Private Tales To Poke a Sleeping Dragon...

[Selene]

Beautiful morning, with wisps of mist drifting lazily across the mostly-empty monastery grounds. Golden light sifted through dappled cloud cover, as the sun began its long haul over the edges of the Spine range in the distance. A particularly large raven stood atop the stone wall of a ruined building, its roof long since rotted through. As it went from one foundation stone to the next, crumbly bits of mortal scattered to the ground with each claw scratch.

The raven stopped right about the hulking form of a dragon, who seemed to be asleep or otherwise at rest. Mischievous eyes glinted with the yellow light of the dawn. Feathers bristled up as the raven dove from its high perch to the ground. It hopped determinedly forward in quick little leaps, ever closer to the backside of the stormy beast... closer, and then it stopped, as if hesitating before some great decision. The raven's wings were half poised, ready to flutter away at the slightest disturbance. Then, it struck.

With a swift motion, Leyik jabbed her beak into the tip of the dragon's tail, clamped down on a single scale, and pulled.

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

Norvyk had been having a succulent dream of eating the delicious haunches of a hunted elk. The croaking of a raven sounding in the background while he tore the elk's flesh and sinew from its bones and felt the viscous blood drenching his maw. Its life draining into his gullet with a gluttonous relish. His hunger like a bottomless void.

There again, the croaking of a raven, this time closer to his ears. Which in turn, meant closer to his meal.

The dragon growled a low warning to whatever creature dared lurk so close.

He was preparing to lunge and snap his jaws upon the unsuspecting intruder when a sharp tugging sensation broke through the trance of his dream and pulled him from slumber with the sharp lurching of someone plunging their face into a bowl of ice cold water. He blinked rapidly as he calibrated himself back to reality, realizing with a pout, that no elk carcass waited between his massive claws.

There, the most peculiar tugging again at the tip of his tail. Golden reptilian eyes slid to the source of his wakefulness, the preemptive dancing of static began to play along his scales as his eyes landed on a very curiously large raven at the end of his tail. Sharply inquisitive eyes staring back at him, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that they very literally, had a dragon by their tail.

Selene

 

[Selene]

The knowledgeable folk of the Valen woods liked to claim that ravens could fly freely between the waking and dreaming realms. That they were messengers of the Loch, who saw everything twice. This seemed to be true, at least in Leyik's case.

"No time for haunches, now! Lazy dragon!" She cawed, though not in the common tongue. It was the ancient animal speak of this region, Daringly, she hopped further up the monster's tail, claws grasping neatly between spike and scale. "There is a meeting of the winds. All ones with wings must fly." Leyik spread her own great black feathers to punctuate this point.

"Storm-thing, can you feel it?" To those attuned to such natures, it did not feel like the wind would pick up. The morning air was quiet and still, fog resting against the ground undisturbed. Except by Leyik - she beat her wings once, and a swirl of the stuff fled from her.

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

The fog danced away from the gusts made by the great bellows of the dragon's inconvenienced sigh. But his irritation was quelled and replaced by a deep curiosity when the raven guided him to seek the whispers on the winds.

For although he and the raven were worlds apart as creatures, they were made kin by the sky and the rain and the sun on their wings.

The eager and suppressed fury of the winds like an artist's muse that he could feel deep in his bones as a thorned flower could feel its roots, encouraging him to dig deep and grow into a dazzling and dangerous thing.

With a quick dexterity that belied his scaly mass, Norvyk shifted onto his feet and took a moment to appreciate the raven in her flight, a tendril of fog having chased her turbulence before melting back into the ground covering cloud.

"Shall we race then, kindred?" He crooned with a mischievous predatory tone. And without waiting for Leyik's distant reply, he snapped the great leather of his wings open and launched into the air, eager to chase the call of the winds on the feathers of his new companion.

 

[Selene]

"Shall we race then, kindred?"

The great scaly beast rose to the challenge, and Leyik cackled in delight as only a raven could. "Yes! We will be the first ones there!"

While the mists churned underneath them, blanketing the earth in stillness, a warm current of air lifted up just above. Leyik found those currents and took them higher, flying near parallel to the cliffs of the lookout rock that jutted high above the monastery grounds. When she reached the very highest peak of the cliff, she landed with outstretched claws against the rocky edge. A scratch of rubble crumbled off as she launched herself back into the updraft. Broad wingtips spread out and stabilized as the wind took her further away.

The monastery buildings became speckles of rock in the distance. From the canopy of the forests rose other flying things - flocks of crows, sky serpents with their twisting, rainbow bodies, and great eagles on proud wings that need not flap or stir to carry the wind.

Leyik did not have the wingpower to win in a test of speed against the dragon. But she was clever, and whenever she feared falling behind, she would borrow Norvyk's strength. She danced and dove and maneuvered though the air on deft wings, touching down lightly on the dragon's back as he gained altitude, only to veer off again and duck under a sweeping tail or leathery wing when the ride became too bumpy for her liking.

Soon, they reached the clouds, an expanse of grey that obscured everything. Maybe Norvyk lost the small, dark form of Leyik as she flew further away, pulled by a strange wind that began to pick up. It swirled, circular and erratic, and droplets of rain would batter against Norvyk's wings. Maybe the storm dragon would not be bothered by the shift in weather at all.

Either way, the clouds broke eventually, and above the storm cover, Leyik could be seen some distance ahead. And further beyond her black wings, an island in the sky that beckoned.

 

[Petra Darthinian]

The first spatterings of rain against his scales were a blissful serenity. The downpour like a cleansing baptism for the time Norvyk had spent anchored to the ground near his rider. Not that he begrudged her this small loss of freedom, for he still experienced moments like this, where he surged into the headwind, the currents carrying him up and up and up until with a powerful beat of his wings he broke through the top of the cloud mass, the sun sheering the droplets from his eyes, revealing a celestial like landmass suspended high above the earth.

From this distance, Norvyk could see the lush, verdant landscapes, dotted with glittering lakes that fed into twin rivers; snaking into many cascading waterfalls that spilled into the empty sky. He could see rolling hills and a small single snow-capped mountain.

But on this floating island, the most awe-striking feature was the ruin of a castle at the center made of crumbled crystal and glass, covered in vines and flowers of every color. Delicate golden and silver bridges connecting a sprawl of towering spires, its turrets stabbing from the earth as if the hand of a god had coaxed it from the very soil.

Despite its disrepair, as the dragon flew closer, he noted how the sun shifted through its prisms of glass and crystal, shimmering and changing as the great solar eye moved across the sky. A more beautiful kaleidoscopic and dazzling display of color and architecture he had yet to see in his long life. The very walls were etched with intricate patterns and designs and in languages, he had no knowledge of.

The wind whipping through the ruins of the castle created a hypnotically haunting melody, luring himself and any creature of myth and the mundane worthy of flight, into its vicinity.

The gusts swept through the structures, causing the delicate glass and crystal to vibrate; which by itself, produced a soft, chiming sound. The sound like a gentle lullaby. But with the different sizes and shapes of the pieces, new and curious notes emerged.

He assumed that as the winds picked up, the music would become louder and more dynamic, with high and low notes interweaving to form an entrancingly complex musical composition. The song carrying on the gales, spreading out across the floating island and beyond.

Norvyk imagined that the effect of the wind-whipped spires would be especially dramatic during a storm, with the sounds of the wind and thunder merging with the ruins into a wild, frenzied symphony of the elements. Plucking at his feral heart like deft fingers on a guitar.

Overcome by the buoyant joy he could feel growing in his chest, he opened his maw and let out a sonorous roar. Letting all of the skies know that a storm dragon had answered the musical call of the island in the sky.

Selene

 

[Selene]

It was a beautiful day to visit the Lord of the Sky! Leyik angled wings to take herself closer to the island, and was greeted by a cacophony of sound. Tinkling crystals, shaped to catch the wind like birdsong and storms and the open, dancing arms of trees. Arethil's oldest music, except for whatever the whales did in the seas. But that wasn't any of her business.

As the island's music surrounded them, she let out a cackling clatter of sound from her raven's throat, a joyous laugh that echoed in the roll of the waterfalls. From somewhere close by, Norvyk let out what dragons probably considered a laugh, the poor sullen souls, and roared out something that was admittedly more melodious than the usual grumblings and growlings that emitted from the beast.

"Surely not the lazy dragon feeling happy," she teased Norvyk as she tilted her body and flew once more with the currents his wings stirred up. "No celebrating yet, the race is not over!"

Suddenly and with determination, Leyik smoothed her scruffy feathers and narrowed her wings, plummeting towards one of those delicate bridges that lead to the bespired castle. It was overgrown with flowers and grass, vibrant green painted in generous brushstrokes across glittering gold.

At the last second, Leyik spread her black wings and tail wide, and flapped against the force of her fall to land softly.

When she touched down on the grass, it was with bare feet. Feathers turned to an iridescent cloak upon her shoulders. Her beak became a long, aquiline nose, and she had arms and fingers and mouth, and no beard upon her throat. She still cackled, though.

"Kah ha, I win!" Leyik said in croaky voice. A look of surprise flashed across her face at the sound of her own voice. Leyik spread her fingers, looked down at them to notice the distinct lack of primaries. "Wow, I'm the other me! Come from the convergence of the ley-winds, no doubt!"

The new human-ish Leyik squatted low, kicking one foot out and then the other in a goofy stride that brought her slowly across the bridge towards the crystal castle. "How do humans walk with their knees backwards, anyway?"

 

[Petra Darthinian]

Norvyk's voice was accompanied by rising exultative cries of the flying creatures around him. A cacophonic torrent of trills and elated screams that only quieted when each beast soared off to other parts of the island or landed, as Norvyk did now in a flourish of wind next to Leyik. He watched the strange raven-woman strut about with gimpish legs, for they were not used to carrying her as a person.

Upon landing and the dust settling around him, Norvyk looked around him, indelibly curious at the massive constructions that surrounded them. Yes, the island was a place of ruin, but never had he seen such mastery of architecture and design. It was all so alien, that he could not decipher even what its origin would be. Or perhaps, as he notated how ancient everything was, if it had been the origin of anything he knew of in the world today. The moment the thought crossed his mind, he felt a tug in his gut toward the center of the castle. An eager desire to explore and find what was calling to him. And he realized that Leyik had landed in front of the great stairs that took them to the front doors of the castle, although there were no actual doors in place, just a two-story tall archway cut into the glass front that offered a grand tunnel for the wind to whistle through.

"Raven-friend. Do you feel that? That calling." He ventured forward, growing determined to find this source of magic. The wind met him at the doorway and danced across his scales, bringing with it a faint thrumbonic humming from deep within the castle. The floor was surprisingly made of opalescent marble instead of crystal and the many windows were framed by ancient velvet curtains that bespoke not a mote of dust. The very walls seemed to shift and move with glyphs he didn't recognize.

They set out to explore the ruins, weaving through the towering pillars and broken archways with a sense of awe and wonder. And if the dragon was honest with himself, the place was so overwhelming he had a difficult time determining where to hold his attention. As they walked, they noticed the faint humming sound growing louder with each step, guiding them toward the middle of the castle.

Following the sound, they came upon a door made of shimmering crystal, its surface glinting in the light. It opened of its own volition and they stepped into a room that took their breath away. For they had found the glass castle's library, a vast chamber filled with towering glittering shelves and ancient tomes. The air was thick with the scent of dust and parchment, and shafts of light slanted through the high windows, casting pools of rainbows onto the polished marble floor.

In the center of the room, they saw a massive floating crystal hovering over an intricate insignia on the floor, its surface intricately carved with golden impressions of thousands of tiny constellations, each one glowing with its own inner light. The crystal itself was surrounded by a series of golden concentric circles, each one inscribed with intricate patterns and designs. The rings revolved in circular rotations around the crystal. The magic within responsible for the rhythmic humming that had drawn them here.

But the moment Norvyk prowled closer, he was hit with a vision of he and Leyik in this very room, except they had worked up the courage to touch the crystal. and as a result, in his vision, he could see the walls of the chamber glowing brighter and brighter until they were filled with a dazzling display of foreign stars. Stars of every hue glimmering and twinkling, casting a kaleidoscope of colors across the walls of the chamber. Some shone with a fiery red glow, while others burned with a brilliant blue-white light that seemed to pierce the darkness. It was dazzling and he was given the impression that this was a magical device. A device that could project a holographic star map into the world around them.

He inhaled sharply and came to as if no time had passed. Awestruck, he glanced down at Leyik. "It would seem that this is a planetarium. Go on. Go and touch the crystal, raven-friend. I believe it wants us to."

Selene

 

[Selene]

Leyik did not need any extra encouragement to touch the crystal. Starting to find her new legs, she hopped over the twisting circulature and pressed both hands against the glowing, myriad light of the crystal's surface. It rang out with a clarion hum in response to her touch. The circles at her feet spun faster, and the crystal gleamed brighter.

Selene used something like this, sometimes. To teach the little squires. Leyik was oft in the room, watching the stars swirl about, pinpricks of light that flooded bright minds with wondrous knowledge. But that thing was made by mortal hands, and showed mortal knowledge. A taste, a glimpse at the Great Beyond, a little trinket.

This crystal was bigger. It projected things twice. Once, in the waking, and once again, in the landscape of the mind. Lucky for Mr. Norvyk then, that his traveling companion could see the twice-lit flame of the world - light and shadow, dream and reality, question and answer!

Leyik held her hands out and spun in a circle as the crystal did the same behind her. It rose up higher off the ground, spitting stars out across the bookshelves. Some kind of magic darkened the glass above, and revealed even more stars, dancing around them in tangible depths as motes of dust on a sunny day. Stopping her dance, Leyik reached out and caught a star in her palm.

Oh, what was that? She was glowing, too. A voice bubbled up in her throat, friendly, but not hers. A voice from a long time ago.

"Once," it began in a rusty drawl. "When the scars of this world were new, and the chrysanthemums bloomed brightest. Five temples were built upon the leylines of the Eldyr Tree. Five loci of magic. Reconnect them all, and restore the heart of Astenvale. Only then--"

The voice choked out, and Leyik let out a hacking, croaking cough. She stopped glowing.

"Wow, that was weird!" She turned to the lazy dragon, put her hands on her hips in a motion that she must have learned from someone else, considering that she didn't have hands until just a few minutes ago. "Next time you are touching the magic orrery."

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

Norvyk watched as Leyik danced around the crystal with the disjointed grace of one not used to their limbs. He was intrigued by the ancient voice that emanated from the depths of the not-raven's chest. The words she recited were prophetic and struck like crystal bells in the depths of his memory, conjuring knowledge that tasted familiar, but was out of reach all the same.

Without hesitation, Norvyk stepped towards a passing star that emitted a soft pulsing warm glow. Following his instincts, he opened his mouth wide and aimed for it, intending to eat the stories this star would tell. Oddly, there was heat with this star, and it blossomed across his tongue with a vengeful fire at being consumed, but he managed to swallow it with a hiss and clicking of fanged teeth.

At first, nothing happened, but then he felt that same voice, climbing its way from his gullet with the determination of a deity that demanded to be heard after ages of silence. And with the star's power shining like a brilliant prism of light from his throat, he opened his maw and that ancient voice boomed out once more,

"Only then shall your Order find the strength from what was lost and blind the Eyes of tyranny once more."

The Storm dragon snicked his teeth shut with the finality of the statement. And at the same moment, all of the lights and the stars and the magic shining from the grand crystal, disappeared. And they were plunged into a dank run-down library that now seemed dreary in comparison to what they just experienced.

He was silent for a moment and then repeated in a low, rumbling voice. "Five temples? Built upon the leylines of the Eldyr Tree?" He appeared introspective and lost in thought before turning a glowing golden eye onto Leyik. " Can you also sense their magic, little one?"

 

[Selene]

Leyik was a little sad to see the stars go. She felt like they would not be seen again for a long time, and if she wanted to go back to this room, and dance with her grumpy dragon friend in a field of tasty lights, she would have to do it in her dreams. Leyik was very good at dreaming, but it wasn't the same as being part of the here and now.

"Yes, yes, yesyesyes," Leyik said five times in response to the lazy dragon's question. Except he wasn't so lazy or sleepy any more, as his warm eye bent low to glow at her. Leyik tilted her head, and when she realized both her eyes faced forward now, winked one of them shut so she could peer back at Norvyk with a single round, black eye.

"Can you also sense their magic, little one?"

"I am their magic!" She said brightly, throwing her arms up in the air and spreading her fingers wide, the feathered cloak that hung from her shoulders rustling dramatically. "Can you feel the breath that fills your lungs? Do you tell your heart to beat faster when you fly? Does the rain that falls onto your scales prickle so deep into your bones that you know the location of every drop?"

It was hard to wink, and it was hard to keep both her heavy arms above her head, so Leyik blinked the ridiculous pose away and stood - mostly - normally again. "There are some things that I can feel, if I stay very still. But I am not good at staying still. Maybe we should ask the lord of the Sky? He has not moved this whole time."

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

Her words pricked at his innate sense of curiosity and predisposition for theatrics. Norvyk even found himself enjoying the queer company of this not-Raven. Humming in approval at the raven's evocative questions, Norvyk unfurled his wings with a snapping leathery flourish. He took a step towards Leyik, his voice booming against the broken walls with an ostentatious flair.

"With a sweep of these wings, do I not command the very winds? Bending them to my whims and wiles as I see fit." The lips around his maw pulled taut, showcasing the mockery of a snarl. "And with these teeth and talons, do I not rend flesh from bone and strike fear into the hearts of stoic men and nightmares into the cowardly?" Small sparks danced across the tapestry of his jeweled scales, and the very air around them began to feel charged with frenetic energy. "Am I not the child of hurricanes and a wielder of lightning? The very weapons of capricious gods that you all should have renounced long ago for their hubris and failed promises"

His playful tirade ended in a soft hiss with the rising awareness that the magic within this abandoned place had shifted from this room to a more cognizant presence at the center of it all. And that during the duo's stint in this room, the outside had grown quiet of the winged beasts who'd joined them in this island's discovery, and that more importantly, the winds had died down. And no music whistled through the castle's crystal skeleton. It gave him the impression of some great primordial beast that finally awoke sluggishly from hibernation. And with it, an ancient and strange hunger.

Hesitantly, he tucked his wings close and strode to the opposite side of the room. For where once there was only a bare wall, now stood an ornately carved archway big enough for them both to pass thru. He assumed it led to wherever the source of this place's magic was. "It seems this lord of the Sky requests our presence." He offered into the eerily growing silence. "I think we would do well to not keep them waiting, lest we confuse the quiet with calm and anger our slumbering host."

Selene

 

[Selene]

Norvyk got all prickly - literally, as sparks crackled and Leyik felt her hair poof up from the static - as he boasted about how cool and powerful he was. Leyik nodded along generously, occassionally interjecting with an emphatic uh-huh at appropriate spots.

And then it was very quiet. The big dragon stilled, and for a brief moment not even Leyik made the slightest sound. Her eyes darted towards a doorway that was maybe there before, or maybe wasn't. Norvyk saw it too, and strode forward on big dragon claws. She padded alongside him on her little stubby toes, no longer making a click or a clack as she walked. There was still a rustling though, as her cloak of feathers gleamed iridescent down her back.

"I think we would do well to not keep them waiting," Norvyk rumbled out.

"Well, you're the one waiting, lazy dragon!" she retorted back. With a big, exaggerated step, she strode through the archway. "I'm not standing here!"

A strange magic washed over her as she crossed the threshold. It felt something like stepping into a dream, except that the element was unknown to her. Not Loch nor Wyld, those realms that all ravens commanded. No, this was the ancient thrum of the Leylines, a song that reverberated through everyone and the whole world, but one that barely anybody knew the words to.

It was the meeting of the winds!

Leyik found herself in a great hall, colorful glass and crystal ceiling letting the light in and setting all to sparkle, whether it was gilded or not. At the end of the hall was a great throne, simple in design yet imposing in height, and upon the plush cushion sat the figure of a man, cloaked in white. As Leyik strode down the hall and got closer, she saw that the man was asleep. Long, white hair cascaded down his shoulders in curls like billowing clouds. His face was not old nor young, and his expression was peaceful.

Wait, was this the lord of the sky? He looked awfully... ordinary.

Still determined not to be the lazy one, Leyik steeled herself against the thought. She scuffed her feet against the tile in thought for a moment, pondering how a human might greet a king. She'd never had to think about such things before. She figured getting lower down might help, so she sat down on the floor cross-legged. Kneeling did not occur to her as an option.

"Um, Mr. Lord of the Sky?" Leyik announced herself.

With the smallest of snorts, the lord started awake. He propped himself up with one hand leaning against the arm of the throne, a leg hitched up to dangle over the other. His eyes came open to look down languidly at the two visitors to his kingdom.

"Who approaches me?" the lord of the Sky hummed.

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

The moment he approached the threshold behind the Raven woman, Norvyk felt a prickle in his scales and an even stranger magic washed over him as he crossed. It took him a moment, but he recognized the ancient magic of the Leylines thrumming beneath his claws. Their music grew louder almost in answer to his recognition, like a symphony that had been building up to this moment. He knew, somehow, deep in his very being, that this was the place of the Lord of the Winds, for he himself was a creature of the sky and he was born to do the winds' bidding.

His claws tapped restlessly against the marble floor as he gazed around the grand hall, golden eyes taking in the glittering glass and crystal ceiling that cast prismatic colors across everything it touched. Dancing in waves across his emerald scales. It was a sight that would have been breathtaking if not for the strange place, that was not a place, that they found themselves in. For as he looked around the room, he scanned for any hint of danger or deception. Unable to help but feel a sense of perplexion. What was the purpose of this meeting? Why had they been summoned here? And where were the other creatures that had flown to the castle?

The dragon couldn't help but wonder if they were being lured into a trap. After all, they had flown into the unknown, with no knowledge of who or what truly awaited them. And yet, the pull of the Leylines had been too strong to ignore, drawing them inexorably towards this place.

He felt out of control and that put him on edge, made him bristle.

Leyik, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the presence of the lord of the winds. She sat down cross-legged on the floor, announcing herself to the lord.

And even stranger still, he answered. Or at least, his voice echoed from the walls and into his bones.

"Who approaches me?" the Lord of the Sky had hummed.

And even he, Norvyk, son of Kildhur, shepherd of lightning and denizen of storms. A creature made for wrath and ruin. Felt a shiver run down his spine, and his wings flared at the enormity behind that voice, it was primordial and mighty.

But he stood his ground, determined to learn the truth of their presence here. And although he was tensed, ready to defend both of them if needed, there was a sense of familiarity there too, as if he had known this being all his life, and any life he had lived within the sky before this one, or would after.

It is not too often a dragon is faced with a being that humbles them so profoundly. But in this, he had no qualms as to whom was really the beast of legend among them. And with that he stepped forward and bowed greatly, wings spread wide and low.

Norvyk raised his head, his eyes locked on the Lord of the Sky with a mixture of intrigue and suspicion. There was an ancient game afoot and he was determined to play it well. "I am the shadow that flits among the clouds, the whisper that echoes in the wind," he said in a voice that carried the weight of his kin before him. "I am the dragons that have soared the skies since the dawn of time, witness to the ebb and flow of the elements that shape this world. And yet, I am also the servant of fate, the instrument of destiny, called forth by the very lord who sits before me."

He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. "So tell me, Lord of the Sky, what is it that you seek from us? What game do you play, and what riddle do you pose?"

 

[Selene]

It wasn't the sky lord that spoke, but the castle itself. The walls and pillars of the throne room reverberated with his sound in the same way that crystal refracted light.

"Ah, a storm dragon, fearsome and proud. And what of the one who sits beside you?" The lord of the sky turned his ashen gaze on to Leyik. "Young spirit of darkling things, have you forgotten your shape?"

In her excitement, Leyik forgot her manners. She stood up, tiptoed on the ball of one foot as she gave the lord a salute. "No, not forgotten! I'm Leyik, prince among ravens!" The raven-turned-girl said. Her chest puffed up in some pride, though she no longer had any feathers to ruffle. "At your service."

The light that gleamed in the lord of the Sky's eyes was difficult to decipher. It could have been amusement, or something colder.

"Riddles..." He repeated the dragon's word, after their introductions had been made. "I could give you a riddle, if that is what you like. Let me see..." His chin tilted up towards the ceiling, where clouds drifted through sharp shapes, warped by the geometric angles of the glass. A thought seemed to come to him, and he looked back down to the two fliers at the base of his throne.

"Burning without heat, as small as a pea, I'm endlessly swimming in a waterless sea. What am I?"

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

The riddle the castle presented was indeed a fascinating challenge. After pondering its intricacies, Norvyk's keen mind delved into the depths of his knowledge, searching for an answer that aligned with the enigmatic words.

"Burning without heat, as small as a pea, endlessly swimming in a waterless sea..." Norvyk mused, his eyes gleaming with a glimmer of understanding. "Ah, the answer lies in the ethereal dance of light and shadow. The elusive riddle speaks of a star, a celestial beacon that illuminates the vast expanse of the night sky. Though its fiery brilliance is distant and devoid of physical warmth, it persists in its eternal journey through the cosmic depths—a tiny point of radiance adrift in the boundless sea of darkness."

With a flourish of his wings, Norvyk revealed his answer, a confident smile adorning his draconic features. "The answer, Lord of the Sky, is a star—a luminous jewel forever suspended in the celestial tapestry, enchanting us with its minuscule yet captivating presence."

Having shared his solution, Norvyk awaited the Lord's response, eager to unravel the mysteries that lie ahead.

Selene

 

[Selene]

So deep in thought was Leyik that she did not hear the dragon's answer. She scrunched her shoulders up and craned her neck down, starting to pace in front of the throne. Maybe it was a flower...? But no, flowers didn't burn, and they weren't always small as a pea. Usually.

In front of her, the Lord of the Sky righted himself in his seat. One palm on the edge of the arm, he leaned forward attentively as Norvyk spoke the answer to the riddle. The walls vibrated with his hum of approval. "A precise conclusion," he told the dragon. "A star is indeed-"

"You're an eye!" Leyik exclaimed, pointing a clawless finger into the air.

The cloud of hair around the Lord of the Sky's head fell to one side as he looked down at the raven girl. Leyik was so assured of herself that she did not notice the look on his face, patience or irritation, whichever it was.

"The mind's eye burns with mana, even though its so so little like a pea. And it floats around in the dreaming sea, wherever your imagination goes. But there's not really any water in the dreaming. Humans just call it a Loch because they don't know what else that is." Leyik nodded her head enthusiastically. Sleek, feathery black hair bounced around her shoulders.

"Uh huh, that's the answer," she reassured herself.

 

[Petra Darthinian]

There was a pregnant pause.

Norvyk's gaze shifted from Leyik to the Lord of the Sky, curiosity burning in his eyes. Leyik's unexpected answer had stirred something within him, prompting him to reconsider the riddle from a different perspective. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before addressing both the Lord and Leyik.

"Ah, an eye! A fascinating interpretation indeed," Norvyk acknowledged, his voice laced with intrigue. "The mind's eye, that ethereal conduit through which visions and imagination flow. It burns with the fire of creativity, guiding us through the vast waters of dreams and possibilities."

He turned his attention to the Lord of the Sky, a glimmer of anticipation in his draconic eyes. "Lord of the Sky, could it be that the riddle holds deeper significance? Does it speak of the power of perception and the interconnectedness of our tho-"

"No." Came the Lord's interruption. "The answer is a star."

"Oh."

"Because that's what you'll need to deliver."

"Oh?"

"We're actually standing in the remnants of part of it."

"Oh!"

The Lord settled back in his throne, his long-withered fingers steepled while he regarded them.

"This castle is made from pieces of a star that fell during the Age of Wonders. And the mighty dwarves and elves and the many forgotten creatures of this world, came together and built this place as a culmination of their individual masteries in creation. A place where any who came to this place, came here as equals."

His voice carried the weight of eons. A low thrumming in the floor beneath their feet that grew stronger as the Lord's voice strengthened with the memory of his tale.

"But those temples you learned of earlier. Along those arterial crossroads of the leylines? It's because they were weakening. And magic was threatening to bleed from the world with their demise." As he spoke, the lines of his face melted away, his youth from a different era now back on his face. "So, they took what was left of this star and they built those temples. Using the magic of the heavens to bolster and bandage the focal points before they burst at the seams."

His milky eyes had cleared and now he leveled a bright and starry gaze onto them both.

"I can feel them weakening now again. There is a dark evil that has begun to spread its poison into the magic that feeds these lands. I have brought you here to task you with strengthening them before it's too late."

Selene

 

[Leyik]

Leyik stood at the base of the Sky Lord's throne and listened intently to his story. She blinked her wide, black eyes and breathed tempered breaths under her feathered cloak. He spoke of stars, and weakening leylines, and an evil that spread across the land.

An evil.

It was really many little evils bleeding the forest dry like a thousand holes nailed into a bucket. The ur-beasts had been fighting back against those evils for centuries, millennia, and had been losing more battles season after season. Did the Lord of the Sky see any of that from his high throne?

"Elves and dwarves!" Leyik repeated the lord's words out loud. "The ur-beasts will not care about temples made by mortal kind. We won't get any help from them." Suddenly Leyik felt very somber, which she was generally adverse to.

She shuffled one foot across the bright tile of the throne floor, clearly pouting. "Not me, of course," Leyik clarified, voice barely audible. "I'll help."

 

[Petra Darthinian]

The ghost of a finger made of starlight tipped the raven woman's chin upwards, lingering for a soft moment, before disappearing with a flourish.

"Careful, o'prince of ravens. Your gaze was not made for the ground." Came the Lord's soft admonishment from his throne. A cryptic light flickering in his ancient gaze before he raised his hand out, palm towards the front of his dais where the two stood.

A great rumbling began beneath their feet and where once there was smooth stone before them, came a symmetrical circular split in the floor as it parted. Norvyk stepped back as he witnessed a great stone pillar rise from the ground, a glowing polyhedric crystal atop it. Waves of magic vibrated around the item, reaching out to them with an energy that felt eager to be gone from this place.

The Lord's voice rang out amongst the mystic humming, "This is the Starfall Nexus. Or Nexus for short. It is used to find and store fallen stars. A great piece of magic that I wove an eon ago. Take this. Use it find the pieces of the stars that have fallen from the heavens. Gather them and deliver them to the temples to strengthen their leylines once more."

Leyik

 

[Leyik]

A soft scolding came from the Sky Lord, and a gentle touch. Rueful then, that Leyik was not a gentle creature.

"I'll look wherever I like!" She squawked back with fervor. She bounced a step away from the Sky Lord's grasp, and pointed emphatically at the tiles beneath her feet. "Down there is everybody I love! It's not a bad place to be at all!"

She was all wound up. A funny feeling surged through Leyik that she couldn't recognize, because she had never had teeth before. In another moment, she would come to understand it - she really wanted to bite this guy! Especially if he put his stupid, soft fingers near her face again.

The Sky Lord was unfazed by her outburst, which set Leyik's teeth to grinding tighter. He turned to a crystalline structure that rose up from the middle of the floor with the slow, grinding hum of ancientness. A magic thingy sat atop the pedestal, which took a lovely crystalline shape, but was actually just an elaborate kind of jar.

"Come on, Norvyik!" she said too brusquely, crossing her arms in front of her. "You carry the basket. We're gonna scoop up all the stars in the world and bring them wherever!" She nodded decidedly to herself. Saying such intentions out loud seemed to calm the ur-raven, her feather cloak less puffed and her limbs a little more relaxed. "Then all our friends can keep walking in the forest forever. They can't fly away like us if things get bad, so its the least we can do."

 

[Petra Darthinian]

Unconsciously, Norvyk had begun humming somewhere deep in his chest. The tone matching the frequency of magic that thrummed with a fervor from atop the pillar. Pulling him, calling him,—demanding his action.

The dragon was not one to be ordered. But he was made of the same magic that stitched the broken pieces of this world together. And like called to like, so in this, it felt as if he was listening to a lost part of himself that had finally guided him home.

Following a deep-seated instinct, the storm dragon stepped to the pillar. Starlight danced across his scales, and the crystal flared brightly as his nose made contact with it, pushing it gently upright. Then with careful teeth and the words of Leyik urging him onward, he took the Nexus into his mouth and he swallowed it.

Just as he and the raven creature had played with the magic of the castle earlier when the remnant projections of stars danced around them. Here, with this, this was real. This was the heaven's captured, its light like nothing they had or would ever see again. For it was like a living thing and in one brief moment, it flared with a radiance of kaleidoscopic proof that blinded them, the humming swelled into a vibrating crescendo in their blood, almost overwhelming them with its intensity, before disappearing into the maw of the dragon. A bright trail of light moved down Norvyk's emerald throat, where it settled somewhere behind the crest of his breastbone. The vessel of light thrummed quietly now in his chest. A mere fraction of the presence it projected only a moment before, but still a warmth, like a candle in the window of a cabin in the night. A beacon to those trying to find their way home in the dark.

Here he would carry it. Protected, waiting, and biding their time until they could use it to find the other fallen stars and return them back into the magical weave of the leylines. Already, he could feel the magic of the Nexus reaching out and pulling him towards the locations of those stars.

There was a settling silence around them. The gravity of their task sinking in, when Norvyk noticed that the throne room was darkening. As if the light was being sucked from the very walls. Looking to the Sky Lord, he felt a prickle of unease at the look of devastation that flickered across the Lord's face. So sudden, he almost missed it.

"This is the last of myself I can give." His cadence suddenly so tired. The last of the room's light continued retreating towards the Lord's throne.

"Leyik..." Came the dragon's warning.

"I have outlived the hubris of many felled empires. But I believe this one to be my last." The skin around the Lord's eyes began to blacken and age once more. The sound of wind began to court the interior walls.

Norvyk swept his tail in front of Leyik protectively, the sudden instinct to run a primal thing.

The wind became a cyclone and began to howl around them, pushing them back towards the threshold of the throne room. Norvyk flared his wings and felt himself sliding back, his immense strength nothing against the dying power of this ancient being.

Through the deafening winds, the Lord's voice came through clear as a bell. His tone tragic and ripping at Norvyk's heart.

"Do not waste my divinity. Now, GO!" The last sentence shouted so loudly that it overpowered every thought and feeling inside his head outside of that single word. The rising screams of the shadowed winds were so strong that he closed his eyes against their force. Riding out the rage, his talons seeking purchase in the floor to anchor himself.

But just as quickly as the whirlwind came, it disappeared.

And Norvyk found himself standing in the outside courtyard that Leyik and him had first landed in. His breath came in great bellows and he looked to the crystalline spires where they had met the Lord of the Sky. But it was dark and quiet now.

No sign left of divinity thrummed underfoot as before.

Leyik

 

[Leyik]

The meeting of the winds was always an ephemeral thing. There for a time, and then gone, as soon as the four directions split once more, the heavens untangled themselves, and the crystals stopped singing. Leyik had seen it some times before. The island in the sky. There for the winged to chase, then gone just as soon as any could land. But, this...

As the throne room darkened and the winds howled, as the storm-thing curled around Leyik and she clung to his scales against the violent whirl... this felt final.

It felt like a death.

Norvyk got them out of that place, somehow. He was all huff and a puff as they stumbled out into the courtyard. Outside, it was as if nothing had happened. The sun was shining. The sky island's waterfall misted into clouds that drifted lazily below them. The wind buffeted them gently once more, and Leyik should have felt the joy of it rustling her feathers. Instead, another funny feeling welled up within her.

It was warm, and made her throat scratchy. It hitched her breath, though she wasn't tired, and made her nose run, though she wasn't cold. Fat tears blurred her vision. She blinked them away, but more tears replaced the first. A rough sob racked her chest and it was wretched; a useless sound that brought no relief with it.

"Wh-what's happening to me, Norvyk!?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, and balled her hands into fists as the tears kept flowing. It took all the energy she had just to stand there in the dragon's shadow and shiver.

Petra Darthinian

 

[Petra Darthinian]

If anyone asked about the soft way Norvyk bent his crowned head to nudge into Leyik and croon in tandem with her grief as she cried for a time, he would deny it.

But here on the grounds of a beautiful new grave, a place he still thought to be a dream, he leveled one cryptic eye onto the raven-kin, an uncharacteristic kindness flaring in their depths, something that was not often shown outside of Petra.

"Have you had a heart long, Leyik?" He hummed thoughtfully, feeling his own beat in sync with the star in his chest, "I find they grow heavier with use. But I would not change the way mine makes the wind feel. Or the taste of the sun. Or the way it takes the songs of my rider and strengthens the storms in my blood."

With a deep rumble, Norvyk lowered himself to the ground, so that where his wing joined his shoulder sat just above Leyik's head, as easy a reach as he could make it.

"Did you not say that down there is where all that we love? Our friends?" His tail lashed with a sudden impatience that stemmed from a place eager for action. "So let us return home. And as friends do, I shall carry you when you are too heavy to carry yourself, as long as you have need of me."

Leyik

 

[Leyik]

"Have you had a heart long, Leyik?"

Leyik blinked hot tears away. She was too jumbled to respond as Norvyk's words fell in warm, crackling layers around her. But she felt every one of them. Little sparks that pricked at her, and burned something there inside, leaving a mark that would not leave very soon. Hearts were all embers and electricity. As a being of Loch and death, she'd never needed a heart before. Maybe this was the beginning of hers.

She sucked in her breath, and the snot coming out of her nose. "I think, since just today," she answered the question belatedly.

A bleary nod was given to the dragon's urging to go. "O-okay," she croaked out.

With soft hands now instead of sharp claws, she hitched herself over his offered wing and settled onto his back. If she hunkered low and pressed her cheek against the thick spines of his neck, she could feel the rumble in the storm-thing's chest. A sound that she had never paid attention to, but was now grateful for. If her own fresh heart would not behave, she was glad to borrow the rhythm of her friend's for a time.

They took off. The rush of wind and the roll of clouds soothed her some. When the floating island was but a speck on the horizon once more, Leyik raised her head, though she had to squint these new eyes of hers against the batter of light and air.

"Norvyk," she shouted over the beat of his wings. "I take it back. You're not a lazy dragon at all!"

As good as a thank you, as far as ravens were concerned.