5 years earlier
Turtle fidgeted anxiously with the amulet, reading over his notes repeatedly. The scroll was coated in various wordings for his spell, and it was torn and scrunched in more places than it wasn't. He couldn't stop thinking about Qibli's huge request; making him an animus. He had done it once before to his sister, Anemone, but that hadn't turned out too well in the end. He wanted to help Qibili, he really did. However, this time, he was going to do it right.
After several more minutes of scrutinization, he settled on one wording which sounded right. He somewhat glared at the delicate ammonite shell that adorned the necklace. His heart felt sickly and wrong at the thought of making yet another animus, and the risk to himself, but he felt as though if he didn't do this he'd just be screwing up again, like always. He took a shaky breath and squoze his eyes shut, furrowing his brow deeply.
Cautiously he whispered, "Enchant this amulet to make the wearer an Animus, but prevent them from casting spells on themselves or any mind-control spells on other dragons," he paused, wondering if he should give his creation a name, like the Dreamvisitors, and added, "And to let the wearer know it is called the Shellfire Amulet."
He smiled briefly, knowing Qibli would approve of the name and slowly, he opened his eyes to look at the amulet. It still sat calmly clenched between his talons, just like a boring little necklace should. He let out his breath and slumped backwards onto the edge of his sleeping hollow, his mind a flurry of thoughts. Turtle let his talons fall to his sides, the necklace gliding cooly in his palm.
His eyes perked slightly as he got an idea and looping a talon under the cord, he dangled the amulet in front of his face. In his woozy anxious state he said, "Enchant this amulet to be as strong as dragon bones."
Still, it swayed back and forth slightly, not at all threatening like an incredibly powerful talisman.
Tucking the amulet in his pouch, tensing for a second as his healing stone bumbled over it, but relaxing again in light of his previous spell, he let his eyes roll shut.
However, suddenly the floor shook mildly with furious talons marching straight towards Turtle's cave. His eyes flew open and he leapt into the corner of the room near the door, pressing himself into a tiny ball. The thunderous talonsteps grew louder and more gyrating until Darkstalker's snout was thrust through the doorway. His face was set in scowl and he surveyed the seemingly empty room. Even with his protecting talisman keeping him hidden from Darkstalker, Turtle clamped his talons around his snout in an effort to control his breathing. Darkstalker yanked his head back out with a snort and began mumbling angrily about Anemone as he stomped back down the hall, most likely to the underground lake.
After several seconds, Turtle took his talons off his snout and scooted away from the corner, tentatively poking his head out the door and scanning the halls. They were empty and quiet. Even the usual bustle of students was absent as today's classes had been cancelled for the recent unusual activity at the school
After some time, he managed to mostly calm down, and shook himself. Turtle started to head out of his cave and down to the lake when Darkstalker, strangely silent, whisked past him. Turtle stopped short and blinked a couple times in surprise before peeking around the doorway to see where he went. He saw Darkstalker's tail disappear into the main cave and a series of fading wingbeats a few seconds later. Turtle continued down the hall to the lake, trying to calm himself with the fact that he wouldn't have to deal with Darkstalker's being there at the lake.
Halfway down the hall, he heard someone hissing his name. Peril had tucked herself into some unfortunate student's cave and a few scrolls sat smoldering. Turtle hurried in and stamped them firmly. Peril let out an exasperated breath.
"What are you doing?" Turtle hissed irritatedly.
"Nothing!" Peril snapped.
She turned her head away and mumbled to herself about stupid scrolls rolling under her talons.
He softened and hesitated several times before saying, "I- I enchanted an amulet."
Peril's eye that was facing him swiveled to look at him.
"Good for you." she snorted, looking him up and down suspiciously.
"No." he grunted, mentally cuffing himself for not being more descriptive, "I enchanted it to make whoever wears it animus."
Peril's head cocked towards him in surprise.
He swallowed nervously and said, "For Qibli."
"Qibli?" she said, finally raising her head to look at him properly.
Her eyes widened slightly and then softened with amusement and she said, "So that was your spell that had Darkstalker all riled up."
"Uh yeah." he said nervously, shifting his talons.
She stared at him in mild disbelief for a second before snorting and said, "Didn't that cause you a heap of trouble last time?"
"I gave it boundaries." Turtle snapped, "You can't mind control other dragons and you can't put invincibility spells on yourself."
"But you can conjure weapons, send knives after dragons, poison entire tribes, and basically any other horrible thing they can think up?" Peril said mockingly, numbering the items off on her talons.
"Alright, alright." Turtle said quickly, waving a dismissive talon at her.
He yanked the amulet out of his pouch and, while making direct eye contact with Peril the whole time, he intoned, "Enchant this amulet to prevent the wearer from casting spells to poison other dragons with magic or send weapons to kill them."
He huffed and said matter-of-factly, "There."
"I don't know." Peril said finally, scratching her neck thoughtfully.
Turtle took a deep breath and said, "It'll be fine. This is Qibli we're talking about."
"I suppose." she said with a shrug.
Glancing into the hall, Turtle said, "I'd better go wait for him to get back."
"Alright." Peril said, suddenly leaping up.
"I'll go see if Clay wants to go hunting!" she said excitedly, bumbling past Turtle into the corridor as he scrambled out of her way.
Turtle shook his head absently and slunk back to the cave, his stomach sinking further with every step.
The hours wore on and the sun began to set, and Qibli still hadn't returned to their cave. Turtle was trembling at this point, his mind whirling with all the possibilities. Qibli could snap and go haywire like Albatross. He could join Darkstalker and wipe out the whole world. He could make more animuses.
Turtle's eyes widened at his last thought, and he quickly enchanted the amulet to disallow that. He felt a tad better, but his talons still trembled profusely.
For a brief moment, he could've sworn he heard wingbeats and talons touching down on cool stone from the main cave, but dismissed it as his anxieties getting the better of him. One of his wings twitched rather violently and knocked some scrolls off a desk. Turtle leapt up and began fussing over the scrolls, trying to roll them back up and such, whilst the amulet swung wildly from his wrist. He didn't notice a dragon slipping into his cave.
"Turtle!" Qibli said enthusiastically.
Turtle squeaked and fumbled with the amulet, trying to shove it in his pouch.
"Turtle?" Qibli said again.
Turtle finally stuffed the amulet away in his pouch and whirled to face Qibli as he stammered, "What? Yes, hi. Hello."
"Okay. Totally not weird at all." Qibli snorted dismissively, striding past Turtle to rifle under his sleeping ledge.
"Any uh, any luck?" Turtle tried, almost stuttering.
"Nah. Thorn just bickered on and on about how I need my education and it's a golden opportunity blah blah blah." Qibli trailed, leaning down to reach an arm under the ledge.
"Shame." he sighed.
Turtle cocked his head to try to see what Qibli was grabbing for.
"I saw Darkstalker leave." he said.
"Oh?" Turtle tried to say cooly.
"Looked pretty pissed." he noted.
"Doesn't he uh, always look like that?" Turtle chuckled nervously.
Qibli finally pulled a musty scroll out from under his ledge and blew it off, sending a cloud of dust spiraling to the floor.
"Not that pissed." Qibli said, still examining the scroll.
"Oh." Turtle said absently, his heart starting to race more.
"Anyhow," Qibli said, "I'm going to write Thorn a very strongly worded letter about why I should be a general."
"Alright." Turtle nodded.
"You keep doing whatever weird and totally not suspicious thing you were doing." Qibli droned.
"Oh. Oh uh, yeah." Turtle stammered, clearing his throat as he shuffled over to the pile of scrolls.
"Right." Qibli said absently before leaving the cave.
Turtle guessed by his talonsteps that he was heading to the library, and, not knowing where else to go, he whisked out of the cave towards the underground lake.
When he arrived, Anemone was splashing around ferociously, batting waves at Pike who sat dutifully on a spire, whilst Tamarin sat at the water's edge, smiling at the sound of Anemone's laughter. Turtle waded into a shallow corner of the lake, away from Anemone, to try to collect his thoughts. He flattened himself on the bottom of the lake and closed his eyes, his gills flaring rhythmically.
He wasn't sure what he would do now. He could destroy the amulet with magic, just as he'd created it, but that didn't feel right. However, somehow neither did giving it to Qibli. Turtle's mind went silent for a few seconds except for his emotions raging inside of him. He tried to quiet his brain further and focus on the gentle lapping of the water on the shore and the current swelling around him. A wave of anxiety unexpectedly washed over him at the thought of accidentally falling asleep down here, causing his eyes to flicker open momentarily. He shifted his position and settled back down.
Turtle felt a stronger shock ripple through the water nearby. His eyes opened and he swiveled his head in the direction of the ripples just in time to see Anemone's tail leave the water. He cocked his head involuntarily just as Anemone crashed down on top of him.
Yelping out a cascade of bubbles, he wriggled out from underneath Anemone's talons and clawed his way to a more shallow patch of water that only rose to his elbows. Anemone launched herself again and came splashing down next to him.
"What are you doing?" he asked nervously.
"Playing, seaweed brain." she sneered, ducking her head and batting a talonful of water at him.
He turned his head so the water smacked into his neck and shook himeslf.
"Why'd you try to smother me?" he hissed.
Anemone's smile faltered and she whined, "You're no fun either!"
She hesitated briefly before her expression flickered slightly and she twisted to glare at Pike.
"PIKE." she barked, causing Pike to flinch and face her on his spire.
"You good for nothing worm go find me some fish or something." she growled.
He nodded submissively and slipped off the spire, paddling to the shore where he got out and trotted down the corridor.
"Now you-" she started, swivelling back to Turtle.
"Anemone." Tamarin called quietly, instantly gaining Anemone's attention.
Turtle let out his breath involuntarily. Tamarin bobbed her head, calling Anemone over, and she floundered over to the shore to see what Tamarin wanted to show her. The two started whispering excitedly and Turtle slipped away to a pool of water hidden behind a spire. He sat down, the water only coming halfway up his torso, and took out the amulet. His eyes bored holes into it as he stared at it glistening in his palms. He almost felt angry at the little shell, for the power it contained; the power he put in it. His talons curled slightly as his thoughts flared.
Such a perfect little round boring shell. Perfect little red stripes and perfectly smooth sides. Why did I have to pick such a perfect shell. Kinkajou would've loved-
His thoughts cut off instantly as Anemone squealed, "OOH. IS THAT TREASURE? LEMME SEE."
Turtle's blood ran cold and he froze as Anemone bound over to his hiding spot, sending huge splashes of water in all directions. She smashed into him, throwing him on his back and under the water. One talon closed tightly around the shell as Anemone tried to pry it out. Turtle writhed and kicked Anemone off, winding her, and he scrambled away onto a spire. He sat panting, and before he could turn to look, he heard Anemone inhale loudly and then wingbeats. She crashed into him again, talons grabbing at his arms, and sent them hurling back into the water. Turtle's reflexes kicked in and he released his talons to catch himself in the water, the amulet sailing a few feet away. Anemone pummeled him deeper into the water, clawing at his talons as he strained to swim after the amulet. In a flash, when Anemone's wings lifted from his view, he saw the amulet get sucked down the river.
His scales flared brightly in aquatic as he simultaneously screamed, "NO!"
In his sudden anger, Turtle forced Anemone off and kicked her further down as he swam furiously towards the river's mouth. He had a talon outstretched towards the rushing entrance, and he slammed his shoulder into the cave wall as he thrust his talon into the tunnel. He groped around desperately for several seconds before Anemone roughly hauled him out of the water and pinned him on the shore.
He was vaguely aware of Anemone prodding him but all he could do was blink in shock and mutter about the necklace.
"Ooh, a necklace?" Anemone cooed.
"The amulet!" He suddenly cried out, straining against Anemone.
Anemone pinned him firmly, and in his sudden urgency, he surprisingly forced her off and shoved her aside.
Anemone shifted, realising what happened, and snorted, "Good work genius."
"That- that was.. It can't-" Turtle muttered in disbelief, chest heaving.
Anemone seemed to sense his shock and softened slightly.
"Was it.. really that important?" she asked, a hint of snark still lingering in her voice.
"Yes!" He snapped instantly, his face curling in snarl.
He turned to her with newfound rage, trembling, and growled deeply, "Do you have any idea what you've done?"