First chapter of Catalyst. News: - This chapter is going to come out in parts. Not all of it is ready yet. Keep your eyes open. If you want me to tell you when I add some thing, just ask! - I'm going to be making audio versions of the chapters. (Thank you @Warbeling_Verio for the suggestion!) If you want to audition, check out the link below. Links: Original RP: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/29174297/ Prologue: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/509786321 Audio Auditioning: (Not shared yet) https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/515782187/ === Five nights. Five dreams. Five dragons. It was simple really. Find five dragons to take care of her children. Don’t find ones who would hurt them. She could do it. ~*~ Dream one, night one: Quietly encroaching, the hooded dragon crawled across the ground. She was stalking something. A deer perhaps. The branches barely brushed against her back as she bounded into the air. Her talons were centimeters from the hide of the animal. The world flashed white. The dragon hung there for two seconds. The next instant all was black. Completely and totally black. All except for the blue dragon who sat perfectly illuminated in the void, cloak gone. “Fr--” She leapt at the voice. She crashed onto an invisible dragon. A dark dragon, blended perfectly with the void around them. The dream vaporized. Dream one, night two: Cloaked once again, the light blue dragon wove her way through the marketplace. Vendors called out their wares. Visitors haggled their prices. Mothers called for children. The dragon, still hooded, dodged around a corner down an alleyway and all went silent. A nest stood in the middle of the alley. A lonely nest. A nest with five unique eggs. The void returned. The dragon’s cloak had vanished, and she stood alone in the center of it. “Leopard.” The voice came tentatively from everywhere. The crystalline IceWing spun around, looking for the source. “Who’s there!” “I have a job for you,” it whispered. “Leave me be.” She tried walking away but any motion was impossible to see. The voice tumbled over itself trying to answer. “I need you to protect my children.” “Why would I?” “They will fulfill the prophecy.” The dragon stopped. “But only if they are protected?” “Yes.” Everything was quiet. The dragon’s claw taps hit off nothing and made no noise. “I’ll watch them.” “Go to the deepest point of Pyrrhia, in the jungle of the RainWings, below the mountain. You’ll find them there. Go in thirteen day’s time.” “That’s it?” The dream vaporized again. Dream two, night three: It was chasing him. It was always chasing him. Branches hit against his face. His wings crashed into bushes. His talons caught on vines. It was going to get him. There was nothing he could do about it. He glanced back. Once. Twice. Nothing. Thrice. It was there. It would get him. Suddenly a cliff appeared. He went toppling over it. His wings were useless. Down, down, down he went. His voice was horse with screaming. His parents never came. His sister was nowhere to be seen. Then two thoughts hit him. The first was, “A nest is at the bottom of the ravine.” The second was, “What an odd thing to notice when you’re falling.” And then all was silent. And all was dark. And the nest was gone. “Snakeroot,” whispered a voice from all around. He spun in a circle, seeing nothing, feeling nothing, only hearing the echoes of the melodic voice. It spoke again, “Snakeroot.” “Who’s there?” he said quietly. “I’d like your help.” “With what?” He slowly sat down, his long RainWing tail wrapping around his front legs. “Protecting my children.” “I have a farm and a sister. I can’t just--” “Your sister will help you. You will keep her safe. You will help her learn.” “She knows more about dragonets than I do.” “Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps you will do more than you think.” “I--I don’t know. Maybe…” He shook his head. “Where are your dragonets?” “The deepest point. Not far from your farm.” “Who are you?” “Snakeroot, can you just trust me?” He didn’t respond. “Thank you. Go in twelve days’ time. Do not tell your sister.” “What? Why?” The response never came. The dream gently faded away as the dragon continued his desperate questions. Dream three; night four: Copper flashed through the street. A blur there. A dash here. Dragons tied up in its wake. The sky swirled oranger with every move. “You think you can get rid of me that easily?” Suddenly a room. Curtains over every window. A sheet partitioning the room. Her copper scales flashed as the speaker walked up the sheet. With a quick move she tore it away. Where was the dragon? She spun around and then back to the empty room. It was no longer a room but a jungle. A dark jungle. With a nest. A nest full of eggs. The dragon walked up to it. Her talons were inches from the eggs. A dark flash of light burst across her vision. And the dream jerked to a stop. (more below!)
(cont'd from above) Dream three, night five: Nothing could touch her. Nothing could best her. Nothing could stop her. “Dawn.” She spun around. There was nobody. Nobody in the busy street. Not a busy street. Not a street at all. She was back in the forest. The dark, tranquilizing forest. The deep, lonely forest. At her feet were the eggs. She had to protect these eggs. A dragon swept overhead. She had to protect these eggs from them. “You can do it,” the voice came again, reverberating through the trees. “You will be their protector. You will keep my children safe.” But how would she get here? “In ten days time. You will find it. You will find friends. Find the RainWing. He will lead you.” A colorful dragon darted through the trees just out of sight. Dawn watched him. “I trust you.” The dream faded away once again. Dream four, night six: Always out of reach. She climbed up another branch. The other dragon kept climbing higher. And higher. She could catch him. Her breath grew weary. The branches pulled her down. She could hear her brother calling her. He was down on the ground. She gave him only a quick glance then looked back up. The blue dragon was even higher. How could she ever get up there? How could she follow? “Starfruit.” Her branch broke and she fell. “Starfruit. Defend them. Seek them out. Chase them down.” Her head spun around. Where was the voice coming from? “Starfruit. I know you’ll do anything for them.” She landed in a nest. Five eggs lay huddled together. “Starfruit. Ask your brother. Ask Snakeroot.” Starfruit put a wing over the eggs. “Starfruit. Don’t leave them.” A figure smiled at her from the jungle around them. “Starfruit!” The voice changed to her brother’s and the dream ended. Dream five, night seven: “Useless.” “Pathetic.” “Hopeless.” Just one dragon, surrounded by voices. Berating voices. Cruel voices. Once loved voices. He curled into a tight ball. “Just leave me alone,” he murmured. The voices continued. Over and over and over the same three words. “Useless.” “Pathetic.” “Hopeless.” His left wings pressed below him, he put the right two wings over his head. “Uselessss,” it hissed in his ear. “Pathetic,” it loomed above him. “Hopeless,” it spat. “Morpho,” it washed over him like a stream in the desert. Surrounded him like furs on a winter’s night. Sang to him like the birds to their friends. Talons spread over his shoulder. Gently. “Morpho…” He stayed in his ball, safe beneath his wings. A warmth spread over his body. He opened his eyes. A light shone down around him. “Morpho. It’ll be alright.” Slowly he uncovered his head and lifted it. Behind him sat a figure. Blurry, fuzzy, sparkly. “You’ll be safe. I promise.” The figure started to fade. “Wait!” Morpho jumped to his feet. “Wait! Who are you?” The blue SilkWing scrambled after her as everything started to vanish until all that was left was nothing. Dream five, night eight: Words hissed around him. He couldn’t block them out. He couldn’t keep them at bay. But he could ignore them. He could pretend they didn’t exist. It didn’t make it not hurt, but it let him survive. He walked endlessly through the forest. On and on and on. Nobody stopped him. Nobody came after him. Just him and the words. The hisses. The murmurs he told himself were just the wind. Somewhere within them he thought he heard the voice again. The one voice he wanted to hear. He followed it. Disregarding everything else around him, he followed it. He followed it into a clearing, and everything went silent. In the center was a large nest, perfectly circular. In it sat five eggs. Morpho walked around the nest, careful not to touch it. As he came back around to where he had started, a figure appeared across from him, just on the edge of the forest. “Morpho, these are my children. I want you to teach them.” “What? Me? Teach dragonets…” Morpho shook his head and backed up. “I know you can do it. You won’t be alone. You have friends now. They will help you.” The figure waved her claws over the eggs as if she wanted to touch them. “You will be amazing.” Morpho nodded slowly. “Thank you.” She looked back down at the eggs and then turned away, disappearing into the forest. No matter how hard Morpho tried, he couldn’t get up. He couldn’t follow her. “In eight days, find the deepest point. Find my children. Teach them to survive. Teach them to be queens.” (That's all folks! Thanks for reading!)
