[Jafira]

The Life of Korageth

Biography of A Dragon.


I write now as the consciousness and memory of the dragon once known as Korageth, this is not a continuation of the fictional fantastical tales of beast vs man as told in my prior writings, but rather this is the truth of my perceptions, the following are the trance induced writings of a higher state, the perceived truth and memories of a dragon long since dead.


My earliest memories are of darkness, warmth, then cold, then warmth again, but mostly darkness, then, I do not recall much more, but that I now existed, I was a small creature, I lived in a forest, I was small, I had claws, wings and a tail, I was covered in black scales and everything was new, I took shelter in what I now know is a makeshift house, and I was cared for by a humanoid wolf, I do not know how we came to be together, it had always been, since the darkness vanished, since I had hatched, I had been with him.


The hut that he lived in was comforting for me, and I was in there often curled on the floor, the wolf would often take me onto his lap, but I often preferred not remain there, usually returning to my own desired positions, in the mornings as the sun rose above the immense trees, the wolf, would often walk down a brief distance into the woods to a stream to gather water, it is there that I would follow and where I too would drink, often curiously noting my reflection in the cold flowing water, the remainder of the days I would prowl about the area of the hut, it was my territory and I would hunt for prey nonexistent, in the evenings the wolf would return, sometimes creating fire in a circle of stones, and sharing with me meat from kills that he had made.


It was during these fires in the cold windy nights that I would curl on the stones nearby, and he would speak, to me and himself, for hours while watching the blazing flames and countless stars above. Over time, and repetitive nights of this routine, staying with this creature whom brought me food and warmth, I begun to pick up on the meaning of things it spoke, in time, I learned its name was apparently "Justra", and that he would refer to me as "Koragus" or "Deragarus".


I would spend countless days pursuing the same routine, wake up in the hut, push out the door, wander around in the tall grass throughout the area and explore that which I considered my territory, drinking from the stream, and listening to Justra speak to nothing but himself and the wilds around him. As time pushed steadily by I begun to increase in size and age. Justra took note of course and compensated when he could.


At some point, Justra determined that it was time that I figure out how to use my wings, whether or not it was naturally my time or not could never be known, as my lifestyle was not natural to my kind, even then I somehow knew of such, but I digress. Justra dragged me to an area east of his hut where a steep inclined hill was, there he strenuously hurled me down the incline, at this point, I panicked and flailed my limbs hopelessly, I tried to flap my wings in vain but ended up hitting the ground painfully hard.


I got back up on all fours and shook off the pain as Justra walked causally to my location, I hissed and clawed angrily at him, still, he picked me up and carried me back to his prior position, I swung my tail relentlessly and tried my damnedest to bite him, but he knew how to restrain me, once more he tossed me, I don't know if it was this time, or another, but I eventually caught on, I learned to spread my wings and glide down the incline, and in time, jumping and launching from other locations, learned to glide and fly amongst the trees and stones of the area. I still remained angry and distrustful of Justra, but he bought me off with food and life went on.


As the steady winds of the forest got gradually colder and the nights became longer, I sought shelter often inside Justra's hut, but my increasing size was beginning to become an issue, to cold for me out doors, but to compact indoors, Justra begun to construct a wooden box out of logs and tree's and coaxing me out of his home, moved me into the shelter he had made me, inside this wood box was a floor piled with crushed grass, which made a comfortable bed, it was there I spent my first winter, sleeping in the warmth and darkness of this custom made shelter, slumbering through the snows and rains.


Time when on like this, I woke up in the spring, older, larger and I guess a bit wiser, I was obviously out grown for Justra's little hut, so I lived outdoors from hereon, I would fly around the general area as best I could with my limited experiencing, ever increasing my territory returning at night to Justra' and his fire, another year past in like manner and I mastered flying, grew much more independent of Justra, but still kept a relationship with him. Much as you the reader can not recall every individual day of your life, neither can I, that year was a blur, much happened I am sure, but it seemed routine and uneventful, in time it passed as did yet another winters sleep.


In the third year, ah, that is when things became complex, that spring, I recall, flying around exploring and basking in the sun in forests groves, life was good, I hunted, I flew, I remember it all so well, just being glad to be out of that shelter and out in the sun, no cold, no cramped locations, just life around me, it was in this period, that Justra using a system of vine ropes, devised a means to join me on my flights, at first I was annoyed and would resist, either laying in the grass ignoring him, or hissing and snarling, quite a few times, I bat him away with my now powerful tail, but his persistence, and bribery of meat won me over, and I would allow him to join on my flights.


It was during the summer of that year that we flew past the craggy mountain he seemed to refer to as "Calakos" and if I understood correctly, it was were I was from, one day, he rode upon me during a flight, and steered me far from his hut and what I had come to call my territory, we followed a river and flew and glided for hours, just following the river and sea of trees beneath us. In time,the tree's became more sparse as the ground beneath us turned from forest to great plains, and in the distance we could now see that the river terminated into a large lake, across this lake in the nearby distance I could see a large structure upon a hilltop.


Justra directed me to head towards and land near this odd structure, and so I did. He hopped off my back and led me up an over grown path, we went past a large stone wall, following this path I noted countless damaged structures similar to Justra's hut, in this new form and consciousness, I now know that we had encountered a ruined town or city, but back then as a dragon, it was all foreign, following this path to the top of the hill, we passed through an arched doorway through another stone wall, and ended up in the courtyard of a large fortress or tower, it was an immense and round building made of stone, that is all that I could comprehend at the time, Justra was excited and speaking, he repeated the term "Lamano Cycanthra!" which I interpreted as Lost Cycanthra, in this mind, I now assume the ruins were known as Cycanthra.


Justra went into the large stone building, (henceforth referred to as the tower) and I just wandered around the brush and wilderness contained within the walls around the structure, drank from a small pond of water, and laid on a rock sunning my wings. In time, I awoke from my rest, and examined a large hole in the tower where some damage had occurred, I forced my way into this hole, and pulling my tail entirely inside, adjusted my eyes to the change of lighting, I was in a large curved room, the stone walls in this area were covered in plants and had faded colors and images which were meaningless at the time, I now perceive that they were murals of some sort. I wondered to the right hand side of this room and encountered a door way that I could not fit through, on the left hand side of this room I found an archway which I could fit through. I ended up in a large room with a stone stair case leading up, I was too large to fit up this stair case, so was seemingly confined to this large room or the mural room I had came from.


The room with the stair case (main hall, lobby, whatever) was very open and I could stretch easily in it, but overall it still seemed cramped, and I lazily continued my explorations, on the left of the stair case was another arched entry way like that which I had used to exit the mural room, in this new chamber was another curved room, this one with a large stone table, and another small door at the end which, like the other, I was unable to squeeze through, with my present knowledge I now perceive this was a dining hall and kitchen area of some sort, failing to find Justra and growing bored, I returned to the main hall staircase room, and used my head to nudge open a large door to exit back outside, wherein I returned to sunning and sleeping.


Time passed, and the sun begun to set, Justra returned outside and I had assumed we would be returning to his hut and my territory, I made movements demonstrating my desire to get going and he gathered his vine ropes, but rather then get going, he tired me to a pillar of stone, annoyed I broke free easily, but it seemed clear he had no intention of leaving, so, I slept under a tree in that court yard. Thus, we had a new home, days, weeks, and months passed, details were lost to the confines of a feral mind and much is forgotten, but that tower remained our new home, just the two of us. Justra sealed up the hold in the mural rooms wall, but I could still enter the first floor of the tower through the main entrance, thought I preferred the freedom of the out doors when not cold or in rest.


Over the course of living in the location, I did find that a wall on one of the upper levels had a hole in it, and that I could enter through this hole into a single empty room, I would often sleep in this location, as I could launch from that hole when taking flight or going on hunts. Living at that tower was much more preferred then the forest over the long term, the area had lots of prey grazing the plains, the nearby lake had plenty of rocks to sun on, and the ruined village had places to hide and perch from. It was a good life, at times I would bring my kills back to the tower with me, in those instances sometimes Justra would share and cook it, in as such, I would get to experience cooked meat, a rarity for me at that point.


Aside from being comfortable in our new home, there were not that many notable highlights from that particular period or year, I have a vivid and emotional memory of having a flight mishap while skimming over that lake, wherein I had a tragic wipe out splashed down into the lake and seemingly pulled a muscle in one of my wings, having to slowly swim to shore and being earthbound for a short duration, otherwise, life went on in routine mendacity as I carried about my dragon business, and Justra apparently worked to restore the tower which was now our home.


As would be expected with the course of time, another year begun to come to an end, as a dragon I hibernated, it was my nature, so of course, like all the prior winters, when the cold winds of the valley increased and the clouded skies above grew darker with weight, I flew to my room in the upper chamber of that tower, curled up and slumbered. At one point during that winter, I awoke for some reason, stretching, I examined the dark room around me, I was shocked, I was trapped, the hole I had launched from so many times before was gone, Justra or someone had sealed me in. Tired and groggy I stood up and slithered over to a slit window on one of the walls, looking out I was hit by a blast of cold air, below and in the distance I saw white as far as the eye could see, everything was covered over in snow, the sky was white, the ground was white, all was white, I was impressed, but unwilling to investigate further, tired and cold, I curled back up, wrapped my tail and wings around me, and returned to my peaceful slumber.


In time, I awoke again, this time, when I looked through that slit window, I saw what was natural to my eyes, grassy plains, mountains and forests in the distance, the lake sparkling nearby, the ruined village and Justra moving bricks below, the sky was overcast above, which was typical, but blue patches shone through and the valley was alight with new life. Problem was, I was still trapped, noting where the hole had once been in my wall, I clawed at it, obviously unable to dig through it, I slammed it with my tail, the effort was fruitless but in time I had succeed in breaking the bricks down, as they fell, I inched towards the opening and licked the air, below me, Justra had ran to where the bricks fell and was screaming at me in his strange tongue, the one word I know I made out, was the word "Fluegard", "fluegard Korageth!!" I can only imagine that it was some form of profanity as he was enraged.


Free from my chamber, I flew the skies once more, hunted and sunned and did the usual things. Weeks passed and Justra got over it. At one point, I have a vivid memory of finding another of my kind near the river in the forest, it had occurred while I was hunting apparently, I landed and examined this other dragon, it was male, green, had a red mane and was much younger then me, I now call this dragon Jafira, in the memory, I asserted my superiority through posture and growls, but overall did not engage in any form of combat. I noted the surroundings of his territory and made a note of his presence, before in time traveling away and returning home.


As well, another highlight of that year, as I explored farther outside my territory following alongside the mountains far from Justra's tower, I was attacked by a larger dragon then myself, this one appeared to be tan or yellowish in coloration, and another male, an angry one at that, he chased me from the area, in I fled back to my territory as quickly as possible, in the end, he seemed to follow me all the way back to Justra's tower, I landed on an overgrown path near some ruined houses and tried to show that I was not a threat, I had not recalled what Jafira did, and was doing my best to be submissive and not have to fight a more experienced dragon, I was younger and faster, I could probably win, but combat was not a desire.


The yellow dragon was much more aged then myself and was very frightening at the time, worst yet it was not leaving, it just kept watching me as I slowly backed away and into the shadows of a ruined building. In time it left. I now call this dragon Veltra, and I note the irony of my picking on Jafira is not lost on me when considering that dramatic memory.


Despite meeting those two other dragons, it was not really that surprising, that particular year I was traveling much farther from Justra and my territory, as food was becoming more scarce and there were many area's I had not explored or visited. There would be times when I would leave Justra for days or a week at a time, flying around hunting and searching while sunning and slumbering wherever I would happen to land or find convenient. Justra and his tower were a luxury, a warm and dark shelter to return to, with a companion whom I was comfortable with, and who would throw food at me, but at the same time, as I aged, I was beginning to become more instinctual and less domesticated, less confined to being some wolf's pet and more free and feral, at that time, I was living a double life, domesticated when convenient, and free and wild when I preferred.


Towards the fall of that year, I was exploring the southern end of the valley a few hours flight time from Justra's tower, wherein nearby a lightly forested mountain I came across one more of my kind, the most surprising facet being that it had the same scale coloration of myself, I took a risk and landed to investigate, this dragon was female, larger then me, and obviously upset by my presence. But having never seen a female of my kind, I remained and hung around awhile to investigate, I stayed until she chased me off. But I was highly interested, both due to obvious instinctual desires, as well as the idea that we were similar in coloration and that she was surprisingly nearby my territory as far as I was concerned at the time.


Over the course of days possibly a week or so, I returned to her area off and on and made my presence known, despite her continued disinterest, there were, if my memory suffices, a few confrontations, most of which I had attempted to impress her, but due to my domestication or possibly other deficiencies I had failed to garner her approval and was chased away time and time again. But, if my memory is right, eventually she broke down and accepted my presence, reluctantly allowing me to remain with her, whether it was out of pity, instinct, or actual approval I would never know, but I had found a mate in that rocky relationship. I now refer to that black female dragon as Rikara, and obviously consider her to have been my mate, whether we had actual relations is sketchy considering the time of year and other factors, but is assumed nonetheless.


With that, last experience, another long year had begun to wane, fall turned to winter and I would be slumbering soon, and thus would end my fourth or fifth year in existence, the exact amount lost, as time has tendency to blur, what mattered was that I had seen and experienced amazing things.


You have read the summation of my most dominant memories, from my upbringing as a hatchling in Justra's hut within the forest by the stream, to learning to fly, to sleeping curled by the fire, listening to him speak his gibberish, flying over the tree tops and through the clouds and fog, discovering Justra's ruins of Cycanthra, living in the tower, seeing the snow, wiping out in the lake, meeting the other dragons, all memories which had meaning, all things which would transcend a life time.


I was a black dragon, lazy, sluggish, powerful and epic, I was strong, and I was meek, domestic yet feral, I lived with a wolf, sunned and slept by day and hunted by night, it was a mundane and repetitive life, but it was the most amazing and fulfilling imaginable, no magic or gods, no great wars, just a youthful and happy existence.


Sadly, all good things must end... I know this final memory well, in this form, in this life, I have relived this terrible event through dreams and visions countless times, each time, a mild difference, but overall, the same terrible conclusion and the ultimate basis for all of these memories leading up to this event. This is the memory and recurring dream, that reminded me who and what I am/was. The basis for what I believe in, and why I cannot forget.


The winter had come, and it was growing cold again, unlike in the past, this year I was lead to slumber in the large dining area on the first floor, I suppose to avoid being trapped as in the past should I awaken prematurely. I do not know how long I had slumbered or what I had missed while asleep, but I remember being awakened by a loud crashing sound. I groggily awakened, and shook off a series of coverings Justra had placed over me, I noted that it was dark outside, as no light came through the thin slit windows of the room.


I begun to crawl over towards the main room where the banging was coming from, I saw Justra coming down the stair case ahead of me, suddenly the door burst open, and in the darkness a series of silhouettes came in, when they saw me they attacked, Justra screamed "Korageth" and came to my defense, and I saw him murdered, this action threw me in to a rage and I attacked wildly with my tail and teeth, but confined and cramped I was ran through by a blade in my back and incurred several other painful wounds, unable to fight or stand, I fell, and was left for dead, the silhouettes separated and left and I was alone in the darkness.


Injured and dying, I crawl bleeding to Justra and nudge him, he is obviously deceased, I feel determined to flee to another location, to Rikara it is assumed, but I am weakening, I crawl outside the entrance of the tower, I sense it is early morning, it is sprinkling, I want to escape, to flee, but I can't move, the pain is unbearable, I collapse in the grass, I see my own blood, all the emotions and good that I had experienced in life, all the cherished memories well up to the surface, and I recall Justra, Jafira, Veltra, Rikara, and how Justra had just died, and that now, my life would be stolen, I have been murdered in vain, what for, what had I done, who had I harmed, why must I die? In those bitter and painful thoughts, I lay dieing in the moist grass and darkness, fading to black, the pain subsiding, the mind, that wild feral, innocent mind, fading to darkness...


I wake up.


I may exist as a human, but I know what I once was, where I once lived and that these foreign memories and emotions are too strong and too painful to be mere fantasy, some embellishment may exist, but the general idea remains the same. I have had that dream and vision of death too many times not to believe or know that there is some form of truth to it. Draconity and otherkinism are the best rational at this time. Thus a variant of these writings is what I base my spiritual self perceptions upon. The other stories I have written regarding Korageth in the past are fictional embellishments of what I have written here. This document is the most accurate, basic and probable self understanding of my spiritual identity presently available from perceived memories and emotional assumptions. This is my draconity and the referenced memories are at this time introspectively absolute and unarguable.


These are of course un-provable and subjective self perceptions, they are emotional assumptions based off recurring dreams and visions, but they are what work best for my personal mythos and inner spirit. I am dragonkin as to deny such would be to deny a part of my inner being. It would be to lie to my experiences of those memories and to lie to myself. For better or for worse, I choose to accept this theory, "I was a dragon once, a feral beast in another world foreign to this land of man."


Thus ends the tale of the life of the dragon Korageth.



End.


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