Time. It passed and Alduin's brother had never returned. Days turned into weeks; weeks to months; and months to years. Laera had given up hope of Ysava's return. Their mother, Annivale, had a sliver of hope left, and Alduin himself didn't care either way. After all, apparently this was his doing. His brother's leaving caused much strife within the community. The Okkovo clan was taken aback, as no member had ever deserted them before. Their renown family honor as the Family of Quaron dwindled in number and appreciation. Sure, they were one of the sole Ysali family's within the clan still, but the elders felt betrayed and baffled as to why Ysava would go off and leave one day, never to return again.
During this time, Alduin honed in on his healing tactics. He learned as much as he could about everything that he could. His healing grew immensely over the course of his life and he was now considered an Orakovan by the clan. His sister had even grown up and become a Khehorian, receiving her truest form. All of the Okkovo Clan members, once taking on the trial to receive their truest form, chose to take on the looks of a Khehora. Their draconic features continued on. Alduin hadn't ever heard of a Khehora being more Magescian in appearance. That just wasn't a viable option within that community.
As the years passed, Alduin realized that he had to test his strengths. The village was in need of dragon souls of different types. The warriors needed the Firani and Gaili orbs in order to protect themselves and power their attacks. Whereas the healers needed Peisio and Ysali souls to help empower their healing potential. The Khehora of the village would go out and collect these souls for the village elders, who kept them safe.
Alduin decided to help in the endeavor, as they were short handed. So, he left the village to go out and see what he could find. Ysali were supposedly the weaker of the dragon species, and the easiest to kill. So, he figured he would try his luck in that area.
Morning turned afternoon and not a dragon in sight on the Serenian forest. Things seemed too slow for any sort of dragon raid. The forests were beautiful, with golden leaves and lush light green grass. Though there were no dragons in sight. Alduin wondered where they had all hid.
As he walked through the forest floor, sprites of all kinds came out to play. The magical forest was filled with life that nobody would normally ever find beautiful. But these creatures lived lives as well, just like any other. Fireflies flittered as day turned into night along the forest treetops, lighting the golden leaves up with beautiful splendor. Alduin almost wished he could live free of the village at that point. Maybe this is what his brother was up to? Living amongst the creatures of the forest.
As the Khehora continued alone down the path, he finally saw something in the distance. A whip of green magic burst forth from a tree. Curious, and knowing he could be walking into a trap, he tread forward with caution. As he approached the tree, he suddenly felt the wrap of vines grip his mighty paws.
Before he could even understand what was happening, he was whisked into the air by his paws. He let out a roar of surprise and curled up, trying to cut through the vine with his claws. From the tree pounced three Ysali. They were no larger than he was, a full grown Khehora. But three versus one didn't seem fair.
They roared at him in their ancient tongue, and the Khehora could make out, mildly, what they were saying, as they had to practice the ancient dragon speech as mere Orakoi.
"Begone, Ysali. Forest. Ours." was all the Khehora could make out from their many words.
Finally, he was able to free himself and he landed safely on the forest floor once more. His eyes glowed green as he roared, vines swimming like waves on the forest floor towards his opponents. Two of the Ysali flitted away quickly, the third roared back, causing the vines to stop right in front of him.
"Away." the one Ysali said. "Kill. You." he concluded.
Alduin's eyes narrowed. He wasn't going to give up just yet; after all, his village needed him and these Ysali orbs. He roared again, causing two vines to come to his aid and burst through the forest's floor. He looked at either side where the other two Ysali had jumped off to. Nothing.
Then, with another roar, many of the surrounding fallen leaves began to pick up in a large swirling vortex around Alduin and his two vine companions. He picked up his paw and slammed it down onto the ground, hard. The leaves burst off in all directions, sharp as knives, being tossed at any and everything, cutting whatever they made their way through.
A few yelps of pain were let out, and Alduin realized he had injured all of his opponents. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw two flittering dragons making off as quickly as they could. The one that did all the talking came out from behind the tree, cuts all along his body. A quick roar and they began to heal with the green Ysali magic. "We. Leave. Next time. Kill. You." Alduin made out, and with that, the Ysali took off following his friends, leaving Alduin alone.
With that, Alduin laid on the forest floor for a while, catching his breath and trying to regain composure. His first hunt, and he had failed. Now he just had to return to the village and give them the bad news.
Reply
