Freybia

Awakening
It was dark when Freebuild awoke. Somehow, it seemed too dark. She could barely make out the vague outlines of her surroundings. Stretching, Freebuild stood. Very carefully, she began to move forward. She didn't make it far before bumping into something furry. As she was trying to figure out what the furry thing was, it moved. Started, Freebuild jumped back, tripping over something else that seemed huge. Something that growled. Withought a second thought, Freebuild took for the shadows. They seemed to welcome her. She saw something move in the dark. Although she saw little more than a shadow of it, she knew it was big. At least twice her size, easily. Freebuild decided that at this point, caution was overrated. She turned and bolted. She weaved her way through the caves, for that was all that they could be, as though she knew them. Each turn, each twist, seemed startingly familiar, but she wasn't sure why. At some point, she left the cave, but did not stop. She ran as though her life depended on it. Adrenaline and fear rushed through her. She wondered, what was she so afraid of? Although she had started running because of the larger creature, she was not truly afraid of them. They felt almost familiar. No, this fear was entirely different. This fear seeped into her bones and settled there. Only when the shadows became more distinct in the light of dawn did Freebuild finally stop. It was morning, and she could see the sky through the trees. Pinks and purples. Oranges and reds. All the colors, mixing, painting a beautiful picture. Freebuild tried to think, had she ever seen a sunrise this beautiful before? Then the fear was back. And now she knew why. Something was missing, something important. She couldn't remember seeing any sunrise before, or a sunset. She couldn't remember the shade of the sky in midday, or looking up at the stars at night. Yet, she knew she had, in some instinctual way. Thinking harder, she realized that she couldn't remember anything about herself. Who were her parents? How old was she? Where was she? Taking a good look around, Freebuild tried the identity her surroundings. It was odd, she knew she was in the tangled wood, and after a little thought, knew she was in the Foxfire brambles, but she did not know how she knew this.
It was something she would have pondered longer, had she not heard a branch snap in two behind her. As she turned around, it vaguely registered that perhaps she should have been more concerned than she was about her follower. The creature she was looking at was a dragon, guardian. He stood over her, looking down, but his gaze was not unkind. Rather, he seemed confused. Freebuild felt an odd sense of protectiveness. Why that was, she would have to ponder later.
"Where am I?" the other dragon asked.
"The Foxfire bramble." Was the response given. It seemed that this dragon recognized that.
"Who am I?" He asked, seeming to be trying to come up with the answer himself.
"Legacy." Freebuild whispered, shocked that the answer had come so natural, like she knew this dragon from somewhere. There was a shadow of a memory, of a hatchling, but it was out of reach, distant and fogged.
"I remember water." Legacy said, and Freebuild nodded. That seemed right.
"Home is this way." Freebuild told him, and she knew it to be true. As she walked the path along which they had come, she could almost remember it. Walking and playing with others. Were there others? There had been, she was sure.
At the enterance to the cave, Freebuild stopped and pressed in a stone on the wall. It seemed to be the right thing to do.
Most suddenly, there was a hum, and flames flickered to life in holders. The area was suddenly bright. Who had made that? It had been someone important. Looking around, several tunnels led off of the main entrance. One seemed newer than the others, and going down it, Freebuild found five separate tunnels. Each seemed to lead to a small cave. Each seemed to have belonged to a hatchling, judging by the toys strewn around. Going back to the main room, Freebuild explored another tunnel. This one was similar to the first, save for the belongings in the caves. A third tunnel seemed to be wider than the other two Freebuild had traveled. As she went down this path, it seemed as though the walls echoed with sound of the past. A bumbling laugh. A shocked screech. Sounds of familly. But those were mere echos. Now the stone held only the sound of her claws against it, and the larger footfalls of the dragon following her. The tunnel opened up into a larger chamber. This was where they had started, or it at least felt like it. Looking over the room, Freebuild noticed a tundra dragon seeming to be staring at a wall.
"Hello?" She asked, unsure of this dragon.
He seemed to snap out of a daze, looking towards her. It seemed like he recognized something.
"Hello, my love." Admittedly, that was not what the mirror had been expecting to hear. Upon getting no reaction, the tundra seemed to pause, as though he was thinking.
"You are... Freebuild?" He seemed uncertain about that, so Freebuild nodded in affirmation. Yes, that was her. And he seemed very familiar. More so than the guardian behind her. The guardian who was staring at the tundra in an unsettling way.
"We should... look for the others." Freebuild said aloud, partially to distract the guardian, and partially because she felt she needed to. There should have been eighty dragons. Freebuild was sure of this. Exept, there were only three here. So, there had to be more. There had to be. Somewhere.



The Shopkeeper
It was almost in a daze that Freebuild walked through the tunnels. So familiar, yet she couldn't remember why. It felt like something had been taken from her. Like how she knew that the smaller caves should not have been so empty, and she knew that they were not hers. But that brought up the question, if not hers, then whose? To that question, she had no answer.

Silence rang as the three dragons walked along. It was quiet. Empty. Lonely. Freebuild walked in the lead, with the tundra to her left and the guardian to her right. This too seemed natural. As though she was where she should be. It was a time later when they finally came upon another dragon. This part of the cave was large, but not as large as the main room they had woken in. That room had been made to fit many dragons. This one would comfortably fit seven or eight average sized dragons. There was a raised stone slab that blocked off part of the room, and had Katale, the tundra, not been curious enough to look behind it, they would have missed the dragon. He was feathered, and smaller than even Freebuild was. When she first saw him, she thought, in a brief moment of panic, that he was dead. A second look, however, revealed that he was breathing. It was just sleep, although it looked to be deep. She wondered if this is how she had looked before she had awoken. She moved to wake the other, but paused. She had been rather disoriented when she had awoke, would it be safe to wake this dragon? Fortunately, she was saved debating this as the dragon stirred himself, purple eyes blinking open. He moved slowly, standing and stretching his wings. He did not even acknowledge the group. It was as if he was not seeing them. His eyes were dull, lacking the spark that all living things had. It made Freebuild nervous.

The strange dragon went to an alcove in the wall, one that Freebuild hadn't seen before, and started pulling out variouse objects, setting them on the slab of stone, which was starting to look a rather lot like a counter. Once the counter was full, the feathered dragon, skydancer, took his place behind it. His eyes seemed clearer now than they had before, and he spoke.

"What now?" he asked, looking every bit as lost as Freebuild felt. What a question. Well, they had wanted to find more dragons, and had found one. But... there still weren't enough of them. And. She had a very strong feeling that they should stick together, least they lose each other once more. Which was an odd thought. When had they lost each other before? Freebuild couldn't ponder this too long, the skydancer was still waiting for an answer.

"Come with us, help us look for the others." Freebuild suggested. The other dragon tilted his head, seeming to think about it, before he nodded.

"I am Cadevex." he said, in a tone that rather implied he had just figured it out himself. Freebuild could understand that. Legacy hadn't remembered his name at all, so it wasn't unreasonable at all for Cadevex to have needed a minitue. As they moved to leave the room, Freebuild said her own name, and the other two dragons she had awoke with followed suit. Leaving the room, the new smallest of the group fell into step right behind Freebuild. Their triangle was now a diamond.


The Lost Child
After much searching, the four dragons were forced to admit that they were alone. There were no other dragons, no other living things at all. It was so... quiet. Cadevex had realized that the smaller open spaces were personal rooms, and they could spot a section that had appeared to be under construction for more dragons. Which was terribly unnecessary now. With no other options, the small group began to search through the rooms, trying to find any clues about why there were alone, and where the others may have gone. They found none. It seemed like eighty dragons had just dissipated without a trace. And they couldn't remember a one. While searching, the group found rooms that they knew belonged to themselves. Another fleeting bit of memory, gone before she could catch it. Freebuild's room was in a sorry state. She knew, in something more than memory, that she was a leader. But, well, it sure didn't look like it. The place was full of broken things, and if there was an order, she no longer knew it. Katale's room was in a similar state, though Cadevex and Legacy had very nice living quarters indeed. Even if the guardian did go a bit overboard with the water theme, and the skydancer seemed to enjoy soft objects a bit more than was normal.

After their fruitless search, the four decided dinner was in order. They were all tired and hungry. They had found the food stores early on in their search, and while the amount stored may have been reasonable for eighty dragons, it was absolutely ridiculous for four. They ate out of this, although it was probably supposed to be an emergency supply. None of them wanted to go out alone to get food. In fact, none of them left the cave system, or each other for the next four days. They did not say so out loud, but they were afraid. Afraid that if they left each other, one of them may disappear, just like the rest of the clan did. During these days, they remembered what they could. It was how Freebuild knew what a clan was. It was how she came to realize that she and Katale were together. It was not until she mentioned it that he said anything about it. Apparently, that fact had been one of the first things the fluffy tundra had remembered. But, he had remembered something else at the same time, something rather important. Apparently they were parents. They had a child, a daughter. And Freebuild couldn't remember her. Not her name, not what she looked like, nothing. And that was wrong. Everything was wrong and it was driving her crazy. The only thing that was right were the dragons around her, and even then, they were all missing something. Part of who they were. And they couldn't stay here forever. They had to get out, look around. There may be clues outside. Still, they wouldn't leave each other, so they all went.


Drawn by Nahviintaas in the 'draw the dragon above you' thread