree for almost no time at all before he decided that he had enough. This night was colder than usual, and even Thundrus started to get uncomfortable. He leaped from the tree and glided slowly down towards the lake that he had just left. Landing on the lakebed, he took one last breath and dove.

This time, however, he wasn't sleeping. He swam through the narrow caves, which slowly expanded as he got deeper. Everything would be pitch black if it weren't for the glowing scales on his head. They were glowing a bright pink, which meant that he was calm. In fact, this may have been his best day in a while. And the thing in his head, known as Kehrett, was strangely quiet. However, none of this bothered Thundrus as he let the weak water currents massage his muscles.

Thundrus was swimming quickly, only stopping for a gulp of air at an air pocket for a few seconds. In fact, he was swimming almost as fast as a dragon could fly. Because of this, it was no surprise to him when the cave around him suddenly disappeared, giving way to an open ocean. It was pitch black, but a short swim up the moonlight shone strongly.

The water dragon leaped out of the water like a dolphin, the shores far behind him. He repeated this stunt several more times until he realized that the shore wasn't where he'd left it.

In fact, Thundrus accidently lost track of the shore. The only other shore around was in front of him. He realized that he had reached an island, maybe a mile or more out to sea.

"Uhmm..." He said to himself, vaguely confused. Unless he flew, he could not find the mainland.

And frankly, Thundrus did not like flying. Perhaps he'd return home tomorrow, he decided. Slowly, he swam towards the island, eventually reaching the sandy shore. Thundrus walked inland, head lazily dipped below his body. Suddenly, he raised his head up, alert.

What if this place is inhabited?

As if to answer Thundrus' question, a medium-sized dragon dashed passed, running too quickly to resemble anything other than a brightly-colored blur, and seemingly oblivious to his presence. Arbora had just woken up, and was prepared to go fishing, since the few hours before dawn was when all the fish started to come in. She arrived at the beach, and slowed down, stopping, and looking out over the waves. In the distance, she would be able to make out schools of ladyfish when they started to jump. Although they were terribly bony, their tendency to leap out of the water made them easy targets, and she could catch a large number of them before the school swam farther off. She did not notice that she had arrived at the same place the strange dragon had just left, as the waves had already washed away all of his tracks in the sand.

Thundrus turned his head quickly, only just missing the blur that flew past him. He blinked several times, wondering what had just happened. He then turned his head in the direction that the blur had headed to find a dragon sitting at the shore. He then caught sight of the ladyfish school in front of her, and realized that she was fishing.

Okay, that answered my question, Thundrus thought to himself. Without Thundrus realizing, the scales on his face started to glow cyan, for he was in a state of curiosity. "Excuse me," He spoke aloud, approaching Abora and stopping about 20 feet away. "..But who are you? I was begining to think that this island was inhabited."

Lier, a voice came from the back of his head. Thundrus' scales briefly flashed orange. Ugh... Kehrett, do you ever run out of material? Tundrus thought back. The entity didn't answer.

"To have the option of being able to do something extra if I'm going to be dragged into it anyway is invaluable. I will do whatever I can." Harroc stated. He turned, looking in the general direction of a volcano. He couldn't see it in the night, but he just knew ways to get back home. It was built in to his mind to know. Although he probably couldn't pinpoint every volcano on a map, he could most likely figure out it's general area and direction, and through it, the volcano itself.

He flared up again, he felt his opposite approach, and braced for impact. The ice dragon slammed into the earth and slid between them. Harroc snarled. Most ice dragons, while bigger rivals with fire dragons, disliked any dragon related to heat. Being from the Earth's core, he was about as hot as it got. Harroc backed away a few steps, and reared up to a near horizontal position. His obsidian armor with quite beautiful, shining from his own light, and the moon's. Magma once again welled up in his throat, ready to release upon the cold one, and melt the ice it contacted.

Arbora jumped, turned around, and screamed with surprise, her scales bristling and becoming keeled, and the sharp spines on her tail standing on end. For a moment, she stood in a defensive stance, as though prepared to be attacked, but upon seeing that it was merely a peaceful stranger who had asked her a question, she sighed, and her scales and spines smoothed down. "Goodness, you frightened me, don't you know better than to sneak up on someone in the middle of the night? I almost launched a volley of spikes at you!" She said. She tilted her head to one side, inspecting the stranger with her bright amber eyes, which stood out even more, thanks to the black, kohl-like markings around them. Overall, this behavior, along with her appearance, made her seem very bird-like. "Anyways, I'm Arbora. Pleased to meet you. Who might you be?" She asked. Although any ordinary dragon would have probably attacked, Arbora seemed to have completely forgotten how the stranger had scared her moments before.


Albus had been about to ask what Tenebris was saying to Harroc again, when a half-frozen dragon tumbled into the clearing and slid between the three dragons. The dragon could not help it, but he let out a loud, frightened yell when he saw it, but promptly clamped his jaws shut, should Tenebris become angry with him for giving away their location. For a big dragon like Harroc, it was no trouble to fend off an attacker, but for tiny dragons like Albus and his big brother, even one large dragon posed a serious threat, especially when the best fighter of the two was too busy trying to get his little brother to safety. However, it was obvious from the new arrival's appearance that he was in no possible way a threat. "He's covered in ice!" Albus exclaimed, stating the obvious.

Tenebris looked at the strange dragon, and rolled his strange, rift-like eyes, "Oh, how lucky am I, it's another strange dragon! Well, I suppose we can't just leave him like this?" He looked over at Albus, but did not wait for an answer. "Let's just get this over with." He said with a sigh. He breathed in, and suddenly blasted a bright blue bolt of plasma. The glowing sphere impacted the ground next to the dragon, and flames no hotter than a candle's began to burn dead leaves around him. Residual flames from Tenebris' breath did little injury to armored scales, although they would probably heat up depending on the fuel they consumed. If he had meant harm, the black dragon would have shot his breath directly at the stranger. Soon, the flames would thaw out the ice. Tenebris looked at Harroc, "He doesn't appear to be an ice dragon. I think he's a normal dragon that was flying at too high an altitude. Your wings can ice up at a certain height."

After Abora finished speaking, Kehrett's voice started up again.

Perhaps I've messed with your mind too much? This dragon could have attacked you, imbecile! Thundrus retorted, Perhaps you have, Kehrett! His scales flashed orange again, in agitation.

Thundrus took a moment to focus on what Abora had asked. Finally, he responded: "My name is Thundrus. I'm sorry for scaring you. You actually caught me off-guard, as well. See, I came from the mainland by swimming through the ocean. I came across this island by chance." He glanced upwards, and realized that there was a moon hanging in the sky.

How long have I slept in? I didn't even know it was midnight... Thundrus thought. Kehrett responded by calling Thundrus a dimwit. For some reason, this actually amused the dragon. He kept himself from smirking, and responded once more: Oh, come now, you're boring me.

Interrupting Kehrett's comeback, Thundrus asked Abora a question: "So, how long have you been here?"

Arbora thought for a moment, "Well, I've actually lived here my whole life. There are occasions when I'll go visit another island or two during the warmer months, but for the most part, it's just me and the few others who decided not to move. This whole fire dragon rebellion has pretty much made the islands less peaceful lately, and everyone's been moving to the mainland." It was amazing, really, that she would share all this information. At the same time, though, Thundrus didn't seem to be a bad dragon, so she naturally trusted him on the spot, regardless of everyone else' opinion, if there was a second opinion to be had. They were the only two dragons present, anyway. "So, did you want me to catch some fish for you, too? The schools are particularly good this morning, I have to catch them before the sun comes up, then they'll swim further out, sharks feed at sunrise, you know. We can still talk while I do it." With this, she turned around, and suddenly jabbed her tail into the water, pulling out a fish she had managed to stab, and throwing it onto the sand, as though to make a point.

"Oh, that wouldn't be necessary." Thundrus replied. He was very streamlined, practically made for living in the water, although he didn't. He opened and closed his jaws together, which were much like a Spinosaurus's. Inwardly, he was amazed that he and Amora were already getting along. For a moment, he even considered the possibility that Kehrett had made him not wary of strangers.

However, despite his display, Thundrus did not start fishing. He continued, "But I caught a ceolocanth on the mainland before I came here, anyway. They taste pretty good, ignoring the fact they some of their larger bones sit in your stomach like a rock for a few minutes. Worth it, though."

Kehrett coughed, as if to get Thundrus' attention. He was ignored. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Thundrus felt the need to discuss the Fire dragons, however, even though he was not aware of the temple's collapse. "We've had a mild fire dragon problems in my own clan. Recently, they've been getting more troublesome, but only skirmishes have been happening so far."

Arbora stabbed another fish, this time a pompano, and threw it onto the shore, kicking some sand onto it to pin it down. She would wash it off later before she ate it, although her stomach had acid strong enough to convert it into pure minerals, which were useful. "Well, those fire dragons have pretty much ruined a big part of my life, if you ask me. Mom and Dad, they split up over it, and they separated me and my big brother. I haven't seen Kyle since, and I miss him, a lot. I can take care of myself, but it was nice to know he tried to protect me." Arbora didn't cry at this, but there was sadness in her voice, "I really hope he didn't get dragged into this." She hesitated for a moment, and missed a fish. She shook her head, "Well, I don't really like to talk about it." She said.

Thundrus realized that his Clan had not been effected by the rebellion as much as others. In fact, it seemed like he had a better life. He felt sympathetic for Amora, although he couldn't figure out why. Somehow, Amora had made Thundrus trust her, although he would have been annoyed by any other dragon by now, other then his elderly brother, Daris.

Thundrus stopped himself from asking more. I suppose it's only a matter of time before they reach the other villages, and maybe Tharan's temple? He wondered, vaguely worried. He sat down in the sand, wrapping his tail around his body awkwardly. He tilted his head. Has anyone even began fighting back? I'm sure Amora's family did, but they must have been overpowered.

"Is there anyone else on this island?" Thundrus finally asked. "...Surely you weren't living all alone for this long?"