Dragonfly Loresong

Loresong from the Crystal Dragonfly
given to those completing the Flower Quest
during the Dragonfly Festival in Cysaegir
in Olaesta 5107

You grasp your crystal dragonfly gently by its abdomen and lift it from your shoulder.

You sing to your crystal dragonfly:
"Dragonfly, do make crystal clear
Through the vibrations which bring words to my ear..."

Wind drifts across your face, its feathery touch light and gentle as it draws you away from where you stand. Colors glide across your vision in shades of green dotted with white and you realize that you are gazing down upon a forest filled with large blocks and stones. Your eyes shift to the right where you see several of your brethren beside you floating on the air currents and you are filled with the pure joy of flight.

Angling your wings, you dip towards the forest and the world of greenery rushes up to meet you. You suddenly realize that the air has changed, no longer dry and chill, but heavy and moist. The sweet scent of flowers fills your senses, and you realize for the first time that you are thirsty for their nectar. Alighting upon the delicate petals of a purple freesia, you bend to drink from it, but a brush of alarm fills you and you launch yourself back into the air.

Elves! Elves have returned to the forest ruins. You watch in wonder, your wings lifting you higher above the forest. The air cools around you and your vision is filled with wispy white clouds before you finally return to yourself.

Roundtime: 12 sec.

You sing to your crystal dragonfly:
    "Dragonfly, do make crystal clear
     Through the vibrations which bring words to my ear
     Yer tale of remembrance sweet..."

Zephyr wings carry you through the forest at exhilarating speeds and all around other dragonflies join you. Wonder and excitement fills you as your wings carry you in a thrilling race through the forest. The elves have returned.

Everywhere you look, signs of change greet your vision. The changes are subtle at first, yet as they progress, you realize that you are not watching just one day, but a parade of days one after the other. Ladders spiral around ancient trees where once, only vine-laden boughs hung. Proud limbs are filled with platforms draped in color and sound that are utterly different from the tangling vines and bird nests that once lived there.

River stone rocks create a wall here or there, that to change to hold a door, and then a window, until finally, tiny cottages emerge and are tucked away amongst the foliage. Brush-snarled pathways are altered to be covered in stones, and then transition to tidy walkways lined in flowers. In other sections of the ruins, supports are one moment erected, only to change into landings the next. Scaffolding rises to support the beginnings of a bridge this instance, only to next be replaced with finished bridges that span the babbling brooks as naturally as if they had always been present.

You watch in wonder as elves flawlessly marry civilization to the wilds and a heavy sense of anticipation fills you.

Roundtime: 16 sec.

You sing to your crystal dragonfly:
    "Dragonfly, do make crystal clear
     Through the vibrations which bring words to my ear
     Yer tale of remembrance sweet
     When life's passing proves too fleet..."

Warm mist plays across your face and on its breath, your vision shifts in a kaleidoscope of colors. Spreading before you in a riot of color is the deep recess of a forest garden. Water murmurs softly, the only sound in the area, and you feel as if the forest holds it breath waiting for something, some change to happen.

Nervous with anticipation, you take to wing. Hundreds of your brethren follow you into the night, and you are soon joined by damselflies. Moonlight slips free of the clouds around you, and your wings begin to sparkle in the silvery light. The jewel-toned colors of those in flight around you fill the air with their shimmer and sparkle. Gasps of wonder draw your eyes to the edge of the pool where three elves stand off to the side.

You hover towards them and realize that they are not elves as you had first thought, but humanoids with wings like your own. In wonder, you begin to drift towards them and they respond by fluttering their own wings. Pure joy shines on their faces as they watch you, and you are filled with a deep sense of belonging. The forest around you releases a deep, long sigh. Finally, it seems to say, we are home.

Roundtime: 21 sec.

Kissing your cheeks, the wind touches you once again and your vision is filled with the absolute of night. Flicking through the dark foliage is the soft glow of lamplight, and curiosity fills you. Flitting lightly through the air, your iridescent wings humming softly, you seek out the light.

You stop at the edge of a clearing and sense all around you that other dragonflies and damselflies have done the same. Flickering orange and red tumble together in the yellows of a bonfire arranged before you. Each crackle of a twig, or log, seems loud in the suddenly quiet night, and once again, you are filled with a deep sense of waiting.

Rustling in the foliage near you alerts your senses to others, moments before they thread their way from the dark of the forest at your back and into the light of the bonfire. The winged humanoids have returned, and this time, there are hundreds of them ranging in color and age. Their young bow their heads respectfully as they listen to the words of their elders, and you are filled with the weight and importance of these words.

The young lift wreaths fashioned of a variety of flowers above their heads and murmur something too soft for you to hear. One after the other, they commit the flower wreaths to the flames. Scorched petals rise on the hot air currents along with glowing embers.

Something deep inside you changes and you feel yourself lifting into the air to join the flowers. Thousands of your brethren join you and your ranks are swelled by the elegant bodies of damselflies. Higher and higher you travel, your wings lifting you up and away from the world below as you chase the embers of the fire and the scorched petals.

Roundtime: 26 sec.

A deep feeling of peace settles about you, as if the weight of a thousand sorrows is lifted, and then there is nothing more.

Roundtime: 30 sec.