Awakening

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. At least, not any real dragons, and not for many, many years. But there were whispers beginning to spread of something stirring in the East…

For eons, the dragons have strayed far from human settlements. As far back as any alive could remember, the elder dragons were rarely seen nor heard of, ‘cept for the tales of drunken adventurers at the local taverns. Though there are some lesser dragons still roaming the hills, these do not compare to the splendor and terror of the elder dragons and their kin. The elder dragons were, in fact, so rare that only but the eldest among us had ever even seen one first-hand. As time aged on and the progress of man spread ever further, the tales of dragons grew more and more into stories we told the children so they wouldn’t stray too far into the woods or sneak out at night.

However, there were those of us who knew different. For the men and women of the Order, we knew what lie sleeping in the distant hills and caves. We knew the dangers and horrors of what seeing that shadow in the distance, moving at impossible speeds to rain down fire and destruction – of what that meant. It meant death.

Though most of us in the Order of Scales had never actually fought a greater dragon, we had been keeping tabs on them for years. It was our job to make sure they stayed dormant. And if there were signs of their return, we would be the first to warn the rest of the world. We were called the Order of Scales; a name earned for the dragonscale armor we wore into battle. For hundreds of years we have been the first and last line of defense against the dragons and their kin. We keep the valley clear of the lesser dragons, but they pose little threat to ones trained to fight dragons, such as us.

The history of the Order dates back nearly 900 years. The Order of Scales, as it is called, was founded by our forefathers as a way to strike back against the crushing brood of the great dragon queen Sha’liotha. It’s founder, Garn Dragonblood, had inadvertently swallowed some blood of a lesser broodling while defending his home from an attack. After nights of anguish, he began to recover. However, he noticed that the dragon’s blood had changed him. It gave him some of their powers – he healed faster, moved quicker, and was able to perform feats of strength that no other normal human could do. With this newfound strength, Garn began to slay other dragons and add warriors to his new clan. Though the newly discovered dragon’s blood was a true gift in their hour of greatest need, it did not come without cost. Not all who drank the blood were so enhanced. Only a select few were so lucky as to receive the gift of the dragon’s power. Many who drank the blood died, and they were lucky if it was a quick death. Some were tormented, as if burned from the inside out with a slow fire. It was a gruesome sight indeed. It took many years for the Order of Scales to formalize a process to select only the most promising candidates who showed an ability to stomach the blood. Even still, it was a long and painful process. Those who lived through the blood trials were at last given their powers, and it was never the exact same set of skills. Some had healing, some had great strength, and some possessed incredible speed and agility. All dragonbloods, as they were called after their founding father, possessed the ability to see with dragonsight – a skill that made it easier to see in the dark and over greater distances. Some had it stronger than others. There were many other abilities and mixes of the above that were received by the dragonbloods, but there was one that was incredibly rare – the fireblood. This gift was only given to six dragonbloods throughout the ages and it allowed them control and manipulate fire. Though they could not directly create fire themselves, they learned to craft instruments of fire that they could then manipulate into deadly attacks. Each of the six are recognized as some of the greatest dragonbloods to have ever lived.

However, today there were no firebloods, and the number of dragonbloods themselves has dwindled to a few dozen. The stores of dragon blood in the Dragonscale Keep has been all but drained dry, as it has been so long since a dragon was slain. The blood from the lesser dragons of the valley was weak and diluted, mostly unusable to us.

Those few who remain are trained under the care of one of the greatest slayers to have ever lived – Yorren Wyrmsbane. The man was literally a living legend, slaying more dragons by count than any other dragonblood ever had. This was primarily because he had fought at the end of the great Dragon War; the war that finally turned the tide in the humans’ favor and eventually drove the dragons into exile. Though not as stout as he used to be, he was still a formidable sight to behold. Age had softened him some, but you could still see the warrior in his eyes and the way he carried himself. The dragon’s blood still coursed through his veins, though faint as it was after all these years.

As of late, there had been a lack of new recruits. Since the dragons had been gone for so long, and the stock of blood so low, the Order had had to be more selective of its candidates. Only those showing the most promise were given the chance to become dragonbloods. On top of that, many did not even believe the Order was necessary. Though the king still allowed them to operate, they were not close advisors as they once had been. Many did not even believe in dragons, so the few candidates they did receive were mostly disillusioned souls with visions of grandeur.

This is where the twins come into the picture. Born of a lesser house, Mara and her twin brother Kai came to the Order at the behest of their grandfather – me. From a young age they had been engrossed with the stories I told them of how Yorren and I fought in the great Dragon War. It was obvious the dragon’s blood flowed through their veins, as passed down through their mother. Though that wasn’t exactly how it worked, it was typical for the ability to stomach the blood to be passed down through a family.

And here is where our story really begins. Something indeed was beginning to stir in the dark corners of the world; something, I feared, much worse than what we had faced all those years ago. And somehow I knew that the fate of that which was to come was directly tied to two young siblings who had just entered the gates of Dragonscale Keep to begin their formal training in preparation for the dragonblood trials…