2 years ago…
Vaine, the leader of the humans, stood on the edge of the cliff, the wind whipping around him. He was looking down at the rivers below him, his neatly cut hair flowing in the wind—much like his light clothing. It was just after nightfall, the stars twinkling above him. There was a dragon down there, drinking from one of the rivers. He smiled. They were magnificent creatures of great beauty, but terrifyingly large.
He looked up at the stars, twinkling forms and patterns emerging in their white lights. Vaine kept looking, trying to find creatures within the constellations. Instead he found that four stars were steadily getting larger, like two sets of eyes steadily approaching.
He took a step back and rubbed his eyes. That couldn’t be right.
The stars remained there, but didn’t get any larger. In his mesmerization, he didn’t notice the dragon fly upward from the river toward him.
When the dragon’s silhouette came into his view—wings flapping slowly as it raised itself upward—it was backlit by the four gleaming stars, majestically floating. The dragon’s eyes glowed orange, flames emerging from them.
Vaine took a step back as the dragon shot toward him, wings tucked behind its body, face sharpened to a point. The full force of the dragon’s impact shot him backward, pushing him into the ground as the sand dunes erupted around him.
As Vaine lost consciousness in the sand, he didn’t notice that the dragon’s eyes dimmed back to normal—and that the four stars gleamed bright green.
While he was unconscious, a form—solidified into the shape of a human, with brilliant blue skin and glowing green eyes—floated down from the stars and laid his hand on Vaine’s eyes. The form—having entered Vaine’s consciousness—began to speak.
Do you see what the dragons can do? It asked.
Who…are you? Vaine asked, his unconscious form moving slightly.
I am Vros. I am here to save your kind from the threat of the dragons, Vros said, his body flickering in Vaine’s mind’s eye.
The dragons pose no threat to us! We’ve coexisted peacefully with them for centuries! Vaine argued.
Then why did one just try to kill you? Vros said, triumphant.
Vaine fell silent.
Your future shall be ruins if you do not bring forth Karnn. Kill all the dragons who wish to kill your kind! Vros declared passionately, projecting a mental image of rows upon rows of human skulls piled underneath the belly of a dragon into Vaine’s head.
Vaine’s human urge to ensure that his species was dominant overwhelmed him. I will protect us, Vaine said to the form in his mind. But who is Karnn?
6 months ago…
Vaine strode through the encampment, metal boots clicking on the stone ground. His eye was illuminated with Karnn’s fury, the other fake eye glinting slightly in its socket. Sand rose as he continued forward, the scorching sun beating down on him.
It had been a slow year, but the hunting was just starting to ramp up. Around him, his fellow Hunters—most empowered and enraged by Karnn’s blessings, twisted versions of their former selves—were making equipment out of steel and dragon bones. Gone were the days of the soft orange cloth, now all covered in spikes, ropes, and plates. Necessary precautions to hunt.
Vaine reached the centre of the encampment, where the shrine to Karnn—or, as the hunters called it, The Burner—was built. Surrounding it were the Faceless, the loudest men to speak ill of the war against the dragons. Karnn stripped them of their faces, their flesh stretched over and covering the holes where the eyes, nose, and mouth used to be. Now they stood as silent guardians—and twisted examples.
A towering mass of stone, The Burner was where all of the gifts to Karnn were placed. There was a fire within The Burner, magical in nature. It seemed to know when a gift was placed, and shot a flame of green energy upward, turning the gift to flames. The flame itself was a gift from Karnn, unexplainable by science, contained only by the casing.
When enough dragons were burned, Karnn would emerge from the portal created at the top and grant them grand rewards—domination over the other four intelligent species to start.
Karnn spoke to Vaine often, instructing them where to attack or what to gift him. Karnn seemed to feed off of bloodshed and war, and the empowerments he gifted seemed to strengthen the hunter’s urge to hunt.
YOU HAVE RUN OUT OF DRAGONS HERE, Karnn’s voice boomed in his head.
“Have we really been that efficient?” Vaine said aloud, adjusting the spikes on his wrist bracings as he spoke. “What will we do next?”
EXPAND THE BLOODSHED.
“Expand? How?” Vaine growled, but the realization came to him as he said it.
THERE ARE DRAGONS EVERYWHERE. EXPAND OUT OF THE DESERTS. SCOUR THE FORESTS, WATERS, LAVAFIELDS. THE HUNT MUST EXPAND, Karnn explained.
Vaine smiled wickedly underneath his metal face covering. It was time. The humans could finally take control of the whole Dragonrealm.
