Towering trees, draped in tendrils of moss and vines, rise from the murky waters like spindly fingers reaching up towards the night sky. The air is heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying vegetation. A cloud of mist intertwining through the foliage and draping across the vast pools covered most of the landscape.

This was home to many creatures and ancient beings that lurked in the depths of this marsh; but one held superiority over them all.

The water rippled as a scales breached the surface briefly before disappearing back down into the darkness of the water. A silent killer, and a powerful predator that ruled this territory with an imposing presence. A large looming figure parted the waters, moving their upper half up out of the water.

Amber eyes glowed in the darkness, intense as they were beautiful. Mossy hair draped across broad shoulders and a lean back, dripping wet and blending seamlessly with the surrounding vegetation.

This was Kaelans territory.

His thin lips curled back into a sneer, his sharp teeth glinting in the moon light as he caught the scent of something breezing in on the wind. Blood. Fresh from the warmth in the smell.

He moved with ease through the water, crawling up onto the damp bank where his lower half finally slithered up from the water. From his hips down, his body was elongated into a slender tail that was decorated in dark scales and made mainly of muscle from his time mainly swimming in the swamp. It curled up on the ground, only stretching out when Kaelan began to move through the thick foliage, his lower half slinking across the ground as he followed the scent towards the edge of his domain.

It was when he pushed his way through a particular thick wall of brush into a brief opening that he saw where the stench of blood was coming from. A lone outline of something laid there in the mud, dark blood pooling around them and stretching down to the long tail coiled around them.

Another Naga.

In his territory.