Being locked inside her locker, something happens to whisk Taylor away to an unrecognizable, frozen hellscape. The first order of business is securing her survival, then see if she can find her way back to civilization.
Worm crossover with Warcraft. Trying to write it in such a way that readers won't need background knowledge of either universe.
Taylor Hebert awoke to darkness. It was soothing, yet very foreign. The dark had become a companion to her during the last hours she could remember. Her memory was slightly foggy, and she was sure she had passed out. This darkness was different. The darkness in her most recent memory had been exceedingly hostile, yet it had a small glimmer of light, like a flutter of hope. This darkness had no such light, yet at the same time, this darkness did not feel nearly as hostile, like it did not need the light to encourage her. Where the other darkness had been filled with jeering taunts and the buzzing activity of a high school, this darkness was quiet, not a sound could be heard.
Yes, it was foreign to her.
She pried her eyes open.
The first she saw was white, white as far as eyes could see. It was captivating. Pure. Blinding. She had never seen something as white as this outside the pages of the old, still pristine books her mother had read to her as a child. Books she had not touched for over three years; they sat still, untouched in the shelves of her room.
Then, the cold hit her. It was nothing like the gentle chill that had accompanied her that morning to Winslow High, but a biting, burning cold that threatened to strip all senses from her. Her hands and feet felt numb. She attempted to move her fingers. It took a little effort, but they wiggled.
It was then she realized she was surrounded by snow. Luckily, she was still wearing her thick, winter jacket when she had been pushed into her locker, but it did little to warm her. Surely, she would already have frozen to death without it.
Had someone dragged her from her prison of steel out into the growing blizzard that was looming over the Bay? The state of her clothes told her it was unlikely. She could still feel the stench of the locker, it's contents clinging to her coat and jeans like mud. No, she somehow found herself outside of Winslow, buried in snow. Whether or not someone had rescued her or doomed her was yet to be seen.
She began to orient herself. The snow was soft, a fresh layer of virgin snow. It was easy to dig herself out of it, she found she was not buried in deeply. As her head peered above the snow's surface she found herself in the middle of a deep, human-shaped pit of snow.
Gently tucking her hands into the sleeves of her coat she tested the depth of the snow around her. The show around gave in without resistance, but the deeper she tested the snow the firmer it got. Brockton Bay had not had any snow after new year's and was barren of snow this morning, this was much older than anything that could have fallen throughout a day.
She rose to her feet, not wanting to lie in the snow any longer. Looking around, she could see that the pit she found herself in was surrounded by a sparse population of trees. Not quite dense enough to be called a forest, more a woodland, but there were sufficient to obstruct her sight beyond the trees. More worryingly, some of the trees in her immediate vicinity looked broken, as if some enormous force had snapped their trunks like twigs. There were no tracks in the snow close to her, no indication of someone who could have dragged her here. A reasonable line of deduction concluded that she had been the one, in some manner, to snap the surrounding trees. No, she would not give that any deeper thought. Distantly, between the tree she could see something resembling a tree line. She could not tell if it was natural or not, but it was the only direction she had to go on, maybe there was a road there she could follow.
She took a step in the direction of the tree line. The powdery snow was not giving her any good footing. The freezing air made her shudder at every step. She readjusted her glasses, which had fallen on her nose, straightened herself and began walking.
There was a slight incline to reach the edge of the tree line. Higher, and higher, with every step. She was slowly warming up under the exercise, her thick coat keeping the warmth inside. Every step brought her closer to the edge of the woods.
There was no road at the edge. Nothing that looked man-made. There had to be some clue as to where she was. Anything. Had she taken the wrong direction? Maybe there was something resembling civilization nearby. Now that she was out of the woods, maybe she could see something. She turned around to survey over the woodland she had left behind.
A beautiful landscape painted in frozen white. Tall, frozen peaks rose throughout the area below. Not just in the woodland, but as far as her eyes could see. The snowfall was thicker out here, so she could not see too far, but the view was majestic. Like out of a picture book.
She could feel the wind howling against her, sweeping over the tall mountains behind her as if to direct her gaze towards something. Following the wind, she could only see a faint, blue-purple glow in the distance.
Yet for what she could see, she could not see anything resembling civilization. Nothing except the blue-purple glow. It was too far to walk in this weather.
Turning towards the mountainside to search for anything she could use as shelter. The mountains were steep, but not insurmountable. Looking up she could see the occasional animal climbing the mountainside. Large goats, climbing the mountain defiantly despite the incline. Following the ridge, she could spot what seemed to be a cave. She could see the telltale signs of a hole at the very least, and the wind was blowing down from above it.
Making a decision, Taylor steeled herself for the ascent. It was quite far up, but it looked like there was some sort of path she could follow up to it. She hoped she was right and maybe she could find some shelter within.
Her life depended on it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The climb upwards was excruciating, but each step brought her closer to her destination. Inwardly she thanked her father for his insistence on getting her 'boots fit for winter' and a coat to go with them. Every step was a reminder of the intense cold.
As she finally reached the mouth of the cave she got a better look at its walls. The cave was unnatural, yet did not look man-made. It looked like it had been carefully carved into the cliffside. She hoped she could seek shelter inside. She was uncertain whether or not it would be safe, but she did not have the luxury of being choosy. Seeing the dwindling glimmers of the sun fighting to peek over the cliffs the temperature was sure to drop. She would need to dare step into this cave.
Hopefully, the cave wouldn't have an occupant.
Glancing out to the frozen landscape she left behind, she could see several unnatural structures littering the cliffs. The snowfall had let up and she could finally look out and survey this frozen scenery.
The view left her breathless.
It looked as if she was in some sort of frozen volcano crater. Large, icy mountains appeared to surround everything. Vegetation was sparse, but some mighty pine trees stood defiantly against the landscape, clustered into small woodlands. Everywhere the tall, frozen spires rose from the ground, towering above everything. Even the surrounding mountains were dwarfed by these frozen spires. Yet despite the natural landscape's impressiveness, they paled before the crater's centrepiece.
In the middle stood an enormous structure. It's tall, glacial walls towered above the trees below. It rose from another deeper hole at the centre. Above the central structure floated a series of five enormous disks. No, not disks: carved out tori. That is to say, giant, floating, carved out rock doughnuts. These gravity-defying doughnuts were ornamented by a series of large arches and more trees. The top-level was crowned by a series of spires and running through the centre of them rose a pillar of purple light which towered high above the entire structure.
It was beautiful.
A cold gust of wind broke her out of her daze, she could not linger and admire the view. The light of the sun was rapidly disappearing behind the distant cliffs and she could feel the evening chill creeping in. She had little choice. She had to enter the cave to seek shelter.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Stumbling into the dark cave Taylor found the air steadily growing warmer. The degree of which was unexpected, but welcome. She could feel herself slowly warming up. Unfortunately, this also meant that the frozen waste of the locker was slowly thawing and was beginning to smell. She could do nothing but press on.
Taylor couldn't see anything, but the deeper she got the more audibly she could hear the sound of dripping water. No, not just dripping water, a stream.
Fumbling into the dark, she followed the sound. Slowly but steadily crawling forward to avoid stepping into a crevice. Or something worse.
Then she felt it.
Water.
A stream of water-soaked her hand. It was cool, but not freezing as she would have expected. It was small. Just a stream. It flowed further into the cave. Down, into the cave. This stream would hopefully provide her with drinking water. Not that she had a choice in how to obtain water. Eating snow was out of the question, that was a quick way to freeze to death. She'd have to gamble on its safety.
Carefully, she reached her left hand into the stream. Testing it. It ran cleanly off her hand. Her throat was dry and she knew she needed to drink something. The safest thing to do was probably to get some snow from outside, melt it and drink it, but she had nothing to contain it. She would have to chance on this water. She reached for the streams with both hands, cupping them together to catch the water. Then, she brought her hands to her lips. The water was cool. She could not feel anything off about it. She drank deeply from her hands, scooping her hands into the stream once more and repeating the motion. Again and again. Four scoops of water to quench her thirst. Every gulp gave her more strength; strength she did not know she had lost over the hours. She reached for a fifth but stopped, she knew too much water after dehydration was dangerous. It was tempting to take a fifth scoop. No, this would have to suffice. She could always drink more later.
Resolving to delve further into the cave, she followed the stream. Every step into the dark made the air slightly warmer. Her eyes were slowly getting adjusted to the darkness, the only source of light being the increasingly distant mouth of the cave. It was still almost pitch black and she could not see far ahead of her. Progress was still slow, better take her time than stumble on something. The air was steadily becoming more liveable and she hoped it would get warm enough for her to shed her coat to rinse off whatever was stuck to it from the locker. At the same time, she had to figure out something to feed her and for that, she would have to leave the cave. She had secured a water source, she hoped it was clean enough to drink without consequence. She did not exactly have a choice.
The darkness still dominated the cave, but Taylor eventually found herself capable of seeing, even if just a little. She grew more confident in her steps. It was strange. She should not be able to see in this cave, yet she found herself able to. Even if it was a slight greyscale. She was still following the stream, which had lead her to a small basin. She could not see further than the water's surface, so she could not tell if the water flowed through an outlet at the bottom. She dared not chance it and as such decided not to rinse off her coat, so as not to pollute her water supply. It was finally warm enough for her to take the coat off and she wasted no time in discarding it. She would have to wear it leaving the cave, but at least down here, she could take it off.
Taylor had to plan her next move. She had a water source and a source of heat, she now needed food. Luckily for her, her parents had taught her basic survival skills at an early age. The three of them would go camping together, and she would help setting simple traps for small animals. She had passed what she suspected were a few animal trails in the woods during her ascent, places she could trap for small game. The problem was that she had no tools, nor rope for which she could use to set traps.
No. She had something she could use. Her father had seen to that, even if unwittingly.
She could feel her stomach churning in hunger. Humans could technically go weeks without food, but she was not keen on seeing how long she'd last.
Right now, she was tired. Too tired for much more. She had no idea how much time had passed since she passed out in the locker, but she had been walking and climbing for at least four hours after waking up.
She sat down next to the basin. The cave was warm. Warm enough that she would not freeze to death. Warm enough...
Taylor awoke slowly. Her bed was surprisingly hard and she had apparently managed to kick off her duvet. Strange. She had not done that since she was little. Her room was also surprisingly warm, she could not recall raising the temperature. She tried to turn to a more comfortable position and found the mattress not giving in.
She jolts up, wide awake. It is pitch black, yet for some reason, she can make out her surroundings ever so slightly. Everything is grey-scaled, but she could see. Next to her, she can see her discarded coat. She could make out the look of filth that was still sticking to it.
The cave was still warm, thankfully, and sleeping had given her some more energy. She was still hungry, but alive. She had been uncertain whether or not she'd live through the first 24 hours, but so far so good.
Looking around the cave some more she could see more details to its structure. It was unnatural. She could see large, deliberate gashes all around as if someone or something had torn into whatever rock this was. Then a thought struck her. It wasn't that she could see in the dark, the cave was slightly illuminated. She stood up and walked over to one of the cave's walls. The gashes were glowing, ever so slightly. A faint, almost unnoticeable, cyan glow, but enough to light up the cave, ever so slightly. The implication was – terrifying. It should be enough for her to immediately vacate the cave, but she had nowhere to go, nowhere else to seek shelter in this inhospitable place.
Her thought process was interrupted by her growling stomach, she would have to forage for something, anything, to eat.
The climb out of the cave was smoother than her trip in; now being aware of the sliver of light provided by the walls. Reaching the mouth of the cave she once again got to take in the spectacular scenery. It was still early, the sun was hanging low over the mountains opposite the strange centre structure and she could still see the moon lingering near it.
Taylor did a double-take. There was not just one moon in the sky. There were two. One was pale white and much larger than the moon orbiting Earth. The second, the smaller one, glowed a cool blue, looking as if it was chasing its larger counterpart.
This was not Earth, could not possibly be Earth.
Taylor could feel her breath shortening. She could just stare at the twin moons. Her head began spinning, thoughts racing. What had happened? Had she triggered somehow to become a parahuman? No. Parahumans had an intuitive, almost instinctual, grasp of their newfound superpowers, her mother had been quite clear on that. She could not feel any unfamiliar tug at the back of her mind, yearning to be unleashed. Had she gone astray with some sort of arcane tinkertech, absurdly advanced technology no one could understand, and been flung into another dimension, like the parallel Earth Aleph? How could that be? She was locked in her locker. Thoughts flew back to some mysterious rescuer, but what sort of rescuer would release her from her prison, only to leave her on a foreign world in the cold? Was it some sort of experiment gone wrong? Her thoughts kept racing and nausea was setting in, it was getting hard to focus.
She caught herself, bringing her hands to her mouth. She could not afford to panic over her discovery. She could deal with this when she had secured food. She kept her hands over her mouth, restricting airflow through her mouth. Focus on breathing through her nose. Inhale – exhale. Inhale – exhale. Concentrate only on her breath. Inhale – exhale. Taylor could feel her breath slowing down, and with it, nausea slowly dissipated.
Food. She had to get food. Worry about an existential crisis later, when her continued survival was ensured. She had seen some things that looked like berries the other day, but she had not dared to forage for any. They'd have to be a last resort; she had no frame of reference on what was safe and what was not. She would have to hunt, or trap, small game; something like rabbits, squirrels, or equivalent.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
After searching for seemingly hours Taylor finally found a good place. The trees and broken stumps had created a natural funnel. Small creatures would follow the trail through this passage, there were coincidentally also a number of springy looking saplings scattered about. Perfect for a snare. She would need to find some branches and rocks to set it up. To make sure she began inspecting the surrounding saplings, testing their springiness. Most were too stiff to bend, others were too weak and had snapped. She finally found one that would suit her needs for an engine sapling. It was not too stiff and was tall and strong, she would have to wrestle with it, but it would hopefully suit her needs.
Satisfied with the sapling, Taylor began searching for a suitable, thick branch to use as a base and one to use as a trigger. Searching for suitable branches took several minutes, but she eventually found two thick, snapped off branches in the snow. They would have to do for the base and trigger.
Taylor made sure to take note of any edible looking plants and berries that peered over the surface of the snow and in the bushes as she was searching. She could see several tracks around, indicating that something had been here before, grazing on the bushes. She did not want to resort to eating unknown berries, but it was good to have a backup plan if a desperate one.
She walked back to the clearing with her spoils and got working on her trap. She unlaced her boots and tied them together with a simple square knot, followed up by tying a poacher's knot on one end and leading the rope back through the loop. The two laces would give her a good-sized noose to catch prey in. Grabbing hold of the engine sapling she secured the loose end of her snare and tied it tightly to the branch. Making sure to stay below the engine's whiplash she tested its springiness once more, finding it satisfactory to hopefully catch some small game. She then attached the trigger branch to the rope with another, simple loop, giving the snare a nice, almost ninety-degree angle to the noose itself.
The next step was to secure the base into the ground, attach the trigger and set the noose. Simple enough affair. She plunged the base into the snow. The snow was deep, it was unlikely that her branch reached the soil below. Once again she dragged the sapling down and carefully laid the loop on the trail, then she attached the trigger to the base.
Moment of truth.
Leaning backwards, away from the trap, she let go of the trigger.
The sapling snapped upwards, sending the base flying.
She tried again, but try as she might she could not get the base branch to stay grounded when the engine sapling was attached. The branch would just slip out of the snow.
She couldn't go on like this. The desperate, backup plan it was; time to forage for questionable berries.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Taylor was carrying her foraged goods in a makeshift bag made from her t-shirt. She had, in a moment of brilliance or insanity, quickly stripped away her warm coat and sweater to get to her shirt, removed it, tied shut the arms and neck, so she could carry more berries in it. She had managed to harvest a good amount of berries but had yet to try any outright. If she were to be poisoned by them, at least let it be a warm place with water where she might be able to recover.
"Svabol ui nomeno?" a voice called from above. It was distant, yet at the same time, it echoed so loudly Taylor could not help but shift her gaze upwards.
In the distance above the trees, she heard the sound of something. Like the sound of massive, beating wings. She could feel the air itself displace under the weight of whatever wings were holding, was rapidly approaching, afloat. Suddenly, there was a massive gust of wind, which knocked her off her feet, and she saw an enormous, blue blur fly over the treetops, causing the snow caught by their branches to fall. Whatever it was, Taylor did not want to find out.
"Thric fiik usv kabru xurwk seirvu hefoc nomenoi," the voice called again, this time barely noticeable.
Taylor glanced in the direction the – thing – had flown, the direction of where she had attempted to set her snare. She was not going back in that direction any time soon.
She paused.
Her footprints. Clearly legible in the deep snow. Whatever had flown above could most likely follow her tracks. She did not want to come face to face with whatever it was. The snow was too deep to easily cover-up.
She had to reach the cave. Hopefully, before it came back. If it could track her, the odds were slim.
Taylor started running. The deep snow made it difficult and carrying her makeshift bags even more so. She would probably have to discard her prize if it came to it.
The slow, rhythmic, thumping sound returned.
"Si jahus harkt, mobi ui vi mablik tenpiswo."
The voice was almost gentle, but even roses have thorns. She would not get lulled into false security over a voice's timbre.
Taylor's curiosity got the better of her. She could not help but look up, over the trees.
A great, blue figure hovered over them. Giant, rhythmically beating wings kept it afloat. It's tail, tipped with what looked to be like an icy mace, hung beneath it, swaying back and forth. From its head grew two massive, curled horns, draped with some sort of decorative, purple clothing adorned with what looked like golden runes. Across its torso hung some sort of ornate, golden plate with a huge, purple, glowing gem centrepiece and attached to the sides of the plates were more horns, albeit a different colour to the horns it adorning its head. The same sort of plate and gem, but smaller, could be seen on its forehead, like an accessory. Its massive claws were also decorated, each talon with more gold and their wrists being wrapped with large, gold bracelets. The final feature Taylor noticed was its icy blue, glowing eyes, and the way it was tilting its head almost in confusion, clearly intelligent.
The sheer size of it defied reality. It was large enough to swallow her whole. Something that big should not possibly be capable of flying. While its wingspan was enormous, what little she knew about aerodynamics and biology told her it was impossible; it was not large enough to carry its bearer's weight. It was a giant, flying, blue lizard.
No. There was a word for this. She wanted to deny it, but reality was in front of her. Dragon. Not one of the greatest heroes of her home planet, but a real, mythical dragon. It was majestic in a way, like one out of her old books. Dragons, in most books, were not benevolent towards humans. This one had her in its sights. It was appraising her. The choice was simple.
Run.
"Pok! Si jatil thric levnim!" it called.
Taylor dropped her makeshift bag of food and made for the trees. Her best option was to seek shelter between their trunks and try to lose it in between the trees. She did not know the capabilities of the reptile, but she would take no chances to give it an easy target. Unfortunately, the density was not too high, so she probably could not try to lose it under the canopy. Her only option was to wait it out, and hope it would find easier prey elsewhere.
"Wux re ti tokeq tenpiswo!"
The dragon swiftly flew overhead, knocking snow off the treetops. Was it trying to flush her out? Taylor's stomach growled loudly in protest. This was not the time! Focus on surviving this. Everything else is secondary.
Another gust of wind blew past her, knocked her to the ground. The trees she had been hiding under was gone! No trace of them could be seen anywhere, it was as if they never were there. She could feel her heart beating hard in her throat as realization dawned upon her. She was trapped.
Taylor's feet gave out below her and the ground came rushing towards her. The last she saw before her eyes rolled to the back of her head was the terrifying claws of the dragon settling down next to her.
"Hofibavi, hofibavi mablik," the dragon's tone was almost resigned.
Taylor awoke back in the dark. She was warm, nothing like the biting cold of the landscape she knew she passed out in. She was covered by some manner of soft fabric. No, fur. A pelt of some kind. It was all around her; on the ground and covering her. Not far away she could hear the familiar sound of trickling water. Her eyes slowly adjusted. Looking around she made out the water basin she had drunk so deeply from before.
She was back in the cave she had taken as shelter.
In the distance, she could hear a heavy, heaving sound. In. Out. In. Out. Inhale. Exhale. The rhythm was constant.
Maybe the dragon was sleeping? She could not tell. Maybe the dragon was tired after hunting her? Maybe whatever power the dragon used to make the trees around her vanish was taxing and the dragon had to sleep it off?
So many maybes.
Wiggling from beneath the pelts Taylor found herself wearing some sort of blue gown, not a trace of her previous clothes remained. Any trace and scent of the locker had also vanished. Gone was the grime stuck to her hair, the stench which clung to her.
She was clean.
Had the dragon adorned her like some sort of twisted trophy? Like a trapped princess, from the old fairy tales? She was no princess, but she was nobody's trophy!
Taylor shuddered. She had to leave. She had to get away from the dragon.
"Jaseveir zyak trelkvra?"
Taylor froze.
"Coi ui quite gul ifnitot. Si tir ti vucot sjek vi munthrek, mishun lae doutan, ornla tuor ekess gethrisj ekik mobi."
The voice was calm, soothing even. The same voice that had chased her before she passed out.
"Shala ve ekess kontzu'kre wer waere, zyak wux shilta ocuir."
The dimness quickly faded, as the cave began to light up, the faintly glowing gashes that made up the walls glowing with increasing intensity.
"Jaka visp ve: svabol ui vi mablik mishun lae wux tirir tenpiswo? Munthra mabliki xoal ekess itrewic vi nymuerir mrith wer Tijafrun."
The dragon was assuredly not sleeping.
"Si mi Tarecgosa. Svaust re wux, ekess confn ekess wer gul myvillion? Si siofmea nuwa'jimosi, mishun lae wux, ornla zexenuma mrith wer hrrac ihk vi lauth throdenilt eorikci?"
Contextually Talyor could only make out two things from the sentences. The blatant capitalization of the word: Tarecgosa and the inflexions of something that seemed like questions.
Taylor turned around. The dragon's bright, blue scales shone in the lit-up cavern. It was regarding her with – curiosity? Interest? She could not tell. At least she wasn't dinner. Yet. She instinctively backed away from it. There was no telling what the dragon might do.
"Thric rigluin ekess gewj zyak nouhaia," it said. The dragon tilted its head slightly to the left. "Wux tir ti kampiun, tir wux?" the dragon said, with a demeanour that made Taylor think of a sigh.
"Ras lenime fa'dur?"
There was something different about how the dragon said it, Taylor could not quite put her finger on it, it seemed like it was fumbling with the words.
"Anu'del Darnassae?"
Another difference in how the dragon spoke, this one far smoother with pronunciation. Was the dragon trying out different languages to see if she would understand any? None of them had any resemblance to any language Taylor had heard of on Earth, unsurprisingly.
"Svanoa bveckra." The dragon rose its massive claw and made a beckoning motion. "Confn, confn, wux jalla sone," it said, before doing something.
Taylor could feel the air displace slightly as something shifted into the space between them. A table. Filled with food. At least, it looked like food. Bread, meats, fruits and cheese, it was like a feast to her starving stomach. Strangely she could recognize the shape of several of the fruits, there were grapes and apples, oranges and bananas and several others she had seen in the supermarket. How was that possible? Everything on this world was so foreign, yet also familiar. Her stomach made an unwelcome, loud, grumbling sound.
The dragon gave her an odd look, and let out a soft, chipper sound. A giggle? The dragon was amused? It was hard to tell.
Did she dare approach the table and indulge upon this offer? She was famished, yet the offer was being made by a dragon. Not Dragon, one of the greatest heroes on Earth Bet, but a genuine, scaled, enormous, flying lizard-kind and most likely fire-breathing dragon. Its intelligence was nothing to be disputed, trying to communicate in several ways, yet Taylor could not bring herself to trust its intentions.
Taylor had no one to rely on except herself. As usual.
A soft growl echoed in the chamber, once more. Taylor did her best to ignore it.
The dragon tilted its head to the side. "Wux nafl jalla sone," it said with a soft, stern tone as if scolding her.
The two sat in their stalemate
The dragon rose from its prone position. "Si geou qe spicrthel rah," it said and started walking towards the cave entrance. "Keh," it paused, "i jalla lorit wux persvek, zyak wux tir ti itrewic tikil tisvelk ulhyrri. Ihk dout kurjh algbo drekim. Onelka ve."
The air between Taylor and the dragon shimmered slightly, as a blue, translucent something settled between them. The dragon took one final glance towards Taylor and once again motioned towards the table before leaving the cave.
Taylor decided to wait a few minutes, to make sure the dragon was well and truly gone. Her treacherous mind stole glances towards the table, but she refused to give. For now, she had to work out the next step. The food was most likely safe, but she wanted to test whatever the dragon had put between them.
Ten minutes Taylor counted, or somewhere close to. She got up and took a weary step towards the climb towards the cave's exit. Reaching her hand carefully towards the blue, transparent wall. Her fingers reached it first. She could feel them pushing against it. It was strong. She pushed harder, but whatever it was was immovable. It was like a barrier. A transparent, strong wall.
Of course, the dragon would not just let her leave.
Taylor walked along the barrier, trying to find some weakness. She was not expecting to find any, but she had to make sure. She had to. Part of her was intrigued with the possibility of magic; the dragon was real so why not magic? The question was whether magic was innate, harnessing the world's energy or something else entirely.
Magic and systems thereof were something of a discussion point she had had with her mother as a child. From the seemingly innate magic in the Earth Aleph book series Harry Potter to the rich worlds found in the Dungeons and Dragons books which had all manners of magical sources. Her mother, as an English literature professor, had gifted a thirst of knowledge upon her. This thirst was cultivated from an early age, where Taylor would devour books and ask questions relentlessly. Always trying to widen the horizon, always wanting to see was beyond it. She was the little owl.
Taylor caught herself before she followed that thought further. For now, she was trapped within some sort of magical barrier. Trapped with a large table, decked with food. Nothing else to do about it. She would need all her strength if she was to try to escape at some point.
Carefully she tested a grape. It had a slightly different flavour than the grapes she was used to, but it was a grape.
She would not be trapped again. Not without a fight. She would not be some trophy, some puppet. She would have her freedom.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The human Tarecgosa had found in the snow was nothing short of an enigma. Firstly it seemed to be a juvenile, just shy of maturity, female human. Normally, one would expect humans to be far older before they would try to brave Coldarra, the frozen home of the Blue Dragonflight, to meet with its master.
Coldarra was always covered in ice and snow. It was the crater of a long-dormant supervolcano, separated from the mainland by its master millennia ago. Its unique location and geography ensured a steady supply of snow, no matter what time of the year. Mortal mages would often venture to the island, hoping to gain an audience with its master. Most such mages would be turned away at the Frostbridge.
The bridge was built thousands of years ago, commissioned by the island's lord himself, to allow his scholarly friend to approach unaided. The bridge itself spanned the Westrift, which separated the island from the mainland and led to a tunnel that would guide travellers through the side of the mountain. It was closely monitored by drakonid sentries, yet Tarecgosa had not heard of any mortal attempting to cross the bridge within her lifetime. That was not to say it mattered much, but the drakonids watching the bridge, formal mortals as they were, would often gossip about the ongoings around the rift; mostly about the ongoings of the nearby mortal outpost of Amber Ledge.
Next were the strange clothes the human wore. Tarecgosa had never seen anything like it, but this was also the first mortal she had seen, so who knew what sort of fabrics ordinary mortals wore? The clothes were clearly made to stave off cold weather, but they were also covered in filth; no sentient being would cover themselves with such willingly. Tarecgosa had disposed of its clothes, with exception of its boots. She could easily supply the human with better, clean clothes that would keep its wearer warm. The only reason the boots were spared were the strange material the soles were made of, maybe there was a special reason for it that the mortal would want to keep.
The most concerning part about the mortal were the absolute lack of a magical signature. It was like it was completely devoid of magic! This was unheard of; every being on Azeroth had some sort of magical signature! While the signature could be suppressed through stringent practice, the human child did not appear to have any such practice. Nor did it carry any artefact that could maintain such a suppression while its wearer was unconscious. This humans lack of magical signature was natural. Or unnatural. Natural for her. The human.
For the time being Tarecgosa would consult with Kalecgos, her older, adoptive brother, he could likely also point her in the right direction to discerning the wayward mortal's origins, and a way to communicate.
Landing at one of the higher alcoves of the Nexus, she made her way down into the ancient fortress. The fortress stood as the citadel and seat of the Blue Dragonflight's power, it housed, to the best of everyone's knowledge, the largest collection of magical artefacts and knowledge on the planet and intersected with several of the planet's leylines. Malygos, the great Aspect of Magic and leader of the Blue Dragonflight, had thousands of years ago made this caldera his home and over time constructed the massive fortress majority of the flight now called home.
The fortress itself was structured into three primary layers: the Nexus Caverns, which stretched deep into the caverns below, was by far the largest. The caverns contained several vaults and libraries dedicated to magical artefacts and arcane knowledge and it was the largest layer of the fortress. Several dragons made the Nexus Caverns their home, and deep within were sanctums for raising whelps. It was more accurate to say that the Nexus Caverns had gradually been excavated whenever there was a need for more space. The tunnels below the fortress itself stretched all across the island, and the magic within was dense enough to be seen in some parts of the cavern.
Situated on top of the Nexus Caverns, built up from the centre of the external fortress, stood the Eye of Eternity, serving as Malygos' private sanctum. It was directly accessible from the centre of the fortress, however, several magical protections on its entrance, woven by the Spellbinder himself, would ward off any would-be intruder. Only a select few of the flight would ever see its interior.
Finally, the Oculus being the various discs and platforms floating in the skies high above the Nexus. The various tiers of the Oculus had different functions, but as a collection, the four primary bands could be used to harness and direct the energies of the leylines below from the Eye of Eternity. The Oculus also served as a common area for the flight, where members would meet and discuss magical theory, world events and just about anything they would want.
As Tarecgosa made her way down the exterior, passing by the entrance to the Eye of Eternity, down towards the Nexus Caverns.
"Welcome back, my lady," one of the patrolling guards greeted her. It was one of the drakonids, large, reptilian humanoids that served as the Dragonflights' foot soldiers. "What brings you to the Nexus today?"
"I am looking for Kalecgos, there is something of a mystery I need his assistance with unravelling," Tarecgosa replied.
"I understand. I am, however, afraid that lord Kalecgos is currently on an errand for the Master."
Tarecgosa gave a short nod. "I also require a tome on translation magics and whatever we have on human languages, so I'm going down to the Librarium."
"Very well, my lady. I must return to my watch. I hope your search will be fruitful." The guard bowed to her and continued on its patrol.
Tarecgosa was puzzled that the Spellweaver would send Kalecgos on an errand; the Spellweaver rarely bothered with anything apart from moping in his sanctuary.
No matter, she still had research she could do on her own in the Librarium. The little mortal did not seem to recognize any of the common tongues, if it did not recognize any other human languages, something more direct may be in order.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Si tepoha confn spical!" came from the cave entrance, shortly afterwards the dragon came into view. "Si mi petranasgarh ekess ocuir batobot wux tepoha sonetor." The dragon's tone was calm, almost sounding relieved.
The barrier shattered, as if glass, as the dragon approached it.
"Si zklaen yenta si mi throdenilti relieved batobot wux tepoha ti zulf wer waere, wux ornla khruvi tepoha coanwor loreata persvek wer kepesk ifnitot."
As the dragon stepped into the cave fully, Taylor could see a large box trailing behind it. Floating. What had the dragon brought with it that needed a box?
"Si tepoha wyoga vi lauth turasjiric shafaer creol zezhuanth xanalrei. Di ekmiv, si tir ti expect wux ekess kampiun svabol si mi yentair harkt jaka, shar si charis ekess ehtah creolnali wux geou vucot. Sjek ti, si tepoha vi idol ihk batobot sjek coi confnic ekess coi." It sounded very pleased with itself; smug, even.
A soft pop resonated in the cavern. Taylor turned towards its source, the food-topped table. Former food-topped table. The food had somehow stayed warm and fresh, despite the passing hours since the dragon had conjured it. Now, the food was gone and only a pristine, clean table with an equally pristine tablecloth was left. The dragon moved over to it, setting the box in front of it. The lid of the box flew open, and a row of books flew from inside and laid themselves gently onto the table.
The dragon made a beckoning motion. "Confn, origato udoka ocuir sjek wux vucot tikil di wer xanalrei persvek nomenoi turasjiric," it said, gesturing its claw over the books and pointed at the chair next to the table.
Understanding its meaning, Taylor wearily walked to sit in the chair. As she sat down, the chair moved, by itself, to situate her in the middle of the table. A book flew in from the side and opened itself in front of her, on a seemingly random page.
Taylor glanced over the page. It was mostly covered in diagrams, but there was something that looked like written text. It was nothing like anything Taylor had ever seen before, it might as well be random scribbles. She looked up at the dragon and gave it a questioning look.
"Wux shilta ti urcaxa, usv wux shilta ti urcaxa nomeno?" it said.
The book went airborne again, floating up in front of the dragon. Once more, it began speaking and once more it felt like yet another language, it clearly had some difficulty pronouncing it.
"I do not understand," Taylor said, interrupting the dragon.
The dragon looked away from the book and directly at her, tilting its head slightly.
Taylor shook her head, hoping it would understand.
The dragon nodded. At least they could communicate with gestures.
Somewhat.
The dragon lifted its left claw and held it towards its chest. "Tarecgosa," it said. Was that its name, or what it was? Taylor had heard it use that word before, so it was most likely its name. It was hopefully an introduction.
Taylor mimicked the gesture. "Taylor," she said.
The dragon, presumably named Tarecgosa, was making efforts to communicate, so it was unlikely that it was going to do anything harmful to her. For now.
The dragon, Tarecgosa, gave her a nod in response. A new book flew in from the side as put itself between them. It was different, not so much diagrams as it was images of what looked like flowers and other plants and the specifics of their anatomy. Yet again the scribbles were illegible for Taylor. They were notably different from the previous tome, but that did little to help with understanding, other than there were numerous languages on this world.
This cycle would repeat itself. Over and over. Dozens of books were inspected; some had the same written form, others had vastly different ones. By the end the two must have gone through at least forty books, Tarecgosa reading an excerpt from each whenever Taylor did not recognize anything. Some of the books looked ancient, while others looked relatively new. Materials differed, bindings differed, pages, so many different ways to write, make and bind books.
Normally, this would excite Taylor. New things to read, new things to learn, to see, to experience, yet no book brought them closer to something Taylor could recognize.
She really was on a completely foreign world, a world with nothing in common with her home. Of course, it wouldn't, the universe would not be so predictable.
"Wer tonn idol coi ui, hak," Tarecgosa finally softly said, its disappointment thick in its tone. It then turned around and moved to one of the cavern's corners. "Kalecgos agantal yenta si jalla tepoha vi sorwhitaj tharm persvek tenpiswo, filiik nomeno ui vi bensvelk vi tairais lae tikil ekess xurwk ir,"
Tarecgosa's claws began glowing a fiery orange and it lashed out at the cave's walls. Taylor could feel the intense heat radiating from its actions. What was the dragon doing? Tarecgosa held its claw at the wall for a good couple of minutes before withdrawing its claw. The wall was glowing faintly from the intense heat the dragon had put into it.
Next, Tarecgosa took a deep breath. From its maw spewed what looked like an intense, miniature blizzard. Once again, Taylor could feel the temperature in the cave drastically shift, just being near the dragon's breath gave her cold shivers! The wall began to visibly crack in the immediate area Tarecgosa had heated. After half a minute of focusing its icy breath upon the defenceless wall, it snapped its maw shut. Then, it gave the wall a firm tap with its claws and parts of the wall crumbled away, spreading rubble across the cavern.
The rubble began to glow as some of it combined seamlessly back together to form what appeared to be platforms. These platforms hovered just above the ground, being decorated with glowing, purple symbols. More rubble was brought on top of these platforms and they steadily floated away to unload their cargo before coming back.
For hours Tarecgosa toiled. Again and again. A steady cycle of blistering heat and freezing temperatures. Piling more and more rubble to the side.
Taylor sought refuge beneath the pelts she had woken up in, they were thick enough to shield from the drastic swings in temperature.
As Tarecgosa worked, it would seemingly transmute some of the rubble into tall pillars to support the excavation. The speed it worked at was astounding.
Magic was unfair, Taylor decided.
Tarecgosa had managed to excavate a fairly large space. It was almost perfectly circular and large enough to room its massive size and more. The ceiling was curved into arcs with five perfectly spaced pillars spread around to support it. Various pieces of rubble had been transmuted into the floor to make it perfectly and disturbingly levelled. It looked nothing like a large reptile just had dug it out with generous use of thermal shock and claws, but something an obsessively diligent architect would set out to make.
Then Tarecgosa began work on something. It appeared meticulous the way it began trailing its claw across the floor. It was very different from the previous excavation, it was carving something carefully into the stone floor.
No, not carving, whatever it was doing was not leaving any gashes on the floor. Instead yellow, glowing lines followed in the trail of its claw. First, a large circle, staying within the confines of the supporting pillars, then another circle, slightly smaller, but still leaving a large, empty circle. Next, it started making short, straight lines from the inner circle, each connecting to those next to them, followed by placing a smaller circle in the centre of all those lines, eventually making it look like an illustration of a sun with fifteen points. Another smaller circle was traced within the inner circle, offset and connected to the edge of the containing circle, creating a crescent embedded inside the sun. Tarecgosa kept drawing its claw over across the floor, adding even more details to the circle which Taylor could not make out most of the specifics of. Lines in the crescent, what might have been writing around the inner circle of the sun, a star in the smallest circle with an echo of it in the crescent? Finally, between the points of the sun-like shape, it made some final strokes. Runes. They looked like Norse runes, fifteen total, just inside of the outer double circle.
Tarecgosa took a step back to look at its creation. Like the disturbingly level floor, whatever the dragon had drawn was precise, nothing like something that was drawn by such a large, seemingly imprecise being. This was a practised action. No magical assistance, no hesitation, just methodology and experience. It gave a satisfied nod to itself.
"Jaka, Tailur, petranas stharl irsa wer sorwhitaj tharm," Tarecgosa said softly, gesturing towards the centre of the circle.
Whatever Tarecgosa had meant, Taylor did not understand what the dragon was trying to indicate. She gave it a questioning look.
Tarecgosa, apparently, managed to understand her confusion. Its eyes glowed deep purple briefly.
Between the two of them, a figure shimmered into existence. The figure looked like her! It was slightly transparent. An illusion? Whatever it was, it walked over to the middle of the circle and sat down, then it faded from existence.
Tarecgosa tilted its head slightly, looking at Taylor inquisitively, motioning its head towards the circle.
"Fine, fine," Taylor said and rose from her pile of furs.
It was jarring to cross into the circle, Taylor could feel her hair stand slightly on end. Now standing in the middle of the circle, the fine details of the inner circle were legible. More cryptic symbols surrounded the inner circle, nothing like Taylor ever had seen before. A series of straight lines traced within the inner circle, forming four rotating squares, only being cut off by the offset circle which formed the crescent and its smaller mirror. The same symbols also surrounded the inner mirror circle. It looked more like the offset circle had been put on top.
The outer runes definitely looked Norse; living in the city with one of the largest presence of neo-nazis in the United States made her very conscious of the symbols they liked to use. It disgusted her. Not the symbols themselves, but the nazi's habit of appropriating and irreparably tainting other cultures' symbolism.
Did Norse symbols have a greater meaning that transcended worlds? If so, how come no one noticed? If they were somehow connected to magic, why did not Earth have a trace of Magic? Did Earth at some point have magic?
Taylor's musings were abruptly interrupted by the sound of Tarecgosa speaking: "origato udoka tlush."
Taylor sat down in the middle of the circle, as shown by the illusion.
"Ymuer ve, sepa di arcaniss, nixeu di xurwkir svaust dronilnric forth gavir!"
Taylor could feel the weight of the words Tarecgosa spoke. They had some sort of significance. All around her the symbols slowly began to rotate, one set after the other, each new set in the opposite direction of the previous.
"Dronilnr udoka wer regipreic svabolen renthisj mrith nomenes svaust faestir wer treskri."
Each sentence a proclamation upon the world, each word bending reality to its will.
Taylor could feel her body rising from the floor, levitating just a few inches off the ground as if lifted by a platform. She felt as if solid ground was beneath her, but she was floating.
"Fehlim wer regipre di Maladath ooblei acht nomeno mablik karkun," Tarecgosa finished.
The symbols abruptly stopped, one after the other, reforming into the initial array.
Then: pain. So much pain. It felt like molten lava was being poured over her brain. Taylor tried to open her mouth to scream, but she had no control over her body. It felt like all the nerves of her body were being activated, all at once, as her body arched backwards. It felt like needles were being inserted all over. It was maddening, but she held on. She could feel something pushing against the pain, pushing against this overwhelming pain. She tried to follow the foreign presence, only to be abruptly cut off from it. It felt like a part of her had gone missing, and with it, a renewed wave of pain washed over her.
"If you do not understand this, I do not know what to make of it," Tarecgosa said. English? No, it still spoke whatever language it was speaking earlier, yet Taylor could feel her brain translate the words.
"Yes, now make it stop!" Taylor screamed. The words were foreign in her mouth, her tongue twisting in ways it never had done before as she spoke.
"Ah, my apologies," the dragon said.
The blue, glowing symbols below Taylor ceased to glow and quickly vanished. She collapsed to the ground like a sack.
"Ah! Tailur?!" Tarecgosa said with notable concern in its tone. In an instant Taylor found herself staring up at the dragon's enormous face, its eyes frantically scanning her. "Oh, the spell did warn there could be unpleasant side effects!" it fussed. "I am sorry! I am sorry! Are you alright, Tailur?!"
For each unrecognised word, Taylor could feel her head try to cleave itself in half, as something in her head scrambled to translate whatever the dragon said. All she could do was lie paralysed on the cavern's floor, pained groans escaping her lips.
"Stop talking! It hurts!" Taylor yelled in desperation, each new word, each new conjugation bringing another wave of pain, sending her reeling across the floor.
Tarecgosa took a step back and fell silent, but kept its gaze on Taylor. The way the dragon kept swaying its head back and forth while keeping its gaze fixed on her made her think of an overly excited and curious puppy.
It was almost cute, in its own, terrifying way.
The pain slowly subsided and Taylor slowly regained control over her body. Her mind was still racing uncontrollably, but what little thought process she could muster was sufficient to allow her to sit up. Tarecgosa opened its maw to speak, yet Taylor stopped it by holding up her hand.
The two sat in silence for several minutes, the sounds being the sounds of their breaths and the stream in the background.
"Listen," Taylor began, fighting the building migraine. "It hurts," no pain from those words, "but –" there it was.
Taylor hesitated and took a deep breath.
"Short sentences."
Tarecgosa nodded.
"I am Taylor, Taylor Hebert from Earth Bet," Taylor spoke slowly, taking her time between each word to stagger the intensifying migraine. She considered her next words for a moment and decided to leap in with both feet. "Thank you for saving me."
Tarecgosa looked at her, looking relieved.
"Tarecgosa, of the Blue Dragonflight on Azeroth. You are welcome."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1. "Leaving so soon?"
2. "It is quite cold outside. I do not know if a mortal, such as yourself, would want to go out there."
3. "Allow me to illuminate the cave, so you can see."
4. "Now tell me: what is a mortal such as you doing here? Normally mortals try to gain an audience with the Master."
5. "I am Tarecgosa. Who are you, to come to the cold north? I thought hatchlings, such as you, would stay with the nest for a few more years?"
6. "No need to act so concerned"
7. "You do not understand, do you?"
8. "What about this?"
9. "What about Darnassian?"
10. "How peculiar."
11. "Come, come, you should eat."
12. "You really should eat."
13. "I will return soon."
14. "Ah, I should seal you in, so you do not get any bad ideas. For your own sake. My apologies."
15. "I have returned!"
16. "I am pleased to see that you have eaten."
17. " I must say I am most relieved that you have not left the cave, you would surely have perished in the storm outside."
18. "I have managed to locate a few tomes on some ancient languages. Of course, I don't expect you to understand what I am saying right now, but I hope to find something you'll recognize. If not, I have a solution for that if it comes to it."
19. "Come, see if you can recognize any of the languages in these tomes."
20. "You cannot read, or you cannot read this?"
21. "Dramatic measures it is, then."
22. "Kalecgos always said I should have a ritual circle in here, guess this is a good a time as any to make one."
23. "Now, Tailur, please sit within the ritual circle."
24. "Let us begin."
25. "Hear me, soul of magic, spark of creation who brings forth order!"
26. "Bring forth the gifts which commune with those who serve the world."
27. "Grant the gift of dragon tongues upon this mortal before me."
The described ritual circle and roughly how it spins
I would like to say thank you to CmptrWz for the help with the description of the ritual circle I had a description at the start, and he went over it and gave the description in this chapter.
