awaicu » Hibernal Den » Mizar

Mizar

(#19867511)

Turn thy gaze | she/her

Familiar

Spirit of Light

Energy: 50/50

Personal Style

Apparel

Skin

Scene

Physical Attributes

Battle Stats

Measurements

Length

27.7 m

Wingspan

22.83 m

Weight

6573.57 kg

Genetics

Gold
Crystal

Gold
Facet

Obsidian
Circuit

Hatchday

Jan 05, 2016
(8 years)

Breed

Adult
Imperial

Eye Type

Plague
Common

Level 1 Imperial

EXP: 0 / 245

STR

AGI

DEF

QCK

INT

VIT

MND

Lineage

Parents

Offspring

Biography

M I Z A R^♫

EDITOR

╭━━━━━━━━╮

R E L A T I O N S

_MASTER

_MATE

_FRIEND

╰━━━━━━━━╯

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"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "

- Edgar Allen Poe
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Corona’s work was done for the day. She opened her talons, and crows peeled away from her night-dark skin. Each one scooped up a glittering invitation and then swooped away, bearing promises of spectacular entertainment.

Across from Corona, Elias looked up. His claws hovered over his book as he queried, “Shall I continue reading, my dear?”

“Thank you, Elias, but I am satisfied.” Though the words were oddly stilted, Corona’s eyes glowed with warmth as she looked at her mate. In this enormous, gilded cage, he was a spot of brightness in what could easily have been an awful life. She watched as he shut his book and gathered his golden robes around himself. They bowed to each other and then parted ways.

There were gardens in the Cathedral, for those who knew where to look. Corona liked to sit in some of these, for working indoors was stuffy, and sometimes she missed feeling the breeze on her face. When she entered this particular garden, however, she was surprised—and saddened—to see someone else there. It was another Imperial, as bright as she was dark. The face that turned towards her was very familiar and brought back faint memories of a village, of golden sunlight and a wide blue sky....

It also bore an expression of deep despair, one that crushed even the enspelled Corona’s heart. She didn’t ask what was wrong; she already knew. She could only listen sympathetically as the golden Imperial began to weep.

Her name was Mizar. She hailed from the Plaguelands, where she and her clan dwelled beneath the star-strewn sky. Mizar was named for one of these stars—fitting, perhaps, because she was a dreamer. Her clan had a small cache of storybooks—too small for one with dreams as vast as hers. Early on she decided she wanted to learn more stories, songs, and poems; her clanmates teased her, saying that she’d been left behind by an itinerant scholar. Maybe her true parents were in the Sunbeam Ruins, and she inherited her love of literature from them.

It was balderdash, but the idea of studying in the Sunbeam Ruins appealed to Mizar. Eventually, she came to the Ruins as a bright-eyed student and threw herself into her lessons. Her passion was a great help to her: Despite her rough background, she progressed quickly, and was soon skilled enough to teach other dragons.

One of these students was Corona. She was a daughter of farmers and her family had previously lacked the funds with which to send her to school. But she and her mother made their fortune by training messenger birds, and they now had enough money to hire a private tutor. Although Mizar was nervous about teaching a dragon slightly older than she was, she and Corona proved to have much in common. They’d both started learning late, for one thing, and were a bit shy about it. Mizar’s own experiences were a great help to Corona, who was just as eager to learn as Mizar herself had been. She made steady progress, and eventually, the two Imperials were no longer student and teacher, but friends who were happy to learn alongside each other.

They had lessons once a week. Corona went down to the village where Mizar stayed, or Mizar flew up to the farm where Corona lived with her mother. In between lessons, they exchanged letters. They wrote to each other of their daily lives, set up schedules for their next class. Corona was a diligent student and sent a messenger bird whenever she was absent or late—so one day, when lesson time came and went without her showing, Mizar grew worried. It wasn’t like Corona to forget or neglect a class. Had something happened? She considered sending a messenger bird herself, but couldn’t seem to find one....

Word soon came: Corona’s mother had taken ill, and so had the messenger birds. No one knew what the illness was; no one seemed able to cure it. Save for a few stalwart merchants, dragons began avoiding the farm. Mizar, however, was a Plague dragon. She wasn’t afraid of diseases, and one day she went up to the farm to see what was wrong.

“You shouldn’t have come here!” Corona gasped when she arrived; yet the dark Imperial embraced her, almost sagging against her. Mizar could feel how tired she was. Nursing her mother and the birds, running the farm...It was almost too much for a lone dragoness to handle.

“I’ll come back,” Mizar promised. “Let me help you.” Normally Corona would’ve been too embarrassed to accept, but now she was just exhausted. She nodded, her expression a mix of weariness and relief.

Mizar returned to the lowlands. She needed to gather some supplies, make sure her other students were taken care of....She considered sending word to the Plaguelands, asking for information about the strange disease. If she hired a fast messenger, they could be back within a few days. Perhaps they would have useful information she could relay to Corona...

When next she heard of Corona, however, the news was bleak: she had disappeared. Mizar listened to the distraught merchant babbling about the abandoned farm, the crows’ corpses scattered around his feet. “The young miss has disappeared....I fear it might have been too much for her. She might have gone away...”

Mizar was thunderstruck. Had the stress finally broken Corona’s mind? But even as she considered it, she denied it. She knew Corona too well for that. Corona was a dragoness of spirit, and she would not have left so suddenly, not without at least saying goodbye first. Something else was wrong....

She made her choice. She finished the rest of the lessons lined up for the week and let it be known she wouldn’t be giving any more. She explained it was an emergency, which was partly true: her goal was to find Corona.

Mizar left the village. As she had no idea where to find Corona, she could only wander through the Ruins, questioning dragons she met. “I’m looking for my friend. Have you seen her...?”

Some dragons had heard of her, but the latest news they’d had was of the disease that had stricken her farm. It was a shame, they said, and a great mystery. Perhaps it had been something in the water? A curse from a business rival?

Mizar swallowed her distress. “If you see her or hear from her, could you get word to me? My name is Mizar. I’m her friend and teacher.” The dragons nodded, and Mizar went on her way.

Word did get around. Rumors and news floating on the air, dragons passing information from clan to clan. Talking about the poor Imperial who’d disappeared, about the dead crows...The news traveled farther than Mizar could have hoped—or feared.

And eventually, it reached Corona in the Cathedral of Eyes.

“A letter arrived for you.” The innkeeper proffered it gingerly, as if expecting it to explode, and no wonder. It was in a gilt envelope and was one of the finest things Mizar had ever seen. She wondered if it had been sent to her by mistake, but her name was written—

Her heart gave a great leap. Corona had written this. Months of practicing, writing the same letters over and over again; of course Mizar recognized her penmanship. She scanned the letter within, her heart beating hard.

Later, she approached the Nocturne again. “Where did you get this?” she asked, thrusting the letter at him. The smaller dragon stammered that a crow had delivered it.

A messenger bird. “Is it still here?” And the Nocturne bobbed his head, birdlike, in response. As he fluttered away, Mizar looked to the east. Weeks of searching, and nothing had turned up...except this.

“I was looking for a way to help my mother and the crows. I found a place called the Cathedral of Eyes. They promised they would help me. But they won’t let me leave. It’s been months....I need to get out. I have to go back to my mother...!”

The Nocturne returned with the crow. He shuddered as he held it out, and Mizar understood why. It looked...wrong. Its black feathers didn’t reflect the light, instead shifting and blurring like smoke. Its voice, when it cawed at her, seemed to come from very far away, like an echo.

“Wait for me,” she ordered it, and then she penned a reply: “I’m coming to help you. How can I find you?” The letter went back into the envelope, which went back to the crow, which took off, returning to the realm from which it’d flown.

It flew towards the east, traveling unnaturally fast. Too fast for Mizar to follow. There was strange magic at work here....Still, Mizar knew which direction to travel towards. She packed up and headed east as well. Too slow to keep up—but following, nonetheless. Corona would write again, she was sure. They would exchange more information, and in time, Mizar would find her.

Corona wrote almost feverishly, giving directions as best as she could. She told Mizar to look for—

A spine of jagged mountains. A stormy sea. A great tree. Would her friend be able to find them? She could only hope—

“Sending those invitations out, Corona?”

“Yes, Cipher.” Corona kept her gaze on the pile of envelopes. She maintained her tranquil facade as Cipher swirled into the room, his luminous eyes blinking slowly, his smile fixed in place.

“You’ve been working hard.”

“Thank you, Master. I—”

“Working so hard,” Cipher sighed, “that you’ve sent out more invitations than I asked you to write.”

Corona looked up slowly, almost dreamily. “I beg your pardon, Master?” she queried. Her face was as smooth as glass, but inside, her heart sank like a stone falling into a dark, dark well.

Cipher arced forward, his glare boring into her. “How optimistic,” he purred, and now his jaws parted in a mocking smile. “You actually believed you could deceive the Demon of Knowledge?”

One forelimb twitched, and suddenly he was crushing a crow in his grasp. The bird shrieked in pain, dropping an invitation from its beak. Mizar’s name gleamed in onyx curlicues upon the golden envelope.

Now Corona’s look was stricken. Across the room, Elias saw the fear on his mate’s face. He started forward, hoping to head off a confrontation.

“You shouldn’t invite strangers over, Corona.”

“She’s not a stranger,” Corona gasped, irrationally. Elias drew near, but Cipher cracked his tail like a whip, and the Imperial heard a rush of air as he invoked the rest of the Council. Their voices converged on her mate, bellowing at him to stay his hand, and he groaned and staggered to a halt, visibly caving beneath Cipher’s control.

“No, she’s not. What a dear, dear friend she is.” Cipher extracted the letter. He could read it in an eye-blink, but he took his time, savoring every word, every iota of fear from Corona.

“She taught you well,” he remarked. Corona could only nod.

“And to think that, before she became your teacher, you were an illiterate country bumpkin.” Not true, but Cipher, as usual, was twisting the words to suit his own vile perceptions. His smile brightened the room as terribly as a wildfire brightens a forest. “We owe her so much! I’ll defer to your judgment, Corona; let us welcome her to the Cathedral. We could use someone like her.”

“No!” Corona wanted to howl, but now the Council’s voices were bearing down on her, screaming within her mind. Servants of Cipher, every single one, and while there might’ve been parts of them that still rebelled against him, she only heard the parts that catered to his every whim. They found that part of her, dragged it out, and compelled her to reach for her quill. The words were torn out of her, spilling off the quill and onto the new letter. Telling Mizar how to get to the Cathedral of Eyes.

There was no fanfare when Mizar arrived. The doorkeeper let her in, and at last, she entered Corona’s office—together with Sebastian and Cipher.

“You shouldn’t have come here!” Corona wailed, and this time no embrace was forthcoming. Before Mizar could react, Cipher nodded. Sebastian gave him a brief, lugubrious look and then slammed Mizar down, pinning her to the floor beneath one heavy paw.

Mizar screamed. She tried to struggle, but Sebastian was unnaturally strong, and she looked beseechingly at Corona instead. Her friend hadn’t moved from behind her desk; she huddled there as if shackled, her golden eyes bright with tears.

“Let go...of...us,” Mizar gasped. “Let us go...home.”

She’d expected them to taunt her, but instead, Cipher laughed. Somehow, that was worse. Such a carefree laugh...She was under his control now, and he knew it.

“Mizar—that’s your name, right? I’m sorry to say that Corona has...omitted some details about the Cathedral of Eyes. To wit, that intruders, such as you, are not allowed to leave.”

“I had...an invitation.” It was crazy enough to work. Stories of fairies and demons tumbled through Mizar’s head; surely there was a way out. She had to mention some detail they’d forgotten, solve a riddle buried in their words....

Cipher chuckled again. “Not authorized! Surely you understand that. Corona works for me now. Inviting you here was not among my instructions, but things might yet work out. Your friend tells me you’re a very clever dragoness, and we could use someone like you.”

Corona keened, trembling visibly in fear. Mizar felt the floor trembling, too. Something was approaching. Something big...

Another Imperial. He was enormous, dwarfing even Sebastian. As he entered the room, Corona let out a muffled sob of terror.

“This is Alcor, Mizar. He’s our Overseer. He’ll take care of you.” The Spiral’s eyes gleamed. “It might take you a while to get used to things, but he’ll help you. And you’ll learn very, very quickly indeed.”

Even Sebastian turned away as Alcor approached. He lifted up Mizar, but there was no gentleness in the gesture; his grip was as cold as steel. His face was frigid—except his eyes. They came alight with a dreadful hunger as he looked at Mizar.

Cipher began gently, almost sweetly, “Alcor, meet Mizar. She has traveled a very long way to meet you.”

“No!” Corona burst out. “That’s not true! Sebastian! Sebastian, help—”

But Sebastian was already walking away. Mizar shrank in Alcor’s grasp, trembling with fear.

“Mizar will help us put our plays in order. She is a teacher, so her transition to editor might take her some getting used to.” And now Cipher’s face was alive with malicious glee. “You should show her how it’s done.”

“Will she stay?” Alcor growled, his eyes smoldering. Mizar could feel his gaze raking across her skin.

“Of course, Alcor. She will stay...with you.”

Corona groaned, and Mizar nearly fainted with fear as she understood what the demon was driving at. Alcor roared in ecstasy, his voice shaking the very Cathedral.

Cipher chuckled indulgently. “We had a deal, after all,” he murmured, almost to himself. Alcor dragged Mizar away, leaving Corona, alone and trembling, to contemplate what she had done.

Alcor the Overseer had had many mates before. All had fled or vanished. Victims of his sadism, his mad, volatile wrath...and Mizar had been given to him by the Demon of Knowledge as a prize.

Guilt and anguish roiled within Corona. She hadn’t meant for this to happen. Like Mizar, at first she had had the wild hope that they could circumvent the demon’s sorcery. That they could break free and return home and live happily ever after....

At least in Elias, Corona had a sympathetic mate. Mizar was not so lucky. Her spirit was broken by the fear, the pain she faced as Alcor’s consort. She spent most of her time shut away in her study, where she toiled over the Cathedral’s plays. All the words had to be in place, and everything had to be just right. Or else...

On the fleeting occasions she had no work, when Alcor wasn’t nearby to torment her, she slipped out. Sometimes she sat by herself; at times Corona found her, and they would huddle together, not speaking, but remembering a farm, a village, and golden sunlight in a clear blue sky. If they daydreamed together long enough, then maybe, just maybe...

“Mizar!” The roar resounded through the corridors. Corona felt her friend flinch, a slow, terrible movement filled with pain.

“I must go,” Mizar whimpered, and then she slunk away to her mate. He loomed over her, his eyes burning with rage.

“Why do you hide from me, consort?”

“My lord, I assure you, I—”

“Do you not wish to be with me?” he hissed. His gaze pierced her—and Mizar screamed. She cowered on the floor as pain racked her body.

This was one of Alcor’s dreadful powers. With his gaze alone, he could induce pain in other dragons. There was no need for him to strike them...but there were times he did it anyway.

Mizar began to sob as he dragged her away. Corona would have gone after her, but she knew by now that that would only make things worse. It took a terribly long time until Mizar’s weeping faded away. Then all was silent...but Corona knew she would hear it again in the days to come.

There was no point in regretting. What was done was done. But there didn’t seem to be much point in hoping now, either. Still, if she let her mind drift, she could pretend. She could make believe that this was a fairy tale, or better yet, that they were still daydreaming, in a village or a farm within the Sunbeam Ruins, beneath the boundless blue sky.

~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
all edits by other users

- Used to be a young writing teacher
- Very anal about grammar and punctuation. . .
- Corona was one of her best friends who attempted to contact her in the early days, telling her about Cipher and how she was prevented from returning home. Asked Mizar to check on her mother...
- Punished by Cipher when he finds out about Corona's disobediance
- Kept as servant to edit the plays and was 'given' to Alcor as a mate

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