You pass beneath the central arch that passes as the Warren's entrance. Water roses and their thick, leavy vines crawl up and down the walls, twisting across the ground in tangled masses that have been neatly trimmed back to frame your path. The eerie blue light given off by the magical flowers flickers about the granite and mica fragments in the Warren's composition. Aided by pure sunlight beaming down from enchanted mirrors on the ceiling, the effect of walking into this decorated cavern is similar to jumping across reality lines.
Soon the oversized tunnel gives way to a domed room of such unfathomable size that it would take a full day to explore it all. Most of it is hidden in foliage or tucked behind pillar-esque stalagmites and stalactites. Sunlight streams in through a convex glass circle situated directly over the center of the room. Beneath its powerful gaze lounges a dragoness of such length that she seems to fill as much of the cavern as the plants. At the moment you walk into the room, her tapered skull is resting atop her long, brown foreclaws whilst one wing drapes over her nearest side.
The dragoness lifts her head when she hears your approach, opening smokey, gray eyes to gaze down at you sleepily.
"Greetings, traveller." She drawls in a thick, accented voice. Her tone rumbles up from her throat like the crash of a waterfall, echoing around the walls of her domain. "And welcome to the Warren. My name is S'trryannia Konuthra Sitraks Nawanu, but you may call me S'trry. And this," she comments, folding back her long, terra-cotta coloured wing, "is Epipsis."
Beneath the shelter of her translucent membrane hides a creature so tiny that it seems likely to be crushed by her mere presence. Rainbow coloured feathers fluff out from its serpentine sides, adding a splash of brightness to its otherwise green complextion. The tiny creature looks at you curiously, beady black eyes fixed unblinkingly, and chirps.
"Hiya." Epipsis says. Compared to his massive companion, his voice is nearly inaudible. He flicks a reddish tongue over his scalely lips, then curls up in a tight ball on her shoulder once more. S'trry lowers her wing, returning her gaze to you.
"We are the guardians of this place. To enter here, you must pass our inspection. You, traveller, are free to enter. However, I warn you to mind your surroundings. Not everything in the Warren is as it seems. If you wish to tread safely, I suggest you seek out Hope, Mystic's familiar, and ask her for a guided tour. She will be more than happy to oblidge."
After that, the brown dragoness shifts her forked tail aside and clears a path for you to the other side of the cavern. Her snake-sized companion peers out from beneath the shadow of her wing, slinky green body spread out on the flat slant of her thigh.
Walk on to find Hope...
Go back to the beginning...
S'trryannia is from: The Silver Unicorn
Epipsis is from: The Silver Unicorn