Open Chronicles The Wooded Realm

[Rhydian Fairwater]

Flowered trees canopied the dirt pathway. The sun offered only speckled light into the infinite woodlands. The sound of running water could be heard, but from where? Rhydian took an uneasy step forward. The sun allowed him to see despite his blindness. It wasn't a typical sight, but he could make out the shapes and visages of those around him painted in hues of burnt orange and red, and sometimes, if the sun was strong enough, white.

He worried that the trees would limit the sun's rays and keep him from his communion. He muttered a quick prayer under his breath.

Offer me your reserves this day. Grant me sun for when it is not around.

He wasn't sure why, but he knew he needed to continue forward. His God: the lesser known God of the Sands... Tuli'agh commanded it.

He stepped forward into the woods. For the time being, he could still see, in his way. A bird called to him overhead. Was it a warning? He couldn't be sure. He held out is hands and could sense the dirt beneath the fallen leaves. This was good. He was not powerless in this place.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

A large winged creature slept in a clearing nearby, laying out like a bloated red-and-black bear. Corpulent to the extreme, her excess flesh spread out over the grass and flowers like dough that had risen over the side of the bread tin so far it flowed along the ground. Four chubby legs lay suspended among the folds, large claws twitching as she dreamed the final dream before waking.

But then she was awake with a start.

Igni stretched, opening her whiskered jaws, baring her sharp little teeth to all the world. Enormous, hairless, translucent ears twitched in amongst the rolls of fat about her head. Large black wings stretched towards the sky, and her lazy fat tail quivered behind her.

Then she sniffed with a pink, leaf-shaped nose.

"I smell a human," she said, voice as deep and smooth as gravy.

With a struggle she rolled herself onto her enormous belly, tucking her wings down towards her fatty flanks, blue eyes searching the treeline before her.

 

[Rhydian Fairwater]

Rhydian was feeling more at ease after a few hours in the woods. The birdsong kept him company, and he hadn't completely lost his ability to commune with the sun above him, however obscured it may be. His bare feet padded the strewn leaves, picking up pace as he continued onward. He didn't need the trail, but it reassured him to know that there was one.

He sensed the dragon before he saw her. Heat emanated from her. Rhydian found it pleasant and comforting, but that was because he valued the warmth for its familiarity. It did not mean the dragon would be a friend. With his unique sight, he could see the orange glow of her body as he grew closer. He stopped in a small clearing several yards away from the great beast. He was surprised by her girth, it made her look somehow sweet, though Rhydian knew very well that appearances could be deceiving.

In the clearing he held out a hand to the ground. The dirt shifted beneath his feet, he could feel the stones dancing and agitated beneath him. It wasn't so much a threatening gesture, Rhydian just wanted to make his presence known. Perhaps if the dragon realized he wished her no harm, she would let him pass.

After a moment he spoke.

"Forgive me if I am intruding, I am not from around here and I have no intention to stay.

Are you friend or are you foe?"

Please be a friend. He thought to himself. Suddenly the birdsong stopped.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

"Certainly not foe, little man. Though friend is too strong a term. We've just met after all," Igni purred, a playful grin spreading across her muzzle and exposing the tips of her teeth. She squinted as he made the ground shift, inspecting him up and down. "You're blind, but you seem to find your way well enough. How curious." She cocked her head, tilting her enormous ears sideways.

"Where do you go to, little man? And where do you come from? It's odd to find your kind out here, so far from... civilisation." She said the last as if it were bitter, if words could have flavour, her pink nose scrunching up and deep lines forming in the fur between her eyes. For a dragon she was surprisingly expressive. "I am Ymaranath Ythis. But please call me Igni. I am here for some... tranquillity." With that she spread her black wings slowly into the sunlight, stretching out with her paws, enjoying the rays warming her skin and fur.

 

[Rhydian Fairwater]

The sun breaking through the trees in the clearing offered him strength. He found that he could see the dragon relatively well, in his way. He watched her behind his blindfold and smiled.

"Civilization is not my home. I come from a place of heat and solitude. I must admit, Igni, I do not know where I am, though I am not lost. I will make my way if it pleases you, and leave you to your slumber."

He was grateful the dragon was kind, but he knew kindness had a limit, he had experienced the effects of its exhaustion time and time again.

He took a step forward before hearing an explosion from the trees. Birds erupted into the sky. A large birchwood came crashing down into the clearing, he watched as it fell directly towards him. He lifted his hands, attempting to raise the earth to protect him, but the firmament was not dry enough and he could muster no more than a few meager stones.

The dragon barred his way forward, and the tree was about to crush him.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath. Tuli'agh protect me.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

"Civilization is not my home. I come from a place of heat and solitude. I must admit, Igni, I do not know where I am, though I am not lost. I will make my way if it pleases you, and leave you to your slumber."

"Oh, no need to run off so quickly," Igni said, shifting on her haunches. "It's crowds I seek to avoid. Not-"

She was cut off by the explosion. Though she was close to the human she was not within arms reach, and Igni was too fat and slow to pluck him out of the way... physically. Instead Igni reached forward with her magic, moving him from his location beneath the tree...

... to a room. But not just any room. A floating platform of wood and metal, surrounded on each side by sundry household items. A bed here. A pile of pillows, a wardrobe with intricate carvings. But just beyond this floating platform was another, and another, stretching into the distance, like the mirage that occurs when two mirrors face each other perfectly.

... and then, she plopped him back into the clearing, several steps closer towards her.

"Well that was interesting," Igni said, lowering her long, bewhiskered face to the little human's level, squashing the jowls on her neck together tightly. "Are you alright?" she sniffed him. "No blood. Now, what could have caused that strange explosion?"

She raised her head and scanned the forest.

 

[Rhydian Fairwater]

A pocket dimension? Another realm? What sort of magic was this?

Rhydian was suddenly back in the clearing, the fallen tree behind him. His breath was shallow from the strange experience of... teleportation?

He tried to catch his breath. "Thank y--"

Suddenly, more trees began to fall in the woods near the birch that already lay behind him. An incredible bellow swept through the clearing, and in a matter of seconds, a great beast was upon them.

Nearly the size of a large horse, the creature was a Baaran Lion. A Gathamhr.

...but that's impossible. The Gathamhr are inhabitants of Epressa, and I've never left Liadain.

The great lion stopped in the clearing and growled. It bared its fangs, let out a deafening roar and leapt.

My magic. Thought Rhydian.

Tuli'agh find me. He prayed.

He felt the divine pull of Tuli'agh's magic reach out to him. Connect with him. But the tether was taught and would fray if he did not strengthen it somehow... but the creature was already upon him.

It tackled Rhydian to the ground in front of Igni. He rolled over, bearing his weight on top of the lion as it tried to bite the exposed flesh of his neck.

He felt the ground move beneath him... if he was still blessed, he may be able to cause an earthquake.

He looked up at the dragon and wondered how he got here.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

With the appearance of the baaran lion, Igni did move. She reared backwards as if from a snake, pushing upwards with her forelimbs until she was in a sitting position. The little human and the... rather big cat... were wrestling on the ground in front of her. This time, too close for Igni's magic to whisk away one without the other.

So she roared, a bellow that matched the lion's. It paused in its attack on Rhydian and glanced at her, but only for a second, then went back to tackling rhydian with powerful claws and teeth.

Its tail was exposed though.

Igni bit down on it, yanking the lion away from under the human. It dug its claws into her snout and she snarled, letting it go, and the cat flipped onto its feet.

Igni stood, a massive effort, and waddled forward with her teeth bared and wings spread, putting herself between the lion and the human. Arcane runes appeared around her snout and a stream of blue fire shot forward, straight at the baaran lion.

 

[Rhydian Fairwater]

The dragon burned the cat to a crip. Rhydian watched in awe through his blindfold as color danced in hues of red and white. He smelled the charred flesh of the Baaran Lion. He realized then just how dangerous this dragon really was. He was grateful she saved him from its teeth, but felt as though he needed to be more cautious than ever. He stepped over the crisped remains of the lion. He could feel burnt earth crackling beneath his bare feet.

"Thank you, Igni. I must ask you. Are you traveling, or staying? Because I find that I am in foreign lands and could use a companion." He never thought he'd be asking for a dragon's companionship, but here we were.

His sense of direction had been ordained and growing. He knew that Tuli'agh needed him to get through these woods, and he expected that what waited for him was in the mountain range to the north. It was not a military mission, but a Holy one. Of course, he didn't expect the dragon to have any reason to help him. If Tuli'agh wished it, so it would be.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

"A companion? Is that what I would be?" Igni said, looking a little put off by the term, but more put off by the flames licking at the corpse of the lion. The corpulent dragon heaved herself onto all four legs and waddled over, thumping at the flames with her large forepaws. Once the flames were out she placed a paw on the still-smoking carcass, then looked over, a wry smile on her muzzle. "I am new in these lands too. I think I perhaps misused my magic and wound up here, in the middle of nowhere. I'll come with you, if you wish. Though after lunch. Avert your eyes if you're squeamish."

With that, the dragon brought both claws down on the lion to hold it in place whilst she bit into a hind leg and tugged violently. She put her weight into it, her whole body moving and jiggling with the effort of tearing the leg off, black wings out to either side for balance. Suddenly the leg tore free and Igni stumbled backwards, a look of satisfaction on her face.

She swallowed the leg whole.