Finally a fully colored illustration! \o/ Incredible, right?  
This drawing took AGES to make! This was supposed to be posted on Halloween, just to give you an idea of how late I am… sigh. XD  
I have to say I’m really happy with the result, and I hope you will also like it.  
Since I was bored, I also decided to write down a short story related to the image. I suck at writing (never done before), so I know it will be infested with typos and overall sound horrible, but if you are still interested you can check it out.
 

 
Azad sat quietly, the flames of the campfire dancing in front of him. He looked down to see Tara, his bird companion, looking intently at the fire and at the embers flying towards the night sky. He had just entered the adult age, and, as it was tradition for his people, he was given a Raakish bird hatchling to raise an bond with. In a few years she would grow enough to allow him to ride on her back, and the two would live and fight together for the rest of their lives. A warrior of the Nomadic Kingdoms would be incomplete without his Raakish mount, like a hawk without wings. Tara was still young, small and frail, however. Azad smiled, as he leaned forward to place a kiss on the hatchling’s head.
 
From behind he could hear the other members of his tribe setting up the camp for the night, in the middle of the colossal ruins surrounding them. Under normal circumstances he would be helping them, but tonight it was different.  
Azad and the other youngest members of the tribe sat around the campfire, looking at Ka’shar, the elder. He sat with his back against a stone cliff, his weapons and shield, ornated with gold and stones, glistening at his side, showing his status as an honored warrior. His body could tell just as much: despite his age, his muscles and sinews stood out from under his short fur, and countless scars marked his figure. Ka’shar’s only eye moved around, scanning each of the youngsters’ faces, before he spoke in his deep voice.
 
“Look around you.”  
Azad and the others did so, observing the ruins surrouning them. The giant statue of an Ajshar with a serpent coiled around his body was still standing, even though its meaning had been forgotten eons before, and behind it Azad could see what remained of walls, towers and other buidings towering towards the sky. In awe, he was trying to imagine how they would have looked like at the time the city was still inhabited, but the size of these ruins dwarfed anything he had seen before. Not even the great walls and temples of the Oasis City States could compare to what stood in front of his eyes.
 
“This is your heritage” Ka’shar continued “These ruins, they were made by OUR people, many generations ago, before the desert even existed. We were great and powerul, and our empire spread from where the sun rises to were it sets. But this was all before our doom.”  
“Doom?” a feeble voice asked from the other side of the campfire.  
“Yes, our doom.” Ka’shar’s voice had become even deeper. “Pride comes before the fall, always. The gods saw our hubris, our thirst for power, and they punished us for our deeds. The earth shaked, as the sky grew dark and filled with ash. Our people died by the thousands, coughing up blood, as our golden cities collapsed. Ashir, Goddess of the Sun, who once gave us life, cursed our lands to be always scorched by her fire. The land died, and the desert came.”
 
Ka’shar remained silent for a few seconds, the silence of the night broken only by the crackling of the fire. Even Tara, nestled between Azad’s arms, was staying still. Then he spoke again.
 
“Few survived, most of which left… but we’ve always remained here, in our lands. Every day we walk among the ruins of what was once our world, and we’ve never defied the gods’ wishes ever since. We’ve never built cities again, and we are not blinded by power or gold. We live every day as if it is our last, and the gods have blessed us for our humility, making us strong and hard.  
Remember, do not be afraid of these ruins. The spirits of our ancestors still live within these walls, and they will protect their kin, as long as you respect them. Their greatness still runs in our veins, but our lost cities will always be a reminder of the mistakes of the past, and of the way we must follow in the future”.