Rise of Dragons (Open and accepting!)

[EternalEquinox]

The Ravager leader touched down on a rock which was jutting defiantly from the mountainside, and as she did so the very earth beneath her claws seemed to shake. The rock would hold, however; this she knew to be fact. For the rock on which Blackheart stood now had served as something of a throne all those centuries ago. A throne from which she had rallied her troops to battle, and roused feelings of hatred and bloodlust in her fellow Ravagers. Blackheart closed her ember-like eyes and took a moment to reminisce. On her accomplishments, on her victories...

And on her fatal mistake. An involuntary growl escaped the Ravager, and she clenched her teeth. What had gone wrong that day? On the day of her apparent demise? Blackheart knew the answer, but hated it. On that day, she had lost control of her rage, her fury, her sense of reason; and thus, she had only herself to blame.

It would not happen again. It could not happen again, if she was to be victorious over Lyhra... assuming the Savior leader had even survived the ordeal. Simply the thought of her mortal enemy was enough to send fire coursing through Blackheart's veins. Her massive claws dug at the rock below her feet, sending debris falling into the ravine far below. She opened her eyes, which glowed like furious embers against her dark scales. It was time to make herself known.

With a powerful beat of her wings, which sent dust and sand pouring like water over the edge of the cliff, Blackheart rose onto her hind legs and roared out a message to any Ravagers within earshot.

"Come my Ravagers, heed the call of your leader! Our valiant cause is restored!"
Blackheart's powerful voice echoed off the surrounding mountainsides, carrying her message across the ravine and into the wilderness beyond. If any of her kind lurked nearby, they would no doubt have heard the call. Satisfied, Blackheart fell back on her front legs to wait, rather impatiently. Five centuries had been more than enough waiting for one lifetime, thank you very much. Not that the Ravager leader ever had much in the way of patience to begin with.

[Awesomeness Horsies]

"Good morning," Rosebush replied. "So what do you want me to do today? As a Battleclaw, it's been pretty relaxed, but I'd like to do something. She spread her wings, enjoying the morning sun's warmth. Pausing, she added: "Do you think Lyhra is going to come back? I wasn't around when she was still here, but I feel like she would be a good leader... N-Not that you aren't, of course...

Arriar curled his tail around a branch of a bush and tugged hard. Taking a couple of steps backwards, he let go and the limb snapped back, sending a shower of leaves to the ground. Carefully, he picked them up one by one. Then, when he had a mouthful, Arriar went back beside the river and clawed off some bark from a willow tree. As he was about to collect more, a gigantic roar nearly scared him out of his scales. It was Blackheart. So she is alive after all... Spreading his wings, he took flight back to the Ravager base, flying as fast as he could without bumping into anything or dropping his precious cargo. Five long minutes later, he was beside Blackheart.

[Guest]

Note: Mute's full form can be found here, as I decided not to post it directly on the thread because it's so lengthy. (I hope that's okay with you, Eternal!)

| "Mute" - Tretij | Male | Ravager |
| Hunter | Illusion - Electricity |

Mute lifted his head with a jolt, as he felt the large branch he was wrapped around shake, sending a strong electrical current through his serpent-like body. He shivered, only to trigger a yawn that he forced down his throat in an attempt to prevent opening his mouth. He forced a long, pointed tongue out from underneath his lips, licking the ropes binding his jaws together. Instead of retracting the blue-green tongue back into his cavernous mouth, he let it sit there, quickly drying out from the breezes being gushed towards the tree along the mountainside, looking like an absolute fool.
Two large eyes of the same colour slowly closed and reopened, staring off to the horizon, lacking the ability to focus on anything in particular. Mute blinked once again, trying to rid his eyes of any eye-gunk that had developed overnight.
He suddenly snapped back into reality, as the loud snapping of branches filled the otherwise silent air. Before he could come to a conclusion as to what the noise could be, and too groggy to move off of the branch, a large, feathered, grey mass fell onto his nose.
Mute let out a small growl, sending out a warning to whatever being had disturbed his morning "think-time."
The creature, known as Ekilon, managed to catch himself on Mute's branch, and stumbled up onto his feet, as feathers were scattered across the ground below the low-hanging branch.
"M-my apologies, sir! I-I'm s-so sorry to have fallen onto you like that, b-but I th-thought I saw something in the distance, a-and..."
The small dragon shot the over-sized harpy eagle a look of disgust, as the panic-stricken bird ducked his head in towards his chest, and a small ringing filled his mind.
"Sorry, sir," he replied, as the tired beast slowly began to unwrap his body from around the tree limb.
"...So, h-heh... You gonna get an early breakfast today, or are you gonna wai-"
A loud shriek suddenly filled the air, as a strange, yet inviting voice seemed to bounce off of the rocky cliffs nearby. Mute instantly perked up, as the voice seemed to echo in his mind.
"Come, my Ravagers..."
The loud roar had frightened the bird, as he tucked into Mute's lanky body for protection. Normal dragons aren't usually that loud, are they? Wait, who even is that? Their voice doesn't seem famil-
Mute remembered the old stories about Blackheart and her legendary rule over the Ravager faction, and the recent rumours of Blackheart and Lyhra having survived their battles oh-so-many years ago, which Mute would have been WAY too young to truly know anything about.
Although he was skeptical, something called out to him - he felt a strong need to find the source of this strange message.
He slinked to the edge of his branch, turned to look at his feathered companion, and made a movement with his head, signaling for the raptor to follow. Ekilon gave him an irritated look, and reluctantly agreed. Mute fluttered off, heading towards another large part of the mountain range, not even sure as to where he was exactly headed.

[nymx]

( I'm going to age Gaia back 500 years so she could actually know Lyhra))

Gaia smiled, "I take no offense, I wasn't exactly prepared to take on her role." she suddenly turned a bit sad, "Lyhra is still alive, she wouldn't given up her cause so easily, she was determined to see it prevail." Gaia explained, "As for your duties, perhaps a patrol close to the ravager territory, they've been quiet lately, its not like them." she said thoughtfully, she was suspicious, there was just a feeling in the air, something was deeply wrong. "Be careful alright? don't get too close." she said, she didn't want anyone to get hurt, or any trouble, especially on a day like this.




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.

Suddenly a roar sounded, Aislings keen hearing was able to pick up on it, "Oh no! I'm so sorry, ill have to be leaving right away! My friend and I were supposed to meet at dawn!" Lucky for the dragoness, she was an easy lier, she raced out and spread her wings, the roar was familiar, loud and powerful, it had to be Blackheart. She went even faster, if it was truly the ravager leader, there would be a war, and finally there would be excitement around. She didn't have time to count, but it was awhile before she was at the leaders side, she flew infant of the throne and bowed. "Blackheart, you've returned." She grinned. "I never had a doubt."

[Awesomeness Horsies]

Rosebush nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." She spread her wings and took off, enjoying the air around her wings. The ground rushed beneath her like a blur, and Rosebush smiled. She decided to eat a bit after fifteen minutes, so she would have enough energy for the remaining hour of travel. Swooping down, she crashed through a tree that she knew did not house any birds, and snapped up the startled squirrels. Then, Rosebush bunched her legs and took flight again.

Arriar bowed, lowering his head and reaching his wings in front of him. "I didn't know you were still alive," he said. "The Ravagers all thought you were dead." He silently waited for a reply; he knew better than to rush Blackheart.

[EternalEquinox]

((I'm going to hold off replying for a while until others have a chance to catch up.))

[Ichiban Kasuga]

Darkclaw came to a stop. "Blackheart!" she said, but quietly enough that any saviour dragons wouldn't overhear. She flew rapidly to the area of the roar, and landed in front of her leader. She bowed her head in respect.
"Blackheart, I am more than ready now. Let us Ravagers be feared."

[EternalEquinox]

Blackheart was pleased when she did not have long to wait before spotting the dragons approaching in the distance. The Ravager leader might have been wary of the approaching figures, had the wind not been blowing in her direction, allowing her to catch a familiar scent; yes, these dragons were unmistakably members of her cause.

Blackheart observed the figures intently as they drew nearer, a slight grin creeping cross her face as more and more dragons propelled themselves into the sky in response to her call. Her Ravagers had remained loyal, even after all these centuries. She would lead them to the victory they had no doubt been craving in her absence. But first, there was some debriefing to be done...

As the horde of dragons descended from the sky, gathering on the ground below her perch, she took a moment to survey her troops. Blackheart's stern, piercing gaze passed over the flock of Ravagers. Some looked away when eye contact was made, perhaps out of respect, or fear. Some simply refused to risk a glance at the formidable dragon perched above them, opting to stare at the ground instead. Nothing new there.

As her gaze flicked from one Ravager to the next, a few dragons seemed to stand out from the crowd; a beautiful white and gold dragon, who was bowing before her; a rather small dragon with jewel-like scales, who appeared to be holding some sort of tree bark; a rust-orange dragon, still in flight; a dark-scaled Berserker, who had also dropped into a low bow; and finally, Blackheart's red eyes met the unmistakable gold ones belonging to her second-in-command, Cantabile... Although the dragon had grown quite a bit since Blackheart had last laid eyes on her, she was still recognizable. As Cantabile bowed before her, Blackheart acknowledged the second-in-command with a nod, and was about question the smaller dragon about what had occurred in her absence, when a voice rose up from the crowd. Blackheart's head swiveled around and locked eyes with the speaker; the jewel-scaled dragon she had taken note of only moments before. Arriar was his name, if she remembered correctly.

"I didn't know you were still alive... The Ravagers all thought you were dead."

Blackheart narrowed her gaze. When she spoke, her tone was low and serious, and she addressed the crowd gathered before her.

"I am not so easily slain, as those wretched Saviors, and Lyhra, will soon discover..." Blackheart's voice was dripping with venom as she spat out the Savior leader's name. "And now that I have made my return, we can continue to cleanse this land of the vermin which have infected it... be they Human, or Savior." Some dragons took their leader's words as an opportunity to give an approving roar, and the Berserker from before spoke up. Darkclaw was her name, if Blackheart remembered correctly... She had been a fearsome warrior and quite a sight to behold on the battlefield.

Blackheart turned once more to Cantabile, and leapt off her throne. Her heavy footsteps echoed off the walls of the ravine, sending an abrupt hush over the crowd. She approached her second-in-command with a stern expression, and stopped just before the green-scaled dragon, asking, "Cantabile... To your knowledge, has the Savior leader shown her face in my absence? Has that wretch made a return, just as I have?"

[Guest]

((Note: This submission isn't all that important, but I just really need some creative juices flowing atm, and I guess this could help with a bit of character development, maybe. :I))

| "Mute" - Tretij | Male | Ravager |
| Hunter | Illusion - Electricity |
Ekilon present
Tags; Ravagers w/ Blackheart, maybe?

As Mute flew towards all the commotion, he started to see several other dragons heading in his path of flight, as well. He picked up his pace, darting towards a colossal, jet-black figure, with several other dragons bowing before it.
Was this truly the legendary Blackheart? Has our leader returned?
Mute landed before Blackheart, bowing as she spoke,
"...And now that I have made my return, we can continue to cleanse this land of the vermin which have infected it... be they Human, or Savior."
Mute chirped as loud as he could, in some sort of mix of agreement, joy, and total shock.
Mute focused all of his attention to the monstrous beast above him, as she leaped off of her perch, making her way to another dragon, which he recognized to be Cantabile. Her tremendous body sent great vibrations through the ground and rock around the crowd of Ravagers with each heavy step, sending a strange feeling of both bewilderment and pure terror through the small beast, realizing that the massive dragon could easily crush him with a single step.
It took Mute a moment to realize that his mouth was hanging (as much as it could, of course) open in amazement, until an intense, burning, throbbing pain started to flush over his entire snout. He quickly clamped his jaws together, as a low, yet quiet growl of irritation came from deep within his throat. He stuck out his tongue like he had done before, and licked the ropes binding his lips together, hoping that the pain would soon subside.
As he focused his attention back to his leader, who was now conversing with her second-in-command, he felt something wiggle under one of his hind legs. He kicked his leg, attempting to rid of whatever young dragon or wild animal was trying to nuzzle into him, but he felt the wiggling again, which was now more aggressive. He kicked once more, but the wiggling returned, once again increasing in ferocity. He turned around, as he prepared to "yell" at whatever was disturbing him, but he was only met with the face of Ekilon, whom he had forgotten about whenever he landed before Blackheart.
The eagle shot him another aggravated look, as he climbed up over Mute's thigh, and dipped back down to wriggle his way beneath one of Mute's small, torn wings, seeking cover from all the larger, terrifying dragons.
Mute turned back to face Blackheart once more, watching her every move - unfortunately, Ekilon did the same.
A loud shriek came from the frightened raptor, who caught only a small glimpse of the nightmarish beast. Mute tucked his wing around Ekilon, trying to hide him from some of the other Ravagers who were now staring at Mute in disapproval.
This only made things worse, however, as the frightened raptor focused on the horrible stares of the other terrifying beasts all around him, leading him to noisily jerk around under Mute's wing, attempting to escape the stares.
Mute kept his attention on Blackheart, in an attempt to act like nothing was wrong. He shot another mental pulse to Ekilon, like he had done earlier that morning, resulting in Ekilon wincing from the strong ringing in his mind, knowing that he needed to be quiet.
The bird finally quieted down, as Mute continued to listen intently as to what Blackheart had to say.

[Awesomeness Horsies]

As Rosebush drew closer and closer to the Ravager border, a distant roar echoed through the space separating her from the Ravager mountains. Worried, she picked up her speed, hoping to at least pick up some of whatever exciting conversation/announcement was going on.

Ooo, scary... Arriar noticed Blackheart staring at his willow bark, and hastily transferred it to a curl in his tail in order to take some attention off of it. He watched silently as Blackheart leaped down, and asked Cantabile about Lyrha. I wouldn't want to be in her position... Blackheart is really scary. Shivering, he dug his claws into the dirt in an attempt to calm himself.