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rubysarchives · 15 days

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The Awoken Clan: The Nursery

The front gate is sealed shut, the dragons locked inside. Some remember a little, and many have forgotten, but will anyone remember what happened?

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Point of View: Moon

[Six hatchlings,] Moon thought to himself, [and two teachers. Should be easy enough to find.] He smelled the air, searching for the scent of anything alive, but all he got was a nostril full of dust.

Deciding that was useless, he instead glanced at Sun as she walked next to him, who was listening carefully for the sound of breathing. They had both been guards, Kavasir had told them. Together? Or had this dragon only cared for her duties? She seemed familiar enough. Though her intense, lightning-blue eyes held little emotion, Moon couldn’t help but wonder if they had been friends, or-

Sun stopped walking and lifted her head, ears twitching. Moon stopped too and held his breath.

“I hear the sleeping dragons. This way.” Her voice had more gravel to it than his did, though he wasn’t sure whether it was because they had slept for too long or if she always sounded like that.

Moon followed her through the arched tunnels, where the elaborate walls and ceiling had been covered in dust and cobwebs. This lair must have belonged to a big and wealthy clan, Moon thought. No, it was his clan. Before something… something that he would have to ask Kavasir about later…

The room Sun led him to was nearly as big as the entrance hall. By the dim light of the arcane crystals that had grown around the edges of the floor and through the cracks in the ceiling, Moon could make out five shapes.

“How many did he say there were?” Sun asked suspiciously.

“Six hatchlings and two teachers.”

“That’s three missing then.” She moved to the nearest pair of bodies, lying on the ground, and blew off all of the dust in one breath. Moon coughed and covered his mouth with a wing until the dust settled again, and then looked closer at the bodies. It was a pair of adult Obelisks, each with bright colors and skeletal markings.

“These must be the teachers.” Sun said, moving to one of the smaller figures.

Moon wasn’t sure why, but that didn’t feel right. He dismissed the thought as he investigated the largest figure, which he discovered was actually two dragons: The larger dragon was a grey and black Imperial, his neck covered in bandages, and his mane long enough it might have never been trimmed. The second dragon was slightly smaller- A yellow and black Veilspun, asleep between the wings of the imperial. They were also both adults.

While Moon attempted to process this, sun called from the other side of the sleeping dragons, “These two are also adults. Where are the hatchlings?”

“These ones aren’t hatchlings either.” Moon answered, nudging the imperial with his claw. The imperial grunted as if he wasn’t interested in waking up. He tried the Veilspun instead. He swatted at Moon’s claw in protest.

“Wake up.”

“I don’t wanna…” The Veilspun muttered.

“The hatchlings are gone,” Moon said bluntly. Both dragons’ eyes snapped open. The smaller dragon scrambled to move as the Imperial drew himself to his feet, standing over twice as high as Moon. He was much larger than the other imperials. It was somewhat unnerving, in the dark, to not be able to see this dragon’s head.

“Where are they?” his voice rumbled like a quiet thunder.

“This is the nursery, isn’t it?” Sun asked.

“Yes! Yes it is!” the Veilspun cried as he attempted to untangle himself from the Imperial’s mane.

“We were told there would be six hatchlings and two adults in here. And we have found six adults instead.” Moon explained.

The imperial stared at him with cold eyes before lowering his head to investigate the four other dragons. He looked at them closely, prodded them until they woke, and then stared at them as if he had forgotten how to speak.

“Sir?” Moon prompted.

“These are my hatchlings.” The imperial said.

“Huh?” The Veilspun, having freed himself, moved closer to the ‘hatchlings’ to get a better look. “But they’re- oh my gods!”

“How long have we slept for?” the big dragon hissed, turning his eyes from the four. “Who’s fault is this?”

“I don’t know, we didn’t even remember our own names when we woke up.” Moon said firmly, unintimidated. He was sure it wasn’t his own fault.

“My memory tells me that the last I saw them, they weren’t even old enough to be named! And then the next time I open my eyes they’re adults? What happened!”

“H-hey! Ayren, I don’t think-” The Veilspun began.

“Why are you yelling?” one of the ‘hatchlings’ interrupted him.

“Did we do something wrong?”

“Why is it so dark?”

The teacher’s expression softened and he turned to face the four unnamed dragons. “You still sound just as you did before… You don’t know what happened either?” Each of them shook their heads, worried Ayren’s anger might become directed at them if they said anything wrong.

“Why are they so big now?” The Veilspun clutched his head, “I don’t remember this either!”

“Two of them are missing.” Ayren pointed to the lone Skydancer chick. “Two of her siblings.”

“Well- hold on-” the Veilspun started, darting to one end of the room, “Let’s search the rest of the nursery before we declare anyone ‘missing’!”

Sun moved to the other end of the room to help search, and Moon followed her.

“Moriel, would you at least think to open the doors first? You may be Shadowborn, but the rest of us can’t see in the dark.” The Imperial walked to the wall opposite the entrance, dust falling from his mane with every step like he was an ancient mummy. Squinting, Moon could make out the shapes of a series of arched doors that took up most of the back wall. Ayren seemed to be having trouble with the mechanism to open them.

“You can’t be so old you’ve forgot how to open doors,” Moriel hovered over to him, “Let me see that.”

“It’s stuck.”

“Then un-stick it! I’m sure you’re strong enough to do that.”

“I’m afraid I’ll break it or shatter the glass.”

“It’s got a spell on it,” the Skydancer said, her antennae twitching.

“What?” Moriel and Ayren said at once.

“I think it has to be opened by an Arcane dragon.” She reached up to pull at the lever. It moved, with a horrible scraping sound, and then stopped before it was half way. “Oh…”

“So it is stuck,” Moriel sighed. “Um, uh, you-” He pointed in Moon’s direction, “Hold on, I swear I can remember your name… It’s uh…”

“Moon. Or so I’m told,” the Gaoler said dryly.

“Right, Moon, come open this.”

“Me?” Moon flicked his ear, “why?”

“Because you’re Arcaneborn and probably stronger than a Skydancer? Just come do it!” The Veilspun gestured in annoyance.

“Hm. Must have forgot.” Moon made no effort to hurry over, and used one wing to force the lever down. The mechanism made a horrible screech as he did, and then a series of clicks as all the doors unlocked.

Blinding sunlight fell into the nursery as Ayren pushed the center door open. It was a beautiful set of doors, with a pair of blue metal ones shielding an inner set made of stained glass. The doors opened up to a view of violet grass, blue trees, and the shimmering towers of the Tourmaline Archives.

As the dragons’ eyes adjusted to the light, Vidar came running into the nursery and skidded to a stop at the entrance. “Come quickly!” he shouted, “The front gate has opened!”

#the awoken clan #TAwC Moon #TAwC Sun #TAwC Ayren #TAwC Moriel #TAwC unnamed hatchlings #my writing #creative writing #flight rising #flight rising lore

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rubysarchives · 19 days

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The Awoken Clan: Wake Up

How long have the entombed dragons been sleeping? What is one to do when when you awake in a graveyard?

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Point of View: Kavasir

Kavasir opened his eyes. It was dark. He took in a breath, and drew an alarming amount of dust into his nostrils. He sneezed, causing more dust to fly all over the place, and when he lifted his head, dust cascaded from his scales and his horns in thick sheets.

[How long have I slept?] he wondered, assuming he was in the hibernal den, and that his memory as to why would return once he’d woken fully. No. When he stood and shook the dust off his wings, the pillar of the main hall stood before him. Why would he have been asleep for so long in the middle of the lair?

The sound of shuffling wings and first-breaths interrupted Kavasir’s trail of thought. In the dim light from the crystals around the cave, he could make out the forms of a handful of other sleeping dragons, some of them just beginning to wake. Judging by their wheezing and the plumes of dust, they too had been asleep for far too long.

“Who’s awake?” The Imperial rasped.

“Where am I?…” The Gaoler answered. It was Moon.

“We are in the main hall. Help me wake our siblings, something is wrong.”

Moon begrudgingly complied as Kavasir walked out into the entrance hall, dust flying with every step.

The entrance hall was dark too, and the front gate was shut tightly. It would not open, as though it had been sealed by more than just the lock. Deeming it unwise to try and figure out the door in the dark, Kavasir instead busied himself with finding a lantern. He removed the dust from its glass shell, lit it, and fixed it to the end of his tail. Now that he could see, he looked closely at the trail of footsteps he’d left. Years worth of dust had piled up into a sheet, such that Kavasir could hardly see the painted stone underneath.

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Six dragons sat beneath the pillar in the main hall, including the disgruntled Moon, who sat next to his mate, Sun.

“We’ve been sealed in, and this dust is all from our own scales.” Kavasir announced, as he returned from the entrance hall. “We aught to find the others and configure a way to-”

“Sir,” Moon cut him off, “We have another problem that might need attending first.”

“What is it, Moon?” the Imperial asked patiently.

“That’s it? My name’s Moon?” His eyes widened a little.

“… Yes?” Kavasir furrowed his brow. What was he talking about?

“That’s the problem. I’d had no idea my name was Moon until you said so just now. … Moon.”

“None of us remember our names,” said one of the other two Imperials in the room, “Only that we’re familiar with each other somehow.

“Your name is Vidar.” Kavasir began, then pointed to the next dragon, “You’re Faeren. Your name is Sun. And you two are Mask and Rhys.”

“What’s your name, then?” Faeren asked.

“And what were our duties before….” Moon looked at the ground for some kind of clue, not sure before what exactly, but surely before something.

“My name is Kavasir, and,” he said, “I think for right now, it’s more important to focus on our duties now, and the task at hand. Firstly, there are only seven of us here, when the clan is over 80 strong. We must find and wake them. Secondly, there is the matter of the front gate. It is sealed shut.”

“Now it sounds like you’re trying to hide something. Why won’t you tell us? How come you remember but we don’t?” Sun growled.

“That’s a heavy assumption to make,” Mask said, flicking her tail. “We’re all in this together. Look, His mane is full of dust too, he was asleep the same as we were.”

Kavasir gave a weary expression, despite having just woken up from a very long nap. “I have nothing to hide from you, but forgive me if I don’t deem anything other than our immediate survival as particularly important at the moment. If it pleases you to know, Sun and Moon, you were both guards tasked with the security of the lair.”

Moon seemed proud of this, and Sun relaxed slightly.

“As for your duties now, I’d like you two to search the nursery. The teachers Moriel and Ayren are there, along with six hatchlings, none old enough to be named. It is down the tunnel to the left.” Kavasir pointed.

Moon nodded, glad to have something to do, and marched away with Sun following.

“The rest of you, Vidar and Faeren, please begin looking for a way to open the front gate. Mask and Rhys, come with me. There are many others we must wake.”

Each obeyed as they were instructed, going their separate ways into the dark lair…

#the awoken clan #TAwC Kavasir #TAwC Moon #TAwC Sun #TAwC Vidar #TAwC Mask #my writing #creative writing #Flight Rising #flight rising lore

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