kheprriverse

[kheprriverse]

Bunch of dragon au doodles of Ares and Apollo!

I really wanted to do some practice sketches with Ares holding or using a sword, then had the urge to also draw Apollo as well. Honestly I love drawing her lol

[kheprriverse]

The scream I've screamed seeing the ref sheets of both Ares and Apollo as dragons for the AU cannot be measured

Dragons beloved 💕

AAA YAY!!

100% truthful when I say the moment the thought crossed my mind the other day it's been a pure whirlwind of ideas and screaming xDD

Here's a little sketch for you as well <3

He's sniffin out smth weird 👀

[kheprriverse]

Continuing my silly dragon au with an Apollo(Linkle) ref! -> Ares Dragon ref -> Dragon au Lore-dump

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Apollo wip for my dragon au 😍

Her lines are almost done! Had to make a brush to make a lot of her scales easier to draw and tbh I might just make more :'D

[kheprriverse]

You wanna ramble on about dragon Ares?? Would you mind telling us more about the surgically removed combustion pouch?

Was it because of an accident? Was it done before or during the war? What does Volga think of that?

YES I WOULD LOVE TO!!!

Ty for the questions, I always have a hard time figuring out where I wanna start (and then also when to end lol). And I like making aus where I already have information established so I can build on it and challenge the garbage I come up with xD

-> Ares’s dragon au ref, for reference

** I do wanna give a warning that the au is a bit more tragic than my other ones. Or at least in a different way. It’s a lot of the two dragons not being raised properly and the consequences of that. Causing them to feel unsafe and not truly realizing it. The details about it are way in the end, but before it really gets there I will be answering the questions and touching on it as lightly as possible <3

Would you mind telling us more about the surgically removed combustion pouch?

Every Fire dragon has two organs relating to their fire. The spitting pouch located in their throat, which comes up to the bottom of their tongue and allows them to spit a corrosive liquid. Then the “combustion pouch” which acts like a secondary set of lungs, much smaller, and holds a gas that when released and mixed with the acid will cause the chemical to “combust” and act like a liquid flamethrower in some instances.

Hatchlings are usually taught how to use both organs properly so they don’t explode, but both organs are separated enough to not become much of an issue. The gas is also usually formed by eating certain minerals and storing the chemicals for later use. And their beaks are strong enough to remove and break apart those minerals to be properly broken down via a digestive process.

A little fun thing too. Some fire dragons, Volga being one of them, have vents near their ribs that allows them to release excess gas then light it by striking their wing claws or beaks. Some do it to impress potential mates, take out enemies, or because they have too much gas in their system and its causing discomfort. (They use it to impress potential mates because its sparkly under certain lighting, they fan their wings out and may do a little dance here and there before lighting it. Depends on the preference.) Otherwise, dragons who don’t have those vents release it like they’re spitting. Could be diverging evolution, or a mutation, or some familial tie, since not every fire dragon is born with it.

Some dragons are skilled enough to breathe fire immediately (using their acid pouch and flammable gas at the same time) while others may use one after the other or wait a little longer before using the gas. Also completely depends on user preference, the situation, and skill.

Was it because or an accident? Was it does before or during the war?

Ares and Apollo’s combustion pouches were removed at a very early age on purpose, to prevent them from lighting anyone on fire. So it would’ve happened before the war and before either of them knew it was a thing they had. The reason their acid pouches weren’t removed instead was so they could use it to break down hard to digest foods, or even bones since younger dragons like eating the marrow. Not that the two are given difficult to eat foods anyways, they’re on a much stricter diet compared to most fire dragons.

They had a lot of stuff removed or whittled down to prevent anything unfortunate happening, but that causes some pretty big consequences when they eventually come across other dragons who do have stuff and make them wonder why they don’t. Puts the question in their head about why their guardians didn’t trust them enough to have smth dragons are built to have. And that’s not a good feeling.

What does Volga think about it?

Everything plays out geeenerally the same as my version of HW (which, not much changes, just a few characters and motivations and some different story beats). They meet in hyrule field, Volga cuts Ares off in one of the keeps to prevent his progress. He notices quickly that Ares is just… strange for a fire dragon but puts it aside. He just assumes its some kind of agreement to keep the hyrulean army happy.

It isn’t until later when he’s freed from Cia’s hold and sides with Artemis’s army that he realizes Ares and Apollo’s strangeness is a little deeper than some sort of personal preference or peace agreement. Its really not common for fire dragons to share territory or even side with hylians and humans, unless they feel their home will be endangered otherwise. Dragons don’t even like sharing territory with their own siblings unless they’re super close or need to. But he realizes then when they’re teamed together that wayyy more is odd and different and simply not right.

They don’t look right, they don’t smell like dragons, they refuse to breath fire, their claws are too short, their scales are too weak, their wing membrane is too short, they don’t have enough muscle mass. It doesn’t take a genius dragon to realize that they weren’t raised by dragons.

Curiosity starts to kill him and he starts making remarks and asking questions when off on a mission with Ares. He learns Ares had no idea they were even the same species, let alone that they should be able to breathe fire. He’s never burrowed before. He may have hoarded in the past? Volga doesn’t really count pillows and blankets as hoarding but its probably the closest Ares and Apollo could’ve gotten to it. He’s never truly had training to hunt for himself, never marked territory, never even scented territory (he’d wonder if that’s why he doesn’t smell right). The diet he has doesn’t encourage boosted scale strength or even body mass.

How he feels? Probably really pissed tbh. Volga was raised by two very strong gigantic dragons in a big family and has a lot of pride in his people. There are certain features and behaviors that encourage it too, and he’s grown up short tempered and fiery due to his lack of horns causing other dragons to see and treat him differently. But never has he met another dragon (let alone two???) that have had all that taken away before they even had a chance to learn it.

He eventually starts sneaking Ares off (unable to convince Apollo, she’s too close and trusting of her guardians), to teach him everything he’s missed out on. Even if he’s permanently fucked tbh, they can at least remedy some of the damage.

Some other miscellaneous information

- Ares and Apollo, in this au, are not twins. They’re born from the same clutch but not from the same egg. I decided on this because it would make twin dragons too common because Volga has twin sisters (he’s from a clutch of six, one of the eggs having been twins). I didn’t want it to be that common so they’re from separate eggs.

- Ares was hatched first and never imprinted. Apollo however imprinted on Artemis when she hatched which is why she’s much more trusting of her and refuses to believe much if anything Volga says. Artemis is practically, officially, her mom because of it.

- Wing claws need to develop throughout a dragon’s life in order to properly balance them out. Even if Ares and Apollo grew them back, they wouldn’t be the right length or weight to make a difference in their comfort.

- Ares has zoochosis, he paces a lot. Although both genders of dragons can and will claim territory, Ares’s lack of imprinting has made it difficult for him to feel safe and secure where he lives. And the inability (or even just the lack of knowledge on how) to claim territory has caused him mass amounts stress he doesn’t realize he has.

- Apollo doesn’t experience the same degree of stress Ares does. She’s spoiled a lot more than him, is let out more often, and rarely has the need to hoard or claim territory thanks to technically having it with Artemis. Dragon hatchlings who imprint on one of their parents won’t have the need to claim territory until they willingly migrate or are kicked out.

- A dragon with no hoard and no territory usually stress out until eventually “rampaging”. But no combustion pouch means difficulty rampaging. So Ares tends to lock himself away, not really truly realizing how miserable he really is.

- Another point on territory. Fire dragons are very sparse, not because they’re rare but because they’re very territorial and don’t like sharing unless they’re mates or (tentatively) family. Volga’s territory was from a different dragon long before Hyrule Kingdom was founded, he challenged the dragon then (a story I might get into later) and won, killing the dragon and winning said territory, the hoard, and now leads the lizardfolk like the previous dragon had. The whole area covers the entirety of Eldin Volcano and a large chunk of hyrule field and some of the plateaus. He refuses to let go of it, even to Zelda’s request as its very important to keep it else the lizardfolk would overrun the gorons and the treaty between the two races would crumble. It would be hell if Volga let go of his territory and moved away, so Artemis tentatively made a verbal peace agreement with him to make sure hell doesn’t break loose. Hopefully that makes sense.

- ^ being in another dragon’s territory, since Volga’s technically reaches into Hyrule Field and possibly into the castle, is also probably causing Ares more stress because he has no way to do anything about it. Constantly smelling danger danger nearby and not knowing what to do is probably really scary for him.

- Last point. Volink might still happen. I feel like after a while of helping Ares, Volga might realize he’s fallen for him a little. Maybe it’s a slow thing? Smth he doesn’t realize until a certain point? Maybe Ares is in danger? Maybe they’re separated for longer than expected? Something. We’ll see.

[kheprriverse]

I caved and decided yk what... dragon Ares au. -> Dragon AU lore-dump

Slightly different story? but its like mostly the same except Ares (and Apollo) were seemingly abandoned eggs found by a squad in the hyrulean army and raised by Artemis(Zelda) and Athena(Impa). Everything dragon-lore-related that I've been (not so subtly) sprinkling is also all the same, including Volga, but the effects of being raised by hylians makes itself clear in Ares and his sister.

The rest of Hyrule Warriors still plays out somewhat similarly except that yk... Ares is a dragon. I mean who wouldn't want to steal a dragon for your own army?

Also since he was raised by hylians who have 0 idea how dragons actually work, especially fire dragons (because of how sparse they are), he probably has no idea he could have a hylian form like Volga.

Oh. Also he knows how to use a sword.

[kheprriverse]

Here's a quick sketch for y'all from a few days ago since I don't have anything started atm! It was four panels but this is the only important one for me lol.

🐲 Context: Volga tends to prefer dragon form during colder seasons and usually stays in Eldin Volcano where its much warmer. But sometimes he changes his mind and hogs Ares's bed while he's out and busy. The room is so small he's practically Ares's personal space heater.

[kheprriverse]

#the fact that his first reaction is “I'm telling on you” is such a big brother thing to do

THIS EXACTLY THIS

A bit late because it disappeared from my drafts but yk. More silliness and random dragon lore!

-> Previous -> Full-res also on ko-fi Or feel free to support me if you like my stuff!

[kheprriverse]

A bit late because it disappeared from my drafts but yk. More silliness and random dragon lore!

-> Previous -> Full-res also on ko-fi Or feel free to support me if you like my stuff!

[kheprriverse]

A bit late because it disappeared from my drafts but yk. More silliness and random dragon lore!

-> Previous -> Full-res also on ko-fi Or feel free to support me if you like my stuff!

[kheprriverse]

-> Kofi

Ares holding useless knowledge about dragons 🤝 Apollo holding useless knowledge about monsters

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Ares holding useless knowledge about dragons 🤝 Apollo holding useless knowledge about monsters

[kheprriverse]

Just a stupid thing that's been on my mind. Plus Linkle (Apollo) being silly and harassing Volga. This was actually supposed to be way smaller and not take me a day to make but yk... Sometimes the brianrot comes in full force.

Hope y'all enjoy the random dragon lore :'D

[kheprriverse]

Just a stupid thing that's been on my mind. Plus Linkle (Apollo) being silly and harassing Volga. This was actually supposed to be way smaller and not take me a day to make but yk... Sometimes the brianrot comes in full force.

Hope y'all enjoy the random dragon lore :'D

[kheprriverse]

More doodles of the fire dragon variety :D

More details ab him and just general dragon behavior. And also a silly little doodle at the bottom right.

[kheprriverse]

Some Volgres doodles, mostly wanted to do some older Ares content for my fav side au (the wargod au) but decided Volga deserved to be silly too. Also I just enjoy drawing dragons and wanted to draw a thicc fireboi.

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Revalink sketch YIPPEE 🦅🦅🦅🦅