Marana

Gaiola

When gaoler dragons first broke free, a lone female gaoler wandered alone in the dark cold ice fields. Marana hated the cold, she never fit the gaoler society, and she despised everything related to the Icewarden. He was the reason she had no family anymore.

Marana walked for a long time, keeping a distance from anyone, and finally, she found a cave. It looked like a small, cozy place, so she decided to spend the night there.

She woke up in the middle of the night, while the earth was trembling. She got scared, but something in that place made her feel safe and warm, and she almost forgot about the tremor. She heard a deep voice coming from below the surface: "You can create your own family here".

She realized the cave she was in actually wasn't small at all, it was a great system of chambers and corridors that expanded for a large area, revealed after the small earthquake hit the site. Marana assumed she heard a message from the Earthshaker himself, and then she was determined to form a great family and expand the cave as far as she could.

.....

Marana chose Machai as her partner while he was still young. He didn't really know what he was getting into, but he admired and looked up to her, so he was proud to become a gaoler and stay with her. She founded the Gaiola clan with him, and soon after that they had children and grandchildren of their own.

At their peak, the Gaiola clan had dozens of dragons. Marana was very strict about her rules and kept their children close, working together for their family. On the other hand, Machai was soft and understanding, the heart of Gaiola himself. It wasn't always easy, but with time they prospered a great deal.

However, as Gaiola dragons became numerous and expanded their cave system, they started to catch the attention of the Vérkert Guild, a powerful group of dragons that was expanding their influence outside of the Asthery islands, where they came from. The Vérkert assassins were known for their discretion, and almost always made things look like an accident.

.....

It looked like just another day in Gaiola. Most of the clan joined Marana for a ceremony where they welcomed newborns, while some of the miners were digging new tunnels. Suddently, there was a bang, the noise got louder, and the earth shook like never before. It felt like their world was ending. At this point, Marana knew their cave very well and was aware of the risks, but she could feel at her feet that this wasn't normal.

Many gaolers died when the cave collapsed, while others were severely injured. The chamber where most of the clan was gathered wasn't completely destroyed, but the tunnels around them collapsed, and the entrance was completely destroyed, making it impossible for them to get out of the cave. Marana watched her family fall into despair. She saw her children die. Her partner was hurt. But she couldn't give up now, they depended on her. She was determined to save everyone she could.

.....

Digging a new tunnel wasn't a simple task, but it was the best chance they had. Some air vents weren't destroyed and they still had some food supplies, so they could survive for a while in that condition, but time was their enemy. Day after day, Marana's children were dying from injuries and exhaustion, so she had to act fast. She was especially worried about Machai, who was very injured and had to be carried by her.

They decided the area near the entrance was too dangerous to dig into, so they started digging on soft bedrock to get as far as they could with their resources. However, soon they realized they were going in the wrong direction, as water started dripping into the tunnel. It was salt water: they were below the sea.

The fear of flooding the tunnel made them dig even faster, as it was now too late to turn back. It took them months to find an exit, and when they finally reached an end, most of the Gaiola clan was already dead. They found a natural cavern into a mountain, deep into a wild forest in the smallest of the Asthery islands.

.....

Only the strongest gaolers survived. Naturally, Marana was changed after that tragedy. Munemori's death in particular touched her deeply, as he was the most rebellious of their children, but also secretly her favorite. After a long period of mourning, Marana finally talked to the survivors:

"Once, I was touched by the Earthshaker. He was the one that gave me this family... But now he took it away, Gaiola is gone, he abandoned us... I know this is all my fault for keeping you in that cave. You are now free to go, all of you. I'm sure you will accomplish great things, you will find your own way... And maybe, someday, some of you might forgive me. But now you must go and leave me alone once again."

Most of the gaolers didn't want to leave Marana, but she wouldn't even talk to them again. One by one, they finally agreed to leave the cavern and the forest. Madoka, their very first child, was the last one to leave. But Machai stayed by Marana's side all the time, silent and strong as a rock.

.....

"Machai... You should go as well.", said Marana. They were already alone for days now, and he didn't say a word, which was very out of character for him. But when he finally looked at her, his eyes were bright and hopeful, as it has always been.

"If you wanted me to die, you should have left me in that cave. You know I wouldn't survive if you didn't drag me out of there, and more than that, you know... That you're my life, Marana." He almost started crying, but he was determined to say it all. "I know this really hurts, I'm as sad as you are. We're alone once again, our children are buried behind us and I never felt so much pain..." He breathed heavily. "But we still have each other... We are Gaiola."

.....

It took time to heal. Slowly, Marana and Machai started a new, peaceful life, hidden in the jungle. The memories of what happened to them still hurt, but they found comfort in each other.

However, eventually the weather in Asthery started changing drastically. A snow storm gradually devastated the forest, and they had to go back to living in the cavern. The storm wouldn't get better, so they went back to the old ways, overcame their fears and carefully went back to digging.

.....

What they discovered while exploring changed everything. They found several recent tunnels that were dug using similar techniques to the Gaiola miners, connecting all of the Asthery islands with multiple exits, now buried in snow. The long tunnel they used to flee was reformed, enlarged and expanded, and it was clear the tunnel had been heavily used recently. The end of the tunnel that led to the cave chambers, however, had been sealed off and was completely inaccessible.

Eventually, while investigating in Asthery, Marana and Machai understood what happened. The Vérkert Guild were the ones who destroyed their cave, and they used the structure they had painfully built to expand and intensify their affairs. The abrupt change of weather on Asthery, however, destroyed the city and forced them to escape to the continent, disbanding the group and leaving everything behind.

.....

As gaolers, Marana and Machai were resistant to the cold weather. Their exploration in the tunnels took months, and led them to find resources left behind by the Vérkert, enough for them to live for years underground, protected from the strong blizzard storms in the surface.

One particular room, however, made them very curious. It looked like the Vérkert collapsed both entrances to a very large chamber on purpose, locking whatever was there for good. Marana and Machai discussed it for quite some time, and eventually decided to dig it through and find out what was hidden in there.

They used fire magic artifacts left by the Vérkert to dig through the rock and ice that was blocking the front entrance to the place, and after doing so, they realized why it was locked: they were in the Kodomo Prison, a place used to lock valuable prisoners. Although as valuable as they might have been once, they were all left to die when the group decided to flee.

.....

Marana and Machai never came back to that dreadful place after they realized all of the prisoners were dead. Or so they thought.

They didn't know it at the time, but they had just released Karabudak, a dragon that would hunt them for the years to come.