Hello, everyone! Thank you for reading this, it means a lot to me knowing that people are reading my work. As this is my first work, I would appreciate any tips and advice that you could give me. I'm hoping to write some unique stories, so keep on the lookout for updates and new stories!

-AbyssalBlue

Originally posted: 08/05/2019

Edited for quality-of-life improvements: 12/20/2019

Prologue

Song: Bad Blood – Bastille

The sizable kingdom of Quillum had mostly been isolationist from the rest of the world. It was not so much from policy and politics, but rather the sizeable geographic gap between continents. It was from this sizable gap — an ocean, in fact — that prevented any significant contact with the civilization of dragons to the southeast. The major exception was the occasional family clan of wind dragons that could use their magical abilities to assist them on their journey to who-knows-where. To the Quillians, this was a relief, wind dragons usually land for either rest or need for nourishment, and went on their way. With the dwindling of the nomadic wind dragons, their arrivals decreased also. This age of isolation lasted for generations, with very little input from the dragons. Malefor's war, however, had ended that quickly.

Malefor's war had brought the once-thriving far-off kingdom to its knees, killing the monarchy, and leaving the Quillians to fight among themselves rather than his emerging dark forces. It was an impressive strategic move. Why he didn't continue his path of destruction through the kingdom is a mystery that nobody can give an answer too. That was, of course, when he began his domineering quest over ten previous generations ago. Brave heroes whose names will live in legend finally defeated The Dark Master, well, sealed him away. This brought an age of peace for the dragons in the wake of his destruction. The Quillians, however, did not recover so quickly. Dragon society had the elemental guardians to look to for leadership and wisdom. Still, with the culling of the royal family, the fighting for control to the throne by close relatives and cadet branches drove the once prosperous kingdom into a dark age. Centuries passed with the kingdom fractured into various territories controlled by competing factions. The once-great kingdom was a mere memory.

This was not to be the end of this once great civilization; a dwindling flame needs only but kindling to become a roaring fire once again. This came in the form of the House of Raemes. The primary reason for nobody successfully claiming the throne was the uncertainty of legitimacy. With many people stepping forth out of the woodwork claiming to be the next true heir, there no verification. Anyone opposed would soon capitulate as the family brought forth missing royal artifacts that were last seen with the royal family during the time of Malefor's attack. This brought the kingdom back together in a renascence. It was uneasy, but an age of peace finally arrived at the newly restored to the nation. three-hundred and three years in the dark ages were now over. Resources could now be allocated to more functional needs, such as the construction of roads and bridges for horse-and-cart traffic. Towns that fell victim to sieges and battles were rebuilt and repaired, and cities began to prosper again as tradesmen travel vast distances to sell their goods to a much more appealing market. This would last for many, many years.

A peaceful existence would once again be threatened when the dark armies under the lead of Malefor would land on the shores of the kingdom. Many battles ensued, with the lack of combat experience on the part of the Quillians peace time languishing leading to repeat blunders and losses. Each encounter was a learning experience for the Quillian Royal Army, and eventual successes in battle began to turn the tides of battle. Then on one fateful day, the dark army was routed back to the ocean with the Royal Army following them every step of the way, showing no mercy to those that fell behind. They were on the verge of victory, within a half a mile from the shores. The apes that comprised the dark army's ranks were shallow-minded, and those in a command position that had some wits about them were unable to get their forces under control. There would be no surrender. The Quillians would stop if they push them back into the ocean they came from or slaughtered all of them, whichever came first. And when the sand was stained deep red could be felt under their feet, the dark master had sent the apes a relief force, not of more apes, but of dragons corrupted by his influence or willfully complied with this orders. The Quillians were so close to victory, and in a bitter irony, they were the ones being routed. This relief force was not that large, only about thirty or so. While this was not a large force, there was no doubt among the Quillians that the dragons were in orders of magnitude more combat effective than the apes ever were. The dragons attacked at random, sometimes attacking remote villages far from the front, other times attacking the royal army directly. They needed a breakthrough of some kind, and the old weapons from days gone by ordered by a paranoid ruler wouldn't be effective. If they could not get the dragons in a position that would allow the Quillians to use them, then they were as good as useless. That answer came in the form of the green gems.

The gemstones the dragons utilized had never been a common occurrence on the continent that the kingdom was situated on. Records from long ago when the wind dragons came stated that large, brittle gemstones would generate in their general vicinity. Even though the corruption of some of the dragons that Malefor sent barred them from having them generate near them (through observation), those that came willfully without corruption did have them generate near them. It was the ones that they did not break and harvest that the Quillians were able to take for themselves to study. It took countless hours by royal scholars to begin to understand the mechanisms by which they work and even more to devise methods to be able to utilize them. And it was a brewer that put for a suggestion that would give the Quillians the breakthrough that they had been desiring. It was passed forth as a joke to them, he said that it would be like making booze while laughing. Without having any previous leads on how to utilize them, they tried it. The end result was a liquid that glowed a green color, just like the gems that they used. The volunteer that drank a pint of the beverage, to the amazement and the scholars and the volunteer, had gained abilities not accessible previously: the ability to use magic. The process was soon repeated, and an entire field of study was sponsored by the House of Raemes to progress the field. It was decided that a platoon-sized group of soldiers would dabble in the arts of magic to act as a field test; if they had more gems, they could have had a larger unit.

Weeks past with the Royal Army in the field struggling against the dragons of the dark army, who have taken over the Dark Army's war effort. All the while, the platoon of magically-inclined soldiers were trying their best to train themselves in their newfound abilities. Their opportunity to test their skills in combat would come when one of the dark army's dragons was spotted flying in the direction of a sizable town, presumably for another quick raid. This town, in particular, Mystic Springs, was in the right location for the magic platoon to intercept it. They traveled hastily, arriving and staging at the outskirts of the town ahead of the flight of the dragon. They waited until it was in visual range before engaging. They were nervous that their newfound abilities would fail them, that they would be unable to stop it, and might have to fight it off with what weapons that they had on them. In the distance, they saw it approach. It was the one that was the most feared, the largest one of them. Many of the soldiers were scared, not readying themselves for what they had to do, all except for one. This one brave soldier began to charge up a simple energy ball in his hands. He waited for the dragon to get closer so that his shot would not miss. Almost as it was right over them, he threw the energy ball at the dragon. It impacted its wing near the joint connecting it to the rest of the body, and the resulting explosion ripped the limb right off. It tumbled and hit the ground hard, the soldiers now with a regained sense of confidence charged the fallen, crippled dragon. They hacked it to bits as it writhed in pain in the dirt.

Their task had been a success, they had slain their first dragon. The tides were turning. Battle after battle had been fought with more increasing success. One by one, the dark army's dragons fell by the hands of the Quillians. Having lost enough of what few dragons that Malefor had on his side, he ordered them to withdraw from the continent, and to abandon the apes that they had been tasked to back up. As if history were to repeat itself, the royal and dark army once again clashed at sea, but this time, there was no help to keep the apes from losing. They wouldn't be any other attempt to invade the continent from then on. Finally, at peace again, it was under the impression of the standing king that the dragons could no longer be seen as a neutral species, Dark Master's corruption or not. The kingdom's troubles had begun with dragons with its collapse centuries ago, the dark age that followed it, and the difficulties that it faced. As the streets of the royal city celebrated, the king of the time had begun to construct his plans that would lead the kingdom and the dragons on an inevitable collision course. Despite the losses they had received from dragons, there would be no shortage of volunteers for what's to come...

An invasion of the Dragon Realms.

Good god, this feels like absolute trash. It's a rough start, but its somewhere. To get some things out the way, I had to write this little prologue backstory because otherwise, the conflict in the main story would have made no sense without the poor attempt at world-building that was done here. After some time and when I get more experienced, I might write a whole story that will go into further details about the Kingdom of Quillum, because it has such a great potential to make a great story in of itself. Any questions y'all ask, I will do the best I can to answer them in the following chapters.