Prologue – The sacrifice of the dragons
The water dragon flew over the lands at a great height. She saw the burning forests, the villages destroyed by storms, or torn apart by earthquakes, and the tides that ravaged the coasts.
She felt the pain and misery of the living beings trying to fend off the force of the elements. And she wept three bitter tears that fell to the ground. One for the dragons who desperately tried to preserve the balance. One for the Aqualis, the sea people who were so dear to her. And one for the humans who fought so bravely to survive, but had no grasp of the elements.
The dragon approached her destination and landed at the foot of Whiteheart Mountain. Three more dragons and the core elementals were already waiting there. A small group of humans was standing a bit apart.
“Let's not waste any more time. Are you ready?” the water dragon asked.
The other dragons nodded and stood in a circle. The core elementals formed a smaller circle in the middle. They were the elements taken form, the pure essence of all matter.
Now the dragon looked at the humans.
“Our pact stands. We need four of you as a non-elemental focus. And the pledge to support our progeny. Your sacrifices will not be in vain, for there will be a safer future for all.”
An elderly man in a hooded robe took a step forward and replied to the dragon.
“We pledge our lives to your descendants. And we have chosen four of us to be a part of this ritual.”
Then four people, two men and two women, left the group and gathered in the middle of the two circles.
The earth core elemental asked the dragons, “Are you really sure you want to do this? With our combined powers, we may be able to seal the borders of the elemental planes and end this chaos, but you will not be able to return here afterwards.”
“We know the consequences and we have no other choice. It's the only way to restore balance,” the water dragon said.
The elemental made a movement that looked like a nod. “So be it.”
A sphere of blue light formed around the circle of dragons, the elementals and the four humans. They slowly lifted off the ground and began to float upwards as if gravity no longer existed. The dragons spread their wings and the elementals in the middle began to spin in circles, faster and faster.
Beams of light, like frozen lightning slowly broke free from the sphere of light and began to radiate in all directions, up into the sky and down to the earth. They wafted back and forth on the surface of the sphere, getting brighter and faster. Between the four humans, threads of yellow light seemed to connect everyone.
“Now!” shouted the water dragon, “unite your powers and seal the plane of your essence.”
The core elementals moved towards the dragons and they became one. A deafening sound emanated from the sphere of light as the four dragons roared in unison. The sphere flashed with a blinding light and disappeared with the dragons and humans.
And then there was silence.
The forest fires weakened and subsided. The storms became a breath of wind. The earthquakes ceased to shake the land. And the floods receded.
The remaining humans rejoiced in their success and mourned the loss of their friends as they witnessed the beginning of the Age of Order and became the first Temple Shamans.
The view of the humans and Whiteheart Mountain blurred and faded into a memory of a distant past, leaving only a large crystal ball held by two hands at its sides. A voice, belonging to those hands, murmured to itself.
“Thousands of years ago, you believed that you could control and contain the forces of nature. Aided by traitors within your own ranks. Though I must admit that you were successful, your time will soon come to an end. You have called yourselves Dragon Gods ever since, but you fools never understood that these forces cannot be stopped, only diverted. It is time for you to finally accept the inevitable.”
The voice took its hands off the sphere and vanished into the darkness.
This work by Marc Riese is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
