Strix

Silver Pocketwatch Trinkets This pocketwatch is in excellent condition, but the time it keeps is always too early. 90

Strix "What is dead may never die."

Memento Mori Generation 5 Celebrant | trait | trait

Memento mori (Latin: "remember that you have to die") is the medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. This curse would be traced down his lineage. All Moros' children were destined to die, like any dragon. But they would be given a second chance. It was up to the children if they would accept the bargain.

From when he was very small, Strix had lived in dread of the future. He knew his bloodline was cursed. All he had heard from his elders were stories of ghosts and horrors, of seeing themselves dead or waking up in their own graves. As a result, by the time he got out into the world Strix was terrified of his own shadow.

All this changed when he met his cousin, Kearney. The massive ridgeback was everything Strix was not-- powerful, brave, and confident almost to the point of arrogant. They were drawn to each other almost immediately. The pair became almost inseparable as they grew into maturity, and at Kearney's urging Strix joined him on the battlefield, gradually shedding his nervous demeanor with every victory. And with every victory the pair rose in prominence within the clan, to the point that they were given the task of training the clan's new recruits in preparation to enter the Earthshaker's service. It was during one of these training missions that Strix met his first mate Athene, and after a whirlwind romance became father to three eggs.

Shortly before the eggs were due to hatch, Strix and Kearney took a young spiral out to train, in a region they had never entered before. It was a mistake-- their enemies fell on Kearney in an instant, tearing great rents in his sides and wings, felling him before he could react. For the first time in his life Strix felt no traces of fear, no lingering caution. He threw himself at the enemy, flinging boulder after magically conjured boulder at their attackers. He was so focused that he didn't even feel the fireball that felled him.

'Are you going to lie about forever?'

The voice crackled at the edge of his perception, like embers. Everything was dark, and the darkness felt too close and too warm.

'Lie about where?' he asked, then a terrible thought seized him. The stories. The family curse. The impending doom that he had all but forgotten about thanks to his cousin but had been waiting for him all the same.

'I'm dead, aren't I? Why does it have to be this way? Why is my family haunted like this? What about my cousin, he fell first--'

'He begged us for your life,' the voice replied simply, 'You live again. Use your time well.'

When Strix awoke he was home, tucked into one of the healer's alcoves in the coven. He learned later that when Kearney fell their young recruit had run all the way home to fetch help, only for the rescue party to find massive ridgeback dragging both himself and his cousin home on two broken legs. For his part Kearney was quieter than Strix had ever seen him, apparently humbled by their shared brush with death. But he still greeted his cousin warmly, obviously very happy to see him awake.

Strix had been unconscious for four days, and during that time his children had hatched. He couldn't help but notice that all three were the colour of smoke, almost as though they too had been marked through his transformation by fire. He resolved to teach them everything he knew about the family curse, but do his best not to frighten them the way he had been when he was young. Although death had come for him he was alive now, and he found joy in that. They too would live.

His newfound optimism took a major blow when Athene left the clan suddenly, without so much as a word to Strix as soon as their children were grown. If she had wanted to serve the Earthshaker so badly that was her right, but why had she gone without a goodbye? Had she become that repulsed by him after his trial by fire?

For a time after that Strix remained a bachelor, passing his days defending the clan and playing with his clanmates' hatchlings as each of their nests hatched. Until one day Kearney cajoled him into coming to the market with him on a mysterious trip.

"What are we looking for?" Strix asked, flitting in circles around the massive ridgeback as he strode throught the marketplace.

"Not what, who," his cousin replied without slowing.

"Okay, who are we looking for?"

"You'll see."

That was all Kearney would say no matter how much Strix needled him, until he suddenly stopped and indicated a cluster of dragons with a jerk of his head.

"Over there, the lady fae."

Strix perched on his cousin's snout and looked where indicated. An elegantly dressed, dark coloured fae appeared to be the centre of attention, and though he could tell she was a fair bit older than him she appeared lively and vivacious. He stared a moment longer than perhaps he should've and suddenly caught himself gazing into her vibrant electric blue eyes. He felt himself flush so thoroughly that even the tip of his tail felt warm, but he didn't look away.

"She's gorgeous," he murmured, "Who is she?"

"I believe her name is Jayne," his cousin murmured back, "And she's looking to hatch a nest."

Kearney shook his head, spilling Strix off his snout into a frantically flapping, airborne heap.

"You're meant to be a father, Strix. Go over there and introduce yourself."

And so, still flushed from fins to tail, Strix did just that. He soon found himself smitten again, for the second time in his life. Jayne led him home to her clan and soon after she laid two eggs. This time Strix obsessively watched over their nest-- the first time around he had missed the birth of his children, but this time, with Jayne there to guide him, he was going to do everything right. When their son and daughter started to hatch Strix was so excited it was all he could do not to open the eggs up for them.

Like all good things Strix's time with Jayne did come to an end, but this time he was prepared for it, and got to say a warm and fond farewell as he set out for home with their children. He knew that no matter how long he lived or how many other dragons came into his life he would always have a place in his heart for Jayne.