Day 2:
By: Lundlaeva
Curiosity blinked bright after-images from his eyes as the rush of magic settled, and his jaw dropped open as he took in the sight before him. The spell had worked! The empty stone gateway now rippled with a translucent sheet of weird green-tinted energy - a portal. A doorway to somewhere else entirely.
But where did it lead? To a far-distant point on Sornieth? To another point in time? Or had they opened up a different realm entirely? Curiosity’s heart raced at the countless possibilities.
The Arcanist was the first to recover. He stepped forward, reaching towards the portal and probed its surface with a delicate press of his claw. “How intriguing. We must investigate this further...”
The scholars gave a chorus of agreement and rushed to take a closer look for themselves. Curiosity flitted into the air to join them, but a familiar set of claws wrapped around his arm and tugged him gently back to the ground.
“Dream! What are you doing?” he squawked. He didn’t need to look at her to know his Skydancer sister was responsible. No one else would drag him away from the single most interesting discovery of his life so far!
“It could be dangerous, Curi,” Dream warned.
“If we didn’t go near anything that
might be dangerous, we’d never leave our Lairs!” Curiosity snapped, pulling his arm free and leaping into the air. “I want a closer look.”
Dream called his name in frustration, but Curiosity ignored her. He loved his sister, but she just didn’t have the same insatiable thirst for knowledge that he shared with their deity. She had come on the gateway expedition along with a number of the Observatory’s other warriors, tasked with protesting the research team and the Arcanist in the field. However, Curiosity was certain she had volunteered for the job so that she could ‘protect’ him - by holding him back. He darted between the larger dragons’ limbs and wings, working his way through the chattering crowd until he hovered right beside the Arcanist’s crest.
“Arcanist, please!” a hassled-looking imperial was saying, a note of desperation in his voice. “I’m sorry, but you just will not fit!”
The Arcanist hummed, eyes narrowing. “You know, I think I could manage if I could just …”
As he spoke, the Arcanist hunched over, coiling his serpentine body downwards and pulling in his four wings and his spindly forelimbs as tight as they would go. He tilted his head to the side and stuck his face towards the portal, and Curiosity realised that he intended to go through.
But it was clear that the imperial was right - there was no way the Arcanist would fit. The portal was just a shade too small. At best, his crest would get stuck in the gateway. At worst, he’d knock the stone circle down entirely - and they had no idea how that would affect the portal itself!
“
Arcanist, no!” the scholars cried in unison.
The larger dragons shoved their wings and tails in front of the portal while the rest grabbed on to the Arcanist himself to hold him back. Curiosity added his voice to the rest, tugging urgently on his deity’s ear.
“Oh, very well,” the Arcanist huffed, pulling back from the thicket of limbs and sitting on his haunches, all four of his arms folded, a petulant look in his eyes.
The scholars, Curiosity included, gave a collective sigh of relief.
Most returned to their examination of the portal, but Curiosity paused after releasing the Arcanist’s pointed ear. If the Arcanist himself couldn’t venture through the portal, someone would have to go on his behalf. Curiosity spared a furtive glance towards Dream, who had approached and now stood at the back of the crowd, her glowing eyes fixed on him. She wouldn’t be pleased. But Curiosity’s head was so full of questions it felt like he might burst. He
had to know what was on the other side of the portal, and now he had the perfect opportunity. He just needed to take it before someone else did.
Curiosity swooped in front of the Arcanist and cried, “I volunteer to go through the portal!”
The Arcanist’s brows lifted, his sulky attitude transforming into interest. “Oh? What have we here? A scholar after my own heart! Willing to put aside the innumerable dangers to satisfy his desire for knowledge.”
“Dangers?” Curiosity asked. A shiver of worry ran down his spine. He had assumed that if the Arcanist was willing to go through the portal, it must be safe - but perhaps not?
However, he didn’t get an answer. No one had even heard his question. The Arcanist was too busy counting off numerous instructions on his long claws, and the other dragons were stuffing sample jars and parchment for note-taking into a satchel for him and not paying attention. All but one.
Dream leaped into the air, spread her wings to soar over the ranks of scholars and landed on the ground before the portal. She hissed, “Curiosity, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Something important,” he replied, diving to join her and trying to focus on what had made him offer to go through in the first place. “This portal is an opportunity like nothing dragonkind has seen before - our research could change life on Sornieth as we know it! And it’s a great honour to be sent on a research expedition like this by the Arcanist himself.”
Dream opened her mouth to reply but didn’t get the chance. One of the scholars shoved the satchel of equipment into Curiosity’s claws and then the Arcanist spoke.
“Ah, and a warrior to protect you on your journey into the unknown. Excellent!” the Arcanist said, laying gentle but firm hands between their wings and ushering both of them towards the portal.
“What?” Dream squawked, “No! I didn’t -”
“Good luck on your voyage, my children,” the Arcanist continued with a fatherly smile, oblivious to her protests. “I don’t
think that this will kill you, but if it does - well, at least we will have learned something.”
“Kill us?!” Dream said in a horrified whisper, looking over at Curiosity.
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad?” Curiosity tried, though he really had nothing to base that theory on. Surely the Arcanist wouldn’t actually send them to their deaths. Not on purpose!
“Don’t forget to take lots of notes,” the Arcanist said, and gave Curiosity and Dream a firm push that sent them tumbling through the portal.
