I once had a dream where I swallowed poison.

I was alone in a dark room with a large table, upon which sat a single glass filled with some sort of blue liquid. I was terribly thirsty so although I was suspicious, I squashed all my doubts and took a sip. At first it felt wonderful, and I chided myself for ever doubting it. After all, why would someone ever leave such a danger out in the open, unprotected?

Fixated on this notion, I did not immediately notice the burning sensation deep in my gut, not until the pain was too intense to ignore. I collapsed onto my knees, fighting against the waves of pain that washed over me. I tried to cry out for help but my voice caught in my throat, and while I was no longer alone in the room, the shadowy figures that now surrounded me ignored my silent pleas.

I awoke with a start, and the memory of the pain - so vivid, so real - haunted me for the rest of my sleepless night.

HEADER--some quick background info--

I live in a world called Teyem. It is a land with many varied locations. For the purposes of my story, there are two important ones: Therava, a country that is similar culturally and technologically to modern-day America and western Europe, which is the country of my birth; and Senz, an arid country composed largely of uninhabitable desert land, most resembling Australia in the early 20th century in terms of history and culture.

I am what is known as an Arvion, a bipedal semi-humanoid dragon species (neopets equivalent is a Krawk), but that is not the only intelligent species occupying this world. Some other notable species in my story are the Raijla, a snakelike burrowing species (neopets equivalent would be a Hissi, but there are presently no Raijla characters on Neopets), and the Cuanti, a rare six-legged eastern dragonlike species (no Neopets equivalent). Each species has its own language and culture, though most individuals can also speak a global language that all species know. Furthermore, culture also varies based on location; an Arvion living in Therava, for instance, will live a very different lifestyle from one living in Senz.

HEADER--history--

My childhood was fairly unremarkable, I suppose. I grew up in a typical suburb in Therava, with parents who, like so many others, worked long hours and avoided each other as much as possible. I had an older sister, a chronic overachiever who spent every waking moment ensuring her GPA and resumé were spotless. I won't deny that I was jealous of her; I did try to get the same shining grades, but I didn't have the same raw intellect she did, nor did I have the same drive. While for her, the grades themselves were the goal, I couldn't help but be distracted by thoughts of what would be done with them.

I knew the expected track, of course: excel in high school, attend a high-end college, then obtain some well-paying desk job and accumulate money you won't have time to spend. It felt hollow and meaningless to me, though, and the thought of shackling myself to a soulless corporate career for a good chunk of my life served as more of a motivation to sabotage myself and do poorly than anything. I felt there was some sort of higher calling for me, some grand purpose to truly connect with life rather than simply profit from it.

My only problem was that I had no idea what my calling could be. Furthering my consternation was the way none of my peers seemed to feel the same way. In fact, when I would express my frustration with the way life was "supposed" to be, I would alienate my friends and recieve disapproving looks and lectures from instructors. Apparently to everyone else my desires came off as a lack of ambition, when in fact they were the exact opposite. My ambition was far greater than anyone else in my town, and only I could see it.

Exasperated with the lack of support I was given, I began to research independantly. It was difficult since I had no real direction, and was simply waiting for something to speak to me as a higher calling, but luckily it came in the form of a small pamphlet on something called the Children of the Stream. I had heard of The Stream before, always described as some sort of ancient, malevolent diety of a more chaotic time. I had never believed in any of that stuff, though it had been taught as fact when I was younger. It seemed crazy, and in any case, I felt like any truth there might have been in those stories had been corrupted into a vehicle for those in power to force-feed youth their own ideas of morality.

This is why these Children of the Stream intrigued me so much; they clearly believed in all of this, but judging in their name, they were either openly calling themselves evil, or else had some sort of alternate interpretation of the stories. Upon reading their information, I learned the latter was true. They purported that the Stream had been badly misunderstood, and it was in fact a powerful force of nature that in moderation could be used to better understand the world around us. Further, they claimed that by harnessing the powers of the Stream, one could gain some sort of magical ability. Obviously, that claim made me incredibly skeptical of the whole thing, but nonetheless I was interested.

The pamphlet ended with the contact information of several members of the group. I saved them for possible later use, but vowed to wait and see if something more grounded in reality spoke to me before attempting to reach out to the group. I was wary of a group that claimed to harness archaic magic.

* * *

Several years passed by, with no more luck in my searching. I had given up for a while, and instead tried to dedicate myself once more to scholarly pursuits. I was 17 now, close to graduating high school and choosing which college would waste four more years of my life. My mind often drifted back to the Children of the Stream, and one day, after being particularly fed-up with the life I was living, I dug out the old pamphlet and took a closer look at the names provided.

It listed the contacts of both founders, which I found rather impressive - I would have thought that the most important members would have better things to do than take calls from people like me. It was tempting to call them to see if they would actually answer, but frankly I was a little intimidated, and further both their names indicated that they were foreign - Idra and Xaiyeh, sounded Raijla and Cuanti respectively - and I was nervous about speaking to someone of an unfamiliar culture. I skimmed the names, looking for one that sounded more friendly. A little lower down the list I found Savannah Austen, which sounded like at least an Arvion name, though likely not Theravan.

Adoptable Set Two
Adoptable Set 3

Bluuuhhhh need to finish writing this at some point SORRY VARIEN I WILL WORK ON YOUR PAGE SOON

Ref:

Collected art/adopts: