Astra Corvin
Appearance and Personality
Astra is a fair skinned, normal-looking (human) girl with vibrant pink hair and a rather leonid personality. Curious and fierce, she's willing to fight against most odds if it means helping those in need. Unknown to most, she has a dragon-shaped birthmark on the back of her left shoulder. Whilst she is of half-elven heritage, Astra tends to use her alteration magic to make her ears round. Something about living among humans made her feel more comfortable like this.
She often wears practical and protective garb, preferring to eschew armor in favour of dodging and parrying, the only thing that denotes a clear 'girly' vibe in her gear, is the cute laced headband she seems to wear everywhere. A buckler rests on her shoulder
Leif on the other hand, while just as curious and fierce to protect as Astra, tends to be lazier and less fierce. While his scales are of a blue hue, he is decidedly not a 'blue' dragon, his actual species not quite known yet (as in I've yet to decide reee). Unlike Astra, this dragon definitely loves being patted and rubbed. Especially by his charge.
Origins
Astra was born in a much, much different place from Babel...
Her story doesn't start happily, though, as she exhibited a dragon-shaped birthmark on the back of her shoulder, which was seen as a bad omen, a really bad one. The half-elven babe was abandoned in a relatively far-off road to fend for herself.
As luck would have it, fate would not be cruel this day, as a robed man walked up that same road, carrying a small bundle, and picked up the abandoned child, taking her along to a far off village, and leaving both packages to the old and wizened person who would become Astra's foster parent, Etmos Corvin. Who this robed man was, would remain a constant uncertainty for all, but the other bundle he had brought to Etmos was not. A large, bluish egg that seemed to pulsate with life.
Etmos accepted both, he had known the man before, and trusted him. Not long after, the egg hatched into a tiny blue drake, which almost immediately imprinted to Astra.
Other than this rather peculiar set of incidents, Astra had a relatively normal village life. Helping with most of the functions of the village and generally being an energetic kid, well, assuming one ignored the small bundle of scales that was Leif, who followed her around everywhere. The Villagers and most of the travelers that frequented the town would grow accustomed to this latter creature, especially since he tended to be calm and sociable, even if he had the appetite of, well, ... a dragon. The two were thick as thieves, they basically saw each other as family.
Like most in her position, she grew up with tales of heroes vanquishing great evils, and protecting the people, and as to be expected of an impressionable youth, wanted to be one. Especially the tales of a dashing Iomedean dragon-rider who seemed to lead the charge against evil, at least until new stories stopped cropping up, and instead grew silent.
Having such a goal in her mind, she began starting to practice many different skills, riding, survival and even annoyed the village guard until he agreed to teach her how to fight. Proving to be quite apt at learning and understanding all kinds of things. A skill she only nurtured with her curious personality.
When she was old enough to go out of the village, Astra insisted in becoming an adventurer, it was the first path to becoming a hero, and she wanted to see the world. Etmos was wholly against it, but eventually caved in, making Leif promise to protect her, and giving her an antique, a lance. One he had used in the heyday of his prime. The weapon was well kept, and would serve Astra for a long time.
And so, she and Leif set out, and for a while, things went relatively alright. Thhe got into scuffles and made it out, protected those in need and seemed to be in way to their goal, at least until a fateful day they chose to visit the village after a few months of adventuring. The land was scorched and the buildings merely ash. A set of fresh-looking graves was placed in a small space near the entrance.
For weeks, the girl and the dragon searched for clues as to what happened, eventually finding out that large, mutated beast had attacked the village, and it was routed, at the expense of many lives, including Etmos'. The survivors had chosen to split paths and seek greener pastures, seeing as this beast was still out there. Infuriated, Astra sought out a mage to locate this beast, and went off to hunt it in the hills it had claimed. She couldn't bring back the dead, but she could avenge them. And that, she would.
Needless to say, the pair were woefully unprepared, and the fight was rough and lethal. The creature as much an abomination as the tales spoke. Astra ending near death, as Leif body blocked a blow from the monster, falling himself, but allowing Astra to deliver the finishing blow onto the beast. The creature would then bloat, as if ready to explode, The would be hero realizing that neither of them would survive this, or rather, Leif might if she protected him. At least that's what Astra thought while she hugged the unconscious dragon tightly, trying to at least protect him from the blast.
It all then went dark.
New Start
Astra woke up in a forest, a completely different setting than the one she had last been in. She looked around and at herself, wounded but somehow still alive.
Leif!
The thought suddenly jumped, as she desperately turned around searching for her friend, and after a bit, spotted him, wounded, gravelly and seemingly shifting erratically, as if reality itself was trying to remove him.
The girl would frantically attempt everything she knew, trying to somehow make this last fact go away, as the dragon slowly faded. But nothing was working, she didn't want to lose her friend, he was the only one left. Dark thoughts started to invade her as she slumped, starting to give up.
This was when she saw white strands amidst the tear-blurred vision, as felt her hands being taken hold of, and moved on top of Leif. A voice whispered, with a hint of urgency.
"Answer me this, what are you willing to give for him to live?"
Astra would not even ponder the question, blurting out her answer.
"Anything"
...
"Good answer"
Would be the last words Astra heard as she felt her very being weaken, before passing out.
The would-be hero would awaken to a distinct smell... roasted fish. She looked around, the forest was still there. Her sense of urgency seemed quelled... somehow, as if she could feel Leif... and sure enough, she saw the dragon next to her, asleep... and also much smaller than he used to be, as if he had regressed. She immediately jumped to hug him, ignoring the pain she felt all throughout her body, only stopping as she heard a giggle from nearby.
A camp-fire was slowly burning, as a white haired kitsune simply sat, looking at the two with a smile, her tails twirled behind her softly. She referred to herself as a friendly wandering transmuter, and explained how she had bridged both Astra's and Leif realities to keep them both anchored here, while also conveniently leaving out the rather expensive diamond the process had consumed.
The three would travel for about a month, Astra learning more than a few alteration tricks from this kitsune, whilst learning more about this world they were in, which was clearly not the one she was from. during these travels, she would finally repair Etmos' lance, broken during her fight but still making it alongside her here, renaming it Dawn, as it was a new world, a new day.
As they parted ways, Astra would suddenly realize who the kitsune was. Another hero from her own world, but by then... the fox was already gone....
Eventually meeting the Rebellion, Astra set out to try and protect these people, Leif by her side. She didn't want to come home to another massacre.