Forum Thread

Itsu woke to a horrible smell in the air. That was the first sign. Fox urine...great. Usually she could trust the foxes indoors, her powerful magic kept them from...claiming the room. Something must be off, as all three of the foxes had sprayed everywhere. With an irritated grunt,she ushered the foxes out. Somehow, only Vix listened to her, the other two took some persuading. What was going on?

Upon encouraging the trio out, she heard Vix grunt and run off, as if chasing something. She looked back at Itsu, as if wanting the dragon to follow her. Itsu groaned. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She absolutely hated it when her precious rest time was ruined, but it wasn't like any dragon could fall asleep with the pungent odor filling the room. "Alright fox, I'm coming." She muttered, following the little creature.

---

●∘◦❀ Pitaya ❀◦∘●
At the first crack of sound, Pitaya was launched violently from his bed as he sprung to his feet looking around wildly. Despite feeling the ground rumbling and quaking under his sensitive feet, Mother Earth did not whisper to him, blessedly absent as the noises continued to rage and thunder. Slowly, almost as if he wasn't expecting it to work, Pitaya tapped the ground before him. Nothing. He saw nothing. No fuzzy grey outlines, no flashes of too much information, nothing. It was simply dark

Crumpling, Pitaya tapped the ground a few more times just to confirm before desperately sweeping the ground before him with his hands to make sure that there really wasn't anything infront of him and that he was well and truely blind. Silent tears tracked down his cheeks and his broad shoulders trembled, an almost sickeningly sweet purfume flooding his small area of the dorm.

He couldn't see

---

❅───✧❅ Lyn ❅✧───❅
The spirits were quiet tonight. Almost too quiet

Lyn stood in the shadows of Amber dorm, willowy frame concealed by the angles and darkness. The lightning that sparked across his body was eerily absent and while his feet no longer smoked with snuffed out wills, these did not sit will with him. Every so often, his eyes would crackle before dying back down as he gazed out the window. It felt odd to be alone in the quiet without the damned murmuring secrets to him, without electricity crackling through his limbs. His flock was naturally nocturnal and could go almost a week without sleep before it became a necessity yet Lyn had always been kept awake by the dead. But tonight they were silent, not a word passing between the peacefully buried and the cursed. It almost felt too empty, Lyn's ears ringing in the silence of absence. Yes he was worried, but he knew that even if this was to be permanent, he wouldn't be affected. If anything he could leave the Academy earlier and rejoin the flock and learn to serve. After all, abilities didn't define one's position in The Stormchaser Flock, skill did.

Another crack of sound drew Lyn's gaze towards the window as he peered out the frosted glass. He couldn't quite see what was making the noise but it wasn't a storm even if it sounded like one, that much Lyn knew. He didn't need any powers to tell either, intuition honed from years of stormchasing and watching teaching him what a real storm was like. And this wasn't it. If anything, it was the consequences of a dastardly deed

---

Halu woke up to an ear-splitting sound of glass shattering. He had just gotten himself to fall asleep after the long day, and now he woke up again, his ears ringing. He winced against the terrible noise and decided to get out of bed. Something felt… off. He had to find out what. Quietly slithering out of bed, he noticed that the others in his dorm had been awoken as well. It was frustrating, to say the least. There was an absence of something inside him, like something had broken with the sound and now he was missing one of his pieces. He had rarely ever tried this before, but he closed his eyes and tried to summon a storm on purpose. He had to test his theory. He concentrated and willed his inner thoughts into the air, trying to cause the clouds to form and the rain to fall, but when he opened his eyes, nothing happened. There was no storm, no sound of rain echoing against the roof. He was right. He knew he should have been concerned or at least a little scared that his powers were gone, but he felt a surge of joy overtake him in the moment. He was free. No more storms. No more accidents.

Then a realization struck him. If his storm power was gone… did that mean his power over water was gone as well? If he could no longer swim in the water, to breathe and take in its depths… he didn’t know what he would do. He could live without the storms, but without his home? He began to tremble. If this really was true, if he could no longer breathe and live underwater, where would he live? He couldn’t live on the ground forever. He loved the water. Where would he be without it? Panic began seeping into his brain, jumbling his thoughts. What was going to happen to him now that his powers had disappeared? He had to find out why they were gone. Maybe he could fix it.

---

Solstice felt a jolt and she shot upright in bed. It took her a moment to realize what had woken her up. A huge, shattering crash rang in her ears and she flinched, only just registering the sound. It was strangely dark in the dorm. Usually, Solstice’s light dimmed at night but it was still visible. Now, however, it was like someone had turned off the lights entirely. They weren’t emitting any sort of light, and they felt something still within them, like… Solstice glanced at the plants on the desk beside their bed, just barely visible in the darkness. They were dead. Solstice stared at them in shock. The plants she had been keeping alive for years were dead. No, this couldn’t be happening, it was impossible! Then that meant…

Solstice began to cry. They couldn’t help it. They didn’t care if all the other dragons in their dorm could hear them. If their plants couldn’t be kept alive by them anymore, did that mean their healing powers were gone? How could they help people now? If she couldn’t save them… she wouldn’t be able to live with herself. Her light was gone. Her magic was dying. What was going on??

---

Illusionist awoke due to a strange feeling. He had been restfully sleeping after that hectic day, hopeful for what tomorrow would bring, and rather curious. He expected to sleep the whole night, for, contrary to what his dark appearance may lead one to assume, Illusionist was no night owl. He enjoyed the beauty of sleep, the visions that it brought, the illusions that sparked color into his mind, turning his memories and daydreams into nighttime fantasy.

Something had yanked him from that paradise, though. This feeling. It was almost...empty. He lifted his head and checked his dresser. Nope, it didn't seem as if his toys had gone missing. It was almost like he could sense their presence. Yet still, he felt something was missing. Something that had been a part of him, like his fins or wings...as if it had disappeared overnight...escaped, walked away. It had slipped under his nose...but what was it?

His powers.

He decided to try the easiest one: Shadow surfing. He leaped into the nearest shadow, trying to melt into it like he loved to do. However, other than the natural camouflage of his black scales, nothing interesting happened. Now Illusionist was not a frequent user of his magic abilities. Two of them he'd never known a use for, and the Shadow surfing was really something he only used for fun. He was no malicious dragon. Yet, something felt off now that his powers no longer worked. Something had been stolen from him unfairly, and he did not take kindly to that. But what could have caused it?

He had a sudden thought and ran out of the dorm in a rush. This would be against the rules laid out during the ceremony, but he had a suspicion.

---

Itsu had not the slightest idea where Vix was taking her. If her taming powers no longer were working as they were supposed to, the only reason Vix lent a single one of her pointy ears was because of the bond they already shared. Vix, unlike Domino and Eclipse, actually knew and responded to her own name, as Itsu had had the red fox since the beginning, a hunting partner, and a guardian, of sorts. It was almost as if their souls were linked, or so it felt. Itsu trusted Vix for this reason, and followed her. It seemed the little canine critter was after something.

After a while of chasing the fox, Itsu felt something...off. Where exactly was her companion taking her? She had a sense of deja vu, as if this was triggering something she'd heard earlier the day before. Was she off for the...off limits zone?

The crystal of power!

Itsu ran faster. Vix was a clever fox! Of course, that could be the only explanation for this empty feeling. The only reason her foxes had started to act up. Her aura had been stolen! She snorted a huff of flame in pure anger. Luckily, her fire making organs were not affected by magic, rather the chemicals in her body, though it might be hard to manipulate without her powers. Whoever had infiltrated the protected room of the crystal must be persecuted! Anyone who stole her foxes from her was in for a piece of her mind!

---

•---•» ꜰʀᴏꜱᴛ «•---•
꒷꒦✧꒷︶︶︶꒷︶︶꒷︶✧︶꒷꒦

Frost's weariness started to fade away, but it was replaced by the abnormal heat she was feeling. It was the first time in her life that a sweat drop fell from her head and a dizzy feeling almost made her stumble on her feet.

She wobbly walked away from Araceli and left the Opal dorm to wait outside, hoping the cool night air could cool her down a little. She ended up sitting under a big tree, almost falling asleep again.

She felt a tingling feeling her powers were weakening slightly. And the only thing that could've caused that. Her eyes widened at the possibility. There was no way.

Using any energy left in her wings, she flew towards the Amber dorms where Lyn was staying. If she was going to see the gems, she's not going alone.

With a crash, she landed on the dorm's entrance, letting a hiss as no mist was there to lessen the impact of her fall. She searched for Lyn, her temperature rising a little above normal. The slight crackle of thunder of his scales made it easier for her to find him.

"Lyn, I think something's happened to the gems," she panted, fanning herself with her wings. She hoped Lyn would get the message to check on the gems.

✦ ✧ ✧ Estelle ✧ ✧ ✦
୨୧ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ୨୧
The voice of another dragon made Estelle leap in surprise and hide under her sheets before she peeked out to get a glimpse of the dragon. She recognized the dragon as the one hanging out with the fae earlier. She didn't know she was in the same dorm as her.

"I don't know actually," she answered.

---

Flamesurfer saw what was going on- plants are dying and the lights are off. “Let’s go to find out, Estelle. Maybe Frost want to find out too.” She said.

✦ ✧ ✧ Estelle ✧ ✧ ✦
୨୧ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ୨୧
"No thank you, you can go if you want to though," she said to Flamesurfer. Even if she would let someone else to do it, she wasn't going to join them in their mischievous plan since whatever the icy fae seems to do just means trouble.

She decided to meet up with Lifei. She was sure the dragon was awake so maybe she could discuss about more books with her.

A wail caught her attention though, she turned to see a dragon crying, with no one to comfort her. Estelle felt bad for her so instead of going to see Lifei, she went to meet that dragon first.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked her worriedly. While her magic wasn't working properly, she managed to see the dragon's appearance with the flickering candles, using the little power she had left to illuminate the dark.

---

●∘◦❀ Pitaya ❀◦∘●
There was a sudden noise near the doors, the sound of a dragon making Pitaya jolt. Without Her guidance, he couldn't even brace himself for an attack. It was almost... refreshing in a way, to not know anything. To simply be alone in this vast world and not be aware of anything going on. To live life as one wanted without knowing what others thought of you. What a blessing, what a tragedy. Still, knowing that the perpetrator was probably long gone, he still called out. "Who's there?"

---

❅───✧❅ Lyn ❅✧───❅
Lifting his head, Lyn nodded slowly. Glancing around him, he padded over to Frost quietly while not trying to wake Sidon up. "I told you we should have explored the halls better." He said a little amused. It felt weird to have his world be so silent, no spectral whispers nor the crackle of barely repressed lightning but it was almost a comfort in some way. Still he used his superior height to peer over Frost and into the hallway just to make sure that there were no teachers following them. Seeing as the coast was clear, he slunk out into the night, trusting that Frost would follow

---

•---•» ꜰʀᴏꜱᴛ «•---•

Frost followed Lyn slowly, as they sneaked in the dark halls. She tried suppressing her tired ragged breaths from making any sound. Without her mist, she had to keep her distance from Lyn to avoid zapping herself.

The two dragons ended up going into another chamber in the cave, the walls were glowing red from the crystals on the wall. A scary aura was enough to make Frost change her mind but she persisted, feeling better as long as there was someone besides her.

"It's definitely here somewhere," she said. The chamber was seperated into many tunnels. She assumed that those who don't know the way may get lost forever in the dark.

Her body wasn't cooperating, though. Even if she knew how to control her cold body temperature, she didn't know how to stop it from absorbing heat. Her steps started becoming more unsteady.

"By the way, are your powers working?" she asked Lyn.

---

Solstice looked up, her eyes wet with tears. Her feathers had all but gone out by now, their light no longer offering her comfort. She was shaking, and she felt like what had come to feel like the vine that connected her to her life force and her powers was slowly thinning. Soon it would snap.

“I-I… my power…” they whimpered, their voice faint in the dark room. That was rare- usually they were confident and loud. Now, however, they felt lost and afraid. Without nature’s light to guide them, where were they to go? “The plants…” they gestured to the potted plants on the desk, “I’ve lost my magic… I can heal others, and I can usually keep plants alive for many years. But… if it’s gone… how will I help others now?” They broke into a sob once more. They felt horrible for making this dragon watch them break down, but she was terrified without her light. Her energy was slowly waning as well. If she was no longer able to draw her energy from plants, she wouldn’t be able to keep herself alive for longer than a week. She managed to pull herself together a bit, sniffling, as she sat awkwardly in her bed.

“Um, sorry for… that… it’s just, if I can’t heal other dragons, what use am I? I don’t have any good battle magic… and I’m awful at combat… that was all I had, and now…” her voice broke. They choked back another sob. This was too much… “You seem like you’re a light dragon also,” they murmured, their voice almost a whisper. Her tone was soft, her voice like a gentle breeze- light and airy, though it was missing its usual cheerful light. “I suppose your magic has been stolen too?” She glanced at the dragon in front of her. It was nearly too dark to see, the dragon’s candles doing little to help with the light. Fortunately, Solstice’s eyes were very good, and they could just make out a few details. “Do you have any idea what caused this?”

---

“It’s ok. I can help you train!” Flamesurfer said to Solstice.

The rumbling stopped and pretty soon teachers came to the dorms and reassured students that everything was fine.

After the teachers left, Sidon knew something big happened

---

❅───✧❅ Lyn ❅✧───❅
"No, but I don't mind. Mine were more of a hindrance more than anything." He murmured, trying to see which way to go. Even if the dead no longer told him what he could not see, whispered in his ears of envy and slander, he still had his other senses around. The caves unnerved him though. He wasn't good with tight spaces, his willowy frame unsuited to contorting just to fit himself through passageways. He couldn't smell the sky nor the ozone and perhaps that was the worst part of this whole ordeal. But still, he persisted.

It was getting harder for him to keep track of the twists and turns and was about to suggest an alternative when he noticed that Frost was lagging. Craning his head, he peered at the stumbling fae and sighed. This would not do. If she continued like this, they would take too long to find the crystal and be caught. That was the last thing he wanted to happen so he stopped in his tracks and bent down until his belly was brushing along the floor. "Get on. It'll be quicker." He snapped, wings cupped into a comfortable cradle. He also naturally ran colder than most other dragons so he supposed that would help an Ice dragon recover their stamina faster

---

Solstice glanced at Flamesurfer. She was still trembling, but she stopped crying, managing to take shaky breaths. “I appreciate it, but I’m not interested in fighting… it was my favorite thing, to heal others. To see the smiles on their faces when they were better again. Only once did I…” they hesitated. No, that memory was too painful to share. At least not with these dragons she barely new. “I just loved using my magic to help. It made me feel worth it… but now that it’s gone, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself. There’s something…”

Just then, a teacher arrived at the dorm. They reassured everyone that everything would be alright, and left within a few minutes. Solstice quieted, her breathing still uneven. Should she tell them about her life source? She had been warned by her aunt… no, they were sure it wouldn’t come to that. This was merely temporary. They didn’t even know the cause yet. Still, the thought kept pestering her, and the idea frightened her even more than the loss of her light.

---

The silence after the thunderous shatter was almost deafening to Halu. He could hear whispers and murmurs from his dorm mates, but everything was quiet after the teacher came in. His eyes cast an eerie glow across the floor in front of him, though they no longer swam with the light of the storms. Halu had another theory as to what had caused the loss of his powers, and probably many other dragons’ powers as well, judging from the hushed conversions in his dorm. He couldn’t be sure, though, and he wanted to find out. He didn’t want to go alone, though… maybe he could try to find Illusionist? It was still terribly dark, though, and while it provided good cover for Halu when he closed his eyes, he was certain he’d get lost among the halls if he went out now.

Unable to rest, however, Halu decided to take a walk. Or maybe fly. He needed to stretch his wings and think for a little while. Hopefully he wouldn’t get in too much trouble if he was found roaming the halls at night, but too unsettled to be bothered he made his way to the door. He didn’t plan on getting caught, so all he had to do was be quiet and not get lost and he would be fine. It would only take a minute. Quietly opening the door, Halu slithered out into the hallway and shut the door behind him, the sound echoing across the dark and empty corridor. Feeling uneasy but not willing to turn back now, he continued into the maze of hallways to try and find someplace to think.

---

•---•» ꜰʀᴏꜱᴛ «•---•
꒷꒦✧꒷︶︶︶꒷︶︶꒷︶✧︶꒷꒦

While her normal self would've rejected the offer, she knew she was slowing them down. She climbed over Lyn's wing and made herself comfortable. The cool scales made her let out a content sigh. She didn't know if Lyn could sense the huge difference in her temperature.

"Thanks," she whispered. "Also there is no way your powers are a hindrance," she added, her eyes were heavy but she stayed awake. "Just take a while to tame it and you'll never be able to live easily without it," she yawned. "Who knows, maybe one day you'd be the one coming to Algor to chase away the storms and save lives," she continued.

She wondered what was going on in the dorms. Were the teacher's coming? What were the other students doing?

✦ ✧ ✧ Estelle ✧ ✧ ✦
୨୧ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ୨୧

Estelle wasn't that good at comforting people. Her lack of communication could be blamed for that. She frantically tried to build up a sentence to comfort the dragon using any words that appears in her head.

A story did pop up in her head at the right moment. About a famous dragon in her village. A doctor who didn't have any abilities. His medicine was amazing though, saving countless dragons from death's door when terrible diseases break out.

"I'm sure everything would be alright," she said. "And magic isn't necessary to help others you know? Yes, it makes it easier and has a higher success chance. But those who help without are much greater than even the most powerful magical dragons," she simply stated. "As for what caused this, I don't know. I'm as clueless as everyone," she added. The candles barely managed to flicker anymore. She looked at the dead plants besides her, feeling that it was very important to her. Using the last flicker of light, she tried to see if they would live using the energy from her candles. It didn't do much, but one of them started to rise slightly and Estelle could see it's life clinging on to her remaining stored energy. While she started feeling a little drained, she didn't mind.

After the teacher's announcement, she could see the uneasy look on Solstice's eyes. She was definitely thinking what she was. "It's probably the gems," she muttered. She didn't like the fact that the teacher's are coaxing them with false safety and not telling them what actually they know.

---

❅───✧❅ Lyn ❅✧───❅
He snorted at that but kept silent. He didn't argue too much since it wouldn't go anywhere, letting sleeping dragons lie. Being unable to control electricity was already annoying enough but loosing sleep to murmuring ghosts and turning into a literal cloud? Yeah, those were definitely some hindrances right there. But still, he liked to keep some cards hidden and didn't say much, continuing to traverse the winding caverns, only faint flickers of light guiding his way.

"If we get caught, don't say anything." He suddenly said, gently scoring a wall with his claw as he took a random path. "I'll do the talking, you just look pathetic and pitiable or something. I don't know." Honestly, he was just rambling. The unnatural silence that had now overtaken his senses was too jarring and Lyn hated the faint empty ringing that he could still hear. He didn't think he would ever think this, but he missed the annoying blabbing of long dead specters

---

Sidon sneaked out of Amber dorm. He probably should report this incident to Headmaster Dovah. Then again, teachers were aware but if he knew his people right, Dovah was a pretty old dragon, so his hearing and senses were potentially failing.

---

•---•» ꜰʀᴏꜱᴛ «•---•
꒷꒦✧꒷︶︶︶꒷︶︶꒷︶✧︶꒷꒦

Lyn's snort resulted in another smack to his wing.

"Alright, I'll drop dead if we ever get caught," she joked. As they explored the dark eerie hallways.

It was too quiet and Frost hated it.

"What did you think of my new move during the race?" she whispered at Lyn, trying to stir up a conversation and break the silence already. She knew this wasn't the perfect place and time but the stillness made this feel even scarier than it should be.

---

❅───✧❅ Lyn ❅✧───❅
Rolling his eyes at the other's antics, Lyn fluttered his headwings, creating a small cooling breeze. It was mostly just a habit at this point, his jewelry hauntingly chiming softly through the halls. "I think if you had waited a little longer to pull off your move, it would have been more effective." He mused out loud. "It was effective though. If I wasn't used to storms, I would have been frozen in place." It had certainly been unexpected and for a moment he had been frozen before leaping into action. If Frost had showed her hand at a later time, Lyn would have probably lost the race

---

Illusionist was long gone at this point. He caught a glimse of fire in the dim morning light, and ran faster after it. He thought he saw a white shape, a familiar one. But where had he seen it? Ahead of her was a small crreature...a dog, perhaps? Was the dragon hunting it? Now? He leaped into the air, pumping his wings, trying to catch up. He knew where he was going. He had to find that gem, whatever it took. He had to figure out if this other dragon was friend or foe, though.

---

Itsu was getting closer as she ran, she knew it. She had to be. There was a sense of freedom that she git from just going into the forbidden zone. On the side of justice, of course. She could smell something up ahead...dragons? Smoke? She huffed another snort of flame, she was catching up to her fox companion. Were they getting closer?

---