Metroid: The Last Aurealian

Chapter 1: The Thieves Campfire

To the lucky soul hearing this; Congratulations. You've unlocked an ancient device containing my memories and records of my travels. A rarity among rarities! Please don't sell it to the highest bidder! If I'm still alive, send it to my confidant whose coordinates I've logged. He knows where to find me and will return it to me in due time. If I'm not, that sucks, copy everything from this sphere and share it with the world. The Galactic Federation needs to know the full story and If I cannot speak for myself you must do it in my stead. Maybe you are one who will understand. My name is Zailania Ironclaw, I'm an intergalactic explorer approximately twenty-five cycles old at the time of recording. I've garnered many nicknames in my short life; Changeling, Endling, Fledging Queen, The Green Death, The Federation's Bane, Pirate Queen, The Captain's Love, The Searcher, Champ, and a crap-ton of others depending on which planet you visit. But you can call me Lani. 

To a mere human I'm the creature of their greatest myths. I am the dragon of ancient lore and mystifying tales, a beast of their grandest imaginations and the terror of their darkening nightmares. I was the master of earth and sky, breather of destruction, and weaver of a thousand tales. I was everything a legendary dragon could embody; a creature of great power and majesty, savage and compelling, gentle and kind when unprovoked. I was a beast of fear of destruction yet possessed kindness and heart. My eyes, feral and intelligent, captivated your very soul. My armor is like tenfold shields. My teeth are swords, my claws are spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, and all that jazz.

 I am not a dragon at all; I'm the very creature that spawned the myth in the human minds. The very inspiration for those mythical tales. I am an Aurealian, the ruler of the Earth and Mountain, Watchers of the Sky and the Protectors of Nature. We built our colonies of nothing but earth and stone and protected the planets under our watch. My people were allies to the enigmatic Chozo and they considered us as their Celestial Brethren. They allowed us to bind their minds and souls as one to strengthen our alliance. And I am the last of my kind. You probably have many questions, my lucky soul, about who I am and how I got here. If my name is familiar to you, then you've likely heard of my exploits across Federation and unregulated space. Most of it notoriety. That's not my fault, you've only heard one side of the story. 

 Until now. As I present my memories, I need you to listen with an open mind. Forget everything you may have heard of me and everything the Federation may have told you. Hear my story with a mind unclouded by judgement. Are we good? Good! Get comfy my lucky friend, as a loved one of mine once said, I've got quite the yarn to weave. 

 I guess this is where I explain how my story begins. Your typical storyteller starts at the very beginning with their childhood and go on from there. I'm not going the traditional way. Mostly because I can't remember it as good as I used to since losing my memory, (I'll get to that dreary tale when I'm ready for it!), and I don't think my early life is so significant to why I'm telling this story it takes up nearly half of it. Don't worry, the whole juicy yet traumatic childhood will come to light during the telling of my tale, as well as everything else I had to deal with since. As for where it all began, it's hard to say. I don't really know for sure if there was a defining moment when things changed. I could start from the moment I first transformed into an Aurealian, but that leaves out a lot out, and a lot happened before then. I can tell you this, it did not begin with Samus Aran, the Metroids, or the Space Pirates. It didn't even begin with The X Parasites, or the Federation's schemes. To my reckoning, it all began several years ago in the shipyards of the Galactic Federation's capital city, where a young bandit slunk through the shadows waiting for the right moment to steal away provisions stored so openly in her midst.