The Soul of Velkrid: Chapter One

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. For hundreds of years, we avoided it, allowing Man to flourish. We watched from afar as Man grew from small nomadic enclaves to prosperous villages.

I saw much of the development of Man with my own eyes. I am Kril'taq, and the lands of Velkrid have been my domain for hundreds of years. I watched as the birth of fertile lands within the Valley produced new forms of life beyond my imagination. However, my kin and I couldn't believe how quickly Man would develop beyond the other forms which spawned in the Valley. The rapid expansion from nomadic tribes to whole communities concerned many of us, myself included, but the Elders from each of the ten grezz'teh were in agreement. As long as Man kept to the Valley, we would leave them in peace.

Our failure to communicate our intentions early on when Man was limited to tribes turned out to be our undoing. Man continued to expand their reach further and further over the centuries. Through new technology, Man discovered new ways to produce nourishment and defend themselves from other lifeforms. They even found ways to ride atop the river with constructed craft. They started using that new technology to draw food from the lakes and rivers and to travel to other villages. However, Man became more and more curious about where the river led. Before long, that curiosity became impossible for them to ignore.

A small group of Men boarded five watercraft and started traveling, following the river to the west. My Elder Gorvath sent me to the ridge at the end of the Valley to observe. Two younger drœll, brothers Trodur and Zyldur, were assigned to accompany me. Our ability to blend with our surroundings made us ideal Watchers. Over the centuries, I have even developed eyes sharp enough to spot an ant from across a great expanse and mind powers that could tap into the very thoughts of that ant. Others in my grezz'teh questioned why I learned such benign feats when I could have strengthened my combat abilities. I reasoned that, as so many were doing just that, enhancing other gifts would provide additional avenues of defense that could help in other ways. In fact, from my vantage point, I was able to watch the entire journey without a single step and communicate their progress to my compatriots with only a thought.

The Men did not have an easy voyage, certainly not because of us. The wilderness beyond the boundaries of their homesteads was very untamed, and it took little time before they saw new dangers that would break most beings' resolve. While they had gained great skill in acquiring food from the river, they failed to realize that many feral felines which we call a'veth sought it, as well. On the second night of their quest, one of their number was mauled to pieces in an attempt to protect their recent harvest, his blood turning the river bank bright red.

I believed at that point that the dangers would been seen as too much for them to endure and they would return to the safety of their communities. However, I saw that Man had become very clever over the ages. When they halted to rest for the night, they used vines, felled trees, and the weapons they carried with them to build defenses against the wild beasts. On the third night of their voyage, when they were again besieged for their food, the Men were prepared. Vines suspended their catch out of the beasts' reach. The trees blocked the Men's encampment in two directions, forcing them to attack from the east. With the attackers trapped in one place, the Men hurled sharpened poles and fire at the beasts, killing three and scattering the rest of the pack. When the battle was over, the three fallen a'veth were gutted and beheaded, and the new trophies were mounted to the front of three of the Men's vessels.

That night, as the Men slumbered, I used my thoughts to describe the scene to the rest of my team. Despite being brothers, Trodur and Zyldur had very different reactions to the events of that evening. Zyldur marveled at how Man adapted to their new reality, away from the safety of their own kind. He believed that their intelligence compensated for the fragility of their physical bodies and that they would continue to be beings worthy of observation. Meanwhile, Trodur saw their ingenuity as a danger, considering the savagery with which they dispatched their foes. The way they mounted the heads of their kills on to their craft made him ill and disturbed him. Trodur feared letting such vile creatures out of the Valley. I tried to put him at ease. They had already lost one in a horrifying manner, and, at the rate in which they were proceeding, they had many days before they would reach the edge of the Valley. I surmised that, before long, the increasingly hostile wildlife will drive the Men back and force them to return to the safety of their villages. I fully believed that the dangers of the wider world would prove to be too much for those fragile beings. I couldn't have been more wrong.

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Days passed, and the Men's journey down the river toward the edge of the Valley continued. As I predicted, new dangers met them frequently. As they proceeded down the river, the current started to intensify, giving the Men less and less control of their progress but allowing them to gain more distance each day. While they continued to gain much of their food from the creatures in the water, they did not anticipate that there were more fierce beings there, as well. A large water beast which we call a fek'il rammed the craft in the rear of their fleet. Despite the crew's attempts to fend off their attacker, the fek'il hit them hard enough for their craft to turn over, spilling the three Men aboard and all of their provisions into the river. They barely had a chance to realize what happened before one of their number was devoured whole. One of the other crews saw the scene and tried to reverse course to rescue their comrades. However, the strength of the river current prevented them from turning around. They could only watch as their fellows tried desperately to swim to shore. One was fast enough to get away from the danger zone and reach dry land, collapsing into living death immediately. The other was very unfortunate. I could hear his thoughts as he felt sharp teeth tear away the lower half of his body in seconds. Luckily for him, he only felt the agony for mere moments before the fek'il swallowed the rest of him. The four remaining craft tried to return to pick up their colleague who reached the riverbank, but the intense current pushed them too far away to reach him. They tried to call out to him, but he did not respond, remaining motionless where he collapsed on the shore. The remaining Men resigned themselves to continuing on their journey with a faint hope that, if they found a way to return, they could recover him at a later time.

When I recounted those events to my fellows, Trodur was as distressed as I was, not because of the visceral way that those Men met their end to the fek'il, but because they were clearly unable to return to their home. The river current at that point was too powerful for their craft to challenge it. Even the more serene Zyldur was concerned. Both suggested means to force the Men back to where they belong. Zyldur wanted to use his gaze to entrance them, putting them into a sleep state while he carried them back to their communities. Meanwhile, Trodur wanted to ram the sides of the cliff, creating a rockslide that would seal the way out of the Valley. He believed that that method would both slow the current enough for the Men to turn back and dissuade them from proceeding further.

However, I dismissed both ideas. Beyond the fact that closing off the river would kill the Valley over time, there was a far greater concern. The Elder made it clear that we were never to reveal ourselves to Man. Even from the beginning, Man was a fearful, violent being. If we revealed ourselves to them, their first response would be to attack, and the death of even one of us at their hands would bring unspeakable cataclysm to Velkrid. Trodur argued that letting the Men escape the Valley could also bring disaster as there are many other beings critical to preserving the tor'vah of Velkrid besides us. Zyldur questioned whether the Men dying on their journey is harming the world's lifestream, as well, but Trodur dismissed his brother's concern. The beings sprung from the Valley have always been disconnected from the tor'vah; their existence means very little to the survival of the planet.

As Trodur and Zyldur debated, I looked back to the Man who survived the attack from the fek'il and tapped into his mind to assess his condition. He was still alive and in relatively good health but unconscious from the effort it took to escape. As I looked into his mind, I could only wonder if that Man could sense my presence. Men clearly are wiser than the beings that they use for food, but is there more to them than that? Could they connect on a mental level?

Who...?

A faint, very weak thought entered my mind, distracting me from my musings. It felt almost like a bare whisper. I looked to Trodur and Zyldur, but they were still arguing what to do about the Men on course for the edge of the Valley, paying no attention to me. I turned my attention back to the lifeless Man washed ashore.

Who... are... you?

It took me a moment to realize. I was hearing that Man's thoughts! He was communicating with me! I realized that there may be another solution.

Who... are... you?

I turned my mental focus entirely to that one Man.

I am Kril'taq, and I have much to tell you...

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