Existence in Peril -Prologue
-Prologue-
Three Hundred Years Ago
1000 Years After Entreatment
The two shadows passes over the final ridge. There they stood, struggling to stay upright and gazed upon their destination.
The human city of Schelschwene, capitol over Lasvielle, the Land Entreated, glistened under the moonlight as it broke through the clouds of night. Hurriedly, the smaller of the two began to descend the slope of the ridge with two bundles in its arms. The bigger trudged down after.
As they reached the walls, wings issued forth from their backs and Words from ones mouth. The guards atop the walls slept soundly when they reached the pinnacle of their flight and paused to scan the streets of the city.
In the distance they spotted a large building and one motioned to the other. The other shook its head, shifting the bundles in its arms, and instead nodded to the building three over. That was their target.
They swooped over the streets, one muttering beneath its breath. All along the path they followed, any who were still up felt waves of sleep pull them under and slumped to the most ready rest. The shadows reached their mark and swooped down onto the street. From their shoulders, they removed two slings each and sat them on the steps leading up to the door of the building.
One leaned down and checked all four when a shadow passed over, blocking out the moon. The one still standing tensed, hissing at the other. It stood slowly, obviously spent, and looked at its partner, the shadows about it dissolving. Its reptilian face, withered with obvious years, was sad and melancholy, eyes to the brim with tears. It then looked to the sky and resolve rolled over its face and the years seemed to melt away, but weariness was still there. It suddenly rocketed towards the sky, leaving it irritated partner behind, hissing in disbelief at what it was seeing.
They had brought their four children here for the day when their counterparts were going to attack, and they needed to hide that from them until their children could get stronger and hope to fight those beasts. These brash actions could ruin all that. Thinking quickly, he muttered more Words and shot up after his partner. She never saw him coming and nearly struck him when she turned to the weight that had dropped down on her. She looked up and realized who it was driving her earthward.
He spoke to her in their tongue, "You must not reveal yourself now, wait until we are farther from this city."
She hissed in irritation, but she sagged in submission and allowed herself to be pulled to the street. When down she made a Gesture and murmured a few Words, Words in the Tongue of Power, returning the shadows to her reptilian body. She allowed her partner to guide her into the sewer grate. Before he had it closed, she took one last look at the four bundles they had left in front of the building they hoped was the complex that housed the leadership of the Lands Entreatied.
When the grate was closed, she turned to her partner and asked him, "Are you sure they won't be discovered?"
He looked at her and sighed, "I don't know. They need to grow up and flourish as fast and as much as possible, but then again, they don't need to make themselves too widely known. Before the others figure out what we have done."
"And if they do?"
He sighed again and looked to the floor, "Well, then the doom that awaits these creatures will be just that much sooner."
She looked away and then back to him, "But how will they know what to do?"
"They will have to make their own way I'm sure, though, that their danger will become glaringly obvious."
At that moment a Cry came from above. They both hunkered down and looked above their heads. They then looked at each other; the female looking about ready to cry, or fight, it would be hard to tell under her Cloak of Shadows if not for the Spell of Perception he had Cast, only that his own emotions were muddling up the whole Spell. She looked to him and he told her, "Wait, let us get further from the city, as I said before."
She looked up, back towards the grate, gazed at it longingly and finally looked back at him, nodding her head. He sighed and turned running down the sewers. As they went, he muttered Words and made Gestures, and every so often, pointed to their bodies or the various weapons and armor strapped to them. His partner realized what he was doing and added her own Words to his Enchantments.
When they had reached the end of the sewer, the male went out front to get a bearing of where they were. He saw that they had immerged miles off from the capital city and thanked Those Above that humans had the dignity to dump waste so far from their settlements. He turned around and motioned to his partner to come out.
"So, what do we do now?" she asked him.
He considered for a moment, "Get rid of our tail for one thing." He looked to the sky, "And then fly as far west as we can go, if we make it, maybe we can see what is over the Great Dryness."
She nodded grimly, but he could see that she was grinning in anticipation of what was to come. He sighed and grumbled to himself. He knew that their next business would not be easy. He took in a breath, looked at the moon as it was obvious they were running out of time to take care of their last objective.
With one last look to his partner, who nodded that she was ready, and closed his eyes, "Oh, Above, what did I ever do for this?" He thought and breathed out his last Word, "Come."
- -
The sun was high.
The plains were silent.
Two shadowed bodies lay on the grass, Cloaks of Magic evaporating from their scales.
These two bodies were the first of a new race that was not meant to be, but required for the survival of the Lands Entreatied. A shadow passed in front of the sun, blocking out the light for a moment. When it disappeared, the last of what had once lain there went with it.
Except for a scrap of cloth. One cloth that depicted one word in many languages:
"Dragon Born"
- -
***Alright, so here's the prologue to my current project. I don't really have much to say besides enjoy! Oh, the next chapter will be up about 7:00 Eastern time tomorrow night. After that, don't expect daily updates to the story, it my come periodically in the most eratic update pattern known to ALL FURRYDOM.