She traced them towards a large chamber deep within the city, where a large crowd of orcs and red drakes were gathered. Inside, Ebonia could see dragon eggs sitting here and there, but what caught her attention was the creatures in the center of the room.
There was a massive red dragon, bound down by thick magic-infused chains, with huge horns decorated with golden rings. She looked resigned and depressed, and standing in front of her was another orc.
This one was resting on a staff, for he only had one leg. Unlike the other orcs, his skin was green, and Ebonia sensed a strange energy emanating from him. He wore long dark robes with a spiked cowl, and a glance at his face revealed a maniacal expression and glowing red eyes. In his other hand, he was holding a large golden disc, and Ebonia sensed a huge amount of raw power radiating off of it.
As Ebonia watched, the disc lit up and fired a glowing beam at the chained dragon, causing her to flail and scream, the same screams Ebonia had heard earlier.
As she writhed, the orc turned to face the crowd. "This is what will happen if any of you dare to resist us! We will torture your Aspect each time, and there is nothing you can do about it! So I suggest that you all start behaving and fall into line!"
The red drakes bowed their heads sadly, while the orcs cheered and chanted, "Nekros, Nekros, jailer of the Dragon Queen!"
Ebonia stared at the chained dragon, and noticed the many burns on her from the strange disc, not to mention her dejected appearance. Ebonia knew she had probably been a beautiful and majestic dragon before. No one deserved this kind of torment, not even Tethrion.
Unwilling to see any more, Ebonia quickly fled, feeling somewhat sick.
As she hurried to the cave she'd dug out for herself, inside an old dwarven mining tunnel, Ebonia knew that, as bad as it had looked to her, it probably looked many times worse to Devrialstrasz. No wonder he wanted to see if Ebonia could help save his flight. No wonder he considered her flight to be insane, vicious monsters. As Ebonia made her way into her cave, she knew that she'd be seeing the red drake again.
Knew she'd be seeing him, and possibly even be helping him.*
The next day, Ebonia took her place with the rest of the morning watch, feeling a sense of nervousness about her next meeting with Devrialstrasz. What would happen? What would it be like? Was she even capable of making a new friend, especially one that was supposed to be her enemy?
Ebonia looked up at the sky, frowning at how cloudy it was. That was pretty ominous.
Down below, the orcs were yelling at the red drakes and attempting to strap saddles on them. Most were quiet and submissive, but a few tried to struggle and fight the orcs. Ebonia winced as the orcs started lashing those ones with spiked flails.
How could any race be so savage?
It felt like an eternity before her shift switched over.
After her shift ended, she flew over to the ledge where she'd been yesterday. She didn't bother catching something to eat; the torture of the red drakes had stolen her appetite. She wondered what was different this time than it had been yesterday. She hadn't even cared when the orcs were beating the dragons then.
When she arrived at the ledge, she nearly missed it and hit the wall. Although she'd gotten good at dealing with it, the loss of her eye had also led to the loss of her depth perception. She knew that someday this might kill her, but there wasn't really anything she could do about it.
She adjusted her position and got herself safely on the ledge, then spotted that Devrialstrasz was already there.
"Hey there.", he greeted.
"You won't judge, will you?", Ebonia asked bluntly, referring to her little mistake in her flight path.
"Not at all!", replied Devrialstrasz, "I know that it's probably difficult to land in some cases when one of your eyes is missing. What's the story behind that, anyway?"
"Nothing you need to worry about.", snapped Ebonia.
Devrialstrasz raised his claws placatingly. "Okay, okay. I guess I'll tell you a story of my own first."
He seemed thoughtful for a moment, then smiled. "Let me tell you how I was first introduced to my flight's noble purpose."
He strode over to a patch of grass near the edge of the cliff. "I was just a little whelp then, when my mother took me outside. As I marveled at the sights, she strode over, plucked a piece of grass..."
To demonstrate, he plucked one of his own.
"And asked me what it meant.", he continued, showing the blade of grass to Ebonia.
Ebonia frowned. "And what did you say?"
"The same thing you're probably thinking right now.", answered Devrialstrasz, "It's just a piece of grass. But my mother replied that, yes, it is a blade of grass, but that's not what it means. It's a symbol of life, a portion of the great cycle. A cycle that we are all a part of, the grass, the goats, the orcs, even you and me. Without this grass, life would not, could not exist, and that means that, insignificant as it is, it is still very important."
He placed the piece of grass gently on the ground. "Although this one piece won't hurt anything in the long run, what happens when something destroys more? What if they burned a field, or a forest? The damage to all the life existing within those areas would suffer greatly. That is the purpose of the red dragonflight, to preserve life, and slay those who would destroy it massively and meaninglessly."
Ebonia thought, 'Such as my father and his flight.'
Devrialstrasz continued, "So my training as a defender of life began. I learned many more things during that time, but there is one thing that I remember more than anything else. All life is to be treasured. And if we must take a life, particularly an intelligent one, we must only do so if there is no other option, and mourn its loss as much as anything else."
Ebonia thought over that closely. She remembered Tethrion, as well as the other things she'd killed. Should she mourn their loss as well?
Devrialstrasz waited a moment and let her process it. Then he said, "If we are to be friends, I must request that you honor this lesson as much as I have, and help me resist those who ignore it. Even if it means we must fight your own flight."
Such a serious decision...Ebonia knew that whatever she answered, it would change her life forever. Should she join this dragon, the nice one that she'd only known for twenty-four hours? Or should she stick with her flight, cruel as they were, because they were her family and she'd grown up with them?
Ebonia made her choice.
"Very well. I accept your terms.", she said.*