Kylar

Kylar's mother was never the most affectionate dragon that he knew, but she was a good mother. She cared for him and through her he learned what his duty to his clan and his deity would be. As he grew, so did his eagerness to please. The ridgeback learned to fight and excelled at it, soon joining his clan's band of warriors. As he continued in his training and acquired countless victories, he continued to bring pride to his mother. Life was simple for Kylar. He did what he was told when he was told, and when he wasn't fighting, he was training. There was nothing else for him to do than train and become the best warrior that he could be. Any failure on his part was taken very seriously and he would not let himself be appeased by anyone... except maybe Lotus, a beautiful guardian who, at times, was nearly the opposite of Kylar himself. The two had never been particularly close, but there was one event that would bring them even closer.

Due to their living in the Wyrmwound, Kylar's clan was nearly surrounded by serthis territory on all sides. Though far from peaceful, the snake folk usually left the dragons alone since the flying reptiles outnumbered them. A few weeks after a skirmish with some of them, Kylar and some of the other warriors caught wind of the serthis clans gathering for a major assault on not only their clan, but other clans as well. Knowing that they had the best chance to stop these creatures, the ridgeback gathered many of the fiercest warriors and set out to take care of the problem. He was sure that with their numbers and fighting abilities that they would quickly squash the serthis gathering and return back to the clan after a small fight. He had never been more wrong.

The scaled creatures had gathered quickly and though they outnumbered the dragons, Kylar believed that they would still be beaten. So he had the other warriors engaged in combat with them, and before long, it became blindingly obvious that they could not win this. There were far too many serthis and far too many of them knew exactly how to handle dragons. His pride proved to be Kylar's downfall as he refused to call a retreat. He and the other warriors took down many of the serthis, but they suffered casualties of their own as well. As dragon after dragon fell, Kylar continued to fight, rage and adrenaline carrying him forward. Before long the ridgeback was the only dragon on the battlefield, his friends and fellow warriors having fallen long before. As he realized the mistake that he'd made, he tried to escape, to fly away. His attempts to flee were useless.

The serthis had developed a poison that would eat away at a dragon's scales and attack their flesh, a poison that, if left untreated, could kill a full grown dragon. They ripped at Kylar's wings, shredding the membrane, breaking his wing bones, and applied the poison to his back and legs. Once they had finished with their evil work, they left him to die, the separate clans disbanding. They may not have succeeded in their overall plan, but killing several dragons and managing to poison another would work well enough. The serthis left and separated back into their own clans once more, leaving Kylar to die a slow and painful death.

When the warriors didn't return, Lotus went out to look for them. What she found was Kylar, delirious from the pain and nearly dead. Though it wasn't easy, she dragged him back to the clan. Many of the clan scientists, including Ratha, Thorne, and Valrak, looked him over, gathering samples to try and determine what was wrong and what had caused it. By the time that they'd created a cure, Kylar had lost nearly all of his left foreleg and half of his left rear leg, as well as much of the muscles in his back. His wings were so far beyond repair that they had to be amputated. Knowing that they could do nothing to help him, the scientists warily approached Karl. He was known for his work with prosthetics and melding machine with muscle. That would be the only way for Kylar to try and return to what he had once been.

It was a long and painful process. Each piece had to be carefully connected to his nerves and muscle structure to ensure that it would all work properly. Once the scientific aspect had been taken care of, the rest of it was up to Kylar. He had to be the one to work with the new parts of his body. No one else could do it for him. Unfortunately, the once fierce ridgeback now lacked the perseverance he'd once had. The pain that he'd endured was too fresh in his memory for him to just put it aside and focus on healing. Days passed and little success came. Lotus watched as Kylar slowly spiraled into depression and she decided to put a stop to it.

With the guardian's persistent help, Kylar began to grow stronger once more. He was never quite the same once he'd fully healed. The once friendly and comedy loving dragon was now quiet and reserved, talking with few of the other dragons, even his own mother. He became a builder, working on helping the clan build what they needed. Others encouraged him to pick up where he had left off with his training but the trauma he experienced, along with the fear of meeting serthis once more, kept him from the battlefield. Though he was never the same after that battle, he still continued to bring pride to himself and his mother.

Not long after he completed his physical therapy and had been completely healed, Loftus became Kylar’s mate. It wasn’t easy at first. Few dragons in the clan knew what had happened and they constantly pestered the ridgeback with questions. Fortunately his new mate was there to fend them off and eventually the persistent dragons learned that they weren’t going to be getting any answers. With Loftus’s help, Kylar was able to shift easily into his new life and forget the pains of the past. But every once in awhile those memories will come back to haunt him in the night, waking him up covered in a cold sweat, his heart racing just as fast as it had that day.
written by AuguryOfDarkness



rare?

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Non-exalted offspring:

--up to Mabon--