The reclusive Kindred had a difficult relationship with humanity. It wasn’t that they were antagonistic, per say, it was that their interests were so different from what a human might find important it was almost impossible for the two people to communicate in a way that would be seen as productive. They might speak or write identical languages, yet when it came right down to it, the Kindred saw the world in a way humans simply couldn’t grasp. It caused conflict.

The Kindred were a race of dragon-human hybrids. They actually are one of the newest races on Altos. They also are one of the most blessed. Currently the dragons were in immense favor by fate, Elis, and many of the other such as Manatha and Ssaras. The blessings trickled down to the kindred. So humans had tried and tried to get the kindred to intercede on behalf of them with the Dragon King. It was a long held belief among the falling human kingdoms that the Dragon King could have saved them from the curse. However, it was impossible for humans to travel to Erindalle in the Sky without a dragon or dragon-kin to let them in. As a result, the close if awkward relationship between humans and the Kindred was shattered when the last human kingdom fell.

There were a number of tragic misunderstanding over the years and though the Kindred shared ancestry with humans, they actually pulled away from contact with humans and resigned themselves to let humanity wither and die.

As a result, the Kindred were known by humans but never really seen. It had been a hundred years since the last time even RUMOR that the kindred were seen by a human. Some people began to believe the Kindred had moved to Erindalle in the Sky and abandoned the surface of Althos. Still one of the Sage’s greatest hopes was to one day meet some Kindred. He had questions that only they could answer, and he thought he had an idea of what they might want in trade for the information.

Because of the prior 20 years submerged in the project, he hadn’t had a chance to investigate the Kindred, but he still hadn’t given up humanities old dream of pressing upon them to appeal to the Dragon King.

It was of course ironic that with all his desires to meet with the Kindred over the many years of his life, he would have his wish fulfilled when he had stopped looking for them. Blocking the path of advance of his little caravan just hours from his destination were 7 armed Kindred.

The Kindred, did not inherit the shape shifting magics of dragons, nor did they look particularly reptilian. If you didn’t know what to look for and couldn’t see their nude bodies, they simply looked like tall humans, though often with hair color that harkened back to the scale color of their dragon ancestors… and of course the vertical slit in their pupils which tended to make most normal humans rather uneasy.

Though his caravan outnumbered the kindred, he held little hope they could power through them if the kindred meant harm. They had monstrous strength, and skin which was almost as hard as a dragon’s hide. and they did maintain a strange native ability that made fighting them very difficult. Even for a true wizard a single kindred could be a dangerous encounter if for some reason the Kindred decided to be hostile. In addition to those physical skills, most kindred were at least at the level of a wizard with their magical skills as well, making them a bad matchup for pretty much everything in Althos. As a result, a small caravan of 22 people, 8 of whom were wizards would not match 7 kindred. Not unless they had more luck then they had any right to possess.

Calling a halt to the caravan and ordering the soldiers to keep their blades sheathed he examined the 7 kindred in front of him. They were an odd group. 5 adults and 2 children. All 5 adults appeared to have been all descendants of fire dragons, fiery red hair, their eyes were like rubies. Of course he couldn’t peg an age to them. The Kindred were the third longest living race in Althos, behind only the Dragons and Rock Devils. What was strange was the children. Well young adults. The male child was clearly related to the adults. He had a haughty look on his face as if he were displeased or simply looking down on the human caravan, and fiery red hair. Standing in the male’s shadow was a girl, who wore a black cloak and hood pulled up to hide the top of her face. Her posture was one of subservience, then he noted the chain running from her neck to the young man’s belt.

A slave? The kindred didn’t make slaves of their own kind, and they’d never take a human as a slave. He never heard of such a thing. His sense of danger was rising rapidly, the Kindred were hard to deal with when both sides wanted to talk, they were positively overbearing and unpredictable when they were trying to make nice. This group clearly weren’t trying to hide their hostility.

The leader of the Kindred stepped forward when the caravan stopped and swept his gaze across the traveling group as if inspecting a particularly filthy bug that stepped out in front of him. He had a hand resting on the hilt of his sword and a sneer that looked like he was trying to pass off as a smile etched on his face. He was at least as tall as Jace, though he looked less physically imposing, he wore what looked like black and red scaled armor, that glittered even in the dimmed red light of the sun.

HUMANS! I TERANI HAVE DECIDED TO SPEAK TO YOU. COME OUT AND KNEEL.

Grimacing the old sage hurried out of his carriage, and quickly motioned everyone else to do the same. He knelt on the ground, much to the surprise of everyone on the human side. He thankfully wasn’t alone long, kneeling in the dirt in the middle of the road as the smarter humans quickly realized this might be a situation to kneel when ordered to. His joints felt his advanced age, and his knees were certainly arthritic, so this was a bit unbearable, to say nothing for a life filled with pride, this posture was unbearable.

The leader Terani, actually took a long time moving from one side of the human line kneeling in the dirt to the other, carefully examining each one, pausing when he got to Jace, the look on his face seemed contemplative. Then he smirked.

OLD SAGE ELDRIDGE. WE HAVE RECEIVED AN AUGERY. ELIS SPOKE TO A SEAR THROUGH THE MOVEMENT OF THE SKY, A STAR FELL. He spoke loud enough someone half a mile away could easily have heard him. He seemed amused by the look on Eldrigde’s face and discomfort.

WE HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO BRING ELIS’S MESSAGE TO THE SAGE.

One of the females strode forward, she was similarly armored and looked enraged, she shouted out in a much less impressive voice. “Bow down! We are heralds of Elis, the Sun God. We bear his message to the wayward and evil race of man. Your race is not worthy of Elis’s messengers, so plant your faces in the dirt and await the message with shame in your hearts.”

‘Overbearing’ He knew the Kindred could be overbearing in the extreme, but he didn’t expect them to be THIS overbearing. His proud heart loathed what he was doing but he couldn’t argue. If Elis had come before him he would have licked the ground, he stepped on if it would lift the curse. He couldn’t argue with a simple pressing of his face to the ground. Acting quickly, knowing the other humans were following his actions, he bowed his head to the ground, and squeezed his eyes closed hoping against hope that the others followed his action quickly. They must have because this Terani continued talking.

YOU HAVE SINNED ELDRIDGE.

It was the last words he would ever hear.