Mirage [Whit]

MIRAGE

.Through the looking glass.
Age: Unknown. Older than 5, younger than 15.
Breed: Arabian and Draft heritages lie in her blood, both her parents were a mix of these breeds and so she is a happy medium.
Height: 15.3h.
Eyes: A warm, bright golden colouration, similar to the shade of her dragon's vibrant hide.
Body: Darker than the darkest shadow, black as death. She has a light frame, with medium legs – they are slim but sturdy, with the hint of feathering growing from behind her knee down to her coronet.
Mane & Tail: If too long is spent in the Sun’s rays the tips of her mane and tail bleach to a light brown, however usually she is a lurker of the shadows, and so they remain forever black.

.Swim a little deeper.
Mirage is a stranger to everyone, nothing is sure about her, besides her devotion to her dragon, Akaith. Akaith knows her best, but even she cannot produce words to describe the persona of this odd little mare. Oftentimes one will have an interaction with the mare and afterwards be left completely puzzled and unsure about whether they had just conversed with something real or not. Mirage enjoys cryptic comments and presenting her view in different ways to the norm. It is not known the intentions of her heart, whether she acts on deeper desires or simply on whims. Her loyalties lie with her dragon, as do her heart, so these traits to exist within her, but are only shown to the worthy.

.The golden companion.
Akaith is a magnificent example of her species. Stretching just over 6 feet in length when standing straight from nose-tip to tail-tip, Akaith's colouration is reminiscent of the sun's surface. Glittering and golden, her scales are similar to that of a snake's, yet they are so finely packed that they feel like suede leather. Her wings stretch to a span even greater than that of the length of her body, the translucent sheets of gold suspended between her strong, light bones. She is wiry and lean in build, purely a carnivore. Her strong jaw encloses many hundreds of fine sharp teeth, with a tongue that looks like a snake's, but has barbs running down it. While she sometimes licks in affection, should she want to lick to cause harm, she certainly could, as those barbs are razor sharp.

.The blood that stains.
Click here for full bloodlines

.The secretkeepers.
Close to my heart:
The impossible has happened, two have caught my attention and the emotions towards both are equal in magnitude and desire; while I want both, I can have none.
Torasin
Vikram
Friends/Acquaintances:
Rishima [sister]
Madyrn [brother]
Maskan [brother]
Flicker
Smoke - with Zaffre, male blue dragon
Gossamer - with Lazulli, male blue dragon
Evangeline
Validino
Adele - with Vera, white female dragon
Galileo
Query
Anthym
Kri
Those met with indifference:
Ra [insufferable fool for thinking he could hurt one of her friends and not pay]
Tacten [ignorant giant unicorn]
Calypso [dim-witted mare]
Brooke [tolerated only because she supposedly makes Torasin happy, though her absence causes him pain, therefore disliked]

.Creation of the creature.
THE PATH OF THE MOON.
A bond of love caused the conception and subsequent birth of the little creature of shadows. Born to a land of eternal midnight, a place called The Path of the Moon, between the volatile match of Anei (mistress of shadow) and Voraer (a fiery steed in his own right), Mirage was the third child born of said pair. She was the younger sister to her twin brothers, Madyrn and Maskan, and close sibling to her adopted sister, Rishima. Taught from birth how to manipulate the shadows to one’s advantage, Mirage was devastated with her family when the destruction of the Path came to be. A year passed, and in it, so too did her parents. Together they were found, seemingly asleep in each other’s eternal embrace. Sadness filled her and her siblings, for they travelled as a small band, all of them unable to let go what once was and yet not able to find their way forward.

Another two years and the small band continued their travels together, learning much about the world and survival. Together they fought and defended themselves, her brothers with their brute strength, having taken after their sire in nature and combat, herself and Rishima using stealth and cunning to plant the perfect attacks and preserve themselves.

An urge to return to the devastated lands of the Path soon overthrew all other senses, and so they did. Within the lands Mirage found her way home to the Forest of Eclipse that was her parents original home, and there she held a position of authority for a short time. However, things were not the same there, and soon her brothers left the lands, her sister choosing to stay behind, while Mirage too felt restless and the urge to travel once more pulled her away from what the place her blood was created.

ISILME.
Arriving at Isilme, Mirage learned what she could once again through stealth and secrecy. She found herself bestowed with a magic that always has resided within her, but needed the touch of these lands to become apparent. The ability to alter her appearance to that of a mirage became innate, something she employs quite readily. Not long after she discovered these new abilities, did she also find an extremely rare golden dragon egg.

Akaith hatched and impression was successful. Mirage has never been alone since.

For a few years they wandered the lands of Isilme together, making a few acquaintances here and there, but not getting involved in anything. Isilme didn’t stir much passion within her, but she was comfortable there, happy, at peace. It was a place she could have resided for the rest of her years.

However… then everything went dark. A great battle was waged, the earth shook, darkness enveloped everything. Fortunately Akaith was in tune with the wild dragons of the area, and they were able to flee at top speed. By the time the dust settled at Isilme, Mirage and Akaith were still running. She ran, until she happened upon her brothers, who greeted their sister warmly and gave her comfort where she needed. Safe once more, Mirage stayed there, with Akaith always, exhausted and shaken up more than she cared to admit.

So much destruction in her past, what did her future hold?

HELOVIA.
- Having lingered in the lands for some time, Mirage and Akaith explore the Heavenly Fields, where they happen across a paint palomino stallion, Torasin. Mirage finds him to be a curiously honest and happy character, and labels him a friend.
- Not long after this, she leads the mare Calypso through the fog, to the Fields. She does not reveal her name to the mare, but scolds her for being so foolish and hurting herself in unknown lands.
- Venturing to the Threshold, Mirage follows Torasin's scent and finds him speaking to a giant unicorn stallion. Mirage has her magic enabled here, so the stallions can see nothing but a shimmering apparition. The unicorn ignores her while she is cloaked, so Mirage ignores him in return. Akaith hunts, and driven by the bloodlust, Mirage has to dance to expel the excess energy and emotion, momentarily dropping her cloak before the stallions.
- Lingering about the Threshold, Mirage then finds Torasin reviving the fallen mare, Brooke. Immediately Mirage notices the love they share, but with Akaith's help, lights a fire for them, and silently muses over her confused emotions.
- Mirage ventures to the Frozen Arch, where she and Akaith make a temporary camp of sorts. As the sun sets one evening, they enjoy each other's company in a gentle song. They are approached by some new faces; Smoke and her dragon, Zaffre; and Flicker, the unicorn under Ra's slavery.
- Mirage is drawn to the Threshold by an unusual scent. Akaith and she travel there, and meet the strange hybrid stallion Vikram, who is half bronze dragon, half bay equine stallion. She obtains his friendship and warns him that the leaders of Helovia would seek to use him for their own means.
- Wandering through the Threshold again, she comes across Adele, who is bonded to the white dragon Vera, who hails from Isilme. A grey stallion, Galileo also happens upon them.
- Mirage goes searching for Torasin, and discovers that he had been 'kidnapped' and held prisoner at the Dragon's Throat. Furious, she and Akaith immediately go there and face off with Ra the lion, demanding his freedom. At this stage, Brooke has disappeared. Ra says that he never meant Torasin harm, and while Torasin's strength fails, Akaith links her mind to his and feeds him the mental strength to go on. They flee the lands together.
- They get to the Heavenly Fields, where Mirage stands vigilant over Torasin. Vikram comes and stands vigilant with Akaith overnight. Mirage is awoken int he morning by the arrival of Anthym, a young unicorn with magic that produces healing peaches, she offers to give one to Torasin. Not quite trusting her, Mirage wakes Torasin up and doesn't let him eat anything until she has first sampled it to be sure.
- Wandering the Spectral Marshes; Vikram follows her. She meets with Gossamer, from Isilme again, where Mirage learns she is the Leader of the Foothills.
- Following Torasin, Mirage wanders the Heavenly Fields again and comes across the birth of Evangeline and Validino's twins. Smoke is also there.
- Akaith rises to mate, with a large hoarde of wild male dragons after her. Mirage, also in season, dances her energy off in the Frostbreath Steppe. There, Vikram and Torasin follow her. Rishima, her sister, also makes an appearance, for which Mirage is relieved, as her emotions have been confusing her lately and she was in need of her sister's counsel.
- Following Torasin to the Threshold again, she meets Query, and Gossamer again.
- Aylin, one of Evangeline’s foals, ventures to the Thistle Meadow. Mirage follows her there, and with Anthym, plays tag with them.
- Mirage greets the bloodstained Pegasus Rhaja in the Threshold.
- Vikram calls for Mirage at the Endless Blue, where she greets him and helps him on his quest to gain firebreathing.
Mirage follows Vikram to the Heavenly Fields where he presents the gift they helped him find to the Matriarch, an old and wise wild golden dragon. (in progress)
- Brooke makes an appearance in the Thistle Meadow. Mirage greets her and tries to see whether the mare understands the hurt she caused Torasin, she tries to be civil. But Brooke is ignorant and refuses to see past her own self pity. Vikram arrives, which Mirage is grateful for, and soon after, Torasin arrives too. Mirage leads Vikram to the other end of the Meadow to allow Torasin and Brooke to talk things out. (in progress)
- Mirage comes across an unknown stallion, he is very unfriendly and intends to cause her harm. After giving him initial warnings, she flees, but he gives chase, hot on her heels all over Helovia. Unable to avoid it, she and Akaith kill the steed, and collapse from exhaustion and grief in Helovia's Heart. Vikram and Gossamer arive (in progress)
- Feeling pulled towards the World's Edge, Mirage sees the magnificent presence of the Moon God. Bowing to her, she basks before her glorious Goddess. (in progress)



.The magic within.
Mirage’s ability is one of Light, it allows her to distort the appearance of her body to that of a mirage – a blurry, hard-to-focus-upon almost-there sort of image. Under sunlight her image flickers in and out, sometimes shimmering like a mirage upon hot sand. Under moonlight it is near impossible to focus upon her. Staring at the illusion too long or too intensely is sure to cause headaches and confusion.


.Extras.
Character of the Month for the month of March 2012
Rewards for COTM:
- COTM icon
- Visit Gods without dice roll
- Design own foal
- Small marking

Location Image Contest
- New magic for Mirage