MY ONE-SHOTS
Summary: Mordremoth sees a vision, too, when the sylvari Commander Nierwenda places Glint's egg on the pedestal. It leads him to change his plans. Aand then my story grew and grew and grew and that is nowhere near an adequate summary, but it's the only one that gives no spoilers.
Chapter five: The Dragon Age (A History of Tyria)
Author's Notes:
Okay so. My sylvari elementalist, Nierwenda, is me in this story. Not Tiffany - Nierwenda.
I don't know why or when I got this idea, but it's been sitting in my 'Fanfiction Ideas' NotePad file for a while.
Oh look. It evolved. Well.
Just one warning: Do. Not. Read this story in a rush. 'insert your name! Come here and do your chore!' 'Just a moment mom! Lemme finish this chapter!' Think: 'Okay, finish really quick and then do my chore' Don't do that. Because there are mentions of: Dragonborn. Eternal Dragonborn. Dragonbane. Dragonbound. All, like, right next to each other, and they all have vastly different meanings, and you need to focus to see which one I'm talking about.
If you don't, you'll be horribly confused. You've been warned. Oh. And spoilers. Mostly surrounding Glint's egg in HoT, like it's name once it hatches, and the verry beginning, but the rest is purely made up. Don't read 'till you've finished HoT, and after Mordremoth's death in this story is complete fiction.
Just... be warned.
Oh, and I originally wanted to name this chapter 'The Warning' but then my story grew and grew and I couldn't keep it at that, could I? because 'the Warning' refers to the vision. Seriously.
Okay, here's the story now:
"Three trials, three victories. That should satisfy the Forgotten." Nierwenda tells herself.
She leaves the last chamber and enters a vast room with an elaborate structure at the center, with steps running around the edge. At the top, she carefully places the egg on the pedestal.
Soft, white light spreads around her, and then a beam of white light stabs up from the egg, shining like a beacon over the jungle.
Then, magical energy seems to swirl around the egg, and everything becomes blurred. Then, Nierwenda sees white, and then a vision occurrs, informing her in a blurry, confused manner that Mordremoth is (or will) use Logan, Zojja, and Trahearne, and that soon the Commander may have to face an army of them.
Meanwhile, the Elder Dragon Mordremoth is taking a personal interest in the fate of Glint's egg, and trying to influence it - first through the firstborn Caithe, and then through the Commander, Nierwenda, whom the egg chose.
The dragon sees a separate vision, however - and not nearly as blurry or unfocused as what Nierwenda sees, as in the Commander's case, it is dragon to sylvari, but in Mordremoth's situation, it is dragon to dragon.
The dragon views it's own destruction, defeated from within it's own mind, the feelings of triumph emanating from the ones that will soon slay it, and becomes annoyed with the egg. The dragon has a plan for this already, and it will be implemented within a day or so, as soon as his not-yet-minion gets to the dragon's stronghold.
But the vision continues. The feelings of triumph and relief change faster than a turned sylvari, change to first surprise, then shock, denial and despair, realization intertwined with grief, before determination, to the exclusion of all else. And the vision cuts off sharply, with the real foretold death of the Elder Dragon.
Mordremoth snarls to himself. 'These - sylvari - are so unpredictable. First they deny me with all their power, and succeed, and then, when I want it least, they turn around and kill me using my own methods, my own plans of attack! But I will not mix their consciousness with mine - it was what gave away my invulnerability, and made me truly vulnerable; no, I will shore up my defenses, and they will not come in, I will not die.'
The dragon excercises it's will - pressing against the more resilient ones it'd ignored on seeing their over-consuming determination. The Elder Dragon's mind grows strong, and the dragon is pleased. The dragon sharpens it's mind on all the sylvari, one after another, training itself. Sylvari grow mentally stronger. The dragon even excercises it's will on those already dominated - some of the less resilient ones would resist truly abhorring commands, and the dragon tries forcefully compelling them to do so - but that only assists the corrupted minion's will. (They do keep their mind when turned. They still fight back, but once turned, does almost nothing.) Even a few break free.
But, although the lesson was present within the vision, the dragon did not protect itself against itself - the link to the sylvari race was a two-way road, as was his link to the Pale Tree, and all of it's minions (though the rest do not possess a will of their own, as the Pale Tree and her descendents do).
That is where the Commander's team strikes. All the sylvari, rather than simply resisting, push back. Violently, controllingly, truly using the dragon's tactics against it. Especially those sylvari the dragon strengthened it's mind with - pressing against the resilient sylvari only increased their resiliency.
The dragon, in it's distraction, loses control for a moment, but a moment is long enough for the enslaved sylvari to break free, which only crumbles the dragon's mind farther. The dragon's mind is broken exponentially faster with each freed sylvari.
The Dream provides access for non-sylvari to enter the dragon's mind and whittle it down, as the Pale Tree protects the non-sylvari within the Dream.
The dragon dies a triumphant blow, all the more resounding and symbolic than the original death fate had planned for him, as the entire sylvari race and their Mother enacted vengeance, along with many non-sylvari proving their trust of the leafy race through their reliance on the Dream and the Pale Tree to keep from becoming dominated.
All in all, sylvari as a whole prove their resilience. Rather than the distrust sown throughout the dragon's campaign, the sylvari show their solidarity, and trust springs up once more, from the other races to the sylvari.
Post-corrupted, and then freed, sylvari retreat into themselves out of guilt. The Nightmare Court attempts to recruit them, knowing now that they are weak-willed, and can only fuel the Nightmare better through memories of actions far more despicable than the Court can dream up. However, said memories only strengthen the now-freed sylvari's resolve, and they strike back at the Court, whittling down their numbers along with the Wardens and Valiants of the Grove, until the Nightmare Court is but an annoyance. Most of that stems from the fact that some sylvari form the Dream Defense, a counter to the Nightmare Court, flooding the Dream with good deeds and positive memories.
Many sylvari that lived through the war of minds but never turned, that were distrusted and mocked, find it hard to reintegrate into their old lives - their friends and partners had distrusted them, been suspicious of every move they made, though it had been clear they were nowhere near turning. Most leave their former friends and find others, who, while they might have been distrusting of the sylvari race (and for good reason, both sides admit), at least did not distrust them, or betray the trust and bonds of friendship.
The Elder Dragon Mordremoth's assault on the minds of a whole race, where it was believed that the sylvari were their own race, confuses many.
Then, some Pact Priory members come to a startling conclusion - Zhaitan's death had influenced Mordremoth. Mordremoth had shown signs of post-death corruption, even if only in sylvari. They come to the realization that dragons will gain other dragon's powers when they died, a fact that the explosion of draconic energy across the ley-lines on Mordremoth's defeat confirms.
It becomes a concern that other dragons possess, to some degree, the controlling mental power that Mordremoth had had - and even a portion of the race-enslaving dragon's power is too much, in most everyone's opinion.
The Dream, for a time, becomes training grounds for the other races to practice their mental power, along with the soon-to-be newborn sylvari. The Pale Tree decides knowing the history of the sylvari, up to and including Mordremoth's creation of them, and even a couple well-chosen memories of the corrupted sylvari, would help the new sylvari. Even those that weren't corrupted, but distrusted; their memories are being used as well, to assist the new sylvari in knowing about the threat the Elder Dragons posed, as well as train them mentally.
Of course, the sylvari that had lived through Mordremoth's terror have a greater grasp on the arts of defending one's mind, much more than those who didn't have their minds attacked ever would.
Glint's egg hatches, and the hatchling dragon communicates to it's chosen, Nierwenda, that it's name is Aurene. Aurene grows and is trained into a guardian of Tyria, assisting greatly in the defeat of the other dragons. As time passes, she develops some of the prophetic tendencies that Glint had displayed before her death. After the rest of the Elder Dragons are defeated, Aurene becomes a staunch guardian of Tyria, protecting against other predatory beings, including other dragons, both Elder Dragons and others.
Aurene's chosen, Nierwenda, and her group of close friends trains a unit of the Pact specifically for rooting out weaknesses in the Elder Dragons, utilizing them, and killing said dragon.
As the years pass, the elite group known as Dragon's Watch begins training the next generation of all races, including quaggan, skritt, hylek and others, in addition to the five main civilizations.
Each member of this unit, known as the Dragonbane, knows the other members intimately, as well as the original group, Destiny's Edge, knew each other. This is vital for their group, as trust and dependence on the others had been a large part of Destiny's Edge success, and the lack of it brought about the separation.
The Dragonbane train, and in time become essentially the replacement of Dragon's Watch, as Dragon's Watch had been for Destiny's Edge, except that Dragon's Watch still exists. They become the elite unit that form, not only the iron steel front of the Pact, but also draw heavily upon the Priory's resources, and employ the Order of Whispers cunning and current knowledge in their spy network. They rely on the experience of Dragon's Watch.
Aurene produces eggs, eventually, and endows them with the magical ability to choose a companion that they deem worthy. Aurene's descendents protect Tyria from any hostile invaders. Aurene's family (and their chosen, on occasion) are known as the Dragonborn.
The lack of rampaging beasts means that populations spread. The quaggan and krait move back into deeper waters after the deep sea dragon, Maretimor, is defeated, although many stay in the shallow (at least to them) lakes and seas of Tyria, near their friends of the other races. Everyone is happy to see the krait go, as they can not be reasoned with and didn't change their ways.
As the population spreads, the races spread out of Tyria. The Dragonbane, which include the Dragonborn, spread to keep protected the citizens of Tyria, and it becomes difficult for the whole unit to trust each member of the Dragonbane, as there are so many of them.
After some discussion, drawing upon the knowledge, experience, and sound advice from the surviving members of Destiny's Edge and Dragon's Watch, the Dragonbane decides upon several things, first, to split duty; the original members of the Dragonbane plus the Dragonborn, to find and kill the last of the predatory creatures, dragon and otherwise.
The Order of the Dragon have become very knowledgeable about the Elder Dragon's weak spots, and have spotted numerous patterns, and assist that portion of the Dragonbane in their task.
The rest of the Dragonbane spread across Tyria in a mainly protective role, guarding and alerting for large threats.
When the Dragonbane, the Dragonborn, and the Order of the Dragon return, having ensured Tyria some peace - at least for a while - the leaders implement the other decision; disbanding most of the Dragonbane. Those that had stayed behind to protect Tyria would join the Lionguard, allowing for much better protection from the Lionguard, whos limited numbers had made it hard, before the six first Elder Dragon's defeat, to properly assist all of Tyria.
With the mass numbers, along with the denied applicants to the Dragonbane, the Lionguard assume an umbrella protection role for Tyria; the minor things all over Tyria, so that the Dragonbane can focus on the larger threats, like other dragons.
"We will keep Tyria safe from all threats, forever," is the motto of the Dragonbane. They live up to their role amazingly, and deep bonds of friendship are forged between all of it's members.
Aurene's descendents, the Dragonborn, multiply plentifully, and almost always choose members of the Dragonbane for companions. The bond has grown over time, as all the Dragonborn choose companions that just click with them, and the bond that is there not just from the magic, but the friendship and devotion, makes for a bond that is strong and powerful, and being chosen by one of the Dragonborn is a great boon.
The Dragonborn and their chosen live long lives and are almost unmatched in swordplay and magical power, each being trained by the most senior of the Dragonborn that is capable of it; in the first years, it was Nierwenda, the first of the Dragonborn, and all the Dragonborn gradually excel their teachers, until they are almost unmatched.
The years pass, and Dragon's Watch grow old and pass away, and the Dragonbane and their Dragonborn companions mourn for each death afresh, and vow to keep the lessons passed on by their mentors safe, and pass them down, untouched by time and legend, preserved. Unlike most lessons, these hardly change, and their original form, as taught by Dragon's Watch, is nearly intact.
On occasion one of the Dragonborn will choose someone unsuitable, though such instances aren't very common, as the Dragonborn are very perceptive, even still within their eggs.
When a bad companion is chosen, that Dragonborn and his or her chosen generally fade into the background before disappearing, seemingly because the dragon is embarrassed at the result of their bonding, but they cannot unbond, and the two will still grow close.
Sometimes eggs will disappear, or a broken shell will be found, and the Dragonborn mourn for their lost kin. Every time one of the Dragonbane die, be it of age or being slain in battle, the Dragonborn and their chosen mourn.
Occasionally one of the Dragonbane will disappear, when on a mission, but the scouts report nothing but signs of a battle taken place. Tyria mourns the loss of one of it's champions, when this happens.
The Dragonbane have managed to remain as a small unit, even smaller than the Vigil, and yet do their job properly, and the bonds of friendship remain, and the Dragonbane are the most closely-knit military unit you could find anywhere.
The Dragonborn do not always choose one of the Dragonbane, in fact it gets more and more common, as the Dragonbane are a small group, and there are many of the Dragonborn. But still the Dragonborn and the Dragonbane are staunch allies.
The asura rediscover their lost cities, and a wealth of information is found regarding the ancient asura.
The asura, now that Primordus is gone, reopen their old passageways and city networks below the original Tyria, and expand them. All races are welcome, and the underground asuran structures are reworked to accomodate the taller races.
Years and years pass, the Dragonbane grow old and pass away, as do the Dragonborn, but there are always more to keep the elite unit protecting Tyria effective and protective.
Years pass, and Aurene and her chosen, Nierwenda, and Nierwenda's friends, are but a legend, a faint memory. Years pass, and the Elder Dragons being a threat is a laughable idea. Mothers tell their children, 'if you are bad, the Elder Dragons will come get you.' Years pass, and the thought of the norn, the humans, the charr, the asura and the sylvari being the 'five major races' brings many to hysterics; 'how could that be, how could Tyria exist without all the races?'
Time goes on, decades and centuries, until only legend remains of the first of the Dragonborn and her chosen.
Overall, Mordremoth's defeat in this manner is more beneficial to Tyria than the path that history would have taken without Mordremoth's interest in Glint's egg, Aurene.
Years pass, and some start questioning why Tyria needs the Dragonbane, and the insignia of the Dragonborn becomes a curiosity.
As Dragonbane die and new members are added, the name of the organization changes many times over the centuries; but the Dragon part of the name never leaves, in dedication to the beginning; before the Dragonbane, they were Dragon's Watch. Before they were Dragon's Watch, they were Destiny's Edge. Before they were Destiny's Edge, they were the Edge of Steel and Dragonspawn's Destiny, which Eir Stegalkin and Snaff were a part of: the first deaths in the history of Tyria's defenders. In honor to those two, the legacy of Destiny's Edge will always contain the word 'dragon' in it. They went through many names; the Dragonhunters; the Dragon Riders, when the tradition of riding on their dragon companions became the norm; Bane of the Dragons; Dragon's End; Claw of the Dragon; the Dragon's Talonkeepers; Dragonstalkers; and many others, but several times the name 'Dragonbane' was used.
The Dragonbane and the Dragonborn were always kept very carefully distinct; the Dragonbane are the legacy of Destiny's Edge. Dragonbane are any and all races. The Dragonborn are Aurene's descendents, whether bonded with Dragonbane or not. Sometimes, if one is speaking of the Dragonbane, along with only the Dragonborn who are bonded to Dragonbane, some would say the 'the Dragonborn and their chosen,' or 'the Dragonborn and their dragon companions,' rather than referring to 'the Dragonborn and the Dragonbane' which would be all dragons and all Dragonbane, or the name 'Dragon Riders' which referrs to anyone bonded to a dragon, Dragonbane or not.
The only real threat to the legacy of Destiny's Edge came one century, when the name Dragonbane was in use:
One of the Dragonborn come flying into the base of the Dragonbane, in the center of Tyria, screaming about an evil dragon. 'It was one of the Dragonborn, I could feel it,' Lirodr tells them. 'They killed Cirda, my chosen.'
This instantly concerns the Dragonbane, and the Dragonborn are called, and a full meeting is held. They decide that this threat must be addressed, and the Dragonbane leave Tyria under the guidance of Lirodr, who brings them to the place the battle occured in.
The tracking unit of the Dragonbane, which consist mostly of skritt, due to their sharp eyes and delicate sense of smell, quickly pick up the old trail.
The trail leads the Dragonborn and their chosen to a network of caves not unlike the asura, but larger. Much larger.
The Dragonbane go inside cautiously. The cavern layout seems systematic, but easy to get lost in.
Then, dragons upon dragons swarm the elite unit, along with many that seem to be their chosen. They are not just dragons; every one is Dragonborn. There are many, many more than the Dragonbane can handle, even though these dragons and their chosen seem very untrained.
There are simply too many of them; the Dragonbane are overwhelmed and offered a choice; join them or die. The one who was brave enough to ask what their group was called and what they did, was answered simply: 'We will conquer Tyria, and bring back the Elder Dragons. You upset the balance, and you will pay. We are the Elder Dragonborn.' followed by the death of the one who had asked.
The rest of the Dragonbane look to their leader, Ienárm, for a suggestion. However, the Dragonbane and their companions are very intelligent, and their bonds have grown. On the other hand, these Elder Dragonborn seem to have a very decayed and stagnant bond; hence why Lirodr could only tell that the dragon that attacked him was Dragonborn, and nothing more.
Ienárm takes a deep breath and replies to the Elder Dragonborn, 'We will join you,' in almost a whisper. But he presses the idea he had had through his link to Iorivu, his Dragonborn companion, who communicates it to the Dragonborn, who pass it to their respective members of the Dragonbane. The few Dragonbane who do not have a Dragonborn companion simply follow the lead, as most of the other Dragonbane are nodding in agreement with Ienárm, and the Dragonbane trust each other fully. Only Lirodr disagrees, these Elder Dragonborn had slain Cirda, after all, but eventually quiets.
The Elder Dragonborn take the Dragonbane under their protection, showing them the labyrinth of the cave system that is their home. The Dragonbane communicate through the link that the Elder Dragonborn do not seem to have, nor can they detect, and lay out plans. The Dragon Bond grows ever more through this use, with the Dragonbane pressuring it to communicate secret plans properly, and even a very faint bond grows between the Dragonbane members, from the messages passed through the Dragonborn and around, which the Dragonbane are quick to use and grow.
The Dragonbane carefully conceal their proficiency with magic and physical weapon, determined not to show how good they really were to these Elder Dragonborn.
Eventually, the Dragonbane become trusted enough that past barriers erode, and the Elder Dragonborn forget who was Dragonbane. But the Dragonbane remember; they know easily, anyway, who is their true ally depending on who they have the bond with.
The Dragonbane learn that the Elder Dragonborn are the offspring of those bad bonds that were made centuries ago, and stolen eggs and 'slain' Dragonbane were forcefully bred to produce the community of Elder Dragonborn. This simply infuriates the Dragonbane, but do their best to hide it, for their plan cannot succeed without seeming integration.
Whenever one of the Dragonbane or their dragon companions get close enough to Tyria on a mission, they desperately reach out for any of the Dragonborn who may have hatched since the Dragonbane's disappearance. As the Dragonborn and their chosen Dragonbane do not have the powerful bonds with the Dragonborn of Tyria, as only those connections that are used frequently have that level of strength, the Dragonborn must wait and contact a newly-hatched Dragonborn.
It is years before that happens, however, as the terror induced by the Dragonbane not returning is enough to induce most of the eggs to not hatch or choose, for fear of betrayal. No one is brave enough to venture forth and find the Dragonbane; indeed, there is no hope of finding the place where Cirda, Lirodr's chosen, was slain, as no one knows the location, and the battle happened long ago.
However, one day an egg does hatch, and none too soon, either, as the Elder Dragonborn are planning an attack on Tyria.
The information passed to the new hatchling, Caemno, is communicated to Caemno's chosen, Ardoc, who informs the Dragonborn still in Tyria. The Dragonborn are informed of the powerful link between the captured Dragonborn and their chosen, and attempt to replicate it, but without the stress and necessity imposed by being captured, it doesn't work.
But the Dragonborn and their chosen train with magic and physical weapons, and warn the Lionguard, who have evolved into stalwart defenders, that an attack of evil Dragonborn calling themselves Elder Dragonborn, is imminent.
The Tyrian Dragonborn go abroad, carefully stealthed, trying to connect to the captured Dragonbane for information. They stake out several areas where they receive information on a regular basis, and so are kept vaguely updated on the Elder Dragonborn's movements.
When the Elder Dragonborn attack, sown through their ranks are the Dragonbane, who, when the Lionguard and the Dragonborn have them surrounded 'weakly', the Dragonbane turn on the Elder Dragonborn, as the Lionguard and Dragonborn forces are replenished from hidden garrisons.
The strategy works wonderfully, and the Elder Dragonborn are quelled, but not before a serious blow is dealt to Tyria, and the landscape marred for a century or so after that. Many losses are sustained on the side of the Dragonbane, and new members are recruited.
The Dragonbane undergoes another naming change; and this time, they decide to deviate from an unspoken tradion; that the name they choose is about slaying dragons. The dragons are allies, now, and most of the evil ones are eradicated; so they choose the name 'the Everlasting Dragonbound', even though some of them weren't chosen by dragons, they said they didn't mind.
The Everlasting Dragonbound returned to their old fortress and resumed keeping Tyria safe; in their absence, several dangers had erupted on the other side of Tyria from where they had been taken by the Elder Dragonborn, which they quelled.
Stories are told about how the Dragonbound had become unnecessary, but then they had saved Tyria, and mothers impress upon their children the importance of not forgetting the aid of the Everlasting Dragounbound, and caution their youngsters about being bad for fear of the Elder Dragonborn.
The Dragonbound keep their vastly advanced bond in use, communicating with the other Dragonbound and even the other Dragonborn that aren't their bonded. The bonds of friendship that previously existed between the Dragonbound are now almost meaningless beside the vast network of magical bond, almost the same as the Dragon Bond, but from one who isn't a dragon to another that isn't a dragon, rather than a dragon being on at least one end. Before this, dragons had the bond with each other, as family, and a vague communication bond to their chosen, but now the whole of the Dragonbane and their dragon companions have a vast, complicated network of communication, that includes think-talking, emotion-sharing, and even memory-sharing on occasion.
The Everlasting Dragonbound live up to their name continuously, protecting Tyria and it's inhabitants for ages and ages, thousands and thousands of years, and Tyria stays at peace. In peacetime, when no threats endanger Tyria, the Dragonbound train the Lionguard to become better swordsmen, and peace is kept all over Tyria.
Wars happen very seldom, and the Dragonbound take pains to ensure they are not on either side, but rather attempt to be mediators. Occasionally some of the Dragon Riders will take sides, but never the Dragonbound. What wars there are do not last long, and all the races thrive. All the races have massive civilizations, nobody remembers a time when the skritt, quaggan, hylek, and others didn't have as large or larger cities and economy.
No one remembers the names of the founders of the Dragonbound, not since the brief uprising of the Elder Dragonborn when a lot of things were forgotten. The names had been found in the archives at the base of the Dragonbound, but no one linked it to their founders.
The sylvari remember the most, as the Pale Tree's archive of memories never gets depleted; and through the newborn sylvari names and events are remembered and recorded, and so odd waves of recollection of old events would sweep Tyria from time to time.
Time has passed, so much time. The thousandthborn sylvari are old, and the Pale Tree had increased the time between each generation of sylvari after Mordremoth's defeat, the time getting longer and longer.
One day in the oh-so-distant past, the Pale Tree had told the current leader of the Dragon Mediators (the current name of the legacy of Destiny's Edge) that she could no longer produce sylvari, and the next generation would be simply seeds; they would grow, if planted, and blossom into trees like herself, and in a hundred years they, too, would produce sylvari.
She poured her memories into the precious seeds, the Pale Tree's memories are revered as accurate history, and the memories she had could not be contained in one seed pod; indeed, the rate of birth for sylvari was directly tied into her memory, and she was just overwhelmed with age.
The new trees would start with perhaps a thousandth of her memory, all a different thousandth, so that memory would persevere.
She keeps some memory, the memory of her making the decision, and the more recent memories, to be on hand for advice, until the new trees began sprouting sylvari, but the seed generation would be her last. It would be up to the other trees to keep the sylvari race going.
Because she was pouring her memory into seeds to be passed on, the Pale Tree does not keep the memories she empties into the seeds. She will simply be a tree with the more recent memories, and a few memories that are precious to her.
She tells all this to the leader of the Dragon Mediators. The leader agrees that it must be done, if the Pale Tree can produce only one more generation.
The Pale Tree corrects her; two, she says. She will give forth one last generation upon her death, with two seeds; one to carry the irrelevant memories, the history, and one to be her direct heir, as it were, holding her most precious memories, including the first generation, Caladbolg's most important wielders (it was always given to the next leader of the Dragon Mediators, if said leader was a sylvari, otherwise, a sylvari the Tree chose), and a couple others. This tree would be her, essentially. The youngest, but the most sentimental, one could say.
The Pale Tree's passing occurred once in Tyria's history; and the sylvari are more plentiful than ever, with a thousand trees sprouting sylvari at a much faster rate than the original Tree had for the last hundred years. The sylvari count rivals the skritt, whose reproduction rate is over the roof since the ancient asura stopped slaying them by the thousands to 'keep their numbers down' back before Primordus came up.
Odd history mentions would come up now and then, due to the odd nature of the Trees' memories. Nobody had remembered the asura used to kill skritt by the thousands, before a sylvari had mentioned it one day. The original Pale Tree didn't remember that, it was a fact of history by the time she came along, but still a fact of history.
But the history of Tyria is kept alive by the Trees, and Tyria is at peace for many thousands of years.
Author's Notes:
Oh.
Well.
That was surprising. This chapter was intended to be just the part about Mordremoth changing his plans, and then how he died instead as a result, and look what happened!
Look what happened! My story turned into the history of millennia after Mordremoth's defeat! I didn't know I could write so well!
See, that's what happens when my fingers write the story. I am two people; me and my fingers. I produce ideas and suggestions, and my fingers write them. My fingers are free to take my suggestions or not. I don't have input into that.
But because my fingers are still me, I very rarely dislike the product.
That sounds crazy, I know, but still.
Also, I'm quite sure the tense gets knocked around some, but hey! It's hard to keep it in present tense when you're effectively writing history, now is it?
So, anyway.
I even tried to end the legacy of Destiny's Edge, with the Elder Dragonborn. My fingers started writing that, and halfway through I thought 'hey, this could be a good ending point, the demise of the Dragonbane,' but my fingers said 'nope, we're going to give Tyria a Golden Age (or a Dragon Age), they deserve it after being terrorized by Elder Dragons for who knows how many years.
My fingers said that, too. I write, and then I look at it and say, 'now wait a moment, I just said 'that's my reason,' but I only just thought up that reason just now!' which is all too common, I'm afraid.
I also have my fingers to thank for super-long author's notes, that my fingers command me not to delete (it's my fingers that click the delete button, I can't command tham to do that!)
I also have this unfortunate habit that every time I type 'command' my fingers type 'commander' without me realizing (and I just did it again) and I have to go back and erase it. Oh dear. So look carefully at context... and my fingers are rambling againnnn.
So bye, before I talk your ears off some more! (I'll go update the notes at the beginning of the chapter, ramble some there...)