Avarice

Her egg was still for the first ten minutes after her other siblings hatched. It made her parents look at one another with concern, not sure if everything was alright with the egg. They inspected it carefully, both very anxious about what was happening. The little dragon inside began to twist and turn violently.

The egg jumped. Her mother gasped slightly as it jumped again. Her father lunged to catch the egg as it bounced right out of the nest where her siblings were nursing. He simply wasn’t fast enough.

The egg cracked open and sent a newborn Bogsneak toppling forward. To everyone’s amazement, the tiny dragon immediately got to her feet and shook her head to clear off the daze. Then she waggled her tail and rushed forward. She put her front paws on the side of the nest and tried to climb back in, but she was too small.

The Bogsneak managed to get all the way up, and lose her grip, taking another tumble straight towards the ground. Needless to say, she was off to a rocky start. Her father, a large male Coatl, quickly snatched her from the air and brought her into his embrace. He held her and rocked the squirming creature in his arms.

“Looks like we have an adventurous one here,” he said jokingly, stroking her head gently a few times, a father’s genuine gesture of love.

“Appears that way,” her mother agreed tiredly, letting her children nurse.

The young Bogsneak continued to struggle in her father’s arms. He grinned and carefully laid her down next to her mother. She immediately took to the nursing just like every other member of their clutch. The large female Bogsneak continued to chew up their food and deliver it to them, like tiny baby birds.

It was a perfect picture. Nothing could possibly destroy that moment. Rune and Mordrel finally had a family of their own, something they’d been hoping for ever since they first fell in love all those years ago.

But of course, nothing can stay perfect for long. Everything came to an end. A clan from Ice had been recently annoyed by this clan in the Starfall Isles. And that small bit of irritation turned into war. And chaos. And the Ice clan unleashed its full fury on the Arcane dragons, who dared not fight back.

Mordrel, as a mage in the clan, was forced to leave his family and go put up magical borders to protect his clan.

Rune looked up at him, her eyes wide as she gestured towards their family. “Mordrel you can’t leave! They need you here with them. So do I. Please, don’t go. Don’t leave us here. You know what will happen if you go out there.”

Mordrel looked down. “I only wish I had a choice,” he said softly, looking intently at the wet cave floor beneath his feet. He didn’t want to abandon them. But he also didn’t want to lose them to these Ice dragons. He would die before their enemies got anywhere near his family. He’d promised them that.

Unfortunately, he stayed true to his promise. The Coatl rushed the opposing clan with an offensive spell to get them as far away from his den as possible. Then he put up magic boundaries all around the caves. He had to stop them from getting anywhere near his family. That was Mordrel’s only concern.

Alas he forgot to be concerned for himself. A group of Ice soldiers rushed him all at once, and they overpowered him rather quickly. There was nothing he could do. The Coatl was bound with rope and taken hostage. He never saw his babies again.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. The clan’s finest colonel, went to CelestialRune to tell her about her husband. When she found out, all she could do was nod. Her babies needed her to be strong. She didn’t have much of a choice when it came to pretending everything was perfectly fine.

But she didn’t know how she was going to raise five children on her own without a father. And she hadn’t wanted to know. But she gently pulled her children closer to her. Daddy just had to go to work for a while. That was the lie she would tell them.

Anyway, close up on one of the kids. A tiny little jet black Bogsneak. She was a very cute little girl, energetic and smiling. Innocent and playful. Daring and clever. The little daughter of CelestialRune was automatically different than her brothers and sisters. Much more curious for one thing. For another thing, she wasn’t as docile as them.

Her name was Avarice. Ironic, considering she was the complete opposite of the word itself. But her mother named her that, thinking it had a pretty sound rather than a meaningful backstory. Avarice wouldn’t notice until much later in her life that her name didn’t fit her at all, so it didn’t matter much.

From her first time out of the nest, the tiny Bogsneak discovered that she was a jack of all trades. She hopped around the clan, doing what she could. Sadly, she still believed the lie that her father had just gone on a long period of work. Avarice spent most of her time working to avoid thinking about what she didn’t have anyway.

One day, she discovered something beyond anything she could have dreamed. The Starfall Isles, the place of her birth, was so much bigger than she’d ever imagine. She had been climbing an oak tree to collect some plants for her Tundra friend, when she looked around, wondering what was up there to begin with.

It was an immense field of pink crystals, gleaming brightly in the sunlight. Each one had a different pattern of light drifting down through it. Avarice was only familiar with the smaller crystals in the forest she called home. She’d never guessed in a million years that the Arcane region was so huge. She suddenly felt very small.

Avarice decided to leave. It was that simple. She wanted to go see what she was missing. She wanted to know about the land she’d been calling home for so long. Of course, Rune tried to stop her, but Avarice was way too stubborn to be bother with what her mother said anymore. She was a teenager after all.

So she set off on her own. She wasn’t sure where she’d end up, but she also didn’t care. All she knew was that she was going to see the world. Never before had the eager Bogsneak been this ready for anything.

Of course, time would pass, as happens after a while. Days blurred into weeks, weeks faded into months, and months changed to years. During that time, real change took place within Avarice. The young Bogsneak had grown up. And growing up taught her a very important thing about responsibility. The only real responsibility she had was to herself.

She began to try to find a home. She definitely wanted to stay in the Arcane region. She just wanted a new clan. One that would accept her and treat her as an individual, rather than just one in five annoying siblings.

One day though, everything changed. Avarice was tired and done with hunting for a while. She kept on a narrow dirt trail, one that she had no idea where it led out. She’d honestly never been to this part of the Isles before. But hey. A place she’d never been was just a new adventure waiting to happen in her mind.

The path went straight to a cave. Naturally, Avarice was smart enough to be suspicious. But she decided to give in to her curious impulse and went to the cave anyway. She hurried inside with an eager look. If no one lived here, she was perfectly willing to settle in. This place seemed very secluded. A good place to be if you wanted to be alone. Which Avarice sometimes did, but sometimes didn’t.

She really just wanted a clan to call home, if she was being honest with herself.

“Who are you?” a loud male voice suddenly snapped. Avarice swallowed nervously, ducking her head,

“My name is Avarice,” she said carefully.

The male snorted. “How dare you enter my chamber?”

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, feeling like she should be bowing. “I merely got lost in the Isles and I figured there had to be someone to point me in the right direction.”

The deep voice cackled. So loud it shook the cave. “You want pointed in the right direction, huh? Well then go back the way you came! Go on. Beat it! And… you’re still standing in my cave. Why are you still standing in my cave?”

Avarice ducked her head slightly. This was obviously a dragon. He had a kind of dull speech to him, tough to understand. She didn’t recognize the language he shared an accent with, but she knew it had to be one of the few she didn’t speak.

“Come into the light,” she said slowly.

“No,” he said, suddenly sounding like a spoiled child who wasn’t getting his way in the toy store. It was all manners of amusing to Avarice.

“Please?” she said. “If you do I’ll go away and you’ll never have to see me again?”

A deep sigh answered her as a tiny shadow came floating in. It was a tiny pink Fae. So small that Avarice had to stifle a laugh. He held a sea shell in his front paw, which explained why his voice sounded so deep. Avarice could only stare at the tiny Fae in shock. This was not what she’d been expecting.

“Hi…” she said slowly.

“Why are you still here?” the Fae demanded.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“My name is Wrath,” he answered, glaring at Avarice when she looked at the tiny pink Fae in disbelief. “Looks are deceiving,” he added defensively. “And I am the Arcanist’s finest mage. I worked directly with him.”

“Mage? Arcanist?” Avarice echoed excitedly, trying to piece it all together. All she got in response was a nod. “That’s so exciting! I never heard of a dragon that worked with the Arcanist. What kind of jobs do you do? Have you met him in person? Is he rude or is he nice? Is he big or small? How big is-?”

“Hush,” Wrath said irritably.

“Why?” the Bogsneak was rather confused. But she didn’t really protest. Mostly because Wrath actually seemed to know what he was doing. He seemed old and wise, while being mildly grumpy. Avarice’s favorite kind of dragon.

“Because I said so,” he said back. “Now,” he visibly relaxed, and Avarice got the sense whatever had been near them was gone. “What do you want from me, exactly?”

Avarice took a deep breath. She’d known the question was going to come up. After all, a mage who worked directly for a god was right in front of her. That kind of power was unlimited. She just needed to get him to do something for her. She decided to go with what she’d been looking for since she left her birth clan.

“I want to find a good clan for me. A home,” she decided. It wasn’t the deepest wish of her heart - even Avarice didn’t know what that was - but it was a good start to being content with the life she lived.

Wrath looked taken aback. “Are you sure that’s all? If I use magic on something so simple, my work will still have to be signed.”

She didn’t know what that meant, but she hadn’t expected him to do her any favors at all, so she nodded. Anything was better than nothing. She supposed doing something for her was just his way of getting rid of her faster.

“What kind of home?”

“A place that will accept me,” she shrugged. “A place where outcasts are welcome.”

He read through a handful of scrolls before scribbling onto a blank one. It was a crudely drawn map of the Isles.

“There’s the clan for you. Have fun,” the Fae smirked before disappearing. Avarice stared. That was unexpected even for her.

Her body was, out of nowhere, flung forward. Into a portal. She heard Wrath’s voice before she was jerked into the swirling vortex. “Take her home.”

As she was struggling to grab onto something in the tornado of magic, her side began to burn. And ache. When she glanced down, runic symbols, the color of Wrath, were being burned into her skin. It stopped hurting after a few seconds, but all the while, she just looked at it with shock. So that’s what he’d meant by signing his work.

Suddenly, she crashed head on into something. The chest of a large black Skydancer. The two of them tumbled backwards hard. The Skydancer was up first, glaring at her as he approached her defensively, his head lowered. He snarled, daring her to try anything. He almost wanted her to try something. It’d give him a reason to lash out.

“I’m looking for a clan nearby. One that makes its home here?” she questioned him, trying to keep her voice level and gentle. The last thing she wanted was a strange dragon getting mad at her and throwing her out before she even got in.

She introduced herself, and the Skydancer merely growled at her, still suspicious and still defensive as ever. He didn’t bother giving her his name, either. Avarice sighed rather deeply and looked away, trying to show him she really didn’t want to fight or even deal with a dragon that did want to fight just then.

Avarice began to follow him when he turned away. She started coming after him and making small talk. The dragon couldn’t help but smile when she cracked a few stupid jokes. The Bogsneak actually managed to get the cranky male dragon to talk to her, which was already magic in its purest form.

She convinced him to lead her to the clan, which just so happened to be the clan he belonged to. He explained that he really wasn’t the best dragon to grant her permission to join since he was barely part of the clan himself. He just kind of stayed back, and he certainly didn’t choose to socialize with any of them if he could avoid it.

Something strange had happened to Avarice however.

The journey was long and dangerous. They would often be attacked by rogue dragons, and other things that posed more of a threat than they realized. Arrantial, the Skydancer, would often fend off whatever enemy it was. And Avarice, she really didn’t know anything about fighting, so she kind of always stood back.

One day, the Skydancer looked at her, curious. “So have you ever thought about learning magic or anything?”

She sighed, knowing this was about the fact that she never really helped him out when the Beastclans decided to ambush them. “Not really. Besides, I’m sure I’d be no good at it, anyway.”

Arrantial smirked at that, standing and going over to her. He took her hand and guided it to the water, murmuring an incantation. Immediately, the water began to part beneath her. She staggered back a bit.

“See?” he said gently. “Anyone can do it.”

He began to teach her magic. And she was good at it. Very good. Arrantial showed her everything he knew, and soon, she was excellent at offense, constantly helping him fend off any attackers they had to deal with.

Nonetheless, they continued to talk and train, and by the time the long journey ended, they fell in love. Everything seemed alright again. No, Avarice had to remind herself. Everything was alright again. She found a home. With him.

In his clan, she does many of the odd jobs. She does anything and everything she can to help them out. She is sarcastic and quick-witted with just enough good humor to even it out, making everyone in the clan like her quite a lot. Though she spends most of her time with Arrantial, she is more than happy to spend time with the other clan members and do what she can to help them.


Bio by CayCay