THE GREAT DECENT. neutral

[ascension]

SILENCE.

Have you ever truly experienced it? I bet not. Not like I have, I have experienced a kind of silence you will never know. Never in your wildest dreams have you imagined this, this darkness that you cannot see. It's unlike anything you can image. And really, it's unlike anything I can image for it is all I have ever known.

I have never heard the birds sing.

I have never heard someone say I love you.

I have never heard rain on a tin roof.

I have heard of these things, but never have I really heard them.

It's a tragedy is it not?

I praise the gods, whoever they may be, that I can at least see. I cannot imagine a world without sight. Without sound is hard enough on it's own, but without sight I would be lost. It is all that keeps me chained to this world. The promise of seeing the sun rise one more time every day, the desire to see flowers blooming for the first time every spring, these are things worth living for.

I run my hands through the sand, feeling each individual grain rest against the rough skin of my palms with more intensity than others would. When you lack one sensory element, the others make up for the lack. Your taste becomes stronger, your sight more keen. Your feelings are heightened as if your body is trying to apologize for it's lack of perfection.

To say I think this is a good idea is neither truth nor lie. But as I have no say in the matter, my opinion is of no consequence. When the bond calls, you go. That is how it has always been and I image always will be. A dragon senses it's master and he must go, as I go now to the Hatching Grounds to see who calls.

It is a strange thing to know you are being called but to hear nothing, I assure you.

A thousand and one thoughts run through my head as I make my way across the sands. I am deaf, will I still hear my dragon? Or will we be forced to come up with some kind of crude hand-signal form of communication?

I cannot say.

[MIRA ?!]

The egg wasn't extremely brilliant, unlike the gem-like rubies and emeralds and sapphires all around. It was merely a light silver-gray. The dragon inside was much more of a sight. It had awoken quickly, skipping the disorientation of the awakening and getting straight to the point. She knew her bonded had arrived. She knew he or she was near. Squealing in delight, the medium-sized Longwing dragon cracked precisely at the top of her egg, barely containing her joy and excitement. Thoughts raced through her young mind. What was her bonded like? A boy? A girl? Oh, how she hoped they would love her.

Finally succeeding in cracking the egg open, the small silver-gray dragon crawled from the only home she had known, purple eyes blinking at the bright sunlight that flooded the desert. Her bonded was close, she could feel him. Wait...him? Yes, she was certain that she had been linked to a boy, certain as if she had been born knowing it. The gray and purple Longwing crawled from the nest, flopping onto the sand and scampering over to a figure. It was him, she knew it was. Something felt odd, though, off. She could feel his hesitance, it radiated off of him from both his posture and his mind. She felt something was wrong with him, and feared he did not like her. Whimpering, the medium-sized female dragon moved over to him, nudging at his hand with her head.

You...like me, right?

[/i][/color]

Her thoughts were hesitant and she looked curiously up at her bonded. She liked him already. She knew everything about him, and yet something was still there in her mind. Something seemed different with him, as though he wasn't in touch with all senses to the world.

Is something wrong?

Her tone was gentle and soothing. Understanding. She would love her Bonded no matter what.
--------------
female.
medium.
longwing.
click.
[/size][/color][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[ascension]

Yet I can say this.

This is not what I expected.

Things move in slow motion as the female emerges from the egg. I watch her without even knowing she is mine, and she slides from the egg with ease to approach me.

But this? This is something I could never image. Thoughts, thoughts that are not my own.

I hear them.

For the first time, I hear a voice that is not my own, and it is glorious.

I fall to my knees in front of the newly hatched dragon, and reach a hand out to touch her purple scales.

Nothing is wrong anymore.

I thought, unsure if she would hear. But I knew instantly she did. She heard me. For once, I was not struggling to make my thoughts known. She heard me, she understood me, and more importantly I heard her. She purred under my touch, and slid up close to me pleased that I was alright.

I see what it is now. You do not hear as I do, my poor Bonded.

She said, concern in her voice.

Askisora will be your ears.

She said warmly, gazing up lovingly into my eyes. I gazed back, and smiled shakily. Askisora. My dragon. My companion. My ears.

[SUBMARiNE"]

End.