Monolith summary + extra

Elwend has grown up in the circus as a tightrope walker, but three years ago his life--and career choice--changed dramatically. The ringmaster Ferrenz came upon a magnificient jewel when the circus spent the night in a mountain cave, and he took it with intentions of selling it in a city. But before he could, that gem hatched--into a huge baby dragon. An Ancestor, the most powerful of all mortal creatures in existence. And that baby dragon bonded with Elwend.
Now, Monolith, or Lith for short, has been put into show business with the rest of the circus, and the fame she's gained them has paid their way into the Inner Circle, the countries within the mountain ring of Anishiinabeg. But once they are within the ring, Elwend is paid a visit by a felid and warned about those out to capture Lith and him. She herself is part of a secret order dedicated to keeping the Circles at peace, and Lith is a danger to that. In order to keep Lith and Elwend safe, the order has sent an escort to get him and her safely out of the Inner Circle and across Motherback, the huge mountain ring that stretches around the world. On the other side is the original land of dragonkind and their kin, Dar'Veyl. There, among her own kind, Lith will be revered for the legendary being she is, and she and her nexuin will be able to live out their lives in peace.

Therin: a "Redlander" assassin. He is a native of Ghorus, a land of red rock canyons. Redlanders are enemies of Palelanders, so Therin naturally is hostile towards Rivveld. He is skilled in the arts of double-bladed fighting, stealth, and knives.
Falarien: Therin's nexuin. She is half snubsnout, half Eastern dragon. She is quiet, but strong, and a softhide. Her markings are a mottled black and grey. She too is stealthy, and gifted in stealth magics.
Rivveld: A palelander mercenary, and a native of Tohkar, a land of salt flats and petrified trees. Rivveld's skills lie in heavy artillery, and her favoured weapon is a blunderbuss that fires grapeshot. She has the lower half of a demon mask bolted to her jaw(though this is not apparent in the first issue), which happened when she was younger and drafted into a Palelander gang. The upper half of the mask is detachable, and she wears it when she goes into battle.
Glaive: Rivveld's nexuin. He is a dragon of mountaintop breeding, possessing the primitive highlights of a stone elemental dragon, but built light and slim with a large, long, narrow crest on his head. He is an agile flier, and an arrogant personality.
Meshua: the felid that comes for Lith and Elwend. She purposely chose a Redlander and Palelander to be on their team because she knew their hostilities would prevent them from emotionally compromising if they had to choose between Elwend and Rift and each other. This reveals her exceptionally wily--and cutthroat--personality. She is the sort to play both sides to her advantage, which is why she is so good at being a member of the Order of the Dawn. Playing two different hostilities against each other has often been a necessary tactic of the past in keeping the world in balance and equality. She wears a fancy coat and hat, and is often seen smoking a pipe.
Sidewinder: Meshua's nexuin, who is not seen until late in the first issue. He is a Common dragon with a crafty side, like his nexuin. He is good at flying, can survive in a fight, and excells at deception and persuasion. He is fascinated by mechanics.
Thaddeus Grey: A dragon commissioned by the Order along with her partner Jackralolo to meet the group at the foot of the Motherback mountains. She is half Highblood, half javelin drake. She is maroon with scarce red markings and stark white wings. She can not fly without the use of magic, and prefers running anyway. She is a sarcastic sort who does not trust lightly and enjoys flustering people, and has days of long, somber silences. Thadd specializes in blunt, brutal attacks, preferring to finish off prey and challengers quickly with powerful strikes.
Jackralolo: Thaddeus Grey's mercenary partner. He is half bipedal drake, half Eastern dragon. He is hyperactive, thrives on attention, and can be adorably childish. He specializes in magical attacks, enjoying grand displays of power that either intimidate his enemies into submission or incinerate them immediately. Thadd may be the brains of their operation, but he is what cheers her up when she is down.
Neither Thadd nor Jack have nexuins. It is not a common thing on the other side of Motherback. However, like all dragons, they can shapeshift, and they greet Elwend, Lith, Therin, Falerian, Meshua, Glaive, and Rivveld in human forms at the bottom of the mountains at the end of the first issue. They rescue them from a small troupe of golems.
Dragons with nexuins do not form halos because their magic is divided up equally between the two of them. The only halo'd dragons that appear in this are Jack and Thadd.

Weeell, let's cover what should actually happen in the story. Or rather the one issue of it. They get into the Inner Ring, then have to get out and pass through the Redlands and the Palelands, which is another reason that Meshua hired both a Redlander and a Palelander as bodyguards. They aren't just protection, they're guides.

WHAT HAPPENS:
They get Elwend out of the circus. They purge him of the deepshade, and explain when he wakes up. He chooses to go with them after Lith shows him what happened at the circus--she had to light some peeps up, yo.
"She is right, Elwend. We must go.
"Even now, dark intentions seek us out."

"So, Meshua, before we get too much farther along on our journey, are there any OTHER little surprises you'd like to inform us of?
"Mmmm...none that I'd inform you of, no."

So they set out immediately after Elwend and Lith reach their decision. But as they're packing up, Falarien sounds an alarm that someone is approaching. It's the seventh and eighth members of their party, Rivveld and Glaive. Therin expresses his hostility and they move on.
The first few days are just running. They have to get back across the Inner Circle mountains first, the Anishinaabeg(at the base of which they will meet Thadd and Jack, who save them from a golem army)
Um. Need some conflict, k. After running, Meshua lays out a map and tells Elwend and Lith their travel plan, during which we have scenes of the Redlands and the Palelands with monsters in each that they're worried about.
"There are very few monsters within the Inner Circle, which is why civilization has thrived here." Meshua tucked the map away in her coat and tilted her head back to gaze up at the moons. "Honestly, I'd rather have to deal with monsters. People are worse."
"Worse?" Elwend said in astonishment. "How are people than monsters?"
"Because monsters you can kill and be done with," Rivveld murmured as she cleaned her blunderbuss. "People...you kill them, and more of them come after you. Sometimes with bigger weapons than before." She finished reassembling her gun, then held it up and sighted down the barrel. "People are complicated."
"And Palelanders are incredibly simple," Therin sniped as he returned with his pouch full of herbs. "What does that tell you?"
"That you're a petty siisha with a superiority complex?" Rivveld replied.
"Why you--" Therin's eyes flashed and he reached for his scimitar.
"Ah-ah-ahh," Meshua said, lighting her pipe. "Play nice, you two. Take it down a few notches."
Therin settled for glaring at Rivveld and Rivveld settled for ignoring him.
"'Siisha'?" Elwend murmured quietly to Meshua. The felid smiled.
"Not a pretty meaning, boy, and one you're better off not knowing. Now get some sleep. Long day ahead of us."

To get to the Inner Circle mountain range--and get over it--the fastest route leads through the Realm of Thylacia. It is ruled by a dangerous queen, power-hungry, who has been gradually extending her power around the inner edge of the Anishinaabeg. Meshua's greatest foreboding is that Thyla already knows about Lith--the circus passed around the edge of her realm, so hearsay's definitely reached her by now. Thyla might not know what an Ancestor is, but she definitely knows that a giant black dragon can be useful. She plans to wage war on the bigger countries of the Inner Circle.

The Inner Circle officially begins on the inside of the Anishinaabeg mountains. However, the actual Inner Circle countries are a few dozen miles inwards. Between the countries and the Anishinaabeg is the Midlands, generally uncivilized and full of minor beasties no one really worries about. But recently Thyla has been makin things difficult. She's takin up the land that no one else owns, and soon she's gonna start takin bigger bites out of things that matter.
The problem is that most people don't pay attention to the Midlands, so no one really knows there's anything to worry about.
Thyla is gatherin an army of anyone who'll fight for her--mercenaries, intelligent monsters...and the outcast puppeteers, masters of golem magic.
"P-puppeteers?" Elwend said, his eyes widening. "We're going to run into Puppeteers?"
"Not if we can help it," Meshua assured him.
"I don't understand," Rivveld cut in with her gravelly voice. "What is a puppeteer?"
"You don't know?" Elwend said, staring at her.
"Of course not," Therin snorted derisively. "She's a Palelander. They know nothing of civilized magics."
"Alright then, Redlander," Rivveld growled, turning her burning black eyes on him. The hostility in her voice came as a surprise to Elwend--apparently Therin's constant derisions were taking more of a toll than she'd let on. "You answer my question."
Therin blinked at her, opened his mouth, shut it, then looked away with a face mixed with irritation and embarassment.
Rivveld growled, then looked at Meshua.
"If I am to protect my ward," she said, "I must know what I am up against."
"Of course," Meshua replied. "The puppeteers specialize in a sort of...modern magic. The official name for it is mechani, but most people call them puppeteers for lack of understanding how the magic works. They take things like metal and stone and put them together, and they make them move and do things."
"Things?" Therin asked, narrowing his eyes. "Make them move?"
"Just like giant puppets," Meshua said, and sighed. "It's very hard to explain if you've never seen it before. Just hope you don't see them at leave it at that."
"Hoping we don't see them is not a good manner by which to prepare for the event we do," Rivveld said, narrowing her eyes.
"Rest assured that in such a case swords and guns will be useless, and it will be up to me to deal with them," Meshua said.
Elwend did not feel very reassured at all.

Right, so, there'll be people sent after em like ooog! the people wanting the egg to BEGIN with, of COURSE. They'll have sent people after it. So there's the people lookin for it, bounties on it and such, and someone puts two and two together and figures it out when they see the Circus poster.
The bounty hunter has been chasing the egg for some time now. He lost track of it three years ago and gave up, but now the people that hired him have got the trail again and send him after it again. He's reluctant, but they offer him something no one else can--a cure. He's
The people are elves.
got some sort of disease. A curse. Well we wouldn't find out in the first issue anyway so I don't have to figure out what it is. It's just something that turns his arm into some sort of black wood-like bark thing. He can move it and everything, but slowly it will consume his body and then...do something else terrible involving a painful death.

So here's what happens: The elves arrange a mount and some sort of hound: a mechani hound. And he sets off.
I'll make him a Felid, I think. That'd be fun. And he ends up crushin on Meshua.
Anyway, they run afoul of Thyla a'course. They're followd by bandits on the road, who attack them and lay Meshua low. They mean to take her to a healer, but the healer betrays them to Thyla and drugs them. Elwend knows the smell of deepshade by heart now, even through the man's scented incense, and dashes it to the floor. He and the two guards and their dragons escape, but they drag Elwend out and leave Meshua, despite his protest.
Meshua's dragon Sidewinder is badly weakened by her state, and the healer calls up a nearby bodyguard mechani. Wary by Meshua's words about how useless weapons are against it, Rivveld and Therin hold back. Sidewinder tells them that they're taking Meshua to Thyla, and he's seen her armies through the eyes of her thralls--nothing they could win against, even with Lith.
But Elwend comes up with an INGENIOUS plan.
"We don't have to win," he said firmly. "We just have to run faster than they can."
"Are you mucking mad--" Therin began, but Rivveld held up a hand.
"Wait now," she said quietly. "...That actually might work."