'I sense darkness.'
That was the first thing that Akeya noticed, and it was pretty much the most important thing as well. She had been training, lifting weights that would crush a normal human if they tried to hold them above the ground. Being a half dragon had some perks, and one of them was the immense strength Akeya possessed. However she also had to make good use of that strength, since raw power without skill or focus was still useless. Only those who understood their power and trained it could be considered worthy of using it, and would actually survive to use it more than once or twice. Thus she was actually consciously developing that strength instead of just being glad she possessed it and leaving it alone. Training was a very important part of Akeya's life, and like almost every single other part it was something she had decided on herself. Although she wondered where Akryn was right now. He usually was there training with her, since he was also somebody who had plenty of strength but was still smart enough to cultivate it instead of just letting it be. Of course his focus was more on just being strong enough rather than developing enough control over his strength, but they still ended up training together quite often.
Well, Akryn had the tendency to actually go out there and deal with people. It was a thing which baffled Akeya, mostly because she couldn't imagine why you would do that sort of thing willingly when you could also be improving yourself and refining your skills. She had her pastimes, but none of them really included enjoying the company of others. She was very much a solitary creature to the core, and she didn't regret that at all. Of course that presented a bit of a puzzle: if Akeya didn't regret being both unwilling and unable to mingle with others and enjoy their company, was that truly a conscious decision or opinion on her part or was it just her being both unwilling and unable? Some people might be inclined to not like their current lifestyle, but if you didn't have any issues with your current life of course you wouldn't really be inclined to be sad or regretful that you didn't have another. And Akeya was actually pretty content right now.
However all of this wasn't really important. What was important was that she was sensing darkness. This was not a common occurrence. She always sensed tons of shadows, as there were very nearly no places in the world where there weren't shadows present. Shadows were as much a part of this world as the ground or the skies. This world had so many things which provided light, from the sun to the moon to the stars, and wherever there was light there would be shadows. But actual darkness was less common. That could only be found in the places which were almost completely shut off from the rest of the world. Where no light ever reached so it couldn't be counted as shadow, instead being utter and complete darkness. But now there was a source of darkness approaching the guild. It was a magical source, which made sense since you couldn't really expect darkness above ground just moving through a town without there being magic involved. The sensation was strangely intriguing, making the half dragon put down the weights as she stared in that direction. She wanted to know who or what it was that was attracting her attention like this. She could already sense at least two other mages of Blue Pegasus near that darkness, but she would still have to investigate for herself. Leaving the room with the weights Akeya turned into shadows, slipping through the guild hall unnoticed by many as she approached the entrance of the guild. Shuhei was also there, as recognizable as always since his magic was like a beacon of light. Which didn't really make Akeya happy at all, but at least she could somewhat tolerate it thanks to the tattoos underneath her eyes.
Exiting the guild hall Akeya saw that Shuhei was standing right at the top of the stairs ahead of her, looking down at the source of darkness. The half dragon turned back into her physical form and stepped forwards, until she was standing next to Shuhei and could look down at the person who was attracting so much attention. What she saw made her raise her eyebrows as if in surprise. It was indeed a person, a female, but she had a certain scent around her that made Akeya's nose twitch. It was a faint smell, but it wasn't going away. It wasn't a very pleasant scent either, although it could have been worse. For example, it could have been a lot stronger. The female herself was quite attractive, as many female mages appeared to be: Akeya wondered if that was sheer coincidence or there was something about magic that had a tendency to improve your physical appearance. Either way, she was attractive, although that was not what Akeya was looking at. Her eyes could see magic, and this girl's magic made her eyes first widen, then narrow. It was a magic which felt very familiar to her, yet in some ways was vastly different. Darkness, true darkness, with a hint of vileness. A darkness which would taint that which it touched. Yet at the same time it felt very similar to Akeya's own magic. The half dragon was pretty sure she could guess what magic this was. Her own magic was the magic of dragons to slay dragons. The Shadow Dragon Slayer magic. But this girl's magic was not related to dragons. Instead it was what Akeya had heard of before, had seen before. Another Slayer of Shadows, but instead of dragons this one was to use the vile darkness to slay gods.
From Rae's point of view she would see a girl step up next to Shuhei, proving a great contrast with the white mage who was greeting her. A female with some very inhuman traits, with no qualms about showing them. Large draconic wings, a long reptilian tail covered in scales, and further signs of her draconic ancestry. The half dragon with the midnight blue scales looked at Rae with eyes that were filled with both curiosity and suspicion, although hearing about Shuhei's invitation to Rae the half dragon scoffed and folded her arms.
"I doubt that is part of that hospitality humans are always proud of."
The emerald eyes looked at Rae, with midnight blue tattoos underlining and accentuating them. Those eyes weren't hostile or unfriendly, but they were cold, and calculating. The half dragon wasn't trying to intimidate or scare the newcomer, but her personality, behaviour, and draconic ancestry all meant that sometimes she intimidated without meaning to. A gaze so focused that one would have trouble imagining a sane person having it, with no real friendliness or warmth in them. Rae was being inspected thoroughly, and the eyes didn't tell if they liked what they saw.
As anybody who had been in Blue Pegasus for a while could tell Rae, that was how Akeya always looked at people, especially people she didn't know well yet.
"You have curious magic, and a curious scent. Care to tell me what that is about?"
Akeya's tail swayed behind her as she kept looking at Rae, clearly expecting an answer. It might have been phrased as a question, but if it was meant to be polite and allowing Rae the freedom to decline the half dragon was terrible at carrying intentions through her voice.