OC Backstory Prompts: Crystal

“And who was the dragon who conquered the northern islands and held his ground against the invading – young dragon, are you listening?”

Ever since the Guardians had taken it upon themselves to give Crystal something resembling a “proper upbringing”, much to her resentment, those sternly-spoken words had all but replaced her real name. Blinking, the aforementioned young dragon turned her gaze from the window. “Huh?”

“The one who conquered the northern islands,” Ignitus repeated patiently, though it was clear that this was starting to wear on his formerly infinite well of composure. “Who was he?”

Crystal shrugged, her imagination already soaring back through that enticing wide window. “Dunno.”

A scrap of blue sky was just visible through the horizon of trees and mushroom-tops, and she was dreaming of gliding through it in a homeward bound to a place far from here. A place that seemed more and more distant even as she remained trapped within this cage.

Ignitus finally allowed himself to sigh, a sound that seemed to shake the very stone foundation. “It was Dante. You were there, young one; you saw what was left of that island with your own eyes. Please try to pay attention.”

Reluctantly Crystal dragged her fancies back into the dimly candlelit room, and the older red dragon desperately trying to teach her something at the front of it. “Why do I have to do this again?”

“As a dying race, it’s extremely important that our history is preserved, to start – ”

“You sound like Volteer,” Crystal groaned, dramatically smacking her snout on the long table set before her.

“ – and with you recovering here at the Temple for the time being, it’s best that time is not spent idle.”

Crystal sat up straight at this, her light eyes a challenge though her voice remained steady. “You realize Malefor is out there, right?”

“He who wields knowledge holds all the power,” Ignitus said firmly. “This information may not seem helpful now, but anything you learn can be of use later. Even that which is most unexpected.”

Crystal had already drifted off again, probably sometime mid-lecture, her gaze wandering out the window once more.

Her struggling teacher turned to pacing the length of the small room in a vain attempt to collect his thoughts. Just her complete lack of interest was making it difficult to focus himself. “Besides, school is an important part of a child’s learning, and this is how they learn when they’re – “

He stopped himself, but Crystal already knew where he was going. “When they’re normal,” she scoffed, though her gaze never moved from the wide blue sky. “Normal non-purple dragon kids who didn’t grow up in a swamp with their dragonfly parents. Right.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Ignitus said gently, and she glanced back at him. Even the composed Guardian screwed up his words sometimes. For the longest time she’d thought it was just her.

“Well, in my opinion,” she continued after a moment, though the bite had gone out of her voice, “my life would be pretty normal right now if I was anywhere but here.”

The old dragon wasn’t sure what to say to that. Perhaps an apology, when this was all over. For now, he was trying to set this failure at least briefly right. He flipped through a large book’s pages, searching for something that might better capture her imagination. “Let’s try this again, if you think you can focus…”

“Why does Spyro get to train with the others instead?” The sharp indignation in her voice startled him, and he turned back to see her glaring. With her mind stuck in this dingy room again, she’d had time to think about her situation a bit more.

This wasn’t the first time her irritation had been directed at him, but after they’d come back from Convexity, something had shifted. That spirited, impulsive child had… mellowed. But now all the old anger had resurfaced in her eyes again.

“Oh, yeah.” She took his startled silence as answer enough and hunched down over the table, voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s because I’m the weak one. Got it.”

Ignitus tried to protest. “You and Spyro – ”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re only at our most powerful together,” she snapped, having heard this speech quite enough times already. “You keep saying that, but you split us up again – !”

That dipped too close to the truth, and she turned quickly away again, her stormy gaze on the floor. But the rage had already softened, and she went quiet.

The heat pricking at her eyes she quickly blinked back – stupid, stupid child – but it was too late to hide it from her observant mentor. After everything she’d gone through, here she was miles away from the battlefield and the ruins, nearly crying onto a textbook.

Sighing deeply, the great fire dragon settled down on his haunches. The row of candles encircling behind him made his expression hard to read, but weariness was distinct in his slumped form. “I realize Spyro has been getting most of our attention already. I just… wanted to figure out what you might like to learn about. Certainly not history,” he muttered under his breath.

She looked at him in surprise that was quickly masked, but the traces of rage were finally gone, and her drained gaze fell to the little cracks in the wood table. Ignitus stared at her a moment. She was… tired. They all were. But Crystal, he knew, had been through well enough.

Reaching over the table, he pushed a stack of coarse yellow parchment across it. “Why don’t we try working on your letters again?” he suggested carefully. “If you learn to read, you might be able to study these lessons on your own terms and time.”

On her own terms. Crystal watched him from the corner of her eye, torn between keeping up her pride and this. But the ability to do something where and when she wanted to, to be given even such a small choice…

That sounded pretty good right now.

With a sigh, she clumsily picked up a black-feathered quill. “Alright,” she said, pressing its tip against the paper. For today, at least, she’d let these old worries go. “How do I do this?”