Homecomings [Archive]

[DragonSong]

@Marakai Trin

Home.

It had been far too long since she'd thought of the foothills of the Thunderblacks as home, even when she'd actually lived here. Azalea circled above the small village below her, her wings stalling to catch a particularly strong updraft that lifted her another few feet without effort.

She really should land. It had been three years since she'd seen her father, but that letter had requested she take leave from her training to come home for a visit. He'd never done something like that before- she couldn't shake the feeling that it must be something important.

But she just couldn't being herself to land. She snorted, chilling the air around her with a blast of frosty breath, before banking away, climbing higher into the clouds to trace the edges of the mountains. Hopefully no one down below had seen her, she hadn't been over the village that long.

Or if they had seen her, hopefully she hadn't been recognized.

A sharp sigh and she banked wide to avoid an outcropping of rock, continuing her climb into the mountains. She honestly didn't know where she was going, but she was convinced if she just kept flying she'd get there eventually.

[Marakai Trin]

This wasn't home anymore. But one day, it would be a battlefield - the man in black could feel it in the depths of what twisted thing served as his heart.

Kranath stood on the shattered peak of what was once the Aerie, gazing down at a clearing of paved stone far below. He'd already tried to access the secret entrance far below, but found he'd been locked passage. His brother had been smart. And so, he'd scales the mountain only to remember the upper reaches had long been destroyed - that battle when Tiamat had finally worked total control over him, making him Hers.

A black long-coat and long, silk-like whipped in the wind suddenly as a large form flew by, only to rise over the clouds. Glowing crimson eyes followed the outline of a dragon, the sun casting it's shadow through the clouds. Beneath those eyes, two marks seemingly formed of shadow wavered and writhed across a thin, pale face, expressionless in its visage.

After a moments decision, the avatar of Tiamat broke into a run, leaping off the peak with great strength, following after the dragon by jumping the distance between peaks, flying through the air and across stone with inhuman speed.

[DragonSong]

She didn't know how long she flew, but when she glanced down to get her bearings- Azalea realized she'd flown into a section of the mountains she'd never seen before.

It wasn't that hard to do; her time in the Thunderblacks had usually been confined to her own village in the foothills around it. Still, she was surprised she hadn't even noticed the change in landscape. She stalled in the air, glancing around. Well, she'd come from the southwest, so home was...that way.

Okay, good. At least she could find her way back home. Probably.

Another huffed breath and the icy white dragon folded her wings to her back, dropping like a stone toward the ground. She snapped her wings open at the last moment to keep herself from crashing into the rough stone of the mountainside, grabbing at the jutting rocks with her front paws and scrabbling to get proper purchase from her sudden landing.

Her head bowed and she panted, only then realizing just how tired she was. She'd been flying since sunup, and a quick glance skyward confirmed that dusk was fast approaching. Her breath fogged the air, icy crystals slowly covering the stone in front of her.

[Marakai Trin]

The dragon had finally ceases it's flight. Kranath stopped as well, drawing his black bladed wakizashi and plunging it into the stone with a screech, stopping his momentum as he came to a final landing. He observed the creature below him, watching as it's breath frosted the stone in front of it.

Ice dragon. Species was...unknown to him.

Drawing his blade from the earth, he continued to observe. The scent brought on by the breeze was strange - both dragon and somehow not.

Despite the constant running and jumping, if one was looking they'd find he wasn't out if breath - in fact, his chest rose and fell so shallowly, it would be difficult to tell if he were breathing at all.


Uncaring about the chance of detection, he stepped forward to peer over the edge of the cliff, watching the dragon below.

[DragonSong]

A strange scent hit her nose and Azalea tensed. Her head snapped up, eyes narrowed as she searched for the source of the smell. Dragon, she thought.

A...man? She shook her head, bemused. No, definitely not human. Maybe another dragon's avatar?

"Um...hello?" She blinked and flexed her claws, making the stone groan under her. "I, ah- didn't mean to intrude."

She'd met enough wild dragons to know how territorial they could be, particularly the males.

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath continued to stare downwards, eyes unblinking and face utterly emotionless. He listened to the dragon speak. Intrude? Not so.

With deliberate slowness, Kranath moved his foot over the edge if the cliff, settling the bottom of his shoe on the solid surface.

With a flash of movement, he was gone from that space. A sound behind the other dragon would reveal his presence there.

When he spoke, he was facing the direction opposite her.

"....if you are intruding, then so am I."

He slowly turned his head to allow one blazing eye to look over his shoulder at her.

"....your scent is strange. You look like a dragon. You almost smell like one. What are you?"

[DragonSong]

Azalea yelped and had to renew her grip on the stone, startled by his sudden presence behind her.

"What- what are you?" she retorted. "I've never met a dragon who could do...well, that." She managed to get her back feet braced on a ledge below her and let go of the mountainside so she could crouch properly, watching him warily.

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath lifted a brow, and turned fully to face her.

"What am I? I am a dragon. I was once of the Aerie, thousands of years ago. I am also....more. More than you need know. Now....you have a question to answer. And you will answer it."

His eyes flared brightly with primal, hellish light to punctuate his remark.

[DragonSong]

An instinctive thrill of rear ran down her spine and Azalea felt a growl rise up in her chest. She swallowed it down and ruffled her wings, trying to make herself appear a bit larger than she was.

"I am a dragon," she defended automatically. "I mean- half. I just- look, if I'm in you're territory I'll go, alright? I didn't mean anything by it."

[Marakai Trin]

The mans eyes faded slightly, and he regarded her for a long moment, that grim, expressionless look unchanging.

"I have no territory. You intrude on another's, perhaps, but I claim none. I have grander designs, larger than a few large rocks and a cave."

Kranath could smell her fear, nearly taste it like a sweet wine, and it took no small amount of restraint on his part to take advantage of it. Despite this, his tone remained flat.

"Have no fear, half-dragon. You're not worth the kill, tainted as your soul is."

[DragonSong]

The ice dragon snorted and jerked her head up, eyes narrowing. "Tainted?" she snarled, soft purple eyes hardening to sharp amethyst. "The bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"

Aggression showed in every tense line of her body- after the day she'd had, she was really not in the mood to be insulted.

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath snorted at her show of aggression, tilting his head upward slightly and looking down at her, his eyes glowing brightly once again.

"You'd do well to calm yourself. If you attack, I will defend myself. And I will kill you. By tainted, I mean as half a dragon, you have half of a Dragons soul. Tiamat wouldn't accept it as it is. But..."

For the first time during this encounter, he smiled. Such a smile upon that thin face with those hellish eyes could only be described as nightmarish.

"....I would. So calm down, lest you taste my blade."

[DragonSong]

Azalea growled, but she certainly made no move to attack. Her stance was more defensive than anything else, irritation still clear in every line of her body.

"You're talking nonsense," she muttered, shuffling her wings before letting them fold against her back properly. "I don't have half of anything- my soul is my own."

Who the hell was Tiamat? For that matter- who the hell was this stranger?

She tossed her head and looked out over the mountains. She was still wary, ready to spring into action if he showed any real sign of aggression. "What are you?"

[Marakai Trin]

"Nonsense to you, perhaps, but to me it would be a grand mistake." His race resumed it's grim visage, then, that bloodthirsty smile vanishing.

"And I am...what I am. I have been called fear itself, in ages past. The Wings of Night. He who precedes the Reaper. I am a Black Dragon, and I am avatar of the Dread Queen herself."

[DragonSong]

She blinked at him.

"Uh-huh. Aaaand, I believe this is where I back away slowly..." She shuffled back a bit on the small ledge, glancing around for an easy way to take off. "Lovely meeting you and all, Mister Wings of Night or Dread Queen or whatever you are, but I think I'll just be on my way."

This dragon was crazy. Even so, she could practically feel power radiating off of him- insulting he may have been, but she wasn't about to risk getting into a fight with a creature that was so obviously dangerous.

[Marakai Trin]

There it was again - that fear, that sweet, sweet fear that he could almost live off of. She was scared of him, and he supposed she was right to be.

"I am...not the queen. I am infused with her essence. I am her will on the world." Even as she spoke of departure, his eyes suddenly swirled with blackness, snuffing out the brilliant red light.

"Every death I cause is for her. The blood I spill is hers to bathe in. She promises power beyond any living creatures ken, and I will wield it..."

He stepped toward her, one single step, and the next words he spoke positively dripped with dark magic, imbued with the darkest fathomable parts of ones mind.

Powerful, inescapable fear.

"Those that share not in the darkness her wings create will drown in that darkness. Fear and shadow will reign supreme. These mountains will be bathed in the blood of man, dragons, elves, all who do not share in the darkness."

Another step. An aura like that of black fog rolled off his body, and those nearby could hear the whispers of the void, tormented and full of hate, crying out against the light.

His next words came in his own voice, but the display of power did not cease.

".....will you revel in the shadow, half-breed... or will it consume you? I will offer you this chance....stand with us today....or die tomorrow."

[DragonSong]

Azalea's eyes went wide and she scrambled backward. Her back leg slipped off the ledge and her wings flared out in an effort to counterbalance herself.

Yeah. He was definitely insane.

And dangerous.

She nearly slipped off the ledge and with a desperate little cry just barely managed to shift to her human form before she tumbled off the mountainside. Perhaps not her smartest move, but ration thought seemed to hard for her currently.

She managed to get her feet under herself as she toed the edge of the ledge, getting more distance between them now that she was human sized. "I- I don't- what?"

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath took one more step forward, one hand reaching over his shoulder to take hold of the wrapped handle of his daikatana. In one fluid movement, he unsheathed the six foot blade - as it arched through the air, a plume of pure shadow followed it, it's black crystalline blade reflecting no light

The tip of said blade suddenly leveled at her face, and he stared down its length to see it pointed directly at her left eye.

"....to put it simply....join me, serve the Lady, or you will die. Your mind and soul will be twisted and tormented until She comes for you. Or you can share in Her power. I offer you power in servitude....or death."

[DragonSong]

The half dragon felt her heart stop. Her mouth went dry as she stared up at him with wide eyes.

Oh gods she was terrified. But she couldn't let him do this- she had to stop him, whatever he was planning. It's what her mother would have done, right?

But she couldn't. She wasn't strong enough and she knew it.

"I- I don't even know who your Lady is," she gasped in a desperate bid for time.

[Marakai Trin]

"She is Tiamat, the Dread Queen, one of three responsible for the shaping of the world as you know it. A dark God, one might say." The shadows in Kranath's eyes seemed to pulse and writhe, almost alive with malevolence.

"My patience wears thin, half-breed. Enough questions - date me with an answer, or flee and know you turned down the unimaginable. You won't get far...."