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wickedsrest-rp · 1 year

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WICKED’S REST CRYPTIDS

There are plenty of strange creatures that live in and around this seaside town, but some of them have been supposedly spotted enough by tourists and locals alike to make them famous. There's even a dedicated cryptid club. With this elevated awareness comes their very own personalized name, origin story, and maybe even a statue or two crafted in their likeness! And you can be sure that all the shops in town that cater to tourists will definitely have some cryptid merch for sale.

Wormy

Local to Harborside, Wormy is a massive serpentine sea monster that’s been spotted in and around the bay. You won’t usually catch a glimpse of it unless there’s a low fog hanging over the water: the creature seems to otherwise stay below the waves. That said, boat sonar will sometimes pick up something very large and very long without any other kind of visual, which is where most of the reports come from. From the few who claim to have seen it with their own eyes, they say it resembles a massive snake with an upward-curved snout, large fins, and barnacles attached to its hide. There’s also a rumor going around that Wormy is the one responsible for the missing boats that wander too close to Storm’s Eye Trench, but obviously there’s no proof of this.

Bigfeet

Yeah, you read that right. Wicked’s Rest has its very own version of sasquatch, the more appropriately-named Bigfeet. After all, Bigfoot makes no sense. It has two feet, doesn’t it? Some locals claim it’s the original sasquatch that got ripped off by someone who visited the town back in the early 1800’s, but there’s no way to be sure. Whichever one came first, one thing is certain: the tourists love this cryptid. While some sightings have been recorded coming out of Harmony Hill (which are probably a case of mistaken identity), the more likely habitat where Bigfeet can be spotted is, unsurprisingly, the Pines.

Giuseppe

The phrase “it’s like 90% legs” might not be something you expect to hear in the grocery store, but hear it you may: they’d be talking about Giuseppe, of course. A funny looking fella that’s rumored to live atop Serpent’s Flat, the creature is described by those that claim to see it from the viewing stations as tall, lanky, and… well, mostly made of legs. Just two, but the cryptid’s torso is evidently quite stout in comparison, and the distinct lack of arms makes the legs all the more starkly gigantic in comparison. The body is sort of an off-white color, another feature that makes it stand out against the blackened surface of the Flat. How did it get the name? Well, a local Italian restaurant owner claims that her family coined it decades ago when they built up a rapport with the creature after feeding it some meatballs in marinara. Maybe that’s why you’ll find the occasional plate of meaty treats placed around the edge of the Flat?

Gripwing

No cryptid bestiary would be complete without a terror of the skies, and for that Wicked’s Rest has Gripwing, who terrorizes the beach and seas around town. Gripwing is often said to be a giant butterfly, but no one can verify for sure due to its blazing speed as it soars the skies. However, Gripwing’s victims are distinct. They wash up on shore with their chest cavities sliced open with brutal incisions and the heart torn out. This has led to further rumors about blade-like antennae. Interestingly, some of these rumors seem to originate in a local siren colony with what seems like glee. If Gripwing were in actuality a large siren with extravagantly colored wings and ornate feathers, perhaps mistaking it for a butterfly would be understandable…

Moleman

Everybody knows about the mines. More than that, everybody knows to stay out of the mines. Collapsing tunnels are a real threat, but they’re not the only danger that lurks in the darkness. There is, of course, the Moleman—unimaginatively named by the board of tourism, it’s a creature that is said to dwell in the winding pathways of the immense underground system. Massive in stature and responsible for all the new tunnels that open up (and sometimes make sinkholes in people’s backyards), the Moleman is just that—half man, half mole. Grotesque in appearance, it’s no wonder he uses a disguise to walk among the normal townsfolk. People say that he’s tall with broad shoulders, scruffy and dirty, and perfectly blind. If you see someone like that in town, it may be best to avoid them.

Bessie

To nonlocals, Bessie is nothing more than a strange choice for a university mascot, but to the locals she’s so much more. Before records of Grotte de Fromage appeared, there were many reports of hearing cow-like wailing from up in the mountain peaks. In reality, Bessie does much resemble a highland cow with long red hair that flows in the wind and horns on her head that always appear to be bloodstained. Don’t worry, it’s not actually blood! Some strange supernatural molds can form in Wicked's Rest which could be the source of Bessie’s cheese cave creating powers. There are several stories attached to Bessie that you’re likely to hear from the college kids in town. Some will say her cries were for the loss of her calves and her hallucinogenic cheese was a form of protection. Others yet say this cow has much more devious plans. Why else would her horns be covered in blood? Aside from the fact they aren’t, but that isn’t nearly as fun a story to tell the freshman you’re trying to scare. While it is rare she ventures away from the depths of Grotte de Fromage, when she does come out of her cave, she eats the grass around her at an alarmingly fast speed for a cow. While mostly harmless, her size does pose a danger so approach with caution… and maybe don’t stand in her way when she’s eating if you happen to like your shoes or feet at all.

Gourdon

Gatlin Fields has their own curious cryptid that seems especially fond of the autumn festivities in that area, with a particular habit of showing up in the Maized and Confused attraction. It is a stout creature, no more than three feet tall, and seems to be covered in brownish-orange fur. Its favorite snacks are pumpkin seeds and mulled wine, the latter of which it can sometimes be seen clutching between its front paws as it trundles through the corn maze. It has a long, thick, furred tail that helps it stand upright when it has a warm beverage to carry around, though no one can say for sure where the heck it actually gets the wine from. Is someone feeding it? It’s possible—the creature seems friendly, if not desperately shy. Getting a picture of it is no easy task, though the Club Cryptid HQ claims to have gotten one on one of their trail cams. Gourdon can appear during other seasons as well, in both Gatlin Fields and the surrounding woods, though it might have a different sweet drink hugged to its chest.

Deepsnoots

Exclusively present in Jericho Burying Ground, Deepsnoots itself has never actually been seen. Many are familiar with the sight of a lump tunneling through the dirt underfoot, and some claim they’ve seen a strange appendage or mouth of sharp teeth, but none of these descriptions align with each other. What is known is that Deepsnoots moves quickly, and the rapid burrowing can scare off some of the hooligans that want to deface the headstones. Some think Deepsnoots is intentionally keeping the Grounds safe of crime, like some kind of guardian who ought to be celebrated, while others believe it’s motivated by the need to feed on old buried remains. No one has confirmed this. Or really anything. Deepsnoots might just be a regular mole.

Tendrilla

While Seven Peaks is steeped in Tendrilla reverence, even using a dedicated shrine atop each peak, there is little physical evidence that this entity exists. Within town there are many paintings and art pieces depicting her (she is typically thought of as feminine), and most seem to more or less agree on some key details. First, Tendrilla is huge, dwarfing her own shrines. Two, Tendrilla flies or hovers through the air in the same manner flying saucers are often depicted. Three, she emits a beautiful, ethereal glow, and can bathe an entire mountainside in her light. She is often associated with mushrooms due to the unique variety that grows up in Seven Peaks. Some say her tentacles sting, while others say they embrace with love. Some say she has sheet-like fins that blow in the breeze like sails, while others say she is streamlined and sleek. Whatever the case, Tendrilla inspires great devotion, and… well, there have been some huge, mysterious tentacles found in the mountains over the years.

Mothermoth

Sightings of Mothermoth are most frequently reported in Worm Row, especially in or near the Wormwoods. She’s suspected to be a species of giant silk moth, but most describe her as being about the size of a helicopter or small plane. The huge eye spots on her wings seem to blink. Under a full or nearly full moon, people say her wings take on a bright golden sheen, and some say they were blinded – even permanently – by the moonlight bouncing off them. This reflected light may account for the lack of good photos. Mothermoth’s wings shed golden powder-like scales, and these may have supernatural properties. No one knows anything about where she lays her eggs… or what hatches from them. Some supernatural scholars believe goggies, or a goggie variant, may be the larval stage of Mothermoth’s species. A small group of local entomologists have made it their life’s work to try and prove Mothermoth’s existence and catch her. They’re gonna need a bigger net.

Shaggarok

This ape-like figure has a profusely long coat of white hair that drags in a trail behind it, leaving markings in the dirt and snow. No one knows what it looks like underneath the coat, but people describe a pair of round, glowing eyes peering out from beneath it. Some describe the feeling of being followed before they saw Shaggarok. It has only been sighted in Seven Peaks, especially on snowy days and at high elevations. There are sporadic reports on each of the seven mountains. Most say Shaggarok approached them while they were in trouble in the mountains and freed them from being stuck or chased off an attacking beast. One report vividly describes Shaggarok sucking the hair off a monster after saving someone from it. In actuality, Shaggarok is likely an especially fluffy, white-coated kerashag that seems to be curious about people, though doesn’t like being seen. Even to those who suspect this to be the case, it’s up for interpretation whether that impacts its cryptid status.

The Lighthouse Keeper

You might hear those living along Wicked’s Rest’s coast whispering about “The Keeper”. This mysterious individual is said to haunt the lighthouses along the coastline, luring sailors to their deaths with its ghostly light. Some theorize the Keeper is the ghost of a former lighthouse keeper who drowned in a storm, now seeking to claim the lives of others who venture too close to its domain. Sightings of the Keeper often align with storms and shipwrecks, leading many to speculate that it can manipulate the sea. Despite its fearsome reputation, the Lighthouse Keeper is often depicted as a tragic figure by the locals, doomed to haunt the lighthouses for eternity. Some tales even suggest that it is trying to warn sailors of the dangers of the sea, in hopes of sparing them the same fate that befell it.

Caprifang

Described as a human-sized bipedal goat-like creature with huge fangs, it’s been said that Caprifang has been seen chasing down dangerous prey with immense speed before tackling it to the ground and sinking those uncharacteristic canines into its throat. Local aos sí fae seem to think Caprifang might just be a faun that’s gone mad from loneliness, but none of them have been able to coerce it into conversation long enough to find out. Most who claim to have spotted it say it lives up in the mountains, keeping to itself for the most part—until danger arises. In fact, the folks that believe the beast exists often feel better knowing it’s around the winding trails of the Peaks, for it seems to only have a taste for the blood of monsters, not people. Though if you’re a particularly malevolent sort, maybe you ought to watch out, too.

Zilch

Some say it’s the Dover Demon that has simply migrated north, curiously drawn to the impact crater out in Gatlin Fields. Others insist this is another creature entirely that only looks similar, but the one thing everyone can agree on is this: the thing that lurks around the crater is not from this world. It is an extraterrestrial, stranded on our planet either by choice or accident, doing its best to keep to itself. The humanoid has a very large head, rosy-tan skin, a lanky body, and most often scuttles around on all fours. Unlike the Dover Demon, however, the large glassy orbs that peer back at tourists from this creature’s head are not orange, but instead resemble the night sky—illuminated pinpricks of white light in an otherwise inky, blue/black backdrop. It is larger than its Massachusetts counterpart, standing a frightening seven feet tall when on its hind legs… or so they say. The most unnerving thing about this alien creature is the way folks claim that it spoke to them telepathically, screeching at them to leave the area inside their minds. Maybe it’s best to just stay away from the crater.

The Cleaver

Late at night on the main roads leading in and out of town, drivers might encounter a creature known as the Cleaver. If you’re wondering how it got this name, well, you needn’t wonder any longer—thought to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident, the Cleaver is a humanoid that is missing its lower half and can be seen dragging itself through the middle of the road by its hands, one of which is clutching a large scythe. If one swerves to miss it or even if they hit it dead on, the creature will clamber up onto the stopped vehicle, rip the driver free, and slice them in half with its weapon… just for sport. So if you’re ever driving somewhere and you see something laying in the middle of the road… just keep driving. Don’t stop, no matter what.

Thiccopotamus

At first glance, Thiccopatamus, the beast lovingly named by Wicked’s Rest Cryptid Club looks much like a normal hippopotamus aside from the strange orange glow around her. Add in the fact she’s about twice the size, it’s no wonder that the college kids call her “stupid thicc”. Thankfully, most of the club knows to observe her from afar with the cameras they set up around Wicked’s Rest’s State Park. Normal hippos are dangerous enough as is, but Thiccopotamus is even more so with her even larger stature and appetite. While her hippo cousins prefer vegetation and fruits around the river in the lands they’re native to, Thiccopatamus has been known to eat various types of meat, usually in the form of smaller, less fortunate creatures. Yeah, definitely keep your distance.

#lore #cryptids #wormy #bigfeet #giuseppe #gripwing #moleman #bessie #gourdon #deepsnoots #tendrilla #mothermoth #shaggarok #the lighthouse keeper #caprifang #zilch #the cleaver #thiccopotamus #town lore

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thethirdgenesisbooks · 5 months

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Archons

The archons are those creatures genetically engineered to act as servants, messengers, and warriors of the false gods. By those loyal to Empyrean, they are considered above humans but below the gods in the hierarchy. Each of the false gods has a High Archon or a Grand Archon who leads the others.

Most archons live in cities that float in the skies above Ymir. The cities are made to be beautiful, often made of marble and decorated with gold. Some also have gardens, parks, and even vast forests in their midst. From these cities, they enforce the will of the false gods, whom they believe to be truly divine.

While most archons look like humans with feathered wings, they have a variety of other appearances as well. The ookami are a type of archon that resemble wolves with gleaming white fur. Ursarths are archons that resemble bears that walk upright like men and have brass or golden colored fur. Houri resemble women with gazelle horns and bewitching eyes. Ryu have long, serpentine bodies and are covered in metallic scales. Apkallu often have the head and talons of a bird, in addition to the wings, on an otherwise human body. Chayot are the strangest looking archons of all, for they have the head of a lion, the horns of a ram, a human torso, wings like an eagle, and a lower body like that of a lion, with all four legs.

In addition, there are some types of archons who have more than just two wings. The seraphim, for example, have six wings with eyes on them. Fravashi only have two wings, but also have tail feathers. The muut, who are natural-born assassins and are also called “Archons of Death,” have four wings, usually with black feathers.

Rather than live birth, archons hatch from eggs. The eggs start out small, but as the infant archon within the egg grows, the eggs get bigger, and eventually hatch.

When Nebo created the archons, he knew that if he made them ageless and gave them the same fertility rate as humans, this would cause them to overpopulate Ymir within a few generations. So, he made it so that roughly one out of every one-hundred archons would be fertile.

Since a fertile archon is not always fit to raise their own children, archons do not have the same family structures as humans do. When an egg hatches, the child is placed in the care of what is called a “memitz,” which translates to “mentor” from the Archonic tongue. One memitz may raise up to ten children at a time, and each memitz is specifically trained to raise children and be a good teacher to them. Occasionally, two or three mentors will work together to raise a group of children, but usually they work alone.

All of this is true in the archon cities, where they are loyal to the false gods, but those archons who have joined Seth’s Rebellion are not bound by so many rules. In Prometheus City, the capital of the Rebellion, there are archons who do raise their own children. There have been several instances where an archon mother has realized she was with child, and rather than give up her egg to be raised by someone else, she has fled to join the Rebellion specifically so that she could raise the child herself. Sometimes, this happens for couples, with both the mother and father joining the Rebellion together for the sake of being a united family.

In fiendish societies, even archons who’ve joined the Rebellion are often mistrusted or even hated. This is largely because of the suffering that fiends have endured at archon hands. Even so, archons are a crucial part of the Rebellion.

#bookblr #bookblog #bookauthor #writingcommunity #reading #bookrecommendations #fantasybooks #romancebooks #authorsofinstagram #booktok #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #literature #thethirdgenesis #thirdgenesis #apostateprophecy #nicholasscasale #archons

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fantasyforbeginners · 2 years

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Do you have any advice on coming up with designs for fantasy creatures? I've been trying to write more vivid descriptions for the dragons in a project I'm working on, but I've struggled to come up with a specific coherent idea of what I actually want them to look like, which has made it difficult. (Especially because I'm trying to avoid drawing too much inspiration from any particular existing portrayal.) Most of the advice I've found on designing fantasy creatures has been targeted at visual art, which isn't my medium and hasn't helped me much. Do you have any tips or resources for coming up with creature designs specifically for written descriptions?

So, there's a few things I try and consider when it comes to fantasy designs, most often in creatures or clothing. Part of that is assigning certain places or peoples colour palettes. Think dressing elves predominantly in yellow to get away from more stereotypical green (at least in Western canon).

However, in regards to creatures, other bases of worldbuilding will actually really help you. Your dragons are creatures who presumably live out in the wild, and therefore will be another kind of predator. What does their surroundings look like? What unique things (very long tails that can wrap around things like a monkey's tail or elephant's trunk, for ex) would be there to help them exist in that environment? What sort of colour palette or camouflage would they need in order to blend in with their surroundings? Or, if they don't need to blend in, how would they comparatively stand out?

I borrow a lot from Western dragons (four legged, two wings, fire breathing) on purpose, and have a wide arrange of colours simply because basically nothing natural can hunt them to begin with. They're just too big / too powerful.

So, that being said, your designs should ideally complement what you want your story to be about. What role do dragons or other creatures play? What common traits do you want to unite creatures across the board (maybe magical or changing colour eyes, or feathered wings, or something more serpentine even for 'mammal'-ish creatures, etc.)? Sci fi can also be a great source of inspiration, and so can horror depictions, depending on the vibe and mood you're going for.

I always finding that having a slew of inspirations can help make a creature feel unique. The How To Train Your Dragon franchise has very unique and distinctive dragon designs, often times by dragon-ifying an existing creature (aka Gronckles are what bumblebees would likely look like if they were dragons) or by mashing them together (a Night Fury is a scaly bat-cat, mostly). Likewise, the creatures from the Dragon Prince are largely ordinary but injected with magical energy, like this little guy from below.

It's a squirrel, but the bioluminescence, colour palette, and three tails all give it a distinct design and feel. We can also tell pretty clearly that it is the concept of a squirrel mashed with what the series has already established as Moon magic, with the glowing and blues/whites.

In summary: look at your worldbuilding, environment, and lore as your guiding principles, as well as whatever you think is cool. You can almost never go wrong by going back to the drawing board inspiration wise.

#dragons #writing advice #worldbuilding #nature #uhf-comm-pass #thanks for asking #requests #mine

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akirameta84 · 3 years

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Dragons!! Art tips/Guide whatever lol

Take everything I say with a grain of salt because these are fictional creatures, but here’s some anatomy tips and stuff I use when drawing dragons!!

And don’t take everything word for word, add shit, experiment, etc haha. All the examples are drawn scaled, but feathered dragons are the bomb too

Western Dragons (AKA: The face of dragons.)

Really doesn’t get more basic then these guys eheh. Wings aren’t really a requirement for them tbh. And, feathered or scaled or furred, it’s really just a big lizard with wings.

A common issue that I unintentionally demonstrated is making heads too small! Leg width shouldn’t be wider than the head and snout haha. So make sure you don’t follow my example and make it too small.

For drawing feathered wings on them (and any dragons really, except maybe wyverns) using bird wings as examples are very good guides.

Eastern Dragons (AKA: Think Haku or Chinese dragons)

The noodle bois. Eastern dragons are fun as shit to draw tbh haha. And here’s an example of a feathered eastern dragon as well.

Most commonly they are represented without wings, but it’s totally fine to give em wings! Larger or multiple wings work best, because of the sheer length of most dragons.

Short and stubby is common too, but they can be tall if you’d like. Dragons don’t actually exist after all, (unfortunately) so anything you want about them can exist.

When drawing bodies, don’t make the back’s straight! Unless it’s laying down, the anatomy just does not work like that. It look’s awful to be completely honest. so slight bends or curves in any place along the spine make the whole dragon look better.

Think about it, it’s hard not to slouch and produce a curve in your spine, yeah? Imagine if your spine was that long. Not bending it would probably hurt like shit.

Wyverns (AKA: No arm bois)

My personal favorite type of dragon :D And one of the trickiest to get down right.

The most common mistake is the wings facing completely to the side when being stood on. This also ties into a point about how (When I draw dragons, you may not want to do this, which is totally fine) wyverns would have an extra wing joint compared to western dragons. The wings facing to the side would make a leg that’s positioned too far back to be anatomically correct/comfortable whatever.

Since their wings can double as front legs, the extra joint allows the wings more movement, which subsequently allows the wing to be placed on the ground in the same position a leg would go. Otherwise it would be too far back.

Another common issue is wings being place low down. They don’t go near the stomach or neck areas, instead they go right at the beginning of the back, or even the upper middle.

And make sure when drawing a wyvern in a four legged position, that the whole body is lowered and not just the wings. A resting standing position has the wings comfortably hovered above the ground, and so to stand on them, the whole body is lowered.

Serpents (AKA: Sea dragons? Leviathans? Call em whatever)

Honestly? Not really much to discuss.

Whether its more serpentine or more like a sea western dragon is completely up to you. just keep in mind a dragon that lives in the sea would be equipped to live there. Fins, gills, webbing, etc. One, all, or some would make sense for a dragon of this nature.

I don’t know why I included this section, because there’s not much to critique eheh.

That’s all I have! Go nuts. Draw that dragon au for that one fandom. You know you want to. Hope this helped in some capacity haha.

#dragons #ref #art ref #tips #wyverns #western dragons #eastern dragons #serpents #leviathans #sea dragons

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blackicephantom · 3 years

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The black dragon and the coward CH. 12

Note: I know your all waiting for something different, but this needs to happen first. Trust me. Please tell me what you think, because i feel a little insecure about this one......

Please enjoy!

Tagged: @patolemus , @runestarchild

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Somewhere in the ocean

A long, serpentine, figure swam slowly through the water, when it felt a certain kind of vibration. The fins on its head tried to locate the origin, but to no avail. Then something poked him at the back of his mind and he started to surface. The blue scales glimmered in the sunlight and the slim face rose skyward. Just a single moment and he heard the cry, the call to come home.

With a swift jump he dove back into the depths of the water, only to jump back out in a high arch and with his own melodious cry. His main fins spread wide and his tail finished his elegant form.

The Oceanblue Raindragon recognized and answered the call to arms. And in a show of power dark storm clouds started to form and seconds later heavy rain fell upon the earth and the sea.

Once his body was back in the water he took the course back home.

Colonello, the Oceanblue Raindragon, swam swiftly and as fast as he could. His family was waiting for him.

Deep in the mountains

Fon sat quietly near his den, when the wind started to pick up and dark clouds started to form. Electricity shot up his spine and he shuddered. He stood up and watched as all the birds stopped singing and the wind howled louder and louder. Red flames engulfed his form and scales replaced soft skin.

In one smooth movement he circled a few times around the mountain he dwelled in, so that his upper body and head are even with the mountain's peak. His mane and his whiskers danced in the wind and he knew. Just then a roar echoed thru his stoney valley and resonated with his own wish and desire.

He rose up, slightly above the mountain top and sang his own song to join that of his brothers. A rough and yet calm sound left his throat and the winds around him turned themselves into little hurricanes and storms, ready to cut down the land itself.

He knew that he said he would look for Kyoya but it seems that this will have to wait, just a little bit longer. As the last note of his cry faded away, he took to the sky and started in the direction of the forest he had left only days prior.

The Bloodred Stormdragon heard and heeded the call to arms.

Inside a secret lab

Beeping filled the dark room a lonesome and glasses wearing figure occupied. Many monitors showed him just as many sceneries and yet nothing changed. He’s been in this laboratory for years now, researching everything that came to mind, but mostly ways to protect his own, so that what happened on that fateful day would not repeat itself. And he’s been waiting. Waiting for that one moment…… Verde knew that his home underground was anything but optional, but he also knew Reborn….. and all the others…..

Suddenly almost all of his instruments measured impossible data. The displays went highwire and a few displays even broke down due to the sudden intensity. A smirk and a low chuckle escaped him. Of course this would happen shortly after he thought about it.

He stood up, ignoring all his different machines and displays and went to the small lift he built to make his way to the surface. On the ride up he thought about many things. Even about his fellow Arcobaleno….. which was more than unusual. But it has been a few years now. And just as Reborn has said: this years have felt like they went by in the blink of an eye for him.

Once he was back above the ground he took a deep breath and looked around.

Unlike what his instruments had shown him, the world was silent. And that could only mean one thing: he was not alone. But out of all the people that knew him, only two could really find him. The first one is the one to call them home and the other one the silent killer in their ranks.

He watched as mist slowly crawled along the ground, which confirmed his suspicion.

A small rustling reached his ears and he just stood still and quiet, once again waiting. Next came hissing and a long indigo coloured body, only seen in parts. The mist grew thicker with every passing moment and the long body started to draw steadily closer. Then there was someone behind him but he doesn’t turn around. Doesn’t need to.

“I see that you’ve found me, Viper.” A hissed laugh was his answer and just as the mist and the stillness had appeared, it vanished. Suddenly there were howling winds and pouring rain and, most importantly, the still sounding roar of their own kin.

Both Arcobaleno looked up into the slowly graying sky and knew it was time.

With the flash of a single lightning bolt a massive creature stood amidst the green. A long maw and strong legs were the most prominent features, closely followed by the sparking yellow spikes that run along it’s back and tail and its dark green scales. Lightning crashed into the trees and rushed through the clouds above while a thick misty blanket fell over the earth, obscuring the view of all that dared to look.

Around that massive body the other one curled in on himself, his body slowly growing and a pair of thin looking wings sprouting from his form.

And thus two more voices joined the almighty song of the weather.

A low and rumbling growl from the Forestgreen Lightningdragon and a deafening yet silent screech from the Indigoblue Mistdragon. Thous two also heard the call to arms and were ready to take back what was once stolen. Their answer resonated with the cries of their brothers and no sooner were they on their way. One digging his way home and the other silently sliding close behind him.

In a village on the other end of the continent

Chains rattled as another foolish human tried to get too close to him, his tails trashing behind him. It's been ages that he has seen the sky or breathed fresh air. These villagers only caught him by sheer luck and a great deal of misfortune on his part.

The long spikes along his back vibrated gently and he raised his head, ignoring the weapons that were pointed at him. The air was charged with something…..exciting. A familiar tension filling his core and making his heart pound. It was like the thrill right before a battle and he fucking missed this. He wanted to stretch his wings, follow the clouds he was born in but this stupid chains kept him grounded.

Then there was a rumbling, right outside his meager cage. He watched as lightning tore through the sky and rain started up, which got stronger and stronger with every passing minute. His anticipation grew as the wind turned into cutting blades, almost blowing his captors away. A storm was brewing and he knew exactly who started it. So he concentrated on the wind, on the vibrations in the air and every sound that comes from somewhere farther away. And there it was: a melody so long forgotten and yet still so beautiful and familiar. The song of his family! It was time to return!

Clouds gathered all around the Village and blocked the usually bright sun. People were starting to panic and the guards that are supposed to keep watch over him became scared. His tails trashed again right before three became one and his two wings became four. Because of the increased mass of his wings the chains keeping him down broke and because of the decreased number of tails the chains keeping him pinned slipped away. He was almost free, yesssss, he could almost taste it! Only thing left to destroy was the cage keeping him here. Four wings returned to being two and one tail became three again and with the spiked tips he just slashed his way to freedom, cutting through the iron bars like nothing.

Taking a running start he swept into the air, chirping his own answer to the long overdue call to arms. The Violentpurple Clouddragon, Skull, was on his way home. Six feathered wings carried him towards his brothers, his purple scales riddled with scars.

The clouds accompanied him and shrouded his figure from view.

Back with Tsuna and Reborn

As Reborn finished his roar he settled back down and listened while he still supported Tsuna at his side. He too could feel the return of the boy's fire and couldn’t help his smirk. Iemitsu and the other foolish have no fucking idea what’s awaiting them.

From far away both could see dark clouds gathering, followed by pounding rain and destructive lightning. The slight breeze slowly grew into turbulent winds which in turn evolved into a raging storm. The air turned humid and the dragon watched satisfied as mist started to spread through the forest. Then he listened as one after another all their voices came together as a unique and beautiful song. All their specific tunes come together but something is still missing…… That’s the moment Reborn hears a soft humming, a tune that Luce used to sing….. It’s a soft lullaby that she sang for the kids.

Roaring once again the Midnightblack Sundragon completed the harmony.

The sky was once again filled with all the raging elements, waiting to avenge the dragon that’s been slain unjustified so long ago and to take revenge for all this undeserved pain and torment.

Inside of Vongola Nono’s office

Timoteo wasn’t an idiot. When he got the notice that Tsuna was missing, again, he knew that something was up. That thous three other boys were not to be found either worried him beyond belief. But when the weather started to change he clasped his hands together and started to pray, because this could only mean one thing.

The Arcobaleno were about to gather. And where the seven strongest get together, calamity almost always follows. And without a sky to soothe their rage he sees no hope for the village and his people. He saw what they could do while trying to protect someone. Now they didn’t have this luxury. He knew that something like this would happen someday, was even prepared to face the dragon's wrath this time. But he had his own duties to fulfill.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts and one of his guards entered. “Nono, our mages have returned.” He gave an affirmative hum and sighed. Before the guard could leave again Timoteo called out to him. “Please send in Coyote and the others, it’s an emergency.”

Timoteo, Vongola Nono, hoped against hope and prayed to all gods that would listen that the tragedy would not repeat itself. But when this haunting roar sounds again in the distance, Nono knows that their chances of survival are very slim to none existent. `Please have mercy, oh kind one and spare us the pain. Let us not spill innocent blood, let us not condemn our children.´ It was an old prayer, one that Vongola Primo taught in his time, but Nono has no other option left. A single tear slid down his wrinkled cheek.

`Oh kind one, let us live peacefully and in joy with the dragons harmony, sung in a lovely lullaby.´

_TBC_

#Khr #reborn x tsuna #r27 #dragon and coward #fanfic

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evolutionsvoid · 4 years

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The Forgebill is a large vibrant bird that is found in tropical climates, primarily in coastal habitats. Its territory stretches through beaches, shorelines, tide pools and estuaries, wherever there is seawater to be found. Though found in the domain of seabirds and other majestic ocean fliers, the Forgebill is flightless. Instead of wings, its forelimbs have stretched out into elongated legs, using them to walk upon all fours. Its fingers have turned to hooked talons, creating fearsome obsidian scythes. Instead of flight, it chooses to patrol the shoreline and wade through the shallows, all in the pursuit of food. While they stand tall, they possess long flexible necks that gives them a wide range of movement. They can reach down to grab food from the sand, stretch upwards to pluck high up fruits or even bend all the way around so that they can groom the hard to reach areas! At the end of this serpentine neck is a large blade-like beak and a hefty casque. While these structures are pretty to look at, they are more than mere decoration! There is a reason these birds are called Forgebills! While other helmeted bird species may use their casques for beefing up their calls or for protection in battle, this structure in the Forgebills is quite unique. Instead of it being hollow or made of solid keratin, the casque is actually filled with specialized organs. It is believed these organs are heavily modified muscles, altered so that they may create powerful shocks! It isn't fully understood yet, but these structures can release the element of lightening! It isn't nearly as flashy or powerful as a lightening bolt, but the amount a single organ can create is impressive! Now imagine dozens of these all packed inside of this bird's casque! The power of a thunderstorm, worn upon their heads like a hat! Though I speak of lightening and shocks, the Forgebill does not wield this power in such a fashion. They do not stun prey like Stormtails do, instead they use it in a truly bizarre way! When the casque is activated and its organs start pumping out this energy, it directs all of it towards its beak. The striped bill of the bird has a rather unique composition, containing a high amount of metallic materials. Veins and coils of this substance is spread throughout their entire bill, and this is where the energy is directed. With all that power flowing through this special metal, the beak begins to heat up! Within moments of activating its casque, the beak of the Forgebill will become glowing hot, like a sword straight from the forge! The temperatures this beak can achieve is astounding, and also quite dangerous! Like a flaming blade, the Forgebill can swing this searing weapon around and use it to cleave through its true target: Clams! Indeed the blazing billed bird uses this impressive weapon for hunting, but it isn't going around cleaving herbivores in two. Instead, the searing beak is meant to tackle hard shells, mainly those found on clams, mussels, oysters and even fruit! Before it fires up its special organs, it uses its claws and beak to dig up buried clams or pluck coconuts from trees. With the tough morsel held in its beak, the Forgebill will turn on its casque and heat things up! Within seconds, the beak will be hot enough to slice through that shell like a hot knife through butter! The Forgebill will flick back its head, open its mouth and then slam it shut, cleaving the stubborn critter in half! After that, the meaty morsels can be eaten, and the steaming shells will be tossed aside. For larger creatures that cannot be held in its mouth, the Forgebill will heat up its beak and then whip its head around, wielding the burning blade like an actual weapon! With the strike of a skilled swordsman, the Forgebill will slice off a chunk of the shelled opponent, leaving an opening that its beak can reach into so that it can retrieve the tasty meat inside. While it does eat meat, the Forgebill rarely goes after anything faster than your average mollusk. Clams, snails and other slow armored creatures is all they really prey upon. They aren't all that fast themselves, so giving chase is out of the question. Especially when your face is a super heated knife! And you thought running with scissors was bad!

The burning beak of the Forgebill is what makes them famous, but many often get the wrong impression of its ability. Mention it to anyone, and most folk get the idea that these birds use these weapons constantly, performing impressive duels and slicing all that stand before them. In truth, this ability is used quite sparingly, as it is quite costly! The amount of energy it takes to fuel such a weapon is staggering, so they cannot just do it with reckless abandon! That is why it is only used for mere seconds while eating, as it is burned so that they may obtain hard-to-eat food that others cannot crack. The other issue is that Forgebills are not fireproof! That hot beak can slice through flesh and bone with ease, and that includes their own! If one is not careful, they can easily injure themselves. With that, Forgebills use the upmost caution when wielding their beaks. While it is heated, you will notice the birds taking a special stance. Their heads will be jutted forward and upward, aimed far from the body. They will barely move in this state, refusing to walk or run while the weapon is heated. While active, the Forgebill will use special organs that run down its back to vent off excess heat. These exposed pipes move hot air and blood, forcing it outwards so it doesn't fry itself from the inside! After it has sliced through all the food they want, the beak will be dunked into the sea to cool it off. This is a habit of theirs, as they will dip their bills in water every time they wish to preen their feathers, groom or interact with others. It is all for safety, as they don't wish to burn themselves or their partners. Since I mentioned their "partners," I figure I should dash this hope right off the bat: no, Forgebills don't use their heated beaks to duel others during mating season. Cripes, imagine the mortality rate of that! The species wouldn't be doing so hot (ha!) if they kept lopping each other's heads off when it came time to breed! No, these giants instead stick to song and call, using their voice to bring in females. If an opposing male gets too close, then they may square off and try to scare the competition away. Beaks may clatter and a fight may break out, but they don't use their heated blades in this instance. The time when this heat-producing system is used during the breeding season is when the females wish to warm their eggs! When nested, they will rest upon their eggs and tuck their heads into their bodies. With careful control over their output, they will heat their bills slightly to create extra warmth during the cold nights. During this time, males will go out to collect food, bringing it back to females. Once the chicks hatch, the duty will switch back and forth between mom and dad. With such a magnificent weapon and rather gorgeous looks, it should be no surprise that Forgebills are quite famous in the regions they frequent. Their plumes are collected for decoration and adornment, while their special beaks are prized as both trophies and weapons. Though the casques do not work when dead, and the beaks themselves do not produce this energy, skilled magic users have found ways to channel their own powers into these structures. This makes these bills quite popular in the realm of mages, and even for those in the Underworld! I have heard that demons are quite fascinated with these creatures, and pay well to get a hold of these special beaks. Unfortunately, this means that this species faces heavy hunting and poaching, as folk know that there is good money to be made. Faced with dwindling populations, some regions have placed protections on the species, which is good! But that often doesn't stop poachers, which is bad. Thankfully, in my case, I found that some well aimed rocks and a hefty walking stick does wonders when driving those jerks off! I just hope that others can succeed in protecting these incredible species, as their brilliance deserves to be shared with all generations. Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian ------------------------------------------------- This birdie comes from an idea Xhodocto385 gave me a loooooooong time ago. It was a toucan-like beast that used a super-heated beak to slice and dice! It took me quite a long time to figure out a design and how one would pull off such a thing, but I think it payed off in the end. This bird is more hornbill than toucan, as the anatomy worked perfectly for this concept. Hope you enjoy!

#bird #hornbill #avian #monster #creature #art #drawing

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sirtravisjacksonoftexas · 3 years

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What if Dragons Were Real: Part Two

Recently, I wrote an article titled “What if Dragons Were Real?”. In it, I tried to show not only how dragons (specifically both the limbless and flying, fire breathing varieties) could have arisen naturally, but also how their existence would impact human history. Although I covered many topics and several kinds of dragon, I did not make room to discuss both the Asian dragon, and our own flesh and blood Komodo Dragon, preferring to mention them in a later article.

Now, that article has come.

Let us further indulge in speculation and alternate history, as well as modern zoology, as we continue to answer the question: what if dragons were real?

1. DRAGONS OF THE FAR EAST

Before we can speculate on how Asian dragons could have arisen, we need to better understand what Asian dragons are.

One of the best ways to do so is to contrast them with the more familiar dragons of the West.

Dragons in both Europe and Christian Russia were viewed as formidable critters. They were potent dangers to both livelihoods and lives. Sometimes they were depicted as being pacified with young maidens, the villagers rather having one of their own eaten rather than the entire village being both incinerated and eaten. These dragons were arch rivals of both knights and saints, creatures who turned their slayers into timeless heroes. Indeed, they were sometimes used symbolically to refer to the Devil.

In the Orient, however, dragons were not simply giant, flying monsters. Despite also being formidable when roused, dragons were seen as good, not evil.

Indeed…some were worshipped as gods.

It isn’t hard to see why; Asian dragons were not only very wise, they were capable of impressive magical feats, such as shape shifting and invisibility. They could, depending on the type of dragon, control weather, streams, or serve as protectors of the god’s homes. Daoism taught that dragons were good spirits, though their image was warped a little with influence from Hindu mythology. Chinese dragons, the most famous of Asian dragons, came in a variety of species. However, all Chinese dragons, no matter the species, were thought to undergo the same growth stages:

1. Female dragon lays a richly colored egg.

2. 1000 years later: baby hatches, looks like a snake.

3. 500 years later: head slowly becomes like that of a fish.

4. 1000 years later: Dragon grows long tail, beard, fish scales, four limbs, claws, ears, and a long face.

4. 500 years later: dragon grows horns

5. Yet another 1000 years later: wings.

And you thought puberty was hard.

Its odd for most westerners to think of Chinese dragons as having wings, due to being more familiar with the adolescent, wingless form. Yet Chinese dragons were indeed thought to eventually attain wings, though they could fly without them, thanks to either magic pearls or a swelling on their foreheads, which is sometimes labeled “bladder-like”.

Repeat: bladder-like.

Now, if you had read my previous article, you’ll recall that I mentioned how in the documentary “Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real”, hydrogen bladders were invoked as a possible explanation for how dragons could fly, despite not having wings big enough for their enormous bodies. It is an amazing idea, and yet…the ancient Chinese had come up with a quite similar one ages ago. We only need hydrogen and we’re all set. Course, to be fair, a single hydrogen bladder, unless it was of truly ginormous size (perhaps much larger than the rest of the dragon), would not enable a wingless dragon to even float, let alone fly. Nevertheless, people were coming up with a similar answer to dragon flight long before dragon documentaries were made.

Japanese dragons are quite similar to Chinese dragons, with some also considered divine. However, some could be pure monsters who were nevertheless formidable enough to challenge a god. Yamato-no-Orochi, the 8-headed Dragon of Koshi, was one such dragon, a being so formidable that Susa-no-wo (aka Susano-Wo), the Japanese Storm god, resorted to use trickery instead of brute force in order to kill it.

Others could even be slain by mortals, yet still had intelligence and formidable capabilities. Indeed, Japanese dragons were a bit more snake-like than those of China, and one, the winged hai riyo, had feathers.

The differences among Asian dragons are at times startling, yet collectively they have many things in common, such as vast god-like powers, wingless flight, for the most part a good temperament, and generally having a very serpentine shape. Taken together, we can see just how different Asian or Oriental dragons are compared to those of Europe. Indeed, some have gone to far as to state that Chinese dragons in particular should not even be called dragons at all.

And yet…Asian dragons have more in common with European dragons than you might think.

1. Serpentine shape? Both most Asian dragons, and some European dragons (especially the worm variety) have serpentine aspects. Indeed, the European Worm dragon is basically a giant snake with bad breath.

2. Treasure? While stories of dragons hoarding buried treasure are well noted in Greek myth, Norse mythology and Beowulf, the ancient Chinese believed in the fu-ts’ ang lung, a type of dragon that kept great treasures in the Earth. Also, male Chinese dragons were known to each keep a pearl.

3. Gods? Remember all those stories about maidens being offered to dragons in western folklore, such as in the story of St. George and the Dragon? Notice the word again; offering. Sounds a lot like people are making human sacrifices…to gods. Indeed, Veles, a Slavic god, was said to be able to appear in the form of a dragon.

Nevertheless, their differences are so great that we need to go down a different route than we did in my previous article on dragons. Its one thing to figure out how wyverns and worms came about.

Its another to figure out how Asian dragons could have arisen.

How would they have evolved?

Could they have evolved?

And what would real Asian dragons look like?

Read on…

2. HERE BE FOSSILS

In a previous article on the Serpent of Eden, I mentioned a prehistoric snake named Najash rionegrina. If you went back in time, say 95 million years ago, and went on a nature hike, chances are you might run into this ancient serpent. At first, you might think that it was a typical run of the mill snake.

That is, until you spotted its legs.

Unlike any snake today, Najash rionegrina had legs and even hips! It was not unique; there were several prehistoric snakes that sported legs as well. Over time, however, these legs and hips vanished, courtesy of evolution. Nevertheless, the question has to be asked; why did they have legs in the first place?

Answer: because snakes evolved from lizards.

Over time, the ancestors of snakes lost their forelimbs, their bodies changing from generation to generation until…the first snake hatched.

But what if the ancestors of snakes took two avenues?

What if some continued to evolve a serpentine shape…yet retained their forelimbs?

Perhaps such a creature could have evolved into an Asian dragon.

We could also invoke another species of group of lizards that evolve serpentine shapes separately from those that evolved into snakes, courtesy of convergent evolution. Perhaps these could have retained their limbs, and thus given rise to Asian dragons.

However…there is a problem.

Hair.

Repeat: HAIR!

Asian dragons have hair!

They MUSTACHES and BEARDS, for crying out loud!

Surely, reptiles could never evolve into Asian dragons, because…once again…HAIR!

And no reptile has hair…right?

Wrong!

Geckos have super tiny toe hairs, which they use to stick to hard surfaces. Without these tiny hairs, they’d have no ability to climb or hang from horizontal surfaces. If Geckos could evolve hairs, why couldn’t dragons?

We could also postulate that dragons evolved from Stem-mammals, aka protomammals, aka mammal-like reptiles, aka paramammals, aka synapsids (didn’t think to add that last one in the previous dragon article when I first posted it on Tumblr. Its on there now), creatures that had both reptilian and mammalian traits.

Such creatures are not only thought by scientists to be the ancestors of mammals, but one of them, Thrinaxodon, seems to have had whiskers. Perhaps we could imagine a protomammal (that name sounds the coolest so I’m going with it) Asian dragon, perhaps even one that survived to the modern era, a living fossil.

However, its one thing to postulate an ancestor, another to postulate that such animals could evolve into bonafide Asian dragons.

But would they have been able to?

In my previous article on dragons, I noted that fire breathing dragons could have achieved flight by having both wings and hydrogen bladders. The former would most likely evolve by means of having their arms or forelimbs turn over many generations into wings, the same process that gave both birds and bats their wings. Its not totally impossible that a mutation could arise that would allow for the existence of a regular 6-limbed dragon, but a 4 limbed wyvern variety would be more biologically sound. Thus, if Asian dragons were real, and had wings…then they would have had to have evolved them from forelimbs or arms ages ago. If they had the growth stages noted in Chinese folklore (more on them later), then we would have to postulate that the arms of any individual dragon would have to turn into wings as they aged (more on this later too), but let’s focus for now on a hypothetical species of, for all intents and purposes, wyvern Asian dragon. Such a creature could only fly if it had both wings and hydrogen bladders. Course, we could also imagine an Asian dragon that glided like a modern “flying dragon” lizard (as depicted in “Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real”), or an Asian dragon that makes its lower body concave and glides like a modern flying snake, or even perhaps one that uses a combination of skin flaps, body alteration and hydrogen bladders. However, for true flight, we would have to surmise a wing and hydrogen bladder combo in order for an Asian dragon to take flight (keep in mind, Chinese dragons attain wings only in their adult form).

However, there is one potential problem.

What would happen if such a dragon tried to fly…with its wings being located at the far front of its body, instead of closer to its middle?

Keep in mind, the length from its wings to the tip of its tail is FAR greater than the length from its wings to the tip of its snout. Indeed, not only is it far greater than the wing to tail length that is usually seen in depictions of European dragons, but their legs are also further back on their bodies than those of European dragons as well. Flying European dragons also have less serpentine, less wiggly midsections.

I’m no expert in aerodynamics, but it seems to be that such excess length and weight behind the wings, along with a less stable, more wiggly midsection, could potentially cause issues with flight. Having hydrogen bladders almost throughout the length of the animal could help like it would with a European dragon, but…it would be far better if the animal simply had two pairs of wings instead of one, with a second pair on its lower body.

But of course, that’s just silly. After all, there has never been a four-winged vertebrate, right?

Wrong!

Microraptor, a tiny dinosaur that lived in the early cretaceous, was highly bird like, sporting both feathers and wings. Indeed, if they had survived to the modern era, you might mistake them at first glance for a bird (I know, I know, scientists now distinguish between avian dinosaurs (i.e. birds) from non-avian dinosaurs (regular dinosaurs), but I’m old fashioned; I’m calling the former birds). Though not a true flier, Microraptor was a natural glider. Compared to most dinosaurs, it was highly unusual.

Even more so when you count its wings.

Um, all four of them.

Its hind legs actually evolved into a second pair of wings. Microraptor could still use its wings to climb trees and the like, but they were also used for gliding.

Oh, and by the way: Microraptor was not alone.

Indeed, there was an entire group of four winged dinosaurs called microraptorines.

True, these dinosaurs didn’t fly, but its not hard to imagine these animals evolving true flight if their kind had lived longer, or of they had not gone extinct.

If this trait evolved once…couldn’t it evolve again?

Couldn’t convergent evolution produce another species, indeed another group of animals, that likewise bore four wings? Couldn’t they have lived longer, perhaps eventually evolving true flight?

Both are very possible.

But what about the unusual growth stages?

To my knowledge, the only kind of Asian dragon that had a series of strange, long growth stages is the Chinese dragon, so we could forgo such growth stages and simply imagine a dragon that didn’t experience having them.

But what if they did?

Could such growth stages be realistic?

Well, some animals do experience unusual growth stages before they develop into adults, indeed far more so than we see in many species (including ours). Most frogs start out as tadpoles, which lose their tails and gain limbs (as well as different skin colorations) with age. Butterflies start out life as caterpillars. Giant Panda newborns look FAR different from that of an adult, being pink and having little hair. Baby crown of thorns starfish look about a similar to an adult crown of thorns starfish as you do to a blue whale. The growth stages of a jellyfish can likewise involve a lot of serious shape shifting. Given this, we can’t conclude that a real Asian dragon wouldn’t likewise undergo the unusual series of growth stages as indicated in Chinese folklore. We…might have to tweak things so that such creatures would hatch with wings (instead of being limbless like a snake) that would eventually grow powerful enough for flight, but then again, tadpoles don’t have limbs, yet as they grow into a frog, they do develop them.

Now, some may counter, saying that in one of its growth stages, a dragon gains both the head and the scales of a fish. Surely, a reptile can’t grow a fish’s head and scales, right?

Well, that’s what I was getting to.

You see, at first, the Chinese dragon (and other Asian dragons that share its physical characteristics) seems, at first glance, to be an impossible hybrid, on par with Pegasus and centaurs. Indeed, it is a combination of 8 animals and 1 supernatural being:

1. “Horns” (actually Deer antlers, but I guess “horns” sounded better).

2. Snake’s neck.

3. Feet: partially tiger’s feet.

4. Head of a camel.

5. Eagle talons instead of true claws.

6. Carp’s scales

7. Cow ears (unlike those of other cows, the ears of a dragon don’t work; it actually needs its horns to hear).

8. Clam belly

9. Demon eyes.

Well, it seems like we should ditch the idea of a real Asian dragon, right? I mean, being a hybrid of 8 animals and a demon? Surely no such creature could exist, right?

Ladies and gentlemen, its time to think 4rth dimensionally.

Although hybrids like that mentioned above do not occur in nature, there are animals in the wild that, at first glance, look like a hybrid monster of world myth. Consider the Duck billed platypus; it has both the feet and bill of a duck (hence the name), a beaver’s tail and an otter’s body. It looks like a hybrid of the three…and yet isn’t. This false hybrid nature is further reinforced by the fact that it lays eggs, but even then, it’s not a mammal-bird hybrid.

The Okapi of Africa looks like a strange antelope whose legs were replaced by a mad scientist with those of a zebra, yet its neither antelope or Zebra. Indeed, its closest relative is the Giraffe.

Given all of this, we could imagine a reptile evolving that could likewise be a false hybrid. Instead of having a camel’s head, it would have a head somewhat similar in shape to that of a camel. Instead of having deer antlers, it could sport horns or horns that bear some semblance to antlers (as I pointed out in my previous article on dragons, horned serpents exist). Instead of having fish scales, its scales could be simply fish like. Instead of having eagle talons, it might instead have claws that somewhat resemble eagle talons. We might forgo some hybrid aspects (tiger-like feet, demon eyes (more on them later), etc.), but a dragon that looks like a hybrid of several animals…and yet is not…is not entirely impossible.

But what about demon eyes?

When it gets dark, some animal’s eyes glow. This is a reflection of light caused by a part of the eye called a tapetum lucidum. This reflective surface is found in many a critter. Humans, sadly, don’t have one, and thus we miss out on all that glowing eye fun. However, the glowing effect is not merely for show; an eye with a tapetum lucidum can see more efficiently in darkness.

Could you imagine a dragon having such eyes? A multi-ton, serpentine dragon having a glowing stare? Sounds like something out of the Twilight Zone.

Couldn’t this lead to people describing a dragon’s eyes as…demonic? Quite possibly.

But what about long life? Surely, no living creature can live for thousands of years, right?

Once again…WRONG!

Large sponges are thought by scientists to have a lifespan stretching up to over 23 centuries.

Over 2300…years.

Likewise, though Red Sea Urchins can generally reach a century, some could potentially reach more than twice that age…without having the nasty effects of old age.

Then there are immortal jellyfish, creatures that have the ability to reverse the aging process, to the point where they become a polyp (just a step above larvae). After this is done, they can start the normal aging process again, eventually returning to adulthood. It’s not impossible that such a creature could potentially live forever.

Given this, we cannot state that nature couldn’t have done the same trick in reptiles.

But what about intelligence?

As stated in my previous article on dragons, its not impossible for reptiles or even dinosaurs to have evolved human level intelligence.

Thus, we seem to have everything covered.

That is…save for magic.

How could an animal make itself invisible, or both shrink to a tiny form and grow so large that they reach the top of the sky? How could they control and manipulate the weather??? Surely, these are capabilities that no animal could ever hope to evolve…right?

Actually…yes, this is true.

However, this doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t develop these abilities by other means…

3. THE DRAGON IN THE HAT TRICK

In my previous article titled “What if Fairies Were Real”, I did my best to keep it as scientific as possible in determining how such creatures could have both arisen and gained their paranormal powers. Trying to do so without invoking magic was an amazing intellectual exercise, and it led to a very interesting conclusion when it comes to fairy magic.

You see, if fairies were real, and we didn’t invoke the supernatural to explain their miraculous powers, then the only way they could have such powers without calling upon the supernatural…was if their “magic” was actually super science.

Let’s imagine, for sake of argument, that I told a tribe in the Amazon, one not familiar with modern science, about J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

Let’s say that I told them that he created a weapon that could not only engulf miles and miles of jungle in flame in a split second, that not only could it cause an ungodly windstorm, that not only would it make a giant mushroom-shaped cloud…but that it would also poison air, soil and water. Imagine if I told them that this weapon could vaporize people, leaving behind a permanent imprint of their shadows. Let’s say that I told them that his weapon brought down a mighty tribe in the far East, and that he went on to say “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

What would this tribe think J Robert Oppenheimer was?

They might think he was a god, some other kind of supernatural being, or a freakishly powerful sorcerer.

Indeed, if such a tribe had somehow bore witness to Oppenheimer testing this bomb (with safety goggles of course, so that they wouldn’t go blind), saw it go off…they might start worshipping him.

That’s the power of technology. If its advanced enough, it can appear to a more technologically primitive people like magic. Indeed, there are people in Africa that think that cameras can take a person’s soul (a belief based on the images that appear on photos). Some Tibetans likewise don’t like the idea of being photographed, preferring to keep their souls in their own bodies. Cameras are nothing more than tools used to take photographs, no sorcery involved, yet to some cultures in the world that are not familiar with the science…they are magic.

Thus, if fairies existed, and had the unusual abilities attributed to them in folklore…then the only (non-supernatural) way they could pull off said abilities is through advanced technology.

Could it not be the same for the Asian dragon?

At first, it seems impossible: after all, they’d just have four sets of wings, right? No hands, let alone opposable thumbs, and thus no way to make technology, right?

Um…not so fast.

Remember, we went through several scenarios for how Asian dragons could evolve, not all of which involve them being true fliers. They could have either had skin flaps like a flying dragon, or made their lower bodies concave in order to glide like a flying snake. Indeed, they could have done both, perhaps also with hydrogen bladders. This would free their upper limbs from becoming full fledged wings. Combined with an opposable thumb and advanced intelligence (augmented by a several millennia lifespan), Asian dragons would have the ability to make technology, even highly advanced technology. In another scenario, where dragons went through growth stages similar to those mentioned in Chinese mythology, but with the arms and legs eventually becoming wings, they would have arms for several thousand years. If they had opposable thumbs during that time, then they would be able to both make and use tools for many centuries before their arms turned into wings.

Thus, dragons could potentially make advanced technology.

But would their technology surpass our own?

As I mentioned in my fairy article, technological advancement wasn’t at the same level for every species of ancient human. For example, Homo sapiens had a faster rate of technological advancement than both homo erectus and homo egaster. Indeed, when one considers the speed of human technological development, one can see that it has significantly increased in pace. Just think: The last known surviving veteran of the American civil war (Albert Henry Woolson, 1850-1956), saw the arrival of telephones, radio, television and nuclear weapons. This is a guy who fought during a time when most warships were still made of wood and people were using telegraphs. He had lived during the same time period as the Old West, the age of Jesse James and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

And what happened 13 years after Woolson died?

We landed on the moon.

Given all of this, we could therefore imagine a species of Asian dragon that had an even higher rate of technological advancement than even humans have had. This could have partially occurred either due to having a more advanced brain, or perhaps due to experiencing an ever-increasing rate of technological progress earlier than humans did (Imagine what would have happened if Neanderthals had undergone a similar growing rate of technological advancement long before we did? Imagine how history would have been if Neanderthals tested the first airplane…while we were starting to build pyramids?). We could also imagine Asian dragons, as a species, predating our species, perhaps considerably so, and thus having more time to technologically advance. A head start in the technological race could have given Asian dragons the means to develop super science long before humans invented the wheel.

However, there is something else that could potentially fuel this technological advancement.

Long life.

As I mentioned previously, Chinese dragons are said to take 3000 years just to grow from a newly hatched snake into a full-fledged adult dragon. Let’s imagine that all Asian dragons had took this long to grow into adulthood. Let’s imagine that they could live even longer than this (remember, it takes them 3000 years to reach adulthood. It’s not their entire lifespan).

How would this affect both science and technology?

Consider some of the brightest minds in human history: Isaac Newton, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Socrates, Copernicus, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, etc. There are many titans of learning that have lived throughout human history, altering our world in a variety of ways with their inventions and discoveries.

But what do they all have in common?

Among other things, they didn’t live for thousands of years.

Instead, they only lived for decades. Not millennia, not centuries.

Decades.

But what if such great geniuses could live for thousands of years? What if they aged slowly, keeping the Grim Reaper away for countless ages?

What could they have discovered?

What could they have invented?

Imagine if Isaac Newton was still alive, conversing with modern physicists. What else could he have discovered besides the Law of Gravity? What amazing experience he could bring to scientific experiments! What if Nikola Tesla was still alive today? If he was, would we have warp drive, transporter technology and androids indistinguishable from Katy Perry (come on scientists, make it happen!) by now?

Now imagine what they could do, what they could discover…if they lived for thousands and thousands of years?

This, along with perhaps a more advanced brain (or beginning to speed up their technological advancement long before humans did the same), could lead to Asian dragons developing a far superior technology than humans, so much so that they could pull off feats that humans would mistake as magical. Perhaps they could even develop highly advanced technology while we were still in the cave. Perhaps they could use holographic technology to fool people into thinking that they were shrinking or growing, or have tech that could bend light, making them invisible, or even technology that would be capable of controlling weather. Perhaps they could develop technology that could enable them to truly fly without wings (which might lead some humans to embellish tales about them, to the point where they were said to have wings). Perhaps they could have technology so impressive that they could alter their genetic codes, enabling them to grow wings, without having to lose their arms and paws (and thus their opposable thumbs) in the process. If they had this level of technological sophistication at any point in human history…most people would consider them magical. Only recently would some propose a more science-based answer to their impressive paranormal feats.

And how would people in the ancient or prehistoric world think when encountering these “magical” dragons? How would they view such colossal creatures that seemed to have unearthly, occult powers?

Most would probably view them as gods.

And how were some Asian dragons viewed?

As gods…

Indeed, this would be even MORE likely than it would be with the existence of real fire breathing dragons, and the chances of people worshipping the latter as gods would have been HIGH. Also, a dragon cult involving Asian dragons would be FAR more long lasting than one for fire breathing dragons would be; as mentioned in the previous article, fire breathing dragons would most likely have wings instead of arms, and thus would not have technology. Humans would eventually overtake their physical prowess by means of technological advancement. However, as noted above, Asian dragons wouldn’t have this problem. Human technological advancement wouldn’t be able to overcome far superior dragon technology (we’re talking potentially space age, Star Trek level technology), let alone superior tech whose progress was growing faster and faster. You may have had some humans question these dragon “gods” and perhaps have some that tried to rebel against them, but without divine intervention (no pun intended), Asian dragons would always squash them like bugs, using superior size, strength…and technology.

We could, however, also imagine dragons foregoing wanting people to worship them and simply just invade human held lands, which they would be able to win with ease. Human empires in real history didn’t want those they conquered to worship them as gods; they wanted tribute. Even empires that venerated their emperors or kings as gods didn’t want their entire population to be viewed as divine. They did, however, assert their authority, often brutally. We could perhaps see humanity doomed to a near endless perpetual yoke, serving their dragon emperors, void of hope. Such hope might be rekindled, however, if dragon nations and culture began to change, to the point where dragons began giving some human lands back (just as has occurred in our history, with the decline of European empires in the 20th century). Indeed, dragons might even want humans assimilated into their culture, just as Americans tried to assimilate Native American tribes into their culture.

We could, however, also consider the possibility of dragons exterminating humans. No doubt countless people groups would be wiped out during dragon imperial campaigns, but an actual genocide of all humanity would also be possible.

Either way…dragons would be the dominant life form on the planet.

Its interesting to try and figure out what life would be like if dragons were real, but one needs to remember that, in a sense, we actually DO live in a world where “dragons” exist. Indeed, you can see such dragons now and again on documentaries, and possibly even at your nearest Zoo…

3. THE KING OF KOMODO

Komodo dragons are…frightening. I mean, I-just-messed-in-my-pants level of frightening. Its easy to understand why, considering that they are lizards…that average 155 pounds and 6 and a half to over 9 feet long. Indeed, they can reach up to 300 pounds and ten feet in length. Combined with both being able to hit 11 mph and having a venomous bite (yes, you read that correctly; Komodo dragons actually have venom glands in their mouths!), these creatures can be the stuff of nightmares.

At one time, they were also the stuff of myth and legend.

Tales of titanic lizards stalking the forests of Komodo piqued the interest of some in the industrialized world. Most would have thought that such tales were…just that, tales. Indeed, they might have considered these lizards as fictional as ogres, unicorns and centaurs.

And yet…in 1912…the skeptics had to eat crow.

The monster was revealed to be real.

But why is it called a dragon?

Because the original tales told of a monster that somewhat resembled a dragon.

Its easy to see why; like the European dragons of lore, Komodo dragons are huge, reptilian and have forked tongues. True, they don’t have wings or fiery breath, but then again, in world myth and legend, dragons come in many forms, some of which are lizard like. Indeed, some depictions of St George fighting his dragon in art make the dragon look like an oversized lizard. Also, most dragons in myth and legend are not depicted as breathing fire. Indeed, some have lethal bad breath instead. Now, Komodo dragons don’t have lethal breath, but being a carnivore and having no desire to buy toothpaste and a toothbrush at their local pharmacy…I’m guessing that their breathe is pretty ripe. However, considering that they have a poisonous bite, one could see how this, combined with their bad breath, could eventually lead to the creation of a mythic dragon with lethal bad breath. Over time, embellishment could potentially lead to even fire breathing. One could imagine even a flying firebreather, or perhaps even a winged reptilian god, being developed due to spreading rumors of Komodo dragons combined with embellishment.

But were Komodo Dragons the originators of both European and Asian dragons?

Um…not likely, considering the distance between Komodo Island and places like Asia and Europe.

However, it is, for all intents and purposes, a true dragon, the only one we have.

However, there was once another, a creature that made a Komodo Dragon…look like a Komodo Gecko.

4. THE GIANT RIPPER

In ice age Australia, there once lived a dragon. A giant monitor with attitude, this dragon ruled the Outback with an iron claw. The first Australian Aborigines lived in fear of this terror, a creature that proved hard to kill, a monster impervious to boomerangs and shaman curses.

I’m talking, of course, about Megalania. This animal was quite similar to a Komodo Dragon…but at 26-30 feet long and weighing over 2 tons, it was much larger, capable of taking down rhino-sized prey. If it still lived in Australia today, it would be a terror to both humans and livestock. Indeed, if it had survived to the modern era, explorers might very well have labeled it the “Australian Dragon”.

And what dragon would be complete…without legend?

Curiously enough, though Megalania is long extinct, the creature lived on in Australian Aboriginal folklore, where it is called “Mugoon-galli”. It was said that the Mugoon-galli used its tail to bring about sandstorms.

Does this latter power make you think of Asian dragons? Specifically Chinese dragons?

It should, considering that Chinese dragons likewise could bring rain by flicking their tails.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Megalania was the source of the Chinese dragon. It does, however, reveal an even more dragonesque aspect of Megalania, a power that bridges prehistory with legend.

For all intents and purposes, Australia was once home to “dragons”. The Land Down Under is now their graveyard, a land whose dragons have faded into dust and fossils.

Or have they?

Its curious to know that, for over a hundred years, even into modern times, a colossal lizard has been sighted in Australia…

Perhaps, there is still a dragon lurking on the Earth today, abiding in a deep cave, waiting for humans to foolishly wander into its lair…

Sources:

“Dragons: A Natural History” by Dr. Karl Shuker, 86-93

“Dragonslayers: From Beowulf to St. George” by Joseph A. McCullough, 6-72, 77-78

“Quest for the Unknown: Man and Beast”, by Reader’s Digest, 108-10, 112-13

“Chambers: Myths and Mysteries” by Kate Sleight (Editor), 46-48

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, 456, 468-69, 474-75

“Dragons” By Kris Hirschmann, 36-40

“Mysteries of the Unknown: Mysterious Creatures” by Time-Life books, 20-21

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dragons/Kg3D0LtNnN8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Chi%27ih+muh+dragon&pg=PA38&printsec=frontcover

“Forest of the Vampire” by Charles Philips and Michael Kerrigan (consultant Dr. Elizabeth Warner), 124-25, 130

“Supernatural Beings from Slovenian Myth and Folktales” By Monika Kropej, 34

https://sirtravisjacksonoftexas.tumblr.com/post/648294161269866496/what-if-dragons-were-real

https://sirtravisjacksonoftexas.tumblr.com/post/644038696642985984/was-satan-the-serpent-in-the-garden-um-yes-and

https://sirtravisjacksonoftexas.tumblr.com/post/645391302162268160/a-journey-into-the-strange-world-of-useless

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02788-3

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/85126/15-examples-most-dramatic-metamorphoses-youth-adult

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/four-winged-dinosaur.html

https://www.livescience.com/47307-how-geckos-stick-and-unstick-feet.html#:~:text=Geckos%20can%20stick%20to%20surfaces,tiny%20microscopic%20hairs%20called%20setae.&text=Scientists%20already%20knew%20that%20the,der%20Waals%20force%20kicks%20in.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28295571

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24218-dinosaur-in-a-wind-tunnel-tests-feathered-flight/

“The World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures” by Dougal Dixon, 244

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avian%20dinosaur#:~:text=%3A%20a%20bird%20when%20considered%20as,flit%20around%20our%20backyards%20today.%E2%80%94

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/okapi

https://www.livescience.com/27572-platypus.html

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96414364

https://www.britannica.com/science/tapetum-lucidum

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090150-this-deep-sea-creature-could-be-the-worlds-oldest-living-animal/

https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2003/nov/red-sea-urchins-discovered-be-one-earths-oldest-animals

https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/on-exhibit-posts/the-immortal-jellyfish

https://teara.govt.nz/en/diagram/5355/jellyfish-life-cycle

“The Cultural Dimension of International Business” by Gary P. Ferraro, 2002.

“Tibet Travel Adventure Guide”, by Michael Buckley, 1999, 24

https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2019/09/minnesotan-albert-henry-woolson-was-the-last-surviving-civil-war-veteran/

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/shootout-at-the-ok-corral

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/james-jesse/

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/series/the-rise-and-fall-of-european-empires-from-the-16th-to-the-20th-century/

https://www.history.com/news/how-boarding-schools-tried-to-kill-the-indian-through-assimilation

https://www.livescience.com/51086-komodo-dragon-bite-facts.html

https://www.livescience.com/27402-komodo-dragons.html#:~:text=Komodo%20dragons%20are%20the%20largest,the%20Indonesian%20island%20of%20Komodo.

http://www1.lasalle.edu/~zelenenkic1/dragonscale_species.html#:~:text=Western%20Dragons%20have%20bat%20like,the%20tip%20of%20their%20wings.

“The Beasts That Hide From Man: The Search for the Last Undiscovered Animals” by Karl P. Shuker, 204-07

“Smithsonian Institution: Animal” by David Burnie and Don E. Wilson (Editors-In-Chief), 420-21

“Prehistoric Life” by DK Publishing, 332, 431

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Adventures_in_Cryptozoology_Volume_1/cJYREAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=cryptozoology+megalania&pg=PT26&printsec=frontcover

https://folklorethursday.com/myths/harbingers-of-heaven-dragons-of-earth-and-sea/

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onwesterlywinds · 4 years

Text

The Legatus and the Lucavi

"More fucking stairs. Gods... fucking take... the bastards... who built this fucking place."

They were coming up on the last of the stairs - she and Bull and all the rest of the Riskbreakers. Orella Steelhand could not suppress a last bit of whinging, even as her chest heaved for breath and every ilm of ascent was its own battle against her wearied limbs. They had reached a height that Orella could not have dared to fathom: the sea had long since given way to clouds, and the air around them had grown thin for reasons that could not be explained away by exertion.

The Garlean host stood nearby. Orella could hear the workings of their machinery even through the turnings of colossal, ancient gears; she could smell the ceruleum over the rust and mold and free growth of ages past.

Bull rounded the last of the stone stairs first, and at once his face settled into a frown. By the time she followed suit from close behind, she too could fully take stock of what lay in wait for them: the legatus himself, surrounded by scores of soldiers and their warmachina.

Behind the Garleans, emerging from a verdant courtyard, strode the High Seraph. She walked in Ashelia Riot's body, yet the girl's hair was now longer and whiter than ever, and wings brimming with light now rested in full prominence upon her shoulders. She commanded the attention of all present, including the legatus; though he had turned to face the approaching Riskbreakers, he beheld the demon in the Grand Steward's skin that was striding into the ancient hall with great interest, evident even from under the helm he wore. He raised a hand wordlessly, and the soldiers raised their weapons in perfect synchronization: half toward the Riskbreakers, half toward the Lucavi.

"...Ah," said Alaq'it from behind her, not bothering to whisper. "We found the Garleans."

Apart from a sigh from one of the other Riskbreakers - Akhutai, perhaps? - not a soul stirred in the hall. Until, of course, Ultima laughed. She laughed with Ashelia Riot's laugh, and the sound reverberated until it filled their surroundings.

"Don't do that," Sylvan Rain snapped. "Not in her body."

Orella spared the barest of glances over her shoulder. The others all stood prepared for the fight that was sure to come: Ivaan readied his lance, Nivelth flicked open her grimoire, and Bull tensed as if to prepare himself to spring forward at any moment.

But it was the legatus who truly broke the stillness first. Noah van Gabranth took one step closer to Ultima, then another. His armor resounded with a distinctive click with each step he made against the ancient stone. "Then Grissom's 'prophecy' was correct." He cast a glance over Ultima, smirking in Ashelia's body, then stared out at the Riskbreakers. "I am relieved that his dissemination of the stones, if naught else, was not ill-conceived."

"Yes, yes," said Ultima. "It was all very helpful." Her voice was deeper than Ashelia's, more sultry. She also enunciated her words strangely, Orella realized, as though she were wholly unused to forming her words through a mouth, or speaking through some other physical means.

Alaq'it leaned in close to A'zaela to whisper loudly. "Did we all sound so odd?"

Linini certainly had, Orella thought, though she had not had the prescience to consider it during their battle. She did not want to think of such things now. A'zaela sighed and said, "Almost definitely." Beside them, Akhutai offered only a simple "Yes."

Ivaan stepped forward, pointing his lance between the legatus and the Lucavi. "You are in league with one another, then?"

Noah van Gabranth shifted his gaze to the bold Midlander at once. "You were at the Bardorba manse. Were you not." It was not an answer to the question.

"Yes," Ivaan replied. "But I am glad to have this... opportunity... to get to know you now. " He brandished his halberd, a movement that caused many of the assembled soldiers to stiffen.

"You'll forgive us if we refuse any more gifts you might have for us." Sylvan spoke with a raised voice, but whether she spoke to van Gabranth or to Ultima, Orella wasn't certain. "Don't think there still isn't time for us to fix all this."

The Seraph fixed her gaze on the Roegadyn. "I suppose there is always time." She cast a sneer at the Garleans, and then at the Riskbreakers. "Time enough to rethread history."

Akhutai stepped forward, gun drawn, a cold frown on his face. "I'm afraid time is no longer on your side."

"History isn't yours to shape," Nivelth added. Together, their words rang with added significance in Orella's mind: the former vessels of Belias and Zalera, respectively. The arbiters of change, cast down by their own hosts. Though the thought fled as quickly as it had come, Orella could not repress the shiver that lingered in its wake.

"I harbor no such ambitions. In fact, I would see your dear Grand Steward restored to you."

Bull spoke for the first time, tapping his chin dramatically. "Findin' that REAL hard to believe."

"And I'm sure," said Akhutai, "you're also kind and benevolent and if we just do what you say, everything will turn out glorious."

"I told you as much before, Crimson Bull: I have no desire to hold this body. I merely need a river of blood to see my true form restored, and your dear leader freed."

Before anyone could react, a Garlean soldier pulled a trigger. The projectile missed Ashelia's body by several fulms, pinging off of some of the Gougan machinery. From behind her, someone gave a high-pitched gasp; Orella turned sharply, instinct leading her eyes to seek out the injured party, but no one seemed hurt. Instead, Priscilla stood holding her gun a little closer to her own frame, her teary eyes darting between all present.

"Hold your fire!" van Gabranth snarled.

"Nice to see that they're as careful with their ceruleum as ever," Akhutai mumbled.

Orella returned her attention to their surroundings, cursing herself for not having the diligence to think of doing so before. She thought of Ingvald's disapproving glower if he could see her now, and resolved not to mention to him how slipshod she'd gotten. Pushing him from mind, her gaze fell on a familiar shape, a familiar face, near a generator that hummed with ceruleum. It was a man, tall and blond and Garlean down to the core. He wore a silver half-coat, dark leggings, and a feathered bowler hat, the very same she'd seem him wear aboard the Prima Vista. She had met his eyes when she had recited Theodoric's speech. She had seen him sour at Ingvald's poor attempts at conversation. She had shared space with this man for the past several weeks, however begrudgingly, and she could not suppress her rage at herself for not having uncovered his treachery before now.

"Oh," she growled, with such venom that several others and even the legatus turned around. "Oh, you straight-up motherfucker-"

Bull snorted. "Clearly not a friend of yours."

Orella did not take her eyes off the man. He saw her now - returned her scowl in kind from across the hall, even with a hundred Garlean guns pointed between them. "He's the one that killed Grissom."

"And," said van Gabranth, "his intelligence from aboard the Prima Vista into the effects of these auracite stones has been invaluable."

"Yeah? Good for him," Orella growled. She took a step forward, her good arm reaching behind her to take up her sword. "Does he know he's going to die today?"

It became clear almost immediately that the weight of her weapon was too much to bear and that she would have to find another way to hold it, and quickly, lest friend or foe see her weakness. Whatever her arm was now, it wasn't fit for fighting. But she had made the first move and could not back away now, so she instead grit her teeth and gripped the handle so tight her knuckles turned white.

"You think I could let him live?" The voice was the dancer's, sharp and quick and quiet. It was not a voice suited for the stage, let alone an ancient, historical chamber. "That cultist, that traitor - that filthy savage? He was useful while his faith propelled him to collect the stones, useful at following orders to undermine you."

"Savage?" Ivaan retorted. "And what are you then, butchering a man in his bed?"

Alaq'it Moks nodded and pointed at Ivaan, as though adding a plus-one to his remark.

"He was no man!" the dancer cried out to the dragoon. "You saw what he was!"

Nive leveled a glare at him. "It was you?!" she hissed. "I knew Grissom was going to die from a knife, but--"

"Nive-" Alaq'it warned.

And then Orella saw it in the Miqo'te's shifting stance: a glow from her hand to indicate charging magicks. Several Garlean soldiers moved as one, but the dancer was fastest: he raised a gun and fired. Nive fell hard to the floor, her eyes still open - and for a moment Orella's gut clenched tight. Somehow the possibility of any Riskbreaker dying had seemed a world away until this very moment. She waited for the blood, waited for any other sign of death; someone else screamed behind her. Akhutai leapt forward with a guttural hiss to drag his friend back out of range. "She's alive," he confirmed. "Stunned." All the while he kept his serpentine eyes on the Garleans, daring them to attack again, as he reached to grab the greatsword she had been carrying strapped to her back.

Bull scowled. "Clearly no one's messin' around today."

"Enough of this folly," said Ultima. "I have something for you... my lord." Ultima flashed a grin at Orella and removed from one of Ashe's pockets the Cancer stone. Even from such a distance, Orella recognized the cursed thing and braced herself for Zeromus' foul magicks to stretch toward her and take her again.

Instead, Ultima let the auracite fall from her fingers with a clatter. Noah van Gabranth merely watched, letting it roll toward his feet, and when he bent to pick it up, it was as though all present held the same collective breath. Then, with stone in hand, the legatus gestured at the squadron nearest to the Riskbreakers - more than fifty Garleans strong.

"Fire at will," he said calmly. "Capture Seraph alive."

He turned, and the Prima Vista dancer followed after him close behind.

"Get back here!" Orella shouted, before she could think better of it. "Get the fuck back here, you coward! How dare you turn tail and run!"

And she raced after him, past the crowd of Garleans now pointing their weapons directly at Ashelia.

---

"Oh hells," Alaq'it whispered as the legatus made his disappearance.

"Stay behind me," A'zaela said to her. Her heart was pounding, racing, but she refused to take her eyes off of Ashelia for more than a moment, even with the Garleans readying to attack. "I won't watch you get shot."

"I'd rather not watch either of you get shot," Akhutai remarked. He stood, having moved Nive out of danger; again, with the hand not holding his gun, he lifted the king's sword - the sword that had put an end to their zodiac stones.

Alaq'it shook her head. "I was not going to do anything! Because I cannot do anything against that armor." The last part was more an admission, accompanied by a rude gesture at the retreating legatus.

"Alaq'it is our only healer," A'z breathed. "Much more important that she's unharmed."

But Alaq'it knocked her upside the head very, very gently, and A'zaela's ears twitched back from the contact. "And you are our only A'zaela. Do not be stupid."

The slight bump, even from a friend, triggered the familiar flow of red aether. It pulsed from A'zaela as her dragons sensed danger, as she readied herself for the fighting that would need to take place. Do not be stupid. Yet she still didn't move an ilm; her claws curled in against her fist as she struggled with what to do. Fighting would only give Ultima what she wanted: the river of blood she had mentioned earlier, and the means for her resurrection. Yet neither could she stay still and let any of her friends get shot.

Ivaan made her decision for her. There was a bang, not of gunfire, but of the air rushing to occupy the space Ivaan once inhabited. Then he was in the air, arcing toward the nearest group of soldiers. Flames erupted from the seams of his armor, until he thrust his halberd downward, hauling a tail of fire behind him like a comet as he dove at the formation of riflemen. When the flames cleared, no fewer than five Garleans lay on the stones in pain, unable to rise. Their comrades all diverted their attention to him, offering the other Riskbreakers no small opening.

"Let's see how this thing cuts..." Akhutai murmured, and dashed towards the Garleans closest to him to take advantage of Ivaan's distraction. He swung out with a wide horizontal cut as he neared them, felling nearly as many as Ivaan had and prompting even more to track him.

A'zaela crouched, bracing for her own aerial attack, but then Ashelia staggered out of the corner of her eye. An expression of agony flickered on her face; then it was gone, as the Seraph took hold once more. "Foolish brat!" Ultima hissed. "Still you defy me?! You are not the only one who has been cast from her home!"

Her heart leapt with hope. Ashelia's still in there. She's still fighting. But the fight in the hall demanded A'zaela's attention. With Ivaan and Akhutai surrounded by an entire mob of soldiers, they were taking hits from all sides.

"Well," said Alaq'it from beside her, "I may be the only healer, but they are certainly in need of HEALING!" She rushed forward, calling opposition from the stars the tower put them so close to. Constellations crystallized in the air around them, then shattered - and the entire group of Garleans in their midst was stunned.

Bull hefted his axe from his shoulders, taking off into a full sprint into the pack; with a primal roar, he swung his axe in a whirlwind. The ones who lifted their guns at him barely had a chance to fire before being cut down.

The others had the fighting well in hand. She ran full tilt towards the High Seraph, of the mind that she could put herself between the Garleans and Ashelia. She made to tackle her friend, to knock her to the relative safety of the ground; yet Ultima's wings unfurled with a blinding brilliance. Her arms were brushed aside. Pain seized her throat. Before A'zaela could blink, she was fulms from the floor, with Ultima holding her by the neck.

A'zaela's red and angry aether pulsed around them, whipping Ashelia's bleached hair back. Her hands grappled with the ones wrapped around her throat. As the aether reached her host's body Ultima dropped A'zaela - not from a height that would do damage to a Miqo'te, let alone a dragoon.

From up in the air, the Garlean soldiers fired upon her.

A bullet tore through her, then another, and Ultima screamed. A'zaela Linh screamed as well, watching her best friend and savior get shot.

---

In the middle of the fighting, with half a host of Garleans pressing down on him, Bull could almost forget about the others. Almost. He was here to keep them safe; all other concerns were secondary. Even as Alaq'it rushed to administer healing to Ivaan, even as Akhutai sliced down yet another soldier aiming at the boss's body with a bestial growl, he delivered blow after blow to fend off every enemy attack he could.

The only one who he didn't see in the charge was Sylvan Rain - and then he felt a strong, familiar hand touch his back.

"Bull," Sylvan said, "keep them here and get that damn thing out of Ashe." She pointed with a thumb back toward the staircase, toward where they had left Hinako and Eindride and Linini. "I'll keep the soldiers busy."

Bull nodded. "Don't have too much fun," he said with a smirk, giving a thumbs up and turning his attention toward where Ultima levitated in Ashe's body. She was in worse shape than ever now, bleeding freely from at least a couple of bullet wounds. He froze for only a moment, with the makings of fear gripping at his gut - until another touch from Sylvan pulled him back to the present. She clasped his shoulder, leaning in to stare at him with a deathly serious look on her face. "Get her back. I know you can do it."

He nodded. "We can do this."

Ultima raised a bloodied hand... and cast a spell that sent out beams of blinding light throughout the entire hall.

The beams of light cleared, lifting like a veil from the ancient hall. Bull blinked. Before his eyes could adjust to the blast, he heard the sounds of carnage - of tearing flesh, and screams. When he blinked some few times, the light subsided, and half the remaining Garlean soldiers were on the ground, either dead or writhing in pain.

It was one of the worst sights he'd ever seen.

---

The stone floor was awash with blood. It was everywhere, seeping over and into the stone tiles. The Seraph was exhausted - from her wounds, and from the horrible magicks she'd cast through the aether of her host. When Ashelia's feet once more touched the ground, she was limping. "It's not enough..." she moaned. "Not enough..."

"And it never will be enough, you pathetic excuse for a goddess!" A'zaela screeched. She propelled herself forward, clasping a hand around her best friend's throat in a gesture that mirrored the one Ultima had trapped her with in midair mere moments before. "You couldn't take over the heavens the first time - what makes you think you can take over us?"

From over her shoulder came Bull's roar as he charged the remaining Garlean contingent. "Find the stone! Get it away from her!" From the corner of her eye, Ivaan and Alaq'it, on the sides of the hall, began to do just that. A'zaela continued to grapple with this much more powerful being that took hold of her best friend's body. It was now or never-

But she slipped in the pool of blood at her feet, and she and Ultima both fell gracelessly. The hard impact stunned her, even as fear coursed through her faster than ever-

When she looked up, Akhutai and Alaq'it had joined her to hold down the thrashing Ultima.

"I'm sorry, Ashe," she said as she reached into one of her pockets. Of course it was the wrong pocket, and she let out a hiss, trying to go for the other one. A hand lashed out for her and she yelped, pressing it down at the elbow. "Alaq'it!"

Alaq'it murmured an apology to Ashe and took up A'zaela's place patting down her pockets. Akhutai murmured something A'zaela could not make out; then Alaq'it unzippered a pouch at her left hip and removed the rose-gold Virgo stone.

"P-Please..." came a whisper from Ashelia's lips.

The sound hurt A'zaela even more. "Get the sword!" she shrieked.

Alaq'it seconded this notion. "AKHUTAI! The sword! She just gave an order!"

Akhutai Urit pulled away from Ashe quickly, distancing himself from her as he waited for Alaq'it to toss the stone, sword ready. She placed the stone before him on the ground and then leapt back, ready to heal at a moment's notice.

"Ashelia?" A'zaela asked hopefully, hardly daring to believe.

Akhutai swung down, aiming to cut the stone in half as he had done the others. The moment the sword touched the surface of the stone, Ashe cried out in far greater agony. A harsh, white light blanketed her entire form, not unlike the spell they'd seen fell the Garleans only minutes before - except this time, Ultima was casting it on her host.

---

Orella had pushed past the Garleans easily, who seemed to have considered her less dangerous than the rest of the Riskbreakers. She didn't want to think what that must say about how she looked. Instead of wasting her energy with a swing, she hoisted her sword over her shoulder and sprinted as fast as she could from the battlefield, chasing van Gabranth's cape.

Like a shadow, Priscilla came to her side, gun at the ready.

Her lungs were burning like she had climbed Ridorana anew, but there was no time to think about particular hurts. She took the deepest breath she could manage, and screamed in the Garlean tongue: "STAY AND FIGHT, YOU BASTARD."

That made van Gabranth pause... and turn. In his hand glinted the Cancer stone. Behind him, the dancer prepared to board the ship.

Orella must have looked wild, exhausted as she was from both the climb and her still damaged arm, but she refused to back down now. She kept her back straight as she stared into his helmet, unblinking and furious, unable or unwilling to help the jeer that entered her voice. "Decided I'm worth your time, Legatus? Glad to make your acquaintance."

And she spat, never looking away from his helm.

For a moment, all was still, save for the sounds of fighting in the antechamber at her back. Then the legatus moved to face her in full.

"You would follow her, then?" His tone, though even, held a drawl that surprised her. "You know who she is - what she is. The daughter of a killer with delusions of grandeur. A new Theodoric for a new age."

"You're no better, Legatus," she snapped back. And she snorted, though whether from rage or disbelief she wasn't sure. "van Gabranth. Or do you think yourself better for your position? Begging for scraps from the Emperor's table," and she couldn't help herself, could not stem her blind fury. "What makes you greater than other men? Nothing. You're nothing but another hound snapping at heels, barking orders as you see fit." She drew the sword from her shoulder, held it out with some effort, one-handed, the point facing him. "You're no better than Theodoric," she said, as firmly as she could muster. "And I will fight to stop you until my last breath."

From halfway inside the airship, the dancer beckoned a lithe arm and called, "My lord!"

Noah van Gabranth held out a hand to forestall any further conversation. He drew his own swords, the Cancer stone still tucked within one of his palms, and he readied a slash at Orella... and another at the approaching Pris.

Orella was hit - hard - with a concussive blast of force that threw her to her feet. As Priscilla caught up her, her rifle was knocked out of her shaking hands. The energy that burst from van Gabranth's weapons hit quicker and harder than she'd expected, especially from such close range. Orella's greatsword fell to the stone with a loud clatter, and she herself fell just as hard.

She struggled to one elbow, teeth gritted. She could not be bested by a Garlean, not so quickly. With effort, she lifted her injured arm as though holding a hand out to the legatus. The pain was enough to make her voice crack when she spoke.

"Z-Zeromus. Come... Come back to me."

In van Gabranth's hand, the auracite flared, heeding her words one last time to weigh down her enemy's limbs. The moment his posture changed, Priscilla took the moment to run forward and tackle him, wresting the stone from his hand. In his armor, the legatus staggered in place but did not fall. With how the stone had sapped his energy, drained his very life force - oh, how well Orella knew that feeling - he almost seemed to let Priscilla take the stone from him.

Orella pushed herself to her knees with her last dregs of effort. "The STONE," she yelled at Pris, with a voice ragged from exertion. "KICK IT AWAY AND CUT THAT FUCKER'S THROAT."

Though startled, Priscilla nodded, and she kicked the stone back the way she had come. It skittered across the hall, past heaps of dead and dying Garleans, toward their fellow Riskbreakers.

With the last of his plans thwarted, Noah van Gabranth turned and boarded his airship, weakened as he was by a single encounter with the stone.

---

"I'm sorry..." Ashe breathed, to no one in particular.

She had no way of knowing if anyone was listening, or even if anyone could hear her at all. She knew only the agony, only the Seraph's blinding torture filling her eyes and ears. This was Ultima: this was the power that she had thought herself capable of harnessing, of manipulating for her own ends.

Now, you will beg for my indulgence.

If she was going to die, she would do so holding onto the last vestiges of herself. She would rather become another piece lost to history, another cautionary tale for the Seraph's next host than give herself body and soul.

As she screamed through the pain, she cast her thoughts back - back to her first time setting foot on Gyr Abanian soil as a woman grown.

Would that that woman - full of pride and purpose - could be who she was when she met her end.

---

Bull looked back for a moment before cutting down another Garlean soldier. The few that were left were focused entirely on him. "Keep 'em comin'..." he muttered as he rolled his shoulder and neck. "I can do this all day."

The closest soldier fired his rifle, and Bull felt nothing.

---

"BREAK THE DAMNED THING HARDER!" shouted Alaq'it. Alaq'it does her best to mitigate the strange light, but it is unlike the other stones' magic. As Akhutai attacked the stone, Alaq'it tossed up a last paling over Ashe and A'z in desperation.

I am your mother, came a voice, thundering from Ashelia's mouth. Only the words filled the entire hall, furious and oppressive. I am your maker. I. Am. Ivalice!

A'zaela could only lean over Ashelia and cover her with her body, clutching her and praying for the worst to pass them by. Akhutai gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the greatsword before driving its tip straight down towards the stone with as much strength as he could muster.

The Virgo stone let off one last burst of light, harsh and dense enough to throw A'zaela and Akhutai and Alaq'it a yalm back... and then the stone faded away, into nothingness, as though it had never existed.

Ashelia Riot lay unmoving upon the floor, her limbs sprawled out at tortured angles. The pool of blood from the Garlean soldiers' piled corpses had seeped over to the stone where she now lay, covering the back of her head. As A'zaela stood, she could no longer tell how much of that blood, if any, was her friend's.

She hastened over and leaned close to Ashelia to give her a hard shake, then moved her fingers quickly to check for a pulse. The blood-red hair of her friend was the most terrifying thing she'd seen all day. Even Orella's frantic screaming from elsewhere was not enough to break her focus - not now, not when-

Having noticed there were more people who required help, Alaq'it ran out toward the courtyard, noticing the last of the stones in the tower - Cancer - still whole. "AKHUTAI, I HOPE YOU STILL HAVE THAT SWORD!"

Akhutai nodded and followed her close behind, lifting the sword above his head. He leapt toward the stone to drive the sword down with all his strength. Under the force of that blow, the auracite broke in two and released a concentrated flood of shadow. When the cloud cleared, the Cancer stone was no more.

And then A'zaela felt a heartbeat.

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she slumped over her friend's body in relief. Ashe was alive.

---

Still on her knees, Orella watched Gabranth's back disappear behind the door of the airship. "NO," she yelled hoarsely, but found herself unable to stand or follow. Not even the stone, was enough to draw her attention away from the ship as it rose into the air.

"Hold still," came Alaq'it's gentle voice from behind her. "He is gone. Your yelling will only hurt you now." She held out a hand to Orella's shoulder, offering what healing she could.

Orella barely noticed her presence. The spell did help, though the pain returned the moment the magicks ended. She needed more healing than the girl could give, and still she sat shaking as she looked to where the airship had been. "No," she whispered again.

Perhaps taking this as some sort of rejection, Alaq'it stood from her and returned inside. The sounds of fighting had ended from behind them. She should go and join them, she knew, should help them assess the weight of their victory - or, like as not, their loss. But she could not bring herself to tear her eyes away from the penetrating blue of the cloudless sky. Then Akhutai exhaled slowly, a sound Orella recognized as one of battle fatigue - and she took that as her cue to return to the others.

---

"Azeyma bless us." It was A'zaela's voice, which Ashe recognized before she had even opened her eyes. "The next time I try to convince you to reunite with lost family, just kill me, please."

Every ilm of her body ached, but most distressing was the fact that she had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. Her friend's thin but strong arms encircled her, doing their best to prop her into a sort of sitting position. That new glimpse at her surroundings triggered the barest hint of remembrance.

A lock of her own hair fell into her face - bloodied, but red. Red, as it had been before Ultima, before even the Garleans and their imprisonment.

As red as it had been when she'd returned to Gyr Abania.

"Thank you," she whispered. It was all she could think to say. Already the pain of her ordeal was starting to subside, leaving a vaguer sort of stiffness to settle in its place. "Thank you all. And I'm sorry."

A'zaela shook her head firmly. "...Save your apologies for when you're recovered and not full of grief. Right now, I do not want them."

"If she is apologizing," pointed out Alaq'it, "she is talking, which is a good sign."

A'zaela was still shaking her head, less in response to Alaq'it's words and more in what seemed to be an unconscious instinct to clear her head.

"Where is the legatus?" Ashelia asked.

Silence. A'zaela's eyes darted to her left - to where Orella knelt, well apart from the others, arms folded over her chest as she stared up at an empty sky. Ashe's heart pounded as she saw her there, alive and seemingly unharmed but clearly unwell in some fashion.

"He fled," explained a scraped and bruised Priscilla. "But he didn't take the stone."

There came a noise more like a gust of wind than a sigh, and a heavy thud as Bull laid himself down not far from where he stood. She tilted her head and saw him there, alive, staring upwards at the hall's high ceiling. After another exhale, he began to laugh. "Never gets any easier... but that's half the fun."

"...Some aspects get easier, I find." That was Akhutai's voice, his tone as dry as ever. "But overall.... Well, there's always something."

Bull sniffed as he returned to his feet. "Yeah, easy things ain't as fun, though. Another mountain to climb, another ocean to swim across."

"Do not TELL me you want to go SWIMMING after all this!" Alaq'it cried.

Even that got a smile out of Akhutai, it seemed, but that alone was not enough to appease Alaq'it. "Okay. Okay... raise your hand if you feel more dead than normal."

And Ashe found she had strength enough to raise her hand. So did Bull, but as he did so, he winced: two thick trails of blood oozed down his arm to join the rest of the gore speckled across his body.

"We're all fools here," A'zaela said to her. "Even those without stones. Fools trying to save the world. I cannot let you shoulder the blame when I was at my worst as well. But I do not think I'm angry. Perhaps I will be later." She sighed. "But today, at least, we succeeded. And we will live one day more."

One day more. A day without the Seraph's immutable histories, without her prophecies, without any sort of guidance for the battles ahead. The thought of it might have seemed impossible to bear, if only-

As she surveyed what would be their exit, the first of many descending flights of stairs, she saw Nivelth Ajuyn lying immobile.

"Zaela." The name emerged strangled by fear, racked with all her grief and guilt. "How many did we lose?" She stared around. "Don't tell me I..."

"None," her friend replied. A'zaela held out her hand to help lift her to her feet, but she could not take it. Not yet - not until she could prove her words for true.

Instead, she let a sob tear its way from her throat.

"Ivaan died," came a low, wry voice from off in one corner. "You killed him with your own hand. It was awful."

She did not need to look over for a smile to cross her face. "...Fuck you, Arkwright."

Alaq'it marched over and reached up to smack him upside the head, and Bull gave a loud guffaw. "Well now, that's not very nice, Sticks!"

Removing the helm revealed Ivaan's smile as Alaq'it shook her hand, pained from slapping the metal. "It's good to have you back," he said.

Heedless of the friendly chatter, Ashe looked around, hardly daring to believe that they had all survived. But her friends sat and joked and laughed as though to remind themselves of their success, mere fulms away from scores upon scores of Garlean corpses. "I was worried for... Eindride. And Malla," she said, unsure if she was going to be ill or not.

"Come," said A'zaela. "We need to destroy the rest of the auracite. And to make sure that missive doesn't reach Edge."

Her heart clenched at that name - at everything that her folly would have taken from him, had it in any way been brought to life. She could not even recall the missive A'zaela referred to.

Bull motioned to the exit. "Should probably round the others up and be on our way. Won't be soon enough."

She nodded. The idea of leaving was too tempting to ignore. "I agree. If nothing else, we can return for cleanup later, and reassess back when we're back aboard the Prima Vista."

Akhutai hooked a massive sword, one she didn't recognize, to his belt. Alaq'it glanced around at the bodies. "...I had thought to remain a moment," she said. "To clean this up. But I am too tired to bury a dozen bodies by myself."

Ashe made to stand on her own but found it impossible. Rather than rely on another to carry her, she harnessed the Echo for a moment of strength to bring herself to her feet, and gave a start in the split second in which she saw through her father's eyes, staring over the Ridorana Cataract...

And she smiled, knowing from his tangible relief that she was well and truly back.

---

"No giving up now," Priscilla said softly to Orella, if not to herself. The young woman held out a hand for her, though for what, Orella could not immediately tell. "There's a world full of hurt and a need for you."

Something felt like it broke inside Orella, hearing that. She couldn't even have been sure why, but she couldn't help but bow her head and let out a wretched little sob, horrified that a noise like that could make it out of her.

Without raising her head, she realized there was a weight missing at her back, or upon her side, or- "My- My sword," she said roughly. She didn't want to look up, didn't want to see the pity in Pris' eyes. "I... Take me to my sword." Then, with a little hesitation, "... Please."

Pris nodded twice, then hoisted Orella to her feet with far more strength than she'd been expecting. Her sword was over toward the entrance to the garden, closer to where the bastard had departed. Priscilla led her all the way there without a word of complaint.

It was effort she could scarce afford, with her mangled hand, but she managed it anyway. She bent, picked up the sword and slid it onto her back before nodding and gritting her teeth, knowing Pris would only have to bear more of her weight again on the way back down.

#Phantom Pains RISK #The Riskbreakers #ALL OF THEM.#THIS IS IT.#THE GLORIOUS FINALE.#PLEASE READ LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE.

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victoodles · 5 years

Text

Corruption (Crowley x Angel Reader) Part 1

I finished Good Omens yesterday and I wrote this today. The second part (aka the filth) will be coming soon! Also on AO3!

Goody Two-Shoes

That’s what he'd been calling you for the past 6,000 years or so. You were a rule-abiding angel - obediently following orders with no questions asked. Always with an eager flap of your wings. Past tense, however, is key here.

Were.

Now you found yourself lazily draped over the arm of a demon’s throne in his own abode, white dress pooling around your thighs. A cup of wine in hand, held up in the air as you idly swished the liquid. You felt like a girl in one of those oil paintings you saw during the Renaissance.

Like ‘The Venus of Urbino’

Crowley chuckled, bemused but humored. “Like the what now?”

“Oh! Nothing,” you said, forgetting the thought with a swig of your drink. You hadn’t realized you’d actually spoken aloud.

He had recently turned you on to the joys of wine: Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet, the list goes on. Those uppity Archangels had created a trend amongst the humans. They claimed the stuff was a vice, abhorrent, and immensely sinful. How drab.

Later on, they passed it down the angel hierarchy as gospel, essentially condemning it. It was clearly meant for slothful humans with no faith. You made it a priority to avoid it at all costs, lest you eternally displease your overseers.

However, it seemed Crowley was to be much more...persuasive than the hogwash lectures from Gabriel and Michael. The influence they had over you was unraveling, as much as you tried to deny it.

For this, Crowley seemed to find quite a bit of fun in teasing you throughout the centuries. He ruffled your feathers, quite literally. You had always been by the books - no ifs, ands, or buts. After all, the higher-ups did assign you to tote after Aziraphale once he “lost” his flaming sword. Keep him on the straight and narrow. You hadn't expected the infamous snake of Eden to be along for the ride.

Crowley had quickly made a game with his friend on how many times in one conversation he could make you scoff in contempt. His current record was seventeen.

But the tit for tat was never malicious in nature like his kind was so inclined towards. Much like Aziraphale, he thoroughly enjoyed your company and the banter along with it.

Perhaps even a tad more than Aziraphale.

Try as you may, you couldn’t fathom why the angel would ever keep the company of a demon like Crowley. Demons and angels went together as well as one could expect of fire and gasoline. But despite all your angelic instincts, you decided to keep their friendship (and yours) out of your reports to Heaven.

And as much as you tried to remain prickled towards him, you soon found yourself inching closer and closer to Crowley.

“So I told Cain, ‘In my humble opinion, I think Abel isn’t worth his sheeps' shit.’ I thought he would take it out on his brother’s herd, not beat him to death with a rock,” Crowley explained with an exasperated sigh. “Alas.”

Appalled but not surprised, you clapped a hand over your mouth. “You aided in creating humankind’s first killer?!” Pride tugged at the corner of Crowley’s lips at your declaration.

“Well when you put it like that, it sounds far more exciting doesn’t it?”

You threw a velvet cushion at his head - he dodged it with a laugh. “Crowley! That’s terrible,” you squealed. Crowley leaned back on his palms along his stone table, shrugging nonchalantly.

“In my defense, Cain did receive protection and promises of vengeance from God afterwards,” he said as if it were something to boast about.

“Only for the price of everlasting exile,” you barked back dryly. Crowley regarded you from behind his sunglasses, a devilish (no pun intended) smirk on his face.

“Oh sorry, princess, I forget how positively tame you are in comparison.” Pink rushed to your cheeks at the emphasis on your new nickname. He had a plethora of them - sometimes a new one for each day of the week.

But the innuendo behind this one had your wings twitching against your back, eager to hide your newfound bashfulness. It was a habit you inadvertently developed whenever Crowley decided to get especially cheeky with you.

“E-excuse me,” your voice wavered, rising an octave with each pronounced syllable. Crowley’s simper only grew. He brought the bottle of wine on the table to his lips, ignoring the glass he had already poured.

“You’re not exactly the most anarchic, princess. Peace and order appeals to you too much to have any real fun,” he mocked with a click of his tongue.

How dare he!

You turned your nose up at him, “I’ll have you know, Mister Crowley, that I can be quite adventurous.” As if to prove the sentiment, you raised your glass at him. “See? I’m drunk, with a demon!”

That last point was made to really drive home the fact of how bad you were. Crowley was not impressed. He took a hearty sip from his bottle, rolling his eyes in the process. Your frustration only grew at his dismissal.

Crowley regarded you as he drank, loving how the remnants of your blush left your cheeks an enchanting shade of red. You always seemed to captivate him regardless of circumstances. To say he was attracted to your purity, amongst other things, wouldn’t be too far from the truth

A purity he selfishly wanted all to himself.

The demon found himself quite enamored with you for reasons that would be too...saccharine for someone of his ilk to admit. But when you look at him with your big doe-eyes, the heart he swears he doesn’t have beats just a little bit faster. Though he persistently insists it’s just to appear more human when Aziraphale inquires.

He can’t help it. The moment that innocent gaze turns into a fiery glower, he swears he’s never seen anything more intense in his existence.

Sultry. That’s the best word he can use to describe you right you right now. Pursing your lips on the rim of your glass, you attempt to quell your agitation with wine. Your free arm hand loosely grasps the back of the chair, head lolled. He took note of how much leg you were showing as you gently swung your feet back and forth. There wasn’t an ounce of virtue in your posture.

If he didn’t know any better he would’ve thought you a succubus, attempting to disarm and seduce him.

A thought crossed his mind as he released the bottle from his mouth with a pop.

“You know,” he began, slowly licking the remnants of wine off his lips. You noticed, and tried to ignore the thrumming in your chest. “I bet you’ve never indulged in any of the other physical pleasures humanity has to offer,” he said lasciviously.

Plush feathers tickled your spine as you desperately tried to contain your wings. You lurched forward in your seat, choking on wine while he has the gaul to snicker at you.

“The audacity-“

“Well have you,” he cuts you off before you can chastise him. You’re taken aback by how forward he’s being. Petulance then fills you.

“O-of course I have,” you sputter pathetically. He quirked an eyebrow, silently asking you to continue. You face forward, straightening yourself out in a sad attempt to gather more composure.

“...There was a sweet Parisian lad who took me to Carnaval way back when. He tried to teach me to dance and, well, you know how the saying goes. In the end he graced me with a kiss on the cheek under the moonlight. Oh, it was all rather romantic.”

“Quite the little minx, ain’t you? I feel like a sinner in church just listening to ya, princess,” Crowley huffed, throwing back another gulp.

You were burning up more than you knew possible. While other ethereal inhabitants may choose to partake in certain...activities, you decided to stick to modesty. To be chaste. It’s how all proper angels should be!

Right?

“And I suppose you have then,” you grumbled, defeated.

With that, Crowley’s demeanor shifted. Previous inhibitions gone from a simple question.

He placed the bottle back down, removing his sunglasses in the process. Serpentine eyes, half lidded and glowing a faint yellow in the evening light, bore into you. His legs spread tantalizingly.

Another pang against your ribs.

It suddenly ceased when he pushed himself up and began to saunter over to you.

“Why yes,” he said sensually as he approached.

“Yes.”

Step.

“I.”

Step.

“Have.” His hand found a perch on the ornate backrest as he towered above you. He pushed your legs apart with his knee and stood between them. You inhaled sharply, your glass slipping from your grasp and shattering harshly on the floor beside you. Neither of you paid the mess any mind.

Crowley chuckled darkly, daring to lean in closer. “Lust, quite an enjoyable thing really. Lucifer truly did the world a kindness with that particular circle of Hell,” he mused, looking downward almost fondly. His free hand caressed your cheek, featherlight.

Ironically, you felt heavier. The weight of your unspoken attraction to the demon was crashing down upon you. You tried, for countless years, to subdue any unseemly desires. An angel could not intimately coexist with their mortal enemy, a demon.

...Right?

It had always been a challenge the more attached you became to Earth. To Crowley. Your efforts were tumultuous, yet overall successful. But now, in this moment, it was unbearable.

Suffocating.

Again Crowley slid closer, noses mere inches apart. The sweetness of the wine still lingered on him. “Skin on skin. A heat in your belly that can only be satiated by submitting to carnal urges. Kissing, biting, fucking,” he purred against the shell of your ear.

An unfamiliar shiver wracked your body; you’ve never been this close to another soul before. The rumble of his impish laughter sent that same shiver lower that time.

Those eyes, snakelike but bewitching, they had to be putting you in some sort of trance. It was intoxicating - may it forever bound you within it’s honied depths.

Those eyes.

Behind them was longing, need, warmth.

“Tell me, Angel,” his thumb traces your plush bottom lip. “Would you like to know?”

Ensnared.

“K-know what?” The words were barely a whisper.

The devil always hears.

You planted your own Garden of Eden and reached for the apple of your own accord. The snake hisses with delight from beyond the underbrush.

“Would you like to know what it’s like?” His lips are almost upon yours now, waiting patiently for what they knew would eventually come.

Temptation is a cruel master.

#good omens #good omens x reader #crowley x reader #crowley good omens #vic's fics!#i love my dumb snake husband #crowley

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flamewing · 5 years

Text

First half of Inktober is done! 😁

~~~

Day 11: Snow

[ID: a black and white digital drawing of a horse pulling a fancy spherical carriage. The coachman is Seijūrō Akashi from Kuroko’s Basketball, wearing a formal black suit. Standing in the carriage are Takao, Midorima, and an OC, Rika Akimoto. She is a short young woman with her dark hair styled up in a bun. All characters are looking at the viewer and smiling. Takao is holding up a peace sign and lifting one foot out to the side. He and Midorima are wearing black suits and standing on either side of Rika, each of them with a hand around her waist; likewise, Rika, who is wearing a long dress and high heels, has her hands around theirs. End ID]

No literal snow, but here’s Yukimaru taking these four to the dance! :D

(Also, here’s a bonus close-up version of the three in the carriage because I did a separate sketch for them before adding them to the full image above. I just thought it was really cute and had to share 😍)

[ID: a close-up of part of the previous drawing, as described above. End ID]

Day 12: Dragon

[ID: a black and white digital drawing of two dragons circling each other and snarling. One dragon has a stocky build, a pair of batlike wings, horns around its head, and short spikes running down its back. The other has a serpentine body, whiskers, antlers, and fur around its head and running down its back, as well as on the back of its front legs and at the tip of its tail. End ID]

They’re about to fight—east vs west >:3

Day 13: Ash

Ermm I kept this one extremely simple (and even then I failed at the lid oops) but I was behind schedule ok 😂

[ID: a black and white digital drawing of an open box of ashes. End ID]

Just a small box of ashes 😅 it’s still from one of the fics. Not gonna say anything about it yet, though. Hehe

Day 14: Overgrown

Is it cheating to do a (sort of) repeat? Ehh oh well *shrugs*

[ID: a black and white digital drawing of Tetsuya Kuroko and a gigantic wolf resembling Nigou, both facing right and smiling. Kuroko is wearing a cloak and has a hand on one of the wolf’s front legs. End ID]

Nigou again, except this time it’s the version of him from the WIP and he’s, well.. big. Like… very big. Lol

(He’s supposed to be seven feet at the shoulder idk if the drawing is accurate >w>)

Day 15: Legend

[ID: a black and white digital drawing of a phoenix. It has a small crest of feathers on the back of its head as well as long flowing tail feathers, and its wings are on fire. It is flying up toward the right. End ID]

Well, my fic on AO3 is called Rebirth and it does have to do, at least figuratively, with the legendary phoenix, so… =3

~~~

1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 22-26 | 27-31 + 21

#inktober #inktober 2019 #knb #kuroko no basket #kuroko no basuke #akashi seijuurou #takao kazunari #midorima shintarou #oc #knb oc #oc: rika akimoto #yukimaru #nigou #tetsuya 2 #kuroko tetsuya #my art #kuroko’s basketball #the basketball which kuroko plays

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thedinkyandstinkyfritzworkshop · 5 years

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8 New Dragon Species!

Draconic Snapping Turtle:

Large wingless dragon that have the appearance of gargantuan snapping turtles with thick plated shells & tails. They are typically adorned in moss to blend in with the bed of lakes, rivers, and ponds that they dwell in. They are patient and forceful hunters that lurk near the bottom of freshwater sources. They use their fire breath weapon to keep their territory warm enough to their liking and to boil alive any trespassing creature or prey to prevent escape.

They are solitary creatures that live to hunt and defend their territory. Draconic Snapping Turtles are fairly neutral and will let trespassers explore their territory as long as they present an offering and don’t anger the dragon. They are one of the few dragon species that court for life. This is due to the fact they don’t like to leave their territory and hate trespassers. Once a male reaches age he will go on a journey to find a mate and move into her territory for life.

Despite the two being different species Draconic Snapping Turtles can become soul mates with Draegators. The pair cannot produce offspring but will share their territory and horde. Both of these dragons prefer to items such as skulls, weaponry, and armory of fallen foes in underwater tunnels and caves they dig.

Draegator:

Gigantic wingless dragon that look similar to alligators covered in thick plates and chain spikes. They live in rivers, lakes, & swamps. Unlike alligator they are extremely agile and fast, this is due to their extra set of legs and longer bodies. They prefer to swim right below the surface of water and pull down any creature that swims through their territory.

Dracegators are solitary creatures that only enjoy fighting off intruders. If a trespasser is too weak to satisfy the dragon’s need for battle the dragon will allow their foe to leave unless they haven’t hunted in a while and need to feast. If the creature puts up a worthy fight the dragon may give the creature one of the weakest items from its horde if the creature vows to return and fight again when stronger.

Draegators only mate when in season and do not allow others draegators to stay in their territory outside of mating purposes. However, draegators will allow any creature it declares its soul mate to stay in its territory.

Dragoon Angler:

Medium sized wingless dragons with 4 tentacles that are apprehensive, long skinny forearms with hooks, serpentine body, stubby eel head with needle-like angle fangs, and bumpy warts are the entire body that are luminescent. This creature lives in the twilight zone of the ocean and deeper on the sea bed, open ocean, and underwater volcanoes. They are silent stalkers of the depths that use their hypnotic patterns and acid breath weapon to lure and take down their prey.

These dragons enjoy inflicting fear and pain in their prey more than anything. They greatly enjoy feeling more powerful and fierce than other creatures. They are purely savage and use inedible gore from their best kills for their horde: skulls, spines, & other types of bones. They find either caves or stone formations to put their horde in.

Dragoon Anglers don’t necessarily hate other creatures but more see them as play them to inflict their violent hobbies and desires onto. These thoughts do not exclude their own species. However, they do recognize their own species and play fight - which is still violent but not deadly or scary - instead of torturing each other like they do with other species. If a Dragoon Angler finds a playmate it thought was very fun they will court for about a decade then leave to find a new play mate. When they find a play mate the pair will hunt together and share any finding, but they still live separately. If a playmate dies the mate will find the killer and bring the copse back to the horde as a trophy - despite how hungry the dragon will not eat the killer of its playmate.

Dune Wraith:

Massive wingless dragons with a flat and long body covered in gigantic flat plates on the back with a smooth underbelly. They use their flat bodies to burrow under the sand and ambush prey. They use their sonic breath weapon and sand controlling abilities to create controlled sandstorms.

Dune wraiths are calm and regal dragons that are amused by humanoids and other small creatures. They enjoy forging castles and fortresses out of sandstone and making luscious gardens and oasis. They find enjoyment in building and amusing mortals by helping them with inconvenient things. Dune wraiths like to keep trinkets given or left behind by small creatures like humanoids: pictures, pet collars, wedding/promise rings, lockets, recipe books, & other items of sentimental value.

Dune wraiths will court until their offspring are mature. Dune wraith only keep soul mates in their fortresses outside of mating. Dune wraiths typically don’t become soul mates with their own species since they find other dune wraiths bland to live with. Often dune wraiths will allow humanoids and weaker dragon species to live in their creations as long as they honor the dragon.

Koi Dragon:

Tiny dragons that have catfish shaped bodies and whiskers and koi fish colors. They also have fins similar to koi fish and 2 sets of small wings that flap violently like a bug’s wings. They have the ability to control small amount of water and ice breath weapon.

Koi dragons are calm and curious dragons that love decorating their territory with their horde and seeing new creatures and objects. They are peaceful creatures that do everything they can to protect the creatures in their territory. Koi dragons become very sad if the creatures in their territory are killed or harmed by outsiders. If the dragon loses a creature or part of the terrain to an outsider they will become depressed. Koi dragons are quite gullible and become sad if they find someone has tried to take advantage of them.

They stay in small groups of either familial and friendly bonds. They also like to keep very pretty flowers, berries, stones, & feathers as loot. They like to take this loot and put it in small displays across their territory. When these dragons mate one of the mates will join their new group and raise offspring among the group. For koi dragons it is seem as the responsibility of the whole group to raise the offspring.

Makodar:

A giant dragon with a long agile body, smooth leathery skin, and large spiked dorsal fins. They live in the ocean in: shores, coral reef, kelp forests, & sea beds. They are able to control large amounts of water and use their sonic breath weapon.

Makodar feel as though they are the king/queen of their territory and any who enter should either obey to their demands willingly or be slaughtered for disrespect. Makodar hate having any competition in their territory and will chase out or kill younger dragons, strong humanoids, or strong creatures to prevent being usurped as the mot powerful creature in their territory. They prefer have artifacts of great power or value to flaunt their power. Makodar will bend powerful weapons and armor into jewelry to display their power. Any items the dragon cannot turn into jewelry it will make into a bed that it will rest upon.

Since Makodar hate competition they will in a area outside of both dragon’s territories. The stronger dragon will raise the offspring, but once the offspring is strong enough to hunter they will be chased out of the territory to avoid becoming competition. Makodar are hesitant to have a soul mate, but will only have a soul mate on the grounds the mate is weaker and obedience to them.

Nonokor:

Medium skinny dragons with long necks and tail cover in quills that live in the harsh deserts. They can expand their neck to cause the quills to stick out - the quills on their tail will also stick out when they do this. If they stick out their quills they can choose to shoot them out into nearby creatures - they need to take a long rest to regrow the quills. They have fire breath weapon.

Nonokor are very playful and mischievous creatures that live in small groups of either siblings or friends. The group always make sure to ensure that every member eats or drinks despite how little it may be. If the pack catches more than they need they will go to groups or nearby creatures and give them the food. Sometime when packs cross they will engage in play sessions and will even do this with humanoid groups if the humanoids are non-hostile.

Nonokors have flings during mating season and keep the offspring safe at the lair until they can join the hunt. Often these dragons will guard the lair and play with dune wraiths or act as the steeds for catfolk. Since these dragons love company so much it is difficult for them to deal with loss and death.

Zephrok:

Massive dragon with long slender bodies, a feather crown, & feathery wings. They live among the clouds overlooking the weather and skies. They are able to control clouds and summon lighting alongside their radiant breath weapon.

Zephrok are very regal and are very stern - they are especially stern about creatures needing permission to enter their territory. They are fairly neutral and will give creatures the option of leaving, but will force any creature out of it’s lair by violence if the creature will not abide. The dragon will allow uninvited guests if they have business the dragon is interested in. Zephroks like hearing about worldly affairs, creatures/people of significance, new technology, and impressive media (books, games, art, etc). However, once this business is done they will press for the creature(s) to leave. These dragons like to keep objects such as books, maps, games, art, music, jewelry, hats, mirrors, or clocks as treasure. They are very interested in things people make, but won’t accept every item since each zephrok has it’s own taste.

Zephrok will court in a professional manner. They will court until the offspring are old enough to leave the lair. Zephroks will give permission for creatures to enter their territory for a short amount of time if they calmly wait outside and ask for permission. Zephroks will keep soul mate of any creature. Despite how distant a zephrok may seem it will defend its soul mate to the death.

#dragon #rpg #fantasy #scifi #sci fi #fritzworkshop

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