{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org//posts/fiction/spyrofic",
  "path": "/posts/fiction/spyrofic",
  "publishedAt": "2019-10-29T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:ivoe7cntxuy6at7uzmxzs2ft/site.standard.publication/3mfk6cpprzt2t",
  "tags": [
    "abandoned",
    "archived"
  ],
  "textContent": "::: center\nPenned, Tenebrous Knight\n:::\n\nForeword\n\nI am called the Chronicler, and I have no name; or rather, I cannot have\na name. I have had several, and the curse of the Chronicler is that none\nhave the pleasure of sticking; rather, they dissolve, just as I did so\nmany years prior, just as you shall too, when your body returns to the\nearth and your mind returns to the zeitgeist, just as we all must, for\nthe sake of balance, for the sake of the cycle, for us.\n\nI am called the Chronicler, and I have died; or rather, I cannot die.\nMy existence has thus become so much more magical than physical.\nCorporeality, for all its caveats, has a way of grounding your\nthinking. Without it there is so much sprawl, so much meandering, so\nmuch dissolution. There is so much to be said, so much ground to\ncover; I feel the pull of so many ideas from so many directions, and in\nmy haste to share---for the curse of the Chronicler is a phatic need to\nshare---I resultingly said nothing at all.\n\nI am called the Chronicler, and I have a story to share with you all; or\nrather, several stories, tightly and not so tightly connected. I cannot\ncall any of this a history, so tinged with sentiment it is, for the\ncurse of the Chronicler is to never know the verity of any truth, only\nthe plurality of many perspectives. Though it cannot be a history,\nperhaps it shall be a memoir of an age.\n\nThere are many beginnings to this tale, and the curse of the chronicle\nis that it must start only once. Nonetheless, I believe my own birth is\na fitting prelude. This is not narcissism, for my curse is to have no\nego.\n\nI am now called the Chronicler, but I once had a brother; I find it\nfitting to tell his story and not my own, for he always had a knack of\novershadowing me.\n\nHe is know by many names in the true histories, so few of them pleasant,\nbut once he was known as Lilan, and I shall forever know him as brother.\n\nChapter i\n\nThe inviting shade, nestled under that lonely tree on the hill, was a\nstudy in green. Under the calm (if darkling) blue sky above, the tree\nrose, branches sheathed in leaves the color of blooming life and adorned\nin pink flowers. These branches shielded the ground below, where the\nrolling carpet of spring flowers gave way to mushrooms hidden by the\ntree roots.\n\nYet, the tree flowers were pink, the bark was brown, and the mushrooms\ngrew in all manner of ugly earth shades, but the green was the color of\nthis scene, and the other shades complemented it, if they weren't\nswallowed completely.\n\nThat was why the purple dragon scowling at its base stood out so much.\nThe fledgling lay prone, the dirt and crushed mushrooms rubbing against\nscales which were the shade of an embarrassed lilac trying its hardest\nto be a white rose.\n\nHe sighed. This spot by the tree sucked, it did, but at least he wasn't\ndealing with crooning voices giving him reassurance instead of answers,\nor the smiles that just didn't understand.\n\nIt was evening time, and yet the hill was empty of animal life.\nMosquitoes didn't bother him, the fields were filled with fireflies\nexcept here. No hares or racoons darted across the ground.\n\nEven the winds left Lilan alone.\n\nA silly little bird, a mess of blues and reds, lighted down on the hill,\npaces away from the young dragon.\n\nFamiliar annoyance like pinpricks flooded him, as if it came from\nelsewhere, and it flew out from his throat as a piercing scream, the\nsame magical scream that had sent his brother running.\n\nAnd like Lilan's brother, the bird gave a squawk of unnatural fear, and\nflickered away so fast it was just gone.\n\nOnce again, the hill was alone, inhabited only by the brooding purple\ndragon, whose mother was green, whose father was red, whose brother had\nabandoned him in fear.\n\n\"Why do I have to be different?\" The magic had left his throat, and his\nvoice came loud and carried; why whisper? He was alone.\n\nHe truncated the question. \"Why, why, why?\"\n\n\"Well, if you weren't, could you ask that question?\"\n\n\"Ames, what are you doing here? Leave me alone.\"\n\nAmethyst --- Ames --- slinked around the tree, head lowered and glancing\nup at his brother. \"You looked like you needed someone to talk to.\"\n\nLilan jerked his head away and glared at a bird in the distant sky. \"I\ndon't want to talk unless someone is going to tell me who I am.\"\n\nAmethyst smiled, but Lilan wasn't looking, didn't care. He jerked his\nhead again to prove it.\n\nThe new dragon sat down, his scales---purple like the sunset---catching\nthe light. \"You're Lilan, my big brother and the coolest dragon in the\nvillage.\"\n\n\"And the only purple dragon in the village. That's the part I want\nanswers about.\"\n\n\"Hey, I'm purple too! I'm purpler than you!\"\n\n\"And we are the only ones. Why? All of the other hatchlings look\nlike their parents. But we don't. Why?\"\n\n\"We could ask someone, they---\"\n\n\"I already tried that. They said they still love me, I'm still a\nhandsome young drake, blah blah blah. But I don't care about that! I\nwant to know what it means.\"\n\nAmethyst followed his brother's gaze, murmuring, \"Maybe it just means\neveryone is different. Like snowflakes.\"\n\n\"So what? Does that mean we're the biggest, coolest snowflakes?\"\n\nAmes laughed. \"Yeah!\"\n\nLilan reached out with a wing to where Amethyst sat.\n\nHis brother flinched back.\n\nAnd Lilan widened his eyes, finally understanding Amethyst's\nhesitation. \"You're still scared! Why are you scared of me, Amethyst?\"\n\nAmethyst dropped his gaze, staring at the ground. \"You did that thing\nwith your scream and it just... you don't know what it was like. All I\ncould think was fear and running away.\" Amethyst shivered.\n\n\"You ran away from me. You all did.\"\n\n\"Amethyst nodded exaggeratedly. \"Mother explained it to me after you\nleft. All dragons have a unique kind of magic, like her earth breath,\nor father's fire breath, or teacher's---\"\n\n\"I get it.\"\n\n\"Yeah. She said what you have is called fear. You can use it to\ninflict fear on creatures.\"\n\n\"That's all? That sucks. Everyone else can do so much with their\nmagic.\"\n\n\"Mother said you could use it to protect the village. Be a guard, like\nyou always wanted!\"\n\nLilan blew air through his nose, and felt annoyance building in\npinpricks. He clamped down on the feeling, peering at his brother. \"So\nare you going to get fear magic too?\"\n\n\"I asked mother about this a long time ago. She doesn't know what magic\npurple dragons get. She said maybe we get unique breaths, or maybe we\ncan get any kind of breath. I heard the first king was a purple\ndragon. Remember him?\"\n\n\"Or maybe we can get every kind of magic.\"\n\nAmethyst laughed, and Lilan laughed with him.\n\nThe older brother looked up at the stars, and said, \"Because I want\nall of the magic.\"\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThe sun went down, and the night that crawled up was cool. Owls and\nstranger things called out, and in the distance, the warm glow of their\nfarm home beckoned from the windows.\n\nIt had taken time, but Amethyst did slide up next to his brother, and\nnestled under his wing.\n\nThe brothers sat like that, smiling and staring up at the stars.\n\n\"This is nice, Lil.\"\n\nLilan nodded. Staring up at the brightest guiding stars, he softly\nasked, \"Will you never run away from me again? I---it hurts.\"\n\nAmethyst let his gaze fall and he looked at the light purple dragon. \"I\nwon't ever. I'm---I'm certain of it.\" The word seemed to resonate,\nand at that, his body cooled, and he hugged closer to Lilan.\n\nThe older dragon hold him tighter, and yawned. \"I love you, Ames.\"\n\n\"I love you, too.\"\n\nAmethyst yawned too, but what came out wasn't a sleepy breath.\n\nAmethyst opened his mouth, and the air in front of him froze.\n\nThe moisture in the air became ice, and it was joined by solidifying\nmagic. When the dark purple dragon finished yawning, there was a little\nsnowstorm in the air in front of the two dragons.\n\n\"Look, brother. Snowflakes, just like us.\"\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThat morning, his father stepped away from the table to bring in the\nbreakfast; when he returned, his tea was frozen.\n\nFather Flare stared at his suddenly frozen drink for a good minute\nbefore he chuckled, and looked up at Amethyst. The guilty dragon\ncouldn't hide his smile.\n\n\"You had me there for a trice, my boy. Ice magic! You two are a\nwonder.\" He reached over and rubbed his son on the head. The way the\nsquare table was arranged the two purple dragons each sat beside both\ntheir parents and across from each other. He pulled his wing back, his\nscales the shade of an apologetic campfire just after it singed you, and\nthe wing knocked over his teacup; but only the block of ice spilled out.\n\n\"Haha, good thing it was frozen, huh?\" he said. \"How did you pull\nthis off, so quick? I swear it, just yesterday you're asking if you'd\never get your own breath.\"\n\nLilan puffed out his chest. \"I showed him!\"\n\n\"Yeah. We spent like, half the night practicing. It was really really\nboring! In have to stay really calm and be real certain of something,\nin order to use my ice breath.\"\n\n\"And he kept getting excited, ruining everything.\"\n\nAmethyst pouted. \"Weren't you excited when you got your breath?\"\n\n\"No,\" he said with a scowl. \"I was annoyed. I'm still annoyed. Why\ndid it have to be fear? The lamest possible.\"\n\nHarvest, his mother with scales like fresh moss hugging a rock, tracked\nthe exchange, her head swiveling between her sons.\n\nShe cleared her throat. \"Yes, Ames dear, it's just that way in the\nbeginning. But it's gotten easier, hasn't it? In the beginning, your\nconnection with the element is weakest, you can only access it in the\nsame mindset which had awakened it.\"\n\nFlare was nodding. \"For you, that's calmness and certainty, and for\nyour brother, it's being annoyed. Very fitting, I say.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\" Lilan demanded while Ames laughed.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nSeeing how well the teacup gambit had turned out, Amethyst's immediate\nnext move was obvious.\n\nWell, c",
  "title": "The Narratives of Dragons"
}