A Heavy Burden To Bear [OPEN]

Armatricus sighed as he tilted his head back to squint at the bright, bright sun, its stifling heat warming his scales and making him feel awfully uncomfortable. Hastily he retreated back to the tree, whose thick cluster of leaves provided shelter, and stood there, his wings tucked in and resting against his sides as he huffed angrily at the barren landscape in front of him. So bare, so devoid of life. Trees and plants were scattered everywhere, but he had not seen a single sign of animal life. Not a single one. Sighing, he folded his hindlegs and rested his body weight on them, his tail draped across his curved white claws, gleaming as the sun shone onto them. He shifted, pulling his legs back slightly, and inhaled deeply with his mouth for no particular reason, coughing as dust was sucked into his mouth. His cough was followed by a blink and a violent sneeze, and another, and another, and at last his sneezing fit subsided, leaving behind a grumpy, hurt-nosed dragon.

Again, he sighed. Today was going to be one of these days, Armatricus thought grumpily, shutting his eyes and resting his back against the cool trunk of the tall, fat tree. Maybe he would sleep. Maybe he would explore, or fly...though the options were definitely not appealing, because the heat would heat up his scales and make him even more uncomfortable. Really, there was nothing he could do except sleep, and he squeezed his eyes shut, annoyed. He could wait for someone to appear though; at least he wouldn't have to move out from his shade. Opening his eyes, he stood and used his tail to pluck a leaf from its branch, peering at the green thing with jagged edges curiously. That was all he could do for now to entertain his boredom. He would simply observe something - anything - until someone came.

His mind soon wandered away from the item he was holding, back to his memories of living with his guardians. Daily training under the sun, harsh punishments, and...weapons. Always weapons; they were part of his daily life, but no longer. Armatricus had left all those when he escaped from his guardians. Still he couldn't get rid of the phantom stickiness on his body, the awful wails or gurgling of the dying as they stared at him, his blades protruding from their body. Forcefully, he pushed the memories away, and tossed the leaf aside. His memories and the sun weren't helping his mood, and he grumbled angrily at no one in particular as he looked around. Again, nothing of interest. Maybe he should try flying over the sea or something. Or learn swimming. Though goodness knows how he would manage to swim with such short arms. He'd also probably end up poking some fish in the river with his wings, or maybe his tail would get tangled somewhere. It really seemed like today would be another eventless day, Armatricus noted with dismay, and gazed sadly at the sun.

The young, exhausted Xasheski had just arrived on Layrian. It had been a tiresome and perilous trip, but he believed he had made the right decision. It was certainly a lot nicer than Verula had been. Verula’s jungles had just been so strange compared to the ones of Shveki, his homeland. Not to mention the Ki’sha. Those dragons were so aggressive and ruthless, he would have been scared being on the same continent as them. He wasn’t sure how those… what were they called, Stormsayers? Stormcalls? … Oh wait, Stormcallers! That was what they were called. He wasn’t sure how any tribe could stand being anywhere near those savages.

But now he had finally gotten away from that. He would land atop a nearby tree, panting with relief. He was still pretty close to the shore, but that didn’t much bother him. Any worries that could have bothered him were overshadowed by the joy he felt from finally being here. He stretched his wings, letting them flop down beside him. He would just relax here for a bit, before he started out on his way.

Even if Xasheski had let his guard down, he believed he deserved it. Besides, Layrian was so big, he doubted he’d run into any dragons. Or… maybe he was being to arrogant from lack of water… water! That reminded him, he needed to get some water that wasn’t chock full of salt in him. He would lazily lift his body up, shaking himself off. He needed to keep his guard up. This was a foreign land, with foreign dragons. He had absolutely no idea what this world had in store for him.

Then, it occurred to him. This might not even be Layrian. It could just as well be Shveki. His body tensed up at the idea. No, he had made the right calculations…. Maybe. He decided, maybe, having his guard up might be a good decision, as he began to rush off, in search of a stream, or anything, that he could drink from, to refresh himself.