Chuanshuo

Chuanshuo
The Shade-touched

Monotype Corsiva
#111010 #000000

As a hatchling, she wished for nothing more than power. Nearly killing her sister over it, she became Shade-touched and was driven out of home. She's a violent and perhaps maddened dragon, but can understand emotion better than other vessels of the Shade that exist around the land of Sornieth.

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Backstory

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The Shade pounds on the skybox that is its prison. Longing to be free into the magical Sornieth, the darkness attempts to break the already weakened barrier. The Shade only ever wishes to free this world from a magical curse abused by its inhabitants. A void swallowing the very essence that are the star shards in the deep of space. The Shade is framed for trying to destroy Sornieth, but the true purpose is to stop power hungry dragons from reaching a higher power. Yes, the darkness sees that these beings cannot be trusted and can see those flaws through their very own gods. After all, it is they who caused the very event of near destruction in Sornieth with their own magic. The black mass seeks to stop them from their power abuse and take them down.
Yet, some dragons have dedicated their whole lives against this evil. Those who have dubbed themselves Shadeslayers, The Defenders, or whatever these vagabonds choose to be called. Each has their own method of purging the darkness from hosts, whether it be accessing mind or rituals to cleanse body.
The barrier set by the gods hold back the vengeful tendrils of pure dark. However, some parts of this being still remain under the barrier. The fragments of the Shade scattered throughout Sornieth posses the ability to dominate mind, heart, soul, and body of any host. These remnants' only mission is to break the magic from the inside, and complete the long-standing goal of the Shade...
As a young drake, I always dreamed of power. My parents had it, the power to see into other dragons’ futures and predict their whole lives through prophecy. But as a small child, they always said mine was the future they could not read.
I always tried to practice the same arts that my siblings and my parents and their parents practiced: the art of being a seer. Yet, no matter how hard I tried to see into any future, I could not find my way. I considered using tarot cards, 8-balls, or any other false forms of prediction magic. They were never as accurate as my kin and I couldn’t help but feel as though maybe this family was not mine. Scry seems to think so, but I don’t know if I can believe him.
My father had a certain set of morals he passed to me. Things like murder never being an answer, even if there was a deal. Like how we can’t start trusting people until they trust themselves. Never turn down a fight for your honor, else appear a coward. Never lose faith.
My family always warned me to stay away from the Shade or to never follow a Shade-slaying band of exalts. Any time some Shade-related object or dragon came up, my father would take me to my room until they went away. They’d never tell me the stories of the deities and their struggles though they would freely tell others. I would always wonder why they did this. Because of these actions, I had no experience with the Shade.
One day, my sister and I were out exploring for fun. We had a very close bond, and she would always help me in my attempts to see into the future. We were out in the brambles playing with bioluminescence and picking up random rudiments here and there. The mark of it all however, was a vase placed so steady on the ground, hidden in a bush out of sight. We wondered what it was, and of course as small naive dragons we dared each other to get close to it as possible. My sister tried not to touch it as her powers spoke a danger, but I had no such guide. The goal set in my mind was simple: reach the vase before she did. A relic of old which radiated uncertainty and danger-- of course we would stray to it.
I touched it. At the time, the only thing I comprehended was a mass of dark that flooded my view for only a second, then went away like fog under the morning sun. I never said anything to my sister or my parents, just that I had fun and I beat her to the punch.
It wasn’t long before the next encounter with the dark mass. I felt like any other day for a week, and then something strange happened. I tried to use my standard shadow magic, in an attempt to seer like my parents. I saw it again, but this time it spoke to me in a voice of whispers and wind. “Chuanshuo, your destiny is in my hands. Choose your fate. Follow me and claim your wildest dreams, or follow your own path and leave without my powers. With my assistance, I can help you claim a future that is rightfully yours, only if you agree to every will I give. It won’t be much, I promise.” But before I could respond, my mother entered my room and the voice faded away, She was just checking in on me, seeing if I was okay. I was fine, and she left me to my own devices.
“Who is that? Family? Interesting, you are not like my last host. Yet, it matters not. Take my lead and claim your destiny. Trust in me and say your words of commitment.”
And so I agreed. There was nothing I wanted more than the power to seer, and it was given to me through this strange being. I wanted power and I got it. However, what I also got was something I realized was a task far bigger than myself. My parents never taught me of the Shade and its dangers, so I never saw past the promises of a sweet dark wind. In seemingly an instant, my mind was flooded with history. Shade’s reign, deities’ war, and the Shade’s defeat. Fragments of its essence scattered across Sornieth and taking life in hosts of many shapes and sizes. The mind of the Shade and its journey to stop magic that corrupts, magic that darkens the soul blacker than the force trying to stop it. I saw the extent of the Shade’s full power.
But what I also saw was that this specific shard of Shade was not at max potential. Weakened by dragons whose life goals are to eradicate Shade, this shard found itself retreating to a vase after the last host fell to an untimely end. Now the dark only has enough power to reside in the mind of a host and give powers superior to any standard form of magic. What the shard cannot do is fully take over the mind and goals of the host, only ever able to tell them what to do and how to get by utilizing the Shade’s gift.
The black mist of my mind spoke. “You agreed to my terms. Now, I have my first mission for you. I fell out of power after your kind drove me down, and I need to return to full potential with your help. You must extract magic from some other source. Now, what you need to do is take all the magic in their soul, leaving none for them and all for us.
“The strongest magic comes from a family member.”
I could not believe what order I had just recieved. Every dragon knows that draining others of every drop of magic they have will kill them. But I, I had signed on to an agreement that I could not take back. The Shade was already deep in my bloodstream and both me and the entity knew full well that it could not leave. And just that moment, my sister came into my room.
“That one. A fine specimen. She was with you when you attained my power, correct? Then she bears witness, and must be deleted before any word could get out.” I vehemently rejected the dark’s offer, though it screamed for the duration of my sister’s being in my room. Finally, she left. “Why, why would you refuse my request? You were the one who agreed to this, hold your end!”
I spoke unmoved by the entity’s demands. “I realize now what you are. A piece of Shade, trying to kill to move up in power. You try to remove this magic from the world, but the way you do it is as corrupted as my bloodstream by your essence. No, I must kindly refuse. I have my end of the deal, and I want no more. You have given me this ability, and I don’t think you can take it back. Why do I know that: the flashbacks you gave me let me know that what powers your weakened state gives me, you cannot undo without further power you do not have.”
Father always told me that murder was never an answer. Even if there was a deal. As he was the one who taught me the real answer, I couldn’t help but tell him what happened to me. After hearing my explanation, he gave his own input. “Listen Chuanshuo. I told you as a kid that I couldn’t read your destiny, but I was lying. I was trying to protect you from your fate, but a prophet is the one who knows this best: in your efforts to avoid your future, you cannot help but to encounter it anyway. I never told you the prophecy under your name, in hopes my power was right.” I asked him what the whole prophecy was. And that moment was when I realized my life was under a pre-chosen destiny. There was one way to follow through, journey out and find this new clan where I am said to have my importance. My powers must be used for good, something I was planning on doing anyway. But the last part…
After many days of travel and offhand seering, I came across the Riverside. Here is where I settle and fulfill the third verse. I only see futures with my powers of Shade, I don’t dream of doing any harm. What I hope is that the fourth verse is not one of this clan. But whatever the prophecy has in store for me, I cannot change.