Let's Do The Space Warp Again

[iamnotpolaris]

'Guided random' selected, parameters recalibrated, universe selection initiated.
What's on the other side now?

Comments

[pythbox]

'And for some reason the Wild Magic did not tell you not to be pedantic to airsick unicorns,' he grumps.

[whatamithinking]

'I don't even know what the Wild Magic is. Sorry, I just get that a lot.'

[pythbox]

'Well, it's—' A constant presence in the back of his mind, distant but comforting, the unfathomable force of nature whose call he must always answer because he is a unicorn and it is his duty, and he's never had to do something this big or important for it before but he's been dreading it a little bit all his life because his mother and grandfather each had dealings with their respective Champions of the Light when they were younger, but even though he is not a particularly exemplary unicorn and even though he is very airsick and wishes he could have stayed home, he is still a unicorn, so he will do whatever the Wild Magic needs him to, because it wouldn't have sent him here if it wasn't really important.

[whatamithinking]

'Well, that explains why I wasn't sure how many people you were,' she says after a tiny stunned pause.

[pythbox]

'Anyway, the Wild Magic says... I guess I can just show you what it says.'

It says:

((tangled sensory impression of (red gold black horns wings talons tail Darkness)): category empty, no more remaining (tangled sensory impression of a wash of light covering the entire planet, erasing all who embodied the Dark at that time (impression of this happening approximately two thousand years ago)))

((tangled sensory impression of (wings and shining scales and size and strength and power and Magic)) (abstract representation of a Dragonbond) (abstract representation of a second Dragonbond with the same dragon, to a different person, through a different (flavour/shape/style) of magic) (implication: this exists)))

((tangled sensory impression of characteristics of this island) (slightly different version of the tangled sensory impression that means 'dragon', with an undertone of the abstract representation of a Dragonbond) (implication: the person who is supposed to be informed of these historical events is, or can be found by asking after, a Bonded dragon living on this island)))

((tangled sensory impression of a multitude of sights and sounds that, for Liselen in particular, add up to meaning 'the whole world') (short-form reference to the sensory/abstract description of the Bonded dragon living on this island) (sense of deep importance) (sense of scale-of-hours urgency) (with unusual clarity and completeness compared to the rest of this message, a sense that (the dragon/the dragon's Bondmate) must be asked not to leave (the whole world), or, if they do leave—) (conceptual hodgepodge assembling the idea of unicorns and a few other less nameable pieces into a clause which Liselen understands as meaning that the hypothetical departing dragon-and-bondmate should be asked to arrange some way for the Wild Magic to communicate with them if it needs to))

[whatamithinking]

'...Innnteresting. Any particular idea as to why the Wild Magic was so specific about the dragon but not its Bondmate?

The Endarkened have been wiped out, that's good to know.

Any idea why it's apparently important to know that dragons can bond more than one person?'

[pythbox]

'Probably the dragon was easier for me to understand. I don't know what sort of person could have missed the last two thousand years of history sitting on a remote island Bonded to a dragon, and, well, you've seen what the Wild Magic is like when it's talking about things I do know about.'

[whatamithinking]

'Fair.
...I apologize if this is racist, but the only other unicorn whose name I've encountered since entering this universe was named Tialle. Do you know anything about her?'

[pythbox]

He looks puzzled for a second and then yelps in startlement, which causes the dragon to raise her head and look around warily.

'Are you telling me Tialle's Demon has been sitting on this island for thousands of years with a Dragonbond?! How would that even work? Endarkened don't Dragonbond! And the Wild Magic just got finished reminding me they are all dead!'

[whatamithinking]

'The impression I got was that they were destroyed based on evilness, not biological species.'

[pythbox]

'I guess if there was going to be any Endarkened who wasn't Dark, Tialle's Demon would make the most sense... but he was burned by her horn, that's a pretty crucial part of that story, and I don't think you can be burned by a unicorn's horn and not be Dark, that's sort of how that works... but even then he wasn't exactly acting all that Dark... I'm very confused,' the unicorn concludes.

[whatamithinking]

'The first thing I (saw) when I (looked) at his mind was that it was beautiful. And he wasn't lying when he said he didn't want to hurt anyone.'

[pythbox]

'Well, then I guess Tialle's Demon has been sitting on this island for thousands of years with a Dragonbond. And isn't Dark. Somehow. And the Wild Magic wants me to tell him that... all the other Endarkened are dead, I guess, and that one Dragon can have two Bondmates now? Which is really useful for all the other dragons but probably not all that useful for this one because Endarkened are even more immortal than dragons in the first place so his dragon won't have to worry about him dying of old age.'

The dragon currently present on this beach makes a remark. Liselen answers. The dragon snorts with laughter.

[whatamithinking]

'He said he was interested in meeting you, if you weren't intent on killing him.'

[pythbox]

'The Wild Magic sent me all this way to politely ask him to please not leave the universe without telling it where to forward the mail. I'm not going to kill him.'

[whatamithinking]

'Would you like to meet him, is what I was intending to ask.'

[pythbox]

'Well, I still have a message for him from the Wild Magic, so, yes.'

[whatamithinking]

She sends to the Endarkened: 'It was a dragon carrying a unicorn. Apparently you're to know the other Endarkened are all dead, it's possible for a dragon to bond to more than one person, and to please not leave the universe without leaving some way for the Wild Magic to contact you. Also, I name-dropped Tialle. Apparently you live on in unicorn lore as 'Tialle's Demon'."

[endragoned]

'Tialle's Demon is not such a bad thing to be,' he muses. 'Am I so needed in this world that a unicorn must be flown to my island to ask me not to leave it? For what, I wonder?'

[whatamithinking]

'I don't know, but he says he still has a message for you from the Wild Magic. Perhaps it is merely that he doesn't expect me to be as faithful a conduit as a unicorn and he will simply repeat what he showed me, but then perhaps not.'
To Liselen: 'I don't know if you've explained that there is a non-evil Endarkened on this island, but if you haven't, perhaps we should leave the dragon here.'

[pythbox]

Liselen sighs. He says something out loud.

The dragon snorts.

He says something else, indignantly.

The dragon replies in an amused rumble.

'Saravasse probably believes me about the non-Dark Endarkened, and anyway she wants to talk to his Bonded about dragon repopulation efforts.'

[whatamithinking]

'Do you mind if I download your language? It doesn't touch anything else in your mind and it would make talking easier.'

[pythbox]

'Well, okay then, sure.'

[whatamithinking]

"Okay, I got it," she says in his language a moment later.
'So it's all right if I bring them to the clearing where you and Sivath are?' she checks with Tialle's Demon.

[pythbox]

"She speaks at last," the red dragon says dryly.

"She was talking to me this whole time!"

"I picked up on that, yes."