Danger in the Desert }{ {Open to anyone}

[{::Lucine-Rhychore::}]

Lucine cantered through the forest in the form of a pure white horse, not any normal horse though, a pegasus. Every now and then she spread her wings and jumped into the air gliding a few yards before reaching the ground. You could tell by the way she whinnied and threw back her head that she was having fun. After a few more yards the ground started to dry our, Lucine slowed to a walk and looked out into the vast expance of dryness. It appeared to be a desert. The hot air and zero percent humidity stung her flesh. It was not her type of place. She thought for a moment and shivered at the thought of getting lost in that great expanse of land.

In front of her, the ground began to quake. Lucine took a few steps back and reared her head throwing her mane. She spreak her wings ready to take off if necessary. A few seconds later, from out of the sand arose a large light brown dragon. Covered in horny scales and rough protrusions. Lucine turned and started to take flight. But, the dragon gave out a bone shaking roar and took off after her. It circled around her and dove forward hitting her full force, she transformed quickly and took shape of a majestic black dragon equal in size. She roared back at the beast as it went for her neck. A vital part of the body and the spot every animal or creature goes for to kill it's prey. She did a twist and brought her tail up to meet the dragon in the face slamming him with full force and knocking him off of her.

"God damnit. Just my luck right?" She turned and flew into the desert, the dragon chasing her at equal speed. She wasn't going to lose him anytime soon. Lucine dove low to the sand and flapped her great wings creating a mini sand storm. The dragon behind her was unwavered by it. How was she going to get such a beast off of her tail. Lucine was tiring of flying and decided she needed to land. She turned to face her competator. She was the first to charge. With a clash the two dragons began their battle. She took the first blow as well and hit him on the side with her giant claws. It seemed to knock the wind out of him. He roard and bit her shoulder. Lucine roared. Well, this isn't good. He's strong and I'm no match for him!!

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara was disgusted. Another trek into the desert had proven fruitless. Three weeks traveling the blasted landscape to the spot of some ancient ruins and there had been nothing there. Kimara shook the grizzled head again in disgust. The trip had been put off for so long and nothing had come from it. A sigh escaped the parched lips as Kimara contemplated another two weeks back to the Blaze Mountain, one week already completed.

It was several hours later when Kimara reached the oasis. Silently, Kimara crept into the small glade and found no one there. Kimara drank deeply and gauged the sun. There was a good six or seven hours of daylight and the night could be used for travel too as there did not seem to be much in the way of storms. Still, Kimara was cautious...especially with the way sandstorms sprung up in the desert. You did not want to be caught in one.

Debating the matter, Kimara's attention was distracted by something in the sky a few miles distant. Focusing the grey eyes on the specks in the distance, Kimara could see that it was a dragon...two of them in battle. One was a desert dragon. You could see it by the way the body was built...but the other one...Kimara stopped staring at the fight and focused on the dragon, the old eyes glazing over into a milky white. A few minutes later, the eyes shut and opened...and the eyes had returned to their normal grey.

Unhooking the walking staff, Kimara hastily headed towards the battle, which looked to be surging closer, which was good because Kimara was tired and the aged body did not always respond well. A few minutes later, Kimara was within range. Upending the staff in the ground, Kimara aimed it at the brown dragon. Closing the grey eyes and bowing the grizzled head, Kimara concentrated. A burst of lightning sprang from the end of the staff, impaling the desert dragon through one of its wings, causing it to shriek in pain. A second shot sent it winging away from the way it had came.

Kimara's eyes cracked open as the magic left the staff. Kimara tried to stand, but the strain had been too great. Kimara's knees buckled and Kimara fell, sprawling full length on the desert sands.

[{::Lucine-Rhychore::}]

Lucine and the other dragon had been battling for what felt like hours when in fact it was only just a few minutes. Lucine had managed to get another few blows on him, but he had already beaten her up quite badly. She had a bite on her shoulder a scratch on her soft underbelly and a few bruises here and there. Lucine pushed him off for a moment to regain her breath but he didn't stay away long. He charged her and the two clashed again. Lucine kept on fighting and the strain of the battle was geating to her. She was absorbed into the heat of battle and hadn't noticed that a stranger was walking slowly in her direction. A few minutes later the brown dragon was blasted off of her and fled for his own safety.

Lucine dropped to all fours and held her ground letting out a roar. She had been saved from what might have been death. The dragon form she had was the best form to battle none other than a dragon. Lucine looked over and saw an aged man laying on the desert floor with his arms and legs spread wide. Lucine walked over to him. He just looked tired, no wounds covered him. She decided that she and him, needed to get out of this desert and to somewhere safe before they tried to rest. Lucine threw him gently onto her back and started to fly in the direction from which she came. She got nowhere. So she flew back....nowhere. She was starting to panic. She was injured and now, not only did she have to worry about her life, she had to worry about her saviors life. She flew for about an hour before she came upon an oasis. She decided she'd stop here. She landed and set the man down underneath the shade of a tree. It was late in the day and would soon get cool and dark, perfect.

Lucine shapeshifted back into a human and then summoned one of her creatures. It was a tiger, but no ordinary tiger. A tiger with the ability to heal. She started to heal her wounds, she hadn't enough power to heal them all the way. What remained was the bruises. The bite wound and the claw mark were gone and all that remained were light scars where the wounds had been. She looked to her savior and decided to give him a bit of energy. The tiger padded over to where he lay and rest his giant forehead on that of the man. A light green energy could be seen engulfing both the tiger and the man and a few minutes later the task was done. Lucine smiled and thanked the tiger and then released him back to his home until she needed him next. Lucine lay back in the now cool sand and waited. There was no way she could sleep at in the desert at night. She looked to her savior and inspected him taking in ever little aspect, plus she thought about love and imagined great things. The hours passed.

[HoudiniDerek]

While Kimara's body rested, the spirit awoke and saw that the body was being carried on the back of the dragon that had been saved. Yes, then, the effort expended had been worth it...or so it seemed. Why was the dragon flying away from the oasis that was only a couple of miles distant?

It was a while later before the dragon landed and changed to a human. Kimara's soul watched the transformation and watched the girl summon a tiger. She seemed to have latent magical talent and Kimara's soul nodded in thought. Kimara watched as the girl sent the tiger over the prone figure lying beneath the invisible soul.

The tiger bent down and a green light started to pulsate. Kimara's magic rose to greet it and the soul settled between the two, keeping the magic of the tiger at bay.

Keep your magic, Tiger. It is not needed. The healing process has begun by the body and cannot be interrupted. The tiger rose then and left, leaving the girl and Kimara alone. Kimara's body began to breathe evenly again and the soul retracted into the body...

Kimara's eyes blinked open, staring at the canopy of the oasis. The chest heaved evenly, the breathing normal again. Kimara raised to a sitting position, bones and joints crackling loudly. Across sat a girl...and the memories from the soul's excursion pushed their way forward into Kimara's brain.

"Hello, young lady," Kimara said, nodding in greeting. "My name is Kimara Severn. I am glad to see you are well after your battle with the desert dragon."

[{::Lucine-Rhychore::}]

Lucine sat there in the cool night air pensively thinking about what had happened earlier. A simple walk through the forest had turned into a life threatening encounter with a desert dragon. An angry one at that. She thought about her past with her father and her mother and then she thought about her brother. Her brother whom she hadn't seen in four years. She missed his sour humor and his competative ways. Lucine smiled as she thought about him.

Lucine was too deep in thought to notice that her saviour had come to. She only noticed when he started to speak and it startled her. She jumped out of thought and turned to meet his gaze. She smiled widely.

"Hey. Nice to meet you Kimara. I'm Lucine...you can call me Lucy." She wondered how powerfull he could have been to make that dragon flee so easily. He looked old, but wise. He probably had a lot of experiences in his past and a lot of skill as well. It made her heart warm to know that he was kind enough to save a stranger. Lucine picked up a rock and chucked it into the oasis. The ripples on the water soothed her eyes. Without looking at Kimara, she spoke.

"I'm really greatful that you saved me. I might've been done for if you hadn't come along." Then she turned to him as she picked up another stone. She smiled and then turned back to the oasis to throw another rock in the water and then another one after that. She was enjoying the cool breeze and the cool sand beneath her.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara listened to the girl, watching her toss rocks into the lake, which seemed to be her own method of relaxation. She seemed very shy and vulnerable, yet not afraid of anyone or anything...not even her own magic. Extraordinary mix actually, Kimara mused silently.

"I would not see you harmed, especially for no reason. Besides, it wasn't exactly a fair fight was it?" Kimara's smile was kind, but it seemed to insinuate an inside joke between the two. "Tell me: How did it happen that you were in such a predicament?"

[{::Lucine-Rhychore::}]

Lucine smiled at his kindness. She shook her head when he asked her if it was a fair fight. Lucine took out a cantine and pressed it to her lips. The cold liquid rushed down her throat burning a little. The sweet taste of whine in the desert. She looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I wasn't doing anything. I was in the forest when I came upon the edge of the desert. He attacked me out of nowhere. God...grumpy dragons are the worst." She said with a chuckle and took another drink of the whine. She looked down at it and then looked at Kimara.

"Would you like some?" She asked. Smiled and then waited.

[HoudiniDerek]

"No, child, thank you." Kimara leaned back against a tree and closed the aged eyes. The sand was still warm from the day's sun and the Dermun could almost be called peaceful at a time like this.

"Tell me about yourself, Lucy. You seem to be very capable, especially with your magic. What is that you are out and about doing?"

[{::Lucine-Rhychore::}]

Lucy shrugged and took another sip from the cantine. She loved the desert at night, she hadn't actually been in a desert at all except for not. But she liked it. Lucine looked over to Kimara and smiled. She wasn't really that interesting and she didn't want to bore the man. But, if he wanted to know. She'd tell him.

"Honestly, all I ever do is wander around. I'm trying to find my brother you see. He left some years ago without notice. I really want to find him." Lucine showed a little bit of sadness on her face as she talked about her brother. Aiden had been missing for so long. She should probably go up the mountain and visit her father sometime soon. Just to see how he was doing.

"How about you Kimara. What were you doing wandering the hot desert if it wasn't on accident like me?" She asked with a little bit of a chuckle. She didn't see why he'd want to be in the desert in the daytime. It's sooo hot.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara noted the sadness in Lucy's voice as she spoke of her brother. The bond between the two must have been close indeed. She had nearly gotten herself killed looking for him after all...and this might not have been the first time for that either...

"I am a historian at heart," Kimara started, the voice crackling with age and soft as fond memories swept over the speaker. "I have traveled all of Valear at some point in my life or another. I travel to learn and to interact, but mostly to record. There are so few who are actually out to preserve what there is of the past and the present so that future geneartions can benefit from that knowledge. It has always been my calling in life it seems."

Kimara sighed happily as memories fleeted invisibly before the grey eyes. Kimara turned to Lucy again. "I was in the desert searching out another lost civilization...another lost set of souls and rituals. I found the ruins I was looking for and studied them intensely. Sadly, there was little left to be gleaned. I either waited too long or there was nothing to suggest that anyone ever cared about that place...not even its former inhabitants. It's sad that no one stops to care and admire and remember." Kimara stopped speaking and gazed back out at the desert, off towards the Blaze Mountain, a trek two weeks distant to reach and longer to reach the home near the summit.

"That's why I am here, child. It's my destiny to do these things and keep them safe. Much as it may be your destiny to find your brother. Tell me about him. Why do you seek him so?"

[luke]

Rudi looked slowly around himself. He had been traveling for 3 weeks to reach the desert, one of the places he had most wanted to explore but also one of the areas he had been most afraid of when he was younger. Rudi had heard various tales of the vicious creatures that live in the desert and of dragons and dragons where the one thing Rudi never wanted to have to face...

But Rudi is older now and has come to conquer his childish fears of the desert by crossing it. Fully equipped with enough fluids and food for the trip to the desert and then the trip across it, Rudi had set out three weeks ago to get to the desert. Finally he had arrived here in the desert, only to be hit by the vast heat and dryness of it all in one massive wave. Vowing to carry on regardless, Rudi had trekked on and entered the vast desert.

Finding nothing but sand for 4 days, Rudi realized how easily he had underestimated the span and the totally dryness of the desert. Half his water and food gone, Rudi quickly became lost and ended up setting off in an old direction, going around in giant circles. Now, Rudi was totally lost and just kept going hoping for the other edge to appear over the horizon but it never did. Another three days traveling had proved that it would probably never come over. Just about to give hope, Rudi had spotted the Oasis over to his left coming over the horizon. Drinking the second-to-last bottle of his water, Rudi set off to wards the oasis and within the day had reached its edge. Running forward, Rudi crouched down and drunk deeply from the clear water of the oasis, not noticing Kimara and Lucine standing there.

Finally finishing his deep drink, Rudi stood back up and wiped his mouth using the back of his hand. Looking around at the Oasis, Rudi spotted the two beings standing there. One, a man, apart from the look in his eyes, he could've been mistaken for around 20-30. Rudi saw the age and the memories in the mans eyes and knew that this man had traveled all over Valear.

As of the other being, Rudi wasn't quite sure. A human, yes surely, and no older than 25. Maybe 19-21. She looked about 19-21, no older than 22 certainly.

Rudi coughed into his fist uncertainly to alert them that he was there and then just waited for whatever was going to happen to happen.Is it ok if I enter the scene thing? Asking because I dont want to butt in and be annoiying. -