Torq

Torq had had a simple life. He came from an area where there was no clan, simply a pile up of rocks that rose above the ocean's surface and waves and where within a coral reef. It wasn't too far from the shore that connected the Sea of a Thousand Currents to the Shifting Expanse, and was close to the Tsunami Flats. Upon those rocks lived a solitary imperial, who had decided to live alone in that area. After a stormy night, where rain and thunder crashed above, the imperial slept upon the flat part of the rock, not caring for the weather as rain and wind buffeted his body. He slept soundly until the morning, and when having stretched himself out, and sniffing the salty ocean air, he slipped into the water to go seek something to eat. Upon returning home, lazily swimming in the water among the coral and fish, he spotted something curious at the base of the rock outcrops he called home. A tiny egg, barnacle clad and cradled within the coral.

He looked around, seeking any evidence of parents, or at the very least someone who had left it there. When no signs were found, he decided that this egg was now his. He carefully made a nest, and moved the egg into it, at the base of the outcrop. He guarded it, and often slept within the water instead of on the rock flat above the water to protect the egg. Day after day he waited, not straying too far from the nest, maintaining it and protecting it. When the day of hatching finally came, he felt immense pride when his son, an absolutely tiny fae, emerged. An emotion so strong yet unnameable filled him when this tiny little dragon grabbed at his claws, gripping with tiny ones, and craning to look at the face of his parent, shifting his frills and blue eyes meeting eachother.

His father raised him, teaching him everything he could. He was immensely protective, as his son was barely a fraction of his size, and he felt that unlike himself, his son was defenceless and required constant supervision and protection. The fatherly imperial took his son to the Tsunami Flats, flying with ease on powerful wings, cradling his son to his chest as he flew, until he made it within the territory of a clan that was home to a numerous amount of fae. At first they were worried that this sizable imperial might attack them, but when he presented his son and voiced his intentions, they immediately took to checking him and teaching the imperial how to properly care for him. He visited the clan often, learning anything and everything he could about fae in order to raise his son properly. He also did this so that his son would be familiar with his own kind, and not alienated because of his father.

This is how it was for many years. Father and son lived on their little outcrop of rock, until Torq eventually grew up and decided to seek out the rest of the world, past the ocean. He wanted to explore the world, and his father, though worried that he wouldn't be able to protect his son, understood this choice and gave him his blessing. It was a sad but exciting day when Torq finally left his home, his father giving him a happy send of, wishing his son the best of luck, and making him promise to return home eventually to tell his father of his travels. Torq promised, and off he went, flying to the fae clan, where there was a dock, to find work on a ship. He had worked at the dock before, but had never taken work on a ship and left the dock. WIP


Everything hurt. Every part of him, every last bit, ached, as if he had been lying in the same awkward position while sleeping and had been sleeping funny on his arm so his shoulder ached, but that feeling was spread throughout his entire body. He woke up slowly, testing his limbs, trying not to move too quickly, and tried to figure out where he was. The hard ground was covered in pleasant pillows and his body in soft silk. Upon observation, they were draped over him lovingly and with care, and even as he moved he could see how the artful placement of the silks was thoughtful, intentioned and meant to be that way for a particular reason. He pondered as to why as he tried to stand, but his aching body quickly decided it was not ready for that just yet. As he looked around more, he noticed that items were placed all around this cave he was in, flowers somehow living in a cave, lanterns of all sorts, both stained glass and paper, somehow constantly lit, and then some boxes and crates in a corner of the room. He dragged himself over to them, despite the protests of his body, seeing a familiarity when looking at them, thinking that they'd have something in them to remind him where he was. His mind felt empty of memories, and he couldn't remember how he had gotten here, or where he even was.

As he moved, he felt his scales crackle. Scales don't crackle though, and upon inspecting his arms, he saw that gold flakes were falling off his body. In fact, he was covered in them, and each time he moved, more of the gold would fall off, cracking into smaller pieces and flaking off that the gemstones from a dragon recovering from a gembound bite. Many of these small pieces of gold were littered over the silks and pillows now, and it almost felt like Torq was hatching again as he freed himself from the thin gold shell coating his body. It took a while to finally move somewhat well. His limbs protested against ever little move he made, and he felt as if he spent hours staring at the ceiling of the coves, lit with lanterns, trying to shake of as much of the gold as he could. Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, he managed to stand up, at least for a second anyway. His body was still weak, and his muscles were drained from the previous shedding of glittery flakes, he he slumped back onto the floor, in a crumpled pile of large wings and a small body. As fatigued as his body was, his mind was the opposite. It raced with thoughts and theories, why he was here, where he even was, how to get out.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but at some point he did. His body needed to recover, and he couldn't recover if he kept struggling with himself. His body finally rebelled against him, and his sleep was the result of that. When he woke up again, he was more rested, and more able to move. He tested his limbs, and found himself just slightly more able to move, and even took a successful step, before slumping back onto his side again. Progress. Torq noticed that he was hungry. He didn't know for how long he had been here, but the pangs of desire for food took priority at the moment. Luckily, a large amount of glowbugs seemed to have taken residence in the small cave, and made a good meal that filled him up. Then, as if the meal had cleared his mind, a thought struck him hard. These arrangements, of flowers, and lanterns, and silks and pillows were the arrangements that were common with funerals. No, not funerals, but crypts. The final resting place where a dragon will rest is decorated by the family and loved ones of the dead dragon. He was in a crypt. No, not just a crypt, his crypt. Desperation filled his mind, fear took over his senses and paralyzed him. To think that he was considered a dead dragon scared him, and his mind ran wild. Could the gold be a part of it? He couldn't remember any traditions where a dead dragon might be coated in gold.

Even though he was scared and worried and anxious at the consequences that this realization entailed, at least he had a moment of clarity of what to do next. He started to search around the small cave, dragging his still aching body to different corners. There had to be something here that would tell him where he was. She searched among the many things all around him, but none stuck as something that would remind him of anything. Then, he moved over to the boxes by the wall, nice ones, not like crates, that were closed. In fact, they were sealed shut. Torq tried to open them up, and found it difficult. Luckily, his persistence and partially regained strength finally managed to open them up, and one of the boxes yielded its contents to him. There were papers in there. Many many papers, and upon further inspection, were covered in words. In fact, these weren't just papers, but letters. Letters and maps. He pulled one out, careful not to damage the paper, and read it. The words were family to him, even the scrawl and the way they were written was something that he almost recognized...

His mind surged, the words written them reminded him of everything. Everything he had seemed to have forgotten came rushing back to him, flooding his mind with things he did not remember when he woke up at first in this crypt. He was overwhelmed with emotions, and his final thoughts and memories before his supposed death as his weak voice begged the captain to take him back to the island before it was too late, to see the light of his life one more time before he never could again broke him. He sobbed, tears spilled down his face, and he wept over all the letters he had sent to his love, all the little drawings he had doodled for her to give visuals of his journeys, and the sweet words they had traded, now neatly preserved here in the place that his supposed dead body rested. Where was she? Was she nearby? His mind raced again, and a fear greater than any other suddenly became clear in his mind: would he ever get to see her again? He cried himself to sleep, hoping desperately that this would not be the case. Only time would tell however, and his dreams were filled with possibilities, both good and bad, of what was to come.

The next day came. Or at least, that's what Torq assumed. Time wasn't measurable when you couldn't see the sun. Still, his fears and woes had filled his mind the night before, but the sleep and clarity of who he was had filled him with ideas, and the want to find out where he could find his love filled him with a determination that barely fit within his small body. He was stronger now, more able to move and use his body again, and after a snack on more glowbugs, he felt ready to attempt to escape the crypt. Another look around the cave reveals that there is only one entrance and exit to the cave; a hole in the cove ground filled with water. He had no idea how deep it was, so he came to it's edge, took a deep breath, and then dunked his head under. He looked around, an worriedly noticed that this was a tunnel, filled with water, and he could barely see the end. He was definitely anxious about getting out of here now. He wasn't a terrible swimmer, but the length of the tunnel and the possibility that he might not make it to the other end in time to get more air and truly becoming the dead dragon he supposedly was scared him.

He was in no condition to swim out of the cave just yet. He had barely regained enough strength and mobility to move on ground, and even then he still had limits with how much he could move. However, the glowbugs wouldn't last forever, and he needed to get out before he starved himself when the ran out. This time restriction weighed heavily on him, but his saving grace from succumbing to his fears were the letters in the cave. He read them all, smiling to himself as he reminisced of his journeys, and tenderly held the letters his lover had sent him back. Even holding the paper he knew that the letters were written on pieces of paper that were cut to be smaller, and the delicate but slightly messy scrawl showed how she carefully wrote the words to be small so he could hold the letter she sent him, and not just have to figure out how to transport larger scrolls from her. The letters gave Torq hope, and he just knew that if he made it out of the cave then he'd be able to see her again. He traced the maps he had made, and looked at the doodles that they had shared with each other, and patiently waited to regain his strength.

It felt like days. He slowly ate the glowbugs, practiced moving around and read the letters over and over when he felt boredom and fear begin to threaten his state of mind. He had managed to open up the other boxes with his regained strength, and patiently worked on improving his mobility. It was a slow process, but finally he came to a point where he felt comfortable with his abilities. He even practiced swimming in the water filled tunnel, never straying far from the edge of the opening, but was pleased to find that no current would challenge his ability to leave the cave other than the length of the tunnel and the fact that it's filled with water. The day had finally come for him to leave. The glowbugs had finally run out, and he had recovered enough strength that he felt confident enough to be able to escape his once crypt. It was now or never, so Torq came to the edge of the opening. He stood there, seeing his reflection in the water, studying himself. He looked older than he remembered, aged from stress and the merciless crawl of time. Then, he looked behind him. He scanned the room one final time, admiring the paper and stained glass lanterns of all sorts of colours, observing the flowers that had somehow grown in the cave, and one final look at the pile of pillows and silks. Then, without anymore hesitation, he took a deep breath, and dove into the tunnel, determined to escape his crypt.

He swam. It was dark, and his only mark of where he needs to go being the light at the end of the tunnel. The water surrounds him entirely, and his wings, not made for swimming, hold his back slightly. Still, he is determined, and the hope that fills his heart gives him the energy to continue, and the thought of seeing his love was enough to power through it. However, he had underestimated the length of the tunnel. He could feel himself running out of breath, and tried frantically not to panic. He knew panic would empty him of air quicker, and that was the last thing he wanted. The light at the end of the tunnel called to him, and darkness started to fill the edges of his sight. He needed to swim faster and farther, he needed to get out before he became trapped in a watery grave that he'd never escape from like he did from his crypt. He tried, desperately to swim faster, farther, and just when he though he wouldn't make it, just when his head started to feel light from the lack of oxygen, he made it to the light.

He burst out of the tunnel with a final push, and he could feel the light-headedness start to blur his vision with black. He was out of time now, and with one final move he could, he pushed himself off the tunnel wall, and shot himself up, closed his eyes, and hoped. Everything was still for a moment, as a rhythmic sort of deep noise sounded in Torq's ears. His heartbeat, pumping the current of life blood through his body. For that moment he knew peace, near silence. Something about this point in the water kept him calm, and the feeling of sun rays filtering through the surface water shining over his scales filled him with warmth. darkness clouded his mind, and he almost passed out, but just when he thought everything would go dark his head broke the surface of the water. Ocean air on his face, sun on his scales and the sounds of sea birds singing as the sound of waves rhythmically thumping against the cliff wall broke him free from his trance. He desperately gulped breaths of air, inhaling some sea water in the process, but nonetheless getting precious oxygen into his lungs.

He gazed at the sky, seeing clouds for the first time in who knows how long, and simply admired them. Pure and utter joy filled him now. He had made it, he had escaped! BIG WIP NOT DONE YET