FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 22

He was dying, out of the two creatures that toyed with his magic he trusted Volteer more than that damn soul sacking monster. He was dying and he didn't even knew it, he already got accustomed to the fact that he is a nobody in the grand scale of things, the betters always shape their future as they see fit and for one thing to prosper another needs to suffer.

It was simply the fate of meager souls in this world like him.

But it stung still, especially when he accepted his fate and steered clear of manipulation of his betters, living his own life and yet, everything he did was just a pathetic delusion where one flick of a finger was enough to end him.

He was someone's bitch for so long and he didn't even know it.

Motherfucker!

Cloudas snarled furiously, his nose wrinkling deeply in anger, a weak stream of magical wind burst through his gaping maw uncontrollably, the unexpected tug at his lungs left him dry and without air to breathe. He immediately began to cough roughly, gripping his chest, claws digging into the scales as if they wanted to squeeze the painfully stinging lungs inside and crush them like squeezing juice out of a fruit.

His eyes bulged, the lack of air made him sway on his legs, before he knew it his numb legs made him hit the nearby wall, he gripped against it tightly, the big eyes filling with tears as his throat kept being ravaged by rough coughing, one after the other in quick succession.

That's it, he's a goner. And of course when he naively believed he once again had some control over his fate something decides to steal that power away.

That something was his idiocy.

Luckily, or not, he could no longer tell what was better, humiliation or death, whatever it could be though he had now to live with the first because the uncontrollable coughing finally ended the burning path the magic scorched through his throat and lungs eased its grip on him. It still made him feel hollow and like there would be no more tissue inside his throat but exposed, sensitive muscle, but he finally managed to catch a breath, as shallow as it might have been.

It was too fast, definitely too fast.

He either controls himself or next time he will spit out his lungs out.

There is a reason that hatchlings grow into their element, they don't go simply breathing entire tree crowns away on their first day because if they did their bodies would pop like bitten skin. He wasn't using his element for a very long time, even though he was an experienced by life dragon now, when it came to wielding magic, especially after such a long hiatus, he was no different from a freshly hatched hatchling.

Even worse perhaps, because he doesn't remember a kid who would choke on his own magic.

Setting new standards for low is sad considering that he came from a world where his race was already treated pitifully by the powerful of the universe. He would never imagine that it was possible to be even more pathetic.

But he proved everyone wrong.

Shit.

To be left alone, is this really so much to ask for?

He needs some air, wind always cleared his head.

Without hesitation he pushed forward, slaloming between the corridors of the City Hall he followed Volteer's directions and headed outside. He finally found the exit of this claustrophobic place and pushed into the open, the illumination of the wakening moons grazing over his eyes.

It was eerily silent, which was strange considering that he was supposed to be inside a huge city. Good riddance, people was the last thing he wanted to see right now, no matter how strange and unknown they may be to him.

He looked up to the sky, his eyes glazing over with emotion when he looked upon the shining stars in the air, his paw immediately reached out to the toy medallion around his neck, toes rubbing the circled object tenderly as if it was the paw of a loving mate.

The world was an unfair mess of bad and ugly, where everyone wants to use you and if your weaker then for good measure you will also get bullied, to spare you the troubles of even thinking that you can change your fate of course.

But the only thing unchanged in all of this, always hanging on the black canvas above were the stars, indifferently watching in their special patterns, always there giving direction to those prepared to read their language. In times of need he always turned to the stars, they were always there offering guidance, it was always up to him which glowing hand he will grab.

He memorized all of the constellations, there were times he was forced to leave the city and wander on his own, not to mention the times where he had to avoid the Wretched. All of that however was trivial compared to the desire for adventure and basic need to focus on something else. Following a specific constellation always led somewhere, what exactly he will find on the way was the big unknown.

And it good times it was exciting.

He wondered if this world had the same potential?

His eyes calculated the stars, finding patterns, sight stretching along the many arms in search of a point that would be the anchor for the constellation. He found it easily, he found...

Cloudas gulped.

That they were exactly the same like in his world.

What?

He blinked, rubbing his eyes fervently before stretching his neck forward and squinting to make sure that he isn't imagining things. Unconsciously he rose a paw to assist him in this examination, claw bouncing over each shining dot in the air, painting patterns on the sky.

Big Wagon, Lance, Lumia, Aurora.

The main ones were there, exactly like he remembered them and if he looked to the east he could see also Bear waking up from its daily sleep.

Those were the same constellations like in his time, in fact his world also had two moons, he never paid much attention to the big orbs, but he could swear that they had the same colors like the two here.

It was clear, the sky was exactly the same, past or present. The sky felt like home.

Usually the mentioning of home disgusted him, but in this specific case he considering this finding to be shocking. How many years went by between his era and this one? He doubted there was anyone alive who could count that high. Years after years went by and the sky remained unchanged throughout the eons, nothing faded, nothing changed, as if the sky lived its own life.

As he kept looking at the stars he couldn't decide if it was strange or not, for starters he felt rather comfortable seeing something familiar in this unknown place, it triggered that long lost sense of adventure, after all the constellations might be the same, but the path they would lead him through definitely isn't.

Besides, now when he keeps thinking about it, was it really so surprising to see the same amount of stars? The stories go that the world gets completely obliterated during era shift, but to think of it, it's not like the entire planet gets cracked right? It stays relatively intact, with some tectonic shifts here and there naturally, so if the planets stays the same and the apocalyptic walks wipes only life on it then there was no possibility that its reach could touch the cosmos, right?

Makes sense.

Nevertheless he still found the discovery to be peculiar, were the people here even aware of it? Did the Shapers, or even Volteer who seems to be the main scientist here, noticed it? Did it really matter that the constellations are the same? Would them knowing it change anything?

He doubted it.

Still he couldn't shake off the strange feeling that those stars had a purpose, that there has to be a reason that the stars did not die throughout the years.

No, no, no.

He shook his head fiercely, mane bouncing wildly from side to side.

You are thinking too high of yourself again Cloudas, your star reading skills are of no importance, all of it is just a funny coincidence and nothing else. Star reading is only a hobby and a weird one as his sister used to say, even though she silently admired him for it, he still remembers their childish adventures where stars only were their guides.

Yes, it was only that.

A weird, sometimes useful hobby.

He was so enthralled by the sight that he did not notice the rising sound of many footsteps coming from behind the corner. Footsteps that suddenly reached a rumbling cadence when a crowd of people appeared in the streets, unaware to him it was the same group of people that debated with the Guardians in the City Hall.

"A wind dragon!" a girl howled from inside the group

The shrill noise made Cloudas' heart skip a beat, his whole body was jerked back by a spasm of shock, his wings acting on their own, spreading wide, feathers standing on end, the massive wings basically twice the size of his body, from a distance he looked like a beast that just opened its ears in sense of danger.

The sight silenced the crowd, turning each eye into a huge orb, even the elderly among were surprised by the view, the memory of Wind Dragons was faded in the consciousness of the people of the Dragon Realms, even those that survived the times of their genocide. Every wrinkle of distress that was visible on the many faces and snouts relaxed itself in an instant, making everyone look several years younger than in reality.

Cloudas too remained speechless, staring at the crowd with wide eyes of his own, he was intimidated by the sudden attention. To get noticed in his times required a lot of effort, the Shapers very rarely gave credit to those below them and when the word finally got out that one is descending from the citadel to promote someone the chaos that originated then was barely containable, a war and a party in one.

Now there was no screaming, no shouts and chaotic running, everything was calm and yet the pressure of attention was comparable to that of the Shapers eyes. And to make things more strange, all this attention was directed at him when before he was practically invisible to anyone that's worthy.

He didn't know what to do, he was frozen, feeling as if the jingle of a toe would be enough to provoke an attack.

"Look at those wings" an intimidated gasp came from the crowd

This was the signal everyone was waiting for, murmurs and conversations rose up when the group of people approached the young drake who folded his wings like a feline would do his ears in a moment of complete stupefaction.

"Are you honestly real?" before Cloudas knew it hands and paws reached out to him, touching and petting everywhere with no care for his personal space

"Real. Ancestors finally forgave us" an elder broke into tears as his shaking, furry hands gently touched the young scale as if they would be the most valuable of his possessions

"People, people, let's-Ouch!" Cloudas yipped when one of the more grabby paws pulled at his tuft of feathers on his cheek

The sharp cry made the entire crowd back away with a gasp, in perfect, unusual harmony like they would be a group of trained actors on stage. He would find it funny perhaps if not for the fact that he sensed that merely seconds separated him from open air and being chocked by grabby arms.

"Look people, stay away from me, alright?" Cloudas barked, moving slowly backwards "I'm not a toy!"

"He's got the gem!" a long claw pointed from inside the crowd "He's one of the Time dragons!"

Excited murmurs rose into the air after that revelation, the clatter of teeth making Cloudas feel as if he would be among starving beasts clapping with their fangs.

"There is more of them from where he came from! Are there more wind dragons in your world?"

"Yeah"

The crowd cheered forcing the young wind drake to choke on his own tongue due to shock, which was only strengthened by the unexpected rush from the group towards him. He was defenseless, he shut his eyes tightly and squeezed all limbs together to make himself as small as possible.

The happy people didn't mind the slight discomfort, they immediately pulled him into a hug and grateful pets as if he would the greatest of heroes successfully returning after finishing a spectacular deed. The citizens were sharing the drake between themselves, each wanting to touch him and offer a supportive clap to the shoulder.

Cloudas could only whine as he was tossed about the many bodies, for years he didn't receive any attention, he would lie if he said that being invisible to the world did not bother him, of course he wanted to feel noticed, important, at least to one creature, it was normal, but right now he truly regretted his cursed desire.

He was quite comfortable with abandonment and while he never expected himself wishing to remain in this state for the rest of his life he really wished right now to be back again to his unusual comfort zone.

The commotion caught the attention of the guards that not so long ago escorted the people out of the City Hall. The sounds of the confident strides of the strong paws echoed in between the cheers like a drum during a war cry.

"What is this commotion? Didn't you people have enough excitement for one day?" one of the guards barked, her strong voice carrying a tone of authority worthy of a commander

"It's a wind dragon! A living one!" the crowd obeyed the meaningful order, yet their cheerful energy did not fade in the slightest, many still had troubles with ungluing themselves from the feathery drake

The guard shrugged.

"It can be Spyro with a herd of purple kids and I still wouldn't allow obvious disorder brew just right around the corner of the City Hall. Do you people have no imagination? Your leaders are sitting right over there" she nodded towards one of the major buildings of Warfang "Have some respect, please, it is nothing but reasonable, especially after successful negotiations"

Cloudas felt the grip on him easing, no matter how much these folks were thrilled to see him their respect for the lady over there seemed had priority. He absolutely did not care who the girl was to make all these people listen to her, or what she exactly said for that matter, all he wanted to do was to get out of here and the lose grip was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Several folks spurted something at the same time, creating a chaos of words instead of proper sentences, but it was emotional and loud enough to distract the ones holding him still. He moved gently and very slowly, keeping his scales against the hands and paws to not draw any extra suspicion, yet freeing enough that would prevent him from getting caught easily.

He applied the same treatment to his wings, gently tugging each wing away from the more threatening grips.

"Just give the kid some breathing room" he heard the guard's leader snarling in annoyance

"He has all the air he wants!" a cheetah that held him rose up his arms defensively, freeing one of his wings completely

That was his cue it www either now or never.

Cloudas grunted and pushed back with a single jerk, ignoring the sharp pain when the move sacrificed some of his feathers, leaving them in the grasp of the ones that still held him.

Unfortunately for them his plucked feathers were all they were getting.

The decision to push back was painful but successful, he freed himself from the clutches of the needy people. The entire group went eerie silent, even the ones that held him remained quiet, instead rising their clenched into a fist hands to their eyes, staring at the plucked out feathers in disbelief.

Their eyes finally turned to him.

He swallowed hard and immediately turned around, the people's renewed attention serving as the perfect motivating slap in the butt that stirs every mount into action. He sprinted forward, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Hey!" several people yelled

"Wait up!" another grouped shout followed the first soon after

He did not stop, the shouts only put more pressure on his limbs to make him move faster, he ran so fast that he could barely hear his own breath with all this noise of the whizzing wind slapping against him. He beaten stairs and corners, gliding down from the more higher staircases, every single time looking behind his shoulder to see if nobody was following him.

And every time he did that he could swear he saw a menacing shadow flickering behind him, he did not stop to check if this was his stressed imagination playing tricks on him, always assuming that at least a few of those guys up there were stubborn enough to give chase.

Another corner.

Another staircase.

And then a familiar click against the marbled stone.

His heart skipped a beat.

Was he running in circles? This is why he avoided rising in the sky to fall into a trap like some fool? But it cannot be, he wasn't really thinking where he was going but he was certain that it was always forward and away from the mob.

Caution was stronger however and forced his head to look down and back, his eyes quickly scanning each detail on the walls, streets or any other piece of architecture, looking for any bit that seemed familiar, seen at least once.

Was he...

And then all the thoughts became unimportant, cast away from his head into the unknown like a letter sent in a bottle through the open sea. He felt as if his mouth was turned inside out, each bone that supposed to protrude forward sent back inside his skeleton like a turtle hiding in its shell, but with such a force that he felt the echo of it all the way to his tail tip.

Time seemed to slow down, there was no end to the ringing inside his head and to make things worse he could see every part of his body being pushed backwards as if there would be a whip attached to every limb and tugging them back.

He collided with something.

And it hurt.

A feminine short scream rose into the air.

That cry was what brought the time flow back into its normal pace, his legs kicked everywhere, trying to find any sort of footing, to no avail however, he dropped flat on the street seconds later, feathers kicked into air as he rolled, gaining bruise after burning bruise.

And then it was over.

With one strong jerk his chin crashed into the firm street, a rattling sound put his body into a short spasm he felt as if his brain would be a ball that just got kicked back into his skull with all the force the world could muster, he was sure that his eyeballs made a spin or two.

He shook his aching head, dragging his scratched snout from the street, leaving a small splotch of blood and pieces of scale behind. He shook his head, but instead of putting the vibrating world back together the move only made the already blurry mess even harder to read.

A feminine groan echoed nearby.

Cloudas' eyes shot wide open.

Holy shit he crashed into someone!"

He immediately pulled himself up, his shaking legs betraying him only once, making him fall, yet the second attempt at raising was enough to be victorious. He turned around with difficulty, making several random steps in all directions but luckily his hobo pacing was enough to keep him standing.

There was a frail looking blue dragoness scrambling from the ground, her messy silvery hair with blue strands flopped down and practically covered all of her snout.

"Sky above! Are you alright?" Cloudas sprinted to the best of his ability towards the fallen girl, stopping right in front of her he gave her a scrutinizing examination, the way she whimpered scared him to the very spine, making him immediately look for any protruding, broken bone

"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!" he reached out to her but immediately curled his claws into his draconic palms just when he was about to touch the girl, afraid that he would cause more harm than good

"C-can I help you somehow? Can you get up?"

"It..." the girl groaned as she turned onto her belly with visible difficulty" It won't be necessary" all of her four paws curled with effort, clearly masking a surge of pain

"Are you sure?" Cloudas licked his lips skeptically "You look really..." he swallowed a huge ball of guilt" hurt"

"I am, but it is none of your fault" she pressed her paws against the ground steadily "It is my physical resistance that is laaacking!" she cried out as she pulled herself up

He felt as if his heart almost shot out of his chest at the sudden wail of pain, his paws immediately darted forward, reaching for the girl and helping her out on all fours.

The girl panted, her head hanging low in visible fatigue.

"Thank you"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes"

There was suddenly a loud clatter echoing from somewhere followed by the faint noise of chatter, the people he tried to loose were getting closer. His eyes immediately darted in that direction, paws slowly sliding from the soft, feminine body.

"And if I let you go now you swear that you won't fall?"

The girl let out a pained chuckle, even if the voice still vibrated with the tone of his guilt, Cloudas visibly relaxed at the note of amusement.

That chuckle was like a rainbow appearing on a cloudy, depressing day.

"I'm positive"

The male paws slid from the frail frame, backing up completely only when their owner was certain that no unintentional sway was about to happen.

"So if I may ask what is so frightening that you fail to-" the girl's head finally turned towards him

Cloudas' feathers flopped down when he spotted through the messy strands one of the girl's gold eyes, eye that was widening in shock, obviously surprised just like the crowd to see a wind dragon. He would run already perhaps if not for the guilt still gripping his heart.

The noise he heard grew louder.

His head sprang up, big eyes gazing past the girl and onto the streets behind. The chattering became louder, the faint voices now a hearable murmur from which you would be able to pick out single words if one concentrated hard enough.

The girl looked back for a second, just to gaze onto the dragon moment later, the dragon that already made an unconscious step back.

"I see"

The dragon looked at her, startled.

"Ancestors smile on you today, they made you collide with a dragoness that knows the perfect hiding spot as it turns out"

"W-What?"

"You must draw extraordinary attention with your physique, to the point it can become infuriating I believe. There are souls in this city that never saw a wind dragon in their life you need to forgive them for their excitement resurrection is not a feat you experience daily after all"

The dragon stared at her as if he didn't understand what she was talking about.

"Ancestors be praised, I actually know where you can shield yourself from the unwanted attention"

Cloudas wasn't sure that he could trust the girl, honestly he didn't listen to her much, the growing in strength noise was stealing all of his attention. The only words he managed to pick was that she knew a perfect place to hide.

She might be as grabby as the rest of the folks but it was still better to be molested by a single girl than to run in circles around the city, it was only a matter of time before he makes a wrong turn and falls into the arms of the crowd chasing him. This girl didn't look imposing, and she was already hurt, he wouldn't have problems pinning her down if things came to blows.

"Where?"

The girl pointed at the door next to them, only now he noticed that her claws were painted pink.

"This is my house, I live alone, you are free to feel invited" her lips stretched into a warm smile

He hesitated, eyes jumping between the street from which the growing noise was coming from and the door the girl pointed at, unable to decide what was better. Getting tormented by a mob was no fun, but what if that house is a trap and the girl is some psychopathic fan with some wicked tricks in mind.

She could offer him on a platter to the people.

More commotion, more noise came from the alley and to be honest this louder thunder of known future was enough to make him opt to be a prisoner of a psycho if need be.

He rushed towards the door, part of him expected to bounce back from them, finding out that the only thing working about the door are its hinges, keeping it firm in place. He exhaled a breath of relief when the handle succumbed to his strength without the tiniest opposition. The door started to open and he squeezed through the crack even before the wing of the door made a complete swing.

Cloudas immediately pressed himself to the wall, slinking as far away from the windows as possible. The girl entered the house right behind him, the warm smile still stretching her lips.

"You are safe now, nobody will even look here" she sighed sadly "Not now at least" she slapped the door, forcing them to close

Instead of a mechanical clank however the sound that echoed in the room was the girl's short, whiny gasp. Her hair stood on end and the single visible eye bulged. Sharp, numbing pain exploded across her rump, originating from the tail.

She crushed it between the door.

With a cry she sprang forward like a frog, pulling the hurt tail behind with a sharp jerk, the tip flung about hectically, surprisingly managing to slap the door shut but also dragging the rest of the tail in between the blue legs, legs that somehow managed to step on it and slip.

She fell snout first onto the floor, stretching out long across the ground, splayed like a pancake as if a golem would step on her. Her snout landing right in front of green claws attached to mint colored paws, her cheeks becoming red from embarrassment, color that only became more stronger and visible the moment she rose her head and met the dumbfounded expression of the wind dragon.

His slightly agape maw clearly not suspecting her getting defeated by closing door.

A moment of awkward silence befallen on both of them.

Cloudas was the first to blink the shock away.

"Okay, now I don't know if I should feel guilty anymore, you kinda seem to have a style for falling down"

"This is so embarrassing, forgive me" she cried out, slapping both her forelegs to cover her burning with shame snout. The flush was so strong that it was stinging her draconic palms.

"I'm kidding, accidents happen. Are you hurt?"

"No, I-"

"Shhh!" Cloudas shushed the girl, sliding down along the wall almost touching the floor with his butt

His paw landed on the blue wings, pressing the girl to the floor, she immediately stiffened under his touch.

Lots of voices could be heard right around the house, coming from every direction, he wasn't certain but the mob probably only got bigger from last time, od perhaps some more charismatic individuals broke from the previous group and bailed from the guards only to pick up some of their buddies and start a search of their own.

Whatever the case may be he prayed that they wouldn't dare to inspect this house, he really had enough of screams and groping for one day. The noises cascaded between quieter and louder, each second forcing his heart to beat faster, every time the sound got less impactful it put him into a false state of security until the noise eventually sprang back with life again, making him think that this was the moment when the door will be kicked down and his battle of hide and seek will be over.

Yet the door remained closed even though he could see them rattling faintly as if they sensed the hands nearby and invited them to grab its handle.

No one did.

The earthquake of people soon disappeared, moving somewhere away from the house.

"They're gone" Cloudas smacked the back of his head against the wall only to let out a relieved chuckle soon after "They're really gone"

"I'm glad" the girl whispered back

The paw that was holding her gave her a thankful pat on the wings.

"Thank you, I don't know why you did it, but I'm grateful"

"It was my pleasure"

The wind dragon chuckled.

"Since we are both on the floor, close and personal, I think it would be good to introduce myself, besides I would like to know the name of my savior" he bowed respectfully "I'm Cloudas"

"Coriza"

"Nice to meet you" smile stretched his lips as he gave the lying dragoness a quick once over "So tell me Coriza do you like floors much or would you rather get up?"

"My personal affections play no role here I'm afraid. It is my natural ability that for some reason is ideally attuned with gravity and assists it in the least welcoming moments by dragging me down to the ground when I don't wish it. I prefer to stay upright but clumsiness is an older sister of mine and likes me more the way I am right now"

Whoa.

Truth be told he expected a simple response in two words, instead he got a monologue worthy of Volteer himself. The difference being that Coriza had a way with words, which embroidered in her very pleasant, deep, melodic voice made her very enjoyable to listen to.

"Come on, let me help you up, this is the least I can do for saving my feathers"

Both dragons got up, Coriza accepted his help without opposition, actually he believed that she kinda wished for it. He suspected that being clumsy really puts a dent in your confidence and she was afraid if she tried getting up on her own she might make another unfortunate slip that in her eyes would only make her look like a fool.

The way her visible eye darted all around, only sharing brief contacts with him in very sporadic time periods, and the intense blush covering her snout only proved that his suspicions might be correct.

Despite her frail frame and messy hair after the two drops she was still easy on the eyes. In fact her petite, embarrassed frame together with her neatly held by pins white hair that flowed down one side of her snout, covering the second eye and exposing the nervous first one painted with a line od blush running across her snout made her extremely cute.

He noticed that besides her painted claws she was also wearing makeup, her eyes were shaded black. While he could barely see the covered one, the black lines were still sticking out from underneath the blue and white strands of hair, giving her an aura of mysteriousness that simply drew attention. If she paired that with a confident, warm look of the other gold one, that with the shade blazed like the sun itself, he believed she would have troubles keeping people away from her.

Especially if she started to talk with that deep voice of hers.

He had no idea why people avoided this house.

Who would have thought that this sucky day would turn out for the better in the end, if he would always land in the house of such interesting females after each depressing trial he might actually consider his uselessness a boon.

That would be a first.

"Speaking of feathers" Cloudas smiled, looking around the room where several of his white buddies rested on the floor "They tend to fall all around the place when I thrash about so don't be surprised if one gets in your mouth when you'll be sleeping, even if you put much attention to cleaning there is always that one bastard that avoids capture and surprisingly it always gets found on your tongue" he winked at her "Speaking from experience here"

Coriza looked around after his suggestion, spotting several of the feathers floating around lazily, the sight made her giggle.

"I can imagine, you must swallow a ton of them when you turn in your sleep"

"Honestly? I usually sleep outside, wind helps get those pesky feathers away from my face. If I get to sleep in a closed room" he shrugged with a smile, fluttering with the wings gently "I usually tie myself up"

Coriza brushed her hair, a single strand remained between her claws.

"I'm familiar with the difficulties of possessing additional characteristics that require special care. Proper grooming and preservation solves a lot of issues" her gold eye glistened in amusement "There is no need for ropes then"

"Ufff" Cloudas exhaled in relief, pretending to wipe sweat from his forehead "Good to hear, truth be told I was kinda expecting you to go for the tying up idea. I mean people outside would surely opt for it, enthusiastically I might add. You're different, why don't you freak out at the sight of me?"

"Why would I?"

"Hello? I'm a wind dragon, you know, the specie that got wiped out from the face of this planet?"

Coriza heard herself giggling inside her head, if the boy only knew what she went through he would never ask such a question again. Of course she was familiar with history about wind dragons and understood why people became so fervent after seeing Cloudas, but to her he was ordinary all things considered. Dark crystals, her strange sight, not to mention Cynder's otherworldly companion and a walking torch named Flare, to her all those other things were far more stunning than a dragon covered in feathers.

Or perhaps it was the curse of her profession, as a cleric she heard many things, confessions are usually honest, the only ones that ever tried to make fun of her were the youngsters that treated spiritual faith as a delusion of the old and stupid. The stories she heard would be enough to write several tomes of fantastical books, whether completely true or not it didn't matter, behind each story hid a grain of pain and hurt and those were the things she learned with time to look out for.

The layers of stories behind them about monsters nightmares and whatnot? They were only a mind's way of processing things to make them understandable, fear after all has many forms.

"I'm a cleric, I used to work in the nearby temple where I provided counsel and support to those that needed it" Coriza's deep voice turned serious and full of reverence that Cloudas momentarily noticed, it made him nervous because he had a tendency to be blunt honest about things that many people find rude and he really didn't want to offend someone who just saved his sorry ass

"I listened to many tales, some were sad, some depressing and others completely unbelievable, nevertheless as a priestess it is my sacred duty to listen to them all and offer the best assistance I can provide. This is why I don't freak out when I see you, don't understand me wrong but out of all the things that I visualized in my mind during my career seeing a feathery wind dragon does not sparkle any pulse of shock within me"

"Also it is worth nothing that I'm very young, I had never experienced the loss that many people felt when your kind vanished, all I had were stories, and written text does not wound the heart the same way a true experience does"

"So I'm like a typical grunt to you?"

Her eye widened, mouth parting in guilt ridden shock.

"This is not-"

"That's great!" Cloudas cut her off with a cheerful yelp, his paws clapping together excitedly "I see that folks here have a weird fetish of thinking too high of themselves, glad to see someone who sees reality for what it is. Man, to think I meet someone normal in this city why running away from an infuriating mob of happy people, what are the odds?"

Coriza stared dumbfounded at the drake, he was probably the only soul in the entire world who seems to be satisfied if people call him mediocre and uninteresting. Even she who is a joke of a dragon tried to feel worthy even though her options of improving were quite limited.

To see that someone who is by first glance healthy and strong accepting that he might never be noticed was something she never expected to see, especially in a dragon, a race she is a part of, a race that is proud of its strength, no matter how modest one can be about it.

Cloudas' behavior was completely out of the ordinary.

She choked on her own tongue.

He was totally out of the ordinary.

Her thoughts traveled back to the moment when she shared a conversation with the older, fire dragon about souls and how one can influence them to gain their attention. She remembered him speaking about picking one and focusing on it, building on it, nevertheless back then it only looked like wishful thinking, she had really small chances of finding a soul that is not involved by the recent events and falls from the categories this world is ruled with.

This wishful thinking took a more palpable turn today.

Cloudas wasn't a typical dragon, both physically and mentally, he was an unknown to the Realms.

And for peace to thrive in the Realms perhaps she doesn't need normal, but new?

Did the Ancestors just really smile upon her after everything? Was this their subtle direction? Her chance to truly start the process of changing the perspective of this world, a chance to see war not as a necessity but a curse.

Sweet Ancestors.

Are you really still looking out after me?

Cloudas kept looking at the girl, girl that suddenly got strangely silent, her visible eye was wide and drilling into him. There were some weird sparkles squeezing through the strands of her that covered the second eyeball, all in all he felt evaluated by those eyes with no respect for his privacy as if he would be some specimen to be tested.

To think of it she was really staring at him like the Wretched do.

And the Wretched think of nothing else but how to make a meal out of somebody.

"Cor-"

"Sorry for my lousy hospitality!" her sudden exclamation drew him back against the wall again, the uncomfortable smash making a nearby painting rattle on the nail

"Would you like to drink something?" without waiting for his answer she pushed forward, tripping on the way but her tail immediately reacted, wrapping itself around a nearby stand swiftly and judging from the rather faded colors on the furniture it was definitely something that the tail held quite often

"I have water and...tea I think. Let me look" she immediately opened up a door at the end of the corridor, immediately rising on her hind legs and stretching up, reaching and feeling around some of the higher shelves

Cloudas wanted to speak up but his male instinct drew his sight down, his head cocking to the side as he admired the stretched out girl ahead, noting with a great deal of pleasure just how slender her legs were.

"Got it!" Coriza exclaimed triumphantly, dropping on all fours and turning almost immediately.

He pushed his head back up with one fierce jerk, making something snap in the neck after the tug

"Join me in the kitchen please, I'll heat the water" she nodded him to follow her as she put the bag of tea into her mouth

"You've already done enough for me, you don't need to spoil me further" he scratched his head thoughtfully "Truth be told I still don't know why you did it"

"I'm a priestess" she smiled a toothless smile at him "It is my duty to help and with the force you trampled me with you seemed to be in a great deal of trouble. I couldn't just walk by"

She patted a seat meaningfully.

He shook his head, declining politely sitting on the clean ground instead.

"Lucky me that your habit got in the way, but you are really wasting time on someone like me. That energy could be put to better use you know?"

"Sorry?" she cocked her head, strand of her hair grazing against her lips "Why do you say such destructive things? All life is valuable"

Cloudas flipped the medallion he was wearing around in his toes, stealing a brief glance on its plastic surface, surface as blank and dead as his life.

"Whatever you say, I won't argue in your home, but it's not that simple"

Coriza sat across the table, hissing and jumping up at first try when she accidently stabbed herself on her tail tip, her second attempt at sitting down was successful though.

This time however no blush appeared on her gentle snout, she looked at him with almost motherly concern, he could even feel the supportive warmth radiating from covered eye.

"Tell me please, I'm really interested in your point of view. I won't argue, believe me, conflict is something I tend to avoid"

Cloudas bit his lip, nervously scratching his mane, most of the time he didn't have troubles speaking his mind, but this girl had saved his sorry ass when she didn't have to, not to mention that she invited him to her house. Things might have gone to shit in his life but he still had some self restraint, especially when being someone's guest.

This was one of the few lessons he picked up in the damn rat's race that was his life.

"I really don't want to. I tend to speak what I think and people don't like honesty much, they get offended quite easily and I don't want to get on your bad side after you helped me"

Coriza smiled widely, for the first time he noticed her lips parting, lips that revealed uneven bite almost making her look like a boar.

"Ancestors are guiding us still it seems" her toes ran over her mouth as if she would be wiping drool from them, however when her paw went down her lips were pressed together once more "I value honesty myself, so no matter what you say you already earned my acceptance" her gold eye glimmered charmingly

He didn't know what it was, whether it was the shade around the eye or some trick of light, but the glimmer that flashed at him made his stomach twist in such a strong sense of intimidation that he forgot to breathe for a second. The feeling however was surprisingly pleasant, much so despite how it may have sounded, it brought him back to the times when he was still basically a hatchling and some of the black dragons kids got down to play with them, he felt a similar thing when one of those dragons picked him for their team.

It made him feel special.

He quickly averted his gaze from that enticing look, he was getting pulled too strong by it for his liking and he swore to himself that he will never again fall in the moronic loop of delusional worth.

"This world is a Shapers world like mine" he spoke up, coughing gently to clear his voice of the rasp that clung to it, he reacted instinctively, forcing his thoughts to focus on something else

"Whatever we do here is unimportant and senseless, just like the joy of those people molesting me. I get it that you guys might believe you mean something and that your existence makes a difference, I won't even talk about finding purpose in some random signs and stuff, like me for example. It's really irritating to deal with, but as I said, I get it, still it doesn't change anything, our roles are limited and it's the big guys who call the shots. We are just toys and nothing else"

"I agree"

His brows shot up so quickly that they almost popped from his snout.

"You what now?"

Coriza twirled one of her locks around her toe innocently.

"Perhaps not exactly in the way you describe it, I don't believe that we are a piece on some game board that can be cast away from it because someone got bored. I do believe however that we are guided. Our fates are planned for us, we do have free will to alter it naturally, but our paths are still set up before us, Ancestors keep a close vigil upon us, after all they wouldn't want their children to be hurt. You and me are the same you see, and no matter what you might feel, for the Ancestors at least you are still someone important and they will protect you"

"Who are those Ancestors you talk about? You speak about them like they were some kind of gods"

"Gods is perhaps a too far fetched word, I prefer to call them virtues but if it makes you understand it easier you might also refer to them as spirits, lights in a murky swamp showing the way"

"And those spirits you say watch over me and you? Even if I'm a wind dragon"

"Yes"

Cloudas snorted.

"Seeing as wind dragons of your world got wiped out I think I'll stay away from those guys thank you very much"

"We are still the ones making the decisions, the path might be set but it's up to us to read the signs and face them" the image of Brill struggling against the Taint with no magical support flashed before her eyes "Faith can do wonders"

"The only signs I need to read I can do myself from a night's sky and that part didn't fail me yet instead of some high and mighty dick who believed to know better. Thanks, but you can tell your bosses that these feathers flutter at their own pace"

Coriza nodded, straightening in her sitting position, her claws started to groom the flopped down hair covering her second eye.

"The past and the present does not look bright"

The wind drake chuckled mockingly.

"That's putting it mildly. I would call genocide and failure in more bitter words though"

"However here you are, a remedy perhaps for it all. Even the sacred need the time to understand that some rules need to be broken to finally move forward. A new solution instead of an put back together past. Things won't be the same anymore" her claw dived in between the hair, almost reverently rubbing the eye hidden beneath "It is impossible"

"You're talking to me Coriza?"

Her gold eye blazed again, he could feel its charm wrapping its tendrils around his soul once more.

"Will you stay for the tea I promised? I would like to show you something"

Cloudas swallowed nervously.

"What is it?"

She brushed the hair from her covered eye, revealing a cracking with otherworldly energy beige orb that was even more attention stealing than her already breathtaking gold eye.

"Our future"