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dear mom,
i was dying.
there's not much else to it, really. terminal aetherogenerative disease; my aether was waning from my very being far faster than a normal person. near my 22nd nameday i was given only a year more to live, with the likelihood of losing all mobility within the next six moons. i was told no chirurgeon, sage, arcanist or scholar could help me. i sent letters across the star—many didn't receive answers—and those that did were all but good news. i was the fourth case ever documented according to the studium's scholars, and most of them seemed to just want to study my dying body.
but you know i'm stubborn, always have been and always will be. always caught up in my studies and following in dad's footsteps; i still remember the first time he let me try his nouliths. i knew there could be something i could do, or at least, i could try. i spent a lot of time in the studium with my notebook in hand, researching everything i could about aether. it wasn't until the section on the dravanian colony that i found something promising.
as i'm sure you know, dragons are possessed of immortality in time, unable to die of simply growing old. their aether is of a far different makeup than our own—a much stronger makeup. naturally this intrigued me, if my own aether was weak and waning, what if i had a dragon's aether? but of course that isn't exactly a simple task. in most cases that would be taking a life of a dragon, which certainly wasn't a solution i'd be willing to take. a life for my own isn't fair. so instead i delved my research into dragon scales, the natural shed of the creatures.
i remember all the photos you had of me hung up at home from that first trip to the beach when i found a dragon scale washed up ashore. i still remember how elated i was, and admittedly i looked upon it fondly for many years. that jet black scale that seemed to hold the entire void inside of it. that was the key, it turns out. you see, dragon scales are possessed of the powerful aether of dragons, albeit in trace amounts. the alchemists of thavnair have been using dragon scales for quite some time because of this unique property.
i'll save you the details of my research and many sleepless nights awake in the studium laboratory. i was lucky enough to be granted access due to dad's former connections, please be sure to tell him that i'm thankful. anyhow, i was able to extract the aether in full from the scale into a concentrated solution. there wasn't much room for testing, i had one shot unless i could somehow track down another scale. that being said if anything went awry, it was likely i'd simply die from the consequences. not like it was high stakes though, considering the inevitability of my death looming on the horizon regardless.
so, i injected myself with the solution, hoping the aether would somehow... replenish my own. enough to at least grant me a long enough life to be happy. a long enough life to make you and dad proud, to make up for the accident.
well, since i'm writing this letter i suppose i can say it worked, but not without its effects. draconian aether is some powerful stuff, much more powerful than i had anticipated... it's not every day you wake up in excruciating pain only to look in the mirror and see horns growing out your face.
indeed, i grew horns. not only horns though, scales across my skin from head to toe— even along my tail. incredibly painful those first few weeks, i will admit, but i can't say i'm so displeased. every day i'm reminded of our trip to the beach, finding that jet black scale, for it lines my very being.
as for my aether, it's stabilized. no longer waning, yet of course not as strong as a dragon's own aether. but i live, i am living. even if i'm different than i was before, i am alive. and i promise you i won't waste it, i promise you and dad that i'll make you proud. i promise i'll live. i promise i'll survive. i promise.
i miss you every day. rest well. i hope there are beaches in the lifestream.
i love you always and forever,
verriiyt