Elemental Knights

Tes left, a small sliver of black darting around quickly on the ground, making it's way to the library. Once inside he left the confines of his shadow form, letting his hood down and welcoming the darkness. He only grabbed his prized item and a few spell books he had yet to finish, which he packed into a shoulder bag for safe keeping. When he returned, he found he was the first one (aside from Inurian, who had never left). His hood was back up and he looked at the fire dragon.
"I wouldn't recommend getting to attached to her," he hissed in his low raspy voice.
 
Inurian's mouth opened and closed once, truly honored by her acceptance. He felt obligated to show her what had been concealed from her. But when she asked to see the blade, Inurian looked at the weapon in his hand, thoroughly confused that she had never seen the knife. Without much hesitation he spun the blade around on his palm and offered it to her, hilt first. The weapon was not intricate, no more than a sharpened slab of metal. Yet, she was eager to see it, it seemed.

"This is nothing to be proud of, my lady. It is a simple blade. There are knives out there that would show you my insides by looking at how sharp they are." Inurian said, straightening himself a little.

Then, Thesarian returned, along with Inurian's rage. He kept it under control this time, the fire shooting up his back, but not effecting his mind. No, instead, he lit a fireball in his hand and shot it at the dragon's feet.

"As I said, my lady, nothing to be proud of," Inurian said with a sly smile.

This was the start of a long adventure.
 
Tes quickly moved out of the way, though his didn't show his surprise. His eyes narrowed into a glare. He disappeared again, the shadow on the ground remaining and moving quickly towards Inurian. The black hands gripped his shadows throat, tightening until he could hardly breath.
'You don't listen very well,' it spoke. he remained there for another few seconds to get his point across before he left his shadow form, still standing eside Inurian though, only as a 3 dimensional figure.
"She's going to die Inurian, it will only make it harder if you get attached," he whispered before leaving to sit in shade as they waited for the others.
 
Inurian simply shot another fireball at Thessian's feet. The heat did not bother Inurian, as he assumed it would bother Thessian. To make his point clear, he blinked slowly at the shadow snake to show his distaste.

"For being a dragon, you look a little pale. I think you need to get out in the sun more," Inurian said flatly.

Did this shadow snake want to piss him off? Yet again, creatures who put themselves in harm's way without purpose. Inurian turned the situation in his head, perhaps he wanted a fight. Inurian was not eager to fight right now. Inurian wanted to silence the obnoxious shadow that seemed to want to darken his day. He shook his head and turned back to his blade and the girl who held it.

"Would you have me find you a saddle, my lady?" he asked, courteously.
 
She watched in horror but it happened to quickly and ended before she could do anything. She listened to what he said and felt tears line her eyes. She gave Inurian the knife back and then looked away. "He's right.... I'm sorry.... I shouldn't get attatched or let you get attatched...." she whispered sadly. When he asked her if she would go with him to get fitted for a saddle. She nodded her head in agreement. She kept her eyes on the ground, not wanting to make eye contact. She hated the fact she was going to die and being reminded of it was painful. She took in a shaky breath and made her tears go away. She would not cry. She suddenly felt a warmth around her body and her fathers reassuring voice in her mind. "I love you my child, this is not easy," he said in her mind. She nodded her head, her eyes white as she had a vision. She looked up at Inurian and the white faded, her eyes returned to normal.
 
Ingavar had just made back when he saw that Inurian were at it again, "Can you two not go more than five minutes without being at each others throats?" He walked over to Tes "Come on there's something I want to talk to you about." It was a lie though, he just wanted to get Tes away from Inurian before the two really did kill each other. When they were alone he turned back to Tes "Why are you trying to provoke him Tes, do you really get that much a kick out of it?"
 
Tes looked at Ingavar blankly, his white eyes hinting at no emotion.
"I'm not provoking him, I'm trying to get it through his thick skull that the only thing the girl is important for is saving the lives of everyone else in this world. Most of you here are getting so attached. I can not understand how you all manage to get so attached to a being you hardly know, even after knowing she was always destined to die. It's unfathomable. I am actually trying to save us all by trying to not let his petty emotions get in the way of our mission," he explained. He felt like he was the only one who was emotionally with drawn. Then again, living in a dark library all your life forced you to be that way. Still, they all knew the girl was going to die, there was no sense in getting so worked up now. He didn't show any of his confusion.
 
It wasn't a difficult task she had to complete, but it was one that made the dark pit in her stomach grow colder with the implications made by packing up necessary belongings for travel. In the end, packing was just the first sure step towards chaos and probably her own death.

Naku put a hand to her stomach, a short pause after she threw several leather hair ties in the small black bag hanging off her arm. She wasn't hungry or sick, but she sure didn't feel alright. Night was coming quickly, so there was no time to contemplate what her life might have been like without her gift. With a quiet sigh, pretending to exhale all the negativity she was prone to focusing on, and then tossed a few more items into her bag. A tiny book of notes, a spare set of clothing, many small blades encased safely and attached to a leather belt identical to the two she wore already, and tiny vials filled with oddly colored substances.

She tied her bag roughly and slung it over her back. Through her thick, short coat of old leather, she still felt a heavy thunk from the bag. Maybe she shouldn't have packed the extra weapon belt in addition to the daggers she had stuffed in there. A lazy shrug signified the end of her internal argument. Tight, hard brown boots were just soft and pliable enough to avoid making constant ruckus when she moved, but her undyed wool dress was prone to making quiet swoosh sounds against her coat.

It didn't matter. It really didn't matter, just like everything else. In the end, only two things mattered; that she was about to fulfill her duty at last, and that her gut still strained and twisted against fulfilling it at all.

She stepped over to her group, silently noting that the one she believed was called Inurian was still rather attached to Andaraste --Anadi-- and that he was getting rightfully pestered for it by Tes and his shadow. She decided to let it go. It wasn't her job to mend relationships and stop small fights. Until emotions were flying sky high and uncontrolled, Nakuinna would not step in to prevent violence. Besides, Inurian seemed to refuse the bait of Tes' troublesome shadow, other than shooting a small fireball at the perpetrator's feet.

"She does not need a saddle," Naku droned, "If we move in dragon form, I will be her mount. My movement is from side to side, typically, not a jarring up and down, and I am thin enough for her to grasp onto. I have been her guardian longer than any of you, her every day guard, and I will remain in charge of her body."

She glared at each face except Anadi's. "Listen to me. We leave now. There is no time for more chatter or bickering. I have the map that will lead us to the Tree, and I believe it to be best if we head north instead of northeast straight toward the Tree. We will skirt around the outcast lands this way, though we will have to fly over the western portion of the Dragon's Forest. As long as we fly high, the trees shouldn't spit out anything nasty at us without us noticing."
 
Tes turned away and glared at the light dragon. He didn't know if it was just the conflicting elements, but he couldn't stand the site of her.
"In case you haven't noticed, you're the last one to arrive. We've been waiting on you, so don't pretend like we are the ones holding the group up with our talk," he said, voice still low and raspy as always as his white eyes narrowed in a slight glare. He had to admit, her choice of direction was decent.
"Well then, lets go," he said, making sure his hood was covering his face for now. It still wasn't dark enough to let it down, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to anyway.
 
Inurian felt his shoulders drop when Andraste gave his knife back so hastily. He had found renewed reasons to make the shadow snake regret opening his hissing mouth. He let out the breath he had been holding for so long. Nakuinna's words were wise, much wiser than her age, Inurian knew. He was disappointed to a point that his form was so large that Nakuinna believed him to be to jarring. He began to slide his knife into his belt, but then sighed. Inurian removed one of the leather holsters from his belt, taking out an older knife from within it. He put the knife she had asked to see in the leather holster and pushed it towards her.

"Keep it. I can make another," he said to Andraste.

Slipping the little figurine into his pocket, he backed away from the rest, knowing he would need more space to transform than most of the others. Following the wishes of Andraste's keeper, Inurian made sure he was well out of crushing range before he began. When he was sure, Inurian breathed fire onto himself, the flames engulfing his body, burning away the human form. The flames grew and turned a vibrant red. The first to show from the inferno was his large wingspan, casting a large shadow over the ground. Next was his wide and long neck. Inurian's crooked horns still showed in his dragon form, to his dismay. His red and black-tipped scales glimmered in the last rays of the setting sun, a white and gold underbelly would be blinding in the day. The smoke around him cleared and he beat his wings once to move it down the mountain. His bulkier chest and thin waist gave him an odd balance, like that of a large cat. His gold ring that hung on his human finger translated into his dragon form, his knives still strapped to him in a leather sling.

Despite his up kept appearance, his older age showed in this form. Old scars, long healed-over showed on his lower legs. His violet eyes saw things differently in this form, he saw mostly heat instead of color. Each of them had their own different heat color, the sun a blinding kaleidoscope of colors he couldn't explain to others. Inurian's voice rumbled before he shook to stretch, the ashes clinging to his scales from being in human form for so long making a second cloud for him to sweep down the mountain.
 
Ingavar merely watched as Inurian allowed his true self to take form, he was definitely intimidating in this form and alot bigger then he suspected the fire dragon to really be. "Well look at you, pardon my saying but someone definitely fed you too much as a kid Inurian." He at his fellow guardian, judging by the scars life had not been kind to him. He continued to study the dragon bady moving from the under belly to his neck and head, he hadn't noticed the crooked horns before. He hardly payed attention to his physical appearance before, he guessed they only made his life more difficult growing up.

"Well I guess I'm next." He followed Inurian's example and put some distance between him and the others, his transformation wasn't as flashy as Inurians though no embodiment of flames or thick plume of smoke. He simply closed his eyes and consentrated on his transformation picturing his true form in his mind, he continued to focus on this as his body began to change. His body began to swell in size, then his back started to arch, next his neck extended his face changing as it grew out. Everything else began to morph into place as his body began to crouch forward, the last thing to form were his wings as the sprouted from his back. To most his trasformation would looked painful, but it was actually very natural almost like breathing.

He wasn't as big as Inurain fairly close but the fire dragon clearly out wieghed him, his body was a sleek brownish color most of his scales seemed to merge into each other giving it the appearance of just regualr skin. The only imperfection was the large ragged scar he gotten when he was a kid, his body was meant to be sleek and aerodynamic giving him superior speed and movement while in flight.
 
Inurian bowed to Ingavar, a custom for fire dragons. If a dragon was smaller than you, it was common and polite to bow in order to show that you meant them no harm. When Inurian straightened, he moved his tail a little to avoid it getting stepped on by the other dragon.

Where this earth dragon was sleek, Inurian was strong but clunky in comparison. His body was like a stretched diamond in comparison to the aerodynamic grace he saw in Ingavar. Where Inurian had power, Ingavar had speed and mobility. Inurian was a freight train, but Ingavar was a bullet. He especially admired that there was another dragon with scars aside from himself, even if it was only one large one. Inurian hummed in his large throat, blowing out a plume of white smoke to show how he felt.

"You have a very beautiful form. I have never seen any other earth dragons before. Are they all like you in this manner?" Inurian complimented as he turned to meet the rest of the group, "I studied only with other fire dragons in the desert. I have not seen so many different kinds of dragons as I have seen today, so I must apologize for my curiousity."

He thought again for a moment. He had only met a shadow snake once before Thessian, and its form was puny. Some part of him hoped that this dragon was also smaller. Size didn't matter on most days, but Inurian still hadn't cooled his temper from the last time.

 
Tes looked out at the sun set. It was gone as of now, the sky draped with the blackness. He was finally able to transform into his dragon form as well.He pushed his hood back, revealing his pale complexion, black and white hair, and marks under his eyes. He was quickly swallowed by a veil of blackness which soon took the form of a dragon. He was close to Ingavars size. He was much more slender though, almost deathly looking. He was scaled and his under belly and chest looked armor plated. He had fairly large wings that were smooth to the touch, almost like a sea creatures. His eyes were still white, giving him the appearance of being dead.

(I posted a picture reference of his dragon form on his profile >in the group< if anyone wants to see it.)
 
"No we earth dragon vary greatly from each other, there are some who do possess a similiar form to me but no one is exactly the same." He bowed to Inurian returning the kind gesture, Ingavar watched as Tes morphed into his true form when he was done Ingavar couldn't help but feel alittle cramped with the others next to him. He decided it would be best to reposition himself further down the mountain so as Naku would not have be too sufficated after she trasnformed herself. When he felt he'd given them enough room he looked over Tes's form as well, he was equally sleek as Inga if not more so.

"Your's is a stunning form as well Tes." He'd never seen a dark dragon they were a rare sight where he grew up the sun was almost always shining which made it an unfavorable for dragon like Tes to visit. To him Tes represented his kind very well, his sleek black scales and his plated underbelly ironically however seemed to glow in the moon light. "Truely stunning." he bowed to Tes as well.
 
Anadi watched each dragon transform, holding the knife in her hands, before shething it and putting the holster around her hips. As the sun set her hair got darker, almost black and her eyes along with her hair. She changed with the amount of light. She waited for Nauki to change so she could climb on. Before she did though she went to Natia and hugged her goodbye. She hugged Issac, the first time anyone had ever seen Issac look truely pained as he let go of Andraste. She was scared, very scared. She didn't want to do this... she didn't want to die but it had to be done. She just hope nothing went wrong on this journey.
 
Inurian was fascinated by Ingavar's short story. Most of the dragons from his homeland were similar in shape. The females tended to be a little more sleek, but still bore a broad chest. Most of his kind recognized each other by the color of their scales, the length of their legs, overall mass of the body, the face, the neck length, and smell in their dragon forms. A few rare types of his species had unique wings that glided over the air by waving their folds of skin instead of pushing off of it. Because they all looked so similar, most of the fire dragons would stick to their human forms, as Inurian did. His reasons for choosing a human form were a little bit of selfishness and consideration. Since his form was so large, he took up much less space. He could also hide his twisted horns a little better as a human.

Inurian bowed with a grimace in his head when Thessian shifted. The dragon was not doing anything at the moment to upset him, so Inurian had no reason to be rude. His respect was terse though. His flicking tail betrayed his emotions when he breathed a little fire to use as a light to see where he was going.
 
Tes nodded to Ingavar as a short bow.
"Thank you Ingavar. I could say the same to you," he replied, voice still the same, but a little more raspy and dark as a dragon. He looked to Inurian. The dragon didn't really make him angry, he just knew he had been acting stupid. Tes had learned to block his emotions so he could think. He nodded to Inurian as well as a courtesy. He watched Anadi, studying he body language as she said fair well to her 'parents'. Emotions still managed to confuse them. Logically he knew what each one was and when it was used, but in real life there was much more to emotion than he thought.

Once Inurian lit the flame he hissed, though it sounding like more of a threatening roar. One of his wings quickly covered his face, blocking him from the light. Ever the slightest of light from fire of sun could blind him or burn his skin.
 
Inurian hadn't meant to do that to the shadow snake. He immediately put out the fire from his nose and groaned. This was going to be a long flight. He turned around, not being able to see anything in the dark. He was not risking crushing someone as he took off. Once out of range, he began to beat his wings furiously. He needed every muscle in his body for takeoff, unfortunately, because of his massive size. He stood up on his hind legs and tucked his forelimbs tight to his body. His first down stroke blew back the little field of grass and flattened it. Up and down, over and over, he pumped his wings. The task was harsh on everything around him too. A miniature tornado was kicking up from him trying to fly.

Finally, his wings caught enough air for his legs to slightly lift from the ground. He dropped down with his wings and shoved off with everything he had. In a moment, he was airborne. The hot air caught underneath his wings as he pushed off from it, his neck helping him climb higher. Takeoff was always hard, but once he was in the air, it was all worth it. The air pressure felt wonderful under his wings, and the cooler air stimulated his inner fires for heat. Now that he was in the air, he could fly for hours. He waited, flying above the mountains and hoping he heard his comrades before he ran into them.
 
Nakuinna watched from afar as the others returned to their natural forms, her face remaining impatient but otherwise blank. She waited until they were all staring at each others forms and conversing about them, then made her change. In the dim light, the burst of golden light was like a silent explosion, waves and rays of too-bright light washing everything in gold for a split second before it receded, leaving the night darker and possibly leaving her companions half-blind.

In place of the slight human girl, there was the same golden dragon from before. Lengthy and slim enough for a human's legs to easily grasp, and oddly lacking wings. Scales ranged from gold on her back to almost white on her underside, where the scales grew smaller. From the top of her head to her tail, a mane of dark amber parted straight down her back through the scales, giving her the look of a serpentine, carnivorous and very strange horse. Four short legs held up her body while grounded, but without wings it was unclear how she flew.

She snorted, and her tail cracked against the ground with a loud snap. After stepping to Anadi, she knelt and waited to feel the weight on her back.

"I, for the most part, am not a small dragon. We are all like this, though some are shorter or wider or sometimes winged. When we are compared to other races, that is when we appear smaller. Block me in as best you can as we fly, to hide Anadi from view."
 
Tes hissed, curling up and covering with his wings. He looked like a massive black rock, and he waited until the light was gone from Maku's transformation. He stood back up, his white eyes narrowing. Light was a terrible element, but at least he wouldn't have to deal with it any longer after their mission. He lifted his wings and easily rose into the air. He was light enough that he didn't have to work to hard to become air born and stay there. He waited for the others to join him and Inurian in the air.
 
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