Makani

He felt himself being pulled away from the perfect land of love and light and laughter. He didn't want to leave; many of his friends were there, and he knew his adopted mother, his best friend, “Fin”, and the rest of his friends on the Other Side would join him in due time. All good dragons went where he was, eventually.

But pulled away he was. He awoke with a start back into his old body, confused. He could not move; he was surrounded by thin, clear material that seemed like crystal. Like his friend Saira's feathers.

The first thing he saw was another Fae. She was so dark she was hard to see clearly in the the shrouded surroundings, and was dressed in bones, feathers, and fur. He could see her skeleton through her hide.

He found himself able to break his crystalline bonds a little at a time. Like a hatchling leaving an egg.

"Why?" he sobbed, not only at being wrenched from perfection, but because the memories of perfection were quickly fading away.

"Because you died so young, t-fils. It was not fair," the strange Fae replied.

"How?" he squeaked out between sobs.

The Fae sighed heavily, "I am called Irulan. I have travelled much, sha. I have learned things. You are now in the Tangled Wood. I came upon your body washed ashore in an air-tight alchemist's glass box near the border with the Sea of a Thousand Currents. You could have washed up from anywhere, even from as far away as the Windswept Plateau, when the winds changed two years ago and caused the terrible flooding. Yes, two years ago would explain your condition, t-fils. I must apologize; most of your color has survived the... transition, but you are not completely as you once were."

"But why you do this? You have red eyes, like me, like my friend Fin. Fin tell me us red eyes not do this. It is wrong. When the candle goes out, it is out. It is against the one he called Plaguebringer."

"Your friend Fin was correct. This is against the teachings of the Plaguebringer. I left our kind, the red eyes, as you call us, and in my travels learned this... art. That is how I came to join this clan of those seeking new beginnings. I hope you can forgive me someday, sha, I could not leave such a precious young life unlived. You will be loved and treasured in this clan. Your appearance will spark no notice at all. Indeed, you will blend right in. Mais yeah, sha, you will find happiness here. Rest now, t-fils, and I will tell you more tomorrow." She approached silently, sat next to him, and gently cradled his head in her lap.

Makani could not help but drift off to sleep in the soothing embrace.