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The Child
Volamena was hatched in care of Minseok. He had saved it from a group of monks who had determined that her egg, along with several others, had to be destroyed, lest untold horror might be unleashed upon the world. Minseok objected, violently. He managed to save only her egg and to steal the scroll containing the prophecies which had marked her for non-existence.
Her earliest days were spent in the glittering hills around the Sunbeam Ruins or fleeing through darkened forests; they had always been pursued. She remembered little of those places as she grew older; Her savior had taken her to one of his few remaining allies in the Scarred Wasteland. Here she grew to adulthood, with grim and corrupt vistas visible from her window high up on the Rotrock cliffs.
She spent her youth running along the bridges and balconies of her Clifftown home. The Scarred Wasteland is a desperate land, but the Clan of Singing Blood carved out a protected region and had enough wealth to keep the population from wanting for too much. She was educated by Helveca alongside the other children of Singing Blood. Finnigan and Saldeti treated her as warmly and lovingly as their own numerous children, and she spent much of her time with them. She had no want for friends to get into mischief with but was generally kind and well-behaved.
When she grew older Finnigan helped to find Volamena a suitable role in the clan, even as most of his own children departed it. She helped him for awhile and saw to managing business as a merchant, then as a tax officer on behalf of the Clan's Council. The work suited her well enough, though she was at times too soft-hearted for the task and occasionally taken advantage of.
She eventually settled into the management of clan records. Deeds, property ownership, trade, hunting rights- all such things passed through her claws. It was perhaps not the job she would have come to on her own, but it was the one Finnigan had been best equipped to help her reach.
She saw little of Minseok; he was very often away on campaigns, hunting trips, or other missions. When he was around he would regale her with stories of his deeds, or of the past and the Sunbeam Ruins, for her golden plumage so reminded him of home. Volamena came to view Minseok as a knight. Her Knight. She longed for times when he walked the halls of the lair or they would walk together on the balconies and paths, up to the top of the Bonestrewn Crest above Clifftown, where she could sit for hours and listen to his stories of war and daring and of sunlight and the forgotten ruins bathed in radiance. When she was old enough to claim a mate she courted and claimed him. They loved eachother very dearly.
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The Harbinger
When she was old enough to be curious about her origins, and why they were exiles, he did not hide the truth from her. He told her of the monks and their judgment, but he did not tell her he had the scroll. It was many years before she discovered it, but she did. She read the contents, and while she never let it stray far from her keeping after that, it did not seem to otherwise have much of an impact on her.
No one saw the new obsession she harbored. No one noticed her subtle machinations. No one suspected her secret betrayals.
Years later, a horrific entity was freed from an ancient prison and set to unleash havoc on the world, starting with the Clan of Singing Blood. It corrupted the knight Minseok, and Volamena was caught up in the terrible scheme. The entity was eventually defeated, and Minseok was brought low in his failure... The extent of Vola's involvement in the affair was never known. It seemed only that she and Minseok had been corrupted by the Shade's influence after its escape, nothing more.
It was never Minseok's plan though, it had always been hers. He served her. He loved her. Terrible things had come to pass because of his mercy and his love. Volamena was left standing alone in the Wasteland, having witnessed so many years of work and faith and dedication destroyed in a few short days. Hours. Minseok would fight one final battle for her, but she could not face him again after. She fled.
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The Hidden
Finnigan was distraught. He was haunted by the image of a broken coatl body left in a heap in the boneyard, feathers glinting with the light of dawn. He had feared that Vola would be marked as a traitor, hunted and slain by the Clan. He also knew better than anyone else of the extent of her betrayals, though he did not know everything. The whole clan was still celebrating their victory over the enemy, and the dark dragon, soft and untrained for battle or hunting or any sort of physical exertion, set off into the wasteland alone. He needed to find her first. If he could only reach her...
He was successful in a way, though it was she who found him, dehydrated and disease-laden after weeks in the boneyard, but still full of vigor. She had been expecting someone from the clan, but not him. She was expecting the warrior twins or the Queen's enforcer to come charging down upon her. He asked her for her side of the story. He wanted to help her. He begged her to come home.
Home. She did not think she still had one. She couldn't imagine that any could love her after all she had done. She didn't know what to do now, that everything she felt like she had ever worked for had gone wrong... but here was her father, her soft, foolish father, staggering across the plaguelands just to find her and bring her home.
Home. The Eyebite was there, still waiting to be freed. Finnigan was her return ticket, and she still had the scroll. All her work need not have been for nothing, and perhaps her great glory was yet to come.
She told him some, but not everything. Minseok had left, it was convenient that he was never found. It was easy to blame it all on him. Afterall, he had been the one to attack and capture Susan. He had been the one who fought them at every turn.
Finnigan may have been soft, but he was no fool. Even though he was overcome with joy at finding his daughter, he knew she was lying to him. He knew whatever demon's hooks had been anchored in her soul were still well in place, but he would not abandon her for that. He would bring her home, and he would do all he could to protect her and to help her, and to save her soul.
If anyone else in the clan discovered her or learned of her deeds, they would both be in grave danger. Finnigan had not brought enough supplies with him. He had not brought any weapons either. The only thing he had been sure to bring was a most powerful and important relic. He had brought a scroll of his own.
Finnigan returned to the clan, and more than one dragon thought he might have been a walking corpse, and after he recovered none of them ever again questioned the resilience of the portly old coatl. They did not know why he had wandered into the wasteland, but they knew he made it back alive, and that was enough for them. They supposed it had to do with the glimmering golden fae which he had returned with. She was a coveted jewel, and instantly a favorite among the Scarwind Keep's fae colony, where she quickly disappeared into their numbers and was largely forgotten by most everyone else.
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The Goldenbeast
While Volamina was a fae she was courted by, and took as a mate, Oneiroi. The strange pearlcatcher came to her more often in her dreams than not, and with him, she had several children.
Vola was frequently torn and at odds for herself. She continued to serve the interests of the Eyebite. That is what she was for. Yet so often she found her mind wandering, seeded with strange doubts. Oneiroi always seemed to dispell those doubts, even though she knew she could not understand him or his motives, they seemed to cement her own.
In the realm of the physical, she courted Eideif some. He was taken by the small fae's beauty and recovering from his own heartache, so entertained her for a while. She hoped that by taking him as a mate, it would better cement her position in the clan. He did not know her true identity, and that was good, but she found herself feeling guilty when she was with him, and saw him less and less because of it.
Then, almost more quickly than she could have imagined, it was over. The hiding and the secrets. Her service and goals. Everything she had worked for. It was almost like reliving her previous failure. Almost. Except this time, there was not so much pain, as there was relief.
Villain, a Gaoler sent by the same order Ayna once served came to the clan. He was to assess what had happened to the White Prison and what became of its dire prisoner. He was the first dragon like him that any in the clan had ever seen. He was tentatively entertained, allowed to make his assessments and investigations, and the clan listened carefully to the insights he offered. Vola was frightened of him.
He glittered like gold and fire, and his heavy horns and claws had a metallic ring to them and rang like chimes and bells as he walked through the stone corridors of the Keep. He was beautiful, and the sound rang of hope, and there was a part of Volamina, perhaps, who wanted him to uncover her secrets and to finally lay it all to rest.
Perhaps that is why she was not as vigilant as she should have been. Maybe that is why his investigations revealed not only her presence but also the full extent of her betrayals. It was the king himself who found and caught her and carried her in his jaws to a hearing before the council. Finnigan was horrified and certain that she was to be executed. Again he came to her rescue, bursting into the council chambers to plead with the queen for her life. He swore that she was not beyond redemption.
His words alone might not have been enough to spare her, but Sovri, hearing him beg, and still suffering great guilt over the nature of the weapon which had been employed against the Eyebite, proposed a solution which the Queen agreed to.
Sovri, using Villain as a template, transfigured Vola into a Gaoler, and then Minstri and Sahko used magics to bind her to duty - that she would ensure the Eyebite never escape again. Villain, seeing a dragon with a grim past like himself, went to her to try and comfort and help her, and took her as a mate, and swore to share her burden of guarding the Eyebite.
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