Prologue

The empire was failing. The feeling of regret was in every bone of his body. Regret that he let his ambition to rule the world cloud his judgment. The conquest he had sold to the Dragon Council was now failing miserably. A new force within the Human resistance was cutting their numbers down into thousands and he feared that it would eventually wipe his kind off of the face of the earth. His name was Emperor Draco. He descended from the first Dragons ever to exit from the magical realm. And he ruled the Dragon Empire that stretched all over the known world. Before the war, every single Human was in service and enslaved to that Empire, but when the new resistance more and more were becoming free and were now openly fighting them.

The sound of the large oak door slamming behind him filled his ears as he stormed into the Royal Archives. He knew that the war had reached the end of its rope. He had to find a way to save his race before they got to the Capital Isle. Briskly pacing up the main isle of the library, he reached a massive stone door and scrawled in it was the ancient dragon writing which translated loosely into 'Emperors Library', pausing for a moment, he stood there taking in what he was about to do.

Then he knew he couldn't wait anymore. Waving his hands over the massive iron pad locks, they unbuckled. Pushing them aside he walked into the room. It was an oval shaped room, gilded in solid marble with eight niches that led to even more massive set of rooms that housed massive sets of book cases. "Bless me Imperial Elders, I shall become a martyr."

With three of the rooms being devoted to the journals and records of the past five centuries of the Dragon Empire and the those respected rulers, the other were gilded with solid gold and devoted to the elements of nature and science. Fire, Water, Earth and Air, but the last one was what caught his eye. There was a massive stone door to the right of all of these elements. Pacing to it, he kicked it open in haste for his next task. When arrive inside, it was a very dark room and the only way that someone could possibly see out of it was with the massive chandelier at the top of the room. Candle wax was built heavily on it, and Draco wondered how many of his predecessors had used it. Using his powers to transform his face, he blew fire onto the chandelier and the room was brightly light.

The smell of melted wax radiated around the room was he made his way down the main isle that divided the sets of massive bookcases. He had to find the right one that would save Dragon kind and perhaps his memory. He knew that his political enemies were plotting against him as of that moment and he knew that they would soon send the entire Empire into insurrection. He had to move quickly.

They had just fundamentally changed five hundred years of tradition, they had just voted unanimously to throw the Emperor from his position and dissolve his powers. One more vote remained, the most important vote in the Emperor Pro Tempore's mind. With this vote he would make sure that he would be the only one who could rule the Empire and thus the world. Only three things could derail his efforts, but at this point, he doubted if they ever could. But first he would have to have Emperor Draco taken out.

Looking around at the chamber, he was amazed to see the hundreds of delegates and of course the members of the council show so much disloyalty to their Emperor. In the process of fifteen minutes, that had stripped the Emperor of his power and marked him for death. Now they were about to exercise the final edict upon the Emperor and force him to be executed, and Captain Letor was afraid of the fact that he would have to do it or face death himself at the hands of the Council. "I call for a vote," Janus, the Pro Tempore, belted to the room of the squabbling delegates. "All those in favor of issuing the final edict of death upon his Majesty the Emperor, for acts of treason against the Dragon Empire and failure to discharge his duties as Ruler of the Empire. All those in favor say I those opposed nay."

He was amazed to have most of the chamber shout I at the main table of Councilors, and he felt the breath leave his chest at the severity of what was about to be done. Looking back up at the table, he watched as Janus banged his gavel on the table and looked around the table of Dragon Councilors with a heavy, but oddly satisfied, nod. "In the opinion of the Pro Tempore and the Council, the I's have it. Emperor Draco is to be executed on sight and we are to begin to stabilize are crumbling Empire"

"Captain Letor," Janus sneered at him. "You are the captain of his Majesty's Guard, tell me where he is?"

"Pro Tempore," He choked out, utterly disgusted with the smell of treason in the room. "I do believe that his Majesty is in his library, finding some way to preserve our way of life from the humans. And if I may be frank, you should trust his judgment and allow him-…"

Janus snorted in amusement and made a motion for the guards flanking Letor to take him by the arms. Placing cuffs on his hands and throwing him to the ground roughly, Janus laughed again. "Such and noble offer, but I do believe that the Emperor's time is over."

At last, he laid the massive leather bound book on the table and traced the Diamond that was traced on it. This was going to be a massive defeat for the Dragons, but at last he had found a way to save his kind from extinction. The massive alter before the table was surrounded by for stands. One was burning with fire, another was filled to the brim with water, the third was filled with dirt and the last was empty to symbolize air. He worried for a moment if his spell wouldn't work, but he decided that he couldn't wait around to figure out, he knew that Janus was about to find him and he needed to do this quickly. Throwing his hands up, the elements raised out of the alters and begun to spin into orbs. He had to concentrate his powers on doing this, his stomach muscles tightened, his brow began to sweat and all the while the power of the Imperial Elders was being infused into the elements. Until at last one orb remained.

Summoning it back to the main alter. He started at it in awe, Draco wondered if the future of his species rested in that orb. But then the opening of the doors behind him caused him to look back at them, and there, as he expected as Janus and a squad of his treacherous Guard. His demise was at hand, if didn't do it now then all would be lost. Placing his hands on the orb, he felt his powers merge and he felt his body begin to die. He heard Janus behind him, and he heard the footsteps behind him grow. "Your Majesty, it's time to die."

"You're too late fool," Draco hissed as he felt the orb begin to grow into something else entirely. "My legacy, it might be destroyed, but I will be proud to know that I would have scarified myself to save my people from you and the Human Hunters. Now back away!"

Before Janus could mount a response, the Emperor was seethed in light and in a flash, his body disappeared. It took five seconds for a shockwave to appear from where the Emperor had been standing, and all of the other Dragon's in the room were knocked back words when it finally hit them. When Janus pushed himself up, a sparkle of light caught his eye, and then he walked forward to where Draco had been standing a moment earlier, only to find that a Diamond had been left in his place. A massive Diamond, it was quite literally as big as his fist. He looked into it and he observed the patterns within, it was the most intricate he had ever seen.

And then he knew that the Emperor had stolen his chance to rule the Empire, and because of this Diamond, he'd always be here.

"I want this studied and locked away immediately." He said, picking up the stone and handing it to one of the guards.