Haruko

Haruko decided to take the first night shift.

It wasn’t that Ritus wasn’t a capable guard; very much the opposite, in fact. He was just a bit more… impulsive. Flammable, Haruko liked to describe it as. When they were on duty together, Haruko often noticed his talons scratching at the grass, itching to rip and tear into an intruder’s scales. The feisty Gaoler had a tendency to attack before asking questions, roaring into battle in a blaze of fury. While his battle prowess was quite admirable, it was particularly unhelpful in peaceful negotiations – the clan’s most recent recruits, for instance, were still nursing their scars from the night they arrived.

Haruko, on the other talon, was much more calm and collected. Her aura alone was enough to frighten off assassins or thieves, and if any intruders were brave enough to approach her, she could easily decipher their intentions just by their tone and body language. If they were planning anything, Haruko would know before they could lie their way into the clan. Haruko knew how to think like a criminal – after all, she had once been one. She’d slipped easily past the ignorant guards and gathered about half of the clan’s treasure before being caught by a half-asleep Gemini, who had, Haruko’s knife to her throat, tentatively offered the Sandsurge a place within the lair. Haruko was suspicious at first, but Gemini was different from all the other matriarchs and patriarchs she’d met in her life. Gemini was willing to give Haruko - a hardened, wanted thief with a sizable bounty on her head - a chance to reform, and Haruko respected that. Now, Haruko would give her life to protect the matriarch, if it ever came to that.

Haruko had picked up on a shifting of sorts within the air; suspicious dragons were about, slithering and sneaking near the lair. Haruko wasn’t sure what they could want, but she knew that these dragons were important. She didn’t want Ritus attacking and terrifying them away; her Arcane senses told her that an alliance with these dragons might be beneficial in the near future, and she didn’t want to risk anything.

The night air was cool and crisp, the slightest sliver of the moon just visible between the leaves. Rose-pink crystals gently hummed with power, illuminating the area around the entrance to the camp with a soft, magenta light. Haruko felt at home here, under the stars and in the grove. She exhaled, taking in the sheer beauty of the territory and listening to the gentle sounds of nature around her. Her eyes turned towards the sky, searching the stars for any signs of the Arcanist’s messages. Not terribly long ago, the Arcanist’s own children had descended from space – the Aethers – bringing with them a host of new technology Arcane dragons could only dream of. Haruko wondered, somewhat half-heartedly, if the suspicious dragons she had sensed were like them – like her – an Ancient breed of dragons awakened after thousands of years of slumber.

The cracking of a twig startled her from her reverie. Haruko’s eyes quickly scanned the tree-line, searching for the creature that had made the noise. She didn’t dare speak, lest she frighten away possible prey, but a hiss built itself at the back of her throat. She couldn’t see anything, but she still couldn’t shake the sensation that she was being watched.

Her senses told her to look up, and, as she moved her gaze from the deep forest up into the trees, she saw them. A bright, large pair of eyes, glittering faintly in the light of the Arcane crystals. There.

“Who’s there?” Haruko snarled, but it was too late – having met her glance, the creature slithered away into the woods. Catching the shadows of the creatures in the faint crystal-light told her it was serpentine, like an Undertide, but it moved through the trees rather than water. It was something completely new, something completely different, and when Haruko sniffed the air, she could detect a faint scent of flowers and fresh leaves. Nature Flight – I’m sure of it, she thought. But what was a dragon from Nature doing in Arcane, across the entire continent of Sonrieth?

Haruko wasn’t sure, but she felt a strange force compelling her to follow the dragon. These strange dragons had answers, possibly answers to the questions that her clan had been asking for ages. Normally she wouldn’t dare leave her post, but she had to tell someone. She turned back into the lair, preparing to wake her matriarch. Perhaps this was the answer they had been waiting for all along.