Aurous

---

"Yes your majesty," Aurous saluted his king. It was a stressful responsibility for the poor man to carry as he was raised a commoner and rose to be an official in the king's forces. They were preparing for war against a beast. Something ungodly and terrifying but Aurous was the captain so he was forced to show no fear. He led his men valiantly through the thick forests of the Tangled Wood day and night until they reached a massive hole in the ground. In the middle of the crater was a sleeping creature, wings tucked against it's back and chest expanding with large breaths.

"Sir, how would you like us to proceed?" his comrade asked ad he jumped a bit but composed himself quickly by clearing his throat. Another gave him a skeptical look at how easily he was scared.

"Ready your bows and we will all kill it at once. On my signal," he said in a hushed tone and the rest nodded in acceptance of his command. He rose his arm and they all readied their bows and took aim. All of a sudden, a head popped out from under the wing of the large dragon. It was a small version of the one that rested in the crater and blinked up at them with large purple eyes. Aurous faltered and his hand lowered to tell them to wait but they took it as the signal. "No!" he shouted as the hatchlings soft hide was easily pierced but the large wings of the adult dragon shielded her. The noise of his voice and the cry of her little one alerted her and she shot up, growling viciously.

Aurous ducked behind a boulder as the rest tried to flee as well but a cloud of darkness poured from the crater in a blast, killing all but the coward who hid behind the rock.

"Come before me coward," a growling voice came and when he refused to respond, a cloud of darkness covered his vision. The face of the massive dragon met his eyes when he finished coughing and rubbing the cold mist that emanated from the being.

"I'm sorry....we were told to kill you but I didn't realize that you had a child. It was not my intention-" he bowed on one knee before the large dragon.

"They followed your order out of respect then. Now none shall respect the beast that you are," it hissed and suddenly his bones creaked and broke until he was an older version of the hatchling her had killed. He cried out to the darkness that now surrounded him but no one was there to listen. Instead he returned to the kingdom and was met with blades withdrawn. His only choice was to follow the advice of an old seer to travel to the Windswept Plateau where a clan was steadily growing and taking in all who needed shelter.

The Off the Breeze Clan heard of his tale and were hesitant to accept him but after swearing an oath to protect the clan under Excalibur's watch, he was given a place to stay. His human form was wiped from existence though so he became the only dragon to constantly occupy the landing area where his large form could fit.