 Celestia gazed into the starry horizon, wondering and pondering. What was she, of all Ny'venes doing here? She glanced at her siblings, thinking about their story. Once upon a time... There were three little dragonets, three little Ny'venes. The gal's name was Celestia, and she shone like the sun, shined like the moon. She seemed to have an affinity for time, able to wait, able to tell the time, able to seemingly slow it down, or speed it up.
 Dawn chuckled. He blinked his tired eyes, tired from their adventure. What was their spirit? What did Celestia, and Dusk, and Dawn all do all of this for? Well, maybe they learned something. Perhaps they had made a difference in the world. Once upon a time... There were three little dragonets, three little Ny'venes. The youngest boy's name was Dawn, and he was a sunny little dragon, seemingly glowing with good and positivity, able to be light, able to bend light.
 Dusk sighed. He was just as tired as his brother and sister, and a whole lot more annoyed. What were they doing it all for? Some stupid friggin' glory? What the heck! Ah well. It was there and done. Once upon a time... There were three little draognets, three lttle Ny'venes. The oldest, his name was Dusk, and he seemed tp blend in with the shadows, hiding how smart and clever he really was. He seemed to become invisible at will; he seemed to be that type.
Once upon a time, there were three dragonets, three little Ny'venes. The oldest, his name was Dusk, and he seemed to blend in with the shadows. The gal was Celestia, and she shone like the sun, shined like the moon, having an affinity for time. The youngest was Dawn, and he was a sunny little dragon, glowing, bending light. They had gone on an adventure, not long ago, once upon a time... |
Stark
Sleur
Syrene
(I also saved their designs in private. I can set them to public if needed.)
_________________________________________________________________________
First Foray
"Have you ever heard about the Nephini who got stuck in a keyhole?" Sleur's voice broke through the flying-falling sensation that was my precursor to sleep. The stables had been nice and quiet when night fell, and I was looking forward to getting some rest from a full day's 'entertaining' potential Masters. But of course, Sleur had to ruin that, the restless idiot.
I opened one eye to glare at the horned head peeking over my stall. "No, I haven't heard of the Nephini, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."
Sleur grinned and said, "Well, I can't. Because it hasn't happened yet!"
I groaned and faced away from the sea-colored Ny'vene. Tomorrow will come bright and early, and I needed my sleep. But Sleur will keep bugging me all night if I don't give him the chance to tell his lame jokes.
Though there were only three of us in the building, Sleur's constant chatter during the daytime made it seem as though all stalls were occupied. Night time was the only time when quiet ruled - or it was supposed to be.
"Hey, quiet down, you two," hissed a voice from the other side of my stall.
I rose silently and stole a peek at the occupant - meeting her violet glare head on. The light in the stables was dim, but her fiery mane along with her bright scales lit up her stall so I could see her clearly. "Sorry, about that. He'll settle down now."
"Make sure he does." The female Ny'vene grumbled and curled back up to sleep, her mane dimming.
I followed her example and dropped into my own sleeping curl.
But Sleur wasn't done.
"Hey, who was that?" He whispered loud enough for two stalls over to hear. "Did you see her? Was she pretty? Did you catch her name? Hey, Stark. Stark. Hey. Hey, answer me."
"Will you shut up?" The female snarled. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"
I opened an eye and saw her leaning over my stall to growl at Sleur. Her mane had brightened with her annoyance and now it lit up my entire stall. I sighed and mentally bid farewell to a full night's rest.
"Enough with the jokes," I told Sleur from my comfortable position. "We've got work tomorrow."
"Work? What work?" Sleur asked, his green frills waving cheekily. "We're here all day and all night, waiting for someone to take notice of us. And I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of telling the same old jokes day in, day out."
"Good," I snorted, "Because I'm tired of hearing them. Now go to sleep."
"Sleep is for the weak! Hey, when did you-"
"Good night." I pointedly shifted into a tighter curl. By the receding light behind my closed lids, I knew the female had dropped back into her stall too.
Silence fell on the stables. I squirmed deeper into the nest of wood chips in my stall and sighed in relief. I might get a good night's rest after all.
And then-
"Hey."
My eyes snapped open.
I carefully rose to look over the wall dividing my stall from Sleur's as the other Ny'vene kept whispering, "Hey, do you think we'll get picked by Masters tomorrow? Or just one Master? I don't really want to have a Master, do you? Aren't they all-"
"If you don't shut up and go to sleep," I hissed menacingly, "I'll seal your lips together for the entire night."
Sleur blinked his eyes at me.
The growing light at the corner of my eye told me the female Ny'vene was watching.
Sleur glanced past me, and then his frills drooped. "Okay. Okay, I was just... Never mind." He slowly curled into his own nest of wood chips.
The female snorted behind me and the loss of light meant she's dropped back down again.
But Sleur was still looking up at me.
"Hey," he whispered softly, "you think someone's caught the Tranquil Sunset Nephini yet?"
It was my turn to blink at him, "The what?"
Sleur's frills perked up, hopefully. "The Tranquil Sunset Nephini. I overheard some of the Masters talking about it. They said it was the most elusive Nephini this side of Sylestia and that everyone's been trying to find it."
I sighed and shook my head. "Just because everyone else is looking for the Nephini, doesn't mean we will be looking too."
"But...aren't you curious as to what it looks like?"
"No."
"I am." The female Ny'vene poked her head out of her stall again but this time, instead of an irritated glare, there was interest sparkling in her violet eyes. "I'd like to see what everyone's been talking about."
I shook my head again, "I don't think we-"
"Why don't we sneak out into the forest and look for it?" Sleur suggested, his frills spread wide in excitement. "I mean, we could-"
"Get ourselves captured by bandits and be their slaves for the rest of our lives?" I interrupted. "We're not allowed to go into the forest if we don't have Masters, remember?"
Sleur's frills drew back in offense. "It's not like we'll be out there long. And there are wild Sylestis in the forest who don't have Masters."
"And they can still get captured by bandits."
"We can avoid them for one night, can't we?"
"How do you think-" I stopped, when I realized the light from the female Ny'vene's mane was moving towards the stable doors. "Hey, where are you going?"
She glanced back at me but didn't stop walking. "To the forest, where else?"
"To the..." Sleur repeated then leaped over his stall door and ran after the female. "Hey! Wait for us!"
" 'Us?'" I muttered to myself as I vaulted my own stall. "What does he mean 'us'?"
We followed the female Nyvene out through the stable doors. Wed been living in the stables for so long; the owner didnt bother to lock the doors anymore. Besides, there isnt a lock made that a determined Sylesti couldnt break.
The town was mostly quiet, with people sleeping peacefully in their beds. A little while ago, I could have been one of them if it wasnt for my impulsive - and foolish - stablemates.
We caught up to the female just at the edge of town. A wooden sign proclaiming, Esiors Fields, guarded the break in the fence that separated the town from its wheat fields. In the daytime, the fields would be a bright, busy yellow with townsfolk and Masters searching for bandits and wild Sylestis that wandered in. At night though, the wheat stalks swayed lazily like waiting Vulnyxs tails, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting Sylesti.
We go past the fields and into the forest. The female said softly with a questioning look at Sleur.
My stablemate nodded and explained, If we follow the fence, theres an opening right at the edge, past the merchant. Cant miss it.
The female turned away and started walking along the fence. Syrene.
What? I asked as both Sleur and I followed her.
Its my name. Syrene.
I blinked, and said, Im Stark. The noisy ones Sleur.
Now we know each other. So be quiet. I dont want to attract any kind of attention.
Any kind? Sleur stepped in. But what about other Masters? Some of them are out there, you know, also looking for the Nephini. And what about-"
Syrene stopped. Turned to face Sleur. And spoke in sweet but deadly I-will-burn-your-face-off voice, Any. Kind. Of attention. Period.
Sleurs frills drooped a little but he agreed quietly, Okay.
The three of us walked through the field in silence. I kept my senses on alert, hoping we wouldnt run into any bandits tonight. If I had heard from the other Masters right, the bandits were mostly unwashed so I hoped their stench would be enough of a warning to us they were nearby. That is, if the smell of the wheat stalks wouldn't overpower the scent of stale sweat and old leather. Then all we had to worry about would be the wild Sylestis.
Sleur and I could fight, yes, but bandits were known to attack in groups andwell, the two of us were never any good at fighting together. Our wings would tangle, we would bump our heads, scratch each other by accident I shook my head. No, it was better not to get dragged into a fight at all.
Minutes passed, and soon we spotted the merchants canvas wagon. Thankfully, the merchant was busy organizing her stock of traps and so didnt pay us any attention as we crept past. I eyed the gleaming traps with equal amounts of hope and fear. If I had a Master, I'd be helping him or her capture wild Sylestis with those traps. But since I hadnt been chosen yet, I'd have no Master to protect me from those traps.
Yet here I was, traipsing into the forest and being all the more vulnerable to those things.
From the merchant, it didnt take long to reach the break in the fence that opened to the forest. I slowly stepped closer to the opening as I peered left and right. When I was sure there was no one about other than the looming trees of the forest a few meters away, I waggled a wing finger to invite the other two closer.
So far, so good. I whispered. Think we can find our way back through the forest?
Syrene shrugged. Probably.
I turned to give her an incredulous look- and therefore, didn't spot the growing shadow to my left until it was too late.
"Well now, what have we here?"
The bandit came out of the shadows with a leer on his face. Then two other bandits followed behind him.
I stepped back, bumping wing claws with the other two; Sleur and Syrene both had backed closer to me. It was a nightmare come true - we were facing bandits without a Master. If these bandits caught us, there was no telling what they'll do to us.
Images of bloodthirsty Sylestis fighting and bleeding while behind them, their bandit Masters laughed rushed through my head. Sleur and I - and maybe Syrene - could take on one bandit but three? We were doomed.
"Looks like we got lucky," the second bandit sneered, "there's three widdle kiddies all alone by themselves."
Syrene snarled as her fiery mane grew brighter. She was channeling her inner fire, as I drew shadows around my claws. And with Sleur's forceful wind magic, maybe we had a chance after all?
But in the next moment, my tiny hope was dashed.
The third bandit waved her staff and a howling force sent Sleur tumbling backwards with a pained yelp.
"Sleur!" Before I could get to him, the first bandit lunged at me with a sword. A quick jump barely missed my wing being impaled. But the sword bit sharply on the edge of my wing.
A fireball flying past almost burned my right frill, but the following angry hiss told me Syrene was having trouble with the second bandit - which left the third bandit alone, and ready to cast on either of us.
I tucked my wings close, flaring out the dark ice spines on my back. The first bandit was smugly waving his sword at me. Any minute now, that third bandit was going to send me yowling. Any minute now, I'd feel a spelled net closing in on me. Any minute now...
But instead, I heard a choked off cry.
I glanced at the third bandit. The sight of a Griffi on top of the bandit barely registered in my head before there was another scream.
A second Griffi, its large body rippling with muscle, came charging at Syrene's bandit with its claws out and flashing. The sight would have unnerved anyone and I didn't blame the bandit one bit for trying to flee.
Then my attention was caught by the last Griffi, who landed in between me and my bandit, with frozen shards coating every inch of his armored body.
The bandit screamed in rage and swung at the Griffi - the shards absorbed the sword's impact as the Griffi swiped left and right.
And in less than a minute, the bandits that ambushed us were out for the count.
"Foolish pups," the third Griffi rumbled at me, "what are you doing out here without a Master?"
"Looking for the Nephini," Syrene muttered sulkily as she came close.
"And we're strong too!" Sleur butt in as he returned from where the bandit had sent him, one leg limping. "With or without a Master; we were just...caught by surprise, that's all!"
The Griffi snorted. "Foolish, foolish pups. Don't you know? Masters have an important but often overlooked duty aside from taking care of their charges."
"Come on!" The Griffis' Master called impatiently, who had already finished rummaging through the bandits' loot, "I have a feeling we'll be seeing that Neph tonight!"
As the Griffi turned to follow his Master, he shot over his shoulder, "They're also our pack mules."
The three of us watched the group walk away and enter the forest. The fight with the bandits told us that we definitely can't take care of ourselves just yet. And the final advice that Griffi told us? I puzzled over that until I remembered a passing Master mention 'buying potions' to her friend.
Maybe, these Masters with their hands and backpacks, have their uses after all?
"So, what now?" Sleur asked us, holding one foot off the ground. He'll be useless in a fight with that condition. Not to mention the burning pain in my cut wing would be distraction for me. There was no way we can enter the forest like this and survive. And neither can we count on another lucky happenstance for help to arrive.
I sighed and declared, "We're going back to the stables."
"What?" Syrene protested. "But we havent even seen the Nephini!"
"And we'll never live to see it if we keep going like this," I told her firmly, gesturing at Sleur's limp, a slash on her neck, and the still-bleeding cut on my wing.
Syrene heaved a great sigh and nodded. "Fine. Let's go back. Maybe it's better to have a Master, after all."
I ducked under Sleur's wing to support him as we trudged our way back to town, disappointed.
"So," Sleur spoke up, "have you heard about the Griffi..." |
