Hayden/Aegiess

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"Aegiess!" A voice spoke. "Aegiess, wake up!" This time, a hand shook the boy awake. "Pack your things. We have to go." The child blinked sleep from his eyes and sat up from the cot he was sleeping on.

"But-" the boy protested.

He was promptly hushed by the woman who paused the packing she had already started and came to kneel beside the boy. He saw a look he had never seen before. One of pure sorrow. The small wrinkles that she had gained from years of laughter now cast depressed shadows on her face. "Hurry, son. It's not safe for us here."

The boy obeyed his mother although he was still very perplexed as to why they would have to leave their home. It was in a well-hidden village in the legendary Hakarmaskannar Mountains. It was rumored that there was a dragon that slumbered below the mountains, waiting to be awoken. However, it was only a legend. Even he knew as a child that dragons have been extinct for decades, all wiped out by war and evil leaders who purged the lands of the magnificent beasts and all who believed them to be peaceful creatures worthy of protection many years ago.

Aegiess was pulled from his thoughts when his mother grabbed his wrist and ran out the door. He hadn't even finished packing. and all of his things remained in the hut. He heard a sound, like distant thunder pounding against the ground. "Momma!" he protested, eyes wide, when he saw where she was leading them. He was hushed again. She was heading for the Vilaamin Forest, the most dangerous forest in the realm. Everyone who entered there disappeared without a trace. It was believed that evil spirits lived in the forest and corrupted everything the sunlight couldn't touch. It was a place where unsettling creatures too terrifying to imagine roamed and people lost their minds. It they stayed in there too long, they would go insane.

His mother paused and looked around in each direction. It was as if she didn't know where to travel... or where to run. She snapped her head to look in the direction that they had just came and her jaw became hard. She knelt beside the child and took him by the shoulders, tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. "Aegiess, I need you to listen to me and do exactly what I say. Your destiny is intertwined with another's and it is very important that you find them. The bloodline was lost to us many years ago, but it will emerge again when they are of age." The boy was very confused and was beginning to panic. His cheeks were wet with tears.

"You need to find them quickly. You are their protecter. They are they only hope of peace in the realm. Take this," she said as she pulled a necklace from around her neck and placed it around his. "It will guide you to them when it is time." She paused and bit her lip before continuing. "Remember this and never forget it: the last dragon blood will be the one to ignite the spark or quench the flames."

She took the boy into her arms tightly, tears now streaming down her face. "I love you so much, Aegiess. You are my little protector. Now run and don't stop. Don't look back. Keep going. Change your name. Don't let anyone know who you are." She let go of him and wiped the tears from his face, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Run."

"Momma-" he started.

"No arguing! Run!"

And so he did. He ran and ran and ran. Then he heard something that gave him chills. It was a shriek of pure terror. He paused and looked back in the direction he had come. "Momma?" he inquired. No response. "Momma?" He tried again. This time, he heard something but it wasn't the sound of his mother's voice. It was the thunderous hooves he had heard earlier. They were after him!

This time, Aegiess ran and didn't look back. He just kept running until he couldn't no more and collapsed from sheer exhaustion at a village on the edge of the Vilaamin Forest, his world going black.

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Present day, Hayden was now a young man mucking out stables for the horses of Ado, a town in the Vaarn kingdom. He had been up since before dawn to finish all of his chores and begin work at his job. He paused in his work and wiped a hand across his sweaty brow. He was covered in filth and no doubt reeked of manure. However, it was the only job available in town and his family needed the coin. He was delighted to hear a familiar whistle and weight on his shoulder as his bird, Ebrath, swooped from the sky. He had rescued Ebrath as a hatchling and raised the bird until he was well enough to live on his own. Then, the bird continued to follow him around and the two have been best buddies ever since.

It was a good thing, too, because Hayden didn't have any friends. in fact, he got picked on for whatever reason the others deemed fit. Sometimes it was his clothing, his hair, his bird, or the fact he was an orphan. He didn't let it get to him most of the time, but he yearned for belonging. Evidently, it seemed that his adoptive parents were the only ones who would allow him to belong. Everyone else just thought of him as weird. They had found him on the fateful night and given him food and shelter then decided to raise him as their own. They didn't understand him at first and assumed that he had been abandoned as a child in the forest and not having any language skills, but in truth he was only speaking in his natural tongue. Still, they taught him 'proper english' and took care of him.

Hayden left the stables and walked to a bread stand in the market. He produced two coins for a loaf, but was rejected when the owner of the stand saw who he was and the manor that he was dressed in. He would've argued, but he knew it was futile. The villagers would always be cruel to him; to what they didn't understand. He began his long walk home to the outskirts of the town.

Upon arrival, he saw his mother chopping vegetables in the kitchen area of the small hut. "No bread?" she asked. He shook his head disappointedly. "Alright then. Well, go wash up in the creek, you're covered in filth! The stew should be finished by the time you get back." He nodded and walked back out of the hut.

The creek was a little ways away, closer to the Vilaamin Forest than he would like it to be. However, he had convinced himself long ago that there was nothing in them to be scared of. He submerged himself in the shallow creek and began scrubbing his face. His eyes squinted against the sun that suddenly became more bright and forced him to turn his back. Yet the light didn't diminish in intensity. How was that possible?

Then his eyes sprang open and he looked directly into the dark forest. Was there someone, or something, out there watching him? Watching the village? Shining a light to lure him in? Was it the thunderous hooves? He looked down at his chest where his shirt shifted to reveal the necklace his mother had given him so long ago glowing a bright white light. He jumped at the sight and took it into his hand. It was real? It was real!

What had she said? What was the prophecy? Something about fire? A dragon? Ah, yes. "The last dragon blood will be the one to ignite the spark or quench the flames." Maybe it was true... and if it was, did that mean that there really was a dragon sleeping beneath the Hakarmaskannar Mountains? He wasn't sure, but all he knew was that he needed to find the dragon blood before it was too late.

He dashed home, the necklace no longer glowing, and began packing his things. He envisioned the dragon blood to be a sturdy man with magnificent robes and an army at his command. Surely he would be the one who could tame a dragon? He didn't know who or where he was, but he would find them. Peace needed to be restored to the realm and he was the only one who could do it.

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Ok, so basically this is a roleplay that centers around destruction and peace. My character is a druid and yours can be literally anything you want from royalty to pooorer than dirt. It's up to you! There was a great purge of the druid people and of dragons but it's rumored that there is one remaining in the mountains. The king of Vaarn will seek it to destroy it or to make it comply to his wishes and plunge the realm into eternal darkness. All that stands in the way is your character and mine. If they get to the dragon first after learning of its existence, all hope is lost. We must journey to the mountains and get to the dragon first while dodging bandits, soldiers, and tons of mythical and magical creatures along the way. I am very open to romance in this one, but I like to have a plot where it's not totally dependent on just romance so that once they accomplish that goal, the roleplay doesn't get stale. I think it would be fun :)