Nightborn (Solo Thread)

[Capricorn]

Nira

The werecat's paws beat steadily along the path. She was on a seemingly endless plain, just west of the Hadarac Desert and South of Du Weldenvarden. Up ahead, she could see silhouettes- five humans, a carriage, and a horse. The humans wore the attire of the Empire, and so Nira did her best to look like an average, if large, cat.

She allowed her mind to penetrate that of one of the soldiers. There was a magician in the group- Nira could tell by his armor, which was adorned with gemstones, likely for more energy. The werecat sifted through the thoughts of the soldier. He wasn't able to sense the werecat's intrusion upon his mind, Nira noted, pleased. One stray thought caught her attention- I wonder if the egg will hatch for me... No, probably not... But it's nice to dream.

The werecat nearly stopped dead in her tracks. Forcing herself to walk, she dug deeper into the mind of the soldier. Further inspection showed that his patrol had found an egg. A dragon egg. And it was in the carriage, right now, being guarded by the soldiers. Nira knew that the egg was precious. She determined that she had to try and get it. If Nira was defeated, the Varden would loose one life and the Empire would gain one. If she succeeded, then the Empire would loose a life and the Varden would gain a very precious one.

Nira allowed her consciousness to flood over the soldier. Immediately, he seemed to be alarmed. He fought back against the werecat's intrusion, but he wasn't trained in defense of the mind, and the werecat was an excellent Mindbreaker. She took over his body, curling his fingers to get used to the change.

The werecat unsheathed the sword, quickly stepping back and swinging at the magician's neck. He seemed shocked, but the sword bounced right off. Wards. Of course. The magician shot a fireball at the man. Nira was unable to move out of the way in time- she left the soldier's mind and instead invaded that of another soldier. The werecat moved towards the magician, this soldier's sword in hand. The magician seemed to suddenly understand what was happening. His mind attempted to invade that of Nira, although he was rather surprised at learning the identity of his attacker. Before he could do any more, Nira beheaded the magician, his wards gone, and his mind stopped trying to penetrate hers.

Another soldier swung his sword towards the possessed soldier's chest. Nira jumped into the mind of the last soldier, pulling his sword and beheading the final soldier. With that, Nira forced her last victim to plunge his own sword into his chest. Satisfied at her abilities, Nira returned to her body, padding up to the carriage and opening the doors with her forepaws. She inhaled deeply- sure enough, a smooth, beautiful black "stone" was wrapped in blankets.

The werecat curled her feline body around it. She felt for the mind of the horse outside, and decided to go north, to Du Weldenvarden. There, she could let the elves take care of the egg- she didn't want to risk it being stolen going around Uru'baen. She could go to Dras-Leona afterwards. They'd forgive her possible tardiness because of the service she had just done them.

Nira took control of the horse, and the carriage went north.

---------------

Three days later, the carriage rolled into Du Weldenvarden. Nira removed her mind from that of the horse, feeling somewhat disoriented after having been in the horse's body for so long, she stumbled towards the doors. The werecat shapeshifted into her humanoid form for just a moment, wrapping a blanket around her precious cargo. Satisfied, she returned to her feline form, pulling the egg along.

It was night in Du Weldenvarden. Most of the elves had gone off to war, and most who were here was laying in bed. The werecat padded towards the a large building- anywhere, really. She needed to give this egg to somebody who would keep it safe. Suddenly, she heard a loud crack. Suddenly terrified that she had broken the egg, the werecat allowed her mind to enter that of the dragon within the egg. "Are you hatching, or did I hurt you?" Nira asked in the Ancient Language. She knew that the dragon likely knew not any language, but all creatures could understand the meaning of the words.

A feeling flooded the werecat's mind- one that seemed to convey, yes. Nira asked, "Who are you hatching for?"

An image of a house right night to Nira and of an elf appeared in the werecat's head. The werecat leaped up the stairs, the egg in her teeth, careful not to let it hit the wood of the stairs. Inside, the elf from the vision that the hatchling had given Nira was asleep. The werecat let her mind enter that of the elf, careful not to go in too deep- she'd come out of elf minds untouched plenty of times, but she liked to be careful. The elf likely had some training in defending her mind, but this was easily and stealthily broken, as she was asleep.

"It is not a time to sleep

Nor a time to dream

For eventually even the dreamer tires of dreaming

And reality is wished for once more.

So awake, young Rider, your life awaits."

With those words, the elf began to stir, and Nira vanished into the trees. She'd see the elf and the elf again sometime, she was sure. Most elves were apart of the Varden. But for now, she would head back along the road, towards Dras-Leona, and she'd serve the Varden in her own way, through tricks of the mind and deceit, through fear and through paranoia, through knowing ones' secrets and digging deep into their thoughts. Yes, the new Rider and her dragon would serve in their own way, as would she.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel

Auduriel awoke, sitting up in her bed. Her dream had ended in a strange way- and indeed, she couldn't remember any part of the dream but those mysterious words. They weren't like any "voice" she'd heard before- it was like somebody had come in and altered her dream. It was scary to even think that something like that could happen.

The elf groaned, getting out of bed. She reached for Ithíníl, deciding to do some sword practice. She could never go back to sleep after waking up, anyways, so she'd have to wait until dawn before she could sleep again. Auduriel liked taking naps- she didn't really have a solid sleeping schedule. Sometimes she slept during the day, sometimes during the night.

Auduriel's eyes fell upon a shiny thing in the middle of the room. It was a pure black stone, smooth and perfect apart from one flaw- a crack. A growing crack, which expanded, causing more, smaller cracks across the surface of the stone. The elf was still somewhat drowsy, and noted that it looked like an egg- before she gained some common sense and realized that it was an egg.

The elf took a few steps back, towards her bed. A part of the egg fell off and the beginnings of two tiny horns showed, pointing vertically, like two black, curved unicorn horns on each side. A full head was soon visible- it shook the liquid and began crawling out. Auduriel could hear sounds reminiscent of an animal scratching against stone. Before long, a full dragon hatchling had emerged, about half the size of a large dog. The elf panicked.

She didn't want to be a Rider. Her mother said that she would be a Rider, and Auduriel didn't want that to come true. Auduriel wanted nothing that her mother said to be true, to be right, because the what else that she said was also true? The truth be told, Auduriel was afraid of dragons. Her mother's silver dragon, long lost to madness, had stopped being kind to Auduriel a few years before she had left. The silvery, animalistic dragon had been a symbol of terror, of destruction, of pain.

And it looked like now Auduriel would be getting that same symbol, but customized for her instead.

This dragon hadn't hatched for her, she told herself. The dragon was wrong. It was clearly meant for somebody else, not Audurel. Sure, dragons were huge, winged, fire-breathing reptiles, but they could surely be wrong. And so Auduriel pressed against her wall as the dragon moved closer. "No, no, you're not meant for me..." Auduriel said in the Ancient Language. That meant that the dragon was wrong. But inside, she knew that she had just said something that she had believed to be true- yet as the dragon came closer, she realized that it didn't matter.

A feeling came from the hatchling. It was rather week, but it was still there, still strong. The feeling manifested into the urge to touch the hatchling, but Auduriel didn't. She wouldn't.

[Capricorn]

Kvalsidae

The hatchling shook the fluid from her wings, extending them, allowing the black membrane to catch the starlight flitting through the window. The hatchling had, after so many years waiting in her egg, found the one for which she had hatched. She found her partner-of-heart-and-mind, the one whom she would die for, the one for whom she'd preferably die with. The hatchling was pleased- however, the elf wasn't making it easy to bond.

The dragon was in the world, but without a bond. She had been destined from the moment of her clutching to be bound to a Rider. The hatching remembered her mother, faintly- Ethrana, a wild dragon five hundred years old at the time that she hid the hatchling away. The black dragon knew that her mother must have loved her- fifty years after she had been clutched, the dragon had taken her to safety. Safety which would result in a life bond... If this elf cooperated.

The hatchling moved towards the elf, ever closer. She moved onto her hind legs, nuzzling the back of the elf's hand with her nose. It wasn't the palm, though, and the bond had not been formed. The dragon sat down, whimpering up at her future partner-of-heart-and-mind, sending a message to the elf- a message of longing, of love, of a desire to have the bond formed. The elf still did not cooperate.

The feeling was weak. The werecat that had communicated with the hatchling while she was in the egg, only moments before, had began the conversation, and the hatchling couldn't start a line of conversation as strong as the werecat had. So the hatchling tried again, sending more feelings, sending images, images of a sad hatchling curled up in a tree outside, because the Rider did not bond with her.

And the elf seemed immobilized by it. Taking the opportunity, the hatchling went to her future partner-of-heart-and-mind's hand, and rose up, her head touching the palm of the elf's hand. A cold feeling went through the hatchling, but for only a moment. The elf sunk to the ground for a moment, and the bond was formed at last.

The elf probably wasn't happy now, but the hatchling knew that her partner-of-heart-and-mind would thank her later.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel

As the hatchling came closer, the elf found that she was just about trapped, if you consider being cornered by a newborn dragon to be trapped. She was stuck between her bed and the wardrobe and the elf found that she'd have to go over that dragon to get away- and the dragon seemed to be hellbent on touching Auduriel's palm.

Suddenly, more feeling flooded the elf's mind. Feeling of sadness, of loneliness, along with love and all from last time. Images of a dragon came into the elf's mind, of an abandoned dragon in the woods, alone, cold, tired. Auduriel was frozen- she couldn't do that to the hatchling, could she? But she had to. She needed to.

Suddenly, a cold shock spread through Auduriel's body, starting at her palm. Sinking to her knees, the elf looked down at the hatchling, whom had taken the opportunity to touch the elf's palm. The hatchling was beautiful, she noted. The way the light shone off its scales, the horns upon its head... The elf looked at her palm, somewhat stunned. The gedwey ignasia was upon her palm, shining silver in the faint light through the windows. So she was a Rider now.

Auduriel could stay in Ellesmera, but she knew where she had to go. The Varden-aligned Riders would all be in Dras-Leona, preparing for Uru'baen to fall. The elf knew that she'd have to go eventually, but not so soon. She didn't have much of a choice now, she decided. And so the elf gathered her things. She'd sheathed Ithíníl already. Food and water were already in containers for a horse to carry. The elf just needed somewhere to hide the dragon- she'd be going close to Uru'baen on the way, and didn't want to risk the dragon's life. She hadn't wanted the dragon at first, but now Auduriel knew that losing the hatchling would shake her to her core, and she didn't need that.

The elf found a small bag in her wardrobe, at the bottom. "Space and air." She said in the Ancient Language. Magic, dark purple with swirls of black, surrounded the bag before vanishing. Auduriel's magic had always been a purple color. Her bond with the dragon had changed that- it retained its purple color perhaps because of the dragon's eyes, which were the same color as Auduriel's magic had once been, but now black was mixed in, reflected the dragon's scales.

Auduriel placed a pillow stuffed with feathers in the bag. It had plenty of space now, and it could be carried easily. The hatchling could breathe in there, but it would have to poke its head out to see. The elf gestured for the hatchling to go in, and hesitantly, it did. Auduriel received feelings from the dragon- it was tired. Understandably so.

The elf placed her supplies on the horse, casting another spell to bind the bag which the hatchling slept in to the horse, so that it would not fly away. With that, she rode to Dras-Leona.