The second woke up under a tree which had suffered too much.
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When Daniel awoke, it wasn't in a tomb dedicated to him. It wasn't even under the blue sky.
No, when Daniel awoke, he was six feet under.
When his friends would ask at a later time how he woke up, he would never mention the panic and the fear, he'd reply with snarky words and deflection. But here, he was alone. No one was here to hear him trying to scream and choke on earth as his body struggled with the pressure all around him. He would blame it on his muddied mind later on, on just having been resurrected, but it took him a long time to remember who he was and what he was capable of. And so, Dan- called out to the universal laws carved onto his bones to grant him the strength necessary to dig his claws into the earth and push himself up and out of his grave.
With a shower of earth and splintered tree roots, a black and white drake broke through the ground, scales and fur matted. Purple runes having lit up across long, spindly legs, before their glow faded and the conjured scales dissolved into gleaming specks of light, leaving nothing but skin behind. Damianos rose his head high, closing his eyes. The air held different smells than he remembered.
If anyone had come by, they would have been greeted by a strange sight. A creature, draconian and somewhat serpentine in nature, standing tall and proud. Black and white patterns swirling all over its body, a mane of hair, tall and soft, standing upright along its back, from the narrow and slim head with pointed, long ears, to the massive tail. A crown of three-pronged antlers rose from its forehead.
Amethyst eyes opened and scanned the surrounding area as it tried to spot any threats. There was no white in them, its sclera a pitch black that seemed to swallow light. Scars covered the creature's body, massive and gnarly along its long and slender neck. Its mane crusted with earth and stone, black and white skin smattered with dirt and blood. Lips curled to what could almost be counted as a grimace, revealing long, needle-like teeth.
But, nobody was there, so no one bore witness to this event.
Something Daniel was very fucking glad for.
He collapsed in a heap on the ground as soon as he was sure nobody was nearby. God, his head hurt something fierce. He raised a clawed hand and shook the dirt out of his mane, at least from the parts he could reach. Something to distract him from the chaos brewing in his mind.
Two lifetimes weren't as easy to join together as one might think. On one hand, he was Daniel. Human, young, having grown up with his two best friends at his side. Snarky and sometimes too smart for his own good. This lifetime was a blink compared to his first.
Then, on the other hand, he was Damianos. A drake, a leader, a Child of Deiwo. A warrior who had lived for a long time. He'd been Damianos. He'd died as Damianos.
Died how? Damianos couldn't remember. He could recall the cave and what happened there with startling clarity, which he almost wished he hadn't. But his first death? He didn't recall. Couldn't recall. Damianos didn't like it. The drake shook his head, trying to dislodge more dirt out of his mane, as well as settle his mind. He needed to find his family. Everything else could come after, as long as they were together, they would be unstoppable.
Wait, what was that? Thinking of his friends, he felt something. A glimmer of… consciousness, maybe, at the back of his mind. Two specks of distant light he could tell were close to him.
The very moment he noticed, everything else was tossed by the wayside. All pride gone. The dirt didn't matter, his memories didn't matter. Without even a moment of hesitation, Daniel reached out. And when he felt them more closely, he tensed up.
It was so clear he felt stupid for not noticing it before. They were suffering. His friends, right now, were suffering, and he hadn't stepped in. What did that make him?
Mary was stuck in a whirlwind of sparks, white and blue flaring up as her grief stricken mind struggled to pull itself up by strings.
Nivin on the other hand felt weaker, the bond connecting him to her was incomplete and barely holding on as it stood. Yet, it was a raging inferno of purple flames, emotions he couldn't quite make out burning her up from the inside.
Daniel felt all of it and more, yet he didn't hesitate for even a moment. He couldn't afford to.
His mind reached out to Mary first. The bond connecting him to her was stronger and so he was hoping that perhaps by helping one, he would be able to get to Niv more easily as well. So he reached out, and sparks started to jump over to him. At first it was just a few, but as he got closer, his mind was enveloped by a whole torrent of them. His heart sped up as electricity surged through him.
It didn't matter. If it could help Mary, that was fine.
And it did.
The sparks lessened. She could tell he was there now, having been reminded of comfort, of safety as he cradled the little ball of energy in the sanctuary of his metaphorical claws. It was enough to calm her storm a little and let her think clearly. Somewhat, at least.
All he got was a pang of appreciation, before he felt his friend turn her attention another way, too. Towards the flames raging at the end of their connection to Niv. A raging fire threatening to consume everything around it. Even itself.
Nivin was incinerating herself, choking on her own memories.
Daniel felt his frustration bubble up, his anger at Deiwo for playing a cruel trick, but Damianos grasped that fury and pushed it right back down where it came from. Niv didn't need fuel for the flames, she needed something to help smother them.
He kept his head cool, and reached out again. The fire hurt, of course it did, and the moment he touched it, he feared the connection might snap. Like he did with Mary, he held on and cradled the flames closer despite the searing pain. He felt an electric spark, as Mary came close, holding out her paws and together, they sent comfort through their connection.
Words weren't possible, but they weren't needed.
Together, they held on and he could tell Nivin noticed. Slowly, the fire calmed, simmering down into floating embers rather than burning flames. They were there for her, and she wanted to be there for them as well.
A slight smile placed itself on Daniel's face. His friends were safe, somewhere out there. They were okay. But the smile only lasted for a moment, as he felt two more connections, to people he had shoved down in worry.
Broken strings, their jagged ends floating aimlessly in the void outside his mind. Damianos didn't dare to step closer to them, his mind shied away from them, from the emotions lingering around the cut too strong for his split mind to handle at the moment. He didn't feel his siblings anymore. He couldn't reach them, even if Damianos wanted to. Once a bond was broken it couldn't be restored.
And quite frankly, Daniel didn't want to. Not to the dark one and not to her either. Because the memories hurt enough already.
Leaving that aside, he gave his friends one last moment of comfort. A promise, of a sort, that he would find them, follow their string of fate, and seek them out no matter where they were. It was enough, and all he could muster for now.
The lost Child, the dead balance-keeper, had made up his mind. Those who were still tied to him must be saved first. On that, Daniel and Damianos agreed, and so the older one decided to seek those the younger cared for so deeply.
When Damianos opened his eyes again, the sky far above him was tinted orange as the sun started to set behind the moontouched mountains to the north. Slowly, he got up and stretched, long claws digging into the soil and tail curling up into the air.
It was time to take better stock of his surroundings, figure out where exactly he was and which one of his friends was closer. He didn't recognise his immediate area, but then again, it was just a forest. Trees changed, and only his Parent knew how long it had been, not that They ever thought to mention it to him. Damn it, a little bit of help wouldn't have killed Them.
Daniel shook his head in frustration. Okay, if Deiwo wasn't helping, he would just have to help himself then. Easy.
The trees all around him possessed curved trunks, sometimes they would grow high up into the sky like corkscrews, sometimes they met another tree while growing and ended up winding around each other, merging into one singular plant. They looked almost braided together. Huh, those things were definitely new.
He turned around, for the first time actually looking at his grave.
It was… unremarkable. There was nothing indicating that once upon a time a Child of Deiwo was laid to rest at this very place. It didn't sit right with him, and not because of his pride. Okay, maybe he was a little bit salty about being buried in the middle of nowhere, but that was overshadowed by the concern he felt welling up inside of him.
Drakes were long-lived, they spent centuries at each others' side and thus every death was mourned ten-fold. Every passing was honoured vigorously, each grave told the story of the drake that rested beneath the gentle earth, and each resting place was maintained by those that came after. Damianos knew, he had seen that tradition form himself, stood vigil over each grave, mourned every lost soul. Even those that brought deceit and misfortune were still honoured in death. Their story was told, and their resting place maintained. They, as any other grave, were meant to teach the living, to learn from their mistakes and do better.
Now, gazing at the broken earth, the shattered tree roots, the sight of it brought nothing but unease to the forefront of his mind.
Nah, he was sure they probably just moved elsewhere, taking his story with them, but for some reason they couldn't take the body.
Then he looked up at the tree and froze.
It was different from the braided ones all around him. It was straight, sturdy and ginormous. But that wasn't what rooted him in his place, eyes wide. The glint of something higher above him caught his attention, a metal collar fused with the wood of the tree, its surface dulled by time, its inscriptions faded and barely legible.
Oh shit. This wasn't only his grave.
He tore his gaze away, and spotted similar trees scattered around, their metal collars glinting in the dying sun-rays like flickering candle flames.
It was a mass grave.
While the drakes wrote the story of their lives on their final resting place, the raijū inscribed only relationships, standing and great or terrible deeds on their collars. The white shapeshifters carried them around all their lives, and it was the only constant thing that identified them, as they changed their forms like the clouds in the sky. He remembered how proud Tempest was of them when her people had this idea, how she spent months working on a version that would shift with them, that would help stabilise the whirlwind of energy that each of them contained, that would be a mark of pride for every raijū.
These collars fused into the trees were the only thing that was left of them after they died.
What… happened?
Damianos felt a gentle nudge in the back of his mind from Mary, a rough impression of fur pressed against his flank before it faded again. Right, he couldn't get distracted by speculations. The past was in the past and he would get his answers, but for now his friends needed him more. They were alive and well. Them, he could help. Everything else would come after.
With his mind set to the task, Daniel got up, and focused on his bonds.
Damianos had done it a thousand times before, it was easy. Or it should have been. Heh, he had almost forgotten how slippery a newly formed bond could be. Now now, where the fuck were those two? A flicker of sensation. There, Niv felt fainter, but she was also closer. Daniel could pick her up and then they would make their way towards wherever Mary was. Yeaaahh, that sounded like a solid plan. Knowing him, it would probably fall apart faster than he could say photosynthesis, but eh, he would deal with it.
And with that, the second one left behind the tree that suffered too much, marching towards his goal with a single minded purpose.