This is the final re-edited chapter. Hopefully it seems a bit better now compared to the old one. Now that that's been taken care of, I can focus on the next couple of chapters (6-9), which will probably be uploaded in the next couple of days.
Chapter 2: The Circle of the Crystalwing
"..." Ryuu remained deathly quiet as he once again let his mind wander, about the Shadowspine Curse, the Nest, the Brood Dawn-everything that he had read up until then. Ryuu would often find himself lost in his own thoughts when he was on his own and wasn't training.
The obvious downside to falling into that kind of state is that one becomes less aware of their surroundings: specifically, footsteps and the fuming ravings of a sister-figure.
One day I'll find out the truth-"Yeow!" Ryuu yelled out as he suddenly found himself being yanked by the ear. "Not the ear, Tanis! Not the ear!"
The source of Ryuu's sudden pain dropped her firm grasp on Ryuu's ear and huffed angrily. Ryuu looked up sheepishly as Tanis, his adoptive sister glared rusty daggers down at him for maximum effect. Her fiery, flowing red hair seemed to flare up into the air like feisty whips ready to strike a captive animal as Ryuu cowered, knowing what would come next.
"Where the hell have you been!?" Tanis bellowed at her troublesome brother-figure, her earsplitting outcry echoing through the cavernous halls of Crescent Reach, waking up the last few of the slumbering guards and citizens and alerting one peculiar librarian...
Ryuu clung to the tome possessively and glanced up at her. He decided he would try and wiggle his way out this mess by playing the 'cute innocent little brother' card. Ryuu commenced his plan by sniffling slightly. "B-but Tanis!" Ryuu whined in a soft voice. "I just wanted to read the story of the Circle and our city again!"
Tanis's angry visage relaxed a bit as Ryuu shed crocodile tears. She knew that he was telling the truth (he loved reading those books of Hemfar's), but still, she had a duty of Big Sister to carry out! Ryuu's final verdict: guilty as charged.
Ryuu cried out as Tanis slammed her fist against his head; he fell back and yelled out, clutching the top of his snowy white head which now sported a very contrasting red bruise. "Idiot!"
Ryuu blinked in surprise as he saw the warrior had visibly calmed down. "Alright, alright, I get it," she spoke calmly before trusting an accusing finger in Ryuu's face. "I'll let you finish reading, but then I'm marching your sorry ass straight back to Hemfar's!"
Ryuu puckered his cheeks and patted the ground next to him. Tanis rolled her eyes but sat down beside Ryuu, back against cold stone as she read with her brother about the next segment of the history tome: the recusant dragons of the Circle, the formation of their half-dragon Drakkin race, and the birth of their city Crescent Reach.
The reaction to the outbreak of the Shadowspine Curse was immediate.
Even as the Norrathians spread out across the northlands like maggots on flesh and the dragons fled deep into their secluded mountains, and with the Nest and Brood Dawn in ruin, the dragons convened on what course of action they might take next. They would surely have to be cautious, for the very future of dragonkind was in jeopardy; another false step could prove cataclysmic for their race.
Amongst the flurry and panicked discussion of the dragon elders, a group of younger dragons-a generation with entirely different ideals-stepped forward to propose an ingenious yet radical plan to secure Veeshan's bloodline on their world of Norrath: the six dragons proposed to their elders and peers that they imbue humans with dragon blood, bestowing upon them draconian magic and abilities, and creating a new half-human, half-dragon race of guardians of Veeshan's bloodline.
The elders mocked and belittled their plan almost immediately after it was brought up. Tirranun, the lava dragon especially, denigrated it. However, the six dragons were not perturbed, and continued to advocate their plan to the younger generations of still surviving dragons.
In what the elders viewed as swift justice (while the six dragons and their sympathizers viewed it as arrogant spite), the six dragons were banished for continuing to spread the heresy of their plan. However, even this didn't completely distress the band of wayward dragons: being banished meant that the elders couldn't stop them from carrying out their plan.
Atathus, the Red Lord and self-proclaimed leader of the exiled dragons, led the group far to the southwest into the Serpent Spine mountains until they discovered a massive hollow which held the remains of a ruined city: the ruins of Nokk to be precise, which used to be an ogre city before the fall of the Rallosian Empire (again, another story for another time).
Content that they had stumbled across the location where they would foster their new race of half-human half-dragon hybrids, the group, now dubbing themselves the Circle of the Crystalwing, flew off for the nearest human city, Freeport.
Disguised in human forms, the dragons began their quest to search for suitable specimens to infuse their blood to. Some of the dragons were able to convince people to willingly give themselves up to the dragon's plans, persuading them into believing what occurred at the Nest by the hands of Norrathians was unjust. The less honorable dragons merely kidnapped their chosen humans, often against their will.
Once all of the subjects were chosen, the dragons began the meticulous process of fusing their blood into each of their bodies by swiping a single drop across each human's cheek. The humans lost their sense of self slowly as the blood and the magic within it rushed through their veins; their memories became locked away one chain at a time as their humans selves faded into obscurity over the course of several months...and their drakkin forms slowly emerged.
When the newly reborn drakkin truly awoke, they took notice of their changes: they had grown slightly taller, and patches of tough scales not covered portions of their body; horns protruded out from their faces in delicate places, their hair changed color and texture, and their canines also became slightly more prominent-the dragon blood had worked its course in creating these hybrids.
But the most distinguishable feature was the tattoos they now sported all across their bodies, of many varying designs: six different colors, representing the six different dragons of the Circle and the 'children' that bore their colored markings.
The children of Atathus the Red Lord, leader of the Circle of the Crystalwing, were adorned with fiery red tattoos of varying intricacy.
The children of Draton'ra, Master of the Void, were born with dreadfully black markings.
The children of Keikolin, the Enlightened dragon, were born with shiny golden markings.
The children of Mysaphar, Seeker of All, were born with milky white markings.
The children of Osh'vir, the Windspirit, were born with murky blue markings.
And the children of Venesh, the Greenblood, were born with mossy green markings.
The dragons departed Freeport and returned to the abandoned ogre city with the umans that were imbued with their blood first, while the rest began a spiritual migration into the Serpent Spine mountains and towards their new home.
As more and more drakkin siblings appeared every day, the new hybrid race set to work restoring the decrepit ruins of Nokk into what was now called Crescent Reach, the Drakkin City.
Only now have the drakkin learned of their divine purpose, to protect and defend the bloodline of Veeshan with their lives.
"One more time!" Ryuu exclaimed as he flipped the pages of the dusty tome back to the first page, eliciting another bop on the head from Tanis. "What did I say before!?"
"Ah, Tanis! You found that rapscallion! My thanks to you! " A thrilled voice rang out through the halls. Tanis drug Ryuu to his feet as Hemfar approached with an indignant look on his face. His modest librarian tunic fluttering with each step, and his hair fluffed up in a feminine manner, Hemfar...didn't look like your average librarian, to say the least.
The incensed scholar rushed Ryuu, snatching the tome out of his hands with a quick yet tender and loving hold, making sure that none of the pages fell from their bindings as Ryuu had before.
"Oh, poor tome, I hope the knowledge that you hold hasn't been violated in any way, Daddy's got you, Daddy's got you, there, there little one..." Hemfar cooed to the book as if it were his only child, making the scene very awkward to watch from Tanis's and Ryuu's point of view.
"Um, Hemfar..."
"Umph!" Hemfar glared at Ryuu and held the tome against his chest possessively. "I'll deal with you later!" And with that, the teed off librarian stomped off back to his sanctitude of scholarly love.
Ryuu chuckled nervously, feeling as if he had just dodged a bullet, although e knew Heshyrr would most likely hear about it later. "Whew...close one..."
"If only you knew, Little Ryuu..." Tanis whispered, causing Ryuu to tense up considerably.
"Er...I'm sorry...?"
"Wrong answer!"
And with that, Tanis grabbed Ryuu by the ear yet again and dragged him back home to get him properly changed. "Not the ear! Not the ear!" Ryuu wailed as Tanis complained under her breath about having to be responsible over immature brats.
Today's gonna be a long day...