Midnight Sunrise

The fiercest storm in centuries lashed the shores of the Tangled Wood, the border between the domains of Shadowbinder and Tidelord, who ruled the Sea of a Thousand Currents. In an abandoned nest in the sand, all but one egg lay cracked and broken, the hatchlings within long dead. However, that final, uncracked egg still contained life. A tiny Guardian dragon writhed within the frail, blue shell of a water egg. Waves, ever-growing as the nearby sea raged, strained to reach the egg, cold grasping fingers quivering before falling short. The hatchling finally broke through, crying in unison with the wind for someone who would never hear her. As the sun behind the clouds set, the world of Sornieth became much darker and the hatchling withdrew as the wind became chilling like the Fortress of Ends in the Southern Icefields.

Knowing she would join her siblings if she stayed, the newborn hatchling fled the eggshell and darted for the perceived shelter within the Tangled Wood. Huddled beneath the pines, the Guardian quivered in cold and fear, the pelting rain and crash of waves disguising the sounds behind her. With a loud squawk, Beastclan Tengu leaped out of the shadows and fell upon her cowering form. Before she could flee, claws slashed across her face. Screaming in pain, her natural and innate magic bubbled to the surface. The waves behind her swelled and lashed the forest line, washing the Tengu a short distance away. Unfortunately, as a newborn hatchling she couldn't fully control this magic. The ripping undertow pulled her into the sea and under the waves. She struggled for a while, breathing fine due to the same water magic changing her lungs to gills. Eventually the sea pulled her far enough out that the shore was a bare shadow on the horizon.

Suddenly, the sea became deceptively, unnaturally calm, and the hatchling swam for the surface. Breaking into the air again, she panicked as she could no longer tell which way back to land. She spun about, splashing in her disorientation. Finally, a white shimmer crossed the horizon, somehow bright in this dark, stormy world. Unknowingly, she swam towards the glimmer, making surprising speed. What this hatchling didn't know, however, was that she had become caught in a dangerous current. It dragged her closer to the tiny island, for that is what she saw, but before the shore it would suck her down into a gaping maw that moved deep enough to crush her weak form with the sheer pressure of the sea above her.

Just as she crossed through the channel in a barrier reef, the black shadow of the depths below yawned beneath her paws. As she began to slip under, a sudden paw lifted her out. A massive, blue dragon had saved her from death within her own element. "What are you doing, little one? You are barely hours old! Where are your parents?" The black hatchling peeped and flared her purple wings to hug this giant being. "... I guess you must be an orphan then. Very well, I shall care for you until you are strong enough. But I must sleep soon, I should not be awake yet." The dragon carried her across the underwater chasm, clearly strong enough the currents didn't affect them. Setting her down on the pristine white sands of the atoll, the dragon leaned down to her eye level. "You shall be called Dusk." Dusk peeped again, looking up at her saviour and adoptive parent before being distracted by the blazing stars and brilliant moon overhead. To this day, the dragon has not been found, and Dusk became Queen of her clan.