Perth walked into the café with a bright smile on his face, this place was so cute! The interior was small and quaint, something from a story or a little fantasy. A pearlcatcher walked up to him after he sat himself down, a calm smile upon her lips.
"Hello there,sir! My name is Vellichor and I will be taking your order today, what would you like?"
Her voice was peaceful and level, like a mother.
"Oh! Hello there Vellichor, its a pleasure to meet you, though Id prefer if you dropped the formalities. Just call me Perth! And I would like a chai latte please."
The tundra had a certian air of a solemn feeling, which contradicted his smile. Though it seemed like he was trying to cover up something, whatever that was though Vellichor wasn't going to ask.
"Of course, Perth. One chai latte coming right up!"
Before the pearlcatcher could leave though, Perth's voice stopped her.
"Is it true that if I told a story my meal would be free?"
His head tilted to the side like a puppy, the fur on his head following his movements. He looked like such a goof.
"Yes that is ttue. Though I do suppose it depends on how good the story is."
His whole demeanor seemed to just brighten at that.
"Well your in luck! I happen to be quite the storyteller, so prepare to be amazed!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perth groaned and stretched. The interior of the bottle that was his prison was just roomy enough to allow him to squirm about but was too small for him to truly get comfortable. Why had the Arcanist done this to him? Perth couldn’t remember. Perhaps he had done something to offend the deity, but he could not possibly fathom what he could have done to deserve this as punishment. Another stretch. Another groan. Perth craned his neck to peer at the world. From inside his bottle, he could see his surroundings just fine. It was the dragons on the outside that could not see through to the interior of his prison.
The maze-like system of caverns, tunnels and caves outside was all Perth had known since his confinement. Not much managed to find its way this deep into the bowels of the earth except for rats and spiders. Perth had tried to give each one a name at some point in time. The endeavor proved fruitless, though, as even these visitors were rare to the point he could never remember if he had named the individual already. The only companion Perth truly had was his imagination. He would spend hours creating vast worlds in his head and weaving great tales and stories to populate the lands he envisioned. He wished he could tell his stories to someone else, but the rats and spiders never stayed long enough and other dragons only cared about his power to grant wishes.
Other dragons, as it were, almost never came by. By comparison, the rats and spiders may as well have lived in Perth’s bottle with him. At first, Perth has tried to call out to these rarest of visitors, yelling so loudly that he often lost his voice afterwards. It became apparent that no one could hear the noises he made while confined him his bottle, however, so in this, too, Perth relented. Occasionally, one of the few dragons to stumble deep into the caves would spot the antique bottle resting in the corner covered in dust and cobwebs. They would wipe the dust away to better examine the bottle’s carvings and, by rubbing the grime from its surface, temporarily free Perth from his prison.
Perth learned very quickly that these dragons only cared about his ability to grant wishes. Still, he was always ecstatic to see them and did his best to prolong the visit if possible, with conversation, song and story. Some humored him. Most pushed his desperation aside and demanded of him their wish. Perth would be forced to grant the request before being sucked back into his porcelain prison. None of the dragons that found him ever offered to take his bottle with them. He could only grant them the one wish and so was useless to them after that.
Then came Prismarine. Perth watched from his bottle as she meandered around a corner and stared through the dark at the cavern she had discovered. Her eyes landed on the old, worn bottle in the corner. Like all the others that noticed him, she strolled over and gently picked the carafe up in her small paws. Like all the others, she rubbed the dust away and watched in surprise as Perth emerged as it from thin air.
“Hello!” Perth exclaimed as he burst into existence. “My, it certainly has been quite a while since my last visitor! It feels great to stretch my wings! How long as it been? I couldn’t say! My name is Perth, by the way! It’s nice to meet you… uhh…”
“Prismarine,” the fae offered.
“Prismarine! What a pretty name! It’s very nice to meet you, Prismarine! Please, allow me to tell you a…”
“Why are you here?”
Perth stopped and stared at his visitor. No one had ever bothered to ask why he was where he was. “Well, I… I honestly don’t know. I remember a normal life as a traveling storyteller. I remember happening across the Arcanist then… everything goes black and I wake up here… in the bottle. The Arcanist is staring down at me. He looks very upset and tells me that he has cast a spell on me. He’s bound me to the bottle you’re holding now, and I can only come out long enough to grant a dragon one wish. I suppose you could say I’m a genie now! Pretty cool, huh?”
“A wish you say?” Prismarine looked thoughtful.
Perth stifled a sigh. Yet another dragon that only cared about getting their wish granted. “Just one,” he confirmed. “One wish and then I’m gone, but it can be any wish! Anything at all! What would you like? Power? Wealth? Fame?”
“I wish for you to come with me,” Prismarine said resolutely. “Follow me to the outside world and join my clan as a free dragon.”
Perth blinked in surprise. “Your wish is… my command! Lead the way, my dear friend!”
No dragon had ever wished for his freedom before. Prismarine was strange, indeed. Still, he felt the stir in his chest that would force him to comply. This time, however, he was all to happy too do so.
((Hope this is alright, I would have gone for a sadder one but after the last one that was posted I went with this.... @
Catkidemma))
