HELLO THAR, I don't like these either, and I'm not very good with words, so I'll try keep it short and to the point. It might look like I don't really care for my pets ON THIS SITE, but I really do; I just don't have alot of time to sit down and code together a page for each and every one of them. :c (this page took me MONTHS) If you go to my online art gallery (Cluastrophobia dot Deviantart dot com) you'll see they recive loves. -heart- (and will eventually ALL have fancy pages)

Moving on to Aro....
You would not believe the high pitched fan-girly scream I did (luckily the only othe person in the house was my sister, who then yelled at me to shut my face. XD) when I found him. I know I'm a dork. |D

Anyway, I've been looking for darik to fill Rhad's void. :c I'm more about the character than the actual pet, just so you know, and I'm not looking for a trophy pet. Sometimes when I see a pet somethig just clicks, and I have a character beating on the inside of my skull until I let him or her out on paper. I really fell in love with my Rhadamanth character. When I was told I came in second for him, I was crushed. And, being a teenage girl, I locked myself in my room and cried. c:

ANYWAY, (dern ADD) Aro (BTW Darodox is an epic name; sounds like paradox. X3) would be drawn ALOT, as you can see lower on the page. I also roleplay alot; offsite because I'm really sick of how restricted you are on this site. And you know he would be LOVEDLOVEDLOVED here because 1) I'm crazy about dragons 2) I don't see myself quitting neopets in the distant future and 3) I ADORE this character.


Oh, uh, that's it for hat section I guess. |D Ask anyone one of my past english teachers how terrible I am at conclusions.

Here's a little 'About Me' section:

I'm known online as Phobia; offline, I keep to myself and I'm not very social. :/ I'm a junior in high school with mediocre grades because I daydream all day everyday. :D All things evil, demonic, and/or homicidal I find adorable. My friends will tell you how much I love evil and death and how I can't do happy. LIKE FOR REALZ. I'm not a depressed person, but all my chracters (who all reflect a different part of me) seem to have tragic and tourtured pasts. lol. I don't do it on purpose, happy is just something that is really uninteresting to me. I'm an extremely picky person.

...Uh, that's it again. XD
NOW GO TO THE APP.

.:Rhad:.
In the deepest part of the seemingly endless swamp, just under the surface of the grey-brown warter, you could see a large shadow, at least 12 feet long, swimming lazily. At first glace it could be a large crocodile, but the animals of the swamp new better. It became obvious this was no crocadilian when two large wings unfolded at the creature's sides and fully extened. Suddenly, a head reared out of the water; a drentched, light greyish green mane hid some of it's face. The creature was a dark green with pale under markings starting at his bottom jaw and running nearly the length of his body. Covered in even darker green, thick, wavey stripes covered his neck, back, and part of his tail. The dragon, it is obvious now, walked casually out of the water on to a partailly submerged rock and shook the water off like a dog.

.:Krosse:.
Like moisture to cotton-candy, the clydesdale sized beast plummeted into the murky water, a bleak but low cry slipping past her maw before being muffled by the coverlet of swamp water that came rushing over her. She panned at the water taking a gasping breath as she resurfaced. Multicolored iridescent eyes scanned for any signs of land, but none were seen, especially though this blasted fog. Her claws soon brushed what felt like a tree root, weak muscles hastily pulling her upon its slippery surface as she outstretched her drenched feathered wings. She had to find somewhere dry. Somewhere with air that wasn't damp enough to nearly drown you. Until then, she was grounded. She couldn't fly with wet feathers, and the fog would prevent her wings from getting proper ventilation to dry, which left but only one option: she had to find dry land. Korsse wasn't use to a world so... damp. She grew up and spent most of her life high in the northern mountains of Mongolia. Never had she seen a place so seemingly lifeless and bleak with its monochrome olive color scheme. It was almost depressing.


.:Rhad:.
Rhadamanth, leader of one of the most powerful myusile swamp dragon clans in this part of the world dispite is young age, flapped his bat-like wings, common among dragons, to get rid of any more water. Satisfied that they were dry, Rhad (becuase Rhadamanth is a mouthful) continued on a path apparently only he could see. Now on dry-ish land, you could see he is much larger than expected. For a dragon of not even twenty years, he was sixteen feet from snout to tail. His dark green eyes were half closed as he walked lazily through the swamp muck. He used the excuse that he was out patrolling his terrirtory to go off like this an do whatever he wanted; he may be a leader, but he is also an impulsive adolecent. Rhad suddenly stopped, and looked to his left. His snout high in the moist air, he took in a deep breath through both maw and nostrils. He smiled; swamp dragons can smell something that strong from miles away. "We have a visitor." He said to himself. Something like a grin appeared on his face as he went towards this unusual scent.

.:Krosse:.
Her ever so sensitive hearing was overwhelmed with the subtle chaotic cacophony of the swap. The buzzing of bugs, the croak of a lonesome toad, the occasional bird twittering by... the swashing of something moving through the water. She clutched her wings to her sides, nostrils flaring as she attempted to pick out a scent other than the stagnant stench of the water around her. This was all unfamiliar, and everything had the same earthy air about it. She couldn't tell living from non-living. Her shoulders fell forward, neck held straight out in front of her as she tried her best to see through the veil of moisture. But, her attempts were in vain. She straightened her stature, giving an exaggerated breath before a low pitched growl, hoping that whatever swamp animal was approaching would be persuaded to keep it's distance. However, she wasn't anticipating finding a local.

.:Rhad:.
Rhad continued in the direction of the interesting scent to the very edge of his territory; head lowered, his body smoothly moving like a jungle cat approaching it's prey. His steps are nearly undetectable, even while he paces through a large puddle, like he's not even touching the ground. He stops dead in his tracks, tail swishing inches above the ground soundlessly, when a noise catches his attention. A growl, a not very threatening or sure one, rose from the thick cloud of fog before him. Rhad snorted, and repiled with a deep rumbling growl from his throat.

.:Krosse:.
Her own growl was greeted by that of another. Her heart beat rapidly increased, head turning sharply in the direction of the retorted reply. Korsse pulled her head back, snorting softly before speaking. "Do I have a visitor?" she asked rhetorically, voice calm but still hinted with surprise as she stared at the opaque fog coverlet. Iridescent orbs strained to focus in on her new visitor, but as before, she could barely see more than a few feet out from her snout.

.:Rhad:.
You do." He answered in a raspy but playful voice; he took a few steps forward and peeked between the foliage into a clearing. The faint sillouette of a creature he did not recognize stood caustiously, pointed in his direction. "But you seem more like the visitor, lady. What are you doing here?"

Well, come to read my semi tragic bio? Unfortunatly, my memory from my previous life is not so good, but I'll tell the story best I can...

I, Darodox Ulcastor, formally known as Rhadamanth Myusile, first born son of Dathiroc and Rahsaea Myusile, was born into a relatively powerful swamp draik clan. (Note, our clans had no fancy names. They went simply by the alpha males' name; so my clan was Dathiroc's Clan.) This is both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing, because we had very little to worry about from the other clans and we had the best territory in the area. A bad thing, because we were the clan to beat. Meaning, if one of the clans decided they wanted our territory or if they just wanted my father dead so they could take over our clan, it would be a big deal and which ever clan did that would take our place.

Buuuuut I won't get into details; this clan political junk never interested me so I doubt it will be any better for you. Anyway, my father was what you'd call a work-a-holic, (spelling errors intentional) so to speak. To him, the clan ment more to him than his family, and we all new it. My mother didn't seem to mind, for some reason, and nither did my older sisters. My father was a strong leader and, at the time, I was proud to be his son and learing under him. When I was a little over a year old, father started preping (for lack of a better word) me for the day I would become the clan's leader. This was about as close to any bonding we've ever done; my father didn't know much about me untill he became my teacher. I guess this is were it all started to go bad, when my father finally knew me. Back then, I was completely different, in fact, the opposite, of what I am now.

I was considerate of others, caring, helpful and...sweet. Yuck. Even though these sound like positive traits, they weren't, for a leader, anyway. On top of those, other faults, as he called them, in my personality came to his attention. I was, well, a wimp. I was easily pushed and bossed around by the other, slightly older draiks in my clan. Believe me, I was no leader; and he saw that. We went on with my lessons, however, and father acted like nothing was the matter. These lessons started to get pretty repetitive and boring after a few weeks, and father always had this 'why should I bother?' tone. Though I was young, I was smart (unfortunatly father never saw that) and I new he was somehow disappointed in me, even though I had'nt done anything. Then all of a sudden, the lessons just stopped, and father started to ignore me.

Things really got bad when the yearly clan meet came around. Yes, a clan meet; its exactly what it sounds like. Once a year, the alpha males gather in the center of all the territories, simply known as the neutral zone, and talk about...boring stuff. Border lines, prey populations, and some other stuff I don't remember. The day my father was suppose to leave, my mother sudden tells him to take me with him. You'll have to take him to a meet sooner or later; sooner rather than later. Why not now? I know you two have been slacking off on your little leadership lessons... Father was not happy, to say the least, but he took me with him anyway. The trip there was quiet, and he was growing more and more irritated with me becuase we had to keep stopping. (I was young and not used to flying long distances.) We ended up being late to the meet, and that did not help me at all. Father was angry with me, but he tried not to show it.

The meet was terrifying; for me at least. I'd never been around so many large male draiks before, let alone draiks outside my clan. I hid under my father's wing most of the meet, not even listening to what the others were saying. A few of them would sternly glance in my direction occasionally, I felt like one of them was going just jump over here and eat me or something. Once I started thinking about that, I was even more scared. I wasn't confeident father would protect me from something like that, he'd probably welcome it; then his burden would be gone. I started to pay attention to what the others were saying just to get those thoughts out of my head, even though it was horribly boring. On the way back, father voiced all his feelings. He told me how weak I just made myself, and inturn him, look in front of every clan this side of the planet.

I trailed behind him the whole way back, doing my best to stay in the air, while he bellowed hate and disappointment at me. The next few weeks are a blur to me, the only thing I remember is coming home and going off somewhere to be alone. The next thing I remember is my mother acting happier than usualy; which isn't all that weird since she was always a birght beam of sunlight. What was odd about this time was that she went around telling clan members she was going to clutch soon. Mother was never this happy before she was about to clutch. My sisters were the only ones to survive from their clutch, and I was the only one to survive from mine four years later. All her clutches besides ours have all been unsucessful, and no one knows why.

I didn't see any reason for her to be so happy, we all knew how this was going to end. A few of us thought maybe she had just lost it, (since she had lost so many they thought maybe she'd gone a little nuts) others thought she was just being hopeful; I sort of thought both. A few days later, she laid four eggs, all alive; I suppose her hoping paid off.

Father's attitude towards me changed completely after he found out they were all alive. He was nice to me. He started taking me hunting with him (he'd usually leave me behind, I asumed he thought I'd mess up or something) and he'd talk to me; he would never speak to me unless there was no other way. There was no way someone like him would all of a sudden have a change of heart like that. It was obvious something was up, but what? I kept my suspicions to myself and acted like I was happy with him.

Father wasn't the only one who had changed; my older sisters, Maekae and Dalameer, all of a sudden started to ignore me completely. My sisters and I weren't close, at least that's what I thought, but when I'd walk near them, and they would get quiet and not even look in my direction. I told myself that this was some weird girl thing having to do with the clutch; I didn't want to have to look over my shoulder for them, too.
Father's odd behavior went on for weeks, and I started to think that maybe these feelings were real. But they weren't. As soon as the first egg hatched his old self came back for a split second; that disappointing stare he'd always gave me now was on his new daughter, Aruu. But apparently, I was the only one who noticed though, since all eyes were on the little female who stumbled around her mother. And mother, of course, was over joyed. I was now watching father carefulling, that little hatchling hasn't even done anything and father already seemed to dislike her. (It may have been because Aruu looked so much like me) Not even five hours after Aruu hatched, a second hatchling broke out of her shell. Yes, another female, Nahjira; father looked happy this time, but I believe he felt the same way. One of the last two eggs was not going to hatch; all the heat drained from it and we could no longer feel movement inside. Mother was crushed, and now feared for the last egg. Serprisingly, father was sad as well; he was either acting very well, or these feelings were true. Strange.

...Another hole in my memory; I believe the last egg hatched a few days later, my brother, Zayintal. I don't remember anything else significant for a few weeks. When Tal was a month old, though, I remember one day when he and my father were relaxing by one of the clearer ponds in our swamp. Father was lying upright and looked as if he'd just woken up, while Tal was fast asleep between his forearms. I wanted to talk to him about...something, I don't remember what. Anyway, when I approached them and father caught sight of me, I was greeted by a rummbling roar. Father turned and faced me in an instant, pushing Tal behind him so fast and hard I thought he had gotten hurt, his face twisted in a snarl. This is how parents would react to a threat when they're young are involved. A THREAT. I was frozen in place for a few moments then retreated to the very edge of our territory. I never went near father without mother around again.

Nothing really happened for a while after that. Serprisingly, Tal and I got along very well, dispite him being my opposite. Tal was very out-going and could really take charge of a situation; he was loud and always just had to made his presence known by any means. When he was alittle over a year old father started taking us hunting with him; I suppose I was sort of happy to know I could be near my brother without worrying about father ripping a limb off. Father went back to his old self, except when Tal was around he paid attention to me.

Najira and Aruu almost never came near me. In that last year I was with the clan they bearly said four sentances to me. Not kidding; they were afraid of me, I guess. I didn't know why, at the time, but it all became clear.

Our skies are very rarely clear enough to see the stars at night, but once or twice a year, we're lucky enough to see a blue moon. Blue moon nights were very important to my clan; we believed they brought good luck or something like that. Mother always told me stories that when a draik dies, if it's soul is good enough, it will join the stars in the sky, and make the moon shine brighter. What does this have to do with a blue moon? No idea. Anyway, my family was gathered around a large bon fire, as was every other little family in the clan around thier own fires, doing....I don't remember. I do rememeber that my family all of a sudden fell silent and looked over to me. I wasn't paying attention, though, until my father spoke to me. I don't recall his exact words, but he asked to speak with me alone. I agreed, and he lead me off into the woods.


...And that's the last memory I have of my mortal life. Eveything else is just..black. Not even blurred images.

He could feel the cold ground below him, the soft breeze slightly moving his mane; but he wasn't breathing. Rhadamanth laid there on his flank in a pool of his own blood, still gushing from a wound to his soft under belly. He tried to take a breath, but nothing came in, and his vision started to blur into darkness; Rhad began to panic silently, unable to move or make a sound.

-"So unfortunate," an arrogant voice hissed from behind. Rhad struggled to get up, but only succeeded in slightly moving his front legs and neck. It was then that he realized, still in his panicked state, that he couldn't hear or feel his heart beating. -"How does the saying go?" the voice asked him, knowing Rhad couldn't answer, "'Why must the good die young?'" The voice said in almost an 'I told you so' tone. Who ever it was, they were moving, prowling around Rhad in a circle like a predator sizing up it's prey. Rhad opened his mouth to try and speak, but still couldn't, but was able to turn his head to where the voice came from.

The figure was under the shade of some trees surrounding the small clearing, still circling the young dragon, but slower now. The figure had a long serpent-like body, nearly twice the size of Rhad, with thick armor-like scales. It's under belly was plated with a similar scale pattern of most snakes, and the design coving it's entire body was like an optical illusion. A nearly black ring, and light blue, a dark grayish blue, black again, making the serpent seem longer that it actually is; it almost hurt to look at it. Rhad tried to force his vision to focus, but the way the figure moved and the pattern coving it's body, its almost as if the serpent was purposely confusing him.

Rhad ended up following the serpent's body up to his head, were two, bright red iridescent orbs with pitch black slits were focused intently on him. The serpent stopped, and slithered closer to Rhad, still lying helpless on the stone cold ground. The serpent stopped only feet away from Rhadamanth's head, towering over him, and inhaled with his mouth wide open. Rhad half-heartedly struggled to move once more, still to no avail.

The serpent's forked discolored tongue tasted the air for what seemed like an eternity to Rhad, who thought maybe the serpent might try to swallow him. The serpent hissed in content, and leaned down to eye level with Rhad. As it turns out, this was not a snake. When it leaned down, two arms, very lizard-like with five fingers and claws, touched the ground as if to hold up the rest of it.

-"Wait, now" the serpent realized, irritated, "you're not quite dead yet. …You're spirit hasn't left you're body." Now the serpent seemed like he was in a hurry; He reared up, higher than before, to look around. Rhad felt even weaker than before, too weak to even attempt to take a breath. His vision faded out again, this time for good, while he slowly lost complete feeling in anything beyond his head; as if his body wasn't even there. The last thing he made out before his eyes involuntarily closed was the serpent; in the way of possibly the last light Rhad thought he'd ever see.


-"… Its been done?" Rhad's mother asked when Rhad's father returned; as if she had to ask. The scent of blood was all over him, even though he did his best to wash it off before he came back. He had a stern look on his face, like he almost regretted what he did, but everyone new he didn't. Dalameer, Rhad's eldest sister, laid with her head down between her claws and stared into the roaring fire they all sat around. She was against this deed from the start, but was too afraid of her father to really do anything about it. Rhadamanth's other sister, Maekae, looked like she would burst into tears any second; she wasn't told of what they were going to do to her beloved little brother until the day the plan was set into motion, the day her newest sibling, Tal, was born. Rhad's mother, lying contently near the fire was emotionless. His father laid down – more like dropped – next to her, his -disallowed_word-it was common for swamp draiks to hunt other predators; they will eat anything that doesn't eat them first) Carefully, Rhad's father instructed him to quietly creep around behind them and when he gave the signal, to attack the larger one – sleeping around a smaller one – from behind. Rhad was eager for his first unassisted kill (even though his father was instructing him, he would still be killing it by himself) and to make his father proud, so all his attention was on the large feline. He was about to pounce when—

-"Hello?" The ixi asked, waving a hand in front of his face, "You spaced out, I guess; I said you can get up now if you want." Rhad quickly came back to reality, and sat up. He didn't feel numb at all, and he was sure he could move all his limbs again. Stretching out his large wings, taking up most of the upper part of the room, he stood up and yawned. Glancing slightly to his left – also in the direction of the ixi girl – Rhadamanth spotted a large scar starting from his flank and running down to the middle of his under belly.

-"Oh, uh, don't worry about that; we fixed you up pretty well and the scar should be gone in no time. Not very many are as lucky as you, usually we have people walking out of here, even after we fixed them, with permanent scars. Oh, like last month we…" The girl rambled on. Rhad wasn't listening; he was staring in amazement at his wound. How could he miss something like that? It was deep and he should have died from blood loss alone, not to mention that there'd be nothing keeping his insides from spilling out.

-"Where am I?" The draik repeated, hoping for an answer.

-"Well, we don't know what it used to be called, but our master calls it Duwraith." She answered, walking over to the only door in the room. "Come on! Oh, and by the way, my name's Ameiru." She said cheerfully, holding the door open for him. Hesitantly and partially worried that his wound might split open, Rhad walked through the dark doorway into a one way hall. The hall's walls were the same color and texture as the walls back in the room, and the ceiling was arched up. On the ceiling Rhad could barely see the same odd carvings as on the door in the dim light. The hall had one dimly lit torch lighting it, and as they approached what seemed to be a dead end, Ameiru slipped infront of Rhadamanth, who took up half the space between the walls. She walked casually ahead of him, and just when Rhad thought she was about to walk into a wall, she turned left, into another almost completely black hallway. The dragon cautiously slowed down eventually to a stop in front of the dark path. Ameiru turned around, startling Rhad with her bright red glowing eyes.

-"..Aren't you coming?" she asked, as if the little ixi was completely unaware she was in pitch darkness. Rhad stood for a moment, and, after thinking if a little girl had no trouble doing it, so could he, he reluctantly followed. They walked in darkness and silence until a light from another branching hallway seemed to come towards them.

-"…Ameiru?" a woman's distant voice called.
-"Over here!" She shouted back, "Come on, Rhad!" she giggled to him, tugging on a lock of his mane to come forward. "You'll finally get the answers you want…" Ameiru added. Rhad, completely overlooking the fact that she new his name when he never told her, cautiously moved forward towards the light, which was now stationary.

-"…Ameiru, you and our guest are late." Holding the torch that the dim light was coming from, was an anthromorphic female horse. She may have been a uni, or a peophin, but it was too hard to tell in this light, even with the torch right there.

-"I know, I'm sorry. He woke up after you left for a few minutes, then passed out again." Ameiru said it like she had done something wrong, then smiled at Rhad.

-"Well, no matter. Come," she stepped aside and gestured for Rhadamanth and Ameiru. They went ahead of her and she walked behind them with the torch for several minutes. Then the small group came to a door, the woman placed the torch in a holder bolted to the wall, and opened the door. Rhad was relieved to step into a large room brightly lit by a giant silver chandelier. This room had smooth slate grey walls and a black marble tiled floor. The room was rectangular, Rhad standing at one of the far sides, with four doorways at each corner; the door they were standing infront of, one opposite to it – which was closed – and two archways on the other side of the room next to each other with no doors at all. On the two long walls, one on each side, were two long dark brown tables; each had candles on top and locked drawers on the sides. The woman walked infront of Rhad, and stood in the middle of the room. She was in fact a peophin, the tail common among that species swished lightly side to side, as if swimming. She was a bit less than 6 feet tall and had a slender build; her pelt was a grayish brown with lighter markings. Long, wavy, dark red hair spilled down her back and over her shoulders. Most of her body was covered by a black silky dress with dark red details and trims that ended just below her knees. On her arms were black arm warmers held up by a black strap. Her eyes didn't fit her at all; she was a sophisticated well-kept and seemingly harmless woman, but she had the eyes of a demon. Her eye 'whites' were pitch black, no light reflecting on them at all like pits that just kept going and going, and her irises were royal purple. She gestured for them to follow her to one of the hallways n the far side of the room. Rhad was relived to see light at the end of the short hall.

-"Excuse me," the woman said, walking next to him in the much larger hall, "I didn't introduce myself; my name is Saitire."

The next room was slightly smaller than the last room and there was no décor or furniture. The walls were stone again and much darker than before, but looked like marble, maybe obsidian. The floor was black and in the middle of the room, painted on the floor with some sort of silver substance, were three circles forming sort of a target. In the area between the outside circle and the edge of the second were markings like those carved on the doors and ceilings. The room had a feeling about it, not a good one; Rhad felt a chill run up his spine and he felt like he was being watched. The air in the room was noticeable cooler, and the temperature was dropping. On the other side of the room was a door that started to creak open. Saitire causally walked around the circle to meet whoever was coming through the door.

A deep rumbling in Rhad's throat startled Ameiru, who was standing next to him when the stranger slithered into the room.

-"…So you remember me." The serpent chuckled as he slithered next to Saitire. Rhad lowered his head and continued to growl; he wasn't so helpless now.

-"Hey, there's no need for that; I won't hurt you."

-"Rhadamanth," Saitire stepped in, "this is Aztii, he was the one who saved you—"

-"Saved me?" Rhad snarled, "he almost killed me!" Saitire stared for a moment, then looked back at Aztii angrily.

-"What did I tell you about doing that? You know you're only allowed to watch, not intervene." She snapped with her hands on her hips, as if scolding a child. Rhad's growling subsided, his anger replaced with confusion.

-"Hey, I did exactly what you told me to do, and I," the serpent turned towards Rhadamanth, the scaly hood that was once folded tightly against his neck, like it wasn't even there, now flared, "wasn't the one who gave you that gash; it was your fa—"

-"That's enough!" Saitire shouted. She grabbed one of his hood flaps and jerked him closer to her. Then she whispered, to low for Rhad to pick up, something to the serpent. The dragon subconsciously stepped closer to try and hear; he new something was going on that everyone but him new about.

-"…Oh, so you haven't told him yet." Aztii sighed. Saitire shook her head regrettably, then glanced pleadingly at Rhadamanth. The dragon was completely confused now.

-"…What? Told me what?" He demanded, partially hoping that they wouldn't tell him. The peophin took a step toward him, her hands folded in front of her, and took in a breath.

-"Rhadamanth, you are dead."

The long forgotten city of Duwraith, or the Dark Realm, as its also known as, is nothing more than a large cavern with a series of tunnels leading to it deep under the earth's crust. The city is protected by dark magic and is impossible to detect by mortals and immortals of the 'Day Realm', or the beings living on the earth's surface. The ceiling of the large cavern has runes of dark magic covering it not only to keep the city hidden, but to display an illusion of the Day Realm's sky, along with an artificial sun. The beings living in Duwraith know it is a trick, and long to see the real stars and feel the warmth of the sun. It is unknown how old the city is, but its always been inhabited by the darkest and most ruthless beings alive.

Shortly after the beginning of time, Indeciso, a well-known and powerful demon, came to be the ruler of Duwraith after his father's mysterious death. Not long after he came to power, he devised a plan to expand his already large empire up to the surface world. He gathered the Commanders, or leaders of the various sections of Duwraith, to explain his attack plan. Many opposed this plan at first; after living in the dark and security of Duwraith, Indeciso accused them of being cowards, afraid of the light and the real world. One Commander, Sinjaque, brought up the problem of the Highland Demons. The Highlanders were friends of the mortals, and would most defiantly stop any attempts by the Dark Realm Demons. Indeciso had considered them, but came to the conclusion that they wouldn't be a problem. He claimed that they could use the same runes that concealed their city to hide their army. Many were still not convinced that this will end in something other than a slaughter for their people. Indeciso stated that they could make their way up to the surface, undetected because of the magic veil he plans to have over his troops, and spread out their forces around the four corners of the Day realm's most populated city, Argustai. When the troops are in place they will fight their way up through the surface and have the city surrounded. The city will fall easily, being mostly made up of civilians, and will become our fortress and base camp for spreading out our army. Almost everyone seemed convinced his plan will work, and they got started immediately.

The Dark Realm Demons lasted four days on the surface before the surviving troops were driven back to Duwraith.

--------------------------

-"…Dead? What to do mean dead? I'm standing right here." Rhadamanth said.
-"You don't seem very dead right now because we brought you back to life, after your father killed you." Aztii stated, in his annoying 'I told you so' tone. They stared in silence for a few moments before Rhad snorted in disbelief. "Don't believe me?" The serpent inquired.

-"You haven't given me any reason to trust you, any of you." he glanced at all three of them. "Why should I believe you now about something so… impossible?" The serpent growled in irritation, Saitire's face grew dark. She slowly circled around Rhad to the far side of the room, standing so the three formed a triangle around the pattern on the floor. Kneeling, the peophin traced some of the runes on the edge of the largest circle with her hand.

-"…Rhadamanth, your clan has its own legends of what happens when one of your kind dies, no?" she continued to trance the runes.

-"Well, yes, but what does that have to do with anyth—"

-"What are they?" She interrupted, scanning the dragon with her dark gaze. Rhad met her gaze; her eyes had no shine to them.

-"…Uh, well… we believe that when a dragon dies it's spirit either becomes one with the earth, or—"

-"Before that, what happens to the spirit and the body?" Rhad was getting annoyed at her rudeness.

-"…The spirit stays either in or near the body, and supposedly if you move the body when the spirit is still close to it you'll terrify it from the loss of what it once was and it will flee and forever be bound to the earth. But what does that have to do with anything?" He took a step closer to her. Aztii was slumped against the door he came through; Ameiru had vanished back into the dark hallway.

-"Good. This will be easier to explain then…" She trailed off and began whispering in an unknown language, still tracing the same runes. The runes around the circle, Rhad noticed, were the same four marks drawn over and over again.

-"What?" Rhad demanded irritably. Rhad hadn't noticed right away, but the rune Saitire was tracing began to change color from light grey to black. The color from the other runes seemed to fade into black as well; too black. What Rhad thought was paint or something like it turned out to be something completely different. Rhad stepped back, startled, when the fading black came near him. When all the runes and the circles turned black, their outlines began to glow a bright and ominous purple. Aztii yawned loudly in the background, obviously having seen this lightshow too many times before. The light in the middle of the room got brighter and brighter, until Rhad had to look away; Saitire didn't even blink. Suddenly, the light seemed 'burn out' and Rhadamanth cautiously turned back to see. In the middle of the room, hovering above the middle of the circle were three pure white spheres. The spheres were bobbing and frantically circling the small space about the inner circle, as if it was a barrier they couldn't get out of. The spheres seemed to smoke; leaving little trails behind them, and glow, but gave off no light. Rhad, both mesmerized and terrified, managed to choke out a sentence.

-"Wha…What are they?" He took a slow step forward.

-"Stray spirits; lost after they lost their bodies." Saitire answered solemnly. "Well, not whole spirits. These poor souls are the spirits you spoke of, those who fled after they lost sight of their bodies. After roaming the earth for so long, they started to waste away, so they are incomplete. Everyone sees them differently, like I see them as shadows of their former selves. They are why you are standing here with us." The runes began to glow again and, with a flick of her wrist, it was all gone; the spirits, the light, everything. Rhad continued to stare in the empty space, like he could still see the orbs. Maybe he really was dead.

-"Those were…spirits…Why wouldn't I be here?" He asked, still mesmerized.

-"Like I said, you are dead. Aztii brought you in late," She scowled in his direction, "and your spirit was partially out of your body already. That happens from time to time. We were able to save you by basically 'copying' one of the spirits you saw and rebuilding your lost part with it." Rhadamanth looked at the floor before him. Half of my spirit…isn't me…? He thought to himself, then realized something.

-"Wait, you said he brought me in late?" His tone grew angry and his face stern, "Did you know I was… going to die?" He stammered on the last words. Saitire glanced at Aztii, the serpent still slumped against the door. He shrugged.

-"…Sort of." Aztii hissed. "Its not like we can predict the future. But, after living here for a while, you'll learn that the smell of death is easily identifiable."

-"Live here?!" Rhad yelled, surprised, "Why would I stay here?!"

-"Why would you go back?" Aztii returned, "Your family and clan know your dead, and your father was the one who killed you! Why on earth would you go back to them?" Rhad faltered. His father…killed him? Honestly, Rhad wouldn't be surprised if it was true. The behavior, the lashing out at him; it made sense. He glanced at the gash on his flank; Had father done that? The claw marks were the right size, and he doesn't remember anything after that hunt. No, his sisters would have warned him.

…Right?

Saitire and Aztii had left the room, mostly to let Rhadamanth process what he'd seen and heard. The dragon laid down on the cold floor; he was tired, suddenly. I died today…Father was the one who killed me? Half my spirit isn't …me? The door on the far side of the room started to open; Rhad took no notice. An anthro korbat soundlessly stepped through the door; his clothes were so different from Saitire and Ameiru's, maybe from the city? The korbat – maybe fourteen or fifteen – had the same grayish blue fur as Ameiru, his eyes were even more lifeless than Saitire's. His iris' were a faded yellow, no pupils, surrounded by a light red. He stopped in front of Rhad, still lying on the floor, and just stared for a few moments, his gigantic ears twitched. Rhad didn't seem to mind the creepy behavior; the korbat then left as quietly as he had come. Seconds later, he could hear the distant voices of Saitire and a new voice, most likely the korbat's. Then there was silence, and—

-"Hey!" Ameiru piped, peaking around the corner of the door the korbat just walked through. She was cheerful, as always. "Come on, lazy bones," the skeleton reference didn't lighten Rhad's mood one bit, "we've got someone you need to meet!" She disappeared behind the door. Rhad reluctantly stood up, shook off any dust and whatever else he picked up on the floor, and slowly walked to the next room. Rhad defiantly felt better in the room; the cold feeling surrounding the other room gone. Aztii, Saitire, Ameiru and the korbat stood near the center, waiting for him. Ameiru stood a tad too close to the korbat, looking up at him admiringly, but he didn't seem to mind – or show any emotion whatsoever.

-"Rhadamanth," Saitire stepped away to allow him into the little group, "this is Dehnirey, our lord's son." Rhad was slightly taken back. A korbat? Leader? Such a frail species… he thought while scanning the youth. In his clan, the strong lead, the weak die. The korbat had a very strange air about him, almost unsettling. His bright yellow eyes didn't blink, and he seemed to look right through the dragon. "Unfortunately, our lord couldn't be here today." Saitire continued, "Instead, Dehnirey will inform you on everything you'll need to know."




It was like going to school; learning in the morning and afternoon, doing whatever you wanted at night. This bunch grew on me quickly, as odd and malevolent as they are. Aztii taught me everything about combat my father didn't, though he treated me like a hatchling to whole time. (…I was only a few years old then, looking back at it now I suppose I was nothing but a hatchling at the time; I think I was about as tall as Saitire's waist when I first came.) Saitire taught me some dark stuff, like how to physically tear someone's life force out of their body. Ameiru was in my face basically all the time, and for some reason she always asked me about Dehn. When I finally caught on, I told her he was too old for her and she backed off for a while. Heh.

Appearntly, a LONG time ago their leader, this Indeciso, once lead a giant army up to the 'Day Realm', intending on taking it over. But he was badly beaten by the higher demons, and his army was almost completely destroyed. He himself was badly injured, so badly that he abandoned his physical form… demons can do that. He's now just an apparition, or so I've been told. I've never actually met the guy; after what I've heard about him, I'm not sure I want to meet him. Anyway, during the battle on the surface, one of his commanders, whose name escapes me, slips away before what's left of the army is driven back. Never before then has an underworld demon been trapped on the surface. Only around one hundred years ago this commander guy gets back in touch with his leader, and Indeciso devises a plan. He plans to rebuild his army and try for the upper realm again, hand picking his troops himself; he thinks doing that will ensure the army's strength. So that's where we come in, his troops. There used to be more, but there was a rebellion where three of his best were killed and one escaped to the Day realm. I heard that they're still looking for the traitor, but it's like he dropped off the face of the earth.

Aztii, Dehn and I are special soldiers called Exsautiums; a word meaning 'reaper'. We are sent out whenever a strong and possibly useful spirit may be dying. May be. As in they don't know exactly. Saitire and Ameiru are Emdiums; meaning 'healer'. Though they are suppose to be healers, Saitire has some pretty devastating spells in her arsenal; and she's been teaching them to her apprentice, Ameiru. There are six of us, counting that commander and myself. That may not seem like much, but I can't describe some of the things these people are capable of; I've never even seen what Dehnirey can do. Not to mention that traitor guy… Who knows how powerful he is to have escaped this place without a scratch. Ever since going there I can feel the power coursing through my veins; it may just be that I'm immortal now, but I think there's something about Duwraith that just brings a being's true power out and amplifies it. Strange.

Even though I'm not suppose to, every once and a while I go see what's happening with my clan. There's a room here with those magic runes all over the walls, ceiling and floor; when activated, they manifest illusions of any place you choose. Sort of like a magic mirror. Much to my dismay, no one in my clan seemed phased by my death…

Dalizie for Max

Claimed~


Erri for Seinna

Claimed~


Asra for Seinna

Claimed~


Derzeil for Fai

Claimed~


Rhadamanth for Kris

Claimed~


Parchisu for Dragon

Claimed~


Kathius for Dragon

Claimed~


Faiole for Anabelle

Claimed~


Dalizie for Sula

Claimed~


Talort for Lylie

Claimed~


Rhada for Kat

Claimed~


Ebolah for Policide

<img src="http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq30/Dhaeonii/draikADebolahcopy.png">


Wilia for Ven

<img src="http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq30/Dhaeonii/draikADwilia.png">