Captain Veylin opened his eyes and spent several minutes staring into the ceiling. Sighing, he dragged himself out of his hammock, passed by the rather ornate bed in the centre of his private quarters with a contempt sneer, and dressed himself just well enough that his lieutenants wouldn't reprimand him.
Looking into the mirror a fit middle aged man looked back, aside from the military uniform his other features included his rough brown hair done in a half updo, fairly tanned skin with grey scales covering portions of his neck, face and other areas, and most prominently two similarly grey downward sloping horns.
Leaving the room, he noticed that those designated to guard him were missing. Like they had been for the last several days. Sighing again, he debated whether he could be bothered to lecture them. After pondering he decided that if he remembers later he would.
After straightening his jacket he made his way towards his main office. Looking around the great stone brick fortress he was in charge of he could only wish he could feel the same sense of awe as he had when he first arrived. Unfortunately, having nothing to do but pretend that garrisoning this crumbling stronghold is for the good of the nation for over two years, does not instil an inspiring amount of morale.
Entering his office he saw his two subordinates already inside. Lieutenant Sethel sat at her desk unconsciously rolling a pencil back and forth, so bored her face was void of all emotion and her gaze seemed so out of touch the captain could assume her soul had left her body. The other Lieutenant, Elivold, was contentedly snoring away on the couch in the centre of the office.
"Morning." He groaned with as much energy as he could muster.
"Huh?" Sethel looked up towards him and spent some time before she came to her senses. "Oh? Oh yeah, uhh. Hi, sir."
Forgiving her for her lack of decorum, the captain kicked the couch as he passed it, waking up Lieutenant Elivold.
"Snor- eh? Captain!" Bouncing off the couch he rushed towards his superior with arms wide for a hug, only to be stopped in his tracks by slamming into said superior's outstretched palm.
"She's not much of a role model but could you at least act just a little bit more like Sethel?" Looking up from her desk again the lieutenant gave a sneer that would belong more on a bandit thug than the member of higher nobility that she was.
"N-never!" Clamoured Elivold, trying his best to ignore his colleague's death stare. "Aren't I perfect the way I am?" he asked while giving puppy eyes to Veylin. Veylin himself was not at all comfortable with this situation; not with his overly familiar lieutenant, nor with his other lieutenant whose scowl towards him was turning more and more monstrous by the moment. Searching frantically for something to change the subject, he gave his desk a hectic scan, finally finding a piece of salvation.
"A-hem!, there are only three reports on my desk?" He demanded with all the gusto of a wilted head of lettuce.
"If you care so much about the training yard, why don't you go to the window and check it out yourself!" Unimpressed by the change in subject, Sethel grumbled before turning her attention back to her desk.
Wrestling away from Lieutenant Elivold, the captain sat down before his pitifully small pile of papers and with a final sigh, got to work.
After the rather depressing working day captain Veylin could be found sweating profusely in the middle of the training yard. Several fully armed soldiers lay panting on the dirt below him, Elivold had been watching the spare with an intense focus, Sethel in contrast was now pulling herself up off the ground.
"Ptooey!" Spitting out dirt mixed with blood, she turned around and left to clean herself up. Monotonically but genuinely grunting out, "Thanks, Captain."
Satisfied with both his and his troops capabilities, Veylin turned to leave as well and was nearly bowled into by a messenger who, judging by his particular uniform, came from the outer patrol station.
"S-Sir!" wheezed out the messenger between gasps for breath.
"Calm yourself down! Long, Deep breaths!" Veylin tried to ease them. After a minute, which the captain spent worrying about what could possibly cause such panic, the poor soldier was finally able to catch their breath:
"T-There's something on the horizon, Sir! We don't know exactly what it is, but it's massive, and it's heading straight for us!"