Barachois

The wind tears at the sand dunes, setting dust devils scattering across the cold beaches. Wings rise to meet them, chase them, and a dragon further scatters the errant grains into the air.

You're a long way from home. Not that it matters.

Teeth click and clatter in a laugh as the gusts tickle wingtips, a sound mimicking all those black-stained drakes that you've been following. Close now, you're so close. You can almost taste that magic here, deep and hungry.

Gods and demons are so thick on the ground in Sornieth you could sneeze and meet a deity, but the rushing ground under you and the woods that tangle their way through the shores, straddling both worlds, half-betray the prize you seek. This wasn't a place governed by dragon gods. There is no Shade here. The light is sharper than even Sornieth's own magic brings, and the dark shadows could swallow your birth element whole. They say the Light and the Dark living here are older and vaster than any dragon god could ever dream. Here, feeling it through the air? You can believe it, now.

It's heresy, of course. But it's exciting. It's new. The implications of outsiders, of interlopers outside comprehension, are staggering. And you've always been a bit of an outcast yourself, haven't you? Straddling the sea and the shadow, just like this Syzygy's home.

You take a breath, and as claws alight on the edge of the sand, you can feel the eyes watching. The Black Storms, the Daehirrim- You had met a travelling band of the strange drakes, with all their sharp smiles and sharper teeth. For all the talk of their deals and their traps, they had been friendly. Mysterious, too- But only enough to pique the imagination, to draw you in. You know they protect their borders well. But you know also...

There was a home here, they said. For outcasts and those born to two elements, for those who lived in warp and glitch and for those who couldn't decide between surf and shade. They drew their faction between Light and Void. Who were they to turn away anyone else?

And maybe this in itself was a trick, was a trap, but you stepped further onto the soft earth and grinned sharp and bold. Let them watch. You already were an outsider, dancing in the water and the deep dark places. You had already braved everything Sornieth could throw at you. What was one more adventure? One more taken chance?

They say sharp smiles hide sharper teeth. But what lines your maw isn't dull, either.