|
|
|
Teeth sink into your leg, pulling you under even farther. You catch a glimpse of dark purple - the dargarians have captured you. You are pulled toward the jagged amethyst that lines the sides of the river. Your captor turns and heads directly at the amethyst. You close your eyes, waiting to be impaled by the razor-sharp amythest... The pain you imagined never comes. Instead, you tumble onto the floor of a cave. Your captor releases you, and calls to an odd-looking uni stallion standing in the shadows. Dieichi, could you take care of our guest? I need to let Epolcis know that we have a visitor. Yes, Rend, the one called Dieichi responds. He walks over, carrying a blanket and fresh clothes. He indicates a doorway. There is a warm bath waiting for you. Let me know when you are done. When you finish, he hands you the stack of clothes and the blanket. He motions for you to sit down. Rend will be preparing a place for you to stay. By the way, I am Dieichi. Who are you? 8neo_neo8, you reply. I suppose we have a while to wait, so why don't I tell you a bit about myself. Dieichi says...
Unlucky Beginnings I was always the youngest. Born in late June, all the other foals were months older than me. Also, I showed signs of my father's heritage. My front right leg ended in a dragon's claw, my tail was that of a dragon, my fur was slightly longer, and my wings were feathered, furred, and webbed. There was no end to the teasing, and the herd didn't know whether to act smug or scared around me - there was no way for them to know how much power I held.
When I was weaned, my mother had a fake hoof fashioned that fit around my claw. She wrapped my tail in faux hair, to make it look like that of a uni's, and covered my wings with feathers. She took me traveling, to the closest island to Maraqua, Amethyst Island. Wait here, I need to go to Maraqua to buy a gift for your father. I should be back in an hour or so." She said. I was too young then to know, but many things were wrong with that sentence. First, at that time, Maraqua was still in ruins. Second, even if Maraqua was not in ruins, it was more than an hour's swim, and third, my mother could not swim at all. I waited for days, standing by the shore, grazing on the stubble of tough, bitter grass that grew along the beach. When I had exhausted the supply of grass, I started to nibble on a berry bush that I found farther from the coast. It must have been poisonous, for shortly after my legs collapsed beneath me and what felt like fire seared through my veins. I screamed in pain, and everything went black.
I could have sworn we had wiped out the killweed. I'll send out a patrol to search for more and burn it. Epolcis, can you do anything for this colt?" I'm trying, but ever since Seriph died, the cures have been lost. I hope to find a new nurse soon. Rend, can you heal her? Your magic is stronger than mine." I can rid his body of the poison, but it will take time for him to recover. It's lucky that we found him, another hour and he would be dead. How did he get here?" As she said this, my blood seemed to freeze and boil at the same time. My back arched until I thought it would break, and then I fell back, panting, onto a mossy bed I was laying on. I don't know, you can ask him for yourself, your magic seems to be working." I blinked my eyes, trying to see through the darkness that had claimed me. A blurry, but brightly colored head came into view. "Are you okay?" Yeah," I managed to say. I tried to stand, but fell. I let out a moan, the fake hoof had been tight when it was new, but I had grown, and my claw barely fit. I worried about what the uni and peophin standing over me would think of my claw, but it hurt to much to think about it much. I tried to smash it, but the clay was too thick. I started chipping away at it with my hoof. What are you doing?" The peophin named Epolcis asked. The uni, Rend, was a quick thinker, and reared up, smashing the clay with one swift downstroke. Their eyes widened at the sight of my claw, but they did not step away. I pulled the faux hair off my tail, and the feathers off my wings. It couldn't make things any worse, I reasoned. So you are part dragon." Rend observed. I lowered my head in shame. "Yes. Part wolf, too," I said. Well, that's no reason to be ashamed," Epolcis stated, "Rend here is half peophin." So? At least you're only an equine, not a mix of three different species," I said dejectedly. Are you kidding? I'm half royal, half dargarian. Nobody would accept me when I was young. I found refuge here, many of the neopets here are mixed species. You will be safe here with us," Rend said with a warm and motherly smile.
How did you get here?" Epolcis asked me. My mother brought me. She said she would be back in an hour or so but never came back." I told her, and I realized how mother never was very kind to me. Why would she bring me here out of her own good will? All I had ever done was ruin her reputation for being part dragon. She would never come back, she had tried to kill me, and had almost succeeded. In that instant, I wanted to cry in pain and sorrow, jump for joy for being accepted by Rend, and slash my mother's eyes for her cruelty. I ended up crying. Looking back, the whole situation was incredibly ironic. After leaving me, mother had flown back to the herd. The next day brought a thunderstorm. It dumped rain and baseball-sized hail on the herd. In an effort to save themselves, they fled into the dense woods. Movement was slowed by the thick foliage. Lightning struck a tree near them, setting it on fire. The fire spread faster than they could run, surrounding them. There was no place to run, no place to fly. Within a few minutes, the whole herd was dead. In trying to kill me, mother saved me. What magic have you learned so far?" Rend asked me. I wiped away my tears. "None. Nobody would ever even talk to me, except to tease me. Why?" You must learn it then. When you have healed, how would you like to be my apprentice? I can teach you about magic, and you can join the Amethyst Island herd. The herd will be surprised, but nobody here will tease you, ever. What do you think?" Rend replied. Sure," I said.
The next few days I laid in the cave, waiting. Within a week, I was fully healed. Rend and Epolcis took me to introduce me to the herd. It turned out that Epolcis was the
lead stallion of the herd. Rend was right, although many members of the herd/pack/glory/pride/etc. (it was not only equines that made their home on the island) were surprised, none of them were mean to me. They treated me as one of their own, and I had never been so happy in my life.
ADOPTABLE RULES:
CUSTOM RULES:
Regular Colors:
Red 
Yellow 
Green 
Blue 
Brown 
Cloud 
Baby 
Glowing 
Disco 
Dargarian 
Faerie 
Checkered 
Christmas 
Desert 
Fire 
Royal Girl 
Electric Customs: 
Wraithed 
Green (Gr33nUniProj3ct) 
_Afearis_
Dieichi (Me!) 
Rend_
Awards:
Yay! Thanks so much!
Link Out:
My Links:
Links:
|
||||||
NEOPETS, characters, logos, names and all related indicia
are trademarks of Neopets, Inc., © 1999-2008.
® denotes Reg. US Pat. & TM Office.
All rights reserved.
PRIVACY POLICY | Safety Tips | Contact Us | About Us | Press Kit
Use of this site signifies your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions
