- Location
- United States
Because Taylor is from Earth. Would she even understand Any of the Warcraft
languages?
languages?
Scion of the Blue [Worm/Warcraft]
- Thread starter oxycoon
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Professor Vesca
Good News Everyone!
My Vulpera Warlock has that staff. I spent forever grinding to get it.
She'll have to go about that the old fashioned way. It's fascinating how quickly you can learn new languages when you have no other options. Alternatively make a dragon magic you into understanding.
The timeline of this story will... take a while, however. Suffice to say: Taylor won't stay a teenager for long. We have a lot of ground to cover. I have a rough timeline of what I want to happen, and it covers events up until the end of Legion. I won't say where in the timeline we're at right now, but for perspective the beginning of WoW to Legion takes place over the span of 617 to 625 by the King's Calendar, eight years.
Last edited:
- Location
- Within the Light of Hope
Pretty much possible you had her with the blues before Malygos went nuts so I can see Tarecgosa using such a spell on Taylor. I also expect her to fulfill the role of Big Sis to Taylor. And that Malygos geta to be the doting grandad he could have been. If he hadn't taken in the essence of those twilight drakes.
Sylent-M
Be Trans, Take to Heresy
- Pronouns
- Was/Were
Is Taylor never going back to Bet then, or are we looking at a time dilation scenario?
She will be going back to Bet, but not for quite some time. We will be looking at a time dilation scenario for this.
For those who are unfamiliar with Warcraft: time dilation is something that occurs in the universe, and it's explained by: time behaves strangely in Twisting Nether, which is the astral plane between worlds. As an example: two characters in Warcraft have, from their perspective, fought in a war for a thousand years, while for the world of Azeroth only a few decades have passed. This time dilation is how one of the game's expansions could occur, where the adventurers travel to an alternative, past timeline.
1.3 - Tarecgosa
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."
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."
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."
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Appendix for Chapter 1.3: The Ritual Circle
- Pronouns
- Male
This looks like such fun, the Queen of Escalation trained in Azerothian (is that right) warfare by a Blue Dragon...*maniacal cackling*
- Location
- Perth, australia
I'm interested in the translator software or site you used. Because I didn't think Blizz had such a method?
Windborne
Devourer of Stories
- Location
- Oregon
Glad you're back, I was disappointed it hadn't updated in a while so I'm hoping the intervals aren't nearly as long between this and the next chapter(s).
Some thoughts: Not exactly how I saw this chapter going but ok, I am a bit more than curious that Tarecgosa didn't just clean Taylor's clothes since they probably are just as interesting as her boots are in terms of creation methods. Also I wonder if QA is looking for Taylor. I imagine it's pissed off quite a bit at losing its host. That or it's blue screening and/or because Taylor's stuck in the Coldarra there aren't any bugs around at all for her to sense. I wonder if Taylor can use magic, but this chapter has definitely made it seem more unlikely.
Some thoughts: Not exactly how I saw this chapter going but ok, I am a bit more than curious that Tarecgosa didn't just clean Taylor's clothes since they probably are just as interesting as her boots are in terms of creation methods. Also I wonder if QA is looking for Taylor. I imagine it's pissed off quite a bit at losing its host. That or it's blue screening and/or because Taylor's stuck in the Coldarra there aren't any bugs around at all for her to sense. I wonder if Taylor can use magic, but this chapter has definitely made it seem more unlikely.
Nice chapter there @oxycoon
Some of Taylor's actions aren't quite jiving? In the beginning, she appeared too stubborn to even speak aloud, and yet in the second section, she went into an unknown magic circle without any real prompting. I almost feel like she was too stubborn in the first part and jumping too many conclusions, yet at the same time coldly logical?
For example:
Quick correction:
Some of Taylor's actions aren't quite jiving? In the beginning, she appeared too stubborn to even speak aloud, and yet in the second section, she went into an unknown magic circle without any real prompting. I almost feel like she was too stubborn in the first part and jumping too many conclusions, yet at the same time coldly logical?
For example:
and this
feel out of character for immediately post locker Taylor. Or frankly, any recently traumatized teen really. Especially considering the dragon's actions and so forth.
Quick correction:
Pretty sure you meant fussed.
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I used https://draconic.twilightrealm.com for Draconic, however the others I just made up things as I went. I will use that for Draconic whenever it is needed, as for the other languages I cannot really commit to any consistency and it'll probably for the most part just be a bunch of gibberish. One way I can do is to pick a few random languages on google translate, translate between them a bunch of times and use the final output of one of them.
I cannot really make promises there, I'm afraid. My muse likes to jump around, and sometimes she's just silent. I have random chapters and snips much further in really fleshed out because my muse just writes those on auto-pilot. This will really be a "when the next one is ready", I'm afraid because I have problems writing one chapter after another, at least in this beginning part when I'm trying to figure how to flesh out a region and time of the world we don't really know much about.
I don't think her clothes are too interesting for the casual Azerothian, apart from their weaving method being vastly superior compared to what they are used to. The materials of her clothes can be found on Azeroth, as I imagine her clothes in the locker here to be a heavy coat, which would be made out of a wool-like material (it is what I use, personally), her jeans would be cotton, as would the other clothes. The most exotic thing about Taylor's clothes would be any potential plastic buttons and zippers.
The boots are a little bit different, specifically the soles, as they're often made out of some sort of plastic material, which is unavailable for the Azerothians. The boots are also waterproof, which is how I reasoned them being cleaned instead of purged. The clothes would just be tainted beyond use because they will soak up the filth, and I feel completely removing the stains and contamination falls outside of most of Blue Dragonflight's members' repertoire of magic, with them being naturally gifted at Arcane (Order aligned) magic, while this would fall under light or life aligned magic.
Personally, I could use shoes that's been through conditions like the locker, and I have in a way with taking care of farm animals when I was younger, but for other clothes doing this I wore a specific set of clothes that would not be used for anything else, and they'd be some heavy-duty clothes that'd get purged in at least 60 degrees C when washed, and they'd be made to be able to withstand those temperatures.
There might have been a little something in there, subtly referring to everyone's favourite Shard.😇
We'll see some of QA in the future, but not much in all honesty.
There are some reasons for this, but at the same time, it may just be me justifying it to myself.
As it stands, Taylor knows she really has no options right now. It is not a far stretch for her to figure that Tarecgosa can force her if she wants to, which frankly she can. In cases like this, I reckon it's better to go along with what's going on while looking for options.
Perhaps, but the dragon hasn't really done anything overtly hostile yet. Yes, she got hunted down by the dragon and brought to the cave and made sure she could not leave, both of which are definitely hostile, yet after that, the dragon has been making sure she's clean, fed her and made great effort to communicate. Right now, Taylor does not really know what Tarecgosa wants, so all she can do is to make sure she satisfies Tarecgosa's curiosity long enough to make a plan and not become a snack or some other undesirable outcome.
Woops, you are right.
I have some concerns about these first chapters being sloppy, trying to establish the universe and characters in a good way is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Like I mentioned earlier I have long snippets and even chapters down the line that I am much happier with than this, but those chapters also have a much clearer outline for me on what I want to do in them. It does not excuse poor execution, but right now I'm on the "perfection is the enemy of good enough" mentality, and I think I'll stay on that or nothing will ever get done. That being said, don't mince any inconsistencies whenever they're spotted. I am looking to improve as much as I can, and it is a learning experience for me. Provided it is constructive and I am capable of doing so, I will do what I can to address it.
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- Location
- United States
So because Taylor is devoid of magic. Magic hurts when introduced to her body regardless of how much or the intent. Am I right about this?
Pretty much. That'll be something to overcome, but for now magic is not playing nice with her
KhazintheDark
May or may not be insane...
- Location
- Not where you are. Probably.
Could you use the transparent color option to put the translations next to the paragraphs they come from? Scrolling down to the AN really messes with the flow of reading this and stops it from being as enjoyable as it could be.
Former?
Moping doesn't fit Tarecgosa's demeanor, mourning or grieving perhaps?
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I contemplated that, but honestly, the translations are provided in the AN more as a courtesy since they can be found externally. You really aren't meant to know what Tarecgosa is saying when the language is not in English.
She isn't? The Spellweaver, that is to say, Malygos, is the one moping.
Possibly not where your going with this, but as soon as you mentioned Malygos couldn't find any magical signature I imagined that casting any spell on taylor would set her magical signature to be a copy of malygos's.
Which could be useful in explaining why she might learn magic quickly if needed, though you mention seeing a little of QA in the future which also works as an explanation.
Anyway I'm enjoying the story so far.
Which could be useful in explaining why she might learn magic quickly if needed, though you mention seeing a little of QA in the future which also works as an explanation.
Anyway I'm enjoying the story so far.
Awesome I love these worm/warcraft Crossovers not too many out there looking forward to more tyvm!
Edit: also if she gets adopted by the Blue Dragonflight (lol) will she be given the ability to take shape of a dragonspawn or a dragon of the blue flight even? (dragonspawn is mentioned since she is human and humanoids who serve the dragonflights tend to be converted into dragonspawn which would seem more likely then becoming a dragon when she as no draconic origins and relations aside magic signature now. Not saying it would be a permanent change but like a temp one for a power boost for either form.)
Edit: also if she gets adopted by the Blue Dragonflight (lol) will she be given the ability to take shape of a dragonspawn or a dragon of the blue flight even? (dragonspawn is mentioned since she is human and humanoids who serve the dragonflights tend to be converted into dragonspawn which would seem more likely then becoming a dragon when she as no draconic origins and relations aside magic signature now. Not saying it would be a permanent change but like a temp one for a power boost for either form.)
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I can't say if its at odds with her demeanor yet. It does imply that Tarecgosa has a negative view of Malygos though.
Tarecgosa has not mentioned Taylor directly to anyone yet. Although, being from a different reality is probably intriguing enough that they will allow her to stay, if only to figure out how that happened. Rather than just having one of their mortal agents drop her off in a city
Tarecgosa has not mentioned Taylor directly to anyone yet. Although, being from a different reality is probably intriguing enough that they will allow her to stay, if only to figure out how that happened. Rather than just having one of their mortal agents drop her off in a city
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One thing that is established in the universe is that the Blue Dragonflight is very individualistic, and while they ultimately answer to Malygos, they may not agree with him. Kalecgos and Kirygosa during the Nexus War are examples of this. Some resentment for their frankly neglectful Lord is a given, in all honesty, no matter what sympathies they may have for his plight. Yes, Malygos is suffering from depression, but it is natural for some individuals to feel a bit of resentment towards him because they weren't there to see the destruction of the flight.
Tarecgosa wanted to speak with Kalecgos, but he's away, and Malygos is honestly unreliable at this moment in time. The Blue Dragonflight mostly perform their duties without his oversight in the time between the War of the Ancients and the Nexus Wars, and he only directs them under extraordinary circumstances. This is at least my interpretation of how he acts when he sent Kalecgos to investigate the Sunwell during the Sunwell Trilogy.
Warcraft lore is a bit jumbled up with the sources and the timeline of characters is difficult to pinpoint, but the way I see it Tarecgosa hatched some time between the War of the Ancients and The Nexus War, presumably somewhere in the spanning millennia, since she is a grown dragon. The latest book reveals that Chronormu knew Kalecgos and Onxyia, and this was before the fall of the Black Dragonflight, therefore we can reason that Kalecgos during World of Warcraft is at least ten thousand years old. Returning to Tarecgosa's relationship with Kalecgos, well it is stated he is her adoptive brother and he taught her everything and that the two are very close, therefore I think it sensible that she confines in him about Taylor before anything else.
I have plans here, that's all I'll say
The title heavily implies this, and I'm not hiding the fact that we'll go in this direction. I have a reason for the direction I'm going with and why, but that'll be one of those creative liberties I'll be taking for the sake of the story. I have already written a lot on this very topic, but that's also very, very far down the path in chapters.
Honestly this entire premise was born from me writing a snippet and everything escalated from there with me trying to make sense of it all. As much as I'd love to post that snippet, it contains a TON of spoilers. It will get posted at one point or another in the future, that is for certain.
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- Location
- Within the Light of Hope
Why would becoming a dragonspawn be problematic! Dragons are magical powerhouses being turned into a hybrid of it would just skyrocket your reserves further and you can learn Shapeshifting to at least take your squishy human form.
- Location
- Australia
This was interesting. At least they can talk now. Taylor can learn why going outside is a terrible idea. Hope she gets to go full dragon eventually, even if she does get Dragonspawn form for a while. The Mage legendary does imply the ability to shift to a full dragon form, even if it's circumstances are unique. Dragon adoption maybe?
Part of me thinks Malygos sending Kalecgos away is something malicious. Malygos is just as liable to kill her as help her at this point.
Part of me thinks Malygos sending Kalecgos away is something malicious. Malygos is just as liable to kill her as help her at this point.
I'm not a fan of time dilation. If it was just a one of shift with Taylor being moved backwards in time and Earth and Azeroth run on the same time that'd be good. That's how it has happened in WoW in the past.