Darkstalker's scroll, also known as Darkstalker's talisman, was the most dangerous scroll in Pyrrhia.[1] Enchanted around 3,011 AS to hold Darkstalker's animus powers, it was created to be able to use animus magic without the fear of affecting Darkstalker's soul, in the hope to gain Clearsight's trust. By writing on a piece of the scroll, any dragon could freely use Darkstalker's animus power, but Darkstalker would receive a mental message when someone else used it. It was eventually taken from him by Clearsight, who gave it to Fathom. Fathom presumably hid the scroll near the Rainforest Kingdom, due to it being later found by Chameleon, who used it to change himself into other dragons and to also transform dragons for Scarlet. At the end of Escaping Peril, Peril destroyed most of the scroll by burning it with her firescales, returning Darkstalker's animus powers back to him, and thus freeing him from what used to be Agate Mountain. There are a few remaining pieces of the scroll in existence, due to the pieces used for Chameleon's spells not having been burnt.
Description[]
The scroll was a square piece of paper encased in a black leather case[2] and backed with binding.[3] The first third of the scroll was covered with writing, while the rest of the scroll was blank. There are sections of the scroll that have been torn out at the end.[4] During Darkstalker's time the scroll was filled with small enchantments. Fathom stated that the spells seemed to get angrier and farther apart the more he went down the scroll.[5]
History[]
Pre-Series[]
Until it was destroyed, Darkstalker used the talisman for all of his spells, to preserve his soul. It was described as being filled a third of the way with his enchantments.[4]
Chameleon was the only other dragon known to have used the scroll before it was destroyed. His spells included other forms for himself, an enchanted necklace for Peril to get rid of her firescales, the Pyrite enchantment, and the earring which turned Tourmaline into Queen Ruby. He also used a piece to enchant a severed MudWing head to make it look like Glory's head at the start of Escaping Peril. While in the form of Soar, he had two dragonets with Kestrel; due to the fact he was in SkyWing form, his children are not hybrids. Chameleon's other known forms are Shapeshifter the NightWing, Cirrus the IceWing, Bog the MudWing, though he has unnamed forms for other tribes.[6]
The Jade Mountain Prophecy[]
Moon Rising[]
Chameleon, in the form of Shapeshifter, annoyed Scarlet by tapping an ancient scroll, most likely Darkstalker's talisman, on stone, which caused her to yell at him.
Winter Turning[]
The scroll hid Prince Hailstorm as Pyrite, a female SkyWing, for two years, until the necklace containing the scroll piece was forcibly removed by Qibli. However, after being Pyrite for such a long period of time, Hailstorm's memories are a jumbled mess.
Later, Chameleon, in the form of Shapeshifter, attacked the group of dragonets, leaving Kinkajou comatose.
Escaping Peril[]
Chameleon used the scroll multiple times for Scarlet. Scarlet had Chameleon create a necklace for Peril that removed her firescales, made her completely loyal to Scarlet, and took away all her memories of Clay. The other enchantment was a piece that, when put into a dragon's ear, would make them appear identical to Queen Glory, which was used to make a MudWing's head look like Glory's to frighten the Dragonets at Jade Mountain, and Ruby and her guard. Ruby was later revealed to have been an enchantment on a scroll piece inside her earring, with the true identity beneath being Tourmaline.
After stealing the scroll from Chameleon, Moonwatcher, Peril, Turtle, Winter, and Qibli argued over whether to give the scroll back to Darkstalker, as Moon had just found out that Darkstalker had enchanted Arctic to obey his every command with it. Peril burned the scroll but was unaware that if destroyed, Darkstalker's power would return to him.
Darkness of Dragons[]
Fragments of what remained of the scroll were used to continue its influence. Chameleon became Bog in an attempt to trick the SandWings to attack the MudWings and Shapeshifter in defending his transformations. Kinkajou also used the remaining pieces of the scroll that Chameleon used to turn Darkstalker into Peacemaker with an enchanted strawberry.
Legends[]
Darkstalker[]
After finally figuring out how not to lose his soul (due to using his animus powers too much), Darkstalker placed all of his powers into a scroll, that when written on, would react in the same way as if Darkstalker himself had cast the spell. The only difference was that it would not erode his soul and cause him to go mad and while the scroll could cast Darkstalker's power, anyone could cast spells with it.
Darkstalker first revealed his scroll to Clearsight and enchanted an ink-well to rise up and touch the ceiling, then return to his talons. After his verbal attempt did not work he proceeded to write on the scroll, "Enchant this inkwell to fly up, touch the ceiling once, and fly back down into my talons without spilling a drop, then return to normal." The inkwell did exactly as instructed and increased Clearsight's trust in Darkstalker. He also uses it several times throughout the book for various things, such as making himself immortal, controlling Arctic, his father, and making and enchanting jewelry for Clearsight.
In order to write some of his more insidious spells, curses, and enchantments without anyone finding out, Darkstalker wrote in invisible ink between spaces he deliberately left in-between the visible writing on the scroll. Some of the things he wrote in invisible ink were:
- Enchant this goblet so that the first time Fathom drinks from it, he will stop loving Indigo, forget about his oath, and decide to freely use his animus magic again.
- Enchant this dagger to fly into the Kingdom of Sand and kill one IceWing every full moon, in secret, under cover of darkness-and keep doing so for one year, or until I summon it back. Enchant it to leave messages carved near the body warning that the Darkstalker is coming for all of them and soon they will all be dead.
- Enchant this pebble so that when it rolls into the same room as Indigo the SeaWing, she shall be instantly trapped inside of the small wooden carving of a dragon made for me by Fathom.
- Enchant this piece of paper to look like a note written in Indigo's handwriting, with a short, believable message saying she is leaving Fathom and not coming back.
A few more things Darkstalker wrote was his immortality spell, an enchantment on Clearsight's moonstone earrings that would only allow her to see the brightest, happiest futures and block out any truly bad futures that might happen up ahead, and an enchantment that would send Darkstalker a mental twinge whenever someone used his scroll, and a spell to make Darkstalker and Clearsight's history scroll to read aloud to them. There were even some spells that tormented classmates he hated in "small, creative ways." There was also a spell that sent nightmares to haunt Diamond with all the ways that Darkstalker planned to kill her. Clearsight stole the scroll from Darkstalker before he killed Arctic and gave it to Fathom so he could find out what happened to Indigo. He took it with him when fleeing the Night Kingdom with Indigo, and likely hid it on the island where they lived the rest of their lives.
Trivia[]
- Until another animus is hatched, the remaining pieces of the scroll are the only current way to cast more animus spells, as all the animus magic in existing dragons cannot be used.[7]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Escaping Peril, page 256
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 139
- ↑ Escaping Peril, page 275
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Escaping Peril, page 210
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 344
- ↑ Escaping Peril, page 208
- ↑ The Dangerous Gift, page 292