Rai

hmmmm

Affiliation: Nonpartisan/The Eleven

Description: The former partner of Aegia, and a member of The Eleven- Rai is a highly unpredictable dragon. Her personality is rather unstable, but she doesn’t seem to be cruel hearted...

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Pulsing. Crackling. Escaping.

Primal energy surged through her, enlivening her senses and electrifying her body. The sand beneath her slithering form plumed, upturned by her fiery glide. Behind her, the sputtering crack of electric sparks lit up the earth- leaving a trail of seared sediment in her wake.

She was finally free.

The spiral stopped flying, lightning skidding across the sand as she sputtered to a halt. For a few moments, she simply stood still- alone in the middle of the Shifting Expanse’s vast desert. She sighed and turned her snout to the sky- breathing in the lively air and taking in the soft light of the moon. It had been years, decades even, since she had been able to run freely, to see the sky, to taste the air, to see her homeland.

Again, the crackling restlessness sparkled in her bones. Her body was aglow with pure electrical energy, her very bones seemed alive and electrifying. But, there was a faint soreness to her body, the deep ache which had set in after years of confinement. The spiral looked down to her feet- the faint bruising of the chains which had ensnared her for so long could be seen shadowing her legs. She closed her eyes, shuddering as the memories of her prison flooded her mind.

She had been brought there as a mere hatchling. In her youth, she had heard the clan elders whisper about the night of her birth- she was a rotten egg. Empty, lifeless, she was meant to be born dead- to never-be. Her parents, heartbroken, had taken her egg deep into the desert, to be disposed of but to remain unviolated by scavengers.

A raging storm had erupted the same night of her intended abandonment. As her parents were trying to bury her egg deep into the soil, a bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky and stuck her egg- shattering it instantly.

But, to their surprise, the child within the egg lived. It’s body aglow with the same wild light of the electricity which gave her life.

But, it couldn’t be controlled.

Her tiny form, brimming with immense primal energy, could not contain its own power. Her body could not be touched painlessly, she couldn’t be kept near the other hatchlings out of fear of hurting them, and when the hatchling cried, a storm would erupt overhead. Needless to say, her clan quickly realized that they could not take care of her.

But then they came. Knowledge of her unusual birth and her uncontrollable nature had spread far beyond Stormcatcher’s domain.

Somewhere deeper. Somewhere colder.

So they came.

The large, shaggy, monstrous beasts with gnarled horns and gnashing teeth. They stole her away, and imprisoned her in a place where the air hurt to breathe, where the cold sank deep into her bones- stifling the energy trapped deep within her. They placed her in chains so she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, to them she was just another beast to be contained.

Rai, the beasts called her. She could not remember her birth name, if she had received one at all.

And it was in that prison, that she rotted. Her body dimmed, the sparks in her eyes faded to a soft glow, and Rai ghosted through life- truly living only in her dreams.

But then, there was another.
One like her, whose born energy limitlessly poured from his body. They were enchained in the same unit, and despite being unable to speak, the two would often exchange glances of understanding- empty looks which only beings like them could understand.
And together, they waited.

And waited.

Then, chance came.

Busied with simply maintaining their prisoners for centuries, the reconstruction of the Seeker Order definitely damaged the stability of the Wardens. Bored with their eternally contained lives, many Gaolers began to switch orders, causing the number of Wardens to slowly dwindle. Check-ups on prisoners became less frequent, and the chains that held the two dragons began to weaken, the order had been too distracted and had neglected to check on the condition of the duo’s bindings. Their time was fast approaching.

Still, the two bided their time. Waiting for their perfect chance.

They would only get one shot.

Then, they found it.
The warden who had been in charge of maintaining their unit had decided to leave- not only was he leaving the Wardens, but Organized Gaoler society as a whole. Needless to say, his departure sparked outrage within the Fortress of Ends- the roars and protests of hundreds of furious gaolers echoed through the prison. And, concealed by the noise, the duo began to slowly wear away at their chains.

Slowly. Methodically.
Then, they broke free.

The gaolers didn’t know what was happening, the fortress surged with primal lightning and ice. Their power wracked the halls of their prison- and the walls surrounding them crumbled to dust. Rai’s body, whose color had been muted for years, had finally fully reawakened and she felt the joyful rush of her own power that she had not felt in years.

And from that place, she ran. She never said goodbye to her partner, nor did she think she would ever see him again. She was free and so was he- that was all she really cared for.

She simply ran. Energy surging through her, she streaked across the lands of Sornieth without rest, until she had finally made to back home.

The boom of thunder overhead brought Rai back to the present. Her homeland’s desert, deep and welcoming, lay before her. Smiling, Rai readied herself, then once again resumed her sprint across the thundering plains.

She did not know where she was going, but her body propelled her forward. She would gladly race across these plains, these electrifying sands, until the end of time.

Pulsing. Crackling. Escaping.

She was free.