The Crossroads (Michael)

[Viskyia Crow]

TS: First Cycle of Melora, Winter, XV (pf)
Stormwatch Manor, the day after the Masquerade Ball

Sleep captured the jeweler, sweeping her away to a place between places made of surreal forests and sun speckled roads. It was not the final destination, not really, but rather the starting point for a converstation that had been eras overdue. Viskyia had been torn, for when the dream surrounded her and swept her into it, all her instincts told her to take the form that gave her strength and the name that gave her power. It wasn't the power of force, but rather the power of faith, and the difference was vastly important. She wasn't on the roadways yet. When she fully manifested within the scene, she decided on being only herself and settled for leaning on one of the trees overlooking the road. She was here for a reason, perhaps a converstation with Sykodi... and she did not instigate it. There had been no ripping across the threshold to traverse the time and distance between the planes. Her hands hadn't become claws, and she hadn't assumed Nychi's form. No, rather she fell into it naturally, through a deep exhausted sleep. Ahh.... the memories flooded her and as she leaned back against the tree, she caught her breath and wondered. The last she knew, she was snuggled into a bath, happily loosing the battle with exhaustion and pleasure.

Viskyia almost laughed as she waited. There were few times the real world seemed more surreal than this one. But the last brightening and darkening had definitely convinced her such things were possible. Differences indeed happened overnight. Something had changed... something vast in the course of a short period of time, and it left her dream self confused. She felt stronger, happier, more ... put together somehow all with the impression of having fallen apart. The world of dreams was confusing sometimes... not all the information from the Material traveled here with the Dreamers. But, having more experiences with such a place, she knew the difference... and this indeed was different. Viskyia was different.

And she sensed in the heart of it, she was waiting for someone.

The sweet fragrance of the woods filled her senses. Curious, and wondering why she was standing so alone, she moved forward. A series of signs hanging on a single dried tree pointed the way to various places. Moving forward, the half-esh glanced up. She read the boards, eyes widened, and she reread them again.

The Forge. Hearth. Memory. Will. Mind. Heart.

Where were these places? Each shingle pointed to a different direction... some even pointed out pathways off the road wandering off through the woods. And why was she waiting? Sykodi? No, that didn't feel right. Viskyia shifted nervously, peering down first one road then the other. Finally, she settled down beneath the sign, knowing that sometimes the world called for a nice long wait. She wasn't wearing her normal clothing... leggings, a tunic, thick leather belt. Instead, she wore a long flowing robe that hugged her curves and a pendant that hung heavily between her breasts. Khol lined her eyes, curling down and away from her citrine orbs like Kaimelea's sigil.

[Michael Poe]

He could feel himself falling.

He knew this dream. The dream was always the same. Next, he would find himself landing in the middle of Freeport, the section that had 'caught fire'. The flames would lick at his body as he slammed into the ground and the other him, the one with red eyes, would stand over him and gaze down at him menacingly.

...but wait. Something was different this time around. He wasn't heading for Freeport. As he felt himself gently righted by some force or another, he felt the world solidify around him. He was in a forest. he looked down at himself. He found himself in a black outfit. Black trousers and boots and a black tunic. What was so surprising was the softness of the material. It felt almost like silk, and the most disconcerting fact of all was that it felt so very, very real. Dreams never felt this lucid. They always felt foggy and uncontrolled, but he could feel his control over this one. Strange. What was strangest of all was the pendant that was hanging from around his neck. It was pure silver, and for whatever reason, it had the image of an opened eye on it. As he reached up to touch it, he found that same image on each of his palms. He was quite confused as to what it meant, but took it in stride. This was already panning out to be one of the most curious dreams he'd ever had.

He remembered falling asleep holding her as they lay in her bed, and praying that Kaimelea let them see eachother in their dreams. Surely it wasn't...

His mind froze as he saw her. She was sitting beneath a signpost, waiting. Was this...did She really...?

He strode forward, his steps bringing him ever towards her with a confident gait, and he spoke aloud, an edge of humor in his voice.

"Now...have you ever seen such a lazy woman? Sitting by a signpost in the middle of nowhere for no reason? A woman like that is liable to get herself robbed," he commented in jest, but he knew the truth. She had been waiting. If it had been for him or for someone or something else he didn't know, but she wasn't here just because she was tired or lazy. He stopped a step away from her, smiling down at her, and reached out his hand to help her up. She looked like she hadn't been here long, but had been waiting a bit.

"I know I asked Her to let us see eachother in our dreams but this...this was still unexpected." He gave her a quiet, secret smile that only she had ever seen and truly understood and he gazed about. "So...this is all new to me, so I suppose I'll have to bow to your expertise. How does this...all of this...work?"

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia turned and looked when his footfalls echoed in her ears and his words washed across her hearing. Taking the offered hand, she surged to her feet gracefully, but putting almost no weight on his hand. She looked... refreshed. It was quite the contrast to how he'd left her in the real world. The half-esh saw his smile, and her eyes glowed with warmth as she brushed at the seat of her robe gently and wiggled her bare toes into the soft soil at the edge of the crossroads. Viskyia looked... happy. Happy to see him, and decidedly happy to be there. But that happiness was washed over with caution, as if she had a healthy respect for where they were. Taking in his appearance, Viskyia looked thoughtful, the corner of her lips uplifting slightly as she finally saw what he looked like cleaned up and with an amulet of faith no less?

"Mic..." Her voice was warm, welcoming, and somewhat surprised as she started to say his name then decided against it. "This was unexpected for me too. I can get here, but I'm almost never tossed here. I think we pushed ourselves past some unknown point last night. I can feel it. I'm here while my body rests. But it's dangerous, to be gone a long time, leaving our bodies unguarded." It was even more dangerous standing here facing him as herself. She wondered if he realized it. No... but she knew too she was ill prepared to be his teacher, especially since she was just learning herself. She wanted to say his name, but she restrained herself from voicing it fully. "It's dangerous to stay here like this... revealed. I... we need to find your identity here. And then we need to pick a road, one of them or all of them, for surely we are here to get our questions answered." By whom? She wondered, staring at him, and then decided it didn't matter. What mattered is what they accomplished while they were here.

Reaching out, Viskyia took Michael's hands. She squeezed them in her own smaller ones, and met his gaze. Standing before him, she knew how to do this... she knew how to bring this out of him. Intuitively, ritualistically... she pushed it. Somehow, always, there was permission to do so with him. Her voice lost its softness as she spoke again, words playing on the hard edge of her desire and rippling across his own hearing, like razors across his skin. "I am Nychi, the Talon of Kaimelea, Priestess of the Aestiva Reverie... I am your lover and I am your friend. Tell me truthfully. Tell me who you are." She said, her words washing over him, forceful and demanding. They were like razor sharp claws, her namesake, ripping into the core of him and dragging something forth.

A name. She wanted his name. She wanted his identity. She wanted a piece of his soul. Nychi made it sound like it was a small step, a simple passing of one point towards another. But it was so much more than that. It was a barrier he needed to break, yet another one in their acquaintance. She gave him no headway to think, to flee, to pass this without commitment. No, this was the first step, and though she stood beside him, Michael would have to take it himself. Naming was a rebirthing. It was a defining point for a person to truly label their soul.

[Michael Poe]

He saw her solemn expression despite her smile, and knew she held a great reverence for this, wherever this was. As he stood there with her, he listened to her speak and nodded. They had done...something over the past darkening. Something startling and fresh. What they had done, the point they had reached, the way in which they seemed so perfectly matched...it was transcendent, in some way. He considered her words and nodded, speaking with a slight frown.

"One's body is always unguarded as they sleep. All this does is permit for a different path to be taken while that sleep occurs, unless I'm mistaken. Again, this is all very new to me..." He glanced around then rest his eyes back on her as she took his hands. He felt her squeeze, and he squeezed back reassuringly, but when she spoke once more he didn't miss the edge in her tone. He heard the desire in her tone, felt her words lancing across his skin, and he knew. He somehow knew.

The darkening before, this was what she had kept. This was what she had refrained from revealing, awaiting the proper time. This was, in a way, another facet of her true self that so few saw. She had so many faces, only a few of them true. This was one of them. As she spoke her name here it resonated within him, as though somehow, the single word that was her name, unlocked something inside of him. As she continued, he already felt it bubbling inside of him. There was no real way to describe it, other then somewhere deep inside a dam that had been in place his whole life had just broken, and something, whatever it was, was flooding forward with dangerous speed, preparing to burst out of his soul.

She was pushing forward, pushing him on, helping him down the path he needed to travel. If he was truly going to be what he wanted for her--for all of them--he needed to trust in her and this force inside his soul. He needed to let it fly free.

"...I..." He started, his voice coming in short spurts as his breathing became ragged, trying to make sense of everything rushing out of him and into him all at once, a true sense of communion with everything here, "...I am Endryd. Shield of Kaimelea, Guardian of the Aestiva Reverie." As his words spilled forth he looked up at her with an expression of shocked wonder. Not only that he'd spoken as such, but that it had felt so natural and right to him.

Whatever he was, whatever role he played, whatever position he'd held or things he'd done with his body, here he was none of that. Here he could be free of his shackles, free to simply be. He knew Michael Poe, just as he knew Endryd. At the same time he knew they were the same and yet different...that just as with her, this was another face of himself, one that even he hadn't known existed until he'd labeled its existence with its true identity.

He knew. Somehow, he knew. Though he'd only spoken it for the first time seconds ago...he was Endryd.

[Viskyia Crow]

Layers. With Michael it was always about layers. As she grasped his hands and watched him reach deep inside, she felt incredibly humbled. It was a timeless moment, like a new life easing from old life and finally separating itself from the warmth and comfort of the womb. Nychi stood silent witness to Endryd's birth as Michael clawed through the layers of his soul and freed part of his inner core. She knew the sensation and it brought with it an intoxicating feeling that washed over her, humbling her, as she stared at someone she feverishly hoped to get to know. Regardless of what Michael... no Endryd thought... this was part of his beast. It might just be the lions share of it, for all that she knew. But it wasn't whole and it wasn't going to be until he lost the constraints on his heart and mind life had placed upon him.

She remembered her own birthing, the whale with bat wings and Kaimelea's priestess showing her the way. Nychi wondered in that split second after Endryd spoke, if he would look back too and see her in such a light. She hoped not. The whale and Sykodi were symbols of divinity and representations of Kaimelea. And while Viskyia was training to be that, here and now she simply only wanted to be Endryd's friend. He'd taken the first step, weight forward, poised on more of a brink. She released his hands, and brought her own up to his temples, capturing his head in them. Thumbs stroked down the crest of his eyes, sliding down the slight ridge of bone, to trace the curve of his cheeklines.

"Endryd." She said it a few times, repeating it slowly and sensually in her mind. "That is one of the strongest, finest names I've heard yet." It was, resonating through her and sliding across her mind like a warm caress. She couldn't believe... simply couldn't... that she was standing here with him, knowing his name, and staring past his dark eyes at a crossroads. It was a message that was loud and clear to her, though no one uttered a sound. They were standing on the brink of something, standing proudly, and together. In so many ways that terrified her, but she left most of her fears unvoiced. Walk alone. Depend upon yourself. Need no one. He was breaking all her rules coming here, naming himself guardian of something she worked so hard to build. It was humbling and empowering all at once.

She knew his name.... and that meant she could find him. Always... if she was smart enough, fast enough, and bold enough. With Endryd, the later was extremely important. He took no cues from softness, gentleness or concern. A smile played across her face at that thought as she stood there letting him absorb his own words and his own identity. Softly within her mind, she whispered a prayer.

"Thank you. Just... thank you, Lady. Your Will is generous beyond measure. I serve, and continue to serve, not for the rewards... though they are immeasurable. I serve because you show me daily of your worth for such devotion. This man's awakening is just one more sign. I hope that he will be worthy of you. I hope that we all will... and what we build together in your name. Please help us be worthy of each other, our sisters and any brothers that will come with the gathering storm."

She felt humbled, watching this... awestruck, staring in Endryd's eyes and seeing a deeper inner awareness blaze forth. From the time she'd met the man, she knew he had a deep core. Intelligence and confidence didn't normally come easily and to shallow people. But watching him awaken... that was something altogether different. It gave her an odd feeling.. a feeling and desire. She wanted more.

This was why she was walking the path she was.

He'd had a moment... to adjust and rebalanced. But she didn't want to loose the ground they'd gained in that single instant of his coming into his own awareness. "Endryd, there is more. There is far more." She whispered. And then her words turned to talons, and she tore at his being with them. "You stand in a shell... a weak and vulnerable shell. It houses something different, something stronger for this place and time. When we stand here like this... exposed and vulnerable, we endanger ourselves. There's an inner form, a stronger form for this place. You know what mine is, you can see it in my gaze." And indeed he could, for he knew the woman holding his face in her hands and stroking the skull beneath her thumbs was something more, something fierce. Feathers, wicked beak, claws... catlike with the fierceness of an eagle. A female gryphon stood before him, carefully contained but wanting out.

And now, she wanted the form inside, his shape that was barely contained, to lurch free. Citrine eyes blazed into warm brown, challenging them to ignite with fire and burn the manform off with the heat of his will, freeing whatever lurked beneath. She didn't release his head... not at first... but held him, held his gaze... "Release it, Endryd... you deserve this. You've needed it all your life. Let go of the chains your body puts on you and experience what more there is. Let it go...." She urged, her voice deep with emotion .

If he needed anything more, she'd give him the key the whale had given her so long ago. But she had a sneaking suspicion he didn't need it. She felt... to the root of her... all Michael had needed his whole life was permission. Someone to say it was okay to unleash his tightly held control and let his awareness run free. He'd done that for her, only the night before... giving her permission and leading the way. It was the least she could do for him, returning the favor here, where she was more in her element.

[Michael Poe]

She complimented his name, but he barely heard it. Later on he'd look back and thank her for the compliment, but in that moment he was too busy trying to absorb all of it...every aspect. Here, in this realm--wherever it was, a sort of Dreamscape was the only answer he could come up with--He was Endryd...but he was more than that, too. He could feel that naming himself was only the first step. She began to speak again, and he listened.

While she held the role of priestess, her actions were not in the name of the benevolent Goddess, but were simply those of a friend, supporting and offering her advice and help. As she continued, explaining it to him, drawing it out of him, he nodded slowly. Endryd's eyes were entranced by hers, gazing deeply into her, as though he could read her eyes to see a different form altogether. But that was plain silly, right?

But no...he really could see it. Deep in her eyes, he saw her other form. The form she used here. He saw the gryphon deep within her and was amazed at the beauty and grace of her, the sheer supple curves, the pure white coat, the majestic and noble beauty of the magical creature who's other form she held. It was a creature that also held a feral and sharp danger to it, that could be just as wild and dangerous as beautiful. A very feral elegance that perfectly suited her. Really, it was her. There was no mistaking it.

A gryphon of the purist white was the true form for his lover Nychi, and he found himself almost getting lost in her eyes as he focused on them so intently. And that beast inside of her...it called to him. Not to Michael, but to Endryd, calling out to the beast he knew unequivocally was within himself. He feared what form it would take, but he was here, alone with Nychi, and she knew that monster within him. She knew and had experienced it, and had embraced it. Had anyone aside from her been present, he wouldn't have been able to pull it from within him, but it was just her and him. He felt safe with her, and so he let it go.

What happened, as he let it go, was a feeling that for the rest of his life he would never forget. He'd heard about changing, but this...this was a whole different experience. He felt everything around him grow smaller. Trees grew shorter, as did the signpost. Even Nychi, as he slowly raised in height. Arms stretched out and elongated, even as the black silk began to coat more than just his clothing, but stretch and extend up his neck and face and down to his hands, even as the clothing seemed to simply be absorbed into his being. The blackness that took over wasn't simply silk, however, it hardened and separated and segmented, becoming a sheet of scales covering his flesh. One would think growing scales would feel awkward, and yet for him he'd never felt more natural.

As his arms elongated and thickened, he could feel a strange sort of webbing extending from his shoulders, even as his shoulderblades sprouted out and extended to great lengths as he felt his hair recede, giving way to a series of three horns along his forehead and the top of his skull, his eyes blinking closed and reopening to reveal serpentine, pure-white irises surrounding black slits of pupils. His face and jaw elongated even as his head enlarged in dimension, giving a protrusive snout His legs grew long and powerful, the base of his spine splitting open to reveal a long thick black tail scaled in an identical manner. His fingers extended into massive talons as identical ones sprouted on his feet.

He stood at his full height, stretching what had become wings into their full span, and let out perhaps the loudest, most ear-piercing roar as his bat-like wings flapped powerfully, before falling onto his forelegs, folding his wings, standing there on all fours, observing Nychi through curiously intelligent white eyes.

The true form that dwelled within Endryd, and had been crying to be let out; the monster within that he'd always kept under control, that he'd only barely showed to his lover that night on the beach....was this, a creature who's scales were of the purest black, with the exception of a blood-red stripe that ran along his belly.

Endryd the Night Drake.

[Viskyia Crow]

Just before the form erupted forth, Michael's brown eyes turned a cloudy white, completely devoid of their warm brown color. It was her split second warning before all at once he changed. It wasn't a slow painful forced process... no, his Dream form erupted from his true form with a vengeance, as if claiming its right to roam the world. Her hands had held his skull, gently, stroking the flesh on either side of his eyes. But when the flesh hardened and elongated, she released him and took a step back... then five.

Mouth agape she stared as the Night Drake took form. Viskyia had never seen one up close, but they were indeed the stuff of legend, the creature every child feared too much to go roaming around at night alone. It was a creature of nightmare and rage. She stared up at it, eyes wide and her smile slow to spread. But she wasn't so stupid as to assume Michael had control. Oh no... the first release could be dangerous, and she was careful not to move at all. Holding absolutely frozen, she continued to watch the Night Drake, but dropped her eye contact hand had her hands plainly visible.

Viskyia hadn't witnessed her first transformation. She'd felt it, for certain. But standing there face to face with Endryd and watching him change, the beast surge forward, tasting the first of its freedom... lightened her heart somehow. It reinforced her confidence for what they were doing together, and made her realize the circular nature of such things. Sykodi had guided her. She guided Michael. She wondered, then, who Michael would guide? She certainly wished him the same joy he brought her now, in baring witness to one of the most intimate moments in a Faithful's life.

Viskyia's eyes, in the odd light of the Plane of Dreams, began to glow a vibrant citrine, the evidence of her pleasure and pride at the man before her.

Her voice, when she finally did speak, it was with a soft reassuring voice. "Endryd... you are lovely. Deadly. How are you feeling?" She tilted her head and studied him, her real question was simple... though it went unvoiced. Are you still you? She knew, perhaps instinctually, that sometimes these changes weren't for the best. That sometimes a person had a lack of control and could in an instant become a creature of nightmare. While this too fell into Kaimelea's domain, there was a fine line where a man or woman could cross into Rhistal's hands. For that very reason the jeweler stood there, stoic, ready to reach out and grab him back... hold him here, if he did indeed loose himself. How? She had no idea, but she'd be careful... observe... pray...

"Let this be some of the best of him, Lady. Let this give him strength, and not fuel to his terror. By You, he is magnificant... I had no... idea."

She whispered silently, her prayers coming more easily these days, especially in this place. And still she studied him, waiting for him to make a move or try out his wings. When he did, he did it with such a gusto that she reached her hands up and clamped them over her ears, half bending at the waist. It was a shriek, much like her gryphon's cry, but far louder and far more ear-piercing. She recognized it though, for all that it came from a Drake's throat.

Joy.

She straightened, released her ears and tore loose from her own frail form. The white gryphon snapped into being with a seamless change, and Viskyia snapped open her wings. Her eyes, still glowing, gifted him with a challenge and she down stroked once, twice, and took to the air. Night Drakes, in the wild, could not fly. Some could glide when they were younger, and almost all of the females could to some extent. But the males grew to massive, too powerful, to really allow their thin wings to support them well into maturity. Nychi beat the air with her wings, gained altitude and waited. She hoped, without a doubt, that Endryd would understand that here the rules weren't necessarily the rules.

Here he was free.

And when he decided to take to the sky, she'd already had a pathway picked out. The Forge.. now that was interesting. It had neither an arrow on one end or the other... and as she watched Endryd come into his own, she came to understand that the crossroads were in fact the Forge. Michael had just heated up the fires and reworked the raw material he had. So the next road she had to pick from was Hearth. There was order in all things... she decided. So they'd head to Hearth next... and see what it had in store for them.

But first, she'd let him fly; let him play. Endryd had been a long time imprisoned... a very long time. He had this time earned. This flight and this joy would be his. All for him.

[Michael Poe]

It was odd, in a sense. The first release was always the most dangerous, Kyia knew, but this...Endryd's form...in his material form he'd put so much focus into control and willpower, and that darkening he'd shared with Nychi in their physical bodies had been a complete release of that control. Had he not had that experience, that exposure to release and knowing how strong it was and how hard it was to reign back in the control once unleashed, he might have lost to himself; to his manifestation.

But he'd had that darkening with her, he knew what it was like, and so this time, in a very similar manner, though he let himself go, he did not lose himself in it as he had that darkening. Now he was fully cogent and aware. Initially it had been a struggle to maintain control, but he'd done it. He firmly grasped control of his form, specifically because of his decades of control that he'd nearly perfected. The first time he'd let it go it had surprised him, yes, because he didn't know what to expect. In a way, she was right. They had crossed an unknown point the previous darkening. It had felt almost like releasing had in the material realm, except that was more an internal shift than an external. Here both internal and external rearranged itself. That experience with releasing himself in every fashion, had made him for the briefest of time, Endryd on the mortal plane. An interesting experience, to say the least. It was what made maintaining control here possible. Had things occured in any other fashion and any other sequence, it would not have gone as smoothly, thusfar, as it had...which was only spoke more of Her guidance, surprisingly enough. Or, it would have been. He was coming to expect such surprises anymore.

"An interesting sensation," he voiced, somehow able to speak despite Night Drakes lacking that capacity for speech, "I suppose the best way to describe it is...controlled freedom." He was free to be who and what he really was, but controlled it enough so as not to lose to the beast inside.

The unusual is usual, right? he thought slightly mockingly, before watching her take her own dreamform. As she changed and became the gryphon, taking flight, she was exactly the feral elegance he expected. He hadn't missed the challenge in her eyes, either--they rarely missed each other's challenges, of that he was confident. He wasn't sure in what form she was challenging him, however. At least, not until she took flight.

Once she took to the sky, rising above him, then hovering above him expectantly, he knew instantly. His thick, muscular--but long--neck swayed from side to side to look at his wings. They were massive and powerful, but for Night Drakes in the material world they were useless. He understood her unspoken words perfectly, however.

'Defy what you know as reality, and understand that this place is a reality of it's own', she seemed to say, and with a snort of his massive nostrils, he glanced down at his powerful legs. Tensing them and bending them like a feline preparing to pounce, he threw all of them hard at once, his limbs fully extending to push off as hard as possible from the ground, his wings beating in several powerful strokes as he ascended straight up. Drakes were known for their powerful jumps, after all. Before he began his descent, he spread his wings and tilted them down first, to gain momentum and orientation, then up , pulling himself up and flapping furiously. Though he made it, his flight was sloppy at first. It took a small handful of minutes to get the hang of flight in his dreamform, but as he finally accustomed to it, he began doing dives, rolls, twists, spirals, spins, and ascents that would likely make any of the mortal races queasy and cringe. His physique and mind though, in its altered state, was accustomed to such a concept and felt little more than a sense of joy at taking flight.

As a child, he'd always wondered what it'd be like to fly. And now, experiencing it with vivid realism not from an airship nor some contraption, but the feel of his own wings flapping and holding him aloft, feeling the fine control his body, wings, and tail had over the direction and it's severity...it was like...well, a dream.

After several moments of going wild and having his unadultrated fun Endryd matched Nychi's flight path, following her wherever they were to be going.

"Your form suits you well, Nychi," he spoke as they flew side by side, trusting in her lead, "And you look beautiful as ever." He grinned, unusually playful, and did lazy rolls in the sky as he met their path. "I never knew it would be this wonderous," he commented, a sense of childlike joy that he honestly had not felt since before those four eras, "Thank you for showing it to me, for without your words, your faith, and the knowledge and release you gave me last darkening, none of this would be possible for me, I know this. Kaimelea is gracious for having brought us together." Playfully, wherever she headed, he followed. Were he in his human form, it would be quite impossible for the smile to have been removed from his face. As it was, his pure white orbs glimmered with joy.

[Viskyia Crow]

She bore silent witness to his joy. Once, back in Nexus, a Gryphon had came to her and cast a highly powerful spell over her. Her body had transformed and in that shape she'd tasted the pure joy of being released from all bounds. Watching Michael... no... watching Endryd, for he was something more than Michael here, was like reliving that all over again. Nychi knew the pains of first learning to loose her earthly bonds, and understood he needed time to find out what exactly he could do. There was a secret in suspending all known beliefs and letting one's soul run wild in this place. He could find himself lighter, stronger, faster... the physical didn't matter so much. But the mind did. One couldn't Will themselves more intelligent, more dedicated, or the ability to make split second decisions. Nychi knew instinctively She hovered, on the fringe of his experience, letting him struggle to find his wings and adjust his body so that he finally understood that all it took was Will here. Will formed skill, and that in itself was the inherent difference between that which was a dream and that which was real.

She gave Endryd time to play, and in that time joined him because she couldn't help it. His joy was infectious and in a lot of ways raw. Nychi couldn't help but wonder how often he allowed himself this sort of freedom, and she couldn't for the life of her imagine it was often. Quietly, as she watched his joy, she promised they would fly together often... releasing their worries and recharging in Kaimelea's mantel. For all that he promised them, both her and her sisters, she made an equally silent vow to make sure the drake in the sky with her took equal care of himself. And if he wouldn't see to his happiness, she would. A slow smile spread across her beak as she circled in long lazy spirals, finding thermals where none should exist as he frolicked below.

And then... just like that he was done. Endryd was recharged and full up with liberty, she decided, her lionish tail whipping the air, balancing her flight to match his as they came up into a side-by-side formation. His words washed over her, and she called softly like an eagle, a trill that warmed the air around them. "As does yours, Endryd... You keep repeatedly amazing me. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to your surprises." She said, suddenly filled with a strange foreign pride for the male at her side. The feeling was so powerful, she almost missed a wing beat then laughed at herself as she had to recover.

They banked, a long slow curve and headed off away from the crossroads to a long winding road. From the sky the road looked surreal, winding in and out of the emerald forest below. And while she had no idea where they were truly going, Nychi had an excellent sense of direction urged on by the ribbon of gray earth visible through the green expanse below. It passed out of the wood, through a field and climbed the foothills. They flew onward, following it, until the pathway spilled out into an emerald valley high up on a mountainside. Standing aloof, like a solitary obelisk, a tower of rock stood in the center of the vibrant green grass. Viskyia banked, looking for the pathway to continue onward, but found none. So instead, she landed, backwinging neatly until just her back paws touched the earth, and looked at the thing curiously. Once on the ground, it was easily recognizable.

A relic of a structure long past stood tall in the grass while all the rest of the building it used to serve had long gone to ruin, reclaimed by the land around it. It was a standing stone chimney... a massive one. It stretched to the sky like an enormous upthrust finger. Runes were etched up and down its length, some covered over by ivy that was creeping upwards. Nychi snapped her wings shut and shook herself as she settled then studied the structure, waiting for Endryd to join her.

Here, though, she understood first hand that this was uncharted territory. "I don't understand. It's... a ...." The stone chimney was attached to a massive fireplace hearth. It was so well intact that it gave the pair an accurate idea of just what stood there. It had been some sort of fortress... something of enormous power in times gone past. "It's a hearth... yes... a hearth." But it had the feel of something long abandoned. Nychi snorted, clawed at the ground nervously, and wondered if she should take a closer look.

[Michael Poe]

Once they pair had finished frolicking and as they flew side by side. His voice was normally a throaty baritone, but here in the dreamworld, perhaps matching his feral ferocity, his voice was a deep and rumbling bass, and seemed to be almost as much felt as heard, as though it were a growl from a Night Drake made phonetic. In the same fashion, his usual body shaking laughter sounded not unlike a landslide of deep sound.

"Then it is my hope to continue to surprise, because I do so hate being dull and predictable..." He mixed it up now, and instead of just doing rolls in the air, to work on his control, he rolled while doing a large arcing roll around Nychi, constantly changing not only his body's orientation but it's physical location as well. In accomplishing this--bit of time though it took to do without constantly wavering in his flight path--he knew he could use almost any combination therein of moves. Odd that he would feel such a sense of accomplishment in regards to something so simple as basic movement in this...place, wherever it was.

As the banked, following the dirt road, he banked a little too hard and almost lost control, but only let fly another laugh as he regained it unsteadily at first, then with more surety. By the end of their trip he could control nearly every aspect of his flight without issue, with one exception. The one he didn't have experience with yet, but that he was going to gain very, very quickly. As they descended and Nychi backwinged, Endryd tried to do the same, but his lack of experience made him far less graceful than she. He could take off because jumping was a great skill for his form, and he could fly because he'd learned it and Willed it...but landing...

As he landed, he still carried too much momentum, and so his four claws stutter stepped to try and slow himself. At one point he accidentally dug his talons in--not used to having them--and as his feet stayed in place, his momentum did not. He found himself doing a head-over-talons spin to land on the flat of his back, wings spread wide. He let out a roar of laughter, before rolling over, tucking in his wings first to do as little damage as possible to them. As he came onto his belly and pushed up with his limbs he extended them once again and fluttered them to get rid of dust and dirt before folding them to situate them properly on his back. Only once he'd properly righted himself did he hear her words and turn to look at what she had found so curiously interesting. He ambled forward, his reptilian brow creasing, his thick neck swaying from side to side to examine it from multiple angles.

"So it is, " he rumbled in reply, not quite sure what to say in response as he moved to take a closer look at it. "You know this place better than I...any clue on why we're here facing a hearth?" He could sense Nychi's nervousness, but wasn't sure why it existed. Though she began as a guide, now she seemed almost as lost as he, and he couldn't help but wonder what it was that they stood before, and why it was here and, just as importantly, why there were here with it.

[Viskyia Crow]

His landing was filled with all the grace and poise of a newborn foal trying to manage its overly long legs.