Sifting through the wreckage...(Open)

[Aerious]

Ostia was dead. Again.

Aerious recalled the last time he had been here. It had been deserted then, by a small war and a dead villain returned to 'life'. It had, if rumors could be counted on, worked on restoring itself over the last five years. Probably due to that human archer, what was his name? Ma? Matt? Something like that.

But this destruction was different...it was total. It wasn't a death of people, or the collapse of structure. No, the scent of death was ever present even a year after the catastrophe. Ostia was now something very different...It was a miasma of the very essence of death. This plague was spreading, the winds had carried it far. Soon all of Lycia would fall to this rotting death, this disease. But where did it come from? Could the race of man be destroying the worlds balance once again? No, that seemed unlikely. There was no cosmic catastrophe like in the Scouring. But still, something about this place bothered him greatly.

He walked the desolate streets in his human form, the useless sword slung across his back. Every street offered more of the same, that same scent of death and decay. The rains should have cleared out that smell by now...the animals should have cleaned away any offending bits of meat...hey wait.

It just occurred to him, he hadn't seen an animal in several days...He stood in one of the abandoned streets, contemplating his next move. Something was not right in this world, he could feel it.

[Aerious]

Aerious had spent several days unsuccessfully searching Ostia's ruins for clues. To a creature with centuries of life, a week in a destroyed city was not more then a long walk. He felt confident that he'd searched the entire city. The castle, the shops, the houses...nothing except more of the same. It was obvious the town had been burned, but that wasn't what was bothering him.

Now he moved out of town, following another feeling. There was something around here...something that made him anxious...as he walked, his mind exploded in pain as he fell to a knee, gritting his teeth. His arm...his right arm was burning...

His eyes snapped open with conviction. If that wound was reacting here...then that meant! He pressed onward, fighting back the raging pain from his old wound. He finally came across a large hole in the ground, descending deep into the earth. He looked down into the pit, and felt an oppressive force rise up to meet him. It seemed to push him back, but he snarled and stood against it.

With a leap, he descended into the crypt, and roared in pain as he struck the ground. Too close...he was too close... His eyes could see in the dark of the temple, and he could make out carvings on the walls as he moved by. Was that a carving of a dragon? Guarding something...could that be...? He'd heard a tale of that, a long time ago. Dragons are the protectors...keeping back a long forgotten power. Words surrounded the carving, and Aerious blinked at seeing them. The Ancient Language...he hadn't seen this for nearly a thousand years! It was difficult to read...a power that dragons could no longer contain...a 'king'? No...not king, that was what humans would likely call it. But that was a translation using their words. The correct description was 'That which holds power over others'. So King might have seemed fitting to those of foolish minds. He pondered this for a moment before looking at the next picture. The dragon was gone, with a shimmering light and 7 humans where it was. Aerious' fist clenched in rage.

His dragonstone glowed brilliantly, and his fist flew forward. In a strike, it destroyed the stone carvings, ruining any hope to gather more information from it. Aerious looked to the side, and saw a large coffin with a sword crest above it. His teeth gnashed as he assumed his full form.

With a breath and a mighty roar, he let the power of the storm flow freely and vaporize the coffin. With a mighty flap of his wings, he took to the sky, and vanished over the horizon.

This was not good.