So I have recently had my main character transfered over to the Order shard, and while I was in the middle of it I decided to come up with my own story. Reading everyone else's stories kind of inspired my muse, and I actually managed to come up with something I'm more or less pleased with.
I don't claim that it's a wonderful story, simply something I threw together over the course of a couple days. It's been a while since I've done any serious writing, so I may actually be more rusty than I think I am.
Anyway, enjoy.
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The kwellen stared down into the chasm, as if trying to will something out of it's black depths. Kneeling down, perhaps to see farther into the darkness, the creature growled, gripping the edge of the cliff to balance himself.
There. Now he could see. The spot in the darkness, a warp, and if his commander was correct, a rift. A rift between worlds... two Istarias. The concept was somewhat beyond the grasp of the kwellen, but that didn't matter much. He had done his job, by throwing his adversary through this... tear. His opponent, though young by its species standards, was admittedly strong. Perhaps its strength came from sheer will? It's will to survive? It didn't make sense that one that wasn't even full grown could be that much of an obstacle.
No matter. It was gone now. It didn't matter if the beast survived the trip through the realms, all that was important was that it wasn't HERE anymore. Nodding with a snort of approval, the kwellen stood and picked up his weapon. This job was finished, time to move on to the n-
"Where are you going?" The kwellen stopped at the raspy voice. Though faint, and sounding much like the owner was in dire need of a drink, it struck a certain amount of apprehension in the kwellens mind. The large creature turned and stared at the source, a humanoid being draped in black, tattered robes that covered it from head to toe; not even it's face could be seen. A mage, and the kwellen's "master". "Finish it. Make sure it can never come back! I am tired of the blasted animal getting in the way." With a disapproving huff, the mage turned and stalked away.
Once he was sure the mage was out of hearing range, the kwellen growled. It obviously wasn't enough that he managed to wrestle the Dragon juvenile, throw it through the warp, and live to tell about it. Absently, the kwellen proded at the bite marks on his shoulder. Wincing, he looked at himself more closely, spotting two oozing gashes on one thigh and another bite on the right hand. Growling a second time, he stomped back to the edge of the cliff, then looked down. How was he to know he would survive the trip? What if it just dumped him out in some random place in THIS Istaria? For a moment, he considered simply walking away, or maybe even forcing one of his own lessers to do it. Fear of what the mage would do, though, prevented him from doing so.
With a nervous breath, the kwellen stepped off the cliff and dropped through the rift. The moment he disappeared through it, the warp closed completely.
******
Somewhere within the canyon west of Tazoon, a large gray, scaley lump stirred in the sand. Groaning, with a hint of a pained whine thrown in, it shifted and sat up. Wings unfolded slowly, stiffly, and the juvenile Dragon pulled itself to its feet, cringing as it found one of it's wings broken. Confusion clouded it's red eyes, and it took a moment to shake as much of the sand from it's scales as possible without jarring the injured wing. The motion sent it tumbling; it felt drugged. "This must be what it is like for a Naka to be drunk..." It croaked. It's throat was dry, it's vision was distorted, and it wasn't quite sure how many legs it had, or why none of them were doing what it wanted them to do.
"Oy!" A voice hollared from above. The Dragon winced at the volume, despite the fact the voice came from more than a hundred feet up. "Are you all right, Dragon? Took quite a tumble there!"
Baring it's teeth, the Dragon tried to look up to glare at the speaker, only to ram it's domed head into the side of the canyon wall. Grimacing, it leaned against the offending wall and waited for it's head to quit ringing. "I'm... I'm fine." It called back, fighting the urge to cough. "I just need to get my bearings..." It muttered, more to itself than anything else.
"Well, I'll be coming down anyway! Just because you've got Lunus insignia on, doesn't mean I can't help you!" Came the answer. "There's a big nasty golem wandering around here someplace, and I'd feel pretty bad if it got you!"
"And what makes you think I can't handle myself?" The Dragon growled quietly, and made a mental note to chew off the head of whoever was yelling to it. The sun was out, and it was bright. With the orange and yellow of the rock and sand around it, the light was starting to be a problem for the silver Dragon's eyes. Squinting, the young Dragon stumbled to it's feet once more, and slowly took one step at a time until it was sure it wasn't going to trip again. Still feeling a bit foggy in the head, it took a few minutes to get the hang of walking again, before it took a better look at its surroundings.
It remembered hunting here. Or, at least in a place much like it. It looked exactly like the canyons near Tazoon... and if it didn't know any better, it would have been sure that's where it was. But the canyon looked... different, somehow. While it smelled mostly the same, it also had a tint of something alien. For all it knew, it wasn't anywhere NEAR Tazoon.
Small pebbles and bits of sand rained down on the Dragon. Scowling, it glared upwards (without smacking its head) to see a gnome sliding down the side of the canyon wall. Watching with interest, the winged reptile waited for the little naka to reach the ground before turning it's glare on him. The gnome drew back hesitantly, eyeing the teeth in the Dragon's maw. "Now, before I get closer, promise you won't eat me?"
"You naka stink and taste horrible, I have no intention of eating you." The small Dragon narrowed it's eyes. "Make a wrong move, however, and I will chew something off. I just won't swallow."
The gnome stared at it for a second, before gulping and taking a step forward. Still eyeing the Dragon's teeth and claws apprehensively, he walked around it, until it held out one of it's wings. He could see the break in the bone, but at least it hadn't broken through the leathery hide of the appendage. "Hrm, that's no good..." He dropped his pack on the ground and rummaged through it for a moment. From it, he pulled out a splint and a clamp to keep it together. Before approaching the Dragon, he held up the items, as if asking for permission. Once getting a nod of what he hoped was approval, he set to work resetting and binding the wing bone. "So, mind if I ask where you're from? What's your name? Don't see too many hatchlings about on their own, especially one so armored as yourself. Shouldn't you have grown up by now? You look it, that's for sure, you got all that armor on."
The Dragon tilted it's head for a moment. "I am called Kandrin." It bared it's teeth in a grimace as it's wingbone was set together again, causing the gnome to flinch away. "I am not from anywhere, as I do not have a home. And why do you care of I can't fly or not?"
He laughed. "Oh, no reason. Everyone has a home. Where were you before you came here? You sort of just popped into existance, at least that's how it looked to me. New travel spell that doesn't require a gate?." The gnome fiddled with the clamp a bit. "My name is Gavin."
Kandrin frowned. "I was... sent here. This doesn't smell like my world."
Gavin paused. "You were "sent" here? By who? From where?"
"From Istaria... Some of the undead had attempted to overrun an outpost, and I went with several others to help fight them off. I was thrown into a crevice and... somehow ended up here."
Gavin stared up at the Dragon. He looked thoughtful for a moment, as if considering his options, before finally speaking. "So... you're from another of Istaria's Realms? I've never met someone like you! What's it like over there? Any different from here?"
Kandrin was beginning to regret not chewing on the gnome. "That's complete nonsense, I've never heard of something so..." It paused, fishing for a word.
"Outlandish? Absurd?" Gavin chuckled, clamping the splint together and quickly stepping back in case the Dragon snapped at him. "But there are others here that claim to come from such a place. I think it's fascinating!" He picked up his pack as Kandrin stood up and lifting it's wing tentatively before tucking it against it's back. "So, suppose you are in a different Istaria now. Is it any different?"
Kandrin squinted at Gavin momentarily, before deciding to humor him a little. "Well... it smells differently. The colors seem a bit off, kind of like when you've opened your eyes after having them closed for a while." It paused, sniffed the air, and looked around. "It also seems to be a bit green."
"Green? This is a desert, Kandrin, there's nothing green here."
"Not that sort of green." The Dragon bared it's teeth and hissed, it's scales bristling with small spikes. "Find a place to hide. Quick!"
The gnome did as he was told, making for a large crack in the nearby canyon wall. He squeezed himself in and pulled his pack in after him, squirming around to get a better view of the Dragon outside. He watched as Kandrin paced around in a circle, teeth bared and red eyes glaring. Though the Dragon was much smaller than the ones he often had to avoid being eaten by, this one struck a different sort of fear in him. He had never seen a Dragon that young who was that... ferocious. Vicious.
Feral.
The air thickened slightly, and he could smell a foul odor as a green mist began to appear. It wasn't horribly thick, but it did give a slightly green tint to everything. Aside from the occassional lightning bolt, he couldn't hear much else besides the low growls coming from Kandrin.
Kandrin stopped pacing, and stared up towards the top of the canyon walls. It crouched down, suddenly very cat like in appearance, and continued to stare daggers at whatever was above them. Had it been the color of the sand and stone around them, and had it's eyes been closed, Gavin never would have been able to see it. It was that still.
With a sudden roar, the Dragon reared up and hurled an orb of primal fire upwards. Something above the gnome answered with a roar of it's own, and a second later a huge winged, bipedal creature landed with a earth-shaking crash a few feet away from his hiding spot. It was a kwellen... or, at least Gavin thought it was a kwellen. He had heard descriptions of what they looked like, but he had never actually seen one. It growled, Kandrin bared its teeth and growled back, and the two beasts began to circle each other.
It occured to Gavin that suddenly, Kandrin seemed as much a monster as the kwellen it was snarling at. Spikes bristled all along it's body, making him think of a porcupine. It's eyes practically glowed with bloodlust, and as it paced around it's adversary it's claws left shallow gashes in the sandstone ground. The mental image Gavin had of a typical hatchling of Istaria, bouncy yet cautious, curious, impressionable, and eager to accept items they saw as valuable, vaporized in an instant.
This young Dragon really scared him. Gavin wasn't even sure this Dragon qualified as "hatchling" anymore.
Kwellen and Dragon lunged simutaniously, snarling and hissing furiously as they traded blows. Kandrin reared up and thrust it's head forward, clamping it's jaws around the forearm of the kwellen. Bellowing angrily, the monster tried to jerk it's arm free, causing Kandrin to just bite down harder and use it's claws to anchor itself to the ground. The kwellen brought up it's weapon, and rained blows against the Dragon's armored hide. Most simply connected against the armor Kandrin wore, and it was able to stand most of the attacks. One strike, however, connected with Kandrin's broken wing, and it released the kwellen's arm with a screech of pain.
While Kandrin took a moment to steady itself, it's enemy raised it's staff high into the air. With a bellow, the kwellen brought the end of the weapon down, and narrowly missed it's target as Kandrin skirted away. Crouching, Kandrin leapt at the kwellen, it's jaws latching on to the monster's neck as the two crashed to the ground. The Dragon kicked and clawed with all four paws desperately, even as the winged creature tried to pry Kandrin's jaws apart.
Gavin almost couldn't prevent himself from crawling out of his hiding place to jump up and down. He mentally cheered the Dragon on, even as Kandrin's claws finally tore past the hide of the kwellen to the tissue beneith. The monster roared and wailed, the two thrashing around on the bloodied ground. Finally, with a weak gurgle, the kwellen lay silent and still, and the silver Dragon pulled it's fangs free from the kwellen's throat.
The gnome scrambled out of his hole, nearly leaving his pack behind, and raced over to Kandrin. The Dragon layed down stiffly on the ground, panting, a somewhat dazed look in it's red eyes. "Are you alright?" Gavin asked, gingerly stepping over what looked like a piece of the kwellen's hide. It was actually hard to tell what blood spatters belonged to which combatant.
Kandrin bared it's teeth in a weak grin. "Believe it or not, I've been worse." It grimaced and shifted off it's limp wing. "This, however, could be a bit of a problem."
Without a word, Gavin pulled out another splint and clamp from his pack, and set to work mending Kandrin's wing. This time, the Dragon simply rested it's head on it's paws while the bones were reset a second time. Gavin found he had to use a couple healing spells to make the process easier on both of them. "I don't think I've ever seen a Dragon as young as you put up a fight like that, that was amazing!"
Kandrin peered at him out of the corner of one eye. "You give the young ones of my race very little credit." It paused as the gnome secured the clamp and leaned back to inspect his work. When Gavin nodded, Kandrin stood up slowly, it's injured wing held close to it's side. "But, I thank you for your help. You are not so bad for a Naka."
"Do I still stink?"
"Yes."
Gavin frowned to himself as Kandrin turned and began to walk away. "Hey.... hey, wait!" The gnome picked up his pack and raced after it. "Where are you going?"
The Dragon looked at him sideways as they continued walking. "I need to find my way to Dralk, maybe there is someone there who can tell me how I can get back home." Kandrin squinted at him carefully. "And I do not think Dralk is such a safe place for a little Naka like yourself."
"Well, yes... but why would you want to go back? It's really no different there than it is here. You said you didn't have a home."
Kandrin stopped walking to glare at Gavin dangerously. It bared it's teeth slightly, almost as if preparing to bite him, before relaxing enough to at least close it's maw. "And how will this Istaria be any more a home than the last one?"
"Exactly!" Now that he was sure he wasn't going to be eaten, Gavin was feeling a little bold. He even stood in front of the Dragon and dropped his pack on the ground for good measure. "So, why bother trying to go back to an Istaria where you didn't have a home, when you can make one here?"
The Dragon lifted it's head back slightly, almost like a snake preparing to strike. Kandrin paused, suddenly uncertain, and tried to lift it's wings slightly in a defensive manner. "I..." It frowned, appearing more and more unsure of itself the longer Gavin tried to stare it down. It was quite an amazing feat, actually, he wasn't exactly sure why he was still alive. It was possible that the Dragon in front of him, despite being strong for one so young, was just now entering a state of shock.
He found that his theory was correct. Kandrin reared up on it's haunches and put it's forepaws together, like it was holding something. For a second, Gavin thought it was actually going to attack him with one of the Dragon's offensive spells. Instead, he noticed faint energy swirling around the Dragon. A couple nervous blinks later, and Kandrin actually recalled away from him.
Gavin frowned, somewhat worried that he may have put himself on a Dragon's hitlist. While Kandrin appeared to be following the ways of a Lunus, the juvenile didn't seem all that bad. Picking up his pack, he looked back at the kwellen's corpse before resuming his walk out of the canyon.
*****
The second Kandrin felt her paws hit the hard surface of whatever shrine she recalled to, she took off running. Her vision wasn't even completely clear when she started. She ran. And ran. And ran. Fear drove her to run, and anger, and sadness. Resentment nipped at her tail as she passed what looked to be a Helian guard. Not even caring that she was racing through and out of Chiconis, Kandrin kept running.
Something here had to be familiar. A smell, a taste, a sound or sight. SOMETHING. But the more she looked for it, the harder it was to see. Absentmindly running, she turned west once outside the Helian city. She passed hills and brighter spiders, she passed kenaf plants. She even ran past silver golems.
And Kandrin kept running.
Finally, her lungs and limbs complaining almost as loudly as her mended wing, she came to rest on a beach. The salty air also smelled and tasted strange. Kandrin bared her teeth and growled at everything and nothing, laying down to catch her breath. Across the water she could see another shore... must be that of Selen. She hated how everything was so familiar, yet she felt as though she was seeing it all for the first time. It was almost like awakening to her Gift all over again.
She looked up and stared at the darkening sky. Why her? Why now? She wasn't even an adult, why did she have to go through this? Sighing, she lowered her gaze, suddenly tired. She was in the middle of drifting into a somewhat fitfull sleep when a slight noise roused her. Down by the shore, she watched as a seabird pecked at a couple newly hatched turtles as they struggled to reach the safety of the water with the rest of their nest. For whatever reason, it reminded her of something she used to say back "home." "The strong push the weak, that's how life works. If the weak wish to survive, they must either become strong or stay out of the way."
The seabird snapped at a turtle, managed to pick it up in it's beak, only to have the reptile thrash and flop back onto the ground.
Kandrin's stomach growled, and brought her mind back from the clouds. Watching nature at it's best and worst was somewhat calming to the Dragon. Again, the bird failed to catch a turtle, and another one flopped to the sand and kept scrambling away. Tilting her head to one side thoughtfully, Kandrin continued to watch the bird. She felt calmer... and hungry.
Her stomach growled again.
Standing up, Kandrin walked closer to the crowd of turtles and the bird. The seabird squawked at her, as if telling her to back off, and then ignored her when she sat behind it. Kandrin eyed a few of the turtles... they were so small. She'd have to eat quite a few to satisfy her appetite. Making a shrugging motion, she opened her maw and her head shot forward, snapping at her unsuspecting prey.
A second later, Kandrin walked away from the water, the dead seabird clenched tightly in her fangs and her tail swishing back and forth in a pleased manner. There was no reason for her to sit around and mope. Gavin was right, as she claimed to not have a home, she could make one in this "new Istaria." Kandrin had always been proud of being able to take care of herself; she never had parents to teach her. Her egg, like others, had hatched within the safety of Skalkaar Island. However, unlike some of them, she never found her parents, or even a mated pair to adopt her. She had raised herself, taught herself to hunt, and with the guidance of Dragon trainers learned about crafting, spells, and the finer points of combat.
She felt somewhat humbled. Kandrin felt that the entire experience, while it caused her to feel emotions she wasn't familiar or comfortable with, had made her a better being in the end. Accepting help, even from a Naka, hadn't been that bad at all. Perhaps it even made her stronger. As Kandrin sat down with her catch, it occured to her that perhaps she should change her saying a bit.
"The strong push the weak, that's just how life works. If the weak wish to survive, they must either become strong on their own, or rely on the help of others to make them strong."