Surge

Surge

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For most of his life, Surge was a loyal servant of the Stormcatcher on the battlefield. He led many exaltees through dominance battles, working to increase the reaches of the Shifting Expanse for the deity who gave him this position of leadership in the first place. He loved this life, frequently bellowing at new recruits and giving harsh orders and demanding drop-and-give-me-twenties, and above all, leading charges against enemy factions.

He was at this for a very long time, from the time he was a young dragon to when his bones began to creak with arthritis. His voice grew hoarse, and he could no longer shout orders as he used to. Yet he pushed on, determined to be Sergeant to another few generations of recruits, fighting until his last breath. Finally, his superiors had to sit him down and give him a direct order: Retire.

His superiors recommended Electrician’s Edge, an area with enough hardships to entertain the aged dragon without exerting him. And reluctantly, Surge followed this order, and met up with the Clan of the Striking Bolt, who he stays with to this day. The thing is, Surge doesn’t really know how to be retired. All he’s known his entire life is the battlefield. He’s never had time to relax, never had time to develop any hobbies, never had anything to do except lead and fight.

So he copes the only way he can: by acting as if he’s still on the battlefield. He’s constantly barking at younger dragons and calling them “Private”, and these young dragons can do nothing to protest, only drop and give him twenty push-ups as he demands. He frequently regales them with tales of “when I was your age” and his hardships, or tales from the battlefield, or telling them about exaltees he used to work with. He still wakes up at the same crack of dawn that he always has, he still keeps the same routine that he has every day for most of his life. Old habits are hard to break, and if you asked Surge, he would answer that as far as he’s concerned, retirement has changed nothing for him.

Perhaps what Surge misses isn’t so much the military lifestyle as it is feeling useful. But he’s so stubborn and stuck in his ways that he doesn’t know how to be useful in any other way. So here he stays, in his old age, barking at younger dragons to stay out of his way and to do ridiculous and frivolous tasks, just like how he used to in the old days.