Storms of Truth (HIATUS)

7 (Revised)

FALORA

Crackjaw

Rays from the sun flowed through her blinds. Limbs and soul intact, she hauled herself out of her bed. No dragon roars rocked through her ears, only the song of the willows. Hopefully, Orilion stayed put.

Into the dining room, she turned to spot said fallen dragon god sitting in the rocking chair, book in hand. Its pages flipped with gentle wind. Pages crinkled everytime his gaze flicked across the paragraphs. He inhaled with the wind outside, then their eyes met. He placed the book to the side and left the chair.

"I have... a couple questions before we begin this journey, Asen'Orilion." Falora packed her traveling bag, shoving her sketch quills and extra paper into the side pockets. Maps. Money. Books. Anything to help make the journey to Notalsald. "Is there anything you can remember?"

Orilion pursed his lips and gazed at the bookshelves. "My name, as you well know." He tucked his hands in his elbows with a sigh. "Other than that, no. There's a gap in my memory."

"Okay." Falora dared to step closer to the god of the ancient past. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Orilion switched his attention to her finished stack of drawings. Her vision of the Gods. Embarrassment washed blood into her ears as he rifled through the stacks, stopping at the scaled dragon of dripping rot and decay. "Stop that," she bit and swiped the papers out of his grasp. "Answer me."

Orilion withdrew his hands back against his chest with a frown. "I... do not belong," he replied. "The last thing I remember was walking through Arth'lun."

Falora shoved the drawings deep into the bookshelves. "What?"

"The last thing I remember," Orilion repeated. "I remember walking through Arth'lun. I..." He faltered, then grimaced. "I think I wanted to talk to my sister about something—"

"Wait, sister?" Falora waved her hands. "I don't remember any sibling relations within the Dragon Texts." She leaned forward. "Which one?"

"Mortals referred to her as the Dragon of Knowledge," Orilion said. "Ase'Lesinia."

The Dragon of Knowledge, sister to the sky tyrant. Falora rested her back against the bookshelf while her knees trembled with jelly. I've always followed Lady Lesinia's teachings. Knowledge is precious. Knowledge is power. In truth in what is unwritten. In deceit in what is. YOu must always find the truth beneath the shadows. Falora held the side of her head while knowledge poured. "I don't... I don't remember them mentioning that Lady Lesinia had a brother."

Orilion hugged himself. "I know. I noticed," he observed, though there was no trembling fury of a god in his voice. "I don't think she'd have liked that. The Lesinia I remember coveted whole truths, not half ones. It was her hoard of dreams. Knowledge — skewed by perception, and we were not infallible to this." He frowned at the books lining the shelves. "It's all the same in every one. I cannot discern the truth from it... if it is even a lie. I do not understand how this perception grew like a mold." He came closer to the shelves, and dread filled her heart. "It does not feel right."

Guilt swallowed her heart. "Well..." Falora whispered to justify their side of unseen history. "Storms are chaotic and are more often than not destructive. I guess people equated that to what you're represented as in your texts. So, when the supposed truth repeats itself over and over..." Falora shrugged her shoulders. "What are they supposed to think? That's all we've learned, Asen'Orilion, that you were a monster, a sky tyrant who supped on mortal sacrifices and their prayers."

Orilion blinked, then gave her a side-eye. "Tell me... would you call a storm evil because of its nature?" His frown twisted into the first hint of rage, but it never lashed out in a bolt of lightning to smite her insolence. "Many things, by its nature... are discomforting. Death. Life. The mind. The body. The soul." He clenched his fists, and the raging hurricane died in the cyan. "All of these things, would you call those evil by nature? Just because sometimes they don't make sense?"