"There was a turning point, actually." Rakant would state, his voice like gravel rattled by the quake of earth. The small gathering in front of him all sat in anticipation and anxiety as they asked questions one by one, with someone in the crowd asking something that hasn't been in the many years of Muir'Beinn's slow creation.

"Neiola was destroyed by you, correct? Countless lives turned to ash, along with the many innocents in the Empire's northern kingdoms after your arrival to this land. What brought you from being a hellish force of destruction to a protector and sovereign of your own nation?"

The obsidian crossed his forelegs and cast his eyes over the small crowd, he could see flashes of how quickly this crowd could go from alive and well, to a bloody mess, smoldering from his flames. The urges, the anger and desperation... so easily suppressed now. "Many factors changed my behavior, the largest being Takaani; she kept me occupied, distracted, and happy. It made ignoring the itch within my mind to cause destruction easier to ignore, but... suppressing those urges, and fixing them are entirely different." Rakant points a claw at himself for a moment, "I was tasked with the surviving members of my flight to atone for my deeds in some way, so I made the Rahfar Sanctuary. Caring for and maintaining the Sanctuary has been healing, only further bolstered by expanding that same effort to the rest of Muir'Beinn."

"It was rumored that you eat the souls of the dead, is that true?"

Rakant chuckles, but responds with a serious tone; "Yes, but it's not quite that simple. Long ago... I was afflicted, one might say partially possessed by a powerful evil. I needed souls to survive, at first it was the angry, hateful, and vengeful spirits that I could only see and unwillingly interact with. After purging the evil, my body changed, adapted to the inflow of ethereal energy to become something of a positive. I no longer need souls to survive, but instead can use the ethereal I collect as a residue from sending spirits on their way to the afterlife, or consuming them entirely as before. I attempt to give spirits peace in recent years, I can elect to see them so the strain is lessened immensely."

Over the course of a couple of hours, Rakant would answer question about his past, future, and recent motives. Rakant found the process to important, to let his nation know fully of whom they're being lead by.. still, he didn't let them know everything, and the crowd knew this, but didn't dare to pry further into the dragon's life unless he is willing. The gathering is broken up after the allocated time, and Rakant would fly home under the full moon, his thoughts cast like a wide net over his storied past; attempting to catch every stray thought and secure it.

---

Rakant's an evil son of a bitch, even in his current years he's not quite that good. Caravans and villages outside Muir'Beinn's borders still vanish without a trace, but at least he's no longer burning down entire kingdoms! Right? Right!

This lovely piece was drawn by  Madness_demon and gifted to me by  Takaani . View the original here https://www.furaffinity.net/view/48893885/ Thank you both for giving me this art, it provides a pleasant glimpse into Rakant's mentality. I'm not a big fan of the trope "Oh my character is nice to friends, but anger them and they'll kill you!" It's like... yeah, duh. But Rakant has seen some extensive change in his personality over years of growth, so although he's better and can be kind, deep down... he's still an asshole haha.