FSE

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Chapter 1: On Broken Wings

The air burned..... The heat was crippling, even through her tough scales the atmosphere around her vied to sear her scales right off her body. Ash and smoke filled her lungs slowly burning her from within. Fear, anger, and the desire to live. She would live... She had to. A cyclone of wind and flames surged through her home, leaving the once beautiful village, now indistinguishable from hell itself. Mira thrust her wings, pushing every fiber of every muscle of her body past their limit. One wrong move, one mistake, and the gales would force her downwards, into the awaiting grasp of the fiery wreckage below. Skillfully, even through the burning misery, she dodged geysers of billowing flames. Against all odds, Mira was flying out of the grasp of death, but her entire body had gone numb, and she did not know how much longer she could keep her eyes open... Mira began to wheeze, flying in a condition like this was near impossible, and the power of the winds stole away any air before she could even breathe it, and then the air she was able to capture was filled with burning fumes and ash. Mira was beginning to lose consciousness along with any hope she had, but then... Mira saw a small light become visible to her, Mira thought that it might be the fumes causing her to lose her mind. But no, the fumes, the flames... they were dissipating! The edge of this fiery catastrophe was in sight! This was her final chance... With a renewed sense of hope, she gathered every ounce of power she had left in her and gave a few final thrusts of her wings until...

*PFFFFF!*...

A dark trail of smoke, fire, and fumes followed her as she breached the edge of the storm. With the lack of air and the fumes polluting her lungs, her body had taken a toll and she was rapidly losing consciousness. As Mira fell, she moved her wings slightly, causing them to catch the air and fling her body around leaving her facing the storm as she plummeted. Through blurred vision, Mira was faced with a horror beyond her imagination. Raging around her home village a ruthless storm of flame circled with an occasional streak of lightning crackling across it. "This-this wasn't happening, this wasn't possible." Mira thought. But it didn't matter, because even though she was out of the storm, it was not done yet. Mira was hurling down towards the surface and needed to land safely.

Mira fought against her body and mind, summoning every ounce of willpower in her being to remain conscious. However, try as she might her body had given out, and there was no way she would be able to muster the strength necessary to slow her fall let alone fly. So, with her last moments of consciousness, she made her decision. Mira braced her wings around her back and neck to cradle her body. Then, for a fraction of a second, as she fell, Mira saw something. Mira swore that she saw a... a symbol, floating along the edge of the storm. Mira tried to maintain her consciousness, but there was nothing she could do, and as her consciousness finally faded... *THUMP!!!*

---

"AAHHHHHHHH!!!...."

Mira screamed and jerked up as she awoke from the nightmare. Her body quivered and her mind reeled from it. Mira was breathing hard and her heart was pounding. It seemed that she would never be free from the horrors of her past. Nearly every night she was forced to relive the memory of the day she lost everything. After two years, the destruction of her village, her people... her family, was etched deeply into her. The memories plagued her mind, trapping her mind in a prison she could never escape.

Mira gave out a long sigh and closed her eyes, trying to relax herself. Once her body stopped shaking she stretched her body to relieve at least some of the tension. Mira's long limbs stretched and strained as her muscles began to relax. But a dull pain still remained, she reached her arms behind her back and felt right behind her shoulders, right where a pair of wings should have been emerging from her back. However, all she felt were two scaleless patches of hide.

On that day, in order to save her life, Mira used her wings to cushion the rest of her body, and when she hit the ground nearly every bone in her wings were shattered. When a nearby clan of feathered-kin, the Minians, arrived at the ruins of her village, they discovered her on the outer edge of the territory unconscious... but alive. Luckily, the Minians are well-versed in their medical knowledge and were able to save her life... But unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to save her wings. There was no amount of healing or even cleric magic that would have been able to save her wings.

Mira smoothed her hands across the two scars where her wings had been removed. Even now after she lost her wings, she swore that there was a dull, aching pain in her nonexistent wings. The pain came and went but when it did, it always brought a forlorn feeling, as if the pain was incessantly reminding her of everything and everyone she had lost. She brought her hand down to her side and stared blankly out into the room she was in.

The dark room was illuminated slightly through a small window in the wall. It was a peaceful morning, the dust hung in the air as a beam of light shone through the window. A slight hum of the hustle and bustle of the streets below could be heard as the morning began. Mira grabbed the sheets and threw them to the side and flung her legs off the bed. As she stood up she walked across the creaking wooden floor to a small mirror. Mira stood just over six feet tall, her lithe and strong build basked in the gleaming light shining on her elegant form. The sun radiated against her obsidian scales making them shine like fine armor. But there were areas where her scales were scarred, courtesy of the storm that destroyed her home along with the countless incursions she had faced in the past two years. Regardless of these imperfections, Mira was still proud of herself, proud to be a dragon, even if she didn't have her wings. She looked into her own eyes, her golden irises emanating strength with a fearsome gaze. From the back of her jaw, just above where her neck met her head, several black horn-like points emerged. She had two frilled ears slightly behind her eyes with their membrane running a dull gradient of dull black to a brighter red. In between her frills extended two moderately sized, magnificent ivory horns. From a young age, the Draken learned to take pride in their horns and Mira continued taking care of her horns to this day, leaving them a shining pearly white. She wore only small cloth undergarments, and extending from her clothes her strong toned limbs showed the effects of years of training and hard work. Her arms were not bulky, but clear muscles rippled across her arm. At the end of her arms, she wielded fearsome claws; sharp, long, and a similar obsidian color as her scales. Strong muscles ran down her legs, allowing for the strength that dragons needed to leap in the air in order to take flight. On the ends of her legs Mira stood on two powerful digitigrade clawed feet. From the back of her undergarment, a modest tail emerged sharing the same beautiful black scales throughout. Running along the top of her tail, a line of frills ran from where her tail emerged from her back and across to the end, sharing the same gradient red to black hue as her frilled ears.

Mira twisted her body so that her head was looking back into the mirror as her back partially faced the mirror, allowing her to see her scars. Where her wings had been removed, now only existed two darkish pink crescent-like scars of scale-less flesh. She would carry these marks for the rest of her life, she would never be able to fly again, never feel the freedom of the air singing in her ears as she soared across the sky. A twinge of sadness crept into her mind, again being forced to remember everything that had happened in her past... Mira felt stuck, nearly every night and every day the horrors of her past invaded her mind, trapping her in this endless cycle of anguish. She looked deeper into her eyes, but her eyes were not looking at the mirror, they were looking into the past.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*. Mira was taken away from her train of thought as she heard someone knocking at the door. *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*. "Yes! I'm coming", Mira said as she pushed her thoughts away. She walked towards the door and opened it, and standing at least three feet below her stood an old dwarf. His body showed the effects of time through his dirty white beard and hair, and his tell-tale massive pair of eyebrows, so large that they seemed to cover nearly his entire eye; Mira wondered how he was even able to see. "Ey lizard, if you gonna being staying another night then ya better be paying for it..." Early in Mira's travels, she discovered that many kin of the world had never seen a Draken before, and the fact that she no longer had her wings made it so that nearly all kin she encountered believed her to be a lizard-kin. Mira let out a little chuckle, she couldn't help but be amused any time she saw Andvak, the Inn's tiny little dwarf proprietor. "Yes, until I've finished what I've come to Itovara for... Will that be a problem?" Mira knew that he did not want her staying at the inn because of his fear of how his patrons would react to him accommodating a lizard.

"If you be paying the same price and if you stick to our agreement then you can have a few more days here." Mira scoffed, when she first came to the inn, she struck a deal with Andvak where he would let a 'lizard like herself' stay at the inn so long as she paid a premium and stayed in the attic, and most importantly, that she make sure none of the other patrons saw her. "Yes, the agreement stands, dwarf, I will pay the same price and will not let the patrons be alerted to my presence." With that he gave a strange-looking smile and then Mira noticed him reaching out his hands. Mira went back into the room and dug through her belongings until she found her pouch and pulled out her coin purse. She strolled back to the dwarf and emptied a significant amount of coins, just about three times the price another patron would normally pay for a room. The dwarf let out a small chuckle and he turned around hobbling down the hallway and descended down a flight of stairs. When he was gone, Mira looked back into her pouch. She was running low on coin with the hefty price she paid for the room. While she was fully capable of handling herself without such a room, it was a pleasant reprieve from the weeks of travel without such comfort. Regardless... Whether she continued to stay at the inn during her time in Itovara, she needed to get more coin.

Mira did not think her time in Itovara would be long, she only planned to search the city's library even though she doubted there would be anything there that would help her. For almost two years, Mira had been traveling the imperium, searching... Every city, every village, every outpost... anywhere. Mira vowed that she would not stop until she figured out what happened on that apocalyptic day when her village was wiped from the face of the world. What was it? Was it the gods releasing their wrath upon her clan? Was it some natural disaster? No... she didn't think so, when she escaped she swore that she remembered seeing something along the edge of the storm, some sort of symbol. Mira vowed to the Gods and her ancestors she would find out, for it was her only remaining purpose in this world.

But, to Mira's dismay, city after city, village after village, searching countless libraries, reading scrolls and books... She was enraged and crestfallen... There was nothing, no one had ever heard of such a thing, those that would even dare talk to her in the first place knew nothing of the storm. There were no books, scrolls, or stories of any sort that provided her with any insight into the catastrophe. During her search, Mira also tried to look into ancient texts and languages of other kin of the world, trying to look for any sort of text or symbols that looked akin to the symbol she believed to have seen the day of the storm. However, something Mira discovered was strange... When Mira pictured the symbol in her mind and then tried to illustrate the symbol, what happened baffled her. No matter how hard Mira tried, every time she went to illustrate the symbol, it was as if the memory of it vanished from her mind. She deemed that she must have gone crazy when she lost consciousness and that the memory was some sort of strange delusion and gave up researching anything on the symbol.

After recollecting all of these thoughts, Mira shook her head and looked up, realizing that she had zoned out for quite some time contemplating everything. Searching for answers would have to wait, she determined, she needed to find a way to make coin. However, Mira had to operate very carefully when making coin. Accepting the wrong job, or getting caught doing something illegal, would lead to her being marked as a fugitive. With the additional fact that Mira was a Laminian--a scaled kin--the chance of her being marked as a fugitive was much more likely. Mira could not afford to be marked, because when someone is marked within the imperium, it is likely a death sentence. The imperium had a vast network of 'Watchful Eyes', constructed magical artifacts, identical to a very large eye, which were placed across the cities of the Imperium. These eyes had the ability to identify criminals and alert guards to the whereabouts of the criminal. However, when a kin becomes marked, it also leads to the creation of a bounty on them, and the Imperium has no end to the number of bounty hunters within it, and they will stop at nothing to find and capture or kill the target.

For this very reason, Mira found that the smartest way for her to make coin was going after bounties herself. Mira possessed an expert fighting ability, as a Draken and as the daughter of the clan's chieftain; Mira was trained fiercely in the art of combat. Even to this day, Mira trained herself daily, making sure to maintain her impressive physique and incomparable fighting skills. However, even with Mira's supreme combat capabilities, she realized quickly that the world she lived in housed dangers she was not prepared for. Once, when Mira was going after a bounty, she was faced with an individual who wielded magic that she did not know existed within the world. This kin was able to materialize items seemingly out of thin air. During a confrontation with this kin, Mira was almost impaled by a crossbow bolt as she was totally caught off guard when the target in one moment held nothing, and in the next fired a bolt straight at Mira's heart. Unfortunately for her opponent, Mira had been trained expertly in body and mind providing her with lightning-quick reflexes. The bounty was left open and unprepared for a killing blow from Mira. After this, Mira had discovered that the kin was not materializing these items himself, but pulling them from some sort of enchanted item sack which had a larger interior than its size could allow. Mira was glad to have found such an item and happily claimed it from her victim and has used it ever since.

Magic was a well-known power within the world, flowing within all beings and giving each kin a special affinity towards a specific element of magic. For example, the Draken had a special affinity towards metal-weaving and flame-conjuring. Metal-weaving was the Draken's ability to morph and mold molten metal through magic, in ways that nearly no other kin could. This provided the Draken with unique tools, structures, statues, and other impressive artifacts. Flame-conjuring was another magic the Draken had an affinity towards, allowing them to summon flames and manipulate them. Some even learned to conjure and project flames from their mouths, calling back to the legends of the true dragons of old who could breathe fire.

Even though each kin of the world had a special affinity towards different elements of magic, no magic was out of reach for any kin of the world. Certain species merely had a stronger affinity to certain magical elements, allowing them to learn, and master them with much more ease than other kin. As a Draken, Mira naturally had an affinity towards metal-weaving and flame conjuring and had experimented with the use of such magic as a whelp. However, as the daughter of the chieftain, metal-weaving was not something she was to be taught, as it would give her little aid in being a leader or fighting. For the art of flame-conjuring, Mira had several lessons but still lacked control over the magic that was necessary to use it safely. But Mira was unable to complete her training with such magic once her village and people were destroyed.

During Mira's travels, researching libraries and countless texts as well as fighting, she realized that there was an unimaginable amount of things within the world she had no idea of. This scared Mira... but it also excited her, she was mystified by the world even if it was cruel and unforgiving. Mira was determined to survive, and thankfully she was trained by her father and other advisors to be a truly unmatched warrior.

Aside from Mira's gifted fighting capabilities, there was one other factor that led to her supremacy when fighting. Mira walked across the room and opened up a simple wooden wardrobe that only contained two things. A dingy, but still decent armor set, but then most importantly, resting against the inside of the wardrobe laid a long silver staff. To practically anyone, the staff would look like nothing more than a strange rod of fine metal with decorative engravings. She reached into the wardrobe and brought it closer. She marveled over the beauty of the engravings across the metal, ranging from draconic phrases that circled the circumference of the staff in some areas, to etchings of symbols and even some depictions of Draken of the past. These etchings were undoubtedly weaved into the metal through magic, as such etchings would be impossible to embed within metal without magic.

Mira lowered the staff slightly and closed her eyes and brought an image into her mind. She imagined an image of a fearsome battle-ax, and as the image of this ax became clearer and clearer in her mind, the staff began to react. All of a sudden Mira felt heat radiating off of the staff and soon enough she felt the metal moving within her grasp. The metal moved as if it was liquid, growing and morphing its shape until eventually Mira was no longer holding a mere staff. Instead, she was wielding a battle-ax identical to the one she had imagined in her mind. As she looked at the newly formed weapon, the engravings that had been adorned on the staff were still there decorating the weapon.

Mira always marveled at the magic of this weapon. It was the legacy of her father and of her ancestors, composed of the purest dragon steel and crafted by the most skilled metal-weavers, and then imbued with magic of old. After the destruction of her home, and after she had recovered from its aftermath. She returned to search for survivors but was met with a horrific sight. The beautiful village once teaming with life, beautiful draconic structures, and beautiful scarlet trees that ran throughout the village... they were all gone. All that was left was an ash-barren landscape. When Mira arrived, her mind went numb and she fell to the ground as her claws pushed deep into the dust and ash. Tears began to flow like a river as she saw everything she cherished gone. With these feelings within her, she threw her head toward the sky and let a draconic roar of anger and despair that ripped across the mountain. As Mira roared, she felt a feeling of rage, anger, and loss unlike anything she could ever imagine... But as she roared, a strange feeling welled up in her chest, it was a feeling of misery, but the intensity was indescribable. Her entire body strained even as she continued roaring towards the heavens and the feeling began to concentrate in her chest. It was like molten lava had been poured on her chest and the pain, both physical and mental, was unbearable. With a final screech of her roar, she released her pain.

A bright light flickered from Mira's chest, and a mere moment later, Mira's anger erupted... A tidal wave of flames erupted around Mira. The explosion caused a literal shockwave to spread around her which was followed by a flurry of flames erupting from Mira's form with an unbridled fury. The wave of the initial eruption ravaged across the landscape as the crackling noise of flames combined with Mira's ear-shattering wail to create a symphony of horror. Even though this only lasted for a few moments, for Mira... it lasted an eternity. Time seemed to slow to a stop as the feelings ravaged her mind and soul. Eventually her body couldn't continue on and the flames recede and her roar subsided, leaving Mira to fall onto her claws while she let out another torrent of tears.

Mira did not know how long she stayed there, she had lost her sense of time as her mind had eventually gone numb leading her to stare unseeingly off into the distance. Mira closed her eyes, and tried to imagine that this was all a dream, that this was all some cruel nightmare and she would wake up to the sight of her home and everything she loved. But when she opened her eyes, all she saw was an ash-barren wasteland and the aftermath of her explosive outrage. Mira felt empty, it was as if her soul had been drained, leaving only a lifeless shell of herself behind.

Day had turned to night, and the temperatures dropped causing Mira's scales to tighten and her body to shiver. Mira didn't feel like moving, she would lie there and let the cold and misery consume her to free her from this nightmare... Mira sprawled her shivering form on the ground and stared out blankly across her stretched out arm, and then she closed her eyes slowly. Mira wished that she could cry, but she no longer had any more tears to give.

As the night went on the temperatures dropped further, and Mira began to violently shiver from the cold. But she didn't care, she didn't even feel it. The pain that had ravaged her soul left her numb to anything else, and all she wished for now was for this all to end. But then...

"...Mira..."

Mira's eyes shot open and she hoisted herself onto her arms, ignoring the stiff ache of her freezing limbs. "FATHER!" She screamed, "FATHER!", she got up and began to stride as quickly as possible towards where she heard her fathers voice from. Mira was in a literal craze, that was her father's voice and she knew it. "FATHER!" She screamed desperately. She began to breathe heavily and she tried to scream again but she was running out of energy... After a few moments, Mira saw something in the distance... a faint glow of red. She didn't know what it was but it was something and she doubled her efforts once she saw it.

As she trudged on, Mira kept trying to yell for her father but her screams had been reduced to desperate gasps. Moving forward Mira noticed a faint glow coming form under a pile of burnt rubble. Once Mira saw this, she gathered all the strength she had and once she made it to the pile of rubble she began ripping the pieces away desperately. "Father!", she said in a raspy voice. Mira was grunting and growling, driven b y disparity and slightly by insanity she heaved the final piece of rubble away leaving a cloud of ash and dust in its wake. As the ash and dust settled Mira looked down, Her eyes widened and she fell to her knees and she slowly reached out her claws towards the source of the glowing light. It was her fathers weapon... his legacy, their legacy. As Mira looked at it, the glow seemed to pulse, like the rhythm of a beating heart. And when she touched it the light grew stronger and Mira felt a power flood her body and soul. Immediately Mira felt life return to her. The aches, the fatigue, the freezing, it was all wiped away. And as she felt this strange magic flow through her, she felt something more. She felt... She felt like there was more to this magic, as if it were alive. Slowly tears began to run down her scaled cheek again, and she grasped the staff tighly and brought it to her head, "I am so sorry" she whispered to it. And a voice in her head replied, but it was not her fathers. Instead, she heare the collective voice of all of her people, they spoke not with words but with something else Mira couldn't explain. And the glowing of the staff glowed even brighteras the voiceless chorus of their souls reached out to her. Slowly the weapon's pulsing glow faded, and along with it the voices of her people. But she knew... Mira knew that they were not gone.

With her strength restored from the power of the magic, and her willpower and hope restored by her people, Mira stood up and made her vow. Mira vowed to avenge her people, to search to the ends of the world and further to do so. But she wouldn't be alone, she may only be one person, but she carried with her the hope and legacy of her people.

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End of Chapter 1

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I had so much writing this I can't even describe it. I will without a doubt continue this story and already have a good deal more written, it just needs proof-reading and such. If you have made it this far I cannot describe how thankful I am for letting me share this story with you.