-I see it in my dreams, doc.
-See what?
-A wingless dragon. It shows up in all my dreams. At first, it was glances, but now I can see it staring at me, watching me, haunting me.
-Haunting you? So it is a ghost?
-No, it feels real. I can’t really say how I know, but it feels like it is not part of my dreams, like it invades them.
-I see. Seeing dragons in dreams can be natural. It usually has a meaning, like stress in your life. Are you currently living something stressful? A change in the workplace? A long term or difficult decision? Anything of the sort?
-Not that I can think of, doc… I like to believe my life is pretty much on track with no big changes on the horizon… But you are missing the point, doc! I know how a dream feels like. It feels realistic, then it turns eerie or unreal and then you wake up, but this dragon… It… It feels like I am not dreaming it. Like it is invading my dreams.
-I have never heard of such things before… An interesting prospect. So how would you describe this wingless dragon?
-It has fur, not scales. It is long and thin. It has long claws on thin legs. In my dreams, it varies in size, from as small as a cat to as large as a mountain. It has bony horns and bony protrusions on its tail. It’s most remarkable trait is its markings: A bright cyan around its eyes with bright pink iris. Its nostrils, circled in cyan and then again in pink. A spot on its chin down to its neck, a gradient of both colors. A set of stripes on its chest, each its own pink and cyan gradient. A large spot on its belly, again a gradient of both colors. Finally, circle stripes around its tail, from the base to the tip, starting cyan and gradually turning pink as it goes along the length. Its flesh seems to be pitch black and it has a set of large fangs on each row of smaller fangs.
-What a vivid description! You must see it quite often then?
-I do, doc. Every time I sleep now.
-And do you feel threatened by it?
-It… It depends. When I do not startle awake when I see it, it tends to look at me like it is… hungry? It hasn’t attacked me or anything. It rarely moves anyway. But it watches… If anything, it makes me uncomfortable.
-Mmmmm… And when, exactly, in your dreams do you usually see Nyvan?
-Usually when I am about to wake up – Wait! How did you call it?
-Oh, so you are about to wake up?
-What are you talking about, doc!? What the hell is happening?
-I don’t know, you tell me!
The man sits up from the couch in the psychologist room and turns to where the doctor is facing. In the window, a large black drake with cyan and pink markings is watching the both of them, it seems to be smirking. The man’s heart jumps in his chest and he falls backward. The kick of the fall pulls him out of his dream and makes him thrash in his sleep. In turn, it makes a bulge out of the drake’s stomach as he kicks his legs in fear. Nyvan smirks and nuzzles his abdomen where his latest prey is sleeping more or less soundly. “Shhhhh, shhhhhh. You are safe, sleep my little prey.” The drake urps softly and curls up against his own full belly, ready to dive into the imagination of his current meal again with a happy sigh.
--- The Dream Drake ---
Nyvan is a dream drake. He a wingless dragon about the size of a horse. Like many of his mythical reptilian cousins, he possesses a natural, powerful link with magic. He inherited the ability to control the sleeping habits of others and their dreams. The length and strength of his spells are heavily dependent on the distance from his target, their natural resistance and their current state of mind. A naturally magic resistant specie, who just woke up from a good night’s sleep and is several feet away will be able to resist the dream drake like a tree resists a small breeze. They won’t even feel the effects. However, a target who’s been through a 12 hour shift at work, that unsuspectingly walks by the hiding drake and doesn’t have natural resistance will feel sleep take them over like a bag of bricks fell on top of them. Finally, should a prey fall victim to the drake’s saliva, a natural anesthetic, they will find themselves unable to wake up until, and if, the drake allows them to do so.
It isn’t the only weapon at Nyvan’s disposal. To attract other species and also a potential mate, the dream drake’s fur can, on the creature’s will, exude a sweet smell, reminiscent of cotton candy. When he does so, and as a secondary effect, the drake starts to taste extremely sweet as well, especially on his bright markings. According to what is known about dream drakes, the act of licking a drake is a sign of courtship and interest. Should the drake view the other as a potential mate, they will reciprocate the gesture. Of course, both drakes will have made sure to clear their saliva of the sleep toxin first. The dream drakes also use this particular trait of theirs to lure other species into getting close and personal with them to increase the chance of a successful hunt.
As a dream drake, Nyvan requires to feed in two different ways. The first one is the familiar one where he consumes biological matter and turns it into physical energy. The drake is omnivorous with a tendency to favor a meat-based diet. The second one requires him to feed on dream energy to recharge his magical battery. To do so, the drake must invade other creature’s dreams and simply leech off of them. By doing so, the dreams will slowly become more erratic until the victim wakes up. There is no limit outside of distance as to how many dreams a drake can invade that way on unsuspecting, sleeping victims. However, the more dreams they invade, the more obvious their presence becomes. A dream drake in several dreams at once will make them converge into one connected dream which will then become hard for the drake to control or hide in which in turn will make their presence known and lead to the victims to wake up much earlier than a single target invasion. Modern dream drakes much prefer a one on one private session with their victim now for this reason as they can control and hide in dreams better. The best situation for a dream drake is to consume a whole prey alive, which keeps them under due to the anesthetic present in their saliva and feed off their induced dreams until the prey no longer has any dreams upon which the prey can either be released or fully consumed.
--- Nyvan the dreamer and the playful ---
Modern dream drakes have long since evolved away from their feral, careless origins. While sentient before, the specie had a tendency to be mostly mindless brutes that had no regards for anything else than survival much like a wild bear or a wild tiger is today. Nyvan’ethodril Vaessethios Kaleth’iaman, or Nyvan for short, is one of these modern drakes with a more civilized consciousness. Raised in close proximity, but not within civilization, the dream drake has learned to adapt to the modern ways, the technology and the current magic theories. He has also grown to respect the intelligence found in all creatures and that even that which may look feral and animal could hold a brilliant mind.
In doing so, he has given up the old hunting ways of draining a creature’s dreams and then digesting them afterwards. He likes to stalk a victim under the cover of the evening’s lights or through the natural dreams they are having. Learn about their behavior, their habits, their fears and their dreams. He likes to study his preys and enjoy a slice of their life. He will rarely go so far as to fully consume them unless survival obliges, but he has learned that a few have ways to cheat death so he will oblige himself a treat once in a while. He will still devour a prey alive and whole, given the chance, for the safety and control over his prey it gives him.
Normal behavior for dream drakes is to remain hidden from potential preys as knowing you are being stalked by a dream drake makes the hunt much harder for them. However, Nyvan, when he doesn’t require feeding, often likes to mingle with other species if only to learn about them in general and what to expect from them. That also means that he sometimes make friends who will be safe from his feeding habits, but not safe from finding the dream drake hijacking a dream or two if only to be annoying… Have you ever had a dream where you are with your crush and about to kiss them only to find yourself kissing a dream drake? With Nyvan, it is a possibility.
Played under A_Thousand_Alts