Sebastian
(#13929292)
Welcome. . .
Familiar
Treacherous Irons
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 36/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Plague.
Male Imperial
This dragon is on a Coliseum team.
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
22.01 m
Wingspan
15 m
Weight
6203.71 kg
Genetics
Obsidian
Ripple
Ripple
Obsidian
Current
Current
Obsidian
Underbelly
Underbelly
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 25 Imperial
Max Level
STR
127
AGI
14
DEF
6
QCK
54
INT
8
VIT
8
MND
6
Biography
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"It went many years, But at last came a knock, And I thought of the door With no lock to lock. I blew out the light, I tip-toed the floor, And raised both hands In prayer to the door. But the knock came again My window was wide; I climbed on the sill And descended outside. Back over the sill I bade a "Come in" To whoever the knock At the door may have been. So at a knock I emptied my cage To hide in the world And alter with age." - Robert Frost ╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯ Welcome to the Cathedral of Eyes. Did you come here by ship and then follow the road winding up from the sea? Or perhaps you came overland....You were guided by the warm light pouring from the windows. It called to you as you trudged onward, eyes half-closed against the wind. But all too soon the Cathedral reared above you, and you found yourself standing in its shadow, your vision dominated by the imposing doors. Iron-bound and carved with the most fantastic designs, they called to you—but then you felt the tread of someone coming closer...closer. I’m sorry to say that it is already too late for you, for the moment you stepped into the Cathedral’s shadow, the doorkeeper was summoned to the door. In the here and now, the door groans open. Out he flows, as smoothly as night settling over the land. He is a magnificent Imperial dressed in a dapper vest and shirt, and he carries a rose in his mouth. “Quite a romantic,” you might think—but beware, for everything you perceive about him is not what you think it is. That isn’t a rose, and he isn’t just a doorkeeper. And he definitely isn’t a dragon. He is called Sebastian, and most dragons of the Cathedral can’t remember a time when he wasn’t standing by the door. He seems as permanent and ageless as the Cathedral of Eyes itself. A time when he wasn’t guarding the door? Unthinkable! —but indeed, that time exists. Sebastian’s story starts nowhere near Sornieth. In that nigh-forgotten time, he had a different name, and he wore many different shapes. For he wasn’t a dragon, or even a spirit.... He was a demon. For countless years, he was his own master. He drifted between planes, enjoying the freedoms tied to his ethereal existence, as many demons did. But as the years passed, mortals discerned the veil that separated their world from the demons’, and they understood the power the demons held. Most mortals feared the demons, as was only right. But more enterprising individuals looked upon the demons as engineers look upon lightning: with awe and the thought “Here is power—and if I can harness it for myself, then what a god I’ll be!” And so, with magic, the demons’ true names were discovered, and then they were bound. In true demon fashion, the demons sought to turn things to their advantage. The mortals, for all their formidable magic, were easily beguiled. They readily gave up all those earthly delights demons came to prize so highly, and did the most amazing—or atrocious—things to please their “servants”. The old demon watched these developments with a tingle of glee. His peers encouraged him: “Find a host of your own; it’s not so bad! See what the mortal plane has to offer, all its emotional and sensory delights. Food and drink and joy and rage!” Ultimately, an unbound demon really didn’t have much to do. They could go where they pleased, certainly—but they couldn’t meddle in external matters. They could only watch. Being bound to a mortal offered opportunities for excitement, something that the demons all craved. Perhaps it was worth seeking out a weak and impressionable “master”. A demon would have to do some creative lying to turn their master into their slave, but it wouldn’t hurt the demons’ consciences, for they had none. They were demons, after all. Eventually the old demon heard his true name being spoken. The voice pierced the planes like a needle punching through cloth, and he roared to let the summoner know he was listening. He surged out of the ether like a breaking wave. His smoky substance swamped the escritoire, and he gathered it round himself again like so many wings. The eyes with which he surveyed the new world were a deep, smoldering red. And that was how he came to Sornieth: pulled from his plane by a foolhardy summoner, in an attempt to force him to do some trifling errand. In those days, demonology was in its infancy. It was easy enough to find the demons’ names, but the spells used to bind them had not yet been refined, and there were loopholes for the demons to exploit. The spell that had called the old demon was no exception. His summoner was a dragon of the race called “Imperial”, and perhaps this made him unduly arrogant. He commanded the demon to call him “Master”, but had failed to erase all mention of his true name. The demon found it one day, on a letter at the bottom of an old chest. The rest of the paper had rotted away, but the name remained. He returned to his Master and spoke the name, and he watched the young drake’s eyes widen. The summoner pleaded with him, wailing even as he was ripped out of his body. But the demon cared not—he was, after all, a demon. “Bah,” he huffed as the summoner’s soul was flung, still screaming, into the ether. It would be preyed on by another demon or similar foolhardy souls; it was none of the demon’s concern now. His master had compelled him to take the shape of a small and harmless cat, but now the shape was dissolving. The demon looked at his master’s body. Before the light faded from its eyes, he transferred into the still-warm corpse. And then it was a corpse no more...but neither was it truly living. For though the body still moved and felt, it was now inhabited by the old demon himself. This body had been given the name “Sebastian”, and the demon took it as well. He would not be compelled to answer to it. He growled as he recalled how his true name had been discovered and used against him. No one could ever know it again. He gained mastery of his new form, and it slowly changed. His demonic substance rotted the body from the inside out, until the scales had deepened to ebony and the wings had grown larger, as if to carry both the body and the unholy burden within. The previous occupant, arrogance notwithstanding, had been a talented sorcerer, and Sebastian was able to use the body's and brain's capabilities to locate new victims. Their voices floated to him on the wind....No matter their motives, once he'd heard their voices and the pitter-patter of their hearts, they were marked. He sought them out, and like others of his kind, he took away their souls. He didn't even need to discern their true names; there was a simpler method—all he had to do was spin lies that would make them sign their lives away. Promises of gold, power, even love. A handsome dragon with a beautiful voice...It was so easy to believe him. Many drakes came to think of him as a friend. But he never felt the same way, and all his companions ended their lives as limp, glassy-eyed husks of flesh. The demon's own powers, combined with that of the host body's, made him a force to be feared until only the most desperate mortals dared engage him. It was one of them who eventually called Sebastian to the Cathedral of Eyes. He heard the dragon child crying out in the night for somebody—anybody—to save him. The voice was weak; whoever it was was on the edges of their sanity. It would take little effort to ensnare them. Sebastian smiled into the darkness. The voice called him onwards, until the lights of the Cathedral were visible against the night. The imposing building gave many dragons pause, but Sebastian had infiltrated castles and fortresses before. The Cathedral was just another vault to be plundered. There were no guards. He did not stop to consider that they might be unnecessary, for the child's voice drew him on. Forward he went, through dizzyingly beautiful halls, till he found himself descending into darkness. Eventually, Sebastian saw him: a Coatl boy, trapped in a cage of thorns. They twisted around him so that any misjudged movement resulted in him piercing his flesh. He already had many such wounds upon his body. He was also delirious with hunger and thirst. There were bowls of food and water, but they were barely within his reach. As Sebastian swirled out of the darkness, the child blinked up at him. "Pa...pa?" he whispered. "No, child," Sebastian rumbled. He bent close and reached out with his mind. Memories welled up from the boy— His name was... "Hansel." The Coatl looked up. A spark of interest flickered in his glassy gaze. "Hansel," Sebastian repeated. Again he relished the power of a true name; he managed to keep his voice level as he said, "I can help you. Do you wish to escape? I can open the cage and free you." He'd expected an emphatic "yes". Instead, Hansel shrank back. "I can't." "Why not?" Sebastian asked. He was cursing inwardly. Some of the sternness seeped into his voice: "This is no place for a child. They've treated you terribly. Your father sent me to find you. He's thrown your stepmother out; you needn't fear her again." Hansel let out a slow, shuddering gasp. "My...father..." "He's waiting for you. I can take you to him. All you have to do," Sebastian breathed, his eyes aglow, "is entrust yourself to me." Hansel gazed up at him, a parched traveler sighting an oasis. He let out a deep sigh. Sebastian coaxed him, "Entrust...your soul..." He appeared in a whir of wings, his tail lashing. He shone bright gold in the gloom—but his eyes were far brighter, as emotionless as the sun. Sebastian blinked and then squinted, thinking, "Who is this worm standing in my way?" As if in answer, the golden Spiral declared, "I am Cipher of the Cathedral of Eyes. What are you doing here?" After his initial surprise, Sebastian quickly reassessed the situation. Cipher was tiny, no bigger than his paw, and he looked very delicate indeed. He wouldn't be a threat.... Sebastian introduced himself, using the same ruse he'd spun earlier: He was a diviner whom Hansel's father had hired to search for the missing child. He had followed the trail of rumors to the Cathedral and had tried to extract Hansel from the cage. "He doesn't trust me," he growled, playing the part of the aggrieved rescuer. "What have you done to this poor boy?" Cipher laughed like leaves crunching underfoot. Hansel shrank beneath his baleful gaze. "You're angry at how I'm treating him? Liars and thieves get what they deserve. When he arrived here, hungry and weak, we nursed him back to health...and how did he repay us? The first chance he got, he stole from me." The Spiral's face remained still, but his yellow eyes flashed. "The child's nearly grown; he'll face the consequences of his actions. He'll learn that life is no fairy tale." "Let him return to his father," Sebastian growled. Hansel was clearly too far gone, and once his soul had been absorbed, Sebastian would take on this insolent "Cipher". Two souls at once—he wouldn't pass up this chance. "I will let you have him," Cipher said, holding up a claw, "if you can win him from me." Sebastian protested—he was but a mercenary charged with seeing the boy safely to his father. His only skills were fighting and following orders....He claimed these as vehemently as he could, playing for time. "Let him think I'm a weakling," he thought. "He'll rue his underestimation of me. I'll make him regret he even dared speak to me...!" Of course, Cipher was implacable; he wanted to play a game. "If you lose, I will keep you and the boy." His smile grew wider. The deal was sealed. The world changed: Sebastian stood in a grand ballroom; Hansel was nowhere to be found. Neither was Cipher, though his voice crackled out of the air— "Since you're such a good seeker, I will let you have this poor soul if you can retrieve him before nightfall. It didn't take you that long to cross the breadth of Sornieth and find him. Surely this little Cathedral will be no match for your skills...." The words faded away with a ripple of laughter. Dawn. Sebastian smiled grimly. He had 12 hours to complete the challenge. He went deeper into the Cathedral.... Soon he heard Hansel calling out to him. "Sebastian...Sebastian...!" Sebastian followed the voice, as he'd followed so many of them before. But it quickly faded away. While he stood, perplexed, the voice started from another location: "Sebastian! Where are you?!" Sebastian didn't understand: How was Hansel changing locations so quickly? He detected no sorcery, and as far as he could tell, it was Hansel calling out to him, not some simulacrum. That lost soul crying out...He would find it! It would be his! He gnashed his teeth and stormed on. Hours passed, and he grew more frustrated. He was positive that the Cathedral wasn't changing its structure, yet he never again caught a glimpse of Hansel. The voice sometimes seemed to be right above, then underfoot....Where was he? When the sun finally touched the horizon, he lost his patience. He briefly shed his mortal shape and peered around with demonic eyes. They pierced the layers of reality, till he saw Hansel deep in the Cathedral’s golden heart. In a trice, Sebastian transported himself there. He resumed his physical form, claws outstretched for the thorny cage—and then Cipher reared up over it, eyes ablaze. "Liar," he spat. The Imperial laughed. "What's it to you? I'm a demon; I can do whatever I want." He reached for Hansel again.... Cipher's gaze froze him. Those brilliant eyes...Sebastian couldn't look away. He tried to twist aside, but his body wouldn't move. The Spiral began to smile. Outside, the sun descended—Sebastian had lost the game. He raged against the invisible bonds, accusing Cipher of trickery, but the Spiral only laughed. "No trickery—which is more than I can say for you. I only said you needed to retrieve Hansel's poor lost soul before sundown." The words now took on a horrible meaning. Sebastian managed to glance down. The cage remained, but its occupant was limp, lifeless. He heard the voice behind him, crying out in unseen halls: "Sebastian...Sebastian...!" Between the time he'd agreed to the challenge and the time it had begun, Hansel had died. His soul had been ripped away, set loose in the Cathedral. Sebastian had followed the voice, but had tried to claim the body instead. Even without Cipher's interference, he would have failed. He burned with rage. "I am a demon," he repeated. "You cannot hold me." Cipher was unafraid, with good reason. He spoke but a single word: Sebastian's true name. Sebastian stared at him. "Who...What are you?" "I am Cipher," the Spiral repeated flatly, "and I am the Demon of Knowledge." The cage by Sebastian's foot began to creak. Yet his gaze remained locked on Cipher. A slit opened in the Spiral's brow. A third eye...And now Sebastian saw him for what he truly was. It didn't really matter that Sebastian had lied, but Cipher claimed it had incensed him. Sebastian belonged to Cipher now, and the Spiral bound him to his mortal body before administering chastisement. Sebastian was compelled to hold a rose in his jaws. When he told a tiny lie, it gave him a nasty jab. Bigger lies resulted in thorns piercing his scales, the tendrils winding into his belly and throat. He could not die, but in his mortal shape, he felt the pain keenly. It didn't stop him from trying to defy Cipher every so often, though. "To prevent such unpleasantness from recurring," Cipher said, "you will guard the door. You are to deny entry to all but a select few..." Sebastian received this news with a sullen nod. Cipher glared at him. "Don't even consider running off." "I won’t," Sebastian answered sourly. The rose stabbed his mouth, but he turned away so Cipher wouldn't see his grimace. Once Cipher had gone, Sebastian attempted to escape. He opened the door and stepped outside. Pain blossomed in his jaws. Another step...It stabbed at his throat and chest. Yet he lurched on doggedly. He never made it out of the Cathedral’s shadow. The thorns burst out along his body, rupturing through his scales. He writhed in pain at the edge of the light—how ironic that he, a demon, now desired to reach it. His body could not handle the pain. He retreated to his post by the door, and there he stayed. His daily life shrank to interminable boredom: standing by the door, greeting visitors, answering their inane questions... There were occasional bright spots. The other denizens of the Cathedral treated him well, dragons and animals both. He was especially fond of the cats that walked fearlessly up to him, twining around his toes. They reminded him of himself, once upon a long ago: walking where he’d pleased and doing whatever he’d wanted. There was excitement, too. Sometimes a stranger would appear outside the door, and Sebastian would have to deny them entry. Or better yet, deny them escape.... He would step outside, claws extended, and a smile would appear around the rose. Yes, it wasn’t all bad.... “Emotional and sensory delights”, as other demons had once told him. Food and drink and joy...and rage. ~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
Layout by Kintsy
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I N V E N T O R Y
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