<sup>He had only been waiting a few minutes by the side of the chamber's massive doorway before a violet ball of teeth and scales tackled him to the ground. With a snort he easily overpowered his adversary, dropping her to the ground with a loud ' plop!'

"So how'd the lessons go, Vrey?" he managed to chuckle.
"As always, I'm the best in the class." Vreyin puffed up with her remark and a wide smile grew on her lips, her inherited pride showing through. "How could I ever have expected le--" a violent explosion wracked the training grounds, sending avians near and far on the ground to a low crouch. The enemy most feared and hated had reappeared in droves, rending the sky above into tears in reality. Bending and wrippling, crackles of lightning wrought the lands below, splitting entire buildings apart. Onlookers gasped in sheer terror as the Einhorns, magic devouring beasts in the form of six-legged equine monstrosities, tore through space and time to race across the once blue avian skies.

Like many avians, Vreyin was frozen in awe, eyes fixated on the approaching onslaught. All around them chaos ensued as Einhorns stormed through the roads and alleys, trampling those unfortunate and impaling those they pursued, sucking away precious life through their horns. So entranced by fear, Vreyin didn't even notice the walls crumbling behind her as an Einhorn rushed through. She was hit by what felt like a tank as her father threw her to the side before the Einhorn could thrust its killing horn through her neck. A deafening roar rung through her ears as the beast changed its course and focused on her father. It lunged its maw forward, but was quickly held in check by powerful arms. Through gritted teeth Shrike beckoned Vreyin to take flight and not look back, but he knew that she couldn't hear him.
The power surging through the beast was overwhelming, he knew he didn't have long before he was overpowered and the beast took them both. The beast roared once more but was outmatched by a cry of fueling and unsurmountable rage. He managed to push the beast back before it lunged once more, this time with all of its weight.

As his feet began to slowly rip through the earth his talons screamed in agony as they slowly began tearing from his flesh; he couldn't hold the beast from her for much longer. In a final act of desperation, he reared his head behind him to shout for her to run.

She heard an echo, hardly a whisper at first, then climbing to a roar in her ears as she heard his plea.

"Run Vreyin!"</sup>

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OMG Lookit what I drew! A HOOOMON. OMG. -runs around screaming- D8

So meet Shrike, Vreyin's father. 3:
This ref took an ungodly amount of time to do since I couldn't settle on a color pattern for the longest time. He's easily my most complicated character I have when it comes to markings, and I'm thinking about making a tutorial for once on how to color 'complicated characters' because there is a REALLY EASY method of doing so that I know a lot of people don't know about. Dunno, what do you guys think? It'd be for Photoshop users 'cause I don't really use anything else for digital coloring.

To anyone who is curious, I used the Baron's Mantella Poison Frog for his coloration, which is why he has the gradients on his legs. The frog has those same gradients, and the markings on Shrike (the dark red areas/black) are practically in the same spots found on the frog save for the head. If you don't know what the frog looks like, do a google search. It's reaaally pretty. <:3

For those participating in this contest: [link]
He is available as an avian to be drawn in the contest!
Make sure to check kilara's journal for an important upcoming message as well. c: Just thought I'd put that out there.

And as usual, please don't go around making your own avian character unless =kilara exclusively tells you that you can. Please respect her and her intellectual property. :>

Shrike ©
Avians ©

Do NOT copy, trace, reuse, redistribute, alter, or use in any way, shape or form without my permission!