Introduction

Waves filled the dragon's ears heavy with each crash along the shore, sending mist and sand scattering 'neath troubled waters. It was almost comforting beneath the heavy cloud that filled her head. Kei curled, sand shifing around her limbs and through her fur until she willed herself to open her eyes. The sun burned, blinding her vision until the uneven mountain dotted green filtered into view. It was all sooo wonderfully...

unfamiliar.

Now that she thought about it, where had she been...before? Surely not here. Kei would have remembered taking a dirt nap in the sand, not to mention how stupidly easy of a target it made her. Black fur didn't exactly blend with pale sands. Kei shoved her paws beneath her with a grunt, wedging her body from the ground with legs as sturdy as a newborn deer. Each leg was jostled individually, dispersing the sleep that numbed her until she felt settled enough to get a better look of her surroundings. As far as the dragon could tell, she was surrounded by the ocean. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

---

@Kyo

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Whatever serenity you could find waking up somewhere unfamiliar is quickly silenced by a heavy weight, draping her like a sense of dread. There was no reason for that gut feeling, no reason to look up, no reason to look behind her— until of course a loud thud hit the sand just out of sight, scattering the grains in encompassing plumes of dust the impact and sending a tremor beneath her paws.

It speaks before Kei's head can whip around, like a mighty beast who rose from the ocean. A moment of fight or flight pricks the hairs along her coat as golden eyes land on an oddly familiar lump of a man. Then in unison, “You.”

The dragon blinks, confused as she takes in his glance and the way his gaze lingers. “The hell's with that stare, you look like you've seen a ghost.” Her memories stir, but not in a way that that paints sunshine and flowers. It's cold, black rocks slicked wet by a downpour with a clashing of ivory and tongue. Kei shakes her head as if she were swatting a vision into nothing. A more guttural groan reaches her throat as she resists the curl of her lip, “What do you want?”

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This guy was fuckin' weird. “Of course not.” What did that even mean? She was in no way pale or some see through apparition. Maybe she looked worse than she felt.

The man paused, almost taken aback before boasting a hollow laugh and she huffs. “I'm not tryin' to make a parade. I also magically showed up, and the guy who fought me instead of offerin' a name just so happens to also be here. So sorry if I'm a bit wary and assume he has somethin' to do with it.”

The dragon shakes her head, only swinging her head to the side to scope out her options. Just because he hadn't charged at her yet, didn't mean she was willing to just turn her back to him. “Whatever. If we both were put here, there must be a reason, don't you think?” The Kami probably thought it was funny.

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He snorts, a threat that laughter may follow, but it doesn’t. She can still hear it though, echoing her ears and the empty courtyards of Kaida while younger paws skirt by. They had no reason to pay her any mind, and yet even the youngest acolytes took joy in raising the dragon stirring beneath her skin.

Yet somehow it was her who was marked a problem child.

The hours of training and dedication to getting the finest details of the scriptures correct didn’t matter. It didn’t matter when a child months younger could surpass her with a body better suited for the shoes left to fill. Where was the reason in that?

Kei was grateful she didn’t believe in gods. If they existed, they were cruel, and those who are not were toys for their amusement.

She doesn’t comment on his banter, happy to drop everything until she could at least figure out where she was. “If I had the answer, I wouldn’t have asked you.” Kei turns on her heels for the mountain’s edge, her eyes following the downward slope that lowered into the sands, a red gate structure adorning the only visible path. She had seen it before, not here, and the shape wasn’t quite right, but it was the same as those around the temple back home. Only this wasn’t home.

Her paws move, forgetting the nameless man where he stood until she reached the mouth. Then, with a glance over her shoulder, she’d call out again, “You coming, or do you plan on just standing there?”

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There was no hesitation in his strides, unfortunately, paired by bawking as another jab was thrown her way. This time she'd let out a hollow chuff, “I've wasted enough of my life.” Without a pack, each day mattered. There was no one to feed you, no one to house you, no one to protect you. Days of slacking and running off were a luxury she had long since lost the ability to afford.

The man spoke of the gate, and for a moment a look of longing was held in her gaze. “It's a gate. Or...a shrine.” It was hard to tell without knowing who put it here or why. “Someone once told me they act like portals. Places where worlds collide and become whole again.” How long had it been since she saw Shuji? Or Rinako, or Kentaro? The dragon frowned, something heavy settling deep in her chest before it could be shoved further down. It didn't have to be this way; they could have said something. But that life was in the past.

She forces the thoughts away, a straight look replacing the pain as she glances the wayfarer's way, “That's...just a theory, though. Never seen it actually do something.” And like water off her back, she'd press on to the trail ahead. Each step was steep and winding, sometimes straying from the path all together where the ledges ran thin. Steps that ran natural for the small woman as if she had placed them herself. Occasionally she'd glance over her shoulder to see how her company fared, but so long as he wasn't dangling off the edge, she'd push on.

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For someone so insistent on jabbing, the rest of the hike was quiet. She offered nothing in return, only holding to her occasional check met with a questioning brow before she turned and continued to press onward. What a weird man. Kei's steps become a dance, weaving the jungle cliffs, careful where water slicks the ground from magnificent falls, and together they'd climb higher and higher.

Eventually, they would reach the top, but just shy of the highest peak, the mountain would flatten, offering a wide lookout point with a steep drop-off should one venture too close to the mountain's edge. Kei wouldn't test her luck where land met air above the break of sea nor with the shadow of a past at her heels. Instead, she stands firmly at the center of the vista, her head held high with a gaze outward to what laid beyond the wall of rock that had blocked their view from the beach. And, much to her surprise, it was all water.

This was a key. Except this one had an unmatched mountain splitting the coastal tides.

In the northern distance rose what looked to be cold peaks, dotted with unwelcoming trees and a veil of clouds; to the west more of the same jungle and towering peaks, but more interesting of note was the speck of red she thought peered through the trees. Kei tilted her head, squinting into what lay beyond like it was a mirror of the past. But of course, she had never been here. None of it was familiar. Kei scoffed, falling back on her haunches as she resisted the urge to laugh. “Unbelievable.”

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I'm being mocked.

Except she couldn't quite say that, now could she? No, that meant broaching a subject no stranger needed or wanted to hear. He wouldn't care anyway. Not about her woes or self-pity. The faults that lay beneath dark fur. It obscured her, the true dragon at her core, but it changed nothing about who she was inside. A failure.

“It reminds me of home. Or, what used to be a home...” She opts for instead. A large flat stone sits to her side, and Kei does not think twice before sliding it in front of her. Another matching, though chipped and disfigured, warped and unsuitable, lay abandoned within reach. She takes it in her maw, placing it atop the first without much precision or care.

“What about you? Mr. No Name Mystery Man. No family? No home?” For as much as she traveled and loved the journey, she longed for a place to return to. A place to belong, even if it was not perfect. If she was not perfect. But the Order had engrained their ways into her too deeply to remove and too detrimental to forget. Other packs didn't understand. They just take and take or live each day trying to survive. That wasn't a life she wanted.

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Her head whipped to her company the moment he uttered cell. Something was burning behind her eyes—disgust or hate, shock, and disbelief; it wasn't quite clear. Maybe a mix of all of them. Kei's lip curled, numerous questions bubbling at her tongue, but none felt right. “What?” Her voice felt small, and where her mind raged, only silence filled the space between. Her gaze drifted back to her paws where the small stack of rocks sat peculiarly balanced.

Eventually she'd find the will to follow her curiosity, “What was their name? The ones that kept you.” She was joking before, or at least she wished she was, when she said there may have been a reason they were brought together. If it was the Syndicate, after all this time, however far apart, well...she'd bark with angered laughter. It was exactly what they had worked against, why they did what they did. To keep people free, to keep the balance. But it was never enough.

“Do you miss yours?”

A short chuckle slipped her breath, “Honestly?” A thousand images crossed her mind. The laughter and jabs between her cousins, the dense jungle growing from the side of the mountains, the lectures, the scoldings, faces amongst faces—some pitying, some furious, others crying or caring. Most importantly...the feeling that she was a part of something good. Then a sigh, “I don't know.”

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The dragon isn't sure if she should be relieved or angered. To know that a blight like the Syndicate existed and worked against everything the Order sought to achieve was frustrating enough. If another rose elsewhere beyond their reach... without a larger order or a group who upheld the same standards... there would never be peace. What was it all for then? To suffer? The flow of nature had a way of restoring the scales with time, but it could take lifetimes. What of the souls born into lives where they know nothing but where the balance tips? What of the ones who did not have the strength or knowledge to make things right and restore what has been deprived?

Claws pressed to stone as the urge to bite something or scream built in the corners of her mind. It wasn't fair. It never was.

“Does it matter? They aren't here, right?” There was no point then. Besides, if this empire was anything like it sounded, what was she supposed to do? One woman army? Hah. She may be stupid, but she doesn't have a death wish. She could be a pest, sure, but the ones who truly tipped the scales had the influence and power to overwhelm their opposers. It wasn't something you could squish in a night, nor alone. Maybe for now, she should just be glad she's not on their doorstep or the Syndicate's.

“I don't think I can.”

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He brought no comfort or reassurance that her presumption was correct. It was better than a blunt refutal. A sharp chuckle spouted from her maw at his next suggestion, “I belong to no one.” And nothing. She lived for herself, her only drive being the stubbornness that refused to be beaten out of her. However, the question that came back haunted in a voice that did not belong to the wayfarer. It was Shuji's.

Then what are you going to do now? What is your plan? What are you doing? All the questions she'd heard before that somehow quelled her raging mind. A moment of clarity and thought instead of action. All she had done so far was survive. Before, she used to live.

Kei falls silent, another stone pulled to her side as she ponders his ask. “I don't know.” Her voice was stern this time, the waivers of doubt and insecurity gone with the wind. “What are you doing? You're free now, aren't you?”

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Kei leaned away but stayed where she sat while the wayfarer inspected the rocks she idly stacked. A paw much larger than hers braced the tower, and for a split second, she thought he might pull a dick move. But he didn't. His paw stayed there, almost as if he was waiting for her next move.

“If you could make a change in this world... would you?” The dragon stares at him expectantly, seconds ticking by in what feels like minutes, until she reaches down with her maw to grab the next stone and guides it carefully into balance. “Your Rothskel doesn't go on forever, but that doesn't mean there aren't more like them. Maybe not as big, not as ambitious... less opposed, less suspicious. There's a balance that holds everything you know together, but more often than not you'll find the scales tipped heavily one way or another. There are few who look to right that, more than happy to live with blinders on.”

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“It's not about being noble. It's just how things are meant to be.” She sits and listens again, more cautious this time before deciding the truth is better. “There's no reason to question. There are more like you. I've seen it.” Then another glance his way, “That's the idea. So what's stopping you?” A question she should be asking herself, but it was easier to point at a stranger.

“The pack I'm from—that was our whole purpose. Not to wipe out pains like your kingdom, but to push their crawl back. Make them question their next move. Make them take a single enemy and their attention off those around them.” Glorified pains in the ass, but maybe she liked being a pain in the ass. “'N before you go and butter an ego or roll your eyes, it wasn't so simple as biting the bad guy. There's two sides to balance...” Being 'good' was subjective. To some, they were the bad guys. “It made a difference, though. In the land and the people around us. Like you said, the little things stack up.”

And as if her speech had been planned, the Dragon stacked a smaller rock atop the pile that had grown to be a pillar.

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“Mercenaries work for themselves.” She wasn't sure what she would classify the Order as. There was nothing quite like it, and that was why she was now alone.

Like him.

“Sounds like you made a mistake.” Despite her words, the dragon's tone was not judgemental, “That's why we always worked in pairs. Bare minimum.” Her head briefly tilts in a lighthearted attempt to make it sound like a joke. It's almost an offer. Almost. But Kei had nothing to offer. She had no home, no plan; she didn't even have a name for this place. Her stare is once again unwavering as she stands,

“You really don't have a name?”

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