Raffle Entry~
Name: Mikazukichan, but you can just call me Mika ^.^
Place of Residence: The shores of Astryl's Tranquility
"I want to join the raffle please!"
Story Entry~
Sleeping Nephini
Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Ethernia, there lived a just King nephini and his fair Queen nephini. They were a very happy pair, as their kingdom was at peace and all of their sylestian subjects were well taken care of.
One day, the King received wonderful news: the Queen had laid an egg!
The whole kingdom rejoiced and looked forward to the birth of the new prince or princess. The Sylvorpas and Kelparies created lovely water sculptures in honour of the event. The Griffis came down from the high mountains with precious jewels. Even the faeries from Umba Forest had gathered to see the new hatchling!
But there was one group that felt sorely unwelcome in all of these festivities: the Ryoris. It wasn't that the King or Queen didn't want these etherial sylesties to be involved. It was more that they didn't think the Ryoris would be interested in the event.
And, for the most part, they were right. But one Ryori, Malifia, felt terribly slighted. She wanted to go to the celebration, but she was told she couldn't go without an invitation.
The day of the hatching dawned bright and beautiful. All of the guests sat quietly, watching the egg rock and crack. A great hush seemed to fall over the entire kingdom, only to be broken by a huge sigh of happiness as the beautiful new princess tumbled from her egg.
As was the custom in Ethernia, each guest that had been invited to the hatching had brought a gift for the young royal: either a physical gift, or a magical blessing.
There was one thing no one had noticed, however, and that was one young Ryori hiding in the shadows. Malifia had snuck in while no one was looking. She couldn't see what was so great about the thin, squirmy thing that had come out of the egg. Why was this such a big deal? All of this kerfuffle over such a silly looking little thing. She decided, when her turn came, she would play a trick.
The line progressed and it soon came time for the faeries of Umbra Forest to give their blessings on the hatchling. They blessed her with grace, beauty, friendliness, and other wonderful charms and virtues. They were a little unsettled, though, as one of their number was still missing.
Still, they couldn't tarry long near the nest. There were other guests still to come.
At the very end of the line came Malifia. The King and Queen drew in a single breath at seeing her. A Ryori had actually come to their daughter's hatching?
Malifia looked down at the burbbling Nephini hatchling. "When the princess becomes an adolescent, she will prick her nose on the tip of a sword, and die." The young Ryori grinned, feeling proud of herself for playing such a good trick. No one else seemed to find it funny, though, and chased her out of the palace of Ethernia.
Luckily, the last faerie, Jynxie, had appeared right at the end of the dire pronouncement. Quickly, Jynxie gathered some faerie dust and sprinkled it on the baby Nephini. "Not death, but sleep will the thorn's prick bring. To true love's call, you'll wake again." Everyone sighed in relief. There was still some danger, but not as much as there had been a moment ago.
The King and Queen, afraid that the Ryoris might all descend on them in anger at chasing out one of their own, begged the faeries of Umbra Forest to take their daughter and hide her until she became an adolescent.
The faeries refused at first, but it soon became clear that the Royal couple were not going to take no for an answer. Reluctantly, they agreed to take the hatchling princess and keep her safe.
The days passed, and Briar Rosebud, as she was called by her guardians, grew into a lovely, spirited hatchling. Her trills and calls were the envy of the birds, and her graceful movements made the fish wish for wings. The faeries gave her ample freedom, but kept her far from any and all thorns, even going so far as to coax the nearby roses not to grow any.
It was nearly time for the young princess to grow into an adolescent, and the King and Queen were looking forward to seeing their daughter again. They had been working hard, making sure that the whole kingdom had no thorns to be found. They wanted their daughter's homecoming day to be perfect!
On the day that Briar Rosebud was to return to Ethernia, the faeries bundled her into cart and began their journey.
All along the way, rose bushes and holly trees had been cut back, or burned down.This trend continued on into the forests of Astryl's Vale, and right on into the kingdom of Ethernia. Nowhere was there a thorn to be found!
Though the faeries felt badly for the destroyed flora, they did feel some relief at seeing the princess' home made so safe.
The King and Queen came to the cart and gathered their daughter to them. All seemed well.
It was time for the princess to become an adolescent!
The ceremony of adolescence was a quick one. It had to be, because new adolescents still had the impatience of hatchlings, but now had the energy of adolescence. The King and Queen waved their daughter off to play, feeling that all should be safe in this kingdom that they had worked so hard to safeguard.
However, there was one place, down in the depths of the palace, where the long unused dungeon resided, that one desperate rose bush had taken root.
Almost as if she were being drawn there by an unseen force, Briar Rosebud, or Princess Aura as her parents called her, spiralled
down....
down.......
down..........
down..............
down...................
to the depths of the castle. There, she found the most beautiful red rose.
She leaned in, carefully, to sniff the rose. But, having been brought up with roses that had no thorns, she had no idea that a thorn could be hiding right under the petals!
Her nose pricked on the sharp thorn, bringing bright tears to her eyes as one shining drop of blood welled up on the tip of her nose.
Then, just as the curse foretold, here eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.
It took hours for anyone to notice the princess' abscence, then hours more for anyone to find her.
It was a young Vulnx named Flicka that found her and led the other searchers to the princess' prone form. they gathered her up and carried her to her nestroom. They gently laid her in her nest, and worried about what they could do. The princess had never even met someone that could be her mate! How could there be a 'true love's call'?
Still, the King and Queen were determined that they would find this 'true love' that was meant to be their daughter's. They called upon every male nephini that could be found to come to the princess' bedroom and call for her to wake.
Each day there were new nephinis. Each day the princess stayed asleep.
Soon, every male from hatchling to elder had visited the princess' room, but to no avail. The King and Queen were desperate! They decided to try something a little unconventional: other species males.
They called on all males in the kingdom, sylesti and faerie alike, to come and try calling to the princess. It was an interesting, even inspired thought, but day after day, once again, the princess did not wake.
The King and Queen didn't know what to do now. No male voice could wake their daughter. Was the miracle Jynxie had provided at the hatching merely another curse?
For weeks, the kingdom fell under a cloud of darkness. Depression was clear on every face. Everyone feared that the princess would never wake up again.
Then, one day, a stranger appeared at the castle.
This stranger came seeking an audience with the King and Queen.
"Take the princess to the volcano where the Ny'vene Dracon lives. It is there that she will meet her true love."
These words, spoken in a voice that was entirely unrecognizable, from under a wide hood were the only clue that the royal family had.
So, they packed up the sleeping princess and journeyed to Dracon's volcano.
Dracon was a well-known, ferocious Ny'vene. He had a reputation as one of the most foul-tempered dragons in all of Sylestia. For this reason, the King and Queen were worried for their daughter. Was Dracon her true love?
When they arrived, Dracon was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a sweet and silent nephini ushered them into the cave at the base of the volcano. She flitted around, making the comfortable, but not making a sound. Then, she disappeared into the inner tunnels of the volcano, obviously going to find Dracon.
The King and Queen felt the tiniest bit better, knowing that their daughter would at least have some Nephini company, should Dracon truly turn out to be her true love. Still, they were hoping that this 'true love' would still turn out to be some random passerby of this location instead.
It wasn't too long before Dracon appeared, and his demeanor was exactly as expected.
"What are you doing here? I don't care that you are King and Queen of Ethernia. This is my place, and you're trespassing." He noticed the sleeping princess and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, you, wake up."
The King and Queen held their breath, but the princess didn't wake. They sighed softly, privately relieved.
"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Dracon demanded.
"She is under a sleeping spell. We were told that, if we came here to your volcano, we would find the sylesti that could wake her with his call." The King explained.
Dracon frowned, then shrugged. "Well, I suppose you can all stay here a night or two then, but I'm not a hotel. Don't expect roomservice. My only help around here is Sylla." He nodded gruffly at the silent Nephini.
With that, he disappeared back into the inner tunnels of his volcano, leaving the royal family with Sylla.
The silent Nephini showed them to a large nestroom where all three could rest comfortably together. The Queen thanked Sylla, who bobbed her head in friendly acceptance, then disappeared.
It seemed that there was nothing more that the King or Queen could do that night, and their journey had been a long one, so they curled up in the nest provided, and went to sleep.
During the night, Sylla wandered back and forth between her nestroom and the spare nestroom that the royal family was staying in. She felt strangely drawn to them.
She decided she would look in on them, just once. That was all.
She peeked into the nestroom. All three were still sound asleep. She flitted silently through the air and hovered just a few wingbeats from the princess' nest.
"Why won't you wake up, princess? You really should. The whole kingdom is worried about you." She whispered, the first sound she'd made that whole day.
It was unnoticeable at first. Just an eyelash fluttering.
Sylla was already out in the hallway when an eye slowly opened, and she was back in her nestroom when a short yawn issued from a dainty mouth. She was almost asleep herself when a joyous shout came from the spare nestroom.
The princess was awake!
Sylla flew quickly down the hallway and tumbled into the room. Princess Aura really was awake!
"But... but how?" The King was asking, over and over. "There was no one in here but us!"
Sylla said nothing, keeping her earlier presence a secret. Princess Aura, however, looked directly at her.
"I know you..." She said, her voice covered with confusion. "You said something, didn't you?"
The King and Queen looked between Sylla and their daughter, equally confused.
"Please... I know you did." The princess begged, her conviction getting stronger.
Sylla nodded and whispered. "I asked why you wouldn't wake up... I said that everyone was worried about you."
The queen blinked, then laughed. She couldn't believe how silly they had been. "How did we think of asking other species before asking for female Nephinis?"
Princess Aura stared at her mother. "Really? You asked Draeyls, before you asked female Nephinis??"
Dracon, standing in the hallway, just rolled his eyes. Nephinis, he thought, what ridiculously silly things they were.
He walked away as the King and Queen gestured for the soft-spoken Sylla to join them. It looked like he would have to scrounge up another companion.
As for Aura and Sylla? They lived happily ever after.
Story very loosely based on: Sleeping Beauty, originally written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm (there doesn't seem to be a consensus on which actually came first. Charles uses the name Aurora, the Brothers Grimm used the name Briar Rose)
Avatar Entry~
This is a 'humanized' version of Sylla ^.^
Art Entry~
Okay, so, this isn't coloured, or even really shaded, and the proportions are awful.... but it's something lol.
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