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Started by Nefres, April 07, 2013, 06:34:39 PM

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Nefres

A large bird gave an experimental peck to the ground beneath her. Her beak cast light onto the  yellow glass, dying it a rosy pink as the sun streamed through. Ahead of her was a patch of extremely thin glass. She hadn't learned how to tell it apart from the rest of the desert yet, as evidenced by the mark of a three-clawed foot that had shot through the thin layer. Luckily, her powerful wings were quick enough to push her back before her entire body had tumbled down. She now stared at the hole and studied it. Marring the pristine glass was the only way of making something different happen. Everything else was the same, the same glass, the same sun, the same endless dunes.

Though this had actually been an accident. But she pretended that she'd done it on purpose. For some reason she felt embarrassed at the mistake, despite not being aware of anything that might have seen it, or even the possibility of that. It was another thing she just knew, without an explanation.

It was curious, what the desert did. Eventually, the cracks always disappeared on their own. She accepted this as another fact of life and moved on, while anyone else might have wondered how the glass healed itself. Others would simply chalk it up to the same mysterious force that created it in the first place. The bird accepted it as a fact of life, and did not wonder. She had too many other things to wonder about, her own existence being the first item on her figurative list.

She wasn't thinking about that right now. At the moment, her mind was remembering her first tumble through the ice, and the horrible shattering of her wing. She was comparing it to the relatively light injury she'd sustained a minute ago when her foot had gone through. There were scratches all around her leg, and a few segments had been knocked loose, and jingled annoyingly when she lifted her foot. She could already feel it healing. That was another thing she accepted, the healing. As the bird understood it, injuries disappeared quickly if you gave them time, that was all. She didn't know it was the sun and heat, as she didn't have any other kind of weather to compare it to.

So she sat, staring at the hole, the thing that was different, and wishing there was something else.

Rhythm

The glass of the desert was nearly as beautiful as the dragon that soared overhead.

This was a special place. Orphis didn't come to Seraj Isa often, as there was no prey for him to consume due to a lack of edible vegetation. In truth, he had only visited twice before; once as a hatchling when he was eager to learn the truths of the world and see the many magnificent sights the Earth offered, and once centuries later, for reasons unknown even to him. Something about the beautiful glass carvings that formed the false once-sand of the desert appealed to the being, though perhaps the only thing that drew him to Seraj Isa was the way he could see his reflection wherever it was he decided to fly.

Of course, apart from the lack of prey, there was one thing wrong with the desert. Much of the glass that made up the 'ground' was thin, and would not support a creature of his weight. Finding a suitable place to land was therefore quite difficult, and it could grow tiring, as his wings didn't mind but his older heart did disagree with his being airborne for uncountable hours on end.  When thick glass was hard to find, however, he didn't dare risk testing the glass, as he wasn't entirely sure about to where a hole in the desert would lead.

As odd as the desert was, it soon became much more strange. As Orphis searched for thick glass, using his razor-sharp dragon vision to search for cracks and imperfections in the seemingly-supportive areas, he spotted a being whose existence confused him thoroughly. The thing that looked to be a beast made out of the same clear material that made up the surroundings was standing about, staring at a hole. Questioning whether the unmoving creature was the clever work of a humanoid glass-maker or if it were a normality in this area, the dragon swept down towards the ground, and landed as gently as he could about thirty yards from the thing.

The glass beneath his gargantuan paws cracked and caved inwards slightly, but, to his relief, did not break. He surveyed the much-smaller creature with a curious eye and, unable to figure out how he or she or it functioned, spoke directly to the being with a combination of mental images and words. "What are you?" The question wasn't spoken in a rude tone, though he didn't feel as though an overly respectful attitude was due. Still, Orphis' voice had a sort of kind hint to it, as he wasn't certain of what the other being was capable of and didn't wish to get on its bad side.

Nefres

The bird's head immediately popped up at the sudden feeling. Fear gripped her for a split second at the unfamiliar sensation, and she whirled wildly, nearly forgetting the treacherous footing behind her. A few quick steps forward and she was back on safe ground.

Her mind left the glass beneath her when she beheld the giant thing standing a ways away from her. She froze for a few seconds, trying to process this new thing that dwarfed her so completely. A faint bell-like jingle could be heard from her head and tail and she shivered involuntarily. It was a sensation she would later come to classify as fear, but for now it was unknown to her, and it was terrifying.

Terrifying, and yet... and yet the bird was also excited. The shivering fear that gripped her may have been euphoria. This thing was different! In her instinctual way she knew that it was like her, moving, not like the glass moves when it broke, more like the wind as it flew by her, independent of anything else. But even she knew she was different from the wind, and this giant thing was different in the same way. It was like her, but most importantly it was different from the endless glass!

The bird admired the thing's colour, a beautiful gold like the sun, but not bright enough that she could not see it. It gleamed in the light, reflecting it, unlike her own body, which the light went right through. She wondered if it would fall through the glass, but for now the surface seemed to be holding, though she felt it would break if the thing jumped.

Extremely puzzling was the odd sensation in her mind. She felt that it had come from the thing. Parts she did not understand, but the overall gist seemed to be curiousity, one of the few feelings she could identify with. Was it wondering about her, just as she wondered about it? This explanation satisfied her, for this thing was similar to her.

On impulse the bird tried to do the same thing, tried as hard as she could to project her own curiousity. She repeated the words, "What are you?", though she wasn't sure of their meaning. Mixed with her feeling, and the words, was her picture of the thing, magnificent in its size and shine, the sun behind it like a halo. "What are you?" She thought again. ""What are you, what are you, what are you?" After a second of thought, the bird added another thing. The same feeling of curiousity, except this time, combined with an image of herself, as she saw her face through the glass at her feet.

Rhythm

"What are you, what are you, what are you?"

The other creature's mind was interesting, if not jumbled. From what Orphis could determine from the thought-images it shared, it was almost certainly made entirely of glass. Circling the being with an animal-like curiosity, the dragon attempted once more to figure out exactly what it was that allowed such a thing to function as a living, breathing creature. "What are you? he repeated, somewhat annoyed with its incapability to answer the simple question. Surely there was a reason for its existence.

With a puff of smoke, he made contact with the other thing's mind again, using mental images of his own to communicate what it was he wanted to know. "What made you?" Though there were uncountable amounts of magical, wondrous beasts in the lands of the Earth, many of which he'd seen, there were still thousands - or millions, perhaps - for him to see yet. But none, from the mystical unicorns of the rolling plains to the merfolk dwelling beneath the murky depths of the deep blue, had ever been so strange as to confuse Orphis.

A grunt escaping from betwixt his monstrous jaws, he slammed his tail against the ground in anger. The glass shattered, and he turned to look at the large, jagged hole in the once-smooth surface in wonder. How could a being made of a material such as this colored, clear and impossibly delicate once-sand possibly survive for more than a few hours, if that? The curiosity was beginning to drive him mad, and, unsatisfied by the thing's earlier response, he whirled on it. "Be you a magical beast? One of nature's rare errors? A... mistake?"

After a moment, Orphis forced himself to calm, and shared with the thing more images, though these were more specific. A snow-covered, mountainous landscape filled with huge winter deer and a strange sort of giant two-feet. A sunset, framed with the sky above and the crystal-clear water below, gulls and flying predators such as himself and other dragons shown as silhouettes in front of the bulging life-star that was the sun. A jungle, seemingly lifeless at first, though upon closer investigation felines and small amphibious creature could be seen cowering behind the ferns.

And then, an almost artistic representation of the glass-beast that stood before him. Illuminated from behind, as it had shown itself before, with the multicolored glass of the once-earth forming streaks as far as far as the eye could see. All of the images shown were of his own experiences; as a dragon, he would never stoop so low as to lie or misrepresent the beautiful world for fear of portraying it differently from how it actually was. He used a few words to get his next meaning across, but he was also sure to follow the message with more images to ensure that the being understood. "I have seen all this, yet... I have never seen one like you."

(I hope you like it. ^^ I thought this way, she could see that there's more to the world than glass.)

Nefres

(I do, I like it a lot!)

The bird stumbled, at first unable to take in what she had seen through the giant. Colours she had not known existed, vivid greens and cool blues, swirled about in her head, making her dizzy, if such a thing was possible. She could almost feel the cool water about her legs, the soft snow settling on her wings... but where was all this? The bright light in the sky she recognized, but the rest, the variety, the life, was all unfamiliar to her. She tried her best to tell this to the giant, sending all the warmth and excitement, and her own perpetual curiousity, along with the images the thing had shown her.

She understood the thing's question about her, at least the general feel of it. But she did not know how to answer, was looking for the answer herself.  The bird tapped her left foot absent-mindedly at the glass beneath her, resting her weight on the other. In sudden annoyance at the inability to express herself properly, she clacked her beak, finding the sound satisfyingly sharp. Along with the irritation came a small thrill at having discovered another emotion she was aware of.

The bird stopped her tapping and stared at the thing, thinking her simple thoughts. Her mind was a jumble, but she wanted to know more! She closed her eyes in concentration and sent question after question, she didn't know what she was, she didn't know what the thing was. She sent all of her experiences up to this point, and they were not many. The warm light in the sky that sent light dancing across the glass, the fleeting darkness of that same sky, a darkness she was not able to experience, instinctually feeling the dangers of trying to stay awake.

The bird gave the thing pictures of her own reflection in the glass that had always been glass, an image of herself, falling through a fragile part and finding herself staring trapped in a hole until her wing had healed. She gave it everything she had and it was not much at all. Her great feeling of wanting more she projected as passionately as she could.

If she could form the words the bird would have screamed, "Take me there, I want to go see there, and there, and there!" As it was, she could only shake her feathers, composing a song of bells punctuated by sharp clacks from her beak.

Rhythm

Orphis' tail slammed against the glass again and again as the beast, whom he only considered a beast as it had yet to earn his respect, failed to answer his question once more. The motion was in impatience rather than anger, though, since his curiosity seemed to be increasing steadily the more and more the creature showed him of its own, short existence. "Incompetent fool," the dragon said, trying to make his subconscious believe that finding out more about the bird was simply a waste of his time. He circled the smaller being, grinding his teeth together in thought while taking great care to step around the jagged-edged holes in the glass.

But the dragon couldn't blame the bird. Judging by the way it formed thought, it was intelligent enough. The beast simply had no way of knowing the truths of the world; it seemed to have been condemned to this beautiful scape of glass. Though the desert was interesting in itself, it was not a place for such a beautiful creation. That was something Orphis was more than willing to change.

"It seems you need a teacher," the dragon tutted, speaking almost entirely in images and only using words from time to time to possibly help the other creature understand what certain sounds meant. Surely it would be a pleasant way to spend the next few days or weeks, if the thing was willing. Of course, Orphis never forgot the curse that had been placed upon him at an early age, though the temporary company would be a nice change from his usual routine. He passed the question along again in the simplest of ways, showing more pictures of the extraordinary places he had been. "Come with," he seemed to say. "I will show."