What is There to Protect? (Gifted Crystals [Seawing/Icewing] only)

Snowblaze, as usual, flew along the southern border of Icewing territory. Despite the arrival of various, monstrous creatures, nothing really changed for the guardian. The Icewings were still a short step up from Rogues, and the Gifted Crystals as a whole lacked leadership. The dragoness honestly began to wonder why she continued to keep guard.

She had hoped that a new ruler would come, but this hope had finally worn away. The Icewing landed, her emotional side of thinking taking over. Snowscale walked, using her wings to walk like a bat instead of her forelimbs, which were lifted and tucked against her body. She then began to yell as she slashed trees with her tail-blade for every sentence she spoke.

”Why am I even doing this?! The Icewings are shattered at best! The Gifted Crystals have no leader! There are monsters everywhere! No one would even want to take our territory to begin with! None of the others even respect me to begin with! Why am I protecting their pelts?!” It was after this last part the Icewing’s ice-like bar imbedded itself in a tree trunk. She just huffed, and snapped her tail out of the wood, panting from her outburst.

Chloe was still on the lookout for Icewings, it was almost like they all disapeared off the face of the planet!

The sound of yelling and wood breaking was enough for Chloe to begin walking in said direction, what was going on? she soon got her awnser when a dragon came into view, it was another icewing...! her eyes widened, before she knew it she was gently, yet cautiously approching her "Mrs...? Are you..feeling alright?" she asked in a soft and gentle tone towards the icewing.

Snowblaze turned in surprise when she saw the other dragon, but this surprise quickly became suspicion as she let out a growl. Something just seemed off. Her scales weren’t pale, but she smelt like an Icewing. Either way, call it good judgment or paranoia, Snowblaze did not trust her.

”Who are you, and what are you doing here?” As she said this, the dragoness’s voice lost most of its emotion, sounding cold and calculated.

Chloe stopped when the icewing spoke to her, she sat down with a soft expression "Well...The name's Chloe and...I used to live here in the icewing kingdom"She bowed her head in greeting before looking back to the other icewing "I understand the confusion and suspision you may have about me...but right now, im just as confused, i havent been here in a long time...what happened?" she asked, standing back up again.

The Wyvern was scouring the frozen land of the IceWings for his masters. It had been a while since the 15th son of Atarijor I had seen any of his fellow tribe members. In addition to Atar having reverted back to his behavior as a captive, there were tons of monsters that had come and nearly wiped out the IceWings. Atarijor, having been a gladiator for a time before his escape from captivity, easily slew the monsters he came across. There were some that were difficult to kill and Atar had to flee rather than fight.

Now, as he looked for the humans, he heard trees falling. More monsters? With his short snout, he could just detect the scent of Dragons... but no monsters. He was relieved, for he had just fought one about an hour ago and it took a lot out of him. But why were trees falling? As he neared, he heard decidedly angry voices. Atarijor crept forward cautiously, moving through the trees until he came upon two female Dragons.

Snowblaze looked a bit surprised when the dragoness, Chleo, said she was an Icewing. Then she was surprised again when the purple dragon ask what had happened. She grumbled to herself a bit before responding. ”Tribes allied with each other, the Icewings and Seawings lost at all leadership, and that was before the monsters came.”

Like before, Snowblaze’s voice was devoid of emotion, but her face showed the real sadness she had for what was happening. Then a sent caught her attention. A familiar sent. She turned to see Atarijor standing there. Her voice gained back its emotion as she came closer to him, but it was more happy, hopefully tone. ”Atarijor? You... your alive!”

She was genuinely suprised by this new information. The tribes had come together? They used to be so decided! The information that took her by surprise the most was that IceWings and seawings were with a leader...Chloes expression fell into that of shock, she didn't even realise the other dragon.

"...I shouldn't have left.....I knew I shouldn't have left..." she said "I should've stayed, why did I leave when I had such an important rank...?"

Snowblaze turned and gave Chloe sad look, her mind back to its emotional side. She came closer to the younger dragoness, and placed one of her forepaws on the purple dragon’s shoulder. She didn’t know how the young dragon saw this as her fault, but she didn’t like hearing it.

”Don’t blame yourself,” the hybrid said with a concerned voice. ”No one could’ve predicted everything that happened.”

It wasn't long before one of the females took notice of Atarijor. She was one Atarijor had met before... but was her name again? Well, whatever it was, she approached him now and sounded happy to see him. Atarijor reacted almost fearfully. His posture became one of a submissive, lesser being in the presence of his master. As he usually did when in his regressed state, he spoke almost entirely in the human tongue, throwing in bits of broken Dragon language here and there.

"Wyvern was looking for the masters when trees fell. Atarijor... uhlive (alive). Atarijor is still yoo-- you... yous-full (useful) to masters." Atar looked at the other female, who smelled like she was probably a member of the tribe, but whom he had never seen before. Then again, there were many Atar had never seen before. "You escaped, too?" he asked, having heard her say she shouldn't have left, "Masters will be angry. They will kill Wyvern and Dragon for leaving." Then it occurred to the Wyvern that he might appease his masters by bringing materials they needed, so he went over to one of the fallen trees. He would take these back to the humans. Now if only he had a harness...

Chloe chuckled softly, looking back at the other dragon "that's the problem....I was a lieutenant" she stated, looking back at the ground "All the way back when FrostFlare was leader....I was a frail, tiny thing,
Yet she saw potential in me to be a great ruler....and I ruined that by following an instinct that told me to explore the outer reaches of this land...I'm such a fool..."


Her attention swayed to the wryvern, tilting her head at his question "Escaped?
From who?" she asked.

Snowblaze just shook her head as she removed her forepaw, pressing the limb back against her body. She then spoke to her, still concerned with the young dragon. ”Your were, and still are, young. You can only begin to gain wisdom by making mistakes. Even so, you didn’t make a mistake.”

She then noticed Atarijor, and what he was saying. It bothered her enough to flip her brain back to its calculating side. She hated that human had affected his mind that much. Then Chloe ask what he was talking about. The dragoness turned to her, looking less emotional and more intellectual. ”Atarijor was once a human slave. It affected his mind quite heavily.”

Snowblaze then walked up to the wyvern. She nudged his tail with her wing’s walking toes, then spoke with a monotone voice. ”Why do you continue to try and serve humans? You are a free dragon now. You do not have to fear them anymore.”

Scruff looked back at the dragoness and smiled "Thanks, what you speak is honesty and i can respect that" she looked back to the wyvern, nodding her head in understanding of his situation "I've come across a few dragons in the far reaches that have had a similar situation to you sir, things will get better for you, i promise"

It took Atarijor, who was not fluent in his native tongue, a moment to process what the two females were saying to him. "Wyvern not free. Atarijor is Wyvern and Wyvern is even lesser than Dragons," Atar explained in the Human tongue. The Humans acknowledged the physical differences between Dragons and Wyverns and thus treated their slaves accordingly. While all were treated with the utmost cruelty, of course, those who physically fit the Humans' idea of a Dragon were treated only slightly better. They were given one more piece of dried meat; one more drop of water; their cages were half an inch bigger. In the grand scheme of things, this really wasn't an improvement--except perhaps when it came to the food--but the Humans knew it would break the Wyverns... and the Dragons even more so when they realized that these small differences in quarters and sustenance made them more likely to perish first. Why? Well why not? It was simply another way for the Humans to pass the time.

"Masters need Atarijor for work. Masters can't pull heavy stones, but Wyvern can.. B-Be... beh-beh... tur.. behtur (better)? What is... behtur (better)?" The short snouted IceWing asked, unfamiliar with the word.

Snowblaze just closed her eyes and shook her head, letting out a sigh as she did. Her mind went from calculating to emotional as she tried to think of how to convince Atarijor he was wrong. The odd dragon finally walked in front of him.

”A wyvern’s just as much of a dragon as any other. Take me for example.” The dragoness then pointed to her own form with her forepaw. ”I’m far from a normal dragon. I walk on my wings like you, but still have forelimbs. You are equally to either of us, Atarijor. You don’t have to go back to being a slave with a master. You’re free.”

Silver felt sad for the wryvern, the humans definately did somthing to affect him. Slowly, he walked over

"We're all equals yet are unique at the same time, a wryvern and a dragon may be different, but we share a soul. that much makes us equal" She stated softly

"i mean...i'm purple" she chuckled "It's strange to see, but i'm still just as equal as you are"

It took a while for Atar to process everything the two were saying. But none of it meant anything to him, such was the consequence of the life he had been born into. He knew nothing else, and to learn was extremely difficult. "Atarijor... never free. Atarijor still... re-remember."

Snowblaze just frowned, her mind changing again. This was getting tiring. She never knew what triggered her switches, but stuff like this seemed to do it. Either way, the Icewing just shook her head, slightly aggravated at Atarijor. She finally opened her maw again, sounding calculated again.

”While I cannot understand what is going on in your mind, I can assure you that you are free now, no matter what you remember. My entire responsibility as a guardian comes from keeping dragons free, and safe. Atarijor. You are not a slave anymore. It may be all you know, but you do not have to serve the humans anymore.”

Chloe didn't know what to say, the clockwork in her head working through many sentences and conversations at the same time.

"Remembering is both a blessing, and a curse" she said, being mindful that the wryvern wasn't good with the dragon language "Sometimes, we have to live with certain things we wish to forget...just because you remember, doesn't mean you have to continue serving the humans"

The Wyvern was starting to feel as though the females were getting... what was the word? Frustrated, yes, that's it. Frustrated. Particularly the Wyvern with the extra pair of limbs. She only frowned at 15th son of Atarijor I and her tone changed as well. The other, the purple she-Dragon, still sounded kindly, though her words were basically the same as the former. They thought him foolish, perhaps, for wishing to serve his masters still. But they just didn't understand the torments Atar had suffered, and how could they, having had the forturne of being born free? They had no idea just how broken the Wyvern was; how hard he tried to escape his past. No matter how he progressed, the slightest reminder of the majority of his life thus far shoved him back, all his work for naught. It was incredibly frustrating, not just for Atar, but for his fellow IceWings who just couldn't fathom how one could be as he. None of them had any idea how to mend him, and--if they were being perfectly honest with themselves--none of them really wanted to. Cruel as it might seem, perhaps it might be better to let him go on back to what he knew, let him die as he had lived--an unfortunate slave of humankind. It would save them all the trouble of having such a pitiful creature to deal with on top of all their other--and certainly more pressing--problems. Of course, none had had the courage to say this out loud... but surely it was what they thought. Perhaps they were right.

Atarijor XVI looked at the two females before him, from one to the other and back again. Why didn't they understand? Unaware of it, the Wyvern began gripping the cold ground with his claws, his body tensed, and he shrank as low to the ground as he could get, yet still tried to sink further. He could almost feel the whips opening recent wounds that had barely scabbed over and add another layer of pain to fresh ones. He could almost hear his remaining teeth being ground to dust as he fought not to whimper, for that would make the beating last longer. This lasted for a moment--an eternity in his mind--then the Wyvern relaxed again. Though he didn't entirely understand every word the females had said, he understood just enough to know he would never be. He would always be the pitiful Wyvern who was once a slave to humans; the pitiful and foolish thing who even now, as a free Dragon, tried to go back.

Atarijor may have been free, but he would forever remain a slave to his broken mind. This fact was not lost to him but strangely, it seemed to be something most he'd encountered didn't fully realize. Or maybe they did. Maybe they thought he'd get over it with time or a good talking to. Either way, the Wyvern gave up. Not wanting his memory to become reality, Atarijor walked over to the tree that had been knocked down. He had happened upon some rope and used it now to fashion a sort of harness. It was rather easy to do with his "fingers". After tying the other end of the rope to the tree, Atar began pulling it along, hoping he might find his masters before he was punished for being too slow.

Snowblaze did her best to not have her mind switch again has Atarijor went back to his slave ways. Why was he so convinced that his “masters” would find him again. At least with how the dragoness was thinking now she could figure some reasons for why he acted that way.

The odd dragon had only one plan to possibly stall the wyvern. Maybe even stop him. She began to walk along with Atarijor, trying to talk to him some more. ”You do know that you are not the first to keep doing something with any good reasons.” She still spoke with a more calculating voice, but at least she was trying.

Chloe felt sorry for the wryvern, her green eyes showing genuine concern and worry for him. She didn't know what to do, let alone how to act...slowly, she walked after him "Sir...?" she asked him calmly "i...can't exactly stop you from doing what you wish...but can you consider staying for a bit? it's up to you of course, but maybe seeing the sights and views of this land will help you?"

(Hey Chloe. Sorry there's no better way to contact you. PMs are turned off and we're rarely on at the same time. Anyway, I was wondering if you maybe could make a discord. I have made a group chat and have gathered a combination of old vets from drf, like kokoro, phantom, and twilight. I've also invited Aqua Splash and Snowflare. I was wondering if you'd be interested in joining. ;p This is Trinyah/Rayla btw.)

Rayla wrote:(Hey Chloe. Sorry there's no better way to contact you. PMs are turned off and we're rarely on at the same time. Anyway, I was wondering if you maybe could make a discord. I have made a group chat and have gathered a combination of old vets from drf, like kokoro, phantom, and twilight. I've also invited Aqua Splash and Snowflare. I was wondering if you'd be interested in joining. ;p This is Trinyah/Rayla btw.)

(Oh jeez this is quite akward considering this is a rp, long time no see what's the group chat? i'll gladly join it as making a discord would be a bit of a hassel at the moment)