Meep! (Open)

[Elias Draughir]

"Meep!" Nydeired cried as Elias dangled a small piece of raw meat above her waiting jaws. He has bought some raw beef from a local butchers, he had obtained the money by selling a few of his personal possessions, most notably his watch which he was now missing, considering he was terrible at telling the time via the sun and stars... Still. He had needed to feed Nydeired considering the young lizard no longer saw the appeal in milk, which came in greater quantities (and was usually significantly cheaper as well...). It could be worse though, he guessed, nobody had questioned too far into Nydeired and her origins yet. For now it would be easy simply passing her off as a Komodo Dragon or something similar, but what about in a few years, when she became the size of a house?!

"What am I going to do with you...?" He asked, not fully knowing if the small lizard could fully understand him. She recognized his voice as his and would make her way over to him if they were seperated through his scent and the sound of his voice. Her mother, Starclaw was able to communicate with Elias through his Dragon Rider blood, and her carved Dragon Stone, so he guessed that eventually, Nydeired would be able to do the same at some point... But right now all she could say was-

"Meep!" She cried out, leaping up to the meat and catching it in her jaws, before dropping onto her clawed feet and ripping the meat to pieces, swallowing it in large chunks and squeaking and squealing with happiness as she did so. Elias shook the thoughts of how the Dragon was going to advance from his head. "One hurdle at a time, Elias..." He said to himself with a firm nod as Nydeired clambered out of his lap and onto his shoulders, as she had a tendency to do whilst she still good.

Elias had his back to an old, burnt out, upturned car on the outskirts of the city, he liked it here because it gave his Dragon a chance to stretch her wings a bit. The way he saw it, the more exercise that she got for her wings, the swifter they would be able to support her body weight, and then as she got bigger, his. Speaking of which, he could feel the Dragon twitching and scratching against his shoulder. "Go on then!" Elias said with a small sigh as he picked Nydeired up and placed her on the ground, she shook slightly before a few scales on her back raised, followed by wings which she fluttered out to their full length. She flapped them idly, jumping up and down, all over the car.

Elias however, heard someone approach and quickly hissed at Nydeired, she folded her wings away and crawled down into his arms, curling into a small ball she burrowed her face into his jacket, trying to hide herself.

"Who's there?" Elias called out.

[Eric Draven]

"Wing's spread alight, into the darkness she takes flight. Never to be seen or heard again, except for the memory of her call: 'my friend my friend'"

The man who spoke these words walked out, he looked like a punk rocker from gothic band. His face was even painted white with black eyeliner, as he stepped out a cawing like noise was heard and a crow flew to his shoulder.

"And wings you friend has," he gestured to the dragon.

[Elias Draughir]

"Wh-what?" Elias said, scrabbling to his feet and warily eying the man in front of him. Already he was channelling the magical energy around him in case that he proved to be some sort of threat to him or Nydeired, but even so, there was something about this man... Elias silently whispered a few words and sent out an unnoticeable, minuscule wave of magic. It bounced off the magical nature of Otherborn and Demons and then came back to him to show him their position. But whilst he registered the man's status as an Otherborn (or at least something like an Otherborn), he saw no source of energy to suggest the man was even alive... And it was safe to say that that creeped Elias out, just a little bit.

Nydeired senses his uncomfortability and started mewing softly inside his jacket. Poking her head out she started exhaling smoke through her nostrils, as of warning Eric to stay away from her rider. Elias sucked in a breath and remembered that ordinary lizards don'nt breath smoke. But then again, this man seemed to know that she was no ordinary lizard anyway. Elias strengthened his resolve and took a stand "Who are you?" He asked

[Eric Draven]

"'Who am I', such a question." he said, walking around Elias but keeping the respected distance. "Who are any of us in such a city, where demonic cats take naps on the street, demons disguised as information brokers, and skeletal warriors who ride vehicles of hellfire through these streets." he paused for a moment before he turned to him, "I suppose you may call me Eric Draven, its a name I am quite fond of."

[Elias Draughir]

Elias squirmed uncomfortably as Eric explained who he was, the nature of this city. Elias had known that demons reside in the city, it was exactly why Starclaw had sent him here, it was the one place where Nydeired and himself could hide from Volus. But to know that they lived here hidden with such expertness was somewhat shocking to the young man, but he wasn't a child, not anymore, Starclaw had shown him that and he had to stand up and take everything as it comes.

"Okay..." He said cautiously, allowing Nydeired to poke her head out a little more, the Dragon following the man's movements as he circled them. "My name's Elias..." He said, before scratching Nydeired under the chin "And this is Nydeired." The white lizard crawled further out of his jacket and took her place upon his shoulders.

"Meep!" She cried.

[Eric Draven]

Eric paused at the appearance of the lizard and bowed his head, like a knight to royalty.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, if I were to pose an idea? This part of the city isn't safe. That skeletal rider I told you about? He patrols around this part of the city and...he's like the watchdog that will be bite at anyone, including his own master if you follow."

[Elias Draughir]

Elias frowned, not initially understanding what Eric was getting at "Wait, are you insinuating that this guy would attack me?!" Then it dawned on the young Dragon Rider and he looked down at Nydeired and frowned "Oh..." He muttered, remembering what Starclaw had said to him when Nydeired had hatched.

"You are both intertwined now. When Nydeired feels pain, so will you. When you feel pain, so will Nydeired, but the pain will be shared and neither will feel it so vividly as if you were not together. To be apart from one another is to share a constant longing and pain until you are once again together. But worst of all child, if one of you dies. So does the other."

Elias shook his head, and with it, the memories. With the prospect of Nydeired's death in his head, he suddenly saw this mysterious Mr Draven as the lesser of two evils. "Okay." He said with an assertive nod "Do you have any particular idea as to where to go?"

[Eric Draven]

Eric looked around the vast outlands before pointing to the city, "I instructed a similar man before you, to make his way deep into the city...there you will find a bar. Or a tavern if you prefer named "the Veil", if you make your way there you will find people: similar to you and different from you. They have protected people before, our Skeletal Rider will be less inclined to go after you if you meet these people. For as long as his attraction to a woman with fire for hair persists, he will be closer to them and less likely to one day attack them."