by Richard Jesel

Created on: March 01, 2009

Dragons! Hundreds of them, riding upon the air currents in all their magnificent beauty, rank upon rank, thier riders cheering the victory over what would be the last battle against the Destructors, those foul, malicous beings that fell from the sky so many years ago. The dragons' multi-hued scales reflected the rising sun like millions of gemstones. They soared and dipped in unison, glorying in life, in having survived the threat to the very world.

At a signal from Mikaal the fleet decended upon the edge of the Remoe Desert, a patch of lifeless sand created by the Destructors directly after their fall. Mikaal watched as talon upon talon landed, bringing themselves in to ranks directly in front of Mikaal and Godsent, his dragon. He was the largest dragon of them all, thier leader, thier elder. The hues of his scales have, over the millenia, gone through all the colors of the spectrum, from the colors of the rainbow to metallic, aging into the grey until his scales had become blacker than a starless sky, the black of an underground cavern. Godsent's scales no longer reflected light at all, but seemed to absorb it, giving him the energy of ten talons.

The other dragons both respected and feared him. They were all Great Dragons, the largest of their kind, able to scale castle walls without having to even jump, maws larger and more dangerous than a portcullis opening, and able to hurl flame hot enough to reduce a sixhundred foot pine to ashes in seconds. Yes, they were powerful, but Godsent WAS the castle. He could devour a Great Dragon as his breakfast and not only would that pine be ashes in seconds but the whole forest as well for miles around. In short, he was thier lord and master, and Mikaal controlled him utterly.

Of course, it was a pact that had to be upheld by both sides. If either of them failed in their duty to save the creatures of this planet by any means, the pact would be void and both Mikaal and Godsent would be incinerated as well as all the dragons and thier riders. Thus was the pact formed and the magic infused.

Soon, all was silent. The wind blown sand was the only sound to be heard as everyone waited on Mikaal's words. For Mikaal he wasn't sure what to say.

In mindspeak, Mikaal asked, "What should I say, brother?"

To this, Godsent replied, "That which lay in the depths of your heart. I have faith in you."

The trust, friendship and love in that very sentence was more than enough to release the tension in Mikaal's heart, allowing him to look deep, quickly. It wasn't long before he smiled wide and thought of what to say. He took a breath, ready.

A shiny glint appeared in the sky above and behind the talons right then and Mikaal and Godsent were the only ones to notice it, see it, and wonder what it was. It seemed to be moving, fast. Very fast. Before Mikaal could release his breath in speech the glind in the sky separated into thousands of others, turning black as they became closer.

Destructors! They landed among the talons like a hailstorm. Shaped like round pods and harder than diamond, they ripped into the ranks, piercing man and dragon alike, leaving boulder sized holes in their victim. Screams and roaring were everywhere. Chaos reigned. Godsent sent messages to his liutenants through mindspeak as he lept for the sky, blasting the pods to ash with his unbelievable flame. But their were too many. Mikaal ordered him to retreat to the far hill and wait for the Fall to pass, hoping the others would make it out of that deathtrap alive.

Soon the creatures would multiply upon every drop of water, every patch of grass, and the Second War would begin. Mikaal tried not to despair, but it was too much as he lay upon Godsent's back and cried.

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