You hear a low growl from behind you and you whirl around, startled, as you see an enormous lioness slink out of the shadows. There is something unusual about this feline, but you can't quite put your finger on it-- until you back away. She moves closer, purring deep in her throat as her brown and gold-flecked eyes stare into your soul...
Suddenly, the lioness' fur starts to ripple unnaturally...
And then she begins to separate into two beings!
The Antispirit sighs. "Well, so much for that! Inyanna's too active for me to meld with her, so I guess I'll have to resort to my spirit form.
"Hi, there. Yeah, I know, I'm real! Isn't that such a huge shocker? That's okay, though." She giggles. "Probably wondering what's going on here, huh? Well, Lady Rheala and I were pretty good friends before I died. This evil arch-wizard cast a binding spell on me and tried to drain my energy for his use... but I fixed him up real good." She tries to look innocent. She fails. "Anyhow, the Lady asked me to help her guard her new adopts, so we've converted this into a temporary nursery until they grow old enough to protect themselves from those awful goblin tribes in the Forest of Dreams. She'll probably be changing this place around to make it a lot more homey, but she's just so busy with maintaining the castle-keep, and keeping order on the Mount..." The Antispirit tsks disapprovingly. "Honestly, I don't think she's slept in days.
"Anyhow, this little sweetie-pie is Inyanna; she's a gray smoke adolescent. Her color is supposed to be the wisest kind of Cailiris. The Caliris generally a peaceful race of canine-like creatures that live in packs called sairs. The sairs can have anywhere from 5 to 20 Cailiris each; Inyanna got separated from her sair shortly before another sair invaded her sair's territory. What happened was that they went through the ritual competition to see which sair could howl longest and loudest, but Inyanna's sair lost the contest, and had to leave their territory since they couldn't find another sair nearby to invite them in. It's remarkable watching the Cailiris in their packs; they're like extended families, with an Alpha male and an Alpha female-- sometimes with two Alpha males if they're brothers. They're usually found in forests and small valleys, since they feed on rabbits, deer, and fish.
"Oh, and that lump in the nest over there is Fa'lyntz. He's red lava dragon, and his kind are very uncommon in the dragon world, so I'm surprised we got him! They only show up at special times, and considering the tragedy that was centered around now, I guess I shouldn't be so astonished. They love to fight and can only live in hot climates. They were pretty rare already since they've lived in dense forests for so long that they've lost the ability to fly. On the plus side, they've developed amazingly powerful legs that enable them to run like the wind and swim remarkably well. They come in lots of different colors, and this guy's gorgeous. He's as cute as I predicted-- easy to feed even now, since they mostly eat just fish. Anyhow, they usually only live on Crescent-Moon Island, which is this pretty large island to the far south. Recently there's been some heavy-duty overpopulation, so Rhee was nice enough to help relief that problem some." The Antispirit grins happily.
"Fa'lyntz is kind of a dud, always taking his silly naps," she winks, "but Inyanna? Gosh, she's active enough for the all the inhabitants on the Mount! She's smart, though, you can never forget that or she punishes you." She giggles again, then blushes. "Naw, I know what you're thinking. I'm not the big bad wolfie everyone believes I am-- heck, half the outside world thinks I'm a guy, can you believe that? Like, jeez, give a lady some credit, y'know? Anyhow, you'd better not let anyone else catch you here, so you should probably head back. This is a restricted area since there's not much construction finished here!" The Antispirit pats Inyanna fondly before fading into mist and settling around the hatchling to keep him warm.
Dragon's name: Fa'lyntz Tatrand | Cailiris's name: Inyanna Spiraldance | |
Dragon's color: Red with dark swirls (lava!) | Cailiris's color: Gray smoke (indicates wisdom!) | |
Dragon's gender: Male | Cailiris's gender: Female | |
Dragon's age: pre-adult, 9 moons | Cailiris's age: adult, 9 moons | |
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