Dark mirror: Chronicles

[Nohiki]

OOC: OK, i always wanted to do a book-like thing, so here goes If you lot like the story i might open this to a RP at some point, before that, feel free to comment right here. As for today, a character dump (yes, making characters is the best part, ain't it? Hopefully i didn't give out anything important. Two of the characterrs you already know, one's new Oh an yeah, this happens some 30 years prior to the main RP.
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Nickname: Tara
Full name:
- Dragon: Taraah'Jormund daras Nihelbet'Vrahdrap
- Human: Taraah the snake, daughter of Nihelbet the death claw
Race: Fire dragon
Gender: Female
Class: Renegade
Age: 29
Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJLXfje3Ejw

Overview:
Tara comes from a long line of fire clan warriors. She never knew her father since her mother was not of those who wanted to find a lifetime partner. Her mother Nihelbet is a member of the Fire fortress guard and a veteran of the first war. Tara's youth was filled with military training, as it was the only thing her mother could give her. Nihelbet tried to raise Tara to be a noble warrior, however she grew up to be a bully, often taking on weaker hatchlings, albeit in greater numbers at once. Despite focusing on physical training, she is moderately skilled in magic and not completely stupid.

Most of the fire dragons consider the guard of the Fire fortress to be the best of the best, but Tara turned down the chance to join them because she loves battle, and the guard hardly ever gets in one. After her Trial of strength (the ritual undertaken by the young to prove themselves as warriors), she instead joined the military, but was kicked out very quickly for insubordination. Having trouble with all authorities, she quickly became a renegade within the clan. If not for her skills, she would have surely been exiled. However, she is good in one thing, and that is doing dirty stuff that the clan leaders cannot be connected with, so they are forced to tolerate her presence.

Passive skills:
Child soldier: Being trained in a military manner from her early days, Tara is very strong for her mass and gender. She can also suffer many more injuries and still be capable of defending herself than other dragons.
Renegade: Tara is skilled in fighting alone and surviving on her own.
Rage: Hating mostly everyone and everything, Tara can use her anger to drive her in the battle. -2 to spell costs, -10 to ultimate.
Active skills:
[Ranged] Fireline(5):Tara summons a line of fire to burn her opponent.
[Aerial] Firebomb(10): Generating a fireball, Tara can destroy a target from above.
[Assassination] Impale(Physical): Tara is very dangerous up close. Her strength and sharp claws allow her to stab others with her bare hands, spreading her claws and tearing her hand back out, causing severe injuries to all major organs.
[Ultimate] Raging inferno(35): Very powerful attack. Tara summons several fireballs and lava streams that decimate the targets.
[Super ultimate] Blazing fury(110): Sometimes, Tara's ultimate can get out of hand, when she feels really energized and angry. This ticking bomb can only be matched by a forest fire in the degree of heat and intensity of flames that suddenly fill a very large area around the dragoness. In extreme cases, Tara can set off volcanic activity in the area.

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Nickname: Rex
Full name:
- Dragon: Terexes'Furtun-Khar
- Human: Terexes the chosen of the storm
Race: Energy dragon
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue
Age: 22
Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tg4vRRF08g

Appearance: zilowar.deviantart.com/art/Almost-Feel-the-Static-108631862?q=boost%3Apopular%20bolt%20dragon&qo=7

Personality: A sneaky person, Terexes is a thief with every cell of his body because of his struggle to survive. He is a professional lier and is a suspect in stealing the treasure of several of the clan's leaders. He has passion for shiny and expensive things like jewels. He is popular with females, up to the point when he is recognized or successfuly steals all their precious posessions. In battle he is careful, picking off targets weaker than he is, though in numerically fair match, he can often surprise a foe with his agility.

History: Terexes is an energy-fire bastard child. Rex's egg was stolen from the Fire fortress by his father, a thief as well. Terexes' father's life ended unfamously shortly after Terexes hatched by the claws of his fire dragon mother, but his she was fought off before she could take the hatchling with her. As such, Rex grew up as an orphan, fending for himself. He was aided by a thief handbook and a diary inherited from his father. From this, he learned how to steal anything and everything. Initially he was getting caught, but he never stayed in prison for long, and eventually, practice MADE perfect. His lifetime's goals are finding his mother and his father's treasure.

Passive skills:
Magical endurance: Practicing his magic to aid him back in his thief days, Terexes has increased mana pool. (+20 mana)
Pickpocket: Rex is able to steal virtually anything, as long as he is strong enough to carry it.
Active skills:
[Speed] Shock(5): Rex moves incredibly fast, able to either travel large distance instantaneously in several jumps, or move around an opponent in battle with extreme speed.
[Ranged] Zap(15): Terexes summons a lightning from the sky to strike at his foe.
[Ultimate] Static field(20 per bolt): By generating a charge on his skin, bolts shoot out of Rex towards everyone in 15 meter radius.

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Nickname: Scar
Full name:
- Dragon: Meridir Murrn
- Human: Shining Moon
Race: Ice dragon
Gender: Male
Class: Soldier(Magical)
Age: 37
Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RK6OGNMCY

Appearance: ironshod.deviantart.com/art/Snow-dragon-105867706?q=boost%3Apopular%20snow%20dragon&qo=0

Personality: A cold minded military strategist who got stuck on low rank because his family wasn't of the most popular. He knows he is way more able to take command than the current head of his unit, and that caused him to go freelance. He preffers to avoid a fight, either with stealth or having somebody else fight for him. In private, he is friendly and likes to pla games challenging mind, never truly able to get free from his job.

History: His life was that of a typical ice dragon before becoming a freelance - he had to choose bethween studying and military, and chose the latter. His training made his magic very strong, and although his physical condition is not perfect, he can hold his ground in hand to hand combat. His true power, however, lies in his mind. Scar can find all advantages on a batlefield, deploy his soldiers and then just sit back and have the battle win itself. After leaving the clan, he is taking all jobs that require a good head and focus only an ice dragon can achieve.

Passive skills:
Military training: Magic capabilities greatly increased. (+50 mana)
Active skills:
[Defense] Ice armor(50): Self explanatory.
[Ranged] Longshot(15): Murrn shoots a long range ice projectile. Can have various tips - blunt, pointed, shattering...
[AoE] Frost nova(35): Sends out a freezing wave around his body, slowing or disabling enemies. Cannot cause death.
[Melee] Freezing touch(5): By touching bare skin, Scar freezes scales of another dragon together, preventing the foe from moving.
[Ultimate] Nuvae rog(75): Stronger version of Frost nova, with greater range. Can freeze a dragon to death.

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Nickname: Betty
Full name:
- Dragon: Nihelbet'Vrahdrap
- Human: Nihelbet the deathclaw
Race: Fire dragon
Gender: Female
Class: Palace guard
Age: 563
Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnykIpoPrrA

Appearance: alecan.deviantart.com/art/Fire-fire-fire-105858551?q=boost%3Apopular%20fire%20dragon&qo=6

Personality: Nihelbet is every bit a true fire dragon, an angry warrior with high sense for pride and honor. She will obey higher authority, but will respect it only if this respect is deserved. Betty is a bit of a loner, never able to find a lifetime's partner. Over the years, she spawned over two dozens of dragons, but the fathers rarely got to see their children growing, that is, if they didn't make Betty angry enough to outright kill them.

History: Nihelbet's childhood was filled with military training, as expected in a military family with tradition since the world was seeded with life. She fought in the first war and advanced in ranks quickly. However, she eventually grew too old for the job, and was reassigned to a high position within the fire fortress guard. She keeps some contact with her children, but only to a degree of meeting them on special occasions, like birthdays or ceremonies. After passing the age of 500, this changed. One of her children was kept away from her, which saddened her deeply and sent her into depression. Her last child, Tara, also didn't turn out perfectly, although she seen herself most in her. Sometime after Tara was born, she started suffering from symptoms of old age, despite having at least one more century ahead of her before any of those were scheduled to arrive. She fell ill shortly after and has been diagnosed with previously unencountered disease.

Passive skills:
With age comes wisdom: Nihelbet benefits from experience in various fields gathered over her long life.
Pathogen: Nihelbet is struggling with an unknown disease that tampers with her magic. (-75 mana)
Active skills:
[Ranged] Firebreath(2): Nihelbet bathes an opponent in fire.
[Ranged] Jet flame(7): Stornger, longer ranged Firebreath.
[Support] Induction(various): By blasting a fire dragon with her attack, she can transfer part of her energy to her companion.
[Ultimate] Nova(all remaining): Nihelbet envelops herself in high concentration fire, releasing it in an expanding bubble. The farther you are, the less hot it gets.

[Nohiki]

OOC: OK, let's start :-P Praise appreciated, criticism required wanted

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"Hmph!" a silent sound echoed through a dark, moist room. The only light was provided by several candles lit in a large circle. Inside stood a black and orange dragoness. "Hiya!" she let out another battle cry, as her clawed hand went forwards and above a candle, extinguishing the flame, and sinking the room deeper into darkness. Another huff sound could be heard as her tail swiped over three more candles. Shortly after, her obsidian black claws sliced through the last candle, extinguishing the final flame and the room went dark.

With an audible whoosh, the candles came back to life. The dragoness picked up the damaged candle, heated it up a little and put it back together. Her warm-up was complete. She walked to another part of the room, where candles were replaced with torches. She stood in the middle and closed her eyes. Whoosh. A torch ignited behind her. She quickly kicked back her hind leg. The torch promptly went dark. Another two lit up, one on each of her flanks. She whipped her tail and stood on hind legs. she twisted her right arm to cover and punched over the torch with her other arm, instantly repeating the same for the other torch. After than, multiple torches started coming to life in chain. The dragoness proceeded to extinguish them as quickly as she could, giving out punches to all sides, with some tail swipes to boot.

Eventually, all of the torches lit up at the same time. The exercise was over. Steam was filling the room as her sweat was evaporating on her skin, the fire dragoness heating the air in the room to a level where any other breed would burn it's lungs. She was breathing deeply, tired, but satisfied with her performance. "Good job." she heard the overseer compliment her. She stretched her wings and neck and walked out of the circle. "How many?" she asked. The overseer smiled. "I lost count at 49, then you went too fast, but you held up a full minute after. It is not a record, but i dare to say that you are the youngest one to this time to aproach it this much." he reported, but received a punch to the shoulder. "Then what good are you? Go get glasses and next time send somebody competent!" the dragoness growled and left, her angry, fast steps echoing through the halls.

She stopped at the lounge. The smell of dried meat made her stomach fall to the floor, but she was too tired to go hunting at this time. Her claws were nervously tapping the cobble stone floor as she waited for a young kitchen assistant to pass a bowl to her. She snatched it from his paws, the jerky nearly flying out. The dragoness turned around and without a thank you left the room, heading for stairs in the northmost tower.

The door creaked and slammed shut. Her legs barely carried her to a layer of bear furs on the cold floor that served her as bed. She fell down, lying on her back, with her wings fully unfolded. Unlike most dragons, she found this position very comfortable for sleep. She put a piece of meat in her mouth and gave it a few bites before she swallowed. The dried meat felt like scratching her throat. She put the bowl aside with disgust, heading for a water trough alongside another wall. She took several long gulps of the cold water, feeling somehow refreshed. As she turned around, she noticed a dark figure against the opening in a wall used for takeoff. She barely noted the visitor, as her scales were only slightly darker than the night sky behind her. "Beating yourself up again, daughter?" the figure spoke. "Mother. To what do i owe this visit? Are you not well?" the dragoness said with a hint of care in her voice. The dark figure came into the room. She snapped her claws and a single torch in the room blinked to life. "This is about as much as i can do now." the black dragoness sighed, "but that is not why i came. Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" the mother asked. The daughter looked out into the night for a few seconds before she shrugged, admitting she had no idea. The black dragoness sighed. "It is your birthday, Tara." Tara froze where she stood. She completely forgot. "Well, too late to make plans i guess." she hissed. "Why do you do this, daughter? Look at you!" Nihelbet said, an angry tone in her voice. "You are a fine young lady, why do you keep everyone away?" Tara's claws dug into the stone floor. "I am not in the mood for this conversation right now, mother. The males are all the same, they want my body, not me!" she growled in low voice. The black dragoness shook her head: "And can you blame them for not liking you for who you are? Look at you! You are a glass of acid. Open up a litt-" a wing flap cut her off. "Not. Now." Tara growled. "I am getting old, Tara, and sick too. I lost too may of my children. To war, to psychotic males... I just want you to be happy. Because clearly, you are not." Tara softened up at those words. She knew of mother's disease for some time now, but every time she imagined she wouldn't be there, this empty pit suddenly appeared in her chest, wanting her to implode on herself. She turned around to face her mother. "I'll try. I promise. But i gotta go wash up now." she said, noticing the salt from the streams of sweat starting to form a second skin on her. She walked up to the open wall, taking a deep breath for takeoff. Then she turned and ran back in. "Take care mommy." she said, resting her head on Nihelbet's shoulder. "I will, go. You... stink." her mother smiled. Tara returned the smile and jumped back, vanishing in the night.

The wind felt great. The chilling breeze seemed to wash Tara's fatigue away. She enjoyed gliding. Not flying, just spreading her wings, jumping off a high cliff and then letting the thermal streams to keep her in the air without any effort. Flying took too much effort. She could only wish her wings were slightly bigger to carry her a little bit farther, since her body was well trained, and thusly heavy. She landed near the hot springs and looked around for a pool she could pickle herself in. She found one neighboring a lava stream and decided it was perfect. There were little bubbles of vapor forming around the floor of the pool, indicating the water was at her favorite temperature.

She nearly slithered in, completely exhausted. The dragoness popped her head above the surface to take a deep breath and dove back in, scratching her head plates carefully to remove everything that wasn't supposed to be there. Once again drawing breath, she rolled back on her back, unfolded wings stabilizing her. Arching her head backwards, she exhaled and blown off all dust on the pool's edge, then laid her head on the cleaned spot, letting the nearly boiling water clean her scales and relax her tensed muscles. She rid her mind of any thoughts, mentally cheating time for herself. Whenever she had nothing to do, her time perception slowed down, and right now, she wanted nothing more than to lie in the water for all eternity.

Half an hour later, Tara rolled on her stomach and slowly got out of the pool, shaking herself and then making the remaining water evaporate. She begun her walk back to the tower. Finding nothing worth hunting down or investigating in any of the other, boring ways, she got up to her room and curled into a ball on her rugs, sleeping like a log in few moments.

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OOC: END exposition tiem xD Let'S get plot serious! *shot*

[saphira]

nice i love it already

[Nohiki]

OOC: Update

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A day has gone by just like the day before. Nobody noticed. She wasn't sure anyone even knew. Still, she was thirty today. And it was giving her the creeps how fast it came. She spent the day alone, like always, but this was a day she would spend alone even if she had any real friend. Her birthday was the only day in the year when she would do what she wanted.

As soon as the sunrise woke her up, she jumped off the tower, flying where ever her wings took her. When her wings got tires, she landed and started running. She wanted to go away. From duties, from people, from everyone and everything. She just wanted to be alone and enjoy the world. Did she ever leave her clan's territory on any other occasion than a mission? Not really.

She was running uphill, to one of her favorite spots in their land. Suddenly, the hill ended. She swung her hind legs behind and leaped forward, diving into the volcano's crater. She was approaching the lava pool on the bottom rapidly. A whoosh cut through the air as her wings unfolded, and the rising stream of hot air above the lava pool slammed into them. In few seconds, she shot out of the volcano at amazing speed. Arching back, she steered away from the stream and went into glide, her back against the ground. She was observing the struggling flora in the volley between the volcanoes. Every now and then, the forests would get burned or covered in ash, yet still they prevailed and stubbornly continued to survive. It strangely reminded her of herself. Only 30 years old, and she already had more death dodges than many others ever will. She was fairly certain she was on first name terms with death itself.

Turning back, Tara headed back to the fire fortress. cursing her small wings again for not carrying her longer, she landed on a clearing and started walking home. She froze on the spot as she heard a terrible roar. It wasn't a dragon roar, the sound was undoubtedly feline. She looked behind her and went pummeling to the ground, as a giant paw with protracted claws hit her face. She struggled to her feet, her head banging. Survival instinct kicking in, she flapped her wings. She heard jaws snap shut right below her neck. She looked down and saw it. A cave lion. The most wanted, most feared and rarest hunt prey in this part of the island. And it was there only for her. And now that i lost it's moment of surprise, she would gladly tackle the challenger on his terms.

She landed further away. The giant cat and she were on one of the rare places where grass grew in fire clan territory, making the lion's hair color camouflage useless, giving her another advantage. How could she not notice the big lump of meat and land right in front of it she couldn't explain. But she couldn't bother with that now. The big cat realized now what was going on and was rapidly closing in on her. Tara braced herself, wings ready. When the lion was at a body length's distance, she did a massive flap and swiped her claws as the surprised animal ran under her. She roared back at it as she spun in a tail swipe, hitting it's side. Not stopping, she slashed the lion two more times with her hands. The lion tried to do the same, but she stood on hind legs and avoided the claws. what she didn't expect was the lion pouncing from below and giving her a deadly hug. It's momentum made them fall over and she was now under the lion. a sharp pain went through her leg as the lion's claws torn a long gash into it. She had to move. With another roar, she let out a line of fire from her mouth, straight into the lions face. It's long mane caught on fire and the cat stumbled away, barrel rolling to extinguish the fire.

She took her chance and didn't get up immediately, instead breathing one more jet of fire on the animal. Then she spun along her body axis, getting to her feet and immediately falling over, her injured leg failing to sustain her weight. The lion had burns on it's skin, but it was already charging her again. The sheer amount of damage that animal could sink amazed her. She saw the claw flying against her face again. She swirled her body, her front part shooting into the air. She used her healthy hand to block the attack and grasped the lion paw, pushing as hard as she could. Her claws sunk in, and she heard the bones snap. The lion roared in pain and turned on it's back, slashing from below. Another gash appeared on Tara's throat, fortunately not deep enough to threaten her life. She let go of the paw and as she fell down, she aimed her hand at the fallen lion's head. Her claws hit the spot and dug into the lion's eyes. The animal went berserker, it's paws flailing around. One of them hit, sending Tara flying aside. With the last of her strength she got up again and went for the killing blow. she jumped and sunk her teeth into the lion's throat.

"Dear lord, what happened to your face? Wait is that...?!" the gate guard babbled as Tara dragged the massive cat towards the gate. "It's my birthday and apparently nobody made cake, so i caught myself a treat." she mouthed off. She dragged the lion to her room and set it near the open wall. Then she went to the water trough and took a handful of water, splashing it on her face. She looked into the mirror that hung over it. There were three gashes on her faceplate, where the lion hit her. She wanted to ran her fingers over it, but her injured leg refused to cooperate. Instead, she noticed her horns were starting to curve downwards at their end. "Big, useless horns, small wings. Why?" she cursed and left the room to get her wounds checked up. The wounds hurt, but she didn't mind, because tonight'S dinner will be so worth it.

[Nohiki]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkMRxL8xqHI

"Aaaaaah! The burning!" Tara yelped. The resident earth dragon rolled his eyes. "Are you done with the theatrics?" he barked at Tara, who was lying on the floor with the most bored face ever while he tended to her wounds, and treating her leg was taking forever. "Just put some cloth on it or something..." she complained. "Sure, and in a week's time, i'll cut away what the maggots leave of the leg!" the earth dragon said, starting to sew the gashes. The fire dragoness banged her head against the floor a few times. "OH and, today i won't take silver, i'll have the liver of that lion you brought, thank youuuu..." the medic said. "You're a damn pirate." Tara barked back.

She was limping through the nearly empty halls. the damned doctor from hell nearly put a splint on her leg to support her weight. The leg hurt more at just the thought of ascending the stairs to her room, but despite that, it was still preferable to flying. She took a rest near a large hall and overheard a conversation.

"...ptain hasn't shown up in a while. Word is her age finally caught up with her."
"Nonsense! She is at half-lifespan. She simply doesn't have what it takes! One of us should take over the guard!"
"You're right. Ol' Betty should maybe retire and, i dunno, tend to her brat!"
"I hear ye. Snake is one hell of a bit-"
"Garm?"

The three other dragons looked at Garm. He was simply standing there, sentence unfinished in the middle. Suddenly a noise came from his torso, like if swords were drawn. His pupils shrank and blood came out of the corners of his mouth. Then he simply collapsed. Behind him stood Tara, angered beyond reason. Garm's blood was dripping from her razor sharp claws. She roared wildly. "Noone takes my mother to their filthy trap!" she yelled and jumped forward, swiping with her healthy hand. another of the dragon's head dropped on the floor, separated from his neck. She went after the last dragon, punching all life out of him before he could react. In a few seconds five guards entered the room, trying to restrain her. They went flying in random directions. "Call for reinforcements! she's becoming unstable-" one of them started. "STOP!" cut Nihelbet's voice through the hall. She looked around and realized the full extent of the situation. Worse, Tara did as well.

The hammer hit the pedestal. "Taraah, you are hereby stripped of your clan name, rank and membership. You have commited the high crime of murder. In any other instance, you would be sentenced to death. However, as you were defending your family's honor, the court's decision is this: You are sentenced to exile!" The clan alpha said, and Tara's jaw dropped a little. This was worse then a firing squad. She shut her jaws and inhaled, her eyes narrowing. "You are to leave our territory except the areas for public by midnight. All your possessions are confiscated."

Tara stood at a peak of the nearest mountain, looking at the fire fortress. On her 30th birthday, she was exiled for a provoked attack. She sworn an oath that they didn't see the last of her. "For no law can keep me away from my home, and from caring for my ill mother. Nothing." Her eyes watering with unshed tears, she turned around on her hind legs and took off, heading anywhere that was not here.

She was unfortunate to catch one of the very few rainy days in the land. Everywhere around, lightning was striking the ground. Fortunately they took away her armor, or she would be burnt by now. she quickly headed towards the ground, taking refuge in a nearby crater. She folded her wings to eliminate heat loss. She was so cold and hungry, her injured leg hurt. She had to make it to a shelter. Seeing a cave several hundred meters ahead, she started walking in that direction.

Days later, she was still walking in the endless desert east of her former home. She was surviving on insect and small animals, but the food could see her from miles away. She lost the strength to fly two days ago, and it was a long time since she drank her last drops of water. Dropping, she thought the end has come. Then she felt a chilling breeze against her skin. "She's still alive." were the last words she heard, before everything went dark.