Post by DeepSea Dragon on Oct 28, 2022 5:56:10 GMT
“Over this way.” the voice of the Oracle echoed through the halls. Tailwind followed closely behind, heart pumping with excitement and anxiety. Her egg was the chosen one to be the next Oracle, and today was the day it was due to hatch.
Her mind was racing as much as her heart was, wondering what is going to happen. What was going to happen to her? What was going to happen to her child? The Oracle was always alone, would she have to abandon her child? Her heart skipped a beat at that last thought. She couldn’t just abandon her child like that, what would she do if she was forced to? Would she fight back?
Many thoughts whirled around in her mind, clutching her egg in her talons, only to be snapped back to reality at the rumbling voice of the Oracle.
“Beware of where you are walking.” he grumbled, staring at her with pitch white eyes, and turned back towards the way “We are almost there.”
She jumped a little from the sudden reaction of the Oracle, and quickly rushed to keep up, noticing she fell quite a ways behind, to not anger the Oracle even more.
Tailwind barely had the time to recollect her thoughts when the walls around suddenly gave way to a huge cavernous room. Even with only the dim torchlights around, the room was clear and shining, with crystals bursting from every nook and cranny, reflecting the low light all around the chamber. Both stood on the doorway gazing at the shining room.
“Here we are, The Night’s Shard” the Oracle spoke, and slowly walked in.
Tailwind followed behind, but quickly came to a halt when she noticed that all around many different tapestries also laid around, they all depicting of their history, the Founding, the First Oracle, she saw all of it, and from what she felt like, they also saw her, staring straight at her, piercing through her very soul. “Soon” she thought, “Soon I will also be in those tapestries, a part of history”. She shivered at the mental image, Tailwind, the dragon who was never really special or excelled in anything, beside heroes and leaders. She stared at the egg on her talons.
Tailwind, the mother of an Oracle.
“It is time.” spoke the Oracle. She jumped back to her feet, and quickly scurried to where the old dragon sat. “This is The Night’s Shard, birthplace of Oracles, and today, birthplace of your child.” He gestured to the altar in front of him. She snuggly set the egg on the crystalline platform. As she set the egg down, the Oracle stood back up.
“I am Fatevisor,” the Oracle spoke, “reigning Oracle and current keeper of the Shard, and today is the day that a successor is born, one with an important role to fulfill, even more important than my own.” Then he swiftly jumped into the air, surprisingly more agile than expected for such an old Nightwing. Reaching the top he tore off the tapestry of the moons that sat there, revealing a hole that revealed the night sky, the three full moons shining brightly above.
However, instead of the silver shine of moonlight, everything turned blood red.
“For this child, under the three moons, bears the Gift of Blood.” Fatevisor spoke. “A great disaster is to come, and they will be needed to help us all.”
Panic quickly rushed through Tailwind’s body, a great disaster? She glared all around, the crystals now all reflecting the blood red shine, converting all of it towards the egg in the center. She couldn’t do anything but watch.
Her egg, once obsidian black, was now a bright, pale red, almost shining like a star itself. And then it starts to wiggle.
And then a crack appears.
And another.
And the shell breaks, crumbling away like crystalline dust, and in its center sat a small, pale little dragonet. She slowly reached for them, and clutching them in her talons. The dragonet then wiggled and stretched, turning to her, and opening their eyes. Eyes shining, bright like the egg just before, and as sharp as the shards of the crystals themselves. There was knowledge and wisdom in those eyes, they were just born but they looked like they had lived for lifetimes.
And in a blink, everything around her changed. Instead of the cavern of crystals around her was taken away by a dark forest of crumbling trees and darkened grass. In a panic she looked all around her, the smell of blood and rotting flesh all around her making her incredibly nauseous, and the sight that came after made it even worse.
Thousands of corpses littered the ground around her, some of Nightwings, others of different forms of wildlife, and some so distorted and mangled that are beyond recognition, and instead of her dragonet in her talons, there was just blood drenching them. She was absolutely horrified of the sight, wanting to run away as far as possible from all of this, but she couldn’t move, completely paralyzed from sheer shock.
It was in this moment that she noticed.
Right in front of her stood a tall and thin dragon, towering over her. She couldn’t tell apart details in the sharp darkness that covered them, but one thing definitely told them apart.
Looking up at the dragon’s head, a familiar pair of sharp, pale red eyes stared back at her. That was her dragonet.
She stared back at them, wanting to speak, to ask, to scream, but nothing ever came out. She could only stare, and in her expression is only one question.
“Why?”
Her dragonet, now standing over her, only stared back with a calm, reassuring expression, but with a tinge of an emptiness behind them that Tailwind couldn’t shake it off. They then motioned upwards with their snout, and stared up, and she followed their gaze.
Above them were a pitch black sky, no sun or stars, only the three moons, or what Tailwind assumed what was once them.
There in the pitch black sky, only one thing was visible.
An eye.
Was once was the three moons that guided and blessed them for so long was now an amalgam of rock, light and malice staring down upon them, laughing at their misfortune.
Tailwind then stared back at her dragonet again, with a terrified expression. Her dragonet looked back at her, still with their calm, almost empty eyes, nodded, and jumped into the air.
They rose through the air, going towards the eye in the sky, and let out a shattering roar that shook everything around Tailwind. Then things began to move in the darkness, other Nightwings, jumping up to join them.
And then another roar answered, but now it came from deep beneath the earth. It shook everything around her, much stronger than the one before, and then she saw it. The trees twisting and stretching like dark tendrils reaching towards the sky, the ground shattering and opening, showing the twisted and pulsing mass from beneath, the wildlife, twisted and deformed, rising up to reach the sky as well.
And looking up, back at her dragonet high above, she saw. As with their own talons they seem to rip up the sky, and golden, shining light pours from the cuts. The darkness from the starless sky twitching and writhing trying to close them up again, but stopped by other dragons, animals and even the earth itself, ripping with their own twisted tendrils the darkness of the sky to bleed the light back in.
And in a blink, she was back at the Shard, like nothing was ever happened.
“Guidingeyes…” She called for them, still shook and trembling from such a vision, and was met back again by their calm, blank stare. They responded with a thrill and bumped their snouts together.
“Then that shall be their name.” Fatevisor called, now right next to Tailwind, scaring her. He was quick and stealthy, “Almost like a ghost” she thought, noticing that the hole at the top was covered back again with the tapestry, and turned back to the dragonet. Guidingeyes was now curled up on her talons fast asleep. Seeing her child sleeping so peacefully made her happy, and worried. They were all she could think about now.
“Ahem,” Fatevisor rumbled “Come with me, I’ll take you both to your chambers, there you two can rest, we have a lot to do.” The two then left the Shard’s chamber, going back into the black tunnels of volcanic rock.
Her mind was racing as much as her heart was, wondering what is going to happen. What was going to happen to her? What was going to happen to her child? The Oracle was always alone, would she have to abandon her child? Her heart skipped a beat at that last thought. She couldn’t just abandon her child like that, what would she do if she was forced to? Would she fight back?
Many thoughts whirled around in her mind, clutching her egg in her talons, only to be snapped back to reality at the rumbling voice of the Oracle.
“Beware of where you are walking.” he grumbled, staring at her with pitch white eyes, and turned back towards the way “We are almost there.”
She jumped a little from the sudden reaction of the Oracle, and quickly rushed to keep up, noticing she fell quite a ways behind, to not anger the Oracle even more.
Tailwind barely had the time to recollect her thoughts when the walls around suddenly gave way to a huge cavernous room. Even with only the dim torchlights around, the room was clear and shining, with crystals bursting from every nook and cranny, reflecting the low light all around the chamber. Both stood on the doorway gazing at the shining room.
“Here we are, The Night’s Shard” the Oracle spoke, and slowly walked in.
Tailwind followed behind, but quickly came to a halt when she noticed that all around many different tapestries also laid around, they all depicting of their history, the Founding, the First Oracle, she saw all of it, and from what she felt like, they also saw her, staring straight at her, piercing through her very soul. “Soon” she thought, “Soon I will also be in those tapestries, a part of history”. She shivered at the mental image, Tailwind, the dragon who was never really special or excelled in anything, beside heroes and leaders. She stared at the egg on her talons.
Tailwind, the mother of an Oracle.
“It is time.” spoke the Oracle. She jumped back to her feet, and quickly scurried to where the old dragon sat. “This is The Night’s Shard, birthplace of Oracles, and today, birthplace of your child.” He gestured to the altar in front of him. She snuggly set the egg on the crystalline platform. As she set the egg down, the Oracle stood back up.
“I am Fatevisor,” the Oracle spoke, “reigning Oracle and current keeper of the Shard, and today is the day that a successor is born, one with an important role to fulfill, even more important than my own.” Then he swiftly jumped into the air, surprisingly more agile than expected for such an old Nightwing. Reaching the top he tore off the tapestry of the moons that sat there, revealing a hole that revealed the night sky, the three full moons shining brightly above.
However, instead of the silver shine of moonlight, everything turned blood red.
“For this child, under the three moons, bears the Gift of Blood.” Fatevisor spoke. “A great disaster is to come, and they will be needed to help us all.”
Panic quickly rushed through Tailwind’s body, a great disaster? She glared all around, the crystals now all reflecting the blood red shine, converting all of it towards the egg in the center. She couldn’t do anything but watch.
Her egg, once obsidian black, was now a bright, pale red, almost shining like a star itself. And then it starts to wiggle.
And then a crack appears.
And another.
And the shell breaks, crumbling away like crystalline dust, and in its center sat a small, pale little dragonet. She slowly reached for them, and clutching them in her talons. The dragonet then wiggled and stretched, turning to her, and opening their eyes. Eyes shining, bright like the egg just before, and as sharp as the shards of the crystals themselves. There was knowledge and wisdom in those eyes, they were just born but they looked like they had lived for lifetimes.
And in a blink, everything around her changed. Instead of the cavern of crystals around her was taken away by a dark forest of crumbling trees and darkened grass. In a panic she looked all around her, the smell of blood and rotting flesh all around her making her incredibly nauseous, and the sight that came after made it even worse.
Thousands of corpses littered the ground around her, some of Nightwings, others of different forms of wildlife, and some so distorted and mangled that are beyond recognition, and instead of her dragonet in her talons, there was just blood drenching them. She was absolutely horrified of the sight, wanting to run away as far as possible from all of this, but she couldn’t move, completely paralyzed from sheer shock.
It was in this moment that she noticed.
Right in front of her stood a tall and thin dragon, towering over her. She couldn’t tell apart details in the sharp darkness that covered them, but one thing definitely told them apart.
Looking up at the dragon’s head, a familiar pair of sharp, pale red eyes stared back at her. That was her dragonet.
She stared back at them, wanting to speak, to ask, to scream, but nothing ever came out. She could only stare, and in her expression is only one question.
“Why?”
Her dragonet, now standing over her, only stared back with a calm, reassuring expression, but with a tinge of an emptiness behind them that Tailwind couldn’t shake it off. They then motioned upwards with their snout, and stared up, and she followed their gaze.
Above them were a pitch black sky, no sun or stars, only the three moons, or what Tailwind assumed what was once them.
There in the pitch black sky, only one thing was visible.
An eye.
Was once was the three moons that guided and blessed them for so long was now an amalgam of rock, light and malice staring down upon them, laughing at their misfortune.
Tailwind then stared back at her dragonet again, with a terrified expression. Her dragonet looked back at her, still with their calm, almost empty eyes, nodded, and jumped into the air.
They rose through the air, going towards the eye in the sky, and let out a shattering roar that shook everything around Tailwind. Then things began to move in the darkness, other Nightwings, jumping up to join them.
And then another roar answered, but now it came from deep beneath the earth. It shook everything around her, much stronger than the one before, and then she saw it. The trees twisting and stretching like dark tendrils reaching towards the sky, the ground shattering and opening, showing the twisted and pulsing mass from beneath, the wildlife, twisted and deformed, rising up to reach the sky as well.
And looking up, back at her dragonet high above, she saw. As with their own talons they seem to rip up the sky, and golden, shining light pours from the cuts. The darkness from the starless sky twitching and writhing trying to close them up again, but stopped by other dragons, animals and even the earth itself, ripping with their own twisted tendrils the darkness of the sky to bleed the light back in.
And in a blink, she was back at the Shard, like nothing was ever happened.
“Guidingeyes…” She called for them, still shook and trembling from such a vision, and was met back again by their calm, blank stare. They responded with a thrill and bumped their snouts together.
“Then that shall be their name.” Fatevisor called, now right next to Tailwind, scaring her. He was quick and stealthy, “Almost like a ghost” she thought, noticing that the hole at the top was covered back again with the tapestry, and turned back to the dragonet. Guidingeyes was now curled up on her talons fast asleep. Seeing her child sleeping so peacefully made her happy, and worried. They were all she could think about now.
“Ahem,” Fatevisor rumbled “Come with me, I’ll take you both to your chambers, there you two can rest, we have a lot to do.” The two then left the Shard’s chamber, going back into the black tunnels of volcanic rock.