7 Vermin?

As if to spite the young dragon, the torrential rain storm continued throughout the day and into the next. Destorianaxe was rather put out that her plan to travel was delayed but in hindsight... She was also rather glad for the storm. Forced to remain in her lair she had to admit lately she had liven rather slovenly. Bones and rot from her old meals were starting to pile higher in her space and it was little wonder, surrounded by death and decay, her sleep would become so troubled.

Sighing to herself, she put aside the thoughts of travel to focus on cleaning up her lair before the place somehow became infested. The discarded bones and rotted meat were slowly gathered near the deep pit on the side of the chamber, peering over the edge, Destorianaxe had never explored it since the first time she emptied her belly down it. Having delegated it as her interior 'dump' of waste she paid little heed as the small hill of animal bones was shoved over the edge, a great clamor erupting as the multitude of chewed bones clattered against the stone walls of the pit and crashed against the far, unseen bottom.

As she was preparing to push the second lot over the edge, her head suddenly turned towards the hole. The sound of distant chanting lightly carried up the distance from the darkened bottom. Peering down, narrowing her yellow eyes she tilted her head listening to the faint voice in the dark. It seemed raised in song or chant, followed by the dull murmur of many others responding. Destorianaxe snarled softly baring her teeth, something was below, something was invading her waste pit!

It never crossed her mind to just let whatever was down there wallow in the foulness she pushed over the edge so often. No, these were intruders in her lair! Regardless if it was the main chamber, the entry hall or her pit of crap, it was HER lair. Whatever was down there could very well one day appear up here right? Glaring angrily her tail swat the mess over the lip viciously, sending a second explosion of noise as the bones and rot was viciously smashed into the hole. Like before, as the clatter of the old chewed bones came to a stop the wisp of chanting voices was lifted from the bottom.

Looking over the hole Destorianaxe considered just how to get down there, the pit was big enough, rather her mother could easily fit there as well let alone a smaller wyrmling like herself, but the thing was there wasn't room to fly or even glide. She'd have to climb down, but how slick were the pit walls covered in her waste, let alone the disgust she felt in the thought of having to climb over her own waste. Shuddering but steeling herself she began to look for the best way down, the sides of the pit were rocky not smooth but one missed grip and breaking her neck at the bottom wasn't off the table.

Growling under her breath she shifted to a different side and began digging her talons into the stone, carefully climbing over the edge. The shift in weight as she looked down into the darkness made her stomache lurch, she almost felt like a stiff breeze would tumble her tail over head into the maw of blackness below. Shaking her head she slowly moved down, one clawed foot at a time, slowly crawling down into the unknown. The descent was slow, the fear of losing her grip and the humiliation of being the first dragon to fall to her death rattled around inside her mind.

What she had thought was the 'bottom' turned out to be a shift in the passage, the floor was actually a boulder of some dark material, waste and bone shards littered its surface, but the rest had slid on further down the slope. Further towards the end the darkness was dispelled somehow, shadows wavered upon a distant wall and the voices were much closer, the chanting song like voices raised high in momentum. A strange smell tickled the wyrmling nostrils making her want to sneeze, but mixed in was a scent she knew well... freshly spilled blood.

Padding down the passage now in heightened curiosity, Destorianaxe approached the voices. Reaching the end of the passage she peered down into a larger chamber. The exit was high to the back of this new chamber and was draped in darkness that easily hid the Peeking wyrmling, but the room below was alot with burning sticks. The walls and floor were packed with bones, covering just about every inch of stone. Below her position was a drop into what looked like a worked basin, fluid and bones roiled in this fenced off area forming a deep pool fed by a high altar at the center of the room.

How an altar fed the basin was readily apparent, for stretched across the raised altar was a pale figure. Destorianaxe could smell its blood pouring from three major wounds which pooled in tracks on the altar top and guided the crimson fluid to the basin. Her yellow eyes swept the pale white figure, the vivid red at its torn throat, opened chest and emptied belly made sure this thing was beyond dead, especially with a blood covered chunk of flesh on a small slab by the things head.

Destorianaxe swept her gaze from the dead carcass to the similar creatures in the room. Standing before the altar, dressed in layers of bones another of these creatures was dancing around wildly swinging a long, bloody fang in its fore claw. Blood was swiped across the gaggle of prostrating others knelt below the dancing ranting creature. It's high pitched voice reminded her alot of her brother, the tell tale scream of a deep rooted insanity made the thing throw itself around, a performing clown gyrating before a fearful audience,

Destorianaxe snorted. She had wondered where the vermin of her home was and it would seem they made a nest in her waste pit. Shifting her gaze she was tempted to thrust herself into the chamber to bring true death to the insane wretch dressed in her cast offs, but she held her place. Her eyes swept the room seeing other creatures not prostrating, like the insane one, these were dressed in thick bone plates and carried strange sticks topped with pointed fangs. While there were only a few of these ones, Destorianaxe felt it might be dangerous to throw herself at these creatures.

Retreating into the darkness she left the creatures alone for now. Such would not be the last time she visited the sacrificial chamber. In the days and weeks that followed the young dragon spent a great deal of time spying on the pale creatures. Some times it would be like that first visit, the insane wretch bloodying one of their numbers into the bloody pool. This tended to happen once or twice a month depending on the full moon, it seemed like some sort of ceremony, though the purpose of slaughtering one of their own and rolling the carcass into the pool made little sense.

Other visits she would see one or more of the herd sneak in to offer up a cut fore paws offering when none were around. One such visit had seen this abnormal visitor caught by the bigger ones. The cattle one had been badly beaten by the warrior caste before the wretch had come and gutted the herd member. Instead of placing the body in the pool the body was dismembered and the offenders head placed along the edge of the basin facing away from the pool. To Destorianaxe it seemed there was some import of being part of the pool, the ones that were butchered on the altar seemed to go willingly, some even having an insane glimmer of expectation when they were chosen to be slaughtered.

Time stretched on, Destorianaxe found a bit of salvation in observing these savages, while she could not understand anything they said at first, it was the presence of other living beings so close at hand that gave her ease of mind. Her initial thoughts of travelling were dashed aside as she took fully to studying these creatures. While continuing to 'bestow' her cast offs and waste she mixed in other things to see how the little vermin would react. Most notable was the time she hunted a wild boar and rather than eating it she had dumped it, meat and all through the chute.

This 'blessing' brought incredible activity to the vermin, the insane one had instantly tripled the offering before holding some form of ceremony over the dead boar before the herd. When the herd had left the leader and warriors fell on the carcass like piranhas, stripping it to the very bones before adding the skull to the altar. Several times over the next few years the young dragon would hunt extra to bestow upon the vermin, most times during their ceremony but other times when the lone visitor offered their blood.

The latter blessing had mixed response she seen. The first few times she had done so the sole herd visitor was as usual killed but the feast was still kept for the leader and its warriors. For this Destorianaxe held back her blessing during the next period of ceremony which sent the leader into a frenzy, spending several weeks worshipping at the altar alone. When enough time had passed, Destorianaxe had repeated her little experiment, returning her blessing to the regular ceremony... then giving a surprise blessing to herd member. As before it was killed and the blessing kept, and like before the groups ceremony went unanswered.

It took a few years but when the leader was replaced, the new one seemed to understand the cause and effect better than the miserly original. When Destorianaxe tested this new leader, the herd member, rather than being killed had seemed to be taken in by the leader becoming a secondary ceremony leader of sorts. Through this test she learned she could guide these little beasts to follow her will. Destorianaxe's mind whirled as she thought about what next to try with this herd of vermin...

Time marched on Destorianaxe watched over the vermin, sometimes very active other times, she left them to their own thoughts. This hands on and hands off interaction thrilled her, occupying her mind as she tried to influence the nest through different actions, though she always made sure she was unseen. The closest thing to a reveal had been during a ceremony, one of the less faithful had lifted its head during the ceremony and bore witness to what looked like two yellow lights observing the leader intently. Its shriek of fear had disrupted the ceremony and nearly earned it a swift death, but the revelation of a witness in the dark was too much for the leaders to ignore.

This wary vermin became the first temple keeper, a watcher for their god as it seemed to be the only one able to see those eyes. Which brought Destorianaxe no ends of mirth as from that time forward endeavoured to only ever be spotted by the keeper, no matter how sly the leaders tried to catch a glimpse of her. In fact it was this keeper that Destorianaxe first appeared fully to, it had been six years since the appointment of the keeper, the original was now withered with age and deep into the training of its replacement.

It had staggered into the temple to pay its last respects, unaware that it would see its partner for their exclusive game of hide and seek. When it looked into those yellow eyes, it knew it's time had come. Unlike in days past it did not call for the priest or its replacement. While fear gripped its frail old heart it knelt before its god who welcomed it into the afterlife. As was proper, there was blood. There was pain. Then there was nothing.

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Leaving the carcass of a fleetfoot deer on the altar along with the old keepers bloodied vestments, Destorianaxe climbed back up the shaft considering the taste of the vermin she had just snapped up. A little tough and stringy but a decent snack. Maybe she could make this a new ceremony...