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Ember Legacy, Volume 1
Chapter 1: War's Aftermath
Twelve Years Ago
The Silver Dragon soared through the air, circling the site of the recent battle warily. Her argent scales shined across her sleek, lithe form, though comparatively speaking her torso alone was larger than a decent-sized house, her jaws wide enough to swallow an adult cow whole. Massive fires below lifted her pearlescent wings on currents of hot air, and her sensitive nose picked up on the stench of roasted flesh.
Oum's blood. I'm too late.
Her sharp vision could pick out the pyres of humanoid corpses, as well as several ruined and torn bodies of Dragons. A few of the younger Reds and Onyxs, a couple of the brutish Browns, a pair of Silvers…
As her large orbs alighted on the massive, unmoving body of an aged, giant Gold Dragon, her heart seized up.
Oh, my love… I am so sorry…
And then her eyes narrowed as she spied a gargantuan figure at the end of the scorched clearing as it rose up, stretching its wings out to almost encompass the entire battlefield. It's dark crimson scales seemed to flicker in the light of the burning foliage and humanoid remains, colossal muscles bunching as it stretched almost languidly
Ember. So you still live, you bastard.
She alighted across from the ancient Red, her talons digging into the remains of friend and foe alike. Her implacable enemy seemed to regard her idly, though she noted that the battle itself had taken a toll on him. Several gashes rent his scales across his torso, and his left wing was slightly tattered, hindering his flight. His chest heaved like massive bellows as the venerable Red Dragon sucked in great gulps of air, enough so that the remaining trees around him swayed as if from a stiff breeze.
"Come to surrender to me?" Ember asked mildly, his sepulchral voice echoing off of the distant mountains.
The Silver's lip curled slightly in a sneer. "I think not." Her voice was hardened in resolve and rang out defiantly.
"I would have thought you to be here earlier, at your Mate's side," he rumbled with a note of dark humor. "And yet here you are now, late to the party. One small little Silver against… me." His chuckle was the sound of boulders grinding against one another.
"Where is the Orb, Ember?" she demanded, eyes flashing in fury at the mention of her slain Mate.
"Why, with my own Mate, of course," he replied humorously. "I'm afraid you'll have to deal with me, first."
"That was my intention."
They slowly circled the clearing, heedless of the terrain or corpses that were ground under their massive paws. Though the Red was indeed ancient, he was also cunning beyond all measure, and cognizant that he had been weakened from the battle earlier. This upstart Silver, a thorn in his side for some time now, was fresh enough that she might pose a threat. And so he resolved to keep her talking for awhile longer while his impressive pool of Aura replenished.
"Why do you fight me?" he asked, interjecting a note of genuine perplexion into his voice. "You know these puny humans and the like are a blight upon the land, they deserve extermination! Search your heart for the truth of this!"
She snorted, the great gust of air kicking up debris. "My heart tells me you are wrong, and I shall forevermore fight to preserve the Balance."
The ancient Red swung his head in a human-like gesture of dismay. "Such arrogance, even for a Dragon. What do you possibly hope to accomplish? You may be faster and more agile, but still smaller and younger than I."
The Silver paused near where she'd landed earlier, her enhanced senses picking up on a welcome development. Finally, we can finish this.
She grinned a toothy smile at the Red, full of anticipation. "That all may be true. But I also have help."
The Silver Dragon turned then, offering an outstretched wing so that a figure might run up and leap onto her neck. It was Human-sized, clad in shining silver armor with a tabard and cloak in the green colors of the Kingdom of Vale. Once the figure was secure in its seating, it held aloft a massive, two-handed sword that shone with a magical light.
"I see," Ember rumbled irritably. "Well played, little Silver."
Without further warning, the massive Red launched himself forward with a quick rearward thrust of his wings and powerful legs, his maw opened wide to strike.
The nimble Silver expected the action and with a sharp thrust of her own wings, she sent herself aloft and just out of the Red's reach.
"Hang on!" she shouted over her shoulder. "I need to gain altitude to get the advantage!"
The armor-clad figure nodded, gripping both her scaley mane and the sword determinedly.
She pumped her wings, shooting up into the sky with her Dragon-kind's typical agility and grace. Glancing back once more, she saw that Ember was ponderously rising as well in her wake, trails of fire and brimstone leaking from his jaws.
"Brace yourself!" she shouted once more before wheeling over on her side and diving down on the massive creature.
She flashed by, scoring deep wounds on his exposed flank with her sharp talons. The Red bellowed in rage and pain, loud enough to rattle the mountaintops in the distance. With another roar of fury, he whipped his head around and fired off a gout of flame, but the Silver was already past and swinging around for another attack.
Twice more she sped by, ripping into the scales and untouched flesh of the hovering ancient Dragon. On the third run, though, he anticipated her strike and managed to latch onto her with his deadly claws. He wasted little time in locking his jaws around her smaller neck.
She screamed in anguish, but still dug all of her talons into the beast, determined to bring him down with her. The armored figure on her back had managed to avoid Ember's bite, but was now poised to strike the enraged Red.
And strike they did.
With a harsh battle cry, the greatsword flashed in the light of the dying fires below, biting deep into the skull of their opponent. Once more it swung in a mighty overhand blow, and Ember's right eye burst in rivulets of gore that ran down its face. Again and again the figure struck, digging deep into its head until the damage was enough to dim the creature's considerable intellect and cunning.
Still he remained locked onto the Silver, now driven past all reasoning, only to hurt, to maim, to kill. Bright red droplets of blood spattered against the ground, sizzling where they landed. Their flight could not continue as they were, however, and the embattled pair of Dragons began to slowly tumble out of the sky.
Before they hit, the Silver gave one final shriek as she dug her talons deep into Ember's chest, ripping through scale, muscle, and bone in order to slice into the beast's black heart.
The thunderous impact of their return to the ground felled most of the trees in the vicinity.
And then a heavy silence fell across the scene, as if the very land itself held its breath, shocked by the visceral brutality it had witnessed.
Eventually, though, a silver-armored figure stirred as it rolled over onto its back. With a groan it struggled to sit up, prying its dented and battered helmet off to reveal an elderly-looking Human male with grey hair that was matted to his head with sweat and blood.
Slowly he staggered to his feet, using his gore-stained greatsword to lever himself up. He looked around, as if bewildered to still be alive, before making his slow way over to where the Silver had crashed down.
The armored man paused to consider the remains of the ancient Red nearby, blood leaking from several wounds all over his body, but especially from his chest where his ribcage was shattered and exposed to the elements.
"Oum curse your soul," he muttered sadly before continuing on.
His pace picked up once he was close enough to note that the Silver still breathed. His knowledge of Dragon anatomy was rudimentary at best, but he was fairly certain that his ally and friend was struggling, and was not long for this world.
Finally he reached her head, stripping off an armored glove so that he might lay his hand across her blood-stained muzzle.
One dinner-plate-sized eye cracked open to regard the Human, and the barest hint of a smile tugged at the edge of her vast mouth.
"My lady," he stated brokenly. "We will never forget what you have done, what you have sacrificed for the people of Remnant."
She let out a soft, wheezing chuckle. "It is all right... my friend. I go to... join my Mate... in the afterlife. You must... promise me something... though…"
"Anything, my lady."
Her murmured voice was barely audible, but loud enough for him to just make out her words.
"Be… a wise leader… King Ozpin…"
With one final rattling sigh, the Silver died.
The armored man bowed his head. "In Oum's name, so do I swear it, my lady," he whispered, the tears from his eyes falling gently upon the silver scales of her brow.
A/N: Hey there! Welcome to my foray into something very new for me, a Dragon Fantasy AU, which also happens to be my 50th published fanfic. And yes, this is pretty much the intro. I only introduced one character, and not even a central one, though the Dragons themselves will have significant relevance later on. Next chapter will bring some more familiar faces to the fore.
Quick word about the AU world I've assembled here. Aura is still a thing, but semblances aren't so much. Instead Aura is used to power bodily abilities as well as magic, which is a big deal here and replaces the existence of both semblances and Dust. This AU has Faunus, but also many other fantasy races such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and the like. Also no Grimm, but there are plenty of other fantasy creatures and monsters to threaten the people of the four Kingdoms.
As we go along, you'll be introduced to more Dragon races and how they differ. The most obvious ones from this first chapter are the Reds, who are your typical greedy, cruel, domineering monster with prodigious size (especially the older ones), and the Silvers. The latter are generally one of the smaller breeds but make up for it with speed and agility.
So, I have a general direction I want to take this, and from the synopsis you also have an idea of the characters I intend to bring in. Most of them will be relatively unchanged, but a few will have some special surprises when we get to them. And yes, as indicated, this is gonna be a bit more of a mature tale full of violence and sex. Plus a few plot twists that may or may not be obvious. Also, yes there will be eventual pairings (and one right off from the start). No, I'm not gonna tell.
As far as an update schedule goes, I'm really going to try and stick to once every week or two. I still intend on keeping up with both A Thorny Tangled Triangle (daily updates) as well as pick Pearls on a String (weekly updates) back up again, so we'll intertwine with those.
One final note before this gets too long. Unfortunately I cannot adequately credit the cover image to the artist as it was found on pintrest, but it was just too perfect to pass up. If someone does know the artist, please do let me know.
Whelp, thanks for reading so far, and drop me a review to let me know what you think!
Stay shiny!