Rise of Dragons (Open and accepting!)

[EternalEquinox]

The night was silent, save for the whistling of a gentle summer breeze, which rustled through manicured rows of wheat and barley. The settlement nearby to which the crops belonged would not see sunlight for hours to come. The usually eager crickets had gone quiet before the setting of the sun, and no owls stirred to carry out their nightly activities. Before long, the wind itself had seemingly ceased its whistling, and all was still; as if the world was holding its breath. Then, far off in the distance... thunder.

It was a gentle rumble at first, but grew in volume as the seconds ticked by. The booming echo seemed strangely rhythmic, almost purposeful. Determined, even. Louder it grew, approaching the fields of wheat and barley, and the slumbering settlement beyond.

A titanic shadow shrouded the land in darkness, blotting out the delicate moonlight. It was clear, now. Something was approaching, and quickly. The thundering of powerful wing beats grew louder still. Predators and prey alike fled from their resting places as the massive shadow swept ominously overhead. Horses reared their heads skyward and called out in alarm, breaking loose from their stables. A stable boy, having been roused from his uneasy sleep by the sudden commotion, gave chase with shouts of "It's only thunder!"

Suddenly, from the inky blackness of the midnight sky descended a figure. Its gaping maw fell open, revealing rows of jagged teeth, and a jet of dark flame erupted forth, black smoke billowing upwards before it had even touched the earth. The horses cried out once more, and this time, so did the stable boy. The figure turned its massive head, hellish eyes falling on the petrified human; and with what could only be described as a voracious grin, the creature let loose an ear-splitting roar; and a second blast of incinerating flame licked the earth. Satisfied with her work, the Ravager leader smiled hungrily towards the human settlement, her titanic form illuminated only by unearthly tendrils of black flame devouring the fields below. Oh, how she had missed this...

Hours later, thick plumes of hazy smoke billowed high into the sky, blotting out the early morning sun which would have bathed the land in golden light. The charred earth on which houses and buildings had stood the day before now held no signs of previous inhabitance. Even the ash, all that had remained in wake of the dragon's rampage, had been scattered to the wind as the titan had propelled herself skyward once more, her sense of purpose renewed.

Blackheart grinned inwardly to herself as she flew, following a scent that had remained familiar even after all these centuries; centuries which she had spent deep in hibernation as her body repaired itself, mended her extensive injuries, and replenished her formidable strength. Now, many emotions battled for dominance in her mind at once; rage, hatred, a burning desire for revenge... and a strange sense of satisfaction. She was back. Soon humankind, however it had changed in her absence, would tremble before the Ravagers as their ancestors had.

Blackheart flew through the early morning hours with the sun at her back, until the peaks of an all-too familiar mountain range dotted the horizon; the place her faction called home. The scents had led her true. Once more, the Ravager leader threw back her head and roared ferociously to the heavens, as if expecting the very clouds to part for her. Soon, she would be among her kind once more...

She only hoped her cause hadn't fallen into disarray in her absence.

((If all people with savior characters could hold off posting until esko makes a post for Lyhra's return, that would be great! Or esko, if you want, we can just act as if Lyhra has been back for some time. I'm fine with either! If not, then the second in commands will have been leading the factions in their leader's absence, and will relinquish command upon their return.))

[Juniper1324]

Thanks :)

[Awesomeness Horsies]

Arriar sat in the river, gulping down large amounts of water. He hadn't liked it when some random prey animal came up behind him in the dark and scared him so much he used most of his water supply on it. Now it would be several hours before he could breathe out water again.
Sighing, he climbed out of the river, wondering if he should go back now before an enemy chanced upon him, or stay to replace the herbs that had been ruined when the blast of water had hit. Then he groaned and realized that since his supply had almost run out, if he was injured there would be nothing left he could use to heal himself...
It was night, and Arriar could not see anything, so instead he relied on his sense of smell. As Arriar went off sniffing the air for herbs, his ears picked up a faint roar. Well, if it's a friendly dragon I shouldn't worry about it, and if it's an enemy dragon, I wouldn't be much help fighting anyway... Better to stay here and collect useful things should anyone need it. He shook his head and resumed digging ferociously to reach some roots.

[nymx]

Aisling
dragoness - ravager - spy
location ; forest
tags; none

Aisling awoke just before the sun had risen, not that she knew it. She was taking shelter in a rather dense forest. The dragoness made her way toward the river, taking a quick sip, and then a loud roar erupted, like thunder, loud and powerful, but somehow faint at the same time. She spat out her water, and coughed up some from almost choking. It sounded strangely familiar, like something very evil had awoken, but Aisling knew better, the ravager leader, Blackheart, was defeated long ago, and there was no way she could ever rise again. The dragoness's white and gold scales glowed in the darkness, if someone was watching her, they would've already killed her, she was too distracted by the distant roar, she shook her head and went back to being on guard. Aisling was disappointed in herself, getting distracted by a mere roar, something that could've been the most feared dragon in ages, Something that had fallen long ago. "I must not let small things get the best of me, especially things that have been long dead." she whispered, casting one last look toward the direction of the roar, and then turning against it and walking off, toward the deepest of the forest.

[Esko]

The wind blew gently through the trees, bringing a relieving chill to the few night-soldiers on watch. The full moon cast a silvery glow on the large plantation, bright enough to create shadows. The last slave had gone to sleep a few hours before, after hanging more tobacco leaves to dry. The night had an eerie air to it. No bird called, no crickets sang. Despite the curfew, a boy of maybe twelve years old was sneaking to the forest that surrounded the plantation and separated it from other settlements. He kept looking over his shoulder, praying that a soldier didn't spare an unlucky glance for him. He'd rather not feel the taste of a lead bullet for the first time. It'd be terribly inconvenient.

When he slipped into the trees, he broke into a full run. He looked for a particular tree....there! He found the tree with the gnarled knob in the bark, and stepped past it to find a large bush. He spotted a point of brownish-bronze fur under the leaves, and he gently kicked it with his shoe. After a few moments of pause, the fur was pulled back under the bush. The leaves parted, and a dragon head popped out. Her green-hazel eyes looked lazily around before spotting her friend, to which she cocked her head to the side. Silver scales sparkled and magnificently caught the moonlight, much like a mirror. Bronze horns shone a dull luster, while same-colored fur ran down her back and adorned her tail, giving off a sparse glitter. The boy had no clue of her significance -besides the fact that she was a real-live creature of myth- and he could not understand her language, but the two were able to communicate through actions. Besides, she had enough experience with the English language to gain a basic idea.

"Ey there, girl." The mix-breed human rubbed the fur on her head. Lyhra was pleasantly surprised to see the brown-skinned boy exist. Were the pale-skinned and dark-skinned finally able to intermingle as equals and reproduce together? She had fled to the forest to recover and hadn't had human contact since, so she was blissfully unaware of things like slavery. She crawled out of the bush entirely and shook leaves off...and that's when the wind stopped.

The boy suddenly became afraid. Lyhra flickered her ears and looked up at the sky. Unbelievably quickly, thick clouds had flown into the moon's path and blocked it, darkening the forest floor. A gentle rumble of thunder rolled through the air, growing louder and hoarser with each clap. And then in the distance...smoke. Inky, choking black smoke. The dragon's eyes widened fully, and she took a step back. She recognized that smoke. It could only be...

Without hesitation, she picked up the boy and beat her wings, jumping into the air. "Woah, what's going on?!" The mix-breed cried, seeing with relief that she was headed away from the smoke. Unfortunately, that meant flying right over the plantation. A soldier spotted the shining silver scales and shouted in alarm, causing all of them to raise their weapons. Lyhra didn't recognize that kind of weapon. What did it do? Her question was answered when a loud bang! resounded in the air, followed by more. Something small but powerful punctured her soft underbelly, strong pain shooting through her flesh. The dragon shrieked, then flew faster. The boy did not call for help. Another tiny weapon-projectile-thing grazed her flank and fell through the air, barely scratching the surface. Once she had gotten far enough away, she spotted a crowd of evacuating people. She landed out of sight and put the boy down, pointing at the crowd.

"No, I'm not leavin' ya!" He protested, crossing his arms and trying to make a tough man-face. Lyhra pointed again, this time looking slightly annoyed.

"No!" The human defiantly said again, and this time the dragon nudged him with her snout. Well, a nudge in her perspective- it sent the boy onto his rump. Scowling, he stood up and brushed himself off. "Fine then!" Turning around to leave, he stomped towards the fleeing townsfolk. Lyhra watched him go with a pained look in her eyes. If she took him along, he would easily die. Beating her wings, she flew off into the night sky, dragon's blood leaking out from her belly wound. It wasn't her original intent to return; in fact, she would have much rather stay in the forest and watch the boy grow up, slowly become old and watching the settlements evolve and flourish. But if the smoke was who she thought it was...

Lyhra was returning. She hoped she could round up the remaining Saviors before humanity was lost.

[Ichiban Kasuga]

Darkclaw stood in the river, her eyes carefully scanning for fish. Whenever she saw one, her giant jaws would snap, trapping it in her mouth, where she would easily swallow it with one gulp. She did this for a while, until she felt she had eaten enough.

She walked out of the river, and spread out her giant wings. She sprung into flight, flying over the territory of the Ravagers, looking out for anything that she could attack.

[Eli Dammek]

I hope is not too late to be hopping on this thread.

Name: Kairi
Faction: Ravager
Rank: Spy (healer)
Gender: She/her pronouns, genderfluid
Age: 3,800
Personality: When not putting on a facade, intelligent, generally motherly, protective, will do anything for who she considers family, can be subject to rage and brutality when pushed too far
Appearance: iridescent black scales with sharp blue eyes. On the smaller side, she can slip unnoticed among many. Sleek and very very fast, she is never caught, and if she has to kill, no one would ever be able to pin it on her
Element: Illusion and water
Abilities: Bend others minds to be seen as she wants to be seen, hiding in plain sight when not shaking in the shadows. Can also be projected onto other things, but takes so much power she almost never uses it. On the water side, she manipulates water in everything, including blood making her an excellent assassin, she never has to get her claws dirty. On the flip side to this, she can also use the water manipulation to heal, giving her the rank of healer on the Saviors side.
History: Parents long gone, Kairi works under the Ravagers, but in all reality she just wants the death and self inflicted genocide to cease. She would change sides, if not for her hatchlings, who are not old enough to run with her. So she stays, and obeys. Bidding her time until she can fight back and end the bloody war. At first she does not pay any mind to the humans, they seem intelligent enough, and have just as much right to live as any. Then once she begins to interact with them, she grows overwhelmingly fond of them, as they remind her of her hatchlingson. This also makes her role on the saviors side all the more convincing, but starting loyal to the Ravagers ideals all the more difficult

[EternalEquinox]

In the shade of a towering redwood sat the form of an ancient dragon, whose bronze scales shimmered in the light of the rising sun. Sobek had fallen into a rather deep slumber and was blissfully unaware that the night had ended, instead finding himself in a rather pleasant dream.

When the old dragon finally awoke and shook away the grogginess to the best of his ability, he sat thoughtfully and listened to the chirping of birds in the trees, to the splashing of fish in the nearby creek, to the shifting of plates deep within earth; and he contemplated the meaning of his dream.

Sobek had dreamt of his leader's return. Having been around at the time of Lyhra's disappearance and presumable demise, Sobek had quite an attachment to the Savior leader, and the Savior cause. Not a day went by where he didn't entertain the possibilities of what might have happened if Lyhra had survived to lead the cause, to ensure that the Ravagers were disbanded for good instead of having to settle for a peace treaty with the "hellspawn," as he called the opposing faction. Sobek heaved a heavy sigh and hung his head. What's done was done, and there was no changing the past. Lyhra was gone and she wasn't coming back.

Getting to his feet with some difficulty (his front legs had fallen asleep,) Sobek took a moment to stretch his sore limbs and then meandered off in the direction he thought Aisling's scent was coming from. The gold and white dragon was much younger than him, but she was decent company, and seemed friendly enough. However, Gaia, the Savior second-in-command and leader in Lyhra's absence, was Sobek's preferred company. Younger even than Aisling though she was, Sobek had always found Gaia to be wise beyond her years.

[Awesomeness Horsies]

Rosebush opened her green eyes with a sigh. She never liked getting up early. She hummed a short tune, and a bird fluttered down and landed on her head. Where is Gaia? she asked. Following the bird's directions, Rosebush walked toward what the bird called "A great, terrifying dragon". She scowled inwardly: no matter how hard she tried, she could never get the birds to accept other dragons.

[nymx]

When the young dragon awoke, the air felt lighter somehow, but at the same time darker. Gaia opened her eyes sleepily, the young dragon took her time stretching, there was no point in rushing, the ravagers had been quiet for the last few months and she didnt smell anything out of the ordinary, which was normal. She looked around and sighed sadly, she wasn't prepared for Lyhra's disappearance, Gaia didn't give up hope on her leader yet, she had to be still alive. Still, Gaia was mostly in charge of the saviors, and she hated the pressure, but the cause drove her. There wasn't much to be in control over however, there was no more war, on occasion a few fights, but the pact that was made five hundred years ago kept the two sides at peace, for now. Gaia scented the air and caught a familiar scent, Rosebush. Deciding she was better in company than alone she headed toward the scent and eventually found Rosebush in sight. "Good Morning, Rosebush." she greeted her smiling.





The white and gold dragoness found herself scenting someone, Sobek, the savior healer. 'what does he want?' Aisling rolled her eyes and put on a smile, "Sobek, good morning, sleep well?" she commented as she turned around to see the copper dragon, he almost intimidated her if it wasn't for his age, she knew he was a former ravager, and other dragons, well some didn't quite trust him, but he was somewhat friendly, especially if he willingly approached her.