Username: Goddess Sword
Lion name: Orazio
Lion gender: Male
Pride: The WardsPride Status: Disciple
///Even among the gods, dragons are rare, elusive beings. While the disciples of the dragon god, such as Amara, may appear to have draconic companions of their own, the reality is that those beasts are little more than manifestations of the powers granted to them as the deity's apprentices. Beings made not of flesh, but of hard light, or wind given form, or any number of other elements, mere extensions of their companions' abilities. They are no more a true dragon than your average skink or chameleon - Related, perhaps, but not the same. Even the god of knowledge, for all he knew of all the realms, could name but that one, single dragon, that deity of time who had come to him so many years ago, who had planted the seed of rebirth, who had plucked little Ziya from the mortal realms when the third tree fled from their role.
///And so, when Orazio was taken in as one of the dragon god's disciples, it was assumed that the dragon he was often seen with from that point on was just the same. Except... no. Over time, it became clear that his was different. He was too young to fully comprehend his powers, let alone to manifest a familiar so real, so lifelike. They would see him chatting and wrestling and playing with it as if it were a living creature. Though they never left each others' sides, like most manifestations, it never dissipated in the way that the others did, even in his deepest sleep. And, perhaps most oddly, he would speak of it with a name. "Aroa," he'd call it. He'd speak of the dragon as a friend, or even a sister. As if it were the genuine thing, and having a dragon for a sibling were the most normal thing in the world. And for Orazio, it was. After all, this life, with Aroa by his side, was all he knew. The cub and the dragon, this somehow
real dragon, were the closest of companions, and that was just how things were.
///Even if the others noticed, he didn't. He hadn't the foggiest idea that it was strange, or it was special.
///And maybe that was for the best.
///It would be nice, wouldn't it? If they stayed like that forever? Just a cub and his best friend, for all of time.
///Orazio thought so.