Agarru

Agarru, a young mirror, flew into the Viridian Labyrinth accidentally from his birthplace, the Scarred Wasteland. He had left his clan to live elsewhere, and since he had wandered into the jungle, he figured he would live there. It would be simple enough, he assumed. The Nature clans there wouldn't be able to drive him out of the jungle, with his Plague element.

He blazed a trail of destruction through the jungle, attacking any dragons he crossed. He traveled anywhere he wanted in the jungle, heedless of clan boundaries. He ran across clan after clan, raiding each for food and spreading misery throughout the land. He was never hungry, and he liked fighting, so he was very content with his life as a conqueror.

Eventually, he found a small clan led by another purple mirror. He waited for nightfall, then attacked the sleeping clan. Unfortunately, he failed to notice a guardian that stood guard over the nests, and before Agarru could do anything he was surrounded. He struggled to fight off the multitude of dragons, unaccustomed to a fight where he was expected. He easily knocked out a few young mirrors, but the guardian and older dragons gave him some trouble. He slipped between the guardian's giant legs and pounced on Lisari, the clan's leader. He dug his claws into her shoulders and sank his fangs into one of her wings. She roared with pain, but it didn't seem to phase the other dragons. The guardian quickly picked Agarru up by his tail and yanked him from atop its leader.

Agarru hung from the guardian's jaws limply. He feared that the huge dragon would eat him or bite off his tail or something. The other dragons were arguing, probably over what to do with him. They had moved far enough away that Agarru really couldn't tell. The guardian was the only dragon with him. Slowly, the guardian lowered Agarru to the ground, carefully pinning him under one of its clawed paws before releasing him from its teeth. It seemed to have forgotten that they had fought minutes before, and kept babbling to him about its mate or its hatchlings. Its name was Gallius. Agarru lay, not listening, beneath its claws and awaited the other dragons' judgement.

Eventually the dragons returned. Lisari informed him that he had a choice about his fate. He must join her clan or they would kill him. It didn't sound like much of a choice to him, but the other dragons were nodding graciously as though this were the kindest offer ever given. He quietly agreed to join the clan, and before long he grew used to life there. Gallius had been given the duty of ensuring that he didn't flee during the night, but after a month he was deemed trustworthy enough to be left unwatched. He had planned to run away once they stopped monitoring him so closely, but he was surprised to find that he wasn't in such a hurry anyway. As a mirror, he found all this waiting around rather tedious, but he wasn't too unhappy. He was fed, he was permitted to hunt... eh. Things were alright.

The clan has accepted him completely now, though most still avoid too much interaction with him. He had been gifted with tiger stripes by Lisari shortly after they began their courtship, and the new leader Desuto had surprised him with a Spiral ritual not long after she took control. Life is good.

Agarru diverted some of his new energy into the hunt and into whipping the younger dragons into fighting shape. However, his new body was filled with so much more ability and energy; he couldn't possibly use it all up! To alleviate himself, Agarru picked up a bunch of new interests, most of which were dropped rather quickly. One of his more eccentric curiosities stuck, much to the clan's chagrin; he was starting to raise a mass quantity of snakes. Though they are unaware, the purpose of this is to study various poisons. Agarru has no intention of ever utilizing his new poisons, but this new hobby burns away at his time just perfectly. Because of this new interest, he's made a few connections around the Labyrinth, and even back to the Wasteland. Additionally, some Lightning clans are curious about some of his work, particularly a non-lethal poison that causes merely minor -intense- pain and whose side effects include focusing the mind and an inability to sleep. Hmmm. Agarru has also managed to engage in some rather ill-advised trading agreements with a particular Serthis encampment, including agreements to swap unsuccessful brews and give information on materials, method, composition, intended effect, etc. If either perfects something, they'll share how.

Agarru had a short courtship with Venziiraqua, a young dragoness that was unaware of his past. She broke it off when she learned of the crimes he had once committed, however. Though this upset Agarru a little, he quickly got over it. He started eying Jezibel, an attractive Spiral dragoness. She is extremely devoted to the minor god nearby, but Agarru believes this is more of a religious bond; surely Jezibel doesn't really care about Haiti in a romantic way, knowing that he is a god and not wont to bond with a mortal- aside from which, he had done far worse things in his divine life than Agarru could have ever dreamed of committing. The two do mate, but Agarru knows that Haiti looks at it as more of a recreational activity. Surely Haiti wouldn't mind sharing his pretty little priestess? And if Jezibel really believes in her god's philosophy, she wouldn't object to dabbling with an experimental relationship, see if it would be enjoyable to her. His advances were not rejected. Haiti didn't seem concerned by the prospect of sharing Jezibel's attention, and Jezibel didn't need any convincing to try things with Agarru. She'd been considering starting a new relationship for a while now- Haiti wasn't the most supportive of mates- but she was too shy to be the one starting the advances.

Agarru found Jezibel's fanaticism towards Haiti rather annoying; she didn't dislike anything about the silly god. Still, she was a fun time. Her god's philosophy includes such gems as the search for pleasure being vital, so Jezibel usually wouldn't raise any boundaries. She didn't mind his past and didn't care if he was different now or not. Her acceptance was something Agarru rarely got from anyone without either them also having done such things or him promising he had changed. She was terribly kind.

Agarru took an interest in a new dragoness that he discovered in the jungles near the edges of Drakel's territory. The dragoness attacked him on sight, her teeth sinking into his tail and her claws shredding his belly, but Oroggu and he managed to fight her off. The weakened dragoness cowered and assured him that she had meant no harm, but the coldness of her eyes betrayed her true intentions.

"Why would you attack me if you didn't want to hurt me?" Agarru's tone made it clear he knew she had meant business.

"Fine. I planned to kill you. If that beast-" She indicated Oroggu impatiently, "hadn't been here, you would be dead." She smirked at Agarru.

"Tough words. Don't forget you're the one on the ground right now." Agarru smiled down at this strange dragoness. "I should kill you."

"Don't." The dragoness commanded. Agarru paused for a moment, dizzied. She tried to escape, but Agarru's coils proved to strong. Oroggu's contributions didn't hurt any either.

"Listen, dragoness. If you can make certain not to hurt any of the dragons that live in my clan," Agarru indicated the direction of Drakel's lands with his tail, "I can... forget to mention this to my leader."

"I can probably do that." The dragoness assented. "You don't care if I work outside of your clan's members?"

"Why should I? They aren't my people."

The dragoness smiled. "I like your attitude, Spiral. I'll see you around?"

Agarru slipped away without answering. His little murderer friend was a welcome escape from the usual pacifistic dragons he lived with. He believed he'd grown out of his own violent tendencies, but seeing this new lady would be nice.

Jezibel continued insisting on having all her nests with Haiti. Agarru understood, of course. The god's genes are surely much better than his own. Haiti's children would be stronger than Agarru's. Still, it hurt to know that he was the lesser of Jezi's mates. That said, he still had a way to propagate his line, so he wasn't too worried. When Jezi and the god left, though, Agarru was sad to see them go. He had learned, during their stay, that he did rather prefer to have multiple mates. He missed Jezibel for years afterwards, and of course it didn't help that no one in Drakel would want him. Most of them had some issues with trusting him, between the whole conquest thing and his snake-keeping, so while he was accepted into the clan, most kept their distance.

Agarru never learned of Afarra's death, knowing only that she disappeared, something she was apt to do, and this time she never returned. He missed her sorely, but he always assumed she went on to do bigger and better things.

Agarru was pleased to meet Algadren, Drisven's exceptionally friendly half-sister. Drisven made it clear that she didn't want him getting close with the girl, but he figured Algadren could decide for herself what to do. He certainly wouldn't mind a lady friend.

Around the same time, a pretty Coatl warrior joined up as Seryndrile's bodyguard. She started flirting fierce at him a few weeks after being there. Agarru could tell that she was really interested in someone else more, but hey, he wasn't going to turn away some love. He didn't mind her splitting her attention between him and some other lucky dragon-- after all, she wasn't the only girl he was seeing. It wouldn't be fair to expect any different from her than what he was giving.

---

A relatively large group of dragons started hanging around within Drakel's territory. Lucien wasn't around to say anything about it, so no one did anything to approach them. Agarru talked to Desuto about asserting their borders and chasing the intruders out, but Desuto insisted they were friendly and not to scare them. Many of Drakel's members weren't aware of them at all.

The group attacked at dusk. Drakel wasn't expecting the invasion at all, and the night guard Tyris fell before the clan had time to react. His yowls woke the sleepy clan, but many weren't sure if they were supposed to fight or flee. Algadren and Hiroka ran immediately. Desuto and Lamara covered their escape. Lyena attacked her mate's killer, but only accomplished joining him in death. Farnah sent Kinairis to dispense armor from her forge to readying warriors before entering the battle herself. Agarru fought to defend the clan, squaring off against a Skydancer lass.

One of the attacking group's Imperials went down in the night, a great victory. Immediately, Kristoff and Hyrias grabbed the body and took off. The attackers seemed about ready to retreat, only for the lead Pearlcatcher to lunge at Agarru-- undoubtedly she thought he was the leader. He claws gripped his back between his main wings, and she lashed her head back and forth, hacking at his neck with her horn. Agarru arched his neck to avoid her horn, but he couldn't free himself. His clanmates were too busy with their own foes to help him. He was surprised, then, when one of the Pearlcatcher's allies attacked her. This seemed to be enough to convince her of the futility of this fight, and she fled. Most of her allies took after her quickly.

Agarru surveyed the wreckage that was their clan's general clearing. The ground was soaked in blood. Strange bits of hoarded junk was strewn about. They found the bodies of Tyris, Lyena, Malack, Lamara, Farnah, and Dystaunia. Several other dragons were unaccounted for, either dead or hiding. No one knew where the hatchlings were. The little ones were found a while later hiding with Hiroka in the grapefield. Thankfully they were unhurt, though some were orphaned.

This was a disaster. Repairing the clan's physical grounds wouldn't take long- Drakel didn't have much in the way of permanent structures to begin with. The cost in lives was far greater, though. Many had died. Those that lived had to cope with their losses. Something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again. Agarru intended to make sure of it.

He demanded Lucien answer for his absence. Among Drakel's members, he spread doubt as to the legitimacy of Lucien's rule. He questioned how well Lucien could lead them with his attention diverted between so many different clans. Everyone knew not to trust Agarru, but they were beginning to see him as the lesser evil.

Agarru was attacked by a small band of supposed thieves in the night. Algadren and Kalmirei were the only ones with him, and of course they couldn't fight. Agarru kept between them and the thieves, buying them time to run away. To his surprise, none of the attackers tried to get past him. They were focused on him. Agarru was well versed in combat, but even still... he didn't escape unharmed. He managed to cause enough havoc for his attackers to decide he wasn't worth it, injuring them about the same. No one could convince Agarru that the attackers weren't connected to Lucien, though. Agarru was sure that they were secretly assassins sent to kill him.

---

Agarru was surprised it took so long for one of his clanmates to challenge his leadership. Young Hestrine, daughter of Desuto, sought to take his place. Of course the clan assented to the challenge, so for him it was either step down or fight. He considered for a minute. Of course he wanted to hold his title. But Hestrine... she was centuries younger than him, hopelessly outmatched. It wouldn't be a fair fight. His clanmates should have turned her challenge away to protect her, but it seemed they were unconcerned. If she was injured... but he decided to fight. There was no reason for him to back down from a fight he'd already basically won.

He made it clear she was outclassed very quickly, holding her in his coils and constricting. He waited for her to give in, but she didn't. He listened for his clanmates to make a decision, but it seemed none of them would call the match. He tightened further, cringing as he heard the crack of bone. Again, he looked down, hoping to see her submission. She must've forced her wings, disrupting his hold on her. He jerked, searing pain shooting up from his arm. He lunged; her determination would be moot if he got her in a lethal hold. She must've moved, though, and instead her claws caught his throat. He had lost.

Agarru had to admit he respected the young heiress. She was incredibly stupid, but also driven. She had to be. Her strategy for that match was just to ignore pain completely and force it into a takedown. She must've counted on him being hesitant to take it that far. He fully intended to retake control at some point, but he was willing to set back and see what she did first.




by PsychoStorm


Note to self- Agarru's lupine familiar is named Oroggu. They are bonded almost as siblings.