Prologue

The first and last mortal war occurred between dragons and mortals several millenniums ago. The mortal races were growing larger in number as time passed. Their advancements in technology allowing them longer lifespans. With their advancements they could now take care of themselves, and cure most illnesses that usually killed them. At first the advancements in technology were a good thing, because it allowed the mortals to gather food significantly faster and provided them with an abundant supply of resources. Also, they weren't a threat to the Dragon species at the time. Occassionally, the mortals would lose some of their flocks to the dragons and become frustrated. However, without the dragons help, the mortals never would have found most of their advancements because they were created using materials or reagents that the dragons shared with them from around the world.

Over time, the mortals began to develop weapons of warfare that started to show destructive properties. When they advanced their weaponry to where they could build their first ballista, the dragons were amused by the giant arrows that it shot. The mortals would slaughter thousands of their own kind of the simplest of things that meant absolutely nothing to the dragons, who stayed out of the conflict. Some mortals became irritated that the dragons would not help them in the cause and started a rebellion against them. As time went on, the rebellion fought harder and harder to gather followers and technology that would help them destroy the dragons. It took them hundreds of years to find anything that could even penetrate a dragons scales. When they started to use the material it was devastating at first because the dragons were caught offguard by the new advancement made by the mortals.

The mortals had continued their research into warfare and created weapons that resemble modern day missile launchers that damaged their scales and occasionally, when they were weak enough, would penetrate their scales and leave large gaping wounds that would become infected by the fragmented metal alloys that were used to make the missiles. The rebels took full control over the advantage they had obtained from the weapon and started to slaughter some of the dragons. It was later discovered that the weapon was created by the side that was allied to the Dragons, which infuriated the Dragon Lords. Eventually, the Dragon Lords decided that the mortal's weapon research was going too far, too fast. The constant development of technology by the mortals not only caused harm to them but to their children as well. The pollution caused by the creation of the weapons damaged the upper atmosphere that the dragons inhabited. The pollution was toxic to newborn hatchlings and would kill them in under a week with absolutely no way of stopping it.

The Dragon Lords decided to discuss the matter with the mortal races, to help prevent any more harm from coming to their children. The Dragon Lords brought the matter before the leaders of the mortal races and sought a way to fix their problem. The mortals dwelled on the matter for a few weeks and came to no resolve. As time went on they tried to fix the problem and could not. They eventually gave up altogether, leaving the Dragon Lords to deal with the problem themselves.

 

Chapter One - The Mortal War

The Dragon Council met with the Mortals at a secure compound in the central of Vestom. There they began a discussion on the environmental damage caused by the constant experimentation the Mortals were doing. The Mortals were not amused by the Dragons constant interference. The Mortal leaders told the Dragon Council to stay out of their territory and to leave them in peace or else they would have a war on their hands. The Dragon Council informed the Mortals that all of their enviornmental damage was dangerous for both of their species. The Mortals would hear none of it and left the meeting with no further comments on the matter. The Dragon Council became suspicious of the Mortals and what they were planning, they had already lost too many of their kind to just ignore the matter.

The dragon lords discovered the Mortals were plannning to destroy them by killing their children, and they were furious. The dragon lords gathered together after they discovered the Mortals plans, and their children were already dying at the hands of the mortals. They discussed what they would do about the Mortals experiments since they were becoming far too dangerous to be left alone. After discussing for many weeks rather or not they should destroy the mortals facilities or wipe them off the face of the planet completely, they decided they would try one more time to get the mortals to cease their research or else they would have no choice but to destroy them.

The Mortals once again met and refused the Dragon Council's offer and told the dragons that they would not be threatened by their kind. If they dared to attack, they would annihilate every last one of their kind. The dragons gathered their broods together and used their combined force to attack the mortals before they could bring them to the brink of extinction. The whole of Vestom, the world shared by mortals and dragons alike, was on the brink of total annihilation as war began, one side would remain victorious in the end, the other would perish from the world.

The mortal races fought long and hard as they attempted to slaughter all of the dragons on Vestom, and claim the land for themselves. The dragon broods pushed harder every day, burning mortal cities to the ground, leaving none alive. The destruction caused by the war slowly terraformed the planet into a land that only dragons could possibly survive in. The land began to burn in the west, barren of all life, the once beautiful landscape was completely destroyed. Forests began to grow and cover the entire Eastern plains. While in the South, volcanoes began to erupt and lava began to flow throughout the land. The Northern lands were covered in snow and ice, turning the earthy land to a hardened sapphire landscape, white with snow.

One millennium later, the dragon broods were growing ever faster after the annihilation of the mortal races. The dragon broods split into different portions of the world. The Amethyst Dragons claiming the largest for themselves while the others fought over who would claim the rest of the land. Each of the dragon lords, the strongest champions of all of the dragon broods, separated from the others and took their broods with them to claim their lands for their broods and crush any who dared challenge them. These events caused terrible losses on all sides, and many broods perished altogether.

The Dragon Kingdom was in complete chaos as the dragon broods fought, over territory and food, to survive. The Dragons only eat a full meal about once a month, yet the food supply is very limited. After the Mortal war most of the food supply was killed off. The food source they had was repopulating slowly, but food remained scarce as their broods continued to grow and require more food. Some of the creatures they used to feed on were evolving to try and attack the dragons as well, some gaining a poisonous spit that was corrosive to the dragon's scales. Some of the broods had captured their prey and corralled them in a safe haven deep in their land that would speed up their re-population due to the lack of predators in the area. Each Dragon brood owned different sections of Vestom and fought to keep control of what they had as well as the hunting grounds nearby.

The Obsidian dragons owned the West, the Garnet dragons owned the South, the Emerald dragons the East, and the Sapphire dragons the North. However, the Amethyst dragons owned a vast expanse of land directly in the center of all of the broods and had the strongest fighters of all the dragon broods due to the harsh conditions of their environment. As each day passed more dragons were slaughtered mercilessly as each brood fought to gain control over territory to survive. The land had natural resources, the most precious being hellstone which was very rare but it was the only material that took major heat and wear to penetrate. Hellstone armor was the most valuable item any of the brood warriors could own and they cherished every piece, constantly trying to improve their armor to gain an advantage in combat.

Chapter Two - The Peace Summit

The Obsidian dragons decided that it was time to bring peace between the Dragon broods and end the centuries of war. They took a peace convoy to each of the leaders of the dragon broods proposing a treaty between all of their kind. King Gusteria discussed how they could all live together in harmony and share their lands together. They could share the resources they find to build their lairs and share the natural resources they have in their territories to advance all of their broods. All except one of the dragon broods were easily persuaded. The Amethyst dragon king, Brakle, thought his brood was the strongest and deserved the most land. He did not see the point in giving way to share all of the land between the broods, because he had the strongest dragon army out of all of the broods. The other brood leaders, Delama (Queen of the Sapphire Dragons), Santriva (Queen of the Garnet Dragons), and Fallow (King of the Emerald Dragons) were all prepared to join together to end the centuries of war and start a new era of peace and prosperity.

When the Dragon Lords came together to decide the fate of their world and the future of their species, the Amethyst Dragon King decided to attack the other broods while they were distracted at the peace summit. The Dragon Lords in attendance were furious at Lord Gusteria for distracting them from their broods and Gusteria turned to them and said, "Why should our broods continue to suffer because of one King and his greed for power. With our combined forces we could annihilate him and any who stand against us, else risk extinction by our own greed." The other Lords glared at him at first, still full of rage. They talked with each other for a brief moment and decided that they would join forces but spare all those that surrendered. After the Dragon Lords had come to an agreement over rather or not to join together and take on the Amethyst dragons head on they set apart to return to their broods.

King Gusteria returned to his Obsidian brood to discuss the news with his Generals and prepare them for war. The highest ranking dragon in his army was his General, Kloshtun, he had won many battles against other brood's warriors in single combat, and had even survived encounters against multiple warriors at the same time. He was older than most of the dragons in the brood, being a little over eight thousand years old. King Gusteria sent his proud General to gather his finest warriors together and clad them in the strongest forged hellstone armor they had been able to make. Hellstone was one of the rarest metals they had discovered on their planet and was capable of resisting the heat of dragonfire while still being able to survive multiple attacks from claws and fangs of even the strongest dragon warriors. Hellstone however was also very heavy and very hard to work with. It took them multiple centuries to accumulate as much as they had obtained because the metal was sought out by all the dragon broods and many dragons lost their lives in the process of obtaining enough for even one chunk of hellstone. After a couple of days King Gusteria decided that his army was as prepared as they were going to be for the upcoming war. King Gusteria flew to meet his army at the edge of his territory to finish crushing any remaining forces within his land that were not welcome.

Meanwhile, Queen Delama had arrived back at her border to find her snowy plains where their homes of pure sapphire had been burned for many miles. Her brood had suffered significant losses during her absence. She roared in distress and rage at the loss of her brethren. She rallied what remained of her forces and prepared them for war. Her strongest spell-caster was her personal guardian and commander of her army, General Tolma, Delama had her General gather her strongest spell casters together to enchant their scales with as many protection wards as possible to prepare them for the upcoming war. Queen Delama knew that their armor stores were at a loss because of the many raids in the past decade. The Sapphire brood had suffered many casualties and were becoming less and less powerful as time passed. Queen Delama had a squad of her warriors relocate the injured and the young to a safe distance to avoid collateral damage.

King Fallow was returning to the main regiment of his dragon army after the peace summit when he was attacked by a group of King Brackle's Amethyst dragon warriors. Fallow fought long and hard until the last of the dragons fell to the ground, dead at his feet. He turned around him to see most of his personal guard dead or injured. He continued on with his remaining guards and sent the injured to their homes. He gathered up his army of Emerald dragons and took one last patrol around the land before preparing his army for war. They gathered their hellstone armor, which was painted a lovely burnt emerald, the same color as they flame, and flew their injured and their young to the center of their vast forest where they would be safest from the future onslaught. None of them knew if they would live or die... but they hoped for the best, for the future of their brood.

Queen Santriva returned to her dragon brood where they lived in and around the many volcanoes in the area. Many of the volcanoes had been active recently leaving ruptured earth with fire spurting out of the ground for miles upon miles. She gathered her Garnet dragon warriors together clad in their molten plated hellstone armor that was bright red with a glow that made the sun look dim on a sunny day. Their claws were covered by hellstone and sharpened to a point. The Garnet dragons were the only ones capable of having their claws covered because of the heat from the volcanoes and their resistance to the heat after many generations of adaption around the molten heat from the volcanoes. The Garnet dragons had the hottest fire in all the lands and were known for burning anyone and anything that stood in their path. The hellstone armor they forged was stronger than any other due to their ability to forge using the pure molten heat of the volcanoes in their territory.

The armies began to gather around the Amethyst brood surrounding them on all sides. King Brakle was preparing his strongest and fiercest warriors for battle. He had his warriors clad in rough, thick, amethyst glowing armor. His warriors were proud and prepared to crush anyone who stood in their way. They were fiercely loyal to their king and would die before they disobeyed his orders. The strongest warrior second only to the king was his General, Romento. He was amazingly strong at only five thousand years old. He forged his armor special for himself to cover his wings, his tail, and his body. He wore over five tons of hellstone, more than any other in his ranks. King Brackle sent his General to prepare his army to defend their territory and crush all who opposed them. His orders stood to destroy every last dragon that was not of the Amethyst brood.

Chapter Three - The Amethyst Brood

Sometime before the peace summit, in the central land of Vestom, King Brakle plotted against the other broods to strike at them when they were at their weakest.

The Amethyst brood gained control over the central land of Vestom, where the devastation from the war had caused the most destruction. The land was constantly changing, never staying the same for more than a decade. Due to the lands horrific landscape the Amethyst dragons became the strongest because they had to deal with all of the changes of the land. They fought all the broods around them struggling at first to keep their land to themselves. Before long, the dragon brood became stronger and the other broods stopped attacking them for fear of retaliation. The Amethyst brood used their gained strength and time to try and gather as much hellstone as they could from their land before they were attacked again. They wanted to be as strong as they could as they were the only brood left with the powers of all the broods combined. They had the most ferocious flames, the sharpest talons, the ability to use magic and cast spells, and their ability to maneuver in the air was truly magnificent.

They spent most of their time either obtaining hellstone or training against each other to hone their skills. They were brutal warriors and some died in trial combat because they made a simple mistake. The fiercest dragons were already well over one thousand years old. Dragons can live for up to twenty millenniums. Outside of war, Dragons normally only die to plague, sickness, or an infected war wound. There are some dragons rumored to have lived through the Mortal war and survived all of this time, but they do not allow themselves to be seen by the rest of the broods. These few dragons, if they remain, are the oldest Dragon lords in all of Vestom.

King Brakle gathered a group of his finest warriors together, he would lead them in the attack on a small Sapphire encampment in the North, on the edge of his land. His General asked him, "Are you sure we should attack them while they are at the peace summit? Is there no code of honor against this?" Brakle turned and glared at his General, roaring with rage, "How dare you question my orders! We have been fighting for centuries to get where we are today! Why would we risk everything we have for their petty allegiance?" His General, Romento, cowered backwards away from his King and apologized for the disgrace he had caused him. Brakle told Romento, "Go gather seven of our warriors and send them to engage that fool Fallow and his loyal guard before they can return home after the peace summit is concluded." Romento turned and walked away saying, "Yes sir. It shall be done."

As Romento left his King's side, he went to gather his lieutenants and prepare them for the task they had at hand. He roared his order at them, "You sorry lot shall meet this 'Lord Fallow' and crush him and his loyal guards. Return with his head or do not return at all!" As they started to fly off Romento cast one last spell of sight seeing on them to make sure he could observe them when they finally met Fallow and his guards head on. He returned to King Brakle and told him about his actions and that Fallow would be dead within the week.

Brakle said to Romento, "Gather the finest hellstone armor we have for lightweight aerial combat. I want our troops to be swift in the attack, yet protected from the enemy." Romento replied, "I shall get our armorers to select the best stock for our army, how much shall we need?" Brakle roared, "As much as it takes! I want these weak fools crushed. Do they really think they can group together to take our lands? Since when did you become such an incompetent hatchling!" Brakle roars in rage and flies off in the direction of the Sapphire brood where he plans to make his first attack. Romento flaps his massive wings a few times as he heads back towards the armorer.

At the armorer, Romento's presence is announced by the armorer’s son. When the armorer comes out he was holding a new breastplate in his razor sharp claws. It is newly forged out of the latest hellstone they had retrieved. The armorer, Salem, asked him, "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing our most glorious General on a day like today?" Romento turned to him and said, "I have unfortunate news in these trying times, the King has ordered all of our stores of armor to be distributed to our finest warriors." The armorer replied, "I shall get them prepared and my son will see that they are brought to your army before the day is up."

Romento turned and flew off, leaving the armorer and his son to the task he had assigned them. King Brakle was waiting impatiently as Romento flew up to meet him. Brakle glared at him and said, "What took you so long? We need to attack them now, before they can gather their forces." Romento replied, "My warriors needed to be properly prepared if we are to attack the sorcerers. They have strong enchantments around them and will not be as easily destroyed as you might think." Brakle roared at him and said, "How dare you mock me. I know exactly how strong they are! If they are allowed to gather their forces with the rest of the broods they will destroy us!" Romento called his hellstone armored warriors to him. He turned away from King Brakle and started discussing the plan of attack with his men.

Chapter Four - The Brood Gathering

After the broods had returned to their encampments, Queen Delama was going about ordering her troops to gather together their young and hide them away, in case they lost the war. She hoped that her brood would have a future if they failed in their upcoming war. Delama summoned her daughter, General Tolma, to discuss what they were going to do, and she planned to stand a chance against King Brakle and his army of Amethyst warriors. Moments later, her daughter arrived and greeted her with a cheerful roar. Delama greeted her daughter in return and said, "How goes the war preparations daughter?" Her daughter replied gleefully, "The young are resting with the injured far back in the coldest depths of our territory. I hope they will be safe from harm there." Delama replied, "Do not worry my child, we shall gather our full strength and reinforce the oth-" She was cut off by a loud roar from an approaching scout, whom she had sent to track King Brakles movements. The scout whimpers in fear, "We have to hurry! They are gathering on our border with an entire army clad in armor the likes of which we can not wish to compare." Queen Delama turns to her daughter and gives her the commands, "Gather up our forces, we leave for the Emerald brood at once, hopefully we will make it there before Brakle realizes what we are doing. We must bolster our forces with theirs, if we hope to stand a chance."

Meanwhile, King Gusteria was checking on his brood's young and injured. He wanted to make sure everyone was as safe as could be before the destruction hit their lands from the great war that was coming. He knew there would be no safe haven for his brood, but he did his best to protect them in any way he could. His General, Kloshtun, came flapping down from above and looked out over their young. Finally, he turned and said, "It is going to be a devastating war, we have the power to change continents when we all attack together. The first war separated our broods into a great conflict and we have destroyed this once beautiful land. We should have learned from our mistakes long ago and come together to save Vestom before we completely destroy it." Gusteria turns to Kloshtun and says, "I know, our race has brought this world, and our kind, to the brink of destruction many times. Hopefully we can bring peace to our broods and finally end the war that has lasted for so many millenniums." Gusteria and Kloshtun took one last look at their brood, before departing to meet up with the main force of their army.

As Gusteria and Kloshtun arrive, their troops were preparing for war and each warrior was clad in a simple hellstone breastplate, helm, and wing guard. Their armor was nothing spectacular but it would help keep them alive. Gusteria ordered his men to form up and sent a messenger to each of the outlying broods to check on them. He wanted to know the second they were ready and he wanted to know any movements reported of Brakle's army. His last messenger went off in the direction of the Sapphire brood. After he had left, one of their own messengers came soaring down with great speed. The messenger warned Gusteria and Kloshtun of the threat Queen Delama was facing and that they requested aid to get their spell-casters safely away before they were all killed by Brakles warriors. Gusteria knew there wouldn't be enough time to reach Delama if they had already started to attack. He ordered his men to gather together and fly to the discussed war outpost on the edge of his land where it met the Amethyst territoy. The Garnet and Emerald broods should be heading to meet them at that location soon enough. Their combined forces should be able to push through the Amethyst broods remaining defenders, while the main army was away, causing Brakle to return to protect his brood.

Over in the South, the Garnet dragon brood was unsettled by the commotion the peace summit had caused. Queen Santriva was talking to her General, Malnios, when she got word from King Gusteria about Queen Delama's state and what he was planning to do. She listened to their messengers as they rapidly described the situations that they were in. Queen Santriva sent word back to Gusteria that her army would be prepared to help him soon and they were heading out to meet him. Her army would supply Gusteria with some of the hottest fire in all of the lands, it burned bright orange and the heat helped melt the hellstone around the dragons bodies in combat so they couldn't manuever as easily. When a dragon is encased in their own protective armor and attacked from multiple angles at once, they are easily crushed.

Queen Santriva turned to Malnios and said, "Retrieve the last of our dragons from the deepest pits of the volcanoes. We need every last dragon if we are to survive this war. Also, tell the armorer it is time to test our new hellstone claws we have been working on." Malnios replies, "They haven't ever been combat tested! Who knows even they will do any better than our own talons? Hellstone armor has never been able to be destroyed without immense heat and constantly wear." Santriva roars, "There will be no more time to test it, if we fail the whole of Vestom will fall into Brakles grasp. Is that what you want?" Malnios cowers back and says, "I shall have the armorer send the experimental weapon to the main regiment." As Santriva watches Malnios fly off to follow her orders, she thinks about her children and how much destruction will be caused by this war. She flies off to check on her little ones, some still in their eggs, unhatched.

King Fallow was recovering from his wounds, that he had obtained in the recent ambush, when he received word from Queen Delama and King Gusteria. Their messengers were erratic and rushed as they told their messages to him. He replied to King Gusteria first. He told the messenger to tell Gusteria he would reinforce Queen Delama and aid in the protection of the spell-casters. The message he sent to Delama was short and to the point. His army would arrive as soon as they were armed and ready, and that Delama should make her way towards him as swiftly as she could.

King Fallow would reinforce the Sapphire brood and protect them with his life. The Sapphire spell-casters would be the only ones capable of protecting them when the war started. They would also be a great aid against the Amethyst spell-weavers. The Sapphire brood had the only remaining spell-casters outside of the Amethyst brood, they were capable of removing the wards around the Amethyst warriors which allowed them to be attacked and killed in combat. While the spells themselves would not kill the warriors because of how much strength and concentration it took just to remove the wards that were bolstered over the ages, it would severely weaken them. They also had numerous healing spells at their disposal, as well as a few spells that could kill an unprotected dragon if they had the strength left.

Chapter Five - The Sapphire Protection

As the Sapphire Queen, Delama, lead her entire army forward to meet with the Emerald dragon King, Fallow, she noticed something shining in the distance. She blinked her heavy eyelids and realized what she was looking at. In front of her was the entirety of the Amethyst army, flying towards her brood with a fiery glow that suggested they wanted them dead. She roared as rage and fury swelled up inside of her because her brood was trapped with nowhere to go to avoid the danger. She flapped her massive, muscular wings, and began to gain altitude to try and go over their army, or at least gain the element of surprise, her brood following closely behind her. She hoped Fallow and his fierce warriors would show up in time to help her. She told her daughter, and General, to lead the spell-casters higher to avoid being seen, but it was too late. King Brakle had already planned for their maneuver and was leading his warriors into the clouds to intercept her and her brood. Her spell-casters engaged in combat with his spell-weavers, and they began trying to outwit each other with spells and counterspells.

Suddenly, one of the Amethyst warriors that was next to Brakle, crashed to the ground, dead. Her spell-casters had been able to stop one of his warriors already, but it would be a victory short lived if they could not stop the rest of them. As they fought back and forth, both Sapphire and Amethyst dragons alike, fell to the ground bleeding and whimpering as they died an agonizing death. From afar it looked like a beautiful display, colors of brilliant blue and dark violet fire spraying everywhere, as they unleashed waves of fiery spray upon each other. Delama roared, "Why must we fight Brakle? We are all just trying to survive!" Brakle roars back, "The Amethyst brood will not bow to any other brood! Nor will we share our lands we have fought so hard to keep!" Delama replies, "We could all live in peace and expand our broods. It has been too long since there was peace in Vestom. Do you really hope to destroy all of us? Bring all of our broods to extinction?"

As they fought on Brakle began to tear through the enchantments surrounding Delama's warriors. He tore open the throat of the first warrior and tore large gashes through the wings of another. As Delama's warriors began to fall, she was overcome with rage and hatred for Brakle and lashed out at his warriors. She clawed through the closest warrior with ease as his weak enchantments were destroyed by her spell-casters. The second warrior she came in contact with was Brakle's General, Romento. They fought for awhile, baking each other in sapphire and amethyst colored flames. The battle from afar would have looked truly magnificient. Beautiful as it was however, both Delama and Romento began to weaken as their fight continued. Romento landed a hit across Delama's backside and she landed one in turn across Romento's rear leg. 

Deep into the fight, Fallow's warriors began dropping out of the sky to assist Delama and her spell-casters. The battle raged on, both sides losing warriors by the droves. As the Emerald and Sapphire broods clashed against the Amethyst warriors, a young dragon came rushing towards them from the Amethyst homeland. As the battle stalled for a brief moment, the Sapphire and Emerald dragons were glad for the brief lapse from the battle. After the young dragon had talked to Brakle and delivered the message in a hurried gasp of breathes, Brakle roared in rage and was furious, turning on Delama and Fallow. He roared, "How dare your broods attack my people! I will crush you after I have dealt with your puny invasion!" As Brakle flew off with most of his Amethyst brood, the rest of his warriors that remained turned back to the Sapphire and Emerald dragons and began attacking fiercely, full of rage and sorrow for their families that were dying back at home. 

The battle continued, casualties stacking up on both sides, until the last Amethyst warrior fell to the ground in a bloody lump of dragon scales. The Emerald and Sapphire dragons roared in victory and gathered together to discuss what they were going to do next. Queen Delama thanked King Fallow for showing up when he did, unsure if she would have survived otherwise. Delama said to Fallow, "What is the plan now?" Fallow replied, "We are to meet the Obsidian and Garnet broods Southeast of the Amethyst territory. They should be retreating from their attack by now, as to avoid the Amethyst broods return, until our arrival." Queen Delama gathered her dragons and sent them off with King Fallow, staying behind with her daughter for a brief moment. Delama turned to her daughter, General Tolma, and asked her, "Are you ok, daughter? Did Romento hurt you?" Tolma replied, "It's only a flesh wound mother, I will be fine." Delama wrapped her wings around her daughter, far out of sight from the brood who might see this as weakness, and whispered in her ear, "I love you daughter." At that they flew off together to rejoin the broods and discuss what they would do next.

Tolma was flying back, thinking in her mind, "What are we going to do if King Brakle doesn't surrender? Will we kill him or let him live with the possibility of another rebellion?" She wondered about the very thing all of the Dragon Council had been asking themselves since the start of this war, what would become of King Brakle should they prevail. As Tolma and Delama caught up with the rest of the brood, Fallow dropped back to have a word with them. The first thing he said was, "Is everything alright?" They both replied, "Yes, we just needed to discuss a private matter." Fallow replied, "That's good. Had me worried that we might lose one of our greatest chances of winning this war." To that Queen Delama roared with enthusiasm and excitement for the recognition of her years of practicing that had gained her the power she now possessed.

Chapter Six - The Amethyst Devastation

Meanwhile, back at the outpost that the broods had agreed upon at the peace summit, the Garnet and Obsidian broods had gathered their full force to take on the Amethyst defenders that had remained behind when King Brakle flew off to take on Queen Delama and her brood. They flew in great numbers of up close quarters combat warriors from the Obsidian brood, and ranged fire breathers from the Garnet brood. The sun danced off of their scales flashing red and black colors across the land, a truly astonishing sight to see. King Gusteria and Queen Santriva gathered on the ground below their army to discuss the strategy for their first attack on the Amethyst territory. They knew that Brakle had left quite a few of his finest warriors behind, to guard his brood that were either too young to fight or that were guarding their eggs or who were injured from previous encounters.

As the Obsidian and Garnet broods crossed the Amethyst territory, taking out any scouts on the way before they could warn the others, the sight was a massive red and black evil looking storm flying swiftly towards the Amethyst stronghold. The remaining warriors finally caught sight of the army advancing on the Amethyst stronghold. The Amethyst stronghold was made of molded  rock that had been melted and reformed over and over until the dragons had a suitable place to live and protect themselves in these harsh times. The Amethyst scouts that were watching the broods warned the others of their approach and they all began preparing themselves for the impending attack. One of Romento's Lieutenants sent a messenger out to King Brakle, telling him of the impending attack and requesting his retreat in order to aid them in protecting their families. As soon as the messenger had departed, the Obsidian and Garnet broods started the siege on the Amethyst stronghold.

King Gusteria hit the stronghold from the West as Queen Santriva started her attack from the South. Gusteria gave the order to his General, Kloshtun, to attack in full force with his lieutenants. He said specifically, "Do not harm anyone that does not fight back. We do not need to kill the young and injured that are here. We just need Brakle to retreat from his attack on Queen Delama." Kloshtun responded in a hurry, "It shall be done. We will be sure to be careful in our attacks, but if someone attacks us we will crush them." Kloshtun flew off to obey his orders and lead the siege against the Amethyst stronghold. Meanwhile, Santriva ordered the same from her General, Malnios.

When Santriva and Gusteria's broods attacked in unison, the warriors of the Amethyst brood rallied against them in an attempt to protect their families and loved ones. Their flames were aimed at the warriors who flew out to meet them; however, when they missed the flames danced off the rock walls of the stronghold. The scorch marks left by their attacks had an eerie red and black glow that was dazzling. As the warriors of their three broods fought out the battle, the Amethyst warriors were soaring around trying to gain an advantage, yet were countered at every turn by one of the other broods warriors. Their warriors started falling one by one, occassionally dealing a deadly blow to one of their enemies.

As the last remaining warrior of the Amethyst brood fell to the ground in burning red and black pools of flame and blood, Gusteria and Santriva received word that King Brakle was falling back from his attack on Queen Delama and would be upon them shortly if they did not leave. Gusteria and Santriva rallied their troops and headed towards the outpost they had setup as a gathering point for all of their broods to meet for the final battle that would occur between their broods and Brakle's brood. Little did they know, this battle, would not be like that of previous battles.

When Gusteria and Santriva arrived at the outpost, Fallow and Delama were already there waiting for them. They had taken up the tasks of preparing their warriors with a mixed array of enchantments that would help fortify all of their broods and mix together their powers to help in the fight against Brakle and his brood. Slow as the task was, they had to finish before it was too late. They could hear the roar from Brakle and his dragons as they returned home, to find their slaughtered kin, burning on the ground around the stronghold. Brakle was furious and roared with rage, spitting flame around in the night, lighting the sky on fire with a brilliant purple haze.

The Dragon Leaders gathered together to discuss the events that had conspired over the past few hours and explain what strategies were currently being planned into action.

 

Chapter Seven - The Dragon War

As the broods regrouped back at the outpost on the border of the Garnet and Obsidian broods territory, that connected to the Amethyst homeland, the dragon leaders began discussing the upcoming war. Fallow, Gusteria, Santriva, and Delama were gathered together in a large clearing, clad in hellstone armor of the finest quality that they owned. Gusteria announced, "We have come this far! We are so close to bringing peace to this land once again!" Santriva said, "Many have lost their lives in the past couple of weeks. We must not let their efforts be in vein! We must win this war!" As they were rejoicing, Delama and Fallow discussed the events that occurred before Brakle retreated to protect his brood.

All of the broods were gathering together, ready to crush Brakle and his warriors. In the distance, a scout came flying towards them warning them that Brakle was preparing to attack them and was truly furious. He had been there to watch over the Amethyst stronghold, awaiting the return of King Brakle to warn the others  when he was going to be coming to attack them. As he was watching the last of the Amethyst warriors fly with King Brakle back to the stronghold, he had seen the rage and hatred building up inside of King Brakle. The sight was truly terrifying. The scout had waited around shortly after King Brakle's arrival to see what he would do first, but he dared not stay too long and be spotted by any of the Amethyst brood, else he wouldn't have survived long.

After warning them of the oncoming hatred and rage from the furious King Brakle, he returned to the edge of the meeting grounds to stand watch again until the war began. Gusteria turned back to the others and began his strategy discussion with the others. He proposed different plans of attack and different ways to crush Brakle and his warriors with as few losses as possible on their side. Santriva threw some of his plans out immediately due to the increased danger they put some of the brood members into. Fallow added some adjustments to some of the other remaining plans as well. Finally, Delama added the finishing touches to the last few plans before they selected their final strategy.

The dragon lords went into the open to discuss the newly selected battle plans with their broods and discuss what each brood would do to contribute to the fight. Each brood had a different task associated with the battle and each would need to be on their best game in order to take down King Brakle and end this war once and for all. As the strategy was being discussed, some of the broods members had questions about the strategy and the part that they were going to take in it. As each of the members took their turn asking question after question and preparing to make their final stand, the broods were finally reaching a point of readiness that should help them significantly. They had their morale boosted from their recent victories and were prepared to end this war so each of them could go home to their loved ones, and end centuries of conflict.

 

Chapter Eight - The Future of Vestom

The broods started turning about looking in panic for the unseen cause of the shadows. They heard numerous roars from above and began to shrink away from each other in fear of what could cause the terryifying noise they were hearing. As the broods separated, leaving a wide gap between them, two dragons flew down from the clouds. Their bodies were pressed against each others, wings tucked tight as they dove for the ground. They let out another roar that shot out a jet of flame that twisted together, a beautiful topaz mixed with an eerie white quartz. 

The two dragons landed between the opposing broods and stared around at them in disgust. They announced, "How dare yal try and destroy yourselves! Have you not paid attention to the last few millenniums? We are a dying race, on the edge of extinction. Do you wish to kill us all off?" King Brakle roars, "Who are you and where did you come from? There have been none of your kind around for millenniums!" The last of the quartz dragon's turned to him and said, "I am the last of my kind. I am Dragon Lord Quphos. I am fifteen thousand years old and I have been watching your petty war commence." The last of the topaz turned as well and announced her name, "I am Dragon Lord Azisrar, last of my kind as well. I have been in hiding with Quphos gathering my strength after the Great Mortal War tore this world apart. The only reason we have intervened is because we do not want another war to reshape this planet again or worse, destroy it."

As the Dragon broods stared at the two last survivors from before the Great Mortal War, they started to talk among themselves. They did not know what to do about the appearance of these two dragons, last of their kind. Lord Quphos roared so loud that all the other dragons went still in terror and stared at him. He said, "Stop your petty bickering and decide what shall happen. I can crush any of you without even trying if it comes to that, but I would prefer a peaceful solution where no one has to get hurt." Of course King Brakle has to bark up and say, "Just who gives you the right to say what we should do? I am the strongest leader of all the broods! I should be the one who says what is going to happen, not you!" At this outrage, Lord Quphos turns on him and slashes with both front claws, straight through King Brakles throat, his head rolling to the ground. As Lord Quphos withdraws his claws, he holds up King Brakles still beating dragon heart, the very essence of his being slowly dying. Lord Quphos then turns to the rest of the broods and says, "Would anyone else like to challenge me?"

As the rest of the broods stare in utter disbelief and shock, the dragon leaders approach them to discuss what they would have them. General Romento from the Amethyst brood steps forth to assume position over King Brakle's command. The two ancient dragons were taller than their younger kin and loomed about twenty feet over them.

Character List

Name - Title - Age - Gender

King Gusteria - King of the Obsidian Dragons - Eight Millennia - Male

Queen Delama - Queen of the Sapphire Dragons - Seven and a half Millennia - Female

King Fallow - King of the Emerald Dragons - Eight and a Half Millennia - Male

Queen Santriva - Queen of the Garnet Dragons - Six Millennia - Female

King Brakle - King of the Amethyst Dragons - Nine Millennia - Male

General Romento - General to King Brakle - Five Millennia - Male

General Malnios - General to Queen Santriva - Four and a half Millennia - Male

General Tolma - General/Daughter to Queen Delama - Six Millennia - Female

General Jonres - General to King Fallow - Five Millennia - Male

General Kloshtun - General to King Gusteria - Eight Millennia - Male

Dragon Lord Quphos - Dragon from before the Great War - Fifteen Millennia - Scales that glow an eerie white  - Last of the Quartz Dragons - Male

Dragon Lord Azisrar - Dragon from before the Great War - Fifteen Millennia - Scales of pure topaz that shine as bright as the sun - Female

Salem - Armourer for the Amethyst brood - One and a half Millennia - Male

Peynah - Emerald/Quartz Hatchling - Young - Female

 

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 31.08.2014

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Widmung:
This book is dedicated to my lifelong dream of writing a book. I have always wanted to let my imagination run wild on a book even if it was just a short story. Also, I would like to say thanks to all my friends who helped encourage me along the way, and to my job for allowing me access to write the book at work.