01-14-2018, 07:49 PM
White. That was all that surrounded her. With the exception of the towering spite to her back, it was all white. Endless and immense. It should’ve been disturbing, but she was more unnerved by the events that had just transpired. Being spoken to by an all-powerful being always had that effect on her it seemed, whether it was the Medla or this Omni.
Hazel moved away from the spire and slowly moved forward. She walked to where the cobble surrounding the tower turned to that unsettling white. Would she fall the moment she stepped off the stone? Would it crack under her weight like too thin ice? Would she just fall forever through a white abyss? Would she would she would she...
Hazel shook her head, driving those thoughts into the corner of her mind. If she stayed on that train of thought, she’d be standing here for hours. It’d be better to take action. She cautiously edged one foot off the stone and into the white. It held and didn’t crack or break, there was actually a floor there. Well, why not go a little further?
The first few steps were delicate, testing her weight with each foot before fully putting it down. After the floor didn’t crack or fall away, her steps grew more bold. She jumped a few times. Nothing. Huh, guess it really was solid. Well that solved the problem that had occupying her mind since arrival.
With her conundrum now solved, Hazel returned to the spire. She could’ve just stayed there. But even though she knew that it was solid, standing on seemingly nothing Gabe her the screaming heebie-jeebies. She felt safer on the black-tinged cobblestone that surrounded the spire.
The other thing that had been rolling around in her mind was about the omnilium. It’d been overshadowed by the fear of being marooned in the middle of a sea of white nothingness, but now it was brought to the forefront of her mind.
Hazel drew out a ball of omnilium, it’s spectrum of color reminding of the feathers of a rainbow dragon. She squeezed the ball slightly, watching it mold around her fingers. It was unassuming in appearance, yet anything could be summoned from this. Anything at all.
“Well, might as well give it a try”
Something simple, start with something simple. Her king flashed to a simple black hair clasp. Simple enough, right? She focused on the item, imagining every detail. She didn’t expect it to work, but lo and behold the omnilium in her hand rose up. It hovered in the air, colors flashing and shifting mesmerizingly. Then the omnilium dispersed. A single black hair clasp dropped into her hand. She turned the item over, scrutinizing it. Well then, it worked. She felt less surprised that she probably should have. Oh well, Hazel took the clasp in one hand and her unruly hair in the other.
It took a little fighting, but she managed to wrangle every last hair into the clasp. Finally. Now it wasn’t falling in their face anymore. Now, for something a bit more ambitious. She glanced down. She was her little-worn voyagers garb. Great for travel, but not what she needed at the moment. Hazel began concentrating again. Just her everyday clothes. Those should be fine.
She hadn’t noticed before, but summoning things took a while. A handful of minutes at least. The floating omnilium eventually dispersed, leaving the items in front of her. She sorted through the small pile. Good, everything was there. She shed the weather shield first. Then the long-sleeved under-layer. Her dragon-scale tunic stayed where it was. It looked like she would need all the protection she could get.
Deft hands snapped up the leather vest. She fastened the catches and instantly felt better. Her appearance didn’t matter to her in the slightest, but the familiarity made her feel more at ease. The remaining items were pulled on in turn. Leather and dragon scale bracers were fastened on, as were shin guards of the same material. She pulled on the simple belt and buckled it. Lastly came her satchel and necklace. She threw the bag it over her shoulder and paused. It was heavier than she remembered.
Hazel brought the bag up to her chest with one hand and opened it with the other. She blinked in confusion at the sight of an unknown dragon egg. The shell was icy blue in most places and deep blue in the rest. It shimmered with a faint luminescence. She’d never seen or heard of a dragon egg like this, but something about it was familiar. Where did she-
Oh.
That’s right.
Well that explained why she was dressed in her expedition garb upon arrival, at least. But it didn’t change the fact that she was stuck here with a dragon egg she didn’t know how to hatch.
She put that though out of her mind for the time being and retrieved the last item. She felt much better with her necklace in place, completing her outfit. It was comforting. But still some things were off. The catch on her locket wouldn’t budge not matter how hard she pried at it, and the dagger sheath at her waist was oddly empty.
Hazel decided to leave her shoes as they were. After all, it seemed like she’d have a lot of walking to do. She wasn’t staying here, and those gates looked very far away. Best to have shoes made for walking.
Except, maybe she didn’t have to walk. Omni did say anything, so why not a dragon? Those few minutes of summoning seemed to drag on this time as she summoned a pair of leather gloves. She pulled on the gloves the second they materialized.
Just concentrate and summon. The image of a rock dragon appeared in her head. Normally she’d pick a fire dragon as her mount, but on a flat surface like this rock dragons were fastest. A rock dragon would easily outrun even a flying fire drake in these conditions. Now she just needed to wait.
It took longer than anything else she’d summoned, but that made sense. This was a living creature, not a hairpin or a set of clothes.
And there it was. A fully grown rock dragon out of nowhere. It just...appeared like everything else. It was weird to think a living thing could be summoned as easily as something inanimate.
Hazel approached the great gray beast. It shook out its limbs and lowered into a crouch. The movement was smooth and textbook perfect. Flawless, just like the dragon that performed it. But something felt wrong.
With a whistle, she called the dragon to a full stand. Another flawless motion. Hazel frowned and stepped forward. The dragon stayed stock-still. It didn’t even twitch when she laid her hand on it’s nose. The mark of a well trained dragon.
She whistled again, a different note. The dragon snapped to attention. Head up, small wings folded, legs together, all without error. Perfect posture. Hazel looked the dragon over, inspecting it in full. Nothing out of the ordinary. A perfectly healthy rock drake. She moved on to the dragon’s head. Again, nothing was wrong. Until she reached its eyes.
Something in Hazel recoiled at the drake’s eyes. On the surface, they were fine. Physically health, no illness, no damage, no imperfections, nothing. Nothing at all. There was nothing in those eyes. No heart, no soul, no life, nothing at all. Despite the dragon being alive and breathing in front of her, those eyes were dead.
She shuddered and willed the creature away. It’s form dissipated, like the substance was being sucked from it’s body. Hazel watched in morbid fascination at the process. She couldn’t look away even though she wanted to. Then it was gone. Thank the Medla it was gone. And the sense of wrong was gone with it. Hazel breathed deeply. She wasn’t doing that ever again.
That wasn’t a dragon. To her, a dragon was a living creature with a personality and spirit. That wasn’t a dragon. That was a tool, a means to an end like a boat or a carriage. It wasn’t right. The next time a dragon stood in front of her, it would be a real one. Her unusually heavy satchel shifted as she moved, reminding Hazel of her passenger still slumbering in its shell.
Might as well see this expedition to its conclusion, even if she was the only one left. She stepped out on to the white floor, headed in no particular direction.
It’s not like she had anything better to do.
Hazel moved away from the spire and slowly moved forward. She walked to where the cobble surrounding the tower turned to that unsettling white. Would she fall the moment she stepped off the stone? Would it crack under her weight like too thin ice? Would she just fall forever through a white abyss? Would she would she would she...
Hazel shook her head, driving those thoughts into the corner of her mind. If she stayed on that train of thought, she’d be standing here for hours. It’d be better to take action. She cautiously edged one foot off the stone and into the white. It held and didn’t crack or break, there was actually a floor there. Well, why not go a little further?
The first few steps were delicate, testing her weight with each foot before fully putting it down. After the floor didn’t crack or fall away, her steps grew more bold. She jumped a few times. Nothing. Huh, guess it really was solid. Well that solved the problem that had occupying her mind since arrival.
With her conundrum now solved, Hazel returned to the spire. She could’ve just stayed there. But even though she knew that it was solid, standing on seemingly nothing Gabe her the screaming heebie-jeebies. She felt safer on the black-tinged cobblestone that surrounded the spire.
The other thing that had been rolling around in her mind was about the omnilium. It’d been overshadowed by the fear of being marooned in the middle of a sea of white nothingness, but now it was brought to the forefront of her mind.
Hazel drew out a ball of omnilium, it’s spectrum of color reminding of the feathers of a rainbow dragon. She squeezed the ball slightly, watching it mold around her fingers. It was unassuming in appearance, yet anything could be summoned from this. Anything at all.
“Well, might as well give it a try”
Something simple, start with something simple. Her king flashed to a simple black hair clasp. Simple enough, right? She focused on the item, imagining every detail. She didn’t expect it to work, but lo and behold the omnilium in her hand rose up. It hovered in the air, colors flashing and shifting mesmerizingly. Then the omnilium dispersed. A single black hair clasp dropped into her hand. She turned the item over, scrutinizing it. Well then, it worked. She felt less surprised that she probably should have. Oh well, Hazel took the clasp in one hand and her unruly hair in the other.
It took a little fighting, but she managed to wrangle every last hair into the clasp. Finally. Now it wasn’t falling in their face anymore. Now, for something a bit more ambitious. She glanced down. She was her little-worn voyagers garb. Great for travel, but not what she needed at the moment. Hazel began concentrating again. Just her everyday clothes. Those should be fine.
She hadn’t noticed before, but summoning things took a while. A handful of minutes at least. The floating omnilium eventually dispersed, leaving the items in front of her. She sorted through the small pile. Good, everything was there. She shed the weather shield first. Then the long-sleeved under-layer. Her dragon-scale tunic stayed where it was. It looked like she would need all the protection she could get.
Deft hands snapped up the leather vest. She fastened the catches and instantly felt better. Her appearance didn’t matter to her in the slightest, but the familiarity made her feel more at ease. The remaining items were pulled on in turn. Leather and dragon scale bracers were fastened on, as were shin guards of the same material. She pulled on the simple belt and buckled it. Lastly came her satchel and necklace. She threw the bag it over her shoulder and paused. It was heavier than she remembered.
Hazel brought the bag up to her chest with one hand and opened it with the other. She blinked in confusion at the sight of an unknown dragon egg. The shell was icy blue in most places and deep blue in the rest. It shimmered with a faint luminescence. She’d never seen or heard of a dragon egg like this, but something about it was familiar. Where did she-
Oh.
That’s right.
Well that explained why she was dressed in her expedition garb upon arrival, at least. But it didn’t change the fact that she was stuck here with a dragon egg she didn’t know how to hatch.
She put that though out of her mind for the time being and retrieved the last item. She felt much better with her necklace in place, completing her outfit. It was comforting. But still some things were off. The catch on her locket wouldn’t budge not matter how hard she pried at it, and the dagger sheath at her waist was oddly empty.
Hazel decided to leave her shoes as they were. After all, it seemed like she’d have a lot of walking to do. She wasn’t staying here, and those gates looked very far away. Best to have shoes made for walking.
Except, maybe she didn’t have to walk. Omni did say anything, so why not a dragon? Those few minutes of summoning seemed to drag on this time as she summoned a pair of leather gloves. She pulled on the gloves the second they materialized.
Just concentrate and summon. The image of a rock dragon appeared in her head. Normally she’d pick a fire dragon as her mount, but on a flat surface like this rock dragons were fastest. A rock dragon would easily outrun even a flying fire drake in these conditions. Now she just needed to wait.
It took longer than anything else she’d summoned, but that made sense. This was a living creature, not a hairpin or a set of clothes.
And there it was. A fully grown rock dragon out of nowhere. It just...appeared like everything else. It was weird to think a living thing could be summoned as easily as something inanimate.
Hazel approached the great gray beast. It shook out its limbs and lowered into a crouch. The movement was smooth and textbook perfect. Flawless, just like the dragon that performed it. But something felt wrong.
With a whistle, she called the dragon to a full stand. Another flawless motion. Hazel frowned and stepped forward. The dragon stayed stock-still. It didn’t even twitch when she laid her hand on it’s nose. The mark of a well trained dragon.
She whistled again, a different note. The dragon snapped to attention. Head up, small wings folded, legs together, all without error. Perfect posture. Hazel looked the dragon over, inspecting it in full. Nothing out of the ordinary. A perfectly healthy rock drake. She moved on to the dragon’s head. Again, nothing was wrong. Until she reached its eyes.
Something in Hazel recoiled at the drake’s eyes. On the surface, they were fine. Physically health, no illness, no damage, no imperfections, nothing. Nothing at all. There was nothing in those eyes. No heart, no soul, no life, nothing at all. Despite the dragon being alive and breathing in front of her, those eyes were dead.
She shuddered and willed the creature away. It’s form dissipated, like the substance was being sucked from it’s body. Hazel watched in morbid fascination at the process. She couldn’t look away even though she wanted to. Then it was gone. Thank the Medla it was gone. And the sense of wrong was gone with it. Hazel breathed deeply. She wasn’t doing that ever again.
That wasn’t a dragon. To her, a dragon was a living creature with a personality and spirit. That wasn’t a dragon. That was a tool, a means to an end like a boat or a carriage. It wasn’t right. The next time a dragon stood in front of her, it would be a real one. Her unusually heavy satchel shifted as she moved, reminding Hazel of her passenger still slumbering in its shell.
Might as well see this expedition to its conclusion, even if she was the only one left. She stepped out on to the white floor, headed in no particular direction.
It’s not like she had anything better to do.