Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Sun 20th Jun 2021 12:05

Fireheart's Dream

by Aurgantz Fireheart

Messilist has not succeeded in finding Serellia. He has, however, located Aurgantz. His goal is to turn him against his mother and to act as his agent on Exandria.
 
The Woodgreen Empire
An idyllic world. Ruled by forests and glades. Peaceful. Majestic mountains rise from the forests, with lofty peaks. There live the dragons, and their relations, the Dragonborn. All were Draconblood, and some could fly. One of the rulers fell in love, heedless of the warnings of those around him. They said she was strange, not of their world. He was enthralled, however, and they were together. Eventually, she became pregnant. Once the egg was laid, all of her attention became focused on it. She was cordial, but the egg was everything to her. As it neared term and its final development, she took the egg and disappeared. He pursued her. He was a powerful mage but had not realized that she was as well. She tried to stop him from following her, using lethal force. Not wanting to lose his child, and now seeing the truth that the others had tried to warn him of, he fought back.
 
Their battle raged across the planes, and she finally struck him down. Leaving him for dead and gravely wounded herself, she was able to reach a new land before collapsing. A traveler came across a Dragonborn hatchling, next to the body of its slain mother. Not believing anyone could survive such wounds, and detecting no pulse, the traveler took the child to a nearby temple and left it there.
 
Someone hidden, robed, and traveling without trace found the fallen Dragonborn. He lifted her and they vanished in a swell of mist. It took her long to heal, and long to find where her child had been left. She went to the temple for her son, but the priests, reading her heart, told her the child was no longer with them. That he had been fostered to a traveling couple, and they didn't know where they went. She left in a fury, and shortly thereafter the Temple was attacked and destroyed by Demons she had sent for vengeance.
 
Now, she searches for her son. A ritual awaits, with iron, blood, and fire.
 
Aurgantz dreams.
 
A flying viewpoint...below are ancient forests...ahead are majestic peaks above crystal-clear streams and ponds. Clear skies stretching forever. In the peaks...dragons. Vast, powerful beings. Below the peaks are their kin, the Dragonborn (all are Draconblood). Some can fly as well.
 
One of their rulers, a mage of great power.
 
He is approached by a strange female. His advisors speak in hushed tones, warning him to be wary...but he is smitten.
 
Together...time passes...storm clouds build. In a night of crashing thunder and sky-splitting surges of lightning...an egg.
{flash of a cold, dark chamber...something rising in the center...something on the floor}
 
Aurgantz awakes.
 
Her attention entirely on the egg. She draws strange sigils on the shell, explaining them as part of her culture. But she becomes distant.
{flash of chamber...water drips from far above...a rattle of iron}
 
As the hatching draws near...the storm breaks again. An empty nest. A distraught father.
 
A glimpse of her disappearing into a portal...him diving in as it closes. A desperate spell of some type.
 
A kaleidoscope...world after world...plane after plane. Her running, him pursuing. She leads him into lethal worlds, but he survives.
{flash of chamber...raised dais in the center...clinking chains}
 
They fight in a world of fire. Her to kill him. Him to rescue his son, for he is terrified of what she intends...all the warnings now breaking through to him.
 
In a final battle, each falls. Leaving him for dead, she barely manages one more portal before she falls unconscious.
 
The egg hatches. A small Dragonborn looks up at the new sky, stars glittering overhead. One seems brighter...
 
A Ravenite, waiting patiently in the darkness, watching the sky. A star brightens. Nodding, breaks camp and sets off down the road. Slowing to check landmarks, he sees a crossroad ahead. Approaching cautiously, he sees a hatchling...egg shards still scattered about. Nearby, the blasted remains of its mother in the ditch. Nobody could survive such injuries, but he checks. Finding no pulse, he takes the child...
 
...child passed to Priest wearing a symbol of the Luxom, speaking, but no words are heard...a strange hooded figure picks up the mother, fading from view...
 
...child growing up...mother in a coma...
 
...the mother, scrying and searching...arriving at the temple...
{flash of chamber...brazier of coals...brands with sigils that hurt the eye to look at}
 
...priests...wary...denying the child's presence...the mother, leaving in seething fury...the arrival of the Sisters of Pain to wipe the temple from the face of the world...
...the mother, searching...when thwarted, sometimes lashing out in rage, sending the Sisters...
{you realize you are in the chamber, manacled to the dais...slow chanting...a robed figure raises a glowing brand in one hand, a black dagger in the other...as she turns, you see the face of your mother}
 
You awaken

Continue reading...