Click to see art So uhm... It's kind cringe but I needed to post my entry lol here. The currents of the Sunken Canopy did not care for tears, but they carried them away just the same. Deep within the brackish mangroves where the SeaWings blurred into the LeafWings, Papyrus drifted. They didn't swim with powerful tail-strokes, nor did they cling to branches with sharp talons. They just floated, looking so much like water-logged vegetation that marsh herons sailed right past them. To the enclave, Papyrus was a ghost. They had no deadly poison and no glowing bioluminescent stripes to speak the deep-sea language. In a world that demanded hybrids be twice as fierce to survive, the elders—led by the stubborn, scarred LeafWing, Python—treated Papyrus like an old cardigan left under someone's bed. Discarded. Leaking fresh water. A mouth to feed.They thought Papyrus was empty because they were quiet. But Siren had known better. Siren was a sleek, ocean-blue SeaWing whose stripes pulsed with vibrant life. While the rest of the enclave ignored Papyrus, Siren used to seek them out. They had spent a whole summer running wild through the shallows, changing locations like changing clothes, sharing secrets under the dappled light. Siren had given Papyrus a sense of worth. But as they grew older, the pressure of the enclave weighed on Siren. To fit in, she started putting o a front. She began walking on pins and needles, pretending she didn't know the strange, useless hybrid. "You’re doing it again," a sharp voice hissed from above. Siren dropped from a mangrove root into the shallow water. Her glowing stripes pulsed with an agitated, defensive light. Papyrus didn't blink, letting the tide sway them. “Doing what?” "Disappearing," Siren said, her dark eyes scanning the water.She looked around nervously, making sure no other dragons were watching them. "Python is talking about exile again. He says a dragon who can’t fly or hold a spear is nothing. You have to do something, Papyrus. Stop letting them treat you like dirt." Papyrus looked up through the thick canopy. "The roots tell me the autumn storms are coming early," they murmured. "But no one asks the weeds for advice." Siren let out a frustrated breath, turning her back. "Because advice doesn't catch fish, Papyrus. I can't keep defending you if you won't even try." She swam away, leaving them alone in the shadows. It hurt, but Papyrus knew the truth. Siren was playing political games with the enclave, trying to protect her own status, stepping on Papyrus's feelings to do it. I knew you, Papyrus thought bitterly watching her go. The storm did not arrive with a warning growl; it struck like a falling mountain. By midnight, a flash flood cascaded from the mountains, turning the river into a roaring, mud-choked monster. The hybrid enclave, built in the upper canopy, was ripped apart. Massive mangrove trunks snapped like twigs. Even the strongest SeaWing swimmers were being battered against the rocks by the furious cross-currents. Through the terrifying chaos, Papyrus moved. They did not fight the current. They read the water, feeling the pressure changes against their scales, letting the violent rushing water take them at a precise angle. To the panicked enclave, it looked like Papyrus was being swept to their doom. Then, Papyrus saw Siren. She was trapped.. A falling branch had pinned her wing against a submerged root system, and the roaring water was rising past her chin. Her SeaWing instincts were failing against the suffocating debris. Python and the other elders were too busy saving themselves, fleeing to the distant reef, completely abandoning her. Papyrus knew the water. And they knew Siren. Papyrus drifted through a gauntlet of crushing logs, slipping into the pocket of calm water right behind Siren’s trapped wing. "Papyrus?" Siren gasped, her eyes wide with terror as she swallowed brine. "Get out of here! You'll drown!" Papyrus didn't answer. They wedged themselves under the heavy log. They didn't have the brute strength of a LeafWing, but they knew the physics of the tide. Waiting for the swell of the next massive wave, Papyrus gave a perfectly timed nudge. The water did the heavy lifting, shifting the log. "Pull!" Papyrus hissed. Siren wrenched her wing free. But as she escaped, the shifting log rolled violently backward, pinned by a sudden, vicious counter-current. It slammed directly into Papyrus’s side with a sickening crunch, dragging them down into the black, churning belly of the floodwaters. When the world finally stopped roaring, the silence was absolute. The storm had passed, leaving behind a morning of brilliant, heartbreaking blue sky. On a sandbar far out at the edge of the reef, the surviving enclave gathered. They were bruised, battered, and humbled. Python stood on the newly reshaped shore, his proud posture gone. "The weeds knew when the sky would break," the old warrior whispered. "I didn't listen."
But Siren wasn't listening to Python. She was sprinting toward a shallow tide pool, her heart hammering. There, floating in a few inches of crystal-clear water, was Papyrus. They were terribly still, their body bruised and bent at an odd, lopsided angle. They would survive, but the freedom of the sky and the deep currents were gone forever; they would never be able to truly swim or fly again. They were bound to this shallow spot now. Siren collapsed into the mud, her talons hovering over them, tears washing clean tracks through the dried mud on her face. "Papyrus... please. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Papyrus’s eyes drifted open, reflecting the warm sun. A soft, weary smile tugged at the corners of their mouth. "The water is very nice today," they whispered. Python and the rest of the enclave approached slowly, looking down at the hybrid they had dismissed as a useless child. They looked at Papyrus with a newfound, heavy reverence. Python lowered his head. "From this day on, this shallow belongs to you, Papyrus. We will bring the forest to you." The elders stepped back, giving them space, finally realizing how much they had underestimated the quiet dragon. Siren stayed by the edge of the pool, gently resting her talon near Papyrus's. The political games of the enclave didn't matter anymore. The social hierarchy was gone. Looking at Papyrus, she realized they had understood the world better than any of them ever did. And as Papyrus looked back at her, the bitterness melted away slightly. Siren had left them, had cast them aside to fit in with the crowd—but in the end, when it mattered most, she had stayed by their side... But that didn't fix things. But at least they were here... Even if they were broken... Song: Cardigan by Taylor Swift Art: Me/@TeaIsBetterThanCofee on my hand and procreate Design: @Urchinstar Program: Google Docs, Obsidian, and Procreate Backstory: Me and a tad bit of my brother's ideas A quick note from me - I know you said you would've liked cinematic art pieces but I was so focused on the backstory I forgot : sib: anyways, they are really fun to draw and I had several other doodles but I don't think they are really worth showing... Plus he a goof ball in those or I tried to hard to make him serene lol.
