The vast open plains of the desert seemed to stretch endlessly into the distant horizon. The lone rider was making her way across the mountains of sand that was constantly shifting and changing, never looking the same for more than a single moment.
Said rider, was named Alimae Lezormas, merely an average human. Despite being only a young adult, the fierce sun that mercilessly beat down upon the barren lands made her appear older. Her skin bore no wrinkling, but was tanned a light brown from the many hours exposed to the harsh rays of light. Her eyes were an uncharacteristic light blue shade, a rarity among the people that dwelled in the endless expanse of sand that was their home.
Not the entirety of the planet was consumed in sand; in fact it was perhaps the only place of its kind. The remainder of the planet was covered in forests, mountains and oceans, with the occasional volcano spewing molten rock and poisonous gasses into the atmosphere.
The populace of the planet were comprised of a human majority, with only the rare few being from further reaches off planet. These few were trapped on the planet, victims of shipwrecks, courtesy of their neighbouring black hole, and were known as outsiders. Perhaps the most curious creatures to name the planet home, were large reptilian creatures, that some called beasts, and others called monstrosities, but to the people of Arkainio they were known as something of striking brilliance, they were known as; Dragons.
Alimae was with such a creature, riding astride it as it trudged through the soft trails of sand. The dragon was known as a Harenam Ambulator, or in translation, a Sand Walker. The beast was named Dialbas and was one of Alimae's best steeds, essential for her travel through the desert due to its unique build. Sand Walkers were quadrupedal creatures that were a light brown in colouration and had thick scaled covering their hide to protect from the sun and, larger predators. Their colour gave them the ability to camouflage with the surrounding sand and rocks, both their best defence and means of hunting. They had long pointed snouts and thin bodies with a long neck and legs, which was fundamental for them to take in as much water as possible, while still being able to conserve it.
From the ends of their legs were feet consisting of four clawed toes and a single dew claw higher up on the inside of their front legs. Between each of the toes is hard webbing, which allows the dragons to walk over sand with ease. Their dew claws provide them with greater climbing abilities, as well as the other long talon like claws they possess.
While most people thought dragons to have large wings and the ability of flight, sand walkers had no such limbs or abilities, and instead appeared to be large lizards rather than fiery dragons.
The two thus far had been slowly wandering across the scorching wasteland for the most part of the day. They had left during the early hours of the morning, just as dawn was breaking and the sun began its steady climb into the cloudless sky.
Though some might had suspected the barren lands to be deprived of all signs of life, the land was in fact bristling with it, provided one knew where to look. Having spent her whole life in the place, Alimae knew more about the desert than she did about herself. She spent all long hours of the day out working in the desolate landscape.
The soft sound of nearby foot falls caught the human and dragon's attention. They both glanced around, but took sight of no other figures. A feeling of dread slowly began seeping into Alimae's mind, but she ignored the feeling and pulled back on Dialbas' reigns ever so softly. The dragon complied and came to a halt.
Swinging her leg over the dragon, Alimae slipped from the creature's back and landed softly on the sand below with little more than a thump to be heard. She walked several meters from her mount and began searching the sand for the signs of tracks.
Eventually she found some. Before the gentle breeze could blow them away she came to a conclusion regarding the species of dragon they were dealing with. What tipped her off to the creature's species was the fact there was not one set of tracks, rather multiple trails of three toed footprints. The indents to the sand were only light, suggesting the creatures were only light and swift on their feet; they were only bipedal and were not seen passing. Only one species fell into that category, and they were Invisibilis Ales, meaning invisible bird, or invisible winged creature.
As their name might suggest, the small pack hunters had the ability to completely blend in with their surroundings, rendering them near enough completely invisible to the naked eye. Many off worlders would comment on them as being similar to raptors in structure. What gave them the name 'bird' was the fact their front appendages were lined with feathers, much like the wings of a bird, though they still lacked the use of flight. Their long tails were also lined with feathers, and their purpose was to aid the raptors in manoeuvrability and their ability to abruptly change direction without losing balance. Their vision was known to be infrared and their sense of smell acute, coupled with the fact they hunted in packs made them dangerous adversaries.
Alimae frowned in confusion, Invisibilis Ales' were nocturnal hunters, they waited until night fell and the dunes tuned stone cold, then they would be able to easily pick up other animal's heat signatures, but these ones were out during the daytime, meaning something big had caught their attention and roused them from slumber.
She pitted who, or whatever gained their attention as they would surely not last long alone with a pack of raptors on their tail.
Shaking her head to clear her thought she made her way back over to Dialbas, running a gloved hand through her long light brown hair. Her hair had originally been a medium brown, but after being subjected to the sun for so long her heir had been bleached. Each time she let her hair out of her ponytail the cascading locks would bear blond streaks through the otherwise brown hair.
To protect herself from the sun she wore a long white shirt with a large collar and tan brown trousers that reached down over the top of her black leather boots. She wore a brown leather hat that encompassed her ears to keep the free from sand. A pair of goggles sat perched above her brows, ready to be used in protection from the occasional sand storm.
She pulled herself up and into Dialbas' saddle, perching herself there for a moment before giving her dragon a soft nudge on the side to signal his to begin walking again. He gave a small snort of irritation, but began walking as instructed none the less.
Just as she was about to turn around and head back the way that had come, Alimae caught a cry of alarm. Her head shot up and she looked in the direction the cry had originated. She knew better than to interfere with raptors when they were hunting, but on the other hand it would be against her moral code to leave someone to the bloody fate that awaited them. "Yah!" She shouted, giving Dialbas a boot in the side, causing the dragon to spring to life and race through the sand and up one of the nearby sand dunes and along the top, heading in the direction of the shout.
It was then that she spotted a lone figure. She pulled back on her dragon's reigns and slowed him down until he had become stationary. The figure was unlike anything she had ever seen before. He was tall and appeared to be made completely of metal, designed to look somewhat like a skeleton in design. She could not discern his features too distinctively due to the distance, but could clearly see he was in possession of two weapons. Again, never had she witnessed a weapon of its like, and the only thing she could compare it with would be a sword, only that instead of a metal blade the blade was created by a blue beam of energy, and the other one green.
She would have through the figure to be some sort of droid, but she could feel something, she could feel life within the hard metal exterior. She could also sense agitation and outrage, directed at his attackers, strangely there was not a shred of fear she could sense about him.
The raptors were letting their presence be known, instead of hiding from him they were each coloured in some tone of dark brown with their feathers in vibrant colours of blues, greens, reds, purples, and golds. The most fearsome part of their appearance were their pupiless blood red eyes. They were crouched down and had begun circling the stranger, low growls emitting from them as they did so. If they stood to their full height they would easily be as tall as the metal creature, but due to their light bone structure they were fast. He should have been scared.
"Let's give him some help Dialbas." She said softly in but a whisper so only her dragon would take note of her words. As of yet they had not been sighted by either the raptors or the cyborg, and so still had surprise on their side. The dragon nodded to her statement with a wicked grin plastered on his face.
Dialbas was a good two and a half metres tall and had a great deal of strength for such a slender and frail looking creature. He would not be able to outrun the raptors, but had a far greater deal of stamina. The raptors main weapon were the long claws on their feet and their sharp teeth, they might have been dangerous to a human, but to a well armoured creature such as a sand walker the danger was minimized greatly. Dialbas himself also had similar sets of claws on both his front and back legs and could return the attacks he was dealt, even if he was inferior regarding accuracy and momentum.
"Let's go get 'em, boy." She said with great excitement evident in her voice before giving him another jab in the side, causing the dragon to pick up its feet and charge down the dune toward the raptors and stranger.
Dialbas let out a great bellow of a roar as he stampeded towards the Ales', teeth baring at them as he kicked up a great deal of sand. The group consisted of eight raptors all together, and upon seeing the mighty Ambulator running toward them, with no obvious intention of slowing, three of them made a run for it.
Alimae withdrew her twin blasters and let of a few shots in the direction of the raptors, not intending to harm any of them, only scare them off. She succeeded in chasing off a further three, including the alpha of the pack, which was distinguished by its white and black plumage on the top of its head.
The two remaining Ales' readied themselves to attack Dialbas, but had only a mere moment for bewilderment, when the stranger leapt at them, bringing down his glowing blades with an outraged roar, severing both their heads from their shoulders.
The alpha Ales' let out a cry of dismay before it turned and sprinted down the opposite side of the dune away from Alimae, closely pursued by the rest of its pack.
Alimae slowed Dialbas down to a halt once more and took a closer look at the stranger. The first thing she noticed was his eyes, golden with reptile like slits down them instead of the usual orbs of a human. This was most definitely not a person from Arkainio. "Are you alright?" she finally asked, subconsciously giving her steed a calming pet on the shoulder.
"Of course I am alright!" he snapped back as though she had just insulted his my asking. His eyes narrowed aggressively in what appeared to be an attempt at scowling.
Alimae began to frown, disapproving of his behaviour, "They will be back soon. I suggest you get out of here, have you got a ride?" she asked, retaining her calm expression and tone, only her slight frown betraying her features.
"What does it look like?" he asked sarcastically, a growl sounding within his voice. He turned away from her, his back cape following his movements and looked behind him.
Following his gaze Alimae noticed the remnants of what she presumed had once been his ship. Her frown deepened seeing the only thing left of it was scattered debris. The strange cyborg himself, who she now knew for certain, was male after hearing his voice, was also covered in ash, presumably from the crash.
By saying he had a temper would have been an understatement. She wondered if he was always so snappy, or if he was just upset he had crashed, perhaps his pride had been wounded that he had crashed his ship and they had to be saved, she could not tell.
"I could give you a ride to the nearest city. It would be at least a day's trek if you were to go on foot." She suggested, trying to give him as warm a smile as she could muster while being exhausted from the long day in the sun and being in a mood that reflected her fatigue.
He turned to look at her once more, remaining silent for a moment before responding, "That would be… appreciated." He replied in a calmer voice than previously. He took several large steps toward Dialbas, taking a moment to glare at the sand that his claw like feet were sinking into.
Dialbas gave a low growl at the cyborg, not liking him in the slightest. The stranger gave the dragon an equally distrusting look before clambering onto her beast's back and seating himself. The Ambulator gave a snort of discomfort at the sudden extra weight, but other than that displayed no other signs of feeling discomfort.
Alimae gave the dragon a gentle nudge on the side and they were off again, this time back in the direction they had come from. "Name's Alimae Lezormas by the way, what's yours?" she asked, taking a moment to glance back, craning her neck up slightly to look at the cyborg.
He seemed unimpressed and she could sense he was still rather agitated, but in any case he replied, "Grievous, General Grievous," and with that Alimae gave Dialbas another gentle nudge to pick up the pace. She had never heard of him before and began wondering what exactly he was a General of.