On one of your evening walks, once more exploring the lands...

The sky is darkening swiftly. The trees are silent in the windless air, silhouettes against the dusky, ebbing daylight.

In the stillness, you can almost fancy hearing a lilting tune... Or is it truly there?

Questioning your own sanity and thinking you may have been alone a bit too long, you fail to notice the fluffy animal that has approached you until he's merely five feet in front of you. There he stops and stares at you, and you at him, with the most curious look on his face.

Blue fur covering his body, a yellow shock of a mohawk on his head, goggles nestled in front of his ridiculously large ears, tiny feet with white toes, and great bat-wings framing his spine--these you manage to observe of the fox-sized creature in front of you before his canine muzzle splits into a friendly grin and his aqua-marine eyes light up.

Hiya! I'm Audani! But you can call me Aud.

He waits a couple minutes for your response, but your tongue seems to fail you at the moment.

I'm lonely tonight... Would you like to join me?

His cute naivety wins you over and you drop down to your knees and introduce yourself, accepting his invitation at the same time.

Yay! Come with me, guest~

I already told you my name, right? Well, there's a lot more to me than that! But if you don't wanna hear this stuff, I guess you could always break the fourth wall and use those navigation links floating around?

You look slightly confused for a second before nodding thoughtfully. Fourth-wall breaking is kind of fun, right?

Chapter One
Awake

Two miles east of Tamerane, in the Tamer-Maers Plains, a very small, very fluffy draik opened his eyes for, what his memory could tell, the very first time. Hundreds of tiny twinkling lights set on a black expanse greeted his vision. He stared blankly at the stars above him while the wind caressed the grassy fields he lay in.

Minutes passed until they became hours. A shooting star raced across the sky before it burned up completely. He blinked, smiled, and climbed to his feet. His tiny paws and thin legs were unstable and he stumbled before gaining some semblance of balance.

He looked curiously at the area around him. Everything looked so new to his hungry eyes! And how he wanted to play with it all! Spotting a firefly and, thinking it was one of those lights in the sky above come down to greet him, he immediately ran after it, hoping it would agree to play with him.

He didn't get very far when one of his forelegs suddenly felt like it was trapped and his forward momentum sent him tumbling head-first to the ground. What was that? His leg didn't feel stuck anymore.

He rolled over onto his stomach and looked confusedly at his paws. Long tan strips of fabric, one tied to the wrist of each foreleg, lay guiltily before him. He stood up carefully and, eyeing the scarves suspiciously, took a few tentative steps forward. Sure enough, within a few steps, his right hind-foot stepped on a strip and his chin painfully hit the ground.

Ow…

Not one to give up, he took a deep breath and tried again, careful to watch where his feet landed. Several falls later and he had worked out a pattern to the way the scarves fell and could walk decently enough without tripping every three steps.

Problem solved, he looked back up to find his potential firefly star-friend. Seeing it still hovering around the same area, he giggled and took off again, the scarves tied to his feet lingering in his sub-conscious. Just as he was upon it, he leapt into the air for the pounce. The firefly, sensing something amiss, zipped forward and continued on its merry path. The draik, before landing, snapped open his large and somewhat awkward bat-wings, gliding towards the escaping firefly and Tamerane.

Chapter Two
Tamerane

Tamerane was a vast city nestled on the open plains. It served as a crossroads point for the single intersection of all three of Etavia's main roads. Because of the constant traffic, the gates remained open all the time and the soldier occupation was high.

The small draik, having lost the firefly he had been chasing, found himself on the outskirts of the city. He stared in wonder at the massive wall and followed it up to the sky where he saw flickering orange glows along its upper perimeter. Curious, he wondered if there was a way past the wall. The dancing lights up there looked playful.

Decision made, he picked the left side of the wall and began walking around it in that direction, not thinking of using his wings or the fact that he even had wings. He tripped up on his scarves twice.

Ten minutes later, he found a break in the wall. Fearful of the moving shadows he saw in the dim-lighted space, it took him another ten minutes to work up the courage to take one step and then another and so on until he was fully within the wall's circumference.

The sights, sounds, and smells were so different in here! More walls stood coldly within. They were all much smaller than the outer-wall and were crowded together. It seemed they shared hats that were pulled down tightly over their tops in groups of four. Smoke trickled out of their caps and he quickly decided they probably didn't want to be friends. While all their eyes were certainly closed—and they had such weird eyes!—he could definitely imagine the grouchy faces they probably wore during the day.

Carefully avoiding these dark sentinels, the draik wandered through the city. He saw many different peoples, but, after observing their actions, was disappointed to find that not many wanted to have anything to do with him. It was mostly quiet here. He didn't hear the happy chirping of the field in here. He heard whispered words, the dripdripdrip of water, a strange crackling sound, and a squeak! which had turned out to be a rat that had run away from him when he found it.

In the distance, he saw that dancing glow again and started towards it, a grin on his face. As he neared it, a strange smell assaulted his nose. It reminded him briefly of how the field smelled, but darker. It made his nose itch and he unsuccessfully tried to suppress a sneeze.

Achoo!

Trying to ignore the smell and the slight haze in the air, he finally rounded the corner and saw the flickering light.

It was very pretty. Blocks of various shapes and sizes were piled together and from them sprang a living light that danced and swayed and popped and crackled to a random tempo.

Mesmerized by this, the draik drew very close to it and sat down in front of it. He realized the strange crackling sound from earlier, the odd smell, and the haze were all coming from this happy glow. He also realized the air around it was much warmer, almost to the point of being unbearably hot. Tentatively, he reached a paw out to the light, thinking maybe he could get its attention...
And jumped back with a yelp!

That hurt!

The fur on his paw was singed, but his scarf had escaped harm. But it hurt so much! Without thinking, he popped his hurt toes into his mouth. His eyes were just beginning to grow teary when he heard someone laughing meanly.

Looking up, he saw someone or something with a very shiny body and a shiny thing on its head laughing. The person was holding a long stick with a scary point at the end that matched his body.

Hurts doesn't it, kid?

And the man continued laughing. The draik realized he was laughing at him. A tear dripped down his face and the draik turned and ran from the soldier.

This city was so mean. He wanted to go back out to the open field. Maybe those twinkling lights so high in the sky would play with him. The buildings here were grouchy, the people were too busy, the rat ran from him, the fire bit him, and the soldier laughed at him. And his paw still hurt.

No. He didn't like this place at all. He wanted to go higher and fly faster and play with somebody who was nice. And he wouldn't mind going back to sleep for a little bit longer...

And with that, the rain poured and he wished for a shelter.

Chapter Three
Audani

Hours later, the rain had slowed to a dull sprinkle and sunlight filtered through the still-dense clouds. The little draik sniffled as he woke up, dismayed to see that the small hole he had found in a wall had failed to keep him safe. Water was pooled around him. His blue fur was soaked and he was starting to shiver and his throat was feeling very raw.

Crying again, he pulled himself out of the hole and began looking for a new place where he could hopefully get warm. He didn't notice the rain still drip-drip-dripping without a care.

Tail dragging, wings limp, scarves heavy with water, and bright yellow hair sticking to his face, the draik eventually wandered into the mostly empty shopping district. There, he unknowingly brought some attention to himself.

Ah-ah-achoo!

His sneeze was followed by several coughs which left his throat burning. Realizing his nose was dripping, he quickly wiped his paw across it.

Blinking, the draik looked up and saw another creature, though this one didn't have any shiny clothes on him. He shied away anyway, ears back and tail down.

Shh, it's okay.

The creature, who he would later learn was an aisha, reached out a hand and the draik stumbled farther back. Sighing, the aisha stopped and just stared at the draik who stared right back, wondering what would happen next.

When the aisha didn't make any other movements, the draik relaxed slightly. This one didn't seem like the shiny person from before. He actually seemed kind? He inched closer, keeping a careful watch on him.

You okay, kid?

He shook his head. He wasn't okay. He was cold and scared and hungry and—he sneezed violently. The stranger's face turned to one of pity and, before the draik could protest, the aisha scooped him up.

C'mon. Let's get you warmed up and see what we can do about that cough.

There was a no-nonsense tone in the aisha's voice and, while it was firm, it was still kind. The draik chose not to struggle and watched curiously as the aisha took him into a dark alley between two of the grouchy buildings.

The aisha reached out to the wall on the right and a small doorway opened up in it, revealing a very dark, small space. Scared, the draik whimpered a bit as the aisha carried him in and shut the door.

After being set down on something much softer than the stone-ground of the city, a biting-light flared in the corner of the room and lit up the space. Seeing the flame, however, made him more scared and he backed up until he was stuck in a corner.

Seeing the draik's discomfort at the fire, the aisha shook his head and set his candle on the table, leaving it there while he pulled out a blanket and walked back to the draik. The aisha approached him slowly and, when the draik only shrank away, scooped him back up and wrapped him in the blanket.

It took the draik a few minutes to get over his initial fear. Once he did, he was confused by the blanket. What kind of a nest was this? It was soft and warm and he liked it! He rubbed his face into a fold of the fabric and cooed happily.

The aisha smiled and let the draik enjoy the blanket for a moment more before picking him up and rubbing the blanket all over his body and throughout his fur. When he was done, he dropped the draik out of the blanket and onto the bed.

What had that aisha done? The draik was a little upset about being handled so roughly, but soon forgot about that when he realized he wasn't so wet anymore. He looked up to see the aisha pulling out another blanket and tossing it to him.

When the blanket landed on the bed, the draik quickly snuggled into it, enjoying the warmth it offered.

If you're wondering, I use hot-stones to keep the blankets warm during the rainy and colder seasons.

The draik didn't care, only snuggling further into the nest he was making.

What's your name, kid?

Name?

Uh, yeah… Like… I'm Viqos. Who are you?

He shrugged. Name? Did he have one of those?

Well, no matter. You can stay here for a while if you like.

The draik smiled, yawned, and promptly fell asleep in his soft, warm nest.

The next morning, Viqos awoke to see the draik on the floor, scratching something in the dirt. Curious, the aisha peered over the draik's shoulder and looked in wonderment at the runes.

You know Ancjen?

The draik looked up at him thoughtfully before nodding.

Yes.

The aisha sounded out the runes in his mind—his Ancjen was better than most others of the few who knew it, but he still had some trouble with the old language.

What is it?

The draik stared at the runes, reading them over and over again.

Auhd Ay Nis

It seemed familiar… It seemed… right.

Name.

Aud-ah-nee?

The aisha's pronunciation was very much off, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, it seemed fitting. A new world. A new day. A new friend. And a new name. He nodded.

Audani.

You like pictures, dontcha?
Well, if you want to view the full sizes of these, you should try clicking and dragging them to your address bar!

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of something cracking and then shattering is heard.

Fan/Gift Art
All the artists who've taken their time to draw me are awesome! Just so you know, too.
Oh, yeah! Hovering over the pictures will tell you who drew it. Cool, right?

Yet another wall falls apart somewhere in the world.

OMNOMNOM Parasites!
Ever wanted a parasitic Draik?
No? ...Well... Now your not-dreams can come true!
WARNING: Please keep ONNPDs away from the face and all vital organs. Plushie Monster is not responsible for skin-punctures, blood-loss, or any ceasing of living caused by OMNOMNOM Parasitic Draiks.

rules.
do not edit, trace, or copy these images.
always link back here.
do not claim as your own or enter these into any contests whatsoever.
only for use on Neopets.com, off-site PetPages, or Leopets.
my name must remain VISIBLE.

If you'd like to use one of these base-colored adoptables, copy the coding below and replace "COLOR" with any of the available colors. Make sure the first letter of the color is capitalized. Colors such as "Lost Desert" and "Mystery Island" have been shortened to simply "Desert" and "Island".

All above rules apply to these as well.
Also, do not use any not made specifically for YOUR pet.