Skies of emrub

Chained god

The room that Adamai had in oropo's tower was one of his favorite places. A small river ran through it, lapping at its banks gently, as if it were the ocean back on oma, jungle plants and sandy shores hanging over and near it as it gurgled and reflected the ceiling, far up above, almost invisible save for the lights that hung down, plentiful and arranged as stars. Lotuses grew on its surface and petals sometimes fell into the waters, carried to and from by its soft current. Adamai liked the jellyfish lanterns that hung from the ceiling along with the mock stars, blue and light pink and orange, glowing softly, little wind chimes attached to their ends, twinkling softly when anyone moved past them. He liked how they lit up the nest below, on a marble platform, columns reaching up from the floor to the sky to cup the ceiling's vast expanse, vines curling around them, spilling their blooms over the top of the pillars, pouring them down back towards the nest like hands. Most of all, he liked what was in the nest- soft warm blankets and pillows and comfort. The nest was perched a little high up, marble platform jutting oit of the wall, no ladders or anything else to reach it, no one could climb into that nest besides himself and another dragon, Nazalath. No one else dared to. There was room for another nest, but neither dragon wanted to move from the one they shared, so they would lay at night, backs against the other, only holding one another when they needed it, whispering the secrets that they knew they could only say under the safety of the jellyfish lanterns to one another, knowledge they had never shared with anyone. Adamai would look into Nazalath's eyes and see himself reflected back; a smile on his lips and eyes bright. He found he didn't hate it. He would wake and act as though nothing had happened. Naz's green eyed gaze would follow him as he moved. Adamai never managed to fully ignore it.

Sometimes though, Nazalath wouldn't wake up. Sometimes Adamai would spot him, curling further into the blankets and his own scales, catch glimpses of purple glows all over his body, glowing outlines of what looked to be chains. Adamai didn't pressure the ebony dragon to tell him. Nazalath never elaborated.

It seemed like today was one of those days. Adamai sat up in the nest with a yawn, stretching his arms as far back as they could go, moving to rub his eyes once he finished. He stretched every part of his body before looking over to his side, pushing off the dark arm from his waist. He hissed as his scales made contact with the other dragon's own, searing small burns into ivory scales. Usually Naz wasn't so quick to burn him. Adamai paused, clutching his burnt hand, hesitating as he reached out and placed it on the other dragon's forehead, pushing up ebony hair, soft as feathers. He snatched it back almost immediately, biting back a little whimper, watching numbly as a purple glow grew around the other's scales, winding itself around his entire body, pulsing lightly, almost invisible, very vaguely shaped like chains. Adamai would dwell on that later. For now, he chose to slowly struggle up, carefully not leaning on his burnt hand, pulling himself free of the blankets and jumping off the platform, making his way across the room, walking to the sandy shores where the river gurgled merrily, like a warbling bird. Kneeling, he cupped his hands and washed them in the ice-cold water, splashing a bit on his face. The coolness slid against his scales as he closed his eyes, pleasant against his warm skin. After a moment, his eyes slid open and he sighed, shaking his head to remove any trace of wetness, picking up a rock and tracing a pattern into the sand. He snapped out of it as he heard a groan from behind, as well as a light shuffle, as if struggling to get blankets off.

"Adamai?" Naz's speech was slurred, heavy with sleep. Adamai turned, making eye contact with the ebony dragon. He winced- if the fever hadn't been evident before, it was now. Naz's eyes were slightly sunken, a purplish tinge in the normally olive scleras, pupils shrunken and small.

"What?"

"What're you doing? 'S too loud." Naz sighed, leaning heavily on one elbow, rubbing his forehead with the other hand. He grunted, slowly starting to sit up. Adamai huffed in response, beginning to walk toward the black dragon, wiping clawed hands on his clothes.