Avanindra
(#33155691)
Earth Flight Ambassador | They/Them
Leila
Crystalcourt Ambassador
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 49/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Earth.
Male Fae
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
0.84 m
Wingspan
1.37 m
Weight
1.22 kg
Genetics
Emerald
Jupiter
Jupiter
Spearmint
Shimmer
Shimmer
Auburn
Underbelly
Underbelly
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Fae
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
5
AGI
8
DEF
5
QCK
6
INT
8
VIT
5
MND
8
Biography
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Avanindra
{ Uh-van-in-drah } Nicknames: Avi • Earth Ambassador for Clan Escalon 
╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮ Spoken Words and Sweet Songs ♫ Skáld - Gleipnir ♫ Voice Claim - Aaravos ╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮
Weathered Stone Statues Originally written by Disillusionist ╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯ |
It was always the deities’ destiny to become parents, of a sort—for they had been born of raw energy, and energy longs to create matter. In the case of the deities, this also meant life. The Earthshaker, eldest of the gods, was the first to attempt this. He looked down at the rocks at his feet, and he breathed a little of his magic into them.
The magic bled into the ground. The rocks heaved and joined, and soon the Earthshaker’s new creation stood before him. It was speck-like compared to the vast god, but nothing escapes a god’s notice. The deity’s weathered face split into a craggy smile.
“Avanindra,” he rumbled to this new being. And thus the golem knew its name.
Avanindra was not unique. It was one of many lumbering shapes created by the Earthshaker. They were forever changing form, rocks and sand shifting restlessly. Similar beings existed then: wisps of wind, gurgling shapes of water, and so on. They were all servants of the gods.
In the war against the Shade, the gods had wreaked havoc upon Sornieth. They would not mend it, for they believed they were unworthy of that task, but they would atone for the destruction by protecting the world as it healed. The elementals had been created to tend Sornieth while the gods slumbered beneath the World Pillar.
One by one, the gods came to Dragonhome. Avanindra, among others, watched as they folded their wings, closed their eyes, as the Pillar took shape around them.
In time, the World Pillar was complete. It stood silent, unmoving, the only sign that there were deities present in Sornieth. Many of their servants dispersed, obeying ancient orders. A few golems, like Avanindra, had been instructed to stay in Dragonhome. So there they remained.
Centuries passed. Sornieth continued to turn, and as it did, it changed. New life-forms sprang up, scurrying creatures and wriggling organisms. The stewards of the gods gently tended these beings, coaxing them into greater and grander forms.
It was during the Second Age that civilization came into being. A more advanced life-form appeared and evolved, and its technology evolved along with it, till it created empires that bestrode the continents.
The early days of these beings had been marred by war. But eventually they put their differences aside, and they entered a golden age of exploration and knowledge. They were driven by the Prophecy to uncover the true potential of magic.
The gods’ stewards changed, too. They acquired free will, and some of them abandoned their missions. They bonded to the newer life-forms and lent their vast strength and magic. Others ran amok and had to be destroyed. Still others fled in fear, hiding deep beneath the earth or rivers of fire and water, where some of them sleep to this day.
Avanindra had also become more aware of the new age, but it steadfastly refused to abandon its post. It remained by the World Pillar, which new races came to worship. Some of them even venerated Avanindra, but it did not return their veneration. Its reverence was for the Earthshaker alone.
It felt only faint curiosity as a new shape loomed on the horizon: a vast drum, rivaling even the height of the Pillar. Soon even the distant golem felt the power being amassed in it. Curiosity changed to concern and then alarm.
“Chaos,” Avanindra realized. “The beats of the drum will herald chaos.” It tried to speak, but the new races lacked the means to hear it. Their faces were all turned towards the great drum, and they sang of the dawn of a new age, of the true potential of magic. In a way, they were correct. On the day the drum beat, it annihilated nearly all life on Sornieth. The stewards were largely immune to the blast, and many of them survived.
No one remembers what those lost races called themselves. The stewards do not speak these people’s names, for they regret that they destroyed all the life that had taken so long to save. But neither will they speak ill of these civilizations. They fulfilled the prophecy and realized the true potential of magic. They created a new god.
The world was again gripped by terror as the new gods competed for dominance, and more stewards deserted their posts. Avanindra remained one of the very few who clung to the World Pillar, still holding fast to the ancient edicts given by the Earthshaker. And then one day, a miracle happened: the elder gods awoke.
They saw that their shield had not been effective against the Shade. A shield by its very nature is defensive, but as the saying goes, “The best defense is a good offense.” And so the deities hatched a new plan. Civilization was no more, but it could and would rise again. So the gods set out into the world, and as they did, they came across the servants they’d constructed long ago.
It was the Earthshaker himself who uncovered Avanindra. The loyal golem had been crushed beneath the fallen Pillar and lain immobile in the darkness. Then came the day the earth trembled and it felt the pressure ease. Boulders were lifted off its body one by one.
At last it saw light. A great face blocked it out, but Avanindra had been waiting to see it again. “Avanindra!” the Earthshaker breathed in relief, and his face once again creased into a craggy smile.
The Earthshaker surveyed his land with sorrow. Many of his golems had deserted or been destroyed. Avanindra was one of a pitiful handful who remained.
There were other beings abroad now: creatures with long necks, claws and tails, and wings to span the sky. “My children, too,” the Earthshaker declared to the golems. “Your brothers. Your sisters. Dragonkind.”
His expression grew mournful as he admitted, “I do not get along with my brothers and sisters. Perhaps our differences are too deeply ingrained. We are unable to change—but you younger ones have hope....”
The Earthshaker gave the golems a new mission: If dragonkind was to stand against the Shade, they would all need to work together, and the best way to start was by understanding each other. The golems were to disperse and learn what they could about the dragons of other Flights. Then they would report back to the Earthshaker.
One by one, each of them was transformed into a dragon, then sent over the horizon to foreign lands. “And you, Avanindra?” the Earthshaker inquired. “What form would please you, my child?”
Impressions welled up in Avanindra’s mind: the crushing sensation of being pinned beneath the Pillar, the longing to be free and weightless, the brief glimpse of the deity who’d awakened the elder gods. The Earthshaker bent his head low and breathed out a howl that shook the golem’s body.
The rocks and sand comprising the golem trembled in response. They moved...the golem changed shape....And now it had become a he. A small, perfect Fae, green as moss, as new life, with steady brown eyes. Away he went, into the new and turbulent world. New form, new mission, for a brave new age.
Avanindra slowly became familiar with the ways of dragonkind. Certain traits of golemkind remained, like his stubbornness and inflexibility—but also his loyalty, his patience. He frequently returned home with reports of other Flights. The Earth dragons recognized him as a valued servant of their deity, and it wasn’t long before he held a high position in Dragonhome.
Then came the fateful day Avanindra was sent to study the ways of the Lightning Flight. He posed as a lowly clerk and attached himself to a caravan of merchants bound for the Shifting Expanse, which he’d last visited centuries ago.
Since then, dragonkind had changed. They didn’t always recognize each other as comrades against the Shade. Now it wasn’t unheard-of for dragons to prey upon other dragons.
The caravan was ambushed as it made its way through Carrion Canyon. Lightning bandits wove a storm that plunged the caravan into darkness, and then they darted out of the clouds with thunder and fury. Although Avanindra was a master of Earth magic, he was too stunned to fight back. He couldn’t believe dragons would slaughter other dragons—the children of other gods. A bolt of lightning struck him, and he toppled from his perch and lay, stunned, in the mud.
His ears rang like a bell. The lightning had temporarily blinded him; he could barely see. Indistinct shapes moved above. Words filtered in...
“This one’s still alive.”
“Should we kill him?”
A red shape moved closer. Its claws plucked at Avanindra’s robes.
“It’s bad luck to kill unarmed drakes, and idiots, at that. Did you see the way he just stood there gawping at us?” The red dragon let out a harsh laugh.
Avanindra felt himself lifted up. He blinked groggily. Someone poked his legs. “It’s hard....Poor sod’s probably deformed, too.”
“Aye, he’s no prize. Dump him in Clan Escalon. He’ll be their problem.” Avanindra could identify the speaker now: a dragon whose red skin gleamed hideously, like exposed muscle, with eyes as red as blood. He’d seen that hue before: the scarlet sign of Plague.
He hadn’t forgotten it. And neither would he forget the red dragon.
Soon enough, Avanindra awoke in Clan Escalon, tended to by the Surgeons Deuce and Suture. “How do you feel?” the Ridgeback queried.
Avanindra answered that he was still groggy but would quickly mend. “Perhaps,” Deuce replied. He sounded dubious.
Avanindra soon discovered why. The blast had severely damaged him, and he found it difficult to walk straight, much less fly. He would have to stay until he healed. He ground his teeth, but he accepted it.
Escalon, at first glance, was not a welcoming clan. It was run with grim purpose by Raiden, a Guardian. Avanindra inadvertently approached him one time. He felt a brief crackle of power, and he tottered away before Raiden could notice him. No mistake about it: Raiden, too, had once felt the power of a god. Like Avanindra, he’d been created, not born.
Avanindra realized he could continue his mission even here. Under the guise of being a helpless fool (this idea from the bandits, and his new impairment helped), he roamed the clan freely, speaking to various dragons. He discovered that no one really minds an idiot, and he heard many things that he might not if he’d evinced more intelligence. Thus he learned the ways of the Lightning Flight—and the complicated relationship the clan had with their deity. Avanindra, the Earthshaker’s devoted servant, was surprised—and intrigued—by how Escalon had once challenged their god.
He had been in Escalon for some months when Raiden finally approached him. “You play your part well,” the Guardian rumbled, and he laughed.
Avanindra was abashed. But before he could speak, Raiden wagged a claw at him. “I won’t reproach you. You’re here on a mission for your god, correct? Have you completed it?”
“I suppose I have,” Avanindra replied. He beat his wings and then rose, flying straight and true now.
“You will be missed,” Raiden admitted. The two of them exchange a look of understanding, souls who had weathered similar hardships and obeyed similar masters. The Guardian added, “The circumstances under which you arrived here were not the happiest, but we were glad for the opportunity to heal you—and teach you. If ever you return, you will be welcome here.”
The Earthshaker listened to Avanindra’s report. He was troubled, but soon reached a decision: Avanindra was to be set free from his service.
“Have I angered you, Father?” the Fae asked, his fins quivering in distress. But the deity smiled down at him. Quite the contrary: He was pleased. Avanindra had shown extraordinary fortitude and initiative, and he’d proven that he could treat even other gods’ children with compassion. He was ready to live among dragonkind, free to walk his own path.
Avanindra was lost at first. He’d been a devoted servant of the Earthshaker since his creation. Suddenly the world was open to him, and it was more than little daunting. “But then, I’ve been through worse,” he recalled with a slow smile. He’d seen the destruction of the world—not once, but twice—and had weathered countless cataclysmic years. He had survived...and now it was time for him to live....
“I heard that Clan Escalon’s looking for an Earth Ambassador.”
“Those heretics?” another drake scoffed. “They once attempted to defy their god. Who’d want to work for them?”
“Those who know them better than you do.” Avanindra couldn’t help interrupting. The Earth drakes stared at him, expecting him to scold further, but he didn’t. He was smiling—he believed he’d already found his new home.
When Avanindra announced his plan to serve Escalon in the Earthshaker’s name, the deity was pleased. He gave Avanindra a Crumbling Golem, Admina, to protect and aid him. Together, they returned to Clan Escalon.
He was no longer the tottering fool they’d known. He was a powerful and reliable Earth adept, and with Raiden’s support, he was swiftly appointed Earth Ambassador of the clan. The dragons threw a feast in his honor and he met the other Ambassadors—
“And this is Svadilfaris, our Plague Ambassador.”
Avanindra stopped cold. The dragon before him—red eyes, gleaming red skin—was unmistakably the one who’d attacked him years ago.
He was working for Escalon as a Plague Ambassador? “Dump him in Escalon—he’ll be their problem.” Did they know what he’d done?
“We’ve met,” Avanindra said shortly. His guide misinterpreted; she said, “Ah, earlier, you mean? Excellent—I’m sure you’ll get along!” And away she went, leaving Avanindra at the mercy of Svadilfaris—who was giving him a mildly curious look.
Avanindra spoke in a furious whisper: “You don’t remember me?” He was perturbed, for the Plague drake wasn’t flustered in the least.
“You’re Avanindra, our newest ambassador, correct? Perhaps you’ve confused me with someone else. Then again, in my line of work, I meet many dragons....”
Someone called Svadilfaris’ name. The Plague drake excused himself before vanishing into the throng. Avanindra watched him go. He felt as numb as he had when he’d been attacked by the bandits. Confusion, suspicion, and rage whirled within him.
He was absolutely sure Svadilfaris had led the band that’d attacked him and slaughtered the caravan. But he didn’t know how much Raiden knew, or if Raiden knew at all. Could he even safely ask Raiden about this matter?
His face acquired a bit of its former stony cast. “There is much yet I don’t understand. But in time, I might learn....”
He’d been released from the Earthshaker’s service, but he would continue to learn about dragonkind, the ways of other Flights. That, at least, hadn’t changed.
template by Disillusionist (254672)
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