Post by o p a l. } on May 17, 2014 5:04:34 GMT
Deep beneath the earth, criss-crossing the dragons' island in an unfathomable web of tunnels and caves, there lair secrets and shadows of ages past. This place, long tucked away from the world, is a land all unto its own, filled with glowing crystals and underground rivers, slumbering beasts locked away and rifts so deep they seem to touch the core of the world...
This is Dragonsdeep.
"Wow."
The word, breathless, floated out from Kysan's mouth like a wisp of silver in a cold winter's morn. She took a few steps forward, seeing the vaulting ceilings arching high above, sparkling with crystals that her little orb of light couldn't reach. The darkness was cloying here, pressing around her light. No shadows leered at her, for her light did not penetrate far enough to create shadows.
The Daughter suppressed a shiver and braced herself. "I'm Kysannis of the Verdant Secret. Caves don't scare me." Her two crystalline horns had begun pulsing with light, recognizing the place they had come from: the earth.
It was a wonder that Ysera had unearthed this, such a well-kept secret. It made her wonder what her Mother might have in store. She really hoped that Icarus took this gift as what it was- a new world to explore, a new place to love, and new mysteries to unravel. Adventure.
How had it all started? In rage, of course...
~~
Of course, all of the territories knew now, and rumors had begun to circulate among the Creations already, even with this giant complex to distract them. However, back then, the insanity was just beginning. News had trickled down from a party of creations that had ventured into the Ice Territory that Shendu, Elemental of Ice, had apparently gone completely bonkers.
Dragons were already starting to babble about it when it reached the ears of Ysera.
Kysan had never thought her mother particularly touchy about not receiving news, but apparently she was wrong. Perhaps it was just the size of the threat, or the importance of the matter, that made the Earth Elemental so angry to be the last to receive such word. If it was any consolation, they wouldn't be making the same mistake again.
That day, the earth itself had screamed in rage. Just thinking about it made it hurt-
Anger, boiling anger. Flashes of green in front of her vision. Stumbling back towards the Earth Territory, collapsing at the top of the Drassil Basin. Tremors. All over. Deep down beneath the earth, shaking her up here, making her body tremor with the plates. Animals roaring in rage, engaging in carnage. A tiger had leaped over her prone form as she held her head in her paws and screamed in pain as the earth roiled and bucked beneath her, while her mind felt like it was going to split open. Her crystals had dug like daggers into her skull, and her body contorted without her telling it to.
Her siblings, less connected to the earth element, had felt it to a lesser extent. Creations, with their limited connection, could feel it, but not very well. They might've had a pulsing headache, or perhaps a migraine. Kession hadn't had much more than a fever and a severe headache. Kysan wasn't too sure about Priss.
After, she'd been discovered by Ysera's rider and brought to the massive tree for treatment. She'd stayed there for three days before her own pride forced her away from the care she probably still needed. Her body throbbed all over, but the damage to the land was worse.
For, in her anger, the earth had swallowed the entirety of the Dark Territory.
Kysan hadn't believed it. She'd journeyed there with her siblings to see it herself. There was simply sea where there had once been forests, waterfalls, rivers. It was gone.
After that came the Gathering. It was mainly just Icarus and Ysera that attended, as they were the ones with a score to settle. She hadn't been allowed anywhere near the Gathering itself that day, but neither had her siblings. The three of them were simply sitting their, anxious.
Finally, the Gathering was over. Their father had come out first, looking tired and worried, his scales a little duller than usual. Kysan had hovered close to him, yearning for a sign of fatherly affection, some reassurance, anything.
"No matter what happens, we'll win. Because unlike some 'daughters of the earth,' some of us can actually hold our own against an earthquake." Kession, of course, had decided to pick on her.
/It wasn't my fault that I'm so connected to the earth!/ she had thought. "Yeah, well, I'm certain that a butterfly will do tons of damage against any hostiles. What would you do, flutter over them and try and charm them to death?"
He opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off as Ysera came out of the Gathering Grove. "What happened, Father? Are we... you know?" Kysan had asked him, in the quiet voice of a half-afraid child. For once, Kession seemed to share her sentiment.
"Did she give him... Icarus... something to make it up?" Pleading cyan eyes had looked up at their father. Perhaps Kession would have more luck, Tivialous liked him much better than Kysan.
The answer came to them from their mother. "I gave him Dragonsdeep." Her voice was no longer the sweet melody that had soothed Kysan to sleep as a wyrmling, or the playful invitation, or even the harsh reprimand. She was no longer the dragoness who had cooed over the three of them and told them stories about the shapes in the stars, or described to them the lands faraway, or who had pranced like a deer when Kysan had completed her first shapeshift, or who had played tag with them one summer's afternoon in the shade of mango trees, the delicious scent wafting into their nostrils and giggles filling the air as the four of them collapsed into one laughing heap. She'd taken the three of them in her wings that day, furled those green-silk curtains around them, and the world, for one moment, seemed to stop, just the timeless eternity of the forest, and the happiness of her mother, her brother, her sister, and her. Ysera had become someone different. She'd become the Earth Elemental.
And with that, she'd strode past them, each step that of a predator.
For the first time since that day under the mango trees, the three siblings had stood together, and spoken as one voice.
"Dragonsdeep?"
~~
Now, here she stood, at the entrance to Icarus' new kingdom. Giant stone dragons guarded the entrance, gazing impassively down at her from their lofty heights. Already dragons had begun to explore the massive complex. There was one limitation: they were not allowed in the tunnels underneath Earth Territory.
To Kysan, it looked like infinity.
She stepped forward, and the darkness swallowed her.
Welcome to Dragonsdeep.
This is Dragonsdeep.
"Wow."
The word, breathless, floated out from Kysan's mouth like a wisp of silver in a cold winter's morn. She took a few steps forward, seeing the vaulting ceilings arching high above, sparkling with crystals that her little orb of light couldn't reach. The darkness was cloying here, pressing around her light. No shadows leered at her, for her light did not penetrate far enough to create shadows.
The Daughter suppressed a shiver and braced herself. "I'm Kysannis of the Verdant Secret. Caves don't scare me." Her two crystalline horns had begun pulsing with light, recognizing the place they had come from: the earth.
It was a wonder that Ysera had unearthed this, such a well-kept secret. It made her wonder what her Mother might have in store. She really hoped that Icarus took this gift as what it was- a new world to explore, a new place to love, and new mysteries to unravel. Adventure.
How had it all started? In rage, of course...
~~
Of course, all of the territories knew now, and rumors had begun to circulate among the Creations already, even with this giant complex to distract them. However, back then, the insanity was just beginning. News had trickled down from a party of creations that had ventured into the Ice Territory that Shendu, Elemental of Ice, had apparently gone completely bonkers.
Dragons were already starting to babble about it when it reached the ears of Ysera.
Kysan had never thought her mother particularly touchy about not receiving news, but apparently she was wrong. Perhaps it was just the size of the threat, or the importance of the matter, that made the Earth Elemental so angry to be the last to receive such word. If it was any consolation, they wouldn't be making the same mistake again.
That day, the earth itself had screamed in rage. Just thinking about it made it hurt-
Anger, boiling anger. Flashes of green in front of her vision. Stumbling back towards the Earth Territory, collapsing at the top of the Drassil Basin. Tremors. All over. Deep down beneath the earth, shaking her up here, making her body tremor with the plates. Animals roaring in rage, engaging in carnage. A tiger had leaped over her prone form as she held her head in her paws and screamed in pain as the earth roiled and bucked beneath her, while her mind felt like it was going to split open. Her crystals had dug like daggers into her skull, and her body contorted without her telling it to.
Her siblings, less connected to the earth element, had felt it to a lesser extent. Creations, with their limited connection, could feel it, but not very well. They might've had a pulsing headache, or perhaps a migraine. Kession hadn't had much more than a fever and a severe headache. Kysan wasn't too sure about Priss.
After, she'd been discovered by Ysera's rider and brought to the massive tree for treatment. She'd stayed there for three days before her own pride forced her away from the care she probably still needed. Her body throbbed all over, but the damage to the land was worse.
For, in her anger, the earth had swallowed the entirety of the Dark Territory.
Kysan hadn't believed it. She'd journeyed there with her siblings to see it herself. There was simply sea where there had once been forests, waterfalls, rivers. It was gone.
After that came the Gathering. It was mainly just Icarus and Ysera that attended, as they were the ones with a score to settle. She hadn't been allowed anywhere near the Gathering itself that day, but neither had her siblings. The three of them were simply sitting their, anxious.
Finally, the Gathering was over. Their father had come out first, looking tired and worried, his scales a little duller than usual. Kysan had hovered close to him, yearning for a sign of fatherly affection, some reassurance, anything.
"No matter what happens, we'll win. Because unlike some 'daughters of the earth,' some of us can actually hold our own against an earthquake." Kession, of course, had decided to pick on her.
/It wasn't my fault that I'm so connected to the earth!/ she had thought. "Yeah, well, I'm certain that a butterfly will do tons of damage against any hostiles. What would you do, flutter over them and try and charm them to death?"
He opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off as Ysera came out of the Gathering Grove. "What happened, Father? Are we... you know?" Kysan had asked him, in the quiet voice of a half-afraid child. For once, Kession seemed to share her sentiment.
"Did she give him... Icarus... something to make it up?" Pleading cyan eyes had looked up at their father. Perhaps Kession would have more luck, Tivialous liked him much better than Kysan.
The answer came to them from their mother. "I gave him Dragonsdeep." Her voice was no longer the sweet melody that had soothed Kysan to sleep as a wyrmling, or the playful invitation, or even the harsh reprimand. She was no longer the dragoness who had cooed over the three of them and told them stories about the shapes in the stars, or described to them the lands faraway, or who had pranced like a deer when Kysan had completed her first shapeshift, or who had played tag with them one summer's afternoon in the shade of mango trees, the delicious scent wafting into their nostrils and giggles filling the air as the four of them collapsed into one laughing heap. She'd taken the three of them in her wings that day, furled those green-silk curtains around them, and the world, for one moment, seemed to stop, just the timeless eternity of the forest, and the happiness of her mother, her brother, her sister, and her. Ysera had become someone different. She'd become the Earth Elemental.
And with that, she'd strode past them, each step that of a predator.
For the first time since that day under the mango trees, the three siblings had stood together, and spoken as one voice.
"Dragonsdeep?"
~~
Now, here she stood, at the entrance to Icarus' new kingdom. Giant stone dragons guarded the entrance, gazing impassively down at her from their lofty heights. Already dragons had begun to explore the massive complex. There was one limitation: they were not allowed in the tunnels underneath Earth Territory.
To Kysan, it looked like infinity.
She stepped forward, and the darkness swallowed her.
Welcome to Dragonsdeep.