Humanity's Last Stand

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. That was one of the main reasons humans had chosen to settle there. It was a safe zone, hidden far away from the ongoing wars between the many different races and species that called the world home. Once word spread of a haven, free from the constant danger that seemed to permeate every other corner of the land, humans flocked there in droves. No longer focused entirely on simply surviving, the population of the Valley was able to advance their settlements far beyond anything else in the known world. Over the centuries, small villages became large cities with hundreds of thousands of people. Never before had that kind of population density existed, which may have been what drew the attention of the dragons.

When the dragons arrived, they did so with no warning. An ordinary day like any other was just coming to an end, with the sun just beginning to sink below the horizon, when the remaining daylight vanished in an instant, blocked by the sudden appearance of hundreds of dragons. The swarm, headed straight for the Valley, arrived within minutes of the first sightings. Nowhere was safe when the attacks started. Dragons could do massive amounts of damage in very short periods of time, with their fiery breath incinerating buildings and people with ease.

When the dragons finally departed, they didn’t go far. Survivors of the attack could still hear the dragons’ roars throughout that night. It was chaos in the cities, and no one knew what to do. Most people who still had homes were too afraid to leave them. Those without homes couldn’t decide whether to find shelter within the burning cities or flee to the forests where there were dragons still lurking. With leadership and communication destroyed, people were lost.

Months went by and the dragons remained in the Valley. Sporadic attacks kept people on edge, though the Valley’s population was starting to adapt to the new state of life. People knew when and where it was safe to be outside, they knew to keep as quiet as possible, and they also knew things could not remain as they were. Food was in short supply, there was fighting among the survivors, and many of the so-called leaders that had stepped-up to take charge were obviously only looking out for themselves.

During those long months of living in a dragon-occupied Valley, the true leaders, those looking out for everyone’s well-being, made plans. After careful scouting and reconnaissance, they made a coordinated effort to lead everyone out of the Valley, or at least, everyone who wanted to go. Whatever their reasons may have been, there were people who chose to stay behind. Perhaps they were too scared to leave, or maybe they thought they could outlast the dragons and reclaim the Valley. Most people left though, choosing to journey through the dragon-infested forests and find their way out of the Valley.

Although the exodus was successful, problems began to arise when all of the various smaller groups of people from the Valley started to meet up and form larger groups. No one could agree on anything. There were some people who wanted to keep travelling and get as far away as possible from the Valley, while others wanted to stay close, fearing what the world had become during their centuries of isolation from the rest of the land’s inhabitants. Some people wanted to immediately start building new cities, others felt small settlements would help avoid unwanted attention, and some even felt the only way to stay safe was to start building underground. Some people wanted to go North, where they believed the cold temperatures would help to keep dragons away. Others wanted to go South, where warmer weather would make every aspect of life much easier.

Ultimately, these arguments could not be solved, and so humanity fractured, spreading out all across the land. Some groups thrived, while others were destroyed. As time passed, the various colonies began to lose contact with each other, as they were much too preoccupied with their own interests and problems. More time passed, and with the human race being so focused on rebuilding and surviving, they failed to notice that while they had spread themselves thinly across the world, other races had used this time to organize and unite. Humanity was now far from the dominant power in the land… they just hadn’t realized it yet.