Zarla's Journal of Life

[Shinkuu]

I have not been sitting on my tail all this time I have been exiled to Moyo Lake... No... Far from it... I have been honing my fighting skills. Now me and Tsume have used them in some missions for the Dragon Trainers of Dralk and Chiconis. Finding their targets this time around was the hard part but no matter the named monstrosity they sent us after we demolished them like so much sand stone. Nothing stood before us, nothing even stood a CHANCE against us. My claws blazed with a furious Primal Energy as they rend flesh and stone leaving horrible jagged carvings in my victims as Tsume's Bolts beat them into the ground like the thunderous bellows of a War Drum fit for Dragon Gods.

It felt good to rip apart the Aegis in the Western Deadlands, slamming any that got in my way as I sought out their leaders there. I crushed the skeletons under my claws, Tsume sent the Ghosts into the next dimension, I burned the Zombies to ashes, and together we made them tremble at the shadows from the sky.

However... There is one new threat that is more... Intense... a Dragonic Lich... Not the normal undead spirits... This one is far more vile... It seems to be a creation of the wicked Aegis General Plage... It can breathe his very own Spiritual Blight... It is skeletal with a spiritual body and seems to strike with ethereal claws... I got somewhat blighted by this thing but managed to escape further wrath from it. That will be a true challenge and test.

I talked to Mint... He tried to tell me that our relationship was somehow different than mates... No kidding, like one sided and otherwise nonexistent. He tried to tell me it was odd and hard to describe and tried to insinuate that I was like some sort of Mount to him... Oh great... I could tell he did not think very highly of me considering how he has treated me over all this time but I did not think I was THAT low in his eyes. Well I have had quite enough of that nonsense. I am no one's transportation or beast of burden. I am a Dragon, a Woman, and a Warrior and I will be treated with the Proper Respect or I will break bones and rip faces off until I get it. If someone wants to have a loving relationship with me then they better MEAN it.

[Shinkuu]

I ran back into Asua to my fortune. She seemed rather unhappy but I knew something that would help her. I took her to Moyo Lake where I had my friend Ampera the Sslik Druid and Wizard and Shadina the Druid Healer Saris waiting to help her. They fed her some diamond and then Ampera seemed to pull away her Metallic Eye Lenses that were making her blind while Shadina replaced the metal with clear diamond. It was a wild procedure and she seemed a little freaked out during it but she held her own like a little soldier.

After the operation Asua was all set with a brand new pair of Diamond Lenses. They may not be as flexible as normal lenses but they should handle battle damage and ground tunneling with ease and hold up rather well. I tucked her in good next to Iseia to sleep with us for awhile... I wish I could be there more often to protect little Su... She is very sweet and does not deserve all the antagonizing she seems to get...

I ran into Nyoko... That is pretty much a worthless note in this journal but I suppose it is worth saying just that I did give her notice that her open armed invitation to the Aegis and their Minions into our lands and inner circles is NOT acceptable and that if I find she is becoming a problem I will personally rip her apart. I do not care if she is a pacifist or just inept that does not give her leave to go accepting the presence of the Blighted amongst the Children and I will NOT have her confusing them into thinking that such vile things are acceptable. The living will surely all perish if people like her and Lung continue to undermine our ability to fight the Vile Withered Aegis and their Undead Armies.

Me and Tsume have continued our training long and hard. I have achieved the latest learnings in Drain Bolt and it seems Khemarius was really stepping up his game. This latest Bolt is pretty solid and useful. He seemed to be acting a little more arrogant but at least his task was relatively easy.

Drysten's adopted daughter seems to have gone through the Rite of Passage ... AKA the Rite of Pain & Torment. I feel sorry for her that she had to go through that but at least she is done with it and now an adult which is good to see.

I... I am pretty sure I ended everything with Niveus... Some have accused me of hanging out with him and that he was so bad... Well... He seemed to just use me for the most part... I just cannot really say anymore... When I think about him ... I tremble a bit... ... It is not that I have no feelings... It is the worst of the opposites of that... However... What is the point for such feelings? He did naught but use me as an emotional crutch and beat me up in that same way... He hurt me in ways no Aegis besides Vehk has ever managed...

I do not know why I cannot be as unfeeling to this pain as I am to the wounds of my flesh... My body... It is just a machine... I do not even care about it these days... I do not eat... I do not breathe when I do not want to... The Gift has rendered me a living shell in many respects and with my inability to feel pain it just makes it feel more so... Yet inside I am so vulnerable and I just cannot seem to make it go away...

I tried so hard with that one... Vyrry leaving me was mostly HIS fault... I did not try as hard with Vyrry though... Why? Because I still felt for Niv that jerk... Then he made it so much worse by acting as if Vyrry had not come between us that we could have had something together... It is that which makes me want to CRUSH him... When Vyrry does finally go... I am left all alone instead... What a liar Niv turns out to be... I still cannot believe he had the nerve to ask me to his bonding ceremony...

Some part of me says I should take my revenge on him... I should kill him... Or I should make his life utterly MISERABLE... I think I would rather kill him honestly... I do not deal in making the lives of people Miserable... Only the Aegis and their followers get that treatment and he is not in that camp...

Yet despite that desire for vengeance... My heart is not in it... What a worthless heart it is... I fight for a cause not my own and for others... My heart is not in this anymore these days... Mint has his crutch and I have nothing... Well... Almost... I have my Sister... If not for her... I would eject myself from this soft machine and go to be with my family in the Spirit Realm.

I will just make an effort from hence forth to never deal with Niv again... It will be painful but I will just have to do it. I will just consider him a mild enemy. I will have to think of it in my mind daily that Niv is just a Ruxus. He is an ugly horrible thing that I should ignore... Stupid that I must tell myself that... But that is it... Such an odd world I must defend... Such an odd world...

[Shinkuu]

Some rather intense things have happened since my last Journal... Shinkuu channeled Mother and Father bringing their Ghostly Images before me and Tsume to speak to us... I wanted to touch them so badly but I could not...

Mother told me that she felt Vyrridiun was not good enough to be my mate and that as I have all the time in the world I would find another far more suitable... Wishful thinking Mother... but it still feels hollow while I wait and I cannot help but wonder if I am really desirable in any fashion... I feel like no one would really WANT me... So there is no real point in looking...

Father tells me that our fighting inspires others and that we must Live Life to its Fullest and fight with heart and soul in order to continue to inspire the others to fight for what is right... It is hard to fight with that sort of heart when your heart is hurting...

Mother says I am very good with Hatchies and that they seem to gravitate towards me and love my company. She says they look up to me and that she knows I would do anything to keep them safe and to make the world better for them and so I should use that as my reason to keep fighting... She is right about this...

Father essentially tried to tell me that one cannot win the fight alone and that no one is the Hero to the world or so great or wise as to handle everything themselves... I know... I know...

The last bit of news is that the Monster Selarth... Mate of the Tyrant Azu... Aegis to the Core... Is DEAD, soul sucked out by Mintshade... It feels like a great shadow and oppressive darkness has lifted from the land and the clearing... Me and my Sister laid around there with Romi more than ever before all at peace and ease with the world...

However... While Selarth may perhaps be gone and hopefully forever so... Still there lingers great Regret and Sin. How long did Dragon Kind allow that BEAST to live? How long was He allowed to torment and kill our Children? How many Hatchies suffered at his Claws or that of his Mate's? How much Blight was spread thanks to that Monster?

Dragon Kind would pat itself on the back for a Job well done... A job done well too LATE... A job well done would have come much sooner... A job well done would have been to destroy or cleanse such a Monstrosity when it was first learned He was Blighted. A job well done would have been to obliterate Him after the first time He did his Evil upon one of our Young to ensure He would never again get such a chance... Yet instead, all simply allowed Him to continue to ravage the youth as He saw fit... All stood by and watched condoning His vile actions...

The Beast may be dead... But His Sin shall live forever and shall taint all Dragons who lived through it as the Tormented and Disturbed young who still Live continue through life traumatized by those events, as those who lost loved ones to Him and His bleed from their Heart and Soul, and as we all remember what we CONDONED by allowing His continued existence for so very long... Once again I curse that I have the misfortune of being included in such a Species that I will inherit this Sin and Regret...

[Shinkuu]

My little girl is still struggling with walking on her feet instead of her feet and hands but she is starting to get a hang of it. She is so cute in everything she does. She often gets it wrong the first few times but she is always upbeat about it. She tried running a bit and ended up hugging a tree but no worries she was fine.

She wants to learn to fight and use Primal Magic. Tsume will teach her all about Primal better than anyone else could and I will teach her to fight so she can defend herself. She promises to only fight with our help. It could be nice to have a third again to fight on our side and we will keep her safe without question.


I was ambushed above the Clearing recently by a Dragon Lich... I had seen this thing once before and it had tried to kill me then. This time though it had a better idea... It was going to try to force me into a trap that would be sprung by that Half-Giant monster Plage himself...

It almost worked this time as my friends came to try to save me and even though I realized that it was a trap Mint got too engaged with the Dragon Lich, who's name is Zurricht according to him, and Zur led them all right into a beam of Spiritual Blight, Plage's own creation and a horrible thing... I had to shield the two Elves, if you can call Mint that, and Dysten's daughter from the blast and it all but annihilated me...

I was able to Recall just barely in time and Shinkuu sucked the horrible Blight out of me before it could completely erase my Soul and take me over... She said later that Mint had partially been responsible for saving my life because he pushed a huge chunk of Spiritual Energy into me that the Blight was eating instead of chewing on me... However, had he not tangled with Zur then I would not have had to take that hit to begin with... Romi on the other hand really DID save me from crashing into the ground where I would have been toast against Plage's army.

Many are now working on methods of destroying these horrible monsters... No doubt we WILL find a way to succeed but the story of poor Zur is... depressing to say the least... I will perhaps write more about it later... For now I just hope no one dies to these guys or ends up under their blighted control as puppets.

[Shinkuu]

I will probably write more about that Lich Dragon later and maybe the annoying encounter I had with Gith who seems to be such a Hot Head I fear for his little ones and his own safety... Maybe Stars will calm him down in time.

However, I want to dedicate this journal to my lovely, smart, and EXTREMELY CUTE daughter Iseia.

I woke Issy today and lead her out of the cave to settle down at Moyo Lake for a bit before I started to help her with some more walking lessons as she is still getting the hang of walking on two legs, like her mother, instead of all four.








After that we spent some time in the clearing where Essera came with a pair of her Hatchies. One was rather injured and the other hungry so me and Tsume healed the one and I scrounged up some good fish for the hungry one. Essera wanted my help as she was exhausted from everything she was doing and I was not about to leave her high and dry.

It was a very new experience for my little girl but she handled it with amazing grace. She seems very intelligent and extremely lovable. She has a big heart and even in my darkest hours she can bring a smile to my lips. Maybe some day she will save the world with her kindness and love and even if she cannot do it alone she will inspire her mother and aunt to keep the fight alive and NEVER let the Aegis win.

However... I am a protective mother and when we were in New Tristmus I felt I better be on guard as you never know who may be around those places. So Issy dawned her head scale and I kept her very secure under my wing while we relaxed a little and had a look around at some of the new Gifted. Maybe her cute face can inspire them the way it inspires me?

[Shinkuu]

It is time I finally described this Vurricht creature... This is what I understand from the information Shinkuu and her friends managed to gather for me about him.

He began life well enough born to a Father and Mother Dragon... However, only his Mother loved him and his Father was disgusted with having to deal with a Hatchie and after a small spat with his mother he left them both. However, our little boy was too young to really understand why Daddy went away and as Mother now focused more attention on him he was generally ok with this.

As he grew in intellect and ability into a child the likes of which you might see around New Tristmus however things began to change. His mother seeing the threat of the horrid Aegis began spending more and more time fighting against them in the field and leaving her otherwise self sufficient son behind.

She pawned his training off on some of the other Dragon Trainers who this Dragoness can tell you from experience can be harsh and cruel. He suffered under them and mostly learned to distrust the elder Dragons besides his Mother...

One day she went away on a long flight to war and... Seemingly was very busy fighting in that war. She spent years fighting in that war to his knowledge and he tried to make it on his own. In this time he had spats with Bipeds that tended to rub him the wrong way. He heard about the Gifted and was a little envious of their power and hoped his mother was one of these.

In the end as more and more of the Dragon Elders seemed to be against this little orphan and more and more of the Bipeds got annoyed with some of his desperate actions, like stealing food, he found himself pitted against the world. It was then that he met Plage...

This was the beginning of the end for the poor Hatchling. At first he was terrified of Plage but as Plage spun the tale of how he could put him through a greater Rite of Passage than the evil Elder Dragons ever could and give him the MIGHT of an Ancient with which he could smite all those who mistreated him; the Hatchie became more interested. However, even that alone was not enough to make him trust some Skeletal abomination who he was sure his Mother was off fighting...

That is when Plage revealed how he knew of the poor boy... He brought his now undead mother to speak with him. She told him of how wonderful the Rite Plage invented was and how it made her very strong and she was much happier that way... Or rather Plage said it through her mouth. The Hatchie was a bit horrified at his zombie mother but as she told him how evil the Living were and how she had been wrong all her life he slowly believed her... He just wanted to be with his mother again even if it meant dying and becoming a blighted monster...

So Plage worked his soul corrupting blight into the poor Hatchie and slowly but surely recreated his form into what it is now; a terrible black skeletal dragon nearly the size of an Ancient with a horrible Spiritual Ethereal ghostly skin covering it over. His claws and teeth are forever wrapped in Ethereal sheathes giving them the wicked quality of being able to pass right through armor and shred the soul itself. He breathes a breath of utter Soul devouring Plage and still has many of the Dragon Standards like Gold Rage ... or some variant of them.

He is now not much more than Plage's puppet and pet. He is a tool of war designed to kill, rend, rip, destroy, and blight everything he comes across... He must be destroyed but... I cannot help but feel sorrow for the poor Hatchie who is somewhere buried under those bones who just wants his mommy and to go live in peace... *the paper here seems a little wrinkled as if were wet and then dried a bit rapidly*

[Shinkuu]

It is hard for me to reach out to others... Even harder to reach out to other Dragons or Ancients... However... My loneliness has gotten the better of me and even after all my intense foolishness and pain in the past I find myself doing it again.

I reached out to the Ancient Romirez... Some may wonder why. Even he asked me why I would want to court him but... There IS good reason. He IS older than me and all but honestly with the way Dragons do not age and how we are both Gifted what does age MEAN? He IS Handsome with a stronger jaw line than me and my Sister, strong body that looks capable of defending me against the world, and the same pattern as my Sister actually. He is black with red stripes just like she is but with a creamy colored belly. I see his belly as sort of an outward sign of how soft and caring he is on the inside.

That is another big reason why I went after Romirez... He is nice to me. He seems to want to hear others laugh and see them be happy which is the same as me. I wish to watch the hatchies play and hear them giggle. He is not afraid to fight for what is right, unlike others, and has the right values I believe.

Perhaps the biggest reason though besides having cared enough to come save my life and keep me from falling into Plage's hands risking his own hide seriously... Is that I feel... I feel like he honestly has strong love to give me. I want to accept it badly. To be loved like he wants to love and to be able to love him back. To share that deep feeling... I can hardly contain my excitement at the possibility. I really dearly hope that this will work out between us.

I have... Made arrangements with Mintshade to take care of me if somehow I get mated to Romi and things eventually break apart... I am not sure I can handle that again... However, I really feel optimistic. I can hardly believe that I feel so hopeful when so often things are tragic around me. I may some day regret all this hope but right now the sun is shining and I am feeling like things may work.

I was eating Watermelon I guess it is called today. I never had it before but some Sslik offered it to me. First I bit it like other fruit and got it stuck on my top teeth. It has a hard icky rind like Musk Melons do. I unstuck it and chopped it into pieces so I could scrape it off with my claws and swallow bits from it. I have seen some bipeds eat fruit like this. They seem to have a much easier time eating them because some of their teeth are flat and others are good at grinding. I guess Dragon teeth are just too sharp and pointy to eat these things well.

I actually fed Romi some of the Watermelon which was cute. He seemed to like it which I think is good. I will try to get some other favorite fruits for him to try. I am eating again? I guess I really AM feeling good... I have not eaten in years.

[Shinkuu]

The Perfect Background Music for this Journal

There is no question... I am deeply in love with Romirez. It is an amazing feeling that can never be properly described with words no matter how I might want to.

I am so in love with him that it is overwhelming. I keep crying for no good reason. I am not sad at all. I am so happy that my body does not know what to do. It is sooo used to such pain and suffering that it has no idea what to do about all these different wonderful feelings. I find sometimes I just sort of melt against Romi... I just lay against him unable to really do anything. I do not want to do anything. I just want to lay there and bask in the glow and warmth that surrounds us. I ... *the journal gets unreadable for a little stretch as some wetness made the ink run and the paper wrinkle too much*

I have not felt so good since Father was still alive. I feel an overwhelming glow of happiness inside that spreads out from me like an aura. I think I understand what Iseia feels now. I feel like she always has. She will be so happy to know I am feeling that same glowing warmth that I think could defeat any evil army of undead by itself.

I feel so good and pleasant that I can hardly function but for once it is all for good reasons and I do not mind at all. My Mother in the Spirit Plane is probably so happy for me that she can hardly stand not being able to hug me. My Sister is happy for me as well and hopes Romi will accept her as well.

Even Mintshade seemed very pleased today. He looked... Honestly happy for a change. He gave me a smile I have not seen in so long. That dumb pain in my tail... I have no idea why I love him. I have no idea why I still put up with that cart wreck in progress but... There is something there that I see beyond all his problems, all his darkness, all his honestly bad traits... Under that stuff there is something in Mint that calls to me and I cannot deny it. However, now I can honestly feel it as if he is my dorky brother rather than a mate.

I wish I could pour my ... exploding love out and have it wash over everyone around me and make them feel joy. I wish I could make everything everywhere as perfect as it is for me right now.

I just can not express these feelings. I can not write anything that could possibly mean anything close to what I feel. I love and am loved. Love.

[Shinkuu]

Life has been treating me rather well lately. Death has been a pain however. Plage attacked me again but thankfully I was able to avoid my demise because Shinkuu and Shadina were waiting in the Shadows. Apparently they were stalking the Death Lord Lich.

Recently in the clearing I was rather disturbed by a visit from someone most unexpected... It was the ghostly visage of an Ancient Helian Dragoness. She was Xendra apparently the mother of Zurricht. She was blighted and corrupted. She struggled hard to maintain control to speak to me and Romi. Apparently Plage used her like a puppet to lure her Son into accepting his accursed Rite of Passage that made him into the Lich he is now. She is utterly heart broken and distraught and just wants to be destroyed utterly... She wants us to do whatever we can to set her Son's soul free of Plage and the Aegis...

I understand what Xendra wants and why... I feel honestly terrible for her. I know she is a blighted monster but it is very obvious she did not choose that existence. If I convinced Iseia to join the Aegis I would feel just like she does. I would hate myself so deeply that oblivion would be very welcome... I do not want her to die like that though. We HAVE to be able to free both of them SOME HOW... I WILL try as hard as I can to do this. Mint where are you!?

It is my time of season again... So maybe I was lying about life being good to me. Life is being annoying to me. My belly is full of eggs... Joy... Just what I need. It has been sapping my strength to create them but they are starting to get full sized now. Shadina tells me that they cannot be fertilized because of the Gift. It is holding them in their current state like it does for every other part of my body. She says she can alter the life magics my Gift is putting on them and make them viable... I think that would be a big mistake though.

Both me and my Sister have been enjoying Romi's company lately. If I dared to have Shadina work her Healer/Druidic magics on my eggs then I would have hatchies in no time. I am not sure exactly how many eggs are in there right now but I have a hatchie and I am happy with my little princess. She does not need several brothers and sisters right now. I really do not want them getting attacked by Plage either... Seeing Essera's brood and what it does to her makes me even more apprehensive about breeding.

So in the end I will have to pass these like I have passed others before. It is never fun to say the least. I am NOT looking forward to it... I am half tempted just to cut my belly open and toss these things out to get it over with. I would survive and not feel much discomfort... I could heal up right afterward... I do not know WHY I hesitate to do that.

The worst thing is the emotional issues... It is never fun seeing your eggs just sit there... You cannot help but worry that maybe they could hatch even when you KNOW they cannot... You cannot help but feel bad that you might have denied some wonderful little hatchie their life... I hate everything about these cycles but I cannot stop them... I guess I will toss these eggs into a lava pit and make sure they vaporize... It will make my cry a bit but I do NOT want the Aegis SOMEHOW finding a way to use those Eggs... I know I am paranoid but frankly after what I have seen anyone would think it a sensible precaution.

[Shinkuu]

It is surprising to me just how comfortable I feel with Romirez. We have been snuggling and cuddling a lot lately. I find myself acting like a little hatchie around him. He raises a wing and I cuddle under it like a safety blanket. Others that I am unsure of show up and I snuggle under Romi.

I am not a coward and have certainly shown myself to be a strong proud warrior. I can kick the tail of most foes and never back down from a fight. Yet despite that and even dominating Vyrry a bit when we were together I find myself being submissive to Romi. I would feel this was a big problem except that... I also find I enjoy it. I am playing again. I was splattering him with Pale Essence orbs and I have been playing with some fruits I like before eating them and other things. It is like when I was a little girl again.

I am also rather happy even with how cute I can be sometimes. It feels nice and warm. It seems to strengthen my soul and inspire me. I hope I can continue to love this new happier Zarla that it seems I have become.

However, there is a slight downside to all this happy soul empowering love. My soul has started to develop too much energy again... It is much like it was once in the past before I gave a sliver of it to Talika. So once again to keep control over the essence that Drulkar infused into me I will need to drain it off from time to time carefully and make sure not to get too emotionally engaged in battles.

The Drake who was a hatchie not long ago known as Fix, who seems like Asua to have some Earthly Elemental Connections, was making statues in the clearing recently. He offered to do one for me and Romi and I accepted. He made a very detailed and well crafted statue of me on Romi's back nibbling his ear fins and hugging him around the neck with our tails twined. It is goofy and very cute. It shows our affection for each other beautifully and I have placed it near where Iseia sleeps for now.

Speaking of which... Me and Tsume have been working our tails off trying to craft a lair... It is not in Moyo sadly... The mountains there are just too dense to really get inside of and after Shinkuu's rune work it is almost impossible to lair shape there. However, I still intend to hang out in Moyo a lot and I will let most BELIEVE that is where we are. Sadly as hard as we are working on the Lair there is nothing there yet... I hope some day we will have some rooms to actually be in.

[Shinkuu]

I am now working on preparing myself for War. I am learning to control the Fire and Primal within and bring it to the surface. I am training with Shinkuu on Soul Discipline and Martial Meditation.

I am learning to bring the fury within to the surface and to help me destroy Spirits and Ghosts. I will learn to destroy the Aegis in all their forms and rend their very essence from the world the way it seems Bipeds are so talented in doing.

LungTien... He is corrupt again. It seems like a habit with that one and a habit I will take care of permanently. He is a Host for the Aegis and a Doorman for them as well. He has attempted to keep them from harm in the past and is far too forgiving of them to be tolerated. Now he fights directly on their side which does not surprise me in the least. I should have destroyed him that one night Romirez prevented it... I will not fail a second time to utterly annihilate that Drake. He is now on my list of those who will be exterminated in this War.

Aza... A Human Monk who has served me in the past and who seems generally quite good seems to be falling victim to the spreading plague of insanity and stupidity... ... Plague... I wonder... Perhaps this is Plage's greatest weapon? Maybe he has devised some sort of nasty magic or rot that makes people sympathetic to the Aegis? That would be truly horrible but it makes perfect sense... She like many of the others effected by this has been in direct contact with his recent Blight Manifestations... Now I am truly worried as to what the future will bring...

I have declared War on the Aegis and all their minions as the Living and the Gifted should have long long ago. If those who were once my allies betray the Living and aid the Aegis then they must be destroyed as well. No time for the weak and foolish in a War. No time for forgiveness and second chances. Let the Gods sort them out.

[Shinkuu]

To the Moderators of this Forum: Could you pleased Delete this thread in its entirety?

Thank you.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Why? I liked to read this thread, and I'm sure a lot of others did. I would be a pity to see it deleted.

[Shinkuu]

Why? I liked to read this thread, and I'm sure a lot of others did. I would be a pity to see it deleted.

The story is ended. There will be no further updates. It should be deleted to end it and erase the memory of it.

[LungTien Temeraire]

But why? this was a nice story, and even if it is ended, some may like reading for the first time, or reread it.