open Rise of the Stars roleplay (1x1 with CatponeCerberus)

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Huh, I saw how she looked at Ruby but, I guess she's like this with everyone? Never expected the nightwings here to be attracted to her. She isn't really my type. Plus she's your sister, I can't have a crush on both you at the same time. That would be weird."

It was true though, he had no feelings for Cinder. She seemed a little... unstable.

All of a sudden Moonwatcher would clinch her head really hard. Then suddenly... she would speak.

"Stay wary of he that stalks the darkness.  Be watchful of the evil king. Stay wary that the one of great strength, the one known as bringer of death will be subject to pain and starvation but death will not take her away. A war, ever short lingers overhead. One nation will conquer another and one force will come to an end."

Arrow was the first to speak.

"How nice."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You don't want to know." Ember said, her tone told that she knew but wished she didn't "And I don't think they are attracted to her as much as they are intrigued by whatever she's suggesting." "And don't worry, you're not her type either." in Ember's opinion, it wouldn't have necessarily been weird to have crush on both siblings, if those siblings were similar enough, in this case though, she fully agreed with him, she would have found it concerning if Arrow did fancy Cinder. She couldn't say anything more before Moonwatcher took the attention of everyone.

"So he's getting so desperate to scare us that he's now threatening through visions? how pathetic." Ruby commented dismissively while eating, she still didn't really believe this whole future sight thing, and this was so on the nose that she truly believed it was created by Darkstalker himself "Besides, doesn't sound like anything new in my life." She had been in pain and starved before, and she had dodged death twice already, so in her mind, even if taken as a true warning, it wasn't anything to worry about. And the war part, well, she knew already they would end up in a war eventually.

From the other dragons, Enduur was the only one to really react, giving a slightly concerned look towards Quasi, mainly concerned about Ruby's later comment.

Cinder was too busy to pay attention, and left the room with few Nightwings. 

"Not going to be part of this war," Ember stated, mainly to herself, but loud enough to be heard. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Seems like something will go on with Ruby. I mean you may not get involved in the war but maybe you'll get payed to help kill Darkstalker. Though... how exactly would you kill him?"

"Maybe you wouldn't. Anything happens to Ruby, Quasi will be the one to kill Darkstalker."

Quasi looked at Enduur.

"I'd ask her honestly. It's her life not mine."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Powerful leaders of powerful nations are outside my pay grade, besides, I don't have my equipment, nor do I have a quick way to get it, since I had no reason to prepare it, being on a break and all that." "I'm also just done with politics, I'm lot more comfortable in the shadows of the underworld." It was good to know one's limits, and Ember had found hers.

"*I know why she's like that, it doesn't make me any less worried about it.*" "*I'm right here*" "*Yes, but you refused to talk about this before.*" Ruby was going to argue but fell silent, she didn't actually have an argument for that. Enduur got closer to Quasi to be able to speak to him outside Ruby's hearing "*In my personal opinion, you two should consider having offspring, having a hatchling to take care of could distract her from her more...harmful tendencies.*" Charis, who was still on Ruby's back, sniffed the meat Ruby was eating, and got a non-hostile blow of smoke as a response from Ruby, after which Danthe rolled her eyes and picked her younger sister off Ruby and gave her something to eat, Ruby didn't seem to mind Charis too much.

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"If I know you, then I'd be right to assume if Darkstalker did something evil enough, you'd be out for blood. As for me, with the way Darkstalker is basically attempting genocide on the ice wings on his land, I wouldn't mind one more dragon to slay."

Quasi replied to Enduur.

"*I don't know. An heir to the throne would be important. Would Ruby even want a hatchling though?*"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Yes and no." Ember said "Would I want to see him go down? Yes, would I do that myself? no." "Because I don't need to, I don't do my work to satisfy myself, I do it, because nobody else will, but in this case, there's plenty who will do it, I'm not needed." "Until of course it gets personal for some reason, then I'd be the first one kicking down his door." "Also...I just can't, i'm not gonna talk about it with so many ears and mind readers around, but the war took a mental toll on me, I need this break, for my own sanity." she had mentioned before that she was seeing a therapist, though she never did specify why exactly, or if she did, it probably wasn't the full truth. 

 

"*That you have to ask her, without audience.*" "*But, based on my own experiences and what I know about her, it's likely she would at least be open to the idea, I don't know how much you've spoken about such things, nor is it really my business, but I tried to ask her about the topic in general back at the caves, and she said she once was happy enough with her situation that she considered it, but then she lost everything.*" "*What I do know for sure is that she is at age that her instincts are probably starting to get annoying, many of us may be bit cold and see the whole thing as a chore at best, but we are still animals, and I can tell you, when you hold those instincts back for over a century, it's not fun.*" 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Quasi did tell Ruby that all nightwings read minds and see the future I think. This was when they first met. He later told me and probably Ruby that he misspoke. Most nightwings cannot read minds or see the future. There are only two with such an ability, Quasi and Moonwatcher. Well... there is Darkstalker possibly, may have been taken away I'm not sure. And Quasi can only read minds."

"I don't blame you though, the war was traumatizing for many. The jackals were especially cruel. I still can't forget that mother and pup. I still can't understand why they would use them as shields. I almost killed them."

"*It's natural I guess. Most species have such instincts in some way shape or form. I'll speak to her about this later.*"

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"There is many kinds of mind reading, Nightwings with natural gift are far from the only ones I know, I rather be too careful than not careful enough. " Ember pointed out "And this is exactly why they used them as shields, as I said back then, they know we care, it's manipulation." "It's a similar reason to why someone would capture someone's loved one, emotional manipulation, " That was one thing she was slightly envious of to those like Ruby, how much easier would it have been if she just didn't care?

 

"*My point exactly*" "*And don't give up immediately if her first response seems hostile, she has build quite the wall around herself, but I noticed it to be quite fragile, I got surprisingly lot out of her with just few motherly words.*" 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

After some time the rest of the wedding was uneventful. Once the presents were divided up properly Quasi would check what he got. Much of it was fancy weapons.

Ruby got a bunch of jewelry made of common and very rare gems and precious metals.

This wasn't much of a male and female stereotype, in fact this world didn't have all the same stereotypes, it seems they just did their research on things they liked.

Quasi would say something to Ruby.

"I'm not good at talking about these things but perhaps we should talk about having a hatchling. Perhaps a hatchling will make you happy. It's your choice Ruby and only your choice."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ember would talk with Arrow for some time longer, but would head to eat after the crowd dispersed a bit and later head back to her room, besides the attack the wedding was exactly what she expected it to be. Cinder was not seen again after she had left the room with the Nightwings, though she was later spotted relaxing in a corner close to the visitor room, close to the roof, with her snake hanging from her and sleeping.

Ruby spend pretty much the whole event with Enduur's group, entertained by Charis's hatchling nonsense and talking with Danthe and Enduur, it seemed that the four dragonesses were starting to get along pretty well, meanwhile Vix, who had no idea what was being said, took a nap leaning on Enduur's leg.

Ruby appreciated the gifts, though she had predicted it would be something like it was, and not only because she could sense them before they were ever opened, it was the one thing she liked that the more morally sound creatures would be willing to bring. She wasn't even aware any possible stereotypes, as the only stereotype she knew was that males were weaker, and even that was really only true for her kind. 

 

Ruby seemed to be taken off guard for a moment "That was unexpectedly direct."  she remarked "But, I knew this would come up eventually." "*But let's not have any eavesdroppers.*" she made sure Sky wasn't around, him being the only one besides Quasi and her kind to understand the language as far as she knew. Her reaction was not hostile as Enduur had predicted, though it wasn't full of happiness either, Ruby seemed slightly....distant, as she spoke. "*I'm not going to keep you in suspense, yes, I'm fine with it.*" "*I'm almost 200 and I have almost died twice, I thought about it and while i'm not overly excited about it due to....reasons, waiting won't bring any solution to my problems.*" "*But what about you? You make it sound very one sided, and are you able to handle the time i will be out of action so to speak?*" "*That will be at least half an year, likely more?*" The whole process took around 1.5 years, the latter half being only an average as that was the hatching time, and from the first year the latter half would be time when Ruby would need to rest lot more, she would still be perfectly fine to defend herself, but she wouldn't be able to take part in any actual battles. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

No one that would understand were around.

"*I think this is what I want too.  Whatever is good for you is good for me. I can handle the Kingdom while you rest. You're important to me Ruby and you always will be important. Not because you're strong or have sharp claws but because you're you*."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"*It's agreed then*" Ruby stated in the same distant manner as before heading to her personal quarters with Quasi, this all may have seemed bit...official, but that was because as stated, for many of her kind, including her, the whole thing was more a chore than anything, to her it really wasn't as big of a deal as it was for the more emotion focused creatures, her original hesitation had come from different source, hesitation that she had reasoned away enough to get it out of the way. But while she may have been dismissive and bit distant, she made some effort to at least try to make it not awful as a whole for Quasi on emotional level, as she acknowledged it being a bigger deal for him.

Some time passed, nobody was looking at a clock, until they would make their way out of the room, Ruby wanted fresh air and half-forced Quasi out of her room, it was her room after all, though she never made it into fresh air. As they neared the end of the hallway that lead to Ruby's rooms, Ruby suddenly gestured Quasi to stop and to be quiet, she then without warning punched her leg through the wall next to the door that lead out of the hallway, and pulled a nightwing through it, a nightwing with a blade, the blade had same venom on it as the one in the previous attack. The nightwing didn't have much time to do anything though, as it had just been pulled through a stone wall, a thin one, but a wall none the less, and its confusion lasted long enough for Ruby to give a killing blow.

Ruby dropped the body between herself and Quasi "*Sensed the weap..." she stopped as her eyes glanced at the body, she then suddenly charged Quasi, slamming him with her whole weight, which probably hurt, but Quasi wouldn't be able to ask what that was about, because when he'd manage to recover, he'd find Ruby gone, with just her wedding outfit on the floor at the spot he had just stood before Ruby pushed him away. 

The whole event was quite loud, mainly due to the small wall collapse, so it no doubt got attention of anyone close enough. 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

When Quasi recovered from the attack, he noticed Ruby was gone. This... this sent Quasi in a bit of panic.

"Ruby! Where'd you go!?"

Guards were already running to the area.

"She... disappeared." He'd say trying to sound as composed as he could.

The guards would inspect the scene.

"Nothing. If she were killed, there'd be something left of her."

"I remember what Moonwatcher said. There was a prophecy."

Moonwatcher would speak.

"Stay wary of he that stalks the darkness.  Be watchful of the evil king. Stay wary that the one of great strength, the one known as bringer of death will be subject to pain and starvation but death will not take her away. A war, ever short lingers overhead. One nation will conquer another and one force will come to an end."

"The one that stalks the darkness and evil king, obviously Darkstalker. And...bringer of death, obviously Ruby. And it says she won't die but... pain and starvation? What is Darkstalker doing to her?"

Quasi managed to compose himself fully.

"I want a full investigation immediately. I want stealth drones over Darkstalkers country. Then I want diplomats demanding her location and release. Finally, I want our soldiers to amass an invasion force. I want to wait before we declare war. I want to get Ruby's location first so that we can send in forces to do a rescue mission. When we do that rescue mission, I'm coming too."

Quasi took an animus paper and wrote something down.

"When I find Darkstalker, I will be able to do something. His last moments will be fearful."

Soon he'd have some guards bring Ember and everyone else to him.

"Ruby is missing. Darkstalker did something and I don't know what. We suspect she is alive but her location is unknown. Who of you will help me kill Darkstalker and rescue Ruby once we get the information?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Cinder was first at the scene, mainly because she was already coming, having heard the commotion, and after scanning the situation with her eyes, she didn't say anything when she arrived, and instead locked her eyes on the body of the assassin, kneeling next to it and dragging her hand against its scales as if she was following a shape, she seemed curious about something.

Ember was next, as she was the same distance away as Cinder had been, she just hadn't bothered to come before the guards had asked her to, last arrived Danthe and Vix, but only them, because Enduur had already left back to the cave with Charis, the only reason why Danthe and Vix were still there was because they were supposed to discuss few more details about the challenge with Ruby. 

While they did come at different times, the difference was mere seconds, tens of seconds at most, so it wasn't that Cinder just kneeled there for minutes in silence, though that wouldn't have been out of character for her.

"I'm in." Cinder said being the first to respond "Assuming of course she doesn't just appear here herself dragging Darkstalker's body." "I can't, but I can help at this end if there's something to prepare, won't be taking part in any combat, period." Ember then continued, and lastly Danthe "*I will too, anyone who steals the freedom from a dragon deserves to die.*" she had personal experience after all, and to make sure the others around also would know her answer, she also stated "I, yes" she hadn't yet mastered speaking that language, as for most of her life she refused to speak in it out of spite. Vix just pointed at Danthe and nodded. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi would nod.

"We'll aid you too."

Myra to the baby and sling off Sky and gave it to one of the Dasonian guards.

Arrow would opt to stay with Ember.

Sky would write a letter with a stamp only he had.

Quasi took the letter and gave it to a dragon.

"Send transport drones to gather Dasonian soldiers."

After a two days, the soldiers were there. Outside were some makeshift stables for the horses for Dasonin calvary.

Sky would give them some big speech before the Dasonians shouted.

"Fiat voluntas eius!"

"Finding Ruby's location isn't making much progress. Any ideas?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Cinder didn't yet say anything about whatever she had found on the body, as she had to check few things first and since she was no asked about it, she saw no point in explaining anything. 

During the two days that passed, nothing huge happened, Ember contacted few of her connections to find out if they had contacts in Darkstalker's land, but came out empty hoofed, Vix and Danthe returned to the cave explaining the situation to Enduur and waiting for something to happen. Cinder disappeared for a while, the only knowledge about her being that she had said to Ember she needed to do some digging. 

Only ones hearing Quasi's question were Ember and Vix, Danthe had stayed behind at the cave due to not really being able to communicate well with everyone, thus, Vix was speaking in her place too. Though before either of them could answer to Quasi's question, a familiar voice cut in, Cinder was back from wherever she had went "I can now with full certainty say what happened to Ruby." she showed everyone a paper with odd symbols on it, Ember commented "One use transportation rune." Cinder nodded "A modified one, made to transport big living creatures specifically, It was scratched on that Nightwing she killed, Ruby was teleported against her will." "Any idea on location?" "No, but the word is that Darkstalker has unknown visitor in his personal quarters somewhere, no confirmation on who or if they're there out of their own will, but the time of appearance matches." "the word?" "Don't ask, you don't want to know how." Cinder looked at Quasi "Do you have any way to see in there?" Quite the personality change it seemed, Cinder had become notably more serious since it had became certain that Ruby wasn't coming back by herself, and her mind matched it, she was taking this seriously

 

Meanwhile, out of their perception was a peculiar sight, as in the city, coming towards the castle was Danthe, dragging after her a terrified Nightwing holding a package, and when anyone asked, she simply responded "Delivery to king." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi would look at the rune.

"That confirms one thing for sure. His animus magic is replaced. He must be extremely dangerous to capture Ruby."

Quasi would open the package.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"That's not a weak spell that's for sure, teleporting a living creature the size of a dragon is not a simple task." Cinder agreed, Ember too nodded. 

 

The terrified nightwing gave the package freely, the nightwing was from Darkstalker's side, but whatever Danthe had done or threatened to do to them had made the messenger of the king of fear fear her more than the king. 

What was inside, was rather simple, yet had less than stellar implications, there was two things, a technological device, audio recorder to be specific, one that was made to both record and play sound, and there was already something recorded, and the second thing....was a horn, black dragon horn, cut cleanly from the base, and its size and shape was awfully similar to Ruby's horns.

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi noticed the horn first.

"He will die. Darkstalker's immortality won't save him."

He'd then play the recording while guards would take the scared nightwing to the dungeon.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Everyone stayed quiet, none of them had any strong reactions to the horn alone, they all just got more serious, Danthe seemed slightly angry. At least it was something that grows back. The nightwing didn't resist, it was just happy to get away from Danthe.

 

The recording started with silence, though it was only a second or two before the silence was broken by a sudden yelp, followed by familiar voice "Hello....It's me..." It was Ruby, though her voice was trembling and quite defeated sounding, it sounded almost unrecognizable coming from her "...The king says hi..." "*I can't...my body...doesn't listen...he...took control.*" her words in her native language were said as fast as she could, as if she was trying to hide the fact she said them "Drop the weapons...and...surrender to....him..." there was hesitation between the word 'to' and 'him', it may have been she hadn't said what she was supposed to, as right after she let out a gasp that quickly turned into a shriek of presumably pain, after which she was breathing heavily, speaking between breaths "*I tried to...I can't die....he took it away...*" "*He makes me....I don't want to...my body...'"  she let out another short cry, after a moment of just breathing she continued "Surrender...and he may...show mercy..." "*Please...*" "Until then I will be his..." "I will..." "I..." every repeat her voice got shakier, and after the last one she let out a fearful whimper  "No..." suddenly panic filled her voice as she practically shouted "*I beg you, please don't leave me here, plea...!*" her words cut short as the faint sound of heavy footsteps was heard and she whimpered again, this time with utter horror "No...ple..." The recording ended. 

 

The reactions to this were notably stronger, Ember and Vix reacted with sadness, empathy, while Danthe, and surprisingly enough Cinder were more angry than anything, they all were mostly quiet for now, though Danthe muttered something under her breath that was too quiet and unclear to hear. The positive thing was that Ruby sounded like she was relatively fine, but the question was, when was this recorded? 2 days was a long time. 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi showed multiple emotions at once. Mostly anger.

"I want as many dragons as possible outside the palace. I have something to say."

A large number of citizens gathered outside. Quasi would stand in front of all of them and speak.

"We cannot save a great nation fleeing from evil. Neither can we give into those that seek to destroy us and our way of life. I understand that we love peace. And that peace is forever dear to our hearts. But there is only one guarantee for peace and that is surrender. And it is true that most paths in life have some problems but the bigger risk is to to appease evil. Peace has much value, I'm not denying that. But I am denying the idea that peace is worth being overtaken by an evil like the one we face today. Today I tell you, there is price we cannot pay for peace. There is a line they shall not pass. While peace is better than war, freedom is better than peace. I hereby declare that a state of war lives between the Kingdom of Starlania and Darkstalker's regime."

Queen Glory was known to be mustering her forces also.

After everything was set, Quasi would gather the others to the coast.

"I'm glad to have you go with me. I understand two of you opted to stay and that's okay. We will work with our forces to liberate territory and plan there to find a way to kill Darkstalker and rescue Ruby. Once Darkstalker is gone, the enemy will be too unorganized to resist. The generals in charge will understand this and surrender. Understand that the nightwings in that land serve Darkstalker out of fear."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight

Ember stayed quiet after the message, not really responding even if addressed directly, she wasn't feeling too well, mentally that is, hearing what she had, even when she understood only half of it, made her mad at herself, she wanted to help, in fact, she wanted to help so much that it activated something primal in her, but she couldn't, as it was better she didn't. 

While Quasi held his speech, the others prepared, or well, Vix and Cinder did, since Danthe had nothing to prepare. Vix made sure his equipment was in top shape, and Cinder did some kind of ritual, drawing symbols on her weapons with blood she got from who knows where while muttering what sounded like nonsense. 

Enduur wouldn't take part because one, she was missing 2 legs, and two, someone had to watch over Charis. 

All of them nodded to Quasi's words, they accepted him as their temporary superior, even Danthe, who like Ruby, looked down on others, though it didn't mean he would have full control. 

"In that case, I show them true fear." her body's magic flashed slightly as she said it, Dark magic, while powerful in destruction, was ultimately most powerful in the mental space, feeding on things like fear and hate, it could cause one experience horrors beyond anything physical, and Danthe was not above using it for that. 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

When they got on the boat, it would leave quickly.

"Imagine being a country that topples an evil regime."

"I know that feeling. Ace knew it more. There is a man on Earth that lived once that we mention when one asks who is the most evil man in the world. Darkstalker is living proof that history repeats itself."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
As the boat was boarded and left, Ember excused herself and started heading back, ultimately planning to go to her room, it wasn't hard to tell she was upset about the whole situation, she wouldn't chase Arrow or anyone away if they followed, but she also didn't ask anyone to come with.

 

As the boat moved Cinder leaned on her weapon, looking into the distance calmly but with bloodlust in her eyes, Danthe paced around in irritated manner, she was quite literally steaming. Vix was more visibly paying attention to what was being said, though that didn't mean the others didn't hear. "Is it really repeating history if it happens in a different world?" he pointed out "Not that I think history doesn't repeat, but still"

 

 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Arrow wasn't asked to follow but, he felt that Ember needed someone with her. Once they made it to the room, he'd speak to her.

"It's an a terrible feeling, I imagine. Every cell in you is telling you to fight. But the trauma is too much. I'm not going to tell you to go out there. I'm not going to give you some speech about courage or sacrifice. No matter how strong such words sound and how much they inspire, the truth is, it's never that black and white."

He looked at her.

"You know this doesn't make you weak, right? You're stronger than me, admitting the need for help. For me, it was drinking and telling the same old story that I took an arrow to the knee. In fact my name isn't even Arrow, it's just what the guards called me when they learned I became a guard."

"Truth is, I've had this problem also. Maybe for slightly different reasons, but it was there. When a mare that was close to me was killed in front of me while I was helpless from being wounded, it changed me. I couldn't go back but I also couldn't put down my blade. It's why I'm a guard, it was supposed to be an easy job but we know how that turned out."

"I'm not saying to become a guard. Not that it's as easy as it once was with everything going on."

"What I'm saying is that you're not on your own in this. And it'll never go away but, over time you'll learn how to handle it. I'll be there to help you."

 

 

"There's many Darkstalkers. Maybe they aren't literally him but, many think and act like him. I look at Earth and see my world. Skywings had a thing for killing eggs of animus dragons and those with fire scales. Ice wings with that ranking system that separates the high and low in society. Dragons that rule with absolute power. The tradition of only females being allowed to rule. Daughters killing their mother for the throne and mothers killing their daughters to preserve it."

"Its why I wanted to make this nation. Part of the reason, a major reason. The world is barbaric and how many question it? Who else would've risen up?"