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#bonus Merlin's dragonlord abilities
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Mercelot Week 2023 Day 7: Purple/Dragons (When Love Was An Act Of Defiance Sneak Peak)
In which Lancelot doesn't die and that changes... well, not that much, actually. Up until it does.
<< That's what the summary would be IF I HAD A COMPLETE FIC TO POST. These are sneak peaks posted as part of Mercelot Week 2023.
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Stop me if you've heard this one before. A knight and a sorcerer walk into a tomb…
This is it! 'Tis the end! And it brings with it aNOTHer scene from Aithusa (yadda yadda "TTWCCISLN"). Hey, what's happening in the end notes?
Ao3
They had to stop by the camp. Not only was it on the way to the tomb, they had to get the Triskelion out of Arthur’s pack. Which was leaning in a tree. Along with all their stuff. Right next to the sleeping knights.
“Stay here,” Merlin told Lancelot once they were outside the clearing they’d chosen to spend the night in. “I’ll get it. You’ve got all that” —he gestured up and down at his chainmail, belt, weapons— “metal, you might make a noise.”
Lancelot stared at him. He glanced at the tree with the packs, then back. His cheek twitched. “Alright. Go ahead.”
Merlin frowned at him, but there wasn’t time to push for an explanation. He walked over to the edge of the clearing, looked around to make sure everyone was asleep, and stepped in.
He tiptoed past Elyan, then had to dodge Percival, who couldn’t help but take up space. So busy watching his steps around him, he didn’t notice an object close to the fire and stumbled on it. To avoid too much flailing, he went down on his knee. Crisis averted, he grabbed what had made him trip and held it up. It was some gloves. With a curse, he flung them aside.
He was more careful walking past Arthur and Gwaine, who could be as easy to startle while sleeping out in the wild as they were hard to wake up in the safety of the castle. They were also the ones closest to their packs.
He was watching Gwaine’s face to make sure he didn’t stir, when he felt something soft under the foot he was laying down. He froze. It was Arthur’s hand. He tried to shift all his weight down to the foot in the back, but it ended up upsetting his balance. He wavered for a second, dismally aware that he was about to step on Arthur full-on. Forward, backward, to the side, forward... Suddenly, the king scrunched up his face and turned over, pulling his hand along, just as Merlin leaned forward on the offending foot. He blew out a sharp breath.
Finally, he crouched down next to the tree. Arthur’s pack was in the middle of the pile. He put aside some swords leaning on them, moved the top two bags, one by one, and only then started digging through Arthur’s. The Triskelion was near the opening. He pocketed it and put everything back in its place.
He was halfway back across the camp when he heard a scraping noise and turned around. It was followed faster than he could react by the bangs and clangs of the swords falling down, dragging everything else in the pile along. He held his breath and closed his eyes as the knights began to stir.
Then Percival let out a mighty snore and turned over. The rest followed suit in chorus. Nothing else happened.
Merlin half-ran, half-tiptoed the rest of the way. Lancelot was leaning against a tree, hands against his mouth to muffle his laughter. Merlin grabbed his shoulder as he went and pulled him along.
They kept a fast pace towards the tomb. While the tower could be seen from the camp, there wasn’t a straight path to it. The sky had started to grey when they finally arrived. To their dismay, though, the only way in that they could see was up an almost sheer wall.
“It’s not smooth, at least,” Lancelot pointed out optimistically. “There’s plenty of gaps and crannies to use as handholds.”
“I’m sure they’ll be a lovely surface to scrape down on if we fall,” Merlin retorted.
They climbed the wall, anyway.
“How on earth are you so good at that?” Lancelot demanded between gasps, halfway there.
Merlin looked down at him from three meters up. “I just am, I guess.”
“Are you using magic?” he insisted.
“No!”
The wall ended in a corridor carved in the stone and they took a few moments to breathe before pushing forward.
“I mean it,” Lancelot said. “How?”
Merlin just wheezed loudly in response. A sudden fear same over him and he checked his pockets. The Triskelion was still there. He sighed in relief. After a while, he shared a nod with Lancelot and they moved on.
“Remind me again what the druids said about traps?” Lancelot requested when the corridor became enclosed by walls.
“Iseldir said the Triskelion was a trap… or could set off a trap… He wasn't sure...” Merlin looked around, searching for a clue.
The corridor took a turn to the left. A short flight of stairs led to a wooden door. On it lay a stone circle, engraved with two triskelions — one was a normal design, like a decoration, the other, more deeply carved in, crude, with circles instead of spirals. It matched the key to the last detail.
Merlin took it out of his pocket and held it up.
“That’s the lock, I suppose.”
Lancelot glanced between the Triskelion, the door and Merlin warily, before letting out a sigh.
“Just… be careful,” he told him.
Merlin smiled, suddenly feeling shy, and nodded. He walked up to the door. After all this time, Lancelot’s concern shouldn’t have still made him giddy. It should have never made him giddy at all, in fact. He’d proven himself capable enough to face whatever dangers life threw his way too many times over to need someone to worry about him. Even Gaius had recognized that. Lancelot’s sword made a scraping sound as he pulled it out of its sheath. Merlin blinked at the stone carving, berating himself for getting distracted right then. He lifted the Triskelion to the lock and pushed it in. A perfect fit.
Nothing happened.
The stone seemed to shift under his hands, though, becoming loose. Nerves alight at the delay of the danger he knew was near, Merlin spun the Triskelion. The door started to fall open and he had to hold it up. He looked back at Lancelot.
“Eyes front,” he gestured with his chin, bracing himself with his sword.
Merlin took a step back, letting the door follow his movements. When nothing happened, he peered inside the room. Even in the dim light, it was clear it had fallen to ruin, but otherwise looked like any other old castle chamber he’d ever seen. He left the protection of the door and inched inside.
Some kind of gas was shot not a handspan away from his face. He stumbled back and almost took a spill down the stairs.
“Merlin!” Lancelot cried. His feet slammed up the steps without concern for his own safety. He pushed Merlin behind him, taking his place, and lifted up his cape to protect them both.
It gave Merlin enough of a respite that he could cover his face with his jacket and throw out his hand.
“Æðm blinn!”
The gas retreated. Even though Merlin’d barely breathed any of it in, both of them were left coughing in its wake. Lancelot was forced to his knees by heaves. When he recovered a little, he looked up at Merlin through watery eyes.
“What?” he asked.
Only then did he notice that he’d opened his mouth to say something. Pity he didn’t know what it was.
“You should’ve stayed away, that was dangerous,” he pulled out of the whirlwind of emotions inside him, but, while not wrong, it wasn’t what he’d meant to tell him. “Thanks,” he corrected himself, which was closer, but not quite right.
Lancelot huffed out a laugh. “Don’t mention it. Especially if it keeps you from telling me off.”
Merlin looked away into the chamber and summoned a light. They entered slowly, wary of more traps, but that seemed to be it. It was a wonder the first one had worked at all — moss, grime and water damage clung to the brick walls and covered the floor. Seeing it from the inside didn’t make it any less underwhelming. Of course, Merlin didn’t say that out loud. Why tempt fate?
He changed his mind when they reached the Main Hall. Or what he assumed was the Main Hall. If there was a greater room in the tower, Merlin feared the sight would make him pass out. His first glimpse from the bottom of the stairs was enough to freeze him in his tracks. He took the steps one by one, rows and rows of elegant marble pillars revealing themselves as he went, ceilings so high they were just shadows. The morning light that entered through high windows on every wall coloured the room silver.
Seeming to cast a glow of its own, an orb rested on an altar near the top of the stairs. It was an uneven white, streaked with blue that became more prominent in its wide base. The top was pointy, like a teardrop. Merlin thought it looked somewhat like a pearl. As he got closer, he changed his mind. It was like stone.
“Is that it?” Lancelot breathed out from behind him.
Merlin let the light go out. He walked closer still and lifted his hands to hover around the orb, noting the small grooves and almost gritty exterior. He’d been wrong before. It looked just like an egg.
“Yeah,” he answered in the same tone. He took his hands away to open his bag, then made to grab the egg.
“Careful,” Lancelot warned him. “Remember the trap at the entrance. It might not be the only one.”
Merlin looked back for the first time. Lancelot was standing several feet away, barely past the top of the stairs. His battle ready stance was at odds with the awe in his face, but he wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to the hall. His wide eyes were firmly on Merlin.
He smiled and nodded, turning back to the egg.
“I have to take it,” Merlin gave a warning of his own.
“Go ahead.”
He grabbed the egg. A gasp escaped him. It was warm. Three hundred years, he thought. It was as smooth as an eggshell, but now he could feel the solidity of stone. He could feel so much.
The hall trembled. Dust started to fall from the ceiling and Merlin suspected that the same was happening in the floor beneath them. He stored the egg away as quickly as he dared.
All of a sudden, the walls cracked, pieces of stone and marble raining down on their heads.
“Merlin!” Lancelot cried out.
“Sċild ús!” Merlin incanted, making the debris bounce harmlessly off a solid strip of air above them.
It wouldn’t protect them from the ground falling apart beneath their feet, though, so he rushed to the stairs. He stopped for a moment to let Lancelot through, but he shoved him forward. They raced back the way they came, dust clouding the air and their lungs. When they got to the hallway that would lead outside, though, Lancelot wrapped his arm around Merlin’s shoulder and took him down a different turn.
“I think I saw another way out. Do you think you could tell it to open?”
He pointed to what Merlin at first assumed was a large carving of a dragon on the wall, peering its head over folded wings. It was a strange detail, though, when the rest of the lower hallways were all bare bricks. Instinct urged him to hurry down the known path instead of wasting time with a possible dead end, but the wall outside wasn’t really an option. Even if he could find a way to get the egg to the bottom safely, they didn’t have time to climb down. He'd have to try.
Merlin closed his eyes to better focus inwards. Every other time he’d used his dragonlord voice, he’d had Kilgharrah as an anchor, or even the wyverns. He wasn’t sure he could find it for a statue. Then he felt a pull from the egg, the whisper of a tingle, and realized he wouldn’t have to.
He opened his eyes.
“Ὦ πυλαωρός, ὠΐξου δή, ὥς κεν ἐκφύγομεν ὁ ὄλεθρα, γένος γάρ εἰμι δρακόντων!”
The dragon’s wings unfurled, spinning on hinges at the top, so they no longer covered the exit, but framed it instead. Lancelot let out a small laugh and patted his back. As they walked through the entrance, Merlin looked up gratefully at the dragon’s head, feeling the gesture like a benediction.
After a small landing, their new path gave way to narrow stairs, which they took two at a time. Merlin summoned a light to guide them almost as an afterthought. The hallways they crossed were much more stable than those outside, shaking and falling apart at the corners. Nonetheless, they knew they would fall apart just the same as the rest of the tower, so they didn’t relax their pace.
Eventually, the stairs ended in a room as small as the landing at the top with a small gateway. When they crossed it, they could see there was another dragon carved on the other side of the wall, wings already lifted. It left them in an open entrance hall, at ground level, they were glad to see. Judging by the sunlight, it was facing away from cave, the direction any traveller would’ve approached from.
“A gate for dragonlords,” Merlin said, walking backwards to see it better. “Ashkanar wanted us to find it.”
Now outside, the crumbling of the tower was much more obvious, and much more deadly. Lancelot stuck to Merlin’s back once again as they hurried away from the destruction. They scrambled back to the higher ground of the forest, just in time to see the Tomb of Ashkanar crumble down on itself. Over the clamour, they heard footsteps approaching.
Arthur and the other knights came running, a mix of relief and urgency on their faces.
“Where have you been?! We were worried about you!” Elyan exclaimed.
Percival nodded in agreement, but Gwaine twisted his face and shrugged. Percival elbowed him.
“Once we saw this thing falling apart, sure, we were worried,” he conceded.
In Arthur, this presented itself as annoyance, of course.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded, watching the last of the tower crumple away.
Notes:
“Æðm blinn!”: Changed the og spell from “Smoke, part!” To “Vapor, go away!” Because I’m random :P Scildan!: Straight from the merlin wiki, it’s the same spell Merlin used to protect himsel from Kilgharrah in Le Morte d’Arthur. You may have noticed that is NOT the spell I used — that would be because it’s the non conjugated verb, meaning something more or less like “to shield!” Only not. Because that would be to sċildenne (inflected infinitive — basically, what you’d use to sya, for example, “it’s my duty to shield the people”). So it’s basically like shouting “the verb shield!” I changed it to “shield us”. So. Something you may not have know because I never told you is that I've been using the notes on my doc for the end notes. It's where I record my reactions, the stuff I don't use, make logs, write down the translations. Now. Are you ready for a journey?   Crying, shaking, throwing up using Ancient Greek For Everyone(https://pressbooks.pub/ancientgreek/chapter/41/) and an online dictionary (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/definitionlookup?type=exact&q=champion&target=greek) to translate “Open, (o) gatekeeper, so that we may escape, for I am family to dragons.” I may have messed up the conjugation. And the order, definitely. I’m not sure you’re supposed to say both ὁ and εἰμί. “ Οιγου, ὦ πυλαωρός, ὥς οἱ ἄν ἐκφεύγοιμεν, γάρ ὁ εἰμί οἱ δράκόντων τό γένος!” Phonetic Spelling: Oigoo, oh pulaourOS, hous ohi Au ekfeUgoimen, gAp ho eimI’ohi drAkounoun tO gEnos! In doing a phonetic spelling, I found two issues: 1) it’s impossible to do that for an english person because you’re not normal about your vowel to sound ratio, so this is for my spanish peeps out there 2) ancient greek (maybe modern greek too wtf) was apparently very melodic, many marks signalling a rise and/or fall in pitch, per vowel, and I can’t explain that, so you get stress marks. 3) This is not an inherent problem of phonetics but by god did I keep geting u (υ) and n (ν) mixed up. <<All that applies to the original translation: I have since realized that there is a difference between the guide I was using, which was in Koine Greek, and Homeric Greek. I tried to use the wikipedia guide, but I gave up and used Chat GPT and it’s keeping me HUMBLE. Then again, I’m keeping it humble, too. Except for how it’s an algorithm that can’t keep note of their own answers, much less my corrections. A night well spent, wouldn’t you agree? Oh, by the way, the phonetic spelling would've been wrong for the original, too. Hey, uh. You will NOT believe what happened when I checked the translation one last time before I posted it. Yeah. I don't think it's too far off too say that eventually I decided "if Homer can make up words no one else even uses, so can I", esp. for "open". It has the bonus of not looking like "family" in modern greek, apparently.
And with THAT hot mess, I bid you goodbye! Until I finish writing the other ≥7 chapters! (And then editing them. So. Yeah.) I'm reaaalllllyyyy backed up with the other entries, but I am hoping to finish reading all of them eventually.
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ive been obsessed with the concept of merlin who actually runs away with freya because after she got injured he panicked and healed her right in front of arthur. so he panicked, again, and ran away with her to live next to the lake. and they do build their lil cottage and have a strawberry farm and some cows. and they also have time to explore their feelings.
and its the funniest thing, because merlin has also been slowly crushing on arthur, and that much is clear whenever he talks abt him to freya. it doesnt make her jealous or anything, just sad that she knows they'll probably never be together. that the only time that merlin and arthur do "interact" is when merlin secretly saves his ass every week or so. like merlin technically never left, but now he gets creative, uses glamours, learns shape shifting after helping freya with her own curse.
he gets to meet with morgana now, because freya urged him to not leave her alone in this mess, so now we don't get evil morgana (yay!). merlin also tentatively tries to do the same with mordred whenever they do meet with the druids, especially when they were figuring out freya's curse, and mordred grows on merlin, so we also dont get evil mordred (great bonus).
and another thing that ive also been obsessed with thinking is that when the great purge began, nimueh tried to sought out balinor since i think they were friends, being 2 magic users with special abilities (high priestess and dragonlord). and she ended up at ealdor just in time to see merlin be born.
and then they meet later on, and nimueh kinda doesnt believe that that's merlin from ealdor since hes in fucking camelot. but then the questing beast happened. and when merlin goes to kill her, she manages to shield herself last second. and feeling that great power that she felt when merlin was born, because he was almost glowing golden and so potent she almost dropped him when she held lil merlin, her brain fucking stopped. she cannot kill merlin. and so she does something that she almost did when she met hunith, and she understood in that little time why balinor had stayed with her, and nimueh decides to use the power she has for her immortality to ensure arthur lives. so now she will age like a normal human, gaius is alive, and so is arthur. and now merlin and nimueh are very awkward with each other.
especially when a bit of time later they end up meeting with the druids to help freya and theyre also helping nimueh. she felt as if her powers were weaker, but merlin was like "yh no ure lying u feel exactly the same" n leaves thinking nimueh is plotting. when in reality she actually did think her powers were dying and that fear made it seem as if it was actually happening. her mind played tricks on her, and she almost believed her magic was dying.
so after this lil nimueh interlude, lets go back to freya and merlin.
the funniest thing abt theyre situation is that. while merlin is obviously crushing on arthur (and brooding abt it cuz yknow), freya is just. "merlin, i think im crushing on gwen." "???? have u met her?" "no but ive seen her and she smells like a good person and also i like what i know abt her from you." "ok-" "also im crushing on morgana." "freya." "also elyan." "GWENS BROTHER????" "HES. PRETTY. YOU CANT TELL ME THAT NOT TRUE CUZ LAST TIME I CHECKED UR EYES ARE WORKING FINE."
i do think that when freya finally gets control over her curse and has her lil space with merlin, her true sunshine gremlin nature comes out and she manages to be more chaotic than merlin, just also more sweet. and dangerous. she can turn into a literal monster.
also. merlin and freya getting married. and having babies. twins. its been on my MIND non stop yall, this has never happened before idc abt kids-
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yourdeepestfathoms · 5 years
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Merlin Characters as Wings of Fire Dragons
so these books were my childhood (and i still read them) so i decided to do this
Magic in this universe is being an Animus and it’s still illegal. But in this AU (i guess you could call it that) nobody loses their fucking mind and stay friends. There’s still war, though
Merlin
Breed: SilkWing
Appearance: He’s the color of an old world swallowtail butterfly but with a little more blue and red. The undersides of his wings are iridescent and shimmer in sunlight.
Abilities: Flamesilk, Animus
Other:
- When he first arrived at the kingdom, his wings weren’t grown in yet
- It’s unknown as to why he is Animus; possibly because of SeaWing blood he has
- He has enchanted many objects and almost gets caught a handful of times
- Vegetarian
- Hates killing Scavengers (the name for humans for those who don’t know) and usually releases or rescues any he sees
- Honestly I have no clue what would be the equivalent of a Dragonlord in this universe, but at least he still has his magic
- He’s one of few Pantala dragons in the kingdom
Bonus dragon name: Butterfly
Arthur
Breed: SkyWing
Appearance: Prominently golden with orange undersides to his wings. His scales have hues of pale yellow and reds to them, making him seem to glow in the sunlight. He’s very large, being one of the biggest at the castle.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Powerful fighter and flyer
Other:
- He’s seen wearing armor quite often, usually when he’s out on quests
- Snorts embers in Merlin’s face when he’s annoyed at him
- As revenge, Merlin tied his jaws shut with his silk
- That did not make him happy
- When he’s angry, smoke streams out of his nostrils and jaws
Bonus dragon name: Falcon
Morgana
Breed: SkyWing
Appearance: The scales the color of a sunset- beautiful gold with hues of pink, orange, and red. When standing in sunlight, her scales seem to glitter. She’s nearly as large as Arthur. Has weirdly discolored eyes, which are pale green.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Powerful fighter and flyer, Animus
Other:
- She enjoys wearing jewels and flower necklaces on different days
- She’s Animus but she doesn’t use her magic nearly as much as Merlin does
- She enchanted some flowers Gwen gave her to never wilt
- Also enchants an earring to help block out the voices Morgause hears
- Worries over losing her mind if she used her magic too much
- Definitely gay
- Loves tail twining
Bonus dragon name: Sunset
Guinevere
Breed: HiveWing
Appearance: Shiny copper scales with speckles of bronze and gold. The colored parts of her wings fade to ebony.
Abilities: Venomous barbs that can extend from her wrists, A stinger on the tip of her tail that can eject a paralyzing nerve toxin, Poison in her teeth, Occasional fire breathing
Other:
- A small dragon girl
- Despite being much smaller than the others (besides Mordred) she is probably one of the most dangerous with all of her abilities and poison
- She’s a slow flyer because of her insect wings
- Was originally put through mind control by her queen and fled when she managed to break away
- She’s hunted constantly because she’s a rare breed of dragon (along with Merlin) so Morgana enchants a necklace to change her appearance to look like an IceWing
- Originally enslaved
Bonus dragon name: Firefly
[BC]Uther
Breed: SkyWing
Appearance: Dark red scales with a scarlet underbelly. Wears a black chest plate and a crown.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Powerful fighter and flyer
Bonus dragon name: Scorch
[BC]Gaius
Breed: SeaWing
Appearance: Indigo scales with an emerald green shine to them
Abilities: Water breathing, Powerful swimmer, Can see in the dark, Weak Animus
Bonus dragon name: Reef
[BC]Morgause
Breed: NightWing-SkyWing hybrid
Appearance: With her disguise, she has shiny ebony-purple scales with sparkling grey underscales. There’s a slight dark blue tint to her hide that appears in sunlight. The undersides of her wings are speckled with sterling like stars. Silver teardrops are beside her dark green eyes. Without her disguise and with her natural colors, she remains black but has large gold and orange speckles and blemishes all across her body. It almost looks like she’s been burned.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Can blend into shadows, Mind reading, Foretell the future, Firescales, Animus
Other:
- Her mother was a SkyWing (which is why she’s related to Morgana and Arthur) while her unnamed father was a NightWing, but she ended up looking more like her dad
- In fact, most of her genes came from her dad; you probably wouldn’t even think she’s half SkyWing when she’s disguised
- Speaking of which, she enchanted a bracelet to hide her true appearance because she hated being a hybrid
- She hatched under three moons, so she has the special NightWing powers
- The worst thing is her firescales, though, and she had to enchant another bracelet to cancel the effects
- Smaller than Morgana but bigger than Gwen
- I love her a lot y’all, she’s so interesting
Bonus dragon name: Trickshadow
[BC]Gwaine
Breed: SandWing
Appearance: Burnt orange scales that have a very metallic tint in sunlight. The frill going down his spine is pale yellow.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Can withstand great heats and go a long time without water, Poison enemies with the scorpion barb at the end of his tail, Blend in with sand, Scales give off natural heat
Bonus dragon name: Quicksand
[BC]Leon
Breed: IceWing
Appearance: Silvery scales that fade into dark blue.
Abilities: Frost breath, Can withstand subzero temperatures and bright lights, Scales give off a natural chill
Bonus dragon name: Sleet
[BC]Elyan
Breed: SandWing
Appearance: Sandy brown scales and a dull golden white underbelly. There are black diamonds going down his neck.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Can withstand great heats and go a long time without water, Poison enemies with the scorpion barb at the end of his tail, Blend in with sand, Scales give off natural heat
Bonus dragon name: Fennec
[BC]Percival
Breed: MudWing
Appearance: Olive green scales that fade down to his cinnamon colored underbelly. The spines going down his back are light brown.
Abilities: Fire breathing, Fireproof scales, Can hold his breath for up to an hour
Bonus dragon name: Croc
[BC]Mordred
Breed: RainWing-SeaWing-LeafWing hybrid
Appearance: He’s built like a RainWing with the horns and tail of a LeafWing. He has gills and fins going down the back of his neck and chest like a SeaWing. His scales can still change color and he has a ruff behind his ears from his RainWing side. Normally, he enjoys being multicolored. There are webs between his claws.
Abilities: Venom-spitting fangs, Water breathing, Night vision, Animus
Other:
- He’s weirdly small
- Lived in a tribe of LeafWings that are being hunted
- He’s a strange little hybrid, as he has the blood of three different breeds. The most logical explanation is that his mother must have been a RainWing and his father was a hybrid between a SeaWing and LeafWing.
- He hates being hot because his gills get dried up and start hurting
- His gills are his weak spot; hit them and he tends to tense up. Or he will spray his venom
- Likes to enchant plants with his magic
Bonus dragon name: Hedgehog
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