Syrax

Syrax’s fascination with the world had always been skyward. Up to the clouds, the winds, overhanging fog, and storms, but most importantly, when those changed to the rare and unexplained. Phenomena, those that were uncharted and undocumented, told across generations as fairytales and myths. Much like the fire raging in her belly, she consumed all the knowledge she could as an apprentice and quickly set out into the world to record these wonders herself.

Her routes chased after storms, charted jet streams, and recorded the highs and lows of atmospheric pressure. She observed the waltzing balls of lighting for the first time within Hewn City, documented the rare occurrence of the slithering fog along Driftwood Drag, and it was during her stay at the Hoverview Vale, waiting to study the rumored claws of light through the city’s telescopic lens, that she happened upon Arrax.

He was a mechanic and inventor, learning about technologies across the world and the methods behind them, without a single muse to drive him to discover.

The claws never did appear that night, but she found something so much better. A partner, both in her fascination and in her life. He created technologies she could only dream of, helping her chart and measure the world with numbers and reading, more accurately predicting what she could only roughly estimate with her mind.

It was only natural that she would eventually be drawn to the Twisting Crescendo.

With Arrax’s technology and a guide, she entered the swirling torrents of clouds.

Too close, too confident, too enamored with this unstudied wonder of the world. So close to its marvelous eye, she was swept up in it, and it in turn plucked her from her platform and tossed her into its swirling abyss.

It shredded her wings, and her plummet to her demise was saved by the nets strung up by flying fishermen at the edges of the vortex.

They told her she was one of the lucky ones. Many do not return from the eye.

She did not feel lucky. Her wings were torn beyond repair. The doctors in the Millmeadows did much for her, but no one could perfectly repair a wing without divine intervention.

She healed in a haze, Arrax never leaving her bedside, and when the cloud in her mind and dreams subsided, she was presented with his newest and finest invention.

A pair of wings.

They were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

It took time to get used to her prosthetics, and even more time to work up the strength in her wings to bear their weight, but with every day her strength grew and Arrax improved on his invention.

For a test run, they ventured to the Southern Icefield to witness a brilliant aurora. Her wings withstand the cold for a time, but eventually, the mechanics froze over. It was just their luck that they happened across Clan Maroke, and Isato.

With the help of a genius, Isato helped Arrax create wings powered by Syrax’s core. Steam-powered, she can fly once again. They’ve been allowed to stay in Clan Maroke for as long as they desire, and it has allowed Syrax to work up her strength and courage to tackle this new way of life. For now, she uses her time studying the flash freezes that have been left unstudied in the region and the cause of the abnormal patterns within the auroras.