Friend or Foe [Zahhak]

[Qarrad]

The world was amazing! There were at least fifty different types of trees, and a lot of them had smaller trees on their sides that you could climb on, and that was where Qarrad rested after a long day of walking from his landing zone the day before. He had bound up the trunk of a massive oak, and now he rested with his chest pressed to a limb and his arms and legs clinging tightly to the branch. He snored quietly, enough that with each exhalation the leaves at the edge of the branch shook ever so slightly. The young drake had slept outside every night back on the island, and since transforming into the massive scaly beast he'd flown through the sky, he'd been exhausted. This was his third micronap of the day, and most likely, it wouldn't be his last. He had woken up each time after about forty-five minutes of sleep because well... there was just so much to see! The world was amazing!

This particular nap, he was woken up by a tiny thing crawling right in front of his face, it was a little thing, with big bag legs and tiny hands, and a tail like the one he'd sported as a dragon but much much bushier. The little creature squeaked a few time, and Qarrad's face shot up, looking it straight in the eye. "HELLO! It ran away. Whatever it was ran to the end of the mini tree that jutted out of the much larger tree and jumped to another mini tree, this one again on another tree. Qarrad hung his head. He then swung himself up so that he sat on the branch which he couldn't name with his back against the trunk, and crossed his legs in front of him. He followed the little animal with his eyes for a second as it hopped to a third tree.

Then, the young drake shot up, and jumped off of the branch as it began to crack, grabbing a branch on the tree between himself and the animal. It began to run as he swung himself after it, shouting, "'LO WAIT, I DON'T WANT TO EAT YOU! I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU'RE A THING I CAN EAT!" However, as he tried to catch the next branch he'd swung onto, it snapped under his weight, and he began to fall towards the ground. It wasn't far, only about ten feet, he'd get up after falling. He'd fallen before. Still though, he didn't want to again, here in a weird forest with trees and mini trees. He grabbed at another branch as he went down, and though it snapped the second of holding it slowed his descent, and when Qarrad fell on his stomach flat against the ground, he managed to be only in minor pain, not even moderate to sever pain.

After about five seconds, he popped up, rolling to his knees then to his feet. He looked back up at the tree, trying to find that tiny creature again so he could try and catch it, but before he could see that he heard a chirping, and looked at the source of the noise and to his delight he saw one of the parakeets the mainland had that was less colorful than the ones he was used to. His jaw dropped, his eyebrows flew up, and his eyes brightened. As the bird flew away, due West, Qarrad ran after it at full speed, shouting, "'LO FRIEND, I CAN FLY TOO, DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME DO IT!?"

[Zahhak Al-Bahar]

He was absolutely livid. A year. An entire year he'd been roaming this wasted filth ridden maggot infested landscape trying to find people of worthy stature to help him attain greater power. How long would it take? When. When would he find worthy opponents? When would he find someone in Elibe that wasn't a push-over? There were few exceptions. The dark haired fellow he'd encountered along the coast of Nabata wasn't hard to forget as a potential option? The man however had not actually fought back much. He was strong, but his martial arts prowess was no where near what Zahhak craved for a challenge. How had others before him done it? How had they attained strength? No doubt fighting eachother. Training against equals. Superiors. Where the hells, would he find a dragon anywhere within Elibe? Even then, one he could fight. He had to. Killing monsters seemed like the initial idea but there were so few that he ran into..

No. There had to be more than one way to reach the goal. He would realize this trial. He would pass it. That said, what had truly, truly enraged him was the crater he'd found earlier. It was large. Monstrous even. What ever had made it? No where in sight. Nothing found and nothing around to indicate a direction. Something strong enough to do that was absent. With it, possibly the best fight he would've had in a lifetime or two. Bells jingled lightly as the aquatic dragon moved through the Etrurian lush with a frown on his face. Powerful digits coiled around a stone in his hand and his foul mood bled into his mindset with a crashing wave of taint. Turning his normal mindset of thrill seeking into a simple wish to fight.

He began to bounce the stone lightly in his palm. Repeatedly. However, Zahhak snarled as he tried to tune out the annoying series of tweets through various birds. The chirping of cicadas hidden within verdite foliage. He was absolutely certain that he would go insane if he didn't find someone to fight. AND THESE DAMN BIRDS NEEDED TO BE QUIET.

Overwhelming rage darkened his mood as he pivoted backwards, almost entirely nude upper torso twisting as he reared back his right hand. Fingers pinched against the small stone from every angle. Digits flushed externally near his knuckle and tips bled white while he saw a bird start to fly upwards from a tree. Zahhak cranked his arm back further, before throwing the stone with such force and speed, that it punched into and buried itself within the small creatures feather laden back. The quiet half-hearted chirp that came out, most likely a lingering instinct expressed in shock before it's life was instantly extinguished; the bird's wings slackening and it falling with a dull faint thud to the ground an instant later. Zahhak scoffed at it, before slipping his hand into the pockets of his pants while moving on. It was at this moment that oceanic hues found that of a man unknown to him. Which, given he knew about three people by name in the history of his life-span, was not surprising. Zahhak saw this individual roosting within a tree before grunting in annoyance.

"Why are you in a tree? "

[Qarrad]

Still swinging after the bird, a laugh flowed from Qarrad's throat at the same speed as the chirping of the bird as it flew ahead of him. He was no where near catching it, but he was able to swing himself with speed enough to follow it closely enough that he could still make out the flight pattern and song of the bird. It was fast for how little it was, it looked like it flapped its wings somewhere around a number that Qarrad couldn't count to a second. When he'd been in his scaly form, he'd had to flap his wings so hard that he still felt a great degree of soreness on his back. Of course that could be because he wasn't supposed to have things sprout from his human back, and that had been the last thing to sprout from his still human form before he grew and morphed into a being of a completely different shape. It would be interesting to see if he could morph into something like a bird.

The bird was interesting, it wasn't like the parakeets Qarrad was used to back on the island. It's body was little, but it's head was even smaller, and it had a beak like a needle. It flew and then stopped, and then flew again, like it was hesitating. It was part of the reason he was laughing, because it was a bird! The symbol of freedom and it was acting like it couldn't make a decision. It was pretty funny, although Qarrad was able to sympathize. When he'd first transformed into his drake form, he hadn't really known which direction to take for once he was in the sky. He'd picked a direction and stuck to it, and must have gotten lucky. In a startlingly short time he'd reached the big island, and crash landed in the crater a while back. So maybe it wasn't that silly of the bird to be unsure where to fly, freedom came with a ton of options.

He finally decided to let the little guy go, and sat back on branch, opening his mouth to shout his goodbye after the little thing. Then a stone came hurtling up from the ground, and took the bird at full force. Qarrad's eyebrows had been raised in joy since he'd first seen the little bird, now they furrowed, casting a shadow over his pale blue eyes. There came a tearing against his heart that felt fiercer than any emotion he'd had in his life other than three moments of burning all encompassing passion in utterly different directions. He followed the poor creatures fall to the ground, and once his eyes were cast on the ground, he looked to the only form in the forest that could have produced the stone and thrown it. A short angry little man with no shirt and bells in his hair.

"Why are you in a tree?"

Qarrad slid down the tree, and dropped to the ground a few yards from the short stack. As he walked over to the man, he said, "I WAS TALKIN' TO MY FRIEND." Then he came to stand in front the little man. He set his feet in a matter of seconds, placing his feet shoulder width apart and lowering his hips. In only another moment, he threw a hard jab with his right fist down towards the shorter man's jaw. The first person he'd seen in centuries, and he was punching them in the face.