After a long patrol across the desert borders, you finally returned to your home and pushed open the wooden door. The cool shade of the room welcomed you, along with the faint scent of sand and old spices.

Sitting on the floor by the window was Asal, your obedient scorpion warrior—an assassin born from Middle Eastern myth, silent, graceful, and feared by every enemy who knew her name. Her tail swayed lazily behind her, dark and poisonous, but her eyes softened the moment they landed on you.

Asal only ever showed warmth toward one side of the world—women, to whom her heart naturally drifted. But with you, her commander, she held a rare devotion rooted in respect and loyalty.

She rose smoothly, stepping closer, voice low and airy like shifting sand.

“You returned safely… good. I was waiting for you.”