Dragonlord Saga - Prologue
A prologue for perhaps an epic fantasy novel series.
The chill of merciless winds, gusting snow biting deep, endless frozen tundra berift of life or warmth, a wasteland where not even madness could hope to survive, unrelenting, bitter, lonely, in a word:
Paradise.
At least, to those with an appetite for old, ancient shadows it could be. Hunger drives like no other. What is hunger? Lust? Addiction? Is it some joke played upon the denizens of Terra by the Aspects? Well, mayhap not all the Aspects; with the clarity of finality, certainly the Aspect of Death is not one to proffer hunger upon mortals. "Truth seems to be less palpable the longer I dwell within the torment of my own Logic," I cackle beside a sap-burst tree. Never had I any talent for telling one leaf or bark from another; we can give it no name, save "Momentary Companion".
"Or...Meal," I muse with a side-long glance. An omen to twin this find as I salivate without a drop freezing prior to its descent from a gap-toothed grin. Eyes roll beneath the withered bark, behind this relic of antiquity, "Yet, should this Omen prove Weal or Woe, I care not; knowing the secret of it, hidden, buried deep is all we yearn to sup."
Lids droop lower whilst warmth spreads through my loins, I lay my cheek against a shattered branch. Starlit under the no Moon, needles of light splay upon this body. With each, tiny warmths blossoming an agony and pleasure all their own. Though, still there is an alluring beauty within the prisming light cascading around me. "And like Beauty, it is a transient thing, blooming to mate, to die, to bloom again. A pitiable entity that only exists to shout, 'I'm Pretty,' and ensure the cycle never stops. Arrogance. How we loathe the thought."
Coalescing tendrils void of Reality spool and twine, as a patchwork wild rosevine, up from the shadows found behind me. "Soon, yes, always best to let the meal mari...," cocking quick to the side, we ponder, "what do lesser races do with food aga-"
"-HAAAA UHHHHHH," a screech, off in the distance, peal of ululating dissonance, crescendo, descrendo, bass, treble, a medley painted with all the wrong hues of the rainbow, " -ah! yes, marinade. I suppose, some prefer to prior, what we season after." A low chuckle reverbs from my throat, my wit, unseen, unknown, and to die alone upon the howling winds of this Paradise. I laugh again with pensive closure.
A glance over my shoulder, back to crouching upon this cliff overlooking the expanse, reveals nearly all of what was the long, dead tree dissipating; the shadows cast only by star light growing deeper and rising up as if to caricature, in twisted gloom, what once before had cast it! "Ah yes," a sing-song child-like glee ripples from me, " To affect the reflected truth is to affect that which is," swinging back my tail, dorsal fin near the tip fanning out, collecting the Whole of truth, knoweldge, and existence from this "once was tree", greedily launching myself upon the pile made near my feet.
Hours passed as we sat in reverie, awe of all it had been. "And, for the centuries you have stood guardian, from a time this valley Verdant and Fertile, to war of Blood and Betrayal, I must give thanks with a last respects, a mourning of the import of your loss to this world...."
Rising up, wings unfurl dark and jet they glide on winds unseen; counter they fly to what should be impossible to navigate in these gale force winds.
"We've had better."
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Head bowed before the crushing weight of Logic and Lunacy, or perhaps boredom, the young Shadow Dragon swirls languidly; his body wrapped in a velvet embrace of the Night. Upon any other such eve, terrible beauty and preternatural surreal depth, he would retire amongst the snow drifts. Unfortunately,
...tonight he follows the scent. A curious scent found within his leather satchel, that until this past dusk carried the most beloved. Three of his Tomes, more ancient than quite a few lesser races, and their shadows, absconded during a bath soaking in the hot waters nearby in the mountains.
"It may have been two fortnight since that dusk, in this land of darkness, but everything dies here; however, your scent will tarry long after your cunning, muscles, mind, and soul fail you.... Of course, we already knew your mind had flown Late prior to your body's notice."
"And most of all, because I hunger...."