Vanguard
While his body had no such thing, he could have sworn he could feel his heart bounce fora second. If he had merely been intrigued, he felt that his emotions were closer to wariness after all.
He stepped aside and took note of her range. He paid attention to her hands, her knees, her mouth. It was no different than observing some interesting lab rat, but to him it was more than that. She was no stranger to combat, he could tell that much, but she was more than just some mere warrior among the thousands. She was closer to something else.
He laid the side of his hand over her shoulder, letting her skin feel the cold metal and something else as well. Wild, yet opaque, and overwhelming their surroundings like a fog. It slithered around her like serpents or tendrils, reaching past her limbs and stroking past her skin, but unlike her aura his had no true physical form. In a way, it was wilder and more uncontrolled than her, something closer to primal energy in its rawest state.
But despite being nothing more than rot, it was grand, and beautiful, and mighty in a way that only an ancient being could be. And as he traded her demonstration for his own and let her feel him, he asked her a question with the purest of curiosities.
"Who are you?"