Angelis Windrunner, for much of his life, had been a normal guy... if not a bit of an oddity to those around him. His ears were long and pointed, but he was not an elf. At least, not fully. Almost all elves were taller and more willowy than himself. He also had a pair of sharp... well, it was hard to say if they were fangs or canines, but they were long and they were sharp. Not to mention a myriad of mystical black markings that had been on his skin on many parts of his body from birth. For much of his early life, these traits, alone, were enough to have people whispering about him being a monster or a demon of some sort. But his parents, never let anyone speak ill of him.<br/><br/>At least... they hadn't so long as they had been around.<br/><br/>Fast forward through years of living among other orphans and not knowing what had happened to his parents, and Angelis had developed into a rather typically maladjusted teenager. He stole and ran with other kids that, like himself, hadn't quite found anywhere to actually fit in. There were far too many run-ins with the city guard to count, but Angelis never hurt anyone. That is, excepting anyone who thought they could bully or hurt his friends. Such a mentality didn't always end with Angelis being the winner of such contests, but he never fought with anything short of animalistic ferocity, and his enemies never walked away wanting for more.<br/><br/>This was what normal was for an orphaned kid like Angelis in the land of Vorel. At least, until he turned sixteen, and the demon blood in him that had been so dormant awakened and changed him forever. He had suddenly sprouted furry triangular wolf ears and three bushy wolf tails, with fur black as pitch, but softer than silk. Of course, those that knew him immediately blamed all of his poor behavior on such traits, but those that actually<em>knew</em>him... who knew that he didn't hurt anyone unless he had to and his biggest crime was theft... well, they weren't sure what to make of such a change.<br/><br/>Angelis grew up, though, and learned much about himself from travelers and mages that he met. At least, what he could glean from the details he knew. The information seemed... spotty, at best, but it was a start. He learned to control much of his appearance, at least, so far as his ears and tail and teeth were concerned. He could even produce claws if he had to, he had found. The only details of his appearance that he could not alter was his ears and his eyes. And more than his ears, his eyes told anyone that looked into them that he was not human.<br/><br/>They were like gems; bright, almost white blue near the pupil, like ice, but deepening to a dark sapphire blue toward the outer edges. But that wasn't even the most striking part of his eyes. The small detail that seemed to catch one's attention was the sliver of gold circling the outer edges of his irises. This was from a heritage that even his father was unaware of, but an old homeless man had once stopped Angelis as a small child. With a kind smile, he had told him that it was good to see those with real dragon blood in them still walking the earth.<br/><br/>That was the only time that Angelis had ever heard anything of it, and he hadn't really believed it or thought much more of it than it being the ramblings of a crazy old man. He had been right about the state of the man's mind, but he would never know that. The man had been a Dragon Knight from ages before... ages that were only stories now. His dragon had died, but the eternal power left in his blood from the bond with his dragon stayed, and kept him alive. What drove him mad could have been that power... or the lost bond with his mate. There was no telling, but these were things a judgmental young man could never have known about this stranger.<br/><br/>Angelis grew, and learned how to deal with the instinctual drives of being a wolf demon. He was more impulsive, but not in the way a human might understand it. He ultimately became a ranger. He stopped aging at some point, even as he continued to grow. He still found himself caught in the gray areas of morality, but that was his nature, and not so unlike many rangers. As a ward of the land, though, he often did not have to deal with such dilemmas. All in all, he thought he had turned out alright and ended up exactly where he should have.<br/><br/>He was not far from Aria the day she came of age. The ranger had been tracking some poachers for some days, and was still carefully stalking his prey on trails of campfires long gone cold and blood. That is, until he felt the wave of power blow past him, kicking up dirt and billowing through the trees with a gust of wind that carried a very peculiar scent on it.<br/><br/>Angelis didn't know why... he didn't even understand it on an instinctual level, but he knew something deep down in him was driving him. He immediately abandoned the pursuit of the poachers and ran through the woods toward the source of that wind, rich energy still hanging thick in the air in the wake of that explosion. He had no clue what it could have been, but he knew it had to be something awesome... or terrible.<br/><br/>He came upon the clearing with the waterfall and the calm lake, and there he found her. She was the most incredibly beautiful creature he had ever beheld. And he did think of her as 'creature' because all of his senses told him that she was<em>not</em>a human, despite what his eyes told him. She lay, clearly unconscious, but peaceful in her rest. Angelis knelt and examined her for any injuries, but she seemed to be alright. Nearby, the hawk that had been shot flailed until Angelis went to investigate and got closer to it. He carefully gathered it up and removed the arrow, wrapping it in a spare cloak and putting it in his bag before returning to the unconscious girl.<br/><br/>Angelis felt... like he was being watched, even though he knew no one was around for quite some ways. He could hear better, see better, and smell better than most animals. And he knew inherently that, whatever trouble there was, was directly connected to this unconscious girl. That's when he did something else that he didn't understand, and knew that if he were caught doing it, there was no question that he would be imprisoned. But he knew that he could not leave this girl here.<br/><br/>Taking out some rope, he tied her up before picking her up and carrying her off into the woods. And he walked for miles and miles, moving easily with her in his arms. When it appeared that the sun would set, he stopped and made camp. He checked on her occasionally while he put his tent up and started a fire and cooked some food. And that was where she would wake...