The Dragon and The Serpent

"The Dragon and The Serpent" is an ancient tale told by the Dragons long since before the Era of Unity. It tells the story of a Serpent by the name of Alustros who fell in love with a Dragon called Tezapylote yet by Draconic Law set forth by the Dragonqueen and her Ring of Elders, their love would be seen as forbidden.

Act I

The tale begins in the mountains of Winterfury. The Dragon Courter Tezapylote lays in a bed of snow staring up at the starry sky. Splayed in a relaxed pose, she hums a melody that attracts the youthful Serpent known as Alustros. Slithering with curiousity through the winter wildbush, Alustros finds the much older and womanly Dragoness displayed to his eyes only, the moonlight reflecting off of her dark jade scales and her red feather headpiece swaying in the icy wind of Wyrmeron. There is charm within the eyes of the youthful boy who continues to stare from a distance, but the moment of silence is broken as the branch he leant upon snaps under his weight. With a loud thump, he falls and alerts Tezapylote, who couldn't help but grin and laugh.

He had fallen part-way into the white snow, his long snake-like body winding like a twisted road as he recovered. A flame of lust burned in the glare of the woman who saw attraction in being spied upon just now. She had served as a Vermilion Courter for many a century now, an influencer and a flirt who has appeased both women and men in her time and service yet never would anyone love her true. Used like an object of pleasure, Tezapylote had grown weary of life in the city of the empire and wished for an out.

The young Serpent was scared at first and apologetic second, growing nervous as the much larger female stood on her talons and approached him with a stare of assertiveness. He would dig himself into the snow to escape her watch but instead she'd grab him and pick him up. Staring into one another's eyes, the two shared in a juncture of lull before she would speak out her admiration for his brashness. In a breath of words the air would go from dense to silky smooth, the woman speaking calming the nerves of the youthful adult. To suffice her adoration towards him, a kiss would bind their bodies in a dance. He had never felt like this before, not once! He could feel a warmth course through his dragonveins as excitement filled his heart - He was assured, yet she was troubled.

Tezapylote pulls away after a kiss that had lasted for minutes, a realisation began to approach and her lustful demeanour turned to rage.

"Confound it all! A Serpent of all things to love me so... don't you understand? Our love is forbidden!" She spoke in anger and sorrow, tossing a fist into the trunk of the nearest tree. "I don't follow, you... you kissed me... You wanted me-" A roar of great magnitude would silence his words. "The law, the law! By the Dragonqueen's accord we cannot be in love... a Dragon, and a Serpent... we are destined to be apart!" She would break into tears and lay her chin against the mountainside.

"... then, let us change it! Persuade the Elders to alter our meaning for romance." Alustros spoke in hopeful song. "I know what I felt was true, surely they will do."

Act II

And so they go to Dragonhearth, to the place of highest law in the empire - Apexion, where the Ring of Elders congregate and speak on behalf of their own. Tezapylote would come as an honourary escort for the Lover Azerprog to speak before the council of her love. Alustros is there too, a student of the Diviner Varoxis. They look to each other with confidence as the gathering is amassed and the Elders would gather. As the session begins, reports of the city's activities are read out in tedium that challenges the patience of Tezapylote, her bluntness and her disregard for the refinement of this meeting would land many scoldings to her face that would risk their love's announcement before it could even happen.

Time passes with a day spent on dull narratives and etchings of new laws. To wrap up the day, Tezapylote would be given the stage through Azerprog the Kind. To the surprise of Varoxis, his pupil Alustros would slip away from him too and join Tezapylote on stage, nervous until his skin touched hers.

"We wish to speak to the Ring of Elders in a matter of love. For so long we have see to the segregation of our differing kins and we believe it to be wrong!" They speak in unison, causing a stir among the Elders that would be hushed by the presence of the Elder Diviner. "Whether Wyvern or Hydra or Serpent, we all come from the same progenitor - our Dragonqueen. Through our shared bloodline, we have only changed in physical form, not in spirit, so why disapprove love between those that would have it!?" The speech that started in unity would turn to solely into the voice of the female, who would pour her heart into every word she spoke. "I love Alustros... and so does he me! Yet we are told from whelphood that what we feel now is false... wrong, so I ask the council of esteemed Elders: Please, let us change this outdated law."

Her utterance would be reacted to with disgusted facades and a grim quiet. She is quickly smited down by the will of the Diviner who, through no mercy for the unlawful saw her for a monster, not an equal kin. Bearing his fangs and roaring his judgement, he is the first to disagree to everything she had told and chastises her for even bringing such a notion to the seat of Apexion to begin with. The other Elders follow suit - The Observer and the Warbringer are first to raise her disapproval, then the Cultivator, Hunter and Creator follow. Only the Lover stalls, his heart broken seeing one of his Courters like this, but with a hushed sigh he too raises his disapproval

Alustros, a coward by nature, would fall silent even as his love is crushed onto the platform and forced to endure the pain of a millennia. When it passes, she breathes in an reluctant exhale as the attention is drawn to her would-be partner.

"And you, my pupil? Know you not what has been revealed here this day? You, my most trusted of students... a perverse creature falling to temptation with another flight. I would have you imprisoned in the halls of Apexion for this, strip you of every privilege you've enjoyed so far! Tell me you renounce her words... and this shall not pass, buy into her disgust and you know what is to come."

Unsurprisingly, he bows his head down and sides with the Elders, stepping away from the broken and ridiculed woman he felt he wished to love. The act ends with Tezapylote's imprisonment, forced to endure in the depths of Apexion like a criminal.

Act III

Tezapylote would be fated to remain in Apexion from now on and never see the light of day or night again. Among her peers are those insane and murderous, their screamings driving her to the brink each and every day, yet she is held together by a magic in her heart, a faith that somewhere out there Alustros is working to get her out. He is one of the Diviner's students after all... they are lawmakers, judges! She keeps up hope and a blind love towards the man who had not even sided with her when she needed it, a sign of desperation? Perhaps, but to Tezapylote it was all she had.

Four hundred and fifty three years pass by like nothing for Tezapylote and on one faithful day the metal gates would open up to her once more. She had grown old, to some even ancient in the time that she had spent in Apexion yet she was brimming with laughter the moment she breathed fresh air again.

"He did it! He saved me! He loves me!"

Tezapylote celebrated before even knowing the reason for her freedom. What she did not know is that Alustros had moved away from the capital after but a couple of years of Tezapylote's imprisonment, to be an Ambassador in his homeworld of Serena instead. Sure, he tried to free her at first but his attempts would stop quite soon when he understood that going against the Diviner's decision will yield only pain to him. The truth of the matter would inevitably shock the woman past her prime, her health in a steady decline. When asking why she was freed, the only answer she would get is that a new diviner had stepped up and taken over the late Varoxis' rule and prisoners that posed a non-threat to the empire were given their freedoms back.

Tezapylote leaves Dragonhearth with sadness weighing down her spirit. She travels to the mountains where she had met Alustros for the first time and lament their lost love. As she raises her eyes to the night sky, the image of Serena far away comes to view. She begins to understand:

"I... I couldn't have asked from him anything more... he wished to save me, but he couldn't put his own life at risk for it... I couldn't have asked from him that... but now, I am free... I... I can go see him again!"

Tezapylote flies to Serena hopeful and spry despite her withering body. She finds herself in the Seiryu Skylands among the clouds where in the city of Doragon his love would certainly be, yet when she arrives she finds out that Alustros has already moved on and fallen for a new person to love, Azuruko - a Serpent with skyblue scales and of a similar age as Alustros. Overcome with emotion, Tezapylote would stop herself from outright confronting him for this betrayal and instead retreating to the shadows to spill her tears or sadness isolated away.

Her life had no meaning now. She had spent all her youth on being an entertainer and pleaser with nobody to give love back, she had lost her freedom to the one love she was able to achieve... and now, that sacrifice was made hollow. She filled an iron basin with her tears and crawled into an crevice in the side of the floating island, slinking away into her own thoughts and feelings till they drove her insane. The earth upon which Doragon heaved and shook as she raged beneath, crashing her skull into the rockwall till she bled from a wound across her face, her dark green scales red with the blood of her own.

When the disturbance of the land was reported to those in charge, an expedition would be sent out to locate and eliminate this threat - three Serpents belonging to the Skyguard of Doragon would find the cave in which Tezapylote hid and follow the cries of the elderly Dragoness deep into the caves. Leading this group is none other than Azuruko herself, a warrior who has established herself as a force of justice and peace for the Dragons of Serena. The three would come to a chamber at the core of Doragon's island to find a slumped over, bloodied old Dragoness weeping and in the process of ending her life with a pointed stalagmite, the tip of it pressed to her throat. She is saved by Azuruko who channels the winds to elevate the injured Dragon's body off the ground.

"Stop! What you're doing is foolish! What torments you, my friend? Whatever it may be, this is not the answer!" Azuruko's voice was inspiring, cheery and for a moment it had an effect on Tezapylote that gave her a moment to spill her emotions out. "I've lost everything! My life... my love! My... my dearest Alustros stolen from me by a wench!" She cried to the shock of the younger woman and her two allies, three Serpents standing in a row in front of the weeping Dragon as she was slowly lowered back down. "Your... Alustros..." Azuruko realised who this was now, Alustros had told her of this woman, a beautiful older woman with a shining soul and a brimming personality. Tezapylote also came to a realisation when she raised her gaze to meet with her saviour only to have fury overwhelm her mind. "You... YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!"

Tezapylote surges forward with shocking speed to grab Azuruko by the neck and slam her into the ground. Before she can execute her, the remaining guards make effort to stop and apprehend her. A fierce battle erupts between Tezapylote and the three Serpent Skyguards that results in the death of all three.

With a slam of her talon, she snaps the neck of Azuruko's best friend, ending his life in one wink of an eye. Beset by vengeance, the other Skyguard conjures a blade of ice to strike Tezapylote through the heart and succeeds in doing so, but the Dragon does not flinch even as her chest cavity bleeds out. Fearful of what he is staring at, Tezapylote twists her head and slams her jaws down around her assailant's head to deliver a swift end to him. Devouring half of the Serpent's body with glee and joy, Tezapylote laughs with blood dripping from between her teeth as she corners Azuruko in the back of the cave. "All alone now... yes... just like I was left alone... BY HIM!" She speaks in a haunting tone, the icy blade still stuck in her chest, frosted glass crimson with her blood. "You will feel the agony of my suffering... and then I shall have HIM to myself again..."

In an attempt to fight back, Azuruko swipes her sharp armoured tail at the mad Dragoness hoping to stop her, but she would care little of the meager attempt at fighting back. Grabbing hold of her serpentine body, Tezapylote snaps Azuruko's spine in half, making her cry in excruciating pain. She slumps down and tries to slither away, but Tezapylote takes hold of her by the head and drives it through the stalagmite she had planned to end her own life with before.

... She stood now in silence. The smell of blood surrounded her yet she could only celebrate. The broken bodies of Azuruko and her allies laid around her like butchered cows, no more filled with the youthful spirit that they had as Skyguards of Doragon. Tezapylote proceeds to cannibalize their bodies, leaving only the fractured head of Azuruko as a trophy.

Act IV

The whole of Doragon is shaken by the disappearance of their three brightest Skyguards, none no more fearful than Alustros as he waited every sunrise and sunset for his Azuruko to return home to their children. Every night he would go to sleep thinking about his mate, of what could have happened to her. He is tormented with increasingly more intense nightmares that see him facing a shadow of a familiar face, yet he could never comprehend his dreams.

Tezapylote remained in Seiryu as well, making a lair in a farther away skyland and visiting Doragon every night to stalk Alustros as he went out searching for his mate. Weeks would go by without result, the citizens of Doragon losing hope of ever finding their missing guards and many proclaiming that they have already perished. Alustros remains stubbornly hopeful and continues to search. He eventually comes across Tezapylote's empty lair where a message is written for him in the arcane.

"Pools of Aphrodious"

He stared at the wall of three words at first thinking it was unrelated but his intuition told him otherwise. He went back home to dig into his books and scrolls to research the name of this place.

The Pools of Aphrodious... a lake of immense power found in south Tranquilon, in Gwynbrenon. A beautiful lake often visited by newly-wed Dragons during their honeymoon, Tezapylote was no different in telling her would-be mate all about going to this place once their love would be official. "Oh no..." He utters to himself quietly and shuts the tome with a loud smack.

Alustros travels to the lake in question with haste, praying for the preservation of his love's life the entire way there. Three days of non-stop flight yields Alustros with his destination within the deep, dense and beautiful jungles of south Tranquilon. Once there, he reminisces of the past, of his short time with Tezapylote and the hopeful plans they had made oh-so hastily. Crawling through the bushes and passing the trees that made this place their home, Alustros finds the pools with Tezapylote bathing in it, humming the same song she had hummed when they first met.

She laid spread in the pool of mystic waters seductively yet there was something wrong with her upon first sight. Her body quivered, her breathing was shallow, her scales were desaturated and had lost their vibrant green hue from centuries of imprisonment and malnourishment among other things. Alustros sees her and recognises her for who she is, a brief smile on his face that quickly dissipates as he remembers why he had come here. He stops forward, revealing himself with a confidence that makes Tezapylote turn to acknowledge him. "My love, you've come at last!" She cheers in a hoarse tone, waving her talon to invite him over. "Tezapylote... I... I am surprised to see you..." He speaks back. "L-listen Teza, I'm sorry for what happened to you. I wanted to-"

"Hold your breath, my sweetheart... I'm not mad, I don't hold a grudge... in fact being in prison for so long has made me wiser. I don't have a lot of life in me left, my dearest Alu, and it fills this old Dragon with so much elation to see you here with me again!" She turns to stand up, but her strength fails her and she collapses on the water's edge. Alustros comes forward to keep her head from hitting the ground, holding her with care. She murrs in his graceful arms as he caresses her head, noticing the multiple wounds on her forehead. "Oh Teza... I wish I had come here on more pleasant of affairs but..." He stops to sigh and think of his next words. "... I, I've moved on, Teza... I have a mate, a family of younglings, what we had, I'm afraid we could never go back to... but you're still special to me..."

Those words sting the Dragon as she begun to embrace death. She laughed weakly, but looked up at him with a shine in her glossy eyes. Her chest is visible to him, revealing a freshly-sealed gash with small remnants of ice sticking out from it. He gasps quietly, but she begins to talk.

"I know, my sweet Alu... I saw them too, a whole batch of littlest boys and girls, they are... so full of life, so happy and hopeful, they almost remind of me when I was their age! Oh and your mate, a beautiful woman, am I right? Strong too, a captain of the Doragon Skyguard... she too is like me - protective of her softie of a lover..." She speaks with a tired voice. Her hand comes up to hold Alustros by his cheeks. "I understand now that our love was not meant to be like that...

Alustros loses himself to his memories, leaning forward to hug Tezapylote like they used to hug way back then. Her words made him happy, because to him she seemed to have moved on already, just like he has. He thinks of his family as she describes them to him, falling drowsy with every word. Then, a sudden pain stuns the younger male - a cut through his neck causes him to gasp for air. Through guile and usage of the sensual moment shared between them, Tezapylote has dug her fangs into his throat to tear it out. She pulls her head back violently with her lover's throat in her maw, tossing the wriggling Alustros into the pool to have his blood soak the waters and taint its crystal clear visage. She looms over him, a sick smile on her face as she watches her past lover grasping for what little life he has in him. He tries to utter some words of pleading but fails to conjure them, instead he reaches to Tezapylote for help and in that moment he notices the head of his love, of Azuruko, hanging from the vines of a tree behind her, staring back at him with cold, empty eyesockets as he breathes his last.

Alustros is dead, his lifeless body now floating in the magical waters of the Pools of Aphrodious. Tezapylote stands over him and brings her claw to the scar on her chest, cutting it over with one clean swipe to pull out her beating heart. She slumps down, exhausted of her vitality, pinning Alustros beneath her to drown his body in the pool while she utters her final words.

In death however... we will be together... forever... bound by the curse of Aphrodious to be inseparable. I love you, my dearest Alustros... and... you... love... me~"

Tezapylote's life ends, but her story does not. Their joined death would utter a ritual that she had begun to corrupt these lifepools with a curse of her own doing. Through one deceitful act, the pools become tainted with a sickness that strips the region of its strength, turning the healthy and fertile jungle into a land of the dead where the trees are but husks and the animals breath out poison. Alustros' and Tezapylote's bodies are discovered too late by the flight of Charen-Karr to change this fate but news of their deaths and the effects they had on the region would reach the Empire's capital quick.

Not long after this, the law that forbade the love of two Dragons of differing species would be abolished, bringing with it a new age of romance for Dragonkind. As a result of Tezapylote's ritual south Tranquilon would suffer and become a place called "Blackwood". From the pools of Aphrodious, strange winged creatures the locals would begin to call the Kulkan would emerge and start to terrorise the tribalistic people of the region.

As for what happened to Alustros' and Tezapylote's spirits? Like the spell she uttered fortold, the two are bound together by a curse that has been amplified by the worship of the Trolls who see them as some sort of merged divine form known as Kuku-Quetzal, the God of Sinister Wind and forebearer of the Kulkans. Together they suffer as a deity that's been imprisoned within the Plumed Temple in the Afterworld.