((Closed to Storm Veritas, Elite Optic, Hysteria, Redford and myself. Sunwing to be GM'd by Cards of Fate))
There was no creature alive in the Mountains of Twilight, the vast mountain range that seperated Alerar and Raiaera, that was awake at this early time in the morning. Only a hint of dawn, a single shred of light, appeared in the inky, cloud smudged sky. Flat platforms of gravel and dirt, flanked by imposing, jagged rocks that jutted out of the mountainside formed the basis of a campsite. The bitter odour of burning wood mixed with the sweet scents of roasting berries drifted on the morning wind.
"The Mountains of Twilight" Shinsou muttered, poking the dying embers of the campfire with a bare twig from the doorway of his crudely constructed tent. “Tell me, Bane, why are we doing this again?”
Bane Stark, Shinsou’s guardian who had stood guard at their campsite on the fringes of what was considered the safe part of the mountains for most of the day prior, shook his head silently. As always, a single scarred hand remained gripped around the hilt of his double bladed swallow. Mostly, it was out of pure habit, but the nature of their quarry was reason enough to be on guard.
“We – well, you – need both the training and the bounty, so stop moaning. Besides, this time you’ll have help. It’s a large bounty, so I’ve called in a favour with some connections to get you some playmates. If you’ve any sense, you’ll learn something from them.”
His navy green ranger’s gear, smeared with mud and streaks of rusty dried blood from slain fiends, flashed momentarily from underneath a black greatcoat as it was rushed by the breeze. Bane stroked his black beard, and then disappeared from view to perform a quick patrol round to a ridge a few metres from their campsite, just to be certain they were alone.
Shinsou winced as he heard his bodyguard, and friend, noisily kicking up shale and fragments of stone as he paced.
Fucking hell, Bane, He fumed. Could you attract any more attention to us?!
The Telgradian sighed, shaking his head in frustration, and then looked down the ridge towards the beaten mountain path his new ‘friends’ would take to his campsite. As he did, Shinsou wondered why he was never far from conflict. The scent of it was always there, enveloping him. For the most part, life for him had ground to a resounding halt. The one objective in his life that remained, the obliteration of the Jal Shey and Temperance, he could currently do nothing about in his current state. As a result, there was much fear in the young man for the future, although he himself knew he could never admit it.
Shinsou, however, was characteristically calm about the battle ahead of him, despite his earlier whining. His soft, golden eyes veered across the rugged mountain terrain as he remembered the reason for them being here. They were here to kill find and kill a beast known as SunWing, a dragon that had spent its entire life throwing nearby settlements into turmoil and razing anything that got in its way. Shinsou knew that this would be a rare opportunity for him to test his skills and earn some money along the way, but the main attractions of doing this sort of work relied heavily upon him staying alive long enough to enjoy the benefits.
The beginnings of a rainstorm beat at the already weathered rocks of the mountainside, with monstrous droplets shattering into white pearls against the granite peaks and splashing into a nearby stream that wound through crevices in the rock face, but the Telgradian barely flinched. He just watched silently as Bane completed his rounds, and waited for the others to come.
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