The red haze of the setting sun crossed over the stone walls like an ominous strange shadow, deepening in hue until it faded just as swiftly as lightening across a stormy sky. Lifeless was the word that came to mind when elicit eyes spanned the pathways that had been carved between the ancient walls. This was no city. Perhaps some time ago it may have been, long before the golden prima had stepped a polished pedal within these lands. There was no amusement welling within her mind. There was no smile or frown to be placed upon her sun-kissed lips. She was effectively a statuesque figure of gold moving emotionlessly through and empty city, blue eyes consumed with the sites that many might have fondly remembered for parties or gatherings. This was no city. No, Basillica had never been this lifeless. This Orestes had left his kingdom in turmoil and it seemed as though not a soul knew how to nor wanted to lift the veil of depression that had swallowed up Day Court with his untimely disappearance. The growing desire to know this prior king was like a plague upon her mind. Had there been some Godly mission that had dragged him away? Or had he simply not been cut from the cloth of a true king, inept in his role and finally finding it within himself to abandon a throne he could not serve justly?Onyx hair dragged along the dusty road behind her, curving out a path as if to tell the world that someone was here. Illo had no need or desire to be noticed. The attention of others was not something the female really ever desired. She could be left to her own designs for months on end and she would not feel the encroaching loneliness that others bemoaned. Her scales no longer glistened in the setting of the sun, for darkness had taken root and the city was dim but for occasional lights that lined the path before her. Her distaste for the current state of this city was evident in the slightest flicker of deep blues as they crawled across the unused streets before her. She could only imagine the life that had once clung to Day Court. Had it been much like Basillica? Parties, fairs, challenges in the Colosseum? Or had it been one of those cities where life had simply bustled on, without the desire for any festivities to attract more than the usual comings and goings?
She didn't quite know why she had been called to these lands. Frankly, she didn't quite care. In her mind there was an eventual purpose to everything. Fate was never something that people wandered into. Whether she was to play some great role here or not, Illo would leave her mark on this world just as she had planned to on the last. The mischievous glint in her eyes told of the many designs she had scuttling through her contemptuous mind. She was no innocent dame who had been dropped within a scary new world. No, she would more like a monster in most fairy tales. She had no desire to wreak havoc or destruction on an unsuspecting people. But the lengths she was willing to go to, to have the world she desired to live in? Illo would neither be the beast or the savior. She would simply be the unfortunate path that fate needed to stroll down for a time in history, to allow great things to occur down the road. If she needed to play the villain, she would. If she could manage it like a hero of old, so be it. But she was not one who played at good or evil. She played the game of 'must be done'. The person who did not mind choosing the darker option for the greater good. The person who did not need to shine like the gold she was in others eyes, for she cared not how the world viewed her.
The dragon stirred deep within, perhaps called by the sudden surge of determination that culminated within. Lately the dragon had not been so present. Since she'd washed ashore in the lands, little more than a stirring of her magic had been the only way she'd known it even still existed. It was becoming a comfort to get the faintest shift of the dragon beyond the veil. She could do anything so long as the dragon thrived within. She settled into the sensation, reaching out her minds eye to feel for the dragon more deeply. For a moment she could see her own eyes staring back her, inset within the dragons very sockets. Just as quickly as she spied it, however, it was gone. Her mood darkened and she drew to a stop in the center of the path. Golden brows drew together and anger boiled beneath the surface. Curse these lands for muting her powers. Before she could do anything, she would need to regain the strength of her powers so she could once again call for the golden behemoth. Standing still, as always, she was a statue as she searched within for the faintest remnants of the magic of her dragon side.
