---Year 187 PDW---

The village was apprehensive at first, and rightfully so. Many years had passed since the village’s founding, and each one was plagued with countless attacks from wildlife and bandits alike. To this end, they now welcome one such monster into their walls. A whelp no larger than larger than a felyne, and perfect for the elders’ plans. The whelp was to be trained, made to be the village’s defender, to be loved and feared in equal measure. To this end, he was named Valeif, and cared for as though he was part of the village. At such a young age, he was ill suited for the role of defender, but the village would take this time to befriend him, to engrain in him that the village was his family.

The first few years were rough for all involved. Training was slow, and Valeif uncooperative and proper care for him taking much of the village’s resources. On the opposite side however, his bond with the village grew, the whelp content to spend days with the villagers, playing as any child would. Those who were originally opposed to bringing him in were the fastest to warm up to his presence, seeing that he was only a child, innocent to the evils of the world.

Once Valeif began to grow larger, the first steps towards his training would be made in proper. Runes were crafted and subsequently grafted to his wings or strung around his neck. While grafting was a painful process, it paled to the pain he’d feel attuning to the rune, each one digging into his essence where they’d remain for the rest of his existence. The runes served a dual purpose, bolstering Valeif’s capabilities far beyond that of any other sand barioth was capable of at the cost of binding him to the very lands he was meant to protect. With the runes in place, the first stage of his training was done.

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Art by  Nyne