…and when dawn came, the ooze was gone.
The thick, ominous sludge that had swallowed the crystalline river — that winding lifeline through Beqanna’s fields and forests, had vanished. The sea had devoured it, displaced it, or perhaps carried it away to some darker place along its course. Whatever force had overtaken the water and them both was now only memory. The other girl — the one who had stood beside her in eerie stillness, trapped in the same green horror as it consumed them — was gone as well. Only Claudia remained, dripping riverlight and silence. Tybalt emerges from the brush, unharmed but bristling, wings half-flared in alarm. His confusion stirs something protective in her; she lowers her head to him, voice soft and melodic.
“I am fine,” she purrs, pressing her muzzle to his cheek.
“I do not know what that was, but… it may have tweaked something in my magic.” Her words are half to him, half to herself — a musing spoken into the morning air as the little dragon circles her, scales flashing blue beneath the newborn sun.
"Well, you don’t look any different,” Tybalt remarks after a moment, his tone caught between teasing and unease. Claudia exhales slowly, her breath curling like smoke in the cool dawn. The light catches her mane, molten gold against the wet sheen of her coat, and glitters across the now-clear river. It is as if nothing had ever happened. Yet the world feels thicker, heavier. The silence hums with something unseen. She steps into the shallows, the water whispering around her ankles. The river hums softly, like a creature dreaming beneath its skin. Tybalt hovers close above her, the rhythm of his wings steady and low.
“Let’s move,” she murmurs, glancing upstream — though her gaze drifts, half wary, half entranced, toward where the ooze had once crawled. Together they slip into the fog-damp woods, the scent of moss and brine heavy in the air. Behind them, the river runs clear again…
@Fireheart
<3
The thick, ominous sludge that had swallowed the crystalline river — that winding lifeline through Beqanna’s fields and forests, had vanished. The sea had devoured it, displaced it, or perhaps carried it away to some darker place along its course. Whatever force had overtaken the water and them both was now only memory. The other girl — the one who had stood beside her in eerie stillness, trapped in the same green horror as it consumed them — was gone as well. Only Claudia remained, dripping riverlight and silence. Tybalt emerges from the brush, unharmed but bristling, wings half-flared in alarm. His confusion stirs something protective in her; she lowers her head to him, voice soft and melodic.
“I am fine,” she purrs, pressing her muzzle to his cheek.
“I do not know what that was, but… it may have tweaked something in my magic.” Her words are half to him, half to herself — a musing spoken into the morning air as the little dragon circles her, scales flashing blue beneath the newborn sun.
"Well, you don’t look any different,” Tybalt remarks after a moment, his tone caught between teasing and unease. Claudia exhales slowly, her breath curling like smoke in the cool dawn. The light catches her mane, molten gold against the wet sheen of her coat, and glitters across the now-clear river. It is as if nothing had ever happened. Yet the world feels thicker, heavier. The silence hums with something unseen. She steps into the shallows, the water whispering around her ankles. The river hums softly, like a creature dreaming beneath its skin. Tybalt hovers close above her, the rhythm of his wings steady and low.
“Let’s move,” she murmurs, glancing upstream — though her gaze drifts, half wary, half entranced, toward where the ooze had once crawled. Together they slip into the fog-damp woods, the scent of moss and brine heavy in the air. Behind them, the river runs clear again…
@Fireheart
<3