Chapter 10- Datolite's Tale

(Please note that the next few chapters will be "information overload." Meaning that if you had any questions before, all will be answered. Enjoy. And don't forget to Read and Review!)

Ganon's Camp

Chimaean date 5-13-12000 (ten thousand years Phoenix time+ whatever else)

Time: 1200

It had turned out that two beasts had wandered into Ganon's camp. An Eagle, and a Rhino. Fortunately for them, they had no idea where they were. But they had asked to see the Wolf and Dragon.

It turned out that the four of them were friends.

Several hours later, Praetor had come to Ganon and had told him that several other were making their way to his camp.

It was Lagravis and the others. They had come to make a peace treaty. Then, Laval and his friends had shown up. And then, Link and a group of about six beasts showed up.

Needless to say, there was much rejoice. The Phoenix and Tigers had returned as well.

Eventually, all of them calmed down. They knew that lots of explanations had to be made. To everyone's surprise, Datolite stood up. "You. Wolf. Stand up." The wolves looked around, then saw that the female Dragon was pointing her weapon at Lauren.

The Wolf stood. "Yes?" "I know who you are. Unsheathe that sword of yours and let your Dragon free." "...Why?" "Just do as I say!" "...That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?" But she did as Datolite asked.

Before long, a male red Dragon stood before the large crowd (imagine everyone in Chima plus Ganon and his army, about twenty other people, and the Mantis and Dog groups in one area. Yeah.). Datolite was staring up at the large Dragon. "...I know you…" "...Do you? ….Your scent….Son." Everyone started at Dragonus. "...No...I must be mistaken...you're a Queen, not a King...but….perhaps you were reborn...if so...then you shall come back!"

Seconds later, a young male Dragon stood where Datolite had been. "...It worked…" Dragonus nodded. "Then I shall turn as well."

A bright green Dragon appeared where Dragonus had been. He had on armor, and had an axe strapped to his back. "Werlyn. Look at me." Werlyn looked up at the Dragon. And could only croak at him. "...Father…."

Sometime later, both Dragons began to tell their sad tale.

Werlyn had captured everyone's attention. "...When I was but a youngwyrm, no more than thirty years old, I first heard news of the Feathers. I heard that they were giant birds, somewhere between eagles and crows, mottled dark-brown in color; and I heard that they were fierce, and savage beyond measure. I remember it now… I was meditating on a grassy meadow, when my friend Wingwrest came suddenly from above. On his face was an expression of utter horror. First, he told me who the Feathers were, and that they came from sub-Saharan Africa. then, he swallowed, and - with trembling voice - told me that they had attacked, entirely without provocation, a diplomatic outpost of the Wingdrane, that we had set up to try and establish peace between our two races. Without mercy they had slaughtered our people, broken our homes and shattered our eggs. Seventeen of us, and another six unhatched, were killed. Together, we flew to the capital city of Zacharos; Reith. The entire populace was mourning the victims. We joined in, keening and praying to our two gods, Lunavis and Solanus.
Though we were very sad, we still felt safe. The attack had happened in a faraway land, and we had no reason to suspect that the Feathers were staging an invasion. Such illusion was short lived.

"We soon received reports of shadowy creatures moving northward through the night. Wherever they passed over human settlements, outbreaks of plague and death soon followed. Realizing the threat to my home, I decided - at the age of forty-three - to join the council. I passed the trials and was elected for the position of 'lawgiver and judge'. I used my power to set up diplomatic ties with the three other biggest dragon nations, establishing Zacharos as the place where we would make our final stand, should it come to that. Additionally, I worked with queen Elkeen to ensure that everyone in our kingdom was able and willing to fight for their lives, for unless we stood together, we would be driven to extinction. Then, I ordered one of our top magic weavers and researchers to find a way to ensure our survival. That is all we had time for.
We heard of the destruction of the kingdom in the Caucasus from a group of haggard survivors, with torn wings and burnt limbs, who showed up at our gates. Most of them were mad with grief, but we managed to get a few coherent answers from them. Their entire kingdom had been desolated, their grand buildings turned to dust and their people slain by claw and beak.

"...We called a council of war immediately, and those of Snowdonia came. For those of the Urals, it was already too late. Our scouts reported the forests on fire, and rivers running red with blood. Upon hearing this news, the Welsh King agreed to convince his people to come to Zacharos, for he saw that we had to stick together to stand the slightest hope of survival. Our forces thus bolstered, we had some hope, but precious little. We found no sleep at night, no rest at day and no relief. Instead, we sharpened our claws, forged weapons and armor, and worked on turning our fear and sorrow to hatred and anger. Though usually a vibrant, peaceful race, we looked more like an army every day, and our cities more like castles. We had the advantage of fire, and our tough scales. Theirs was in numbers.
In the summer of 943 they first attacked the outer reaches of our kingdom. The decision was made to evacuate everyone to Reith. My best friend and fellow council member, Rathur, of war and peace, was at one of these cities when it was attacked. He created a distraction that allowed the population to make it out, but was lost in the process… nobody has seen him since, but I REFUSE to accept that he is dead…
In any case, with everyone we managed to save now defending our capital, we realized that this was the last stand of dragon kind. This was it. There was no second chance. Our researchers had been unsuccessful, and had not found a way out."

Werlyn seemed to lose composure then, but Dragonus nodded at him. The red Dragon found the strength to continue his sad tale...

"One fateful day, September the seventh, 946 by your reckoning, our war-drums began to beat, and I felt my heart banging in tune with them. I looked around, and saw the masses panicking. I realized I had to address them. Tilting my head back, I roared. Everyone stopped and looked at me. Normally, it would have been stressful in the extreme to speak to such a crowd - there were at least five thousand - but in the heat of the moment I had no time for stress. I told them to be strong, fearless and merciless. I asked them to fight for their lives, their friends and their race. Then, I recited a poem I had written.

'Where noble houses used to stand, all broken down
Through lonely skies we roam alone, through smoke and clouds
We know our foes will come for more, so hold your ground
A final stand, on Wingdran land, We're roaring loud!'

"The crowd cheered, and formed up in ranks behind their generals. I tasted the air, and the odor of blood, sweat, and adrenaline invaded my senses. I tingling started to build up in my belly, and I let it flow into my veins to the very tip of my tail. A savage smile parted my lips, as the fierce joy of battle took hold. My limbs trembled with primal anticipation as I imagined sinking my claws and teeth into coarse, bitter flesh. Yet I reigned myself in. The time for surrendering control to my instincts would come, but it had not yet. Instead, I lifted my wings high, and brought them down, leaping into the air. I felt the plates of my armor rubbing against my scales, but I paid them no heed, as I beheld the enemy in front of me. My heart, which had previously been beating like a crazed drummer, slowed as a strange tranquility came over me. My hearing went numb. All I could hear was my own heartbeat. All I could feel was the wind catching in my wings. And all I could see was a sea of brown-black bodies, blotting out the sky in the south. A lump formed in my throat, as I tried to judge their number, but found it impossible. Dread clutched at my mind, dampening my thoughts, and inducing a sense of panic. After a few seconds, I fought back, wrestling with the feeling, and tearing it asunder. Its pieces reformed themselves into two new emotions: a ravenous hunger, and a spark of fury. Suddenly able to think clearly again - more clearly in fact than I had felt before or since - I remembered the kingdoms lost, friends torn apart and eggs shattered. With the help of these memories, the spark turned into a blaze."

Werlyn seemed to grow taller as his tale winded down. "I maneuvered so that the wind was behind me, angled my wings in, and dove into the fray with outstretched claws. The world slowed down around me as I neared their ranks, ready to slash and bite at anything in my path. With all my strength and velocity, I collided into one of the beasts, snapping its wings like wet twigs. It tumbled to the ground, shrieking. I let it fall, focusing instead on a bird behind me. Flicking my tail around, I caught him on the lower beak, which shattered. I cut myself on the fragments, and though I felt them pierce the gaps between my scales, I felt no pain. Twisting around in the air, I whacked a large one, who was in front of me, in the side with my claws, opening four deep gashes, and exposing his ribs. The creature screamed loudly, and I thanked the gods that dragons had below average hearing.

For the next hour or so, I fought with tooth, claw, club and wing. Eventually though, my limbs began to feel tired and my breath labored. With a click, I closed my third eyelids, and the world around me became dark-grey, as though I was surrounded by mist. A second later, I mixed two chemicals in my throat and a stream of liquid fire burst from my maw with a dull roar. I flicked my head around, unable to see clearly. The screams spoke for themselves however, and when I opened my eyes, I saw I had room to retreat. With a final effort, I winged my way back to Reith, where I landed, roughly."

Then, his gaze grew dark a bit. "...Panting, I removed my armor, for I could no longer carry its weight. I rolled over twice in the snow to refresh myself, took a swig of water from a stream, and looked back at the fight when I heard a great cheer. The brown cloud had been considerably thinned. From its base, burning corpses fell, fueling a pyre below, which sent a solid pillar of soot-black smoke into the skies. There was a shift, and without warning, the cloud started to retreat. New courage once again giving strength to my wings, I joined in the cheer, and flew to rejoin the battle. Together, we beat them back, and they fled back south. Though our respite was but momentary, we were once again filled with hope. It was, however, shot lived as we looked down. I estimated at least a thousand of our kind to have died, and many more wounded. Along with their bodies, I saw around twenty-thousand of the Roc dead, their burning feathers filling the air with an oily stench. Solemnly, I shook my head and flew back to the city to meet with queen Elkeen and her entourage. I was relieved to see that she, and all the members of the council (who were my friends) had survived relatively unscathed. 'The sixth' (he asked me to keep his name secret) had lost an eye, but he did not seem in too much pain. I tried to stand straight for the queen, but my legs refused to stop shaking. I collapsed on my side, and passed out of consciousness...

"While I was out, the Roc attacked twice more. I am told that each skirmish was as brutal as the first. five more times they came, for a total of eight. each time, they came with more force until, on the seventh, it looked like we weren't going to hold. Only about a hundred of us remained. The mood was grim, as we knew another attack was coming, and we would not survive it. Suddenly, Emeraldia, she of life and death, whispered something to queen Elkeen, and she ordered the council inside. Emeraldia explained to us that there was a chance she could save our species, but that we would not like it. We were desperate, so we agreed. A warrior told Elkeen that they were coming once more to finish us off, and the queen gave urged Emeraldia to hurry. The dragoness focused hard as she tapped into the flow of energy in her body, seeking to control and focus it. she aimed her head at Wingwrest, of the earth and fire, and an arc of power passed between them for a split second. Emeraldia stumbled, as the energy left her body. She repeated the process for Ethaurien, of the wind and weather, The sixth, of the past and future, the seventh, of forgiveness and revenge, me, of chaos and law, queen Elkeen the wise, and lastly herself. when done, she sought a window, and looked in the direction of where Rathur went missing. once more, she focused. Her eyes narrowed to slits, and she held hear breath, but nothing happened. there was no spark, no energy.

"'I'm sorry, but I think it's too la-' she stopped herself and cocked her head. the room filled with static and Emeraldia screamed in pain as a bolt of horizontal lightning shot out from her forehead, and over the mountains. It lasted but a second, but when it was done, the dragoness had no energy left to stand.

'Now our vengeance will live on.. forever…..' she whispered, as she drifted into the void. We had no time to mourn her passing, as the Roc attacked once more. I decided to forgo my armor in favor of speed and agility. Fearlessly, for we knew that running would gain us nothing, we held our final defense. around me, I saw the last of my friends and compatriots fall, their bodies convulsing as they fell onto the still-burning mound of corpses below. Soon, there were only ten of us left. That is when I felt an ice-cold pain from the base of my head. I tried to look up, but noticed that I could not move. Or breathe! Soon, I too was falling, tumbling through the air like a puppet with cut strings. I landed with an inaudible thump and blinked twice, before finally closing my eyes, a tear rolling down my snout.

"...I had the strange experience of being separated from my own body. I could not see as such, but I could feel the consciousnesses of all the beings around me. I did not feel the touch of wind as I drifted northwards, but rather the dull roar of the void. but something was keeping me from falling into its dark, unfathomable depths, as it has done ever since. I arrived wherever I was going a few minutes later and -though I knew not that it was me- opened my eyes. I had taken as my own the body of a human baby, small and fragile. For the next thousand-and-seventy years, I would enter the mind of a new baby, as my old host died. Not aware of what I was until the child grew to the age of around sixteen, and then being plagued with loneliness and an insatiable hunger for revenge.

"That is my story. Now you have heard it. Whether you choose to believe it is irrelevant. But I hope you do, for the more people hear the word of our coming, the more likely it is that our re-ascent will be welcomed as the rebirth of old friends, rather than opposed as the coming of a new threat." Werlyn stood with his arms crossed, daring anyone to say that they didn't believe him. "...So...if you were a Dragon a long time ago...and you died and came back as a human...does that make you a shape-shifter like us?" Werlyn turned to face Lauren. "So you are human?" The wolf shook her head. "Not right now. When we come here, we're transformed into tribe members. But how did you get here?" Werlyn pondered this.

"...Well...my current human form had discovered a set of strange stones, arranged in a circle formation...when I ventured onto them for a closer look...I was sent here. And changed into a Dragon. I was wandering Chima when I came across Fiend and his camp. You know the rest." Then Razar stood up. "...About those Rocs...they wouldn't come here, would they?" To everyone's surprise, Link began to roar with laughter. "What? Rocs? No! My people and others eradicated them centuries ago! What's left are small things." Werlyn seemed interested. "...Tell me more about where you came from, Lion." Link got up and walked to the center of the group. He then turned to face Werlyn. "You want to know about my kingdom? Then let me speak."