Aaaaand...here we begin with adapting canon events...sort of.
Also, before I go any further, I'll say a few things about the battles in the previous two chapters...namely, that they were inspired by various historical battles from real life.
The Battle of Qizil Qirghaq was based on the Battle of Plataea (479 B.C.), the Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.), and the Battle of Pressburg (907 A.D.). The Battle of Chaharjuy was based on the Battle of Carrhae (53 B.C.), and the Battle of Hattin (1187 A.D.). The Battle of Caudium was based on the Battle of Arausio (105 B.C.). The Battle of Satricum (which I admittedly didn't name earlier) was based off the battle of Lake Trasimene (217 B.C.). And the siege of the Tarantine Capital was at least loosely based on various Mongol sieges in the 13th century A.D., particularly Otrar (1219 A.D.) and Baghdad (1258 A.D.)...though, key word "loosely", as Altamir is a city-TAKER, not a city-destroyer.
Either way, "back to the show", so-to-speak.
PART 2: THE SWORN SWORD OF DESTINY
BEGIN ARC: THE SHEATHLESS, SULLEN, BLOODIED SWORD
CHAPTER 1: DUSK FALLS
After Altamir inflicted the final defeat on the Tarantines at the Siege of the Capitoline City, the remainder of them surrendered to his (and Scipio's) rule, and over the course of the next few months, the remaining other peoples, the Aetolians, the Manathirians, and the Qartubinians, cowed by the defeat and surrender of the Tarantines, all followed suit and bowed and bent the knee before him, allowing him to attain also the titles of "Imperator Magnus of Tarentum", "Megas Archon Basileus of Aetolia", "Malik al-Muluk of Manathiria", and "Shufet tal-Shufetin of Qartuba", and thus crown himself, at 20 years old, as the Great Khan of All Pyrrhia. At long last, he'd done it, and done it at a far earlier age than that which Tomur was when the latter finally achieved such himself, at that.
He had united Pyrrhia under one banner.
Now, he could have simply basked in this victory, given that he was only merely the second person in the histories to, after Tomur, unite both all of the continent's dragon tribes (a task that, in and of itself, he was fourth in, after Jangar, Tekuder, and Tomur again), AND all of the continent's human polities, and he was also less than half of the age that Tomur was (42) when the latter achieved this. But, ever duty-bound and ever beholden to the responsibilities of being a responsible ruler, Altamir had better things to do than just sit about and 'bask'. No, he had work to do.
Right after he became properly crowned as being the Great Khan of the continent, Altamir immediately set about eliminating as many forms of unfair, undeserved oppression as he possibly could as fast as he possibly could. Of course, the main one he went after was obviously slavery. As part of his accepting their surrender, he mandated that the Qartubinians, Manathirians, and Tarantines outlaw acts like owning a person as a slave, as well as buying and/or selling a person as a slave, with such acts required to be punishable either by death or by life imprisonment. Mandates that now-Emperor Scipio, in his act of redemption on behalf of his people, willingly took to enforcing, but that Grand Shufet Hanno and King Harun had to be made to implement at sword-point. He then took all of the freed now-ex-slaves and mainly resettled them in their homelands, ancestral or recent, but if that was not possible, he instead resettled them in Makhimon Valley, a valley in southwestern Baktria that was between the Dardanian mountains to the north and west and the Gergovian rainforest to the east.
Of course, things that were related to slavery were not the only such practices and forms of unfair oppression that he sought to eliminate. In Aetolia, he went after the island realm's various arbitrary rules, laws, policies, traditions, and practices that had relegated and rendered an entire half of the population as little more than servants and property. He made it illegal in every single realm under his rule to force individuals, regardless of age or whether they humans or dragons, to be married off against their will in any way, shape, or form, and in Aetolia in particular, it was mandated that women and girls receive more or less the same education as their male counterparts (i.e. much, much more than just house work). It was required that women be allowed to participate in political matters (including voting and running for, and holding, office) and represent themselves in law, and that they not face any arbitrary gender-related restrictions on economic matters, including earning money and conducting transactions, and also in general. Of course, given that these traditions were deep-rooted, unjust as they were, there was a lot of resistance to the changes that Altamir mandated, and there were a great many attempts to subvert them and 'preserve the sacred Aetolian traditions'.
But Altamir remained diligent in implementing and enforcing these changes, especially with the aid of the Sea Dragon Queen, Delphine. Kind and benevolent, but at the same time firm and stern as a Queen, Delphine was enormously vital when it came to stamping out such attempts at subverting his rule of law in this regard, and Altamir took great satisfaction in personally watching her put the arrogant Archon Basileus Menestheus in his place for trying to demand that Altamir 'respected the ancestral traditions of the land' by reminding him that he was going against the laws of Tomur, the previous Great Khan of All Pyrrhia who had first mandated similar changes five hundred years before, and so was technically committing treason and insurrection against the current Great Khan, who had taken on and inherited HIS ancestor's will, by refusing to submit to and accept such changes. Menestheus, after a great deal of grumbling, backed down, and begrudgingly began acceding to the changes and quieting his people's attempts to subvert Altamir's rule.
There were also other changes that Altamir began enforcing throughout the lands now under his rule, like, among other things, those related to sacrifice. Specifically, human sacrifice. Many, of course, were horrified by such a practice being in place anywhere at all whatsoever, and sought to eliminate the practice. But many others, who lived under (or at least had grown up in) such pantheons and beliefs where it was indeed practiced, albeit uncommonly and only under certain circumstances, sought to keep the practice, believing that it was the greatest means of honoring their gods and reaffirming the strength of their beliefs. After hearing arguments, defenses, and statements from both sides, Altamir made the decision to go for a compromise. On the one hand, he made an effort to understand the beliefs of those who indeed practiced it, but on the other hand, citing a rare, but ghastly practice from Qartuba in which children were forcibly thrown to the fires as sacrifices to Ba'al Hammon, he made it clear that there needed to be limits as to when and with who it could be carried. For one thing, those being sacrificed had to be at least twenty years old. For another, the ones being sacrificed either had to be entirely willing (in which case, their families had to be sufficiently materially compensated), or (in the only instance in which anyone could be sacrificed against their will) criminals who were soundly and fairly convicted of serious, heinous crimes warranting the penalty of death (as, in such cases, it was merely a fancier execution). Failing to comply with these laws related to human sacrifice would result in those performing the sacrifice to be sacrificed themselves as an apology for profaning the gods. While there was initial protest to this from both sides for varying reasons, they eventually more or less conceded that Altamir was being fair and impartial, and accepted his decision on the matter.
Regardless, though, behind all of these new changes and reforms and rules and laws and whatnot...Altamir did indeed have an end goal. Now that the wars that had plagued the continent were finally over, he could finally achieve (or at least make a damn good try at achieving) the other part of his dream for Pyrrhia. Namely, he wanted for it to enter a proper, continent-wide Golden Age. One where no Pyrrhian, human or dragon, would ever again have to suffer tyranny, unfair oppression, unjust persecution, or needless suffering from any other human or dragon ever again, and one where Pyrrhia would become a true Cradle of Civilization, the envy of all the world.
He knew that he would likely never fully achieve every single bit of this dream, and that there was always going to be a few 'bad bits' here and there. But if perfection could not be reached, then the next best thing was the pursuit of excellence. Excellence in rule. And that was one thing that, diligent, hard-working, and honor-bound as he was, he would seek endlessly so as long as he lived as a ruler of Pyrrhia. He was beholden to his duties, so it was for the best that he damn well kept to and upheld them.
Early May, 1528 B.S.
It had now been two years since Altamir had become the Great Khan of All Pyrrhia. He was now twenty two years old, his oldest son having recently turned five, and his four youngest daughters having all turned three even more recently. His dragon companions, now full adults at thirteen years old each, had all finally reached their full sizes when it came to length (and height). Togay the largest of them was now an astounding 60 feet long from nose to the base of the tail (and 27 feet tall at the shoulder), with Sorkhagtani being a close second at 50 feet long (and 23 feet tall at the shoulder). Gulay and Peksen were both roughly the same size at 45 feet long (and 20 feet tall at the shoulder), with Shiban slightly behind them at 44 feet long (and 20 feet tall at the shoulder). Chagatai, the second smallest, was 40 feet long (and 18 feet tall at the shoulder), and Gunesha, far and away the smallest, was 36 feet long (and 16 feet tall at the shoulder). They'd also all found their mates for life from within their respective tribes, all from one of each tribe's various noble families, and all of them had eggs with those mates, eggs that were set to hatch any day now.
Things were beginning to settle down a little around Pyrrhia. Old wounds were starting to heal, and old grudges, rivalries, and enmities were starting to smooth over, or at the very least decrease in heatedness and intensity. Trade was now flowing quite freely between...just about every single polity and realm on the continent, and prosperity was generally on the rise, with poverty starting to recede and the trappings of a growing middle class starting to appear.
Altamir had heard and seen some of the various arts that were starting to flourish all over the continent. Literature, theater, visual art, painting, sculpting, architecture. Such things were becoming grander and more vibrant as, finally free of the constant worry about war and tyrants both internal and external, artists, playwrights, writers, painters, and sculptors set about creating their finest work, competing with each other to be seen as the greatest and grandest in this regard.
Indeed, it DID seem like the beginnings of an actual, real, genuine Golden Age. Altamir's rules, laws, policies, and reforms were well and truly working. It was actually happening. Altamir should have been happy. He should have been more or less celebrating.
But he wasn't. "Gods...damn it...damn it, damn, it damn it...why...why did...?"
Altamir was no stranger to killing at this point. He hated the task, and he regarded it as a hideous one, having never taken joy in such a thing outside of two instances (and both of those instances involved personally killing oppressive tyrants that he was at war against), but he knew full well just how many times he had been left with only a single option, and he'd never exactly been 'averse' to doing so when it was necessary, as he'd never been able to afford any aversion, having had to first kill at nine years because his life and that of his little brother's had literally depended on it. A side effect of that, he supposed, was that, once it was clear that killing was the only option...well, he'd never exactly hesitated to kill, like many who were killing or about to kill for the first time out of necessity often did. He always just did it and got it done and over with for the sake of those he loved and for those whose lives depended on it. And this lack of hesitation was something he'd seemed to have always had...
...with human enemies, at the very least. Dragon enemies, though...
Well, not long after he'd finally properly become the Great Khan of All Pyrrhia, Altamir and his companions had been attending a routine meeting with his dear friend Queen Karmin of the Sky Dragons, when the topic of Jangar, Tekuder, and Tomur having all personally slain dragons on their own without any outside help came up in the discussion. Much like so many dragons, Karmin wasn't bothered that they had done so...if anything, she, like the majority of dragons, was quite impressed by such a feat, given that Jangar, Tekuder, and Tomur were all humans and were striking down foes many, many, many times their own size, even if it was thanks to the powers and abilities that came with them being Human Animi. Altamir himself acknowledged that, yes, these deeds were quite impressive...but he was nonetheless VERY unenthused with the thought of having to perform such a deed himself, making it clear that he'd killed and was killing enough as was...did he truly need to add more to his figurative plate? Karmin had replied by pointing out that not all dragons were kindly and benevolent, with some being rotten to the core, and even some who were a living danger to everyone and everything around them, and that should Altamir ever, out of necessity, have to kill a dragon of, say, even her tribe, she would hold absolutely no grudge or ill will against him over it. Altamir's dragon companions had backed Karmin up on this, pointing out that humans and dragons were both equally as capable of good or evil as each other, and that, at some point, he would have to kill a bad one to protect/save the good ones. After hearing this, and an additional plea from Karmin to start developing methods and techniques of taking down rogue/evil/enemy dragons so that he could protect those he loved and cared for, just as he did against human foes, Altamir reluctantly conceded that it would likely happen at some point...albeit with an aside that he hoped that it never would have to happen.
Thus, once he returned from the meeting, he'd assessed his usual methods of taking down foes. The 'bow' and 'arrows' could and would undoubtedly work, but given the 'explosive' nature of such a thing, that also had the capacity to get messy, especially if there were populated areas around or the potential to get allies and innocents caught up in the cross-fire. As for his Qanda...well, that could certainly cut through a dragon's scales and bone, given its sharpness and arcane unbreakability, as well as his own, dragon-level strength...but as it was, it was also FAR too small to reliably kill a dragon quickly nonetheless; it would take many, many, MANY strikes to kill a dragon that way, and in serious situations, he likely wouldn't afford to be able to do that whatsoever.
The results of the assessment were clear; he needed, and was lacking in, a quick, efficient, reliable way of immediately taking out enemy dragons without the possibility of collateral damage or casualties. So, he'd put his mind to work trying to figure out how to develop such a way...
...until Togay had suddenly offered a solution from a(n admittedly infuriatingly) simple place.
Namely, simply making the blade of his Qanda longer. As in, eight times its original length, or roughly the length of a Sarissa Pike. With its sharpness and inability to be broken by normal means thanks to the arcane unbreakability that was put upon it, blade width or thickness wouldn't be an issue, and given that the blade would now be roughly as long, almost as long, or perhaps even longer than, most dragons were tall at the shoulder, Altamir could rapidly behead or split in half any rogue enemy dragon of any size, allowing for quick elimination of threats without (much) capacity for collateral damage thanks to the lack of 'explosiveness' of such a method.
By the gods...gods damn it. Togay was not a literary mastermind like Chagatai basically was by now, but damn it if he didn't have sense!
So, Altamir did just that, giving his Qanda a 'second form' in which the blade was that specific great length (while still also having the 'first/original form' in which the blade was the original length). Indeed, he now DID have such a method of taking out enemy dragons quickly, reliably, and efficiently. It was just that he wished that he never had to use it. He was far too used to seeing dragons, majestic beings who were humanity's only equals, as friends, family, allies, loyal followers, constituents. He didn't want to 'break that streak'. He wished dearly that such a day where he had to do it never came.
But alas...today, that day had come. And it was neither pleasant nor pretty.
Altamir was visiting Queen Karmin once more when came a certain case, a legal dispute between a Sky Dragon mother named Mynah and a Sky/Sand Dragon hybrid father named Condor over who had 'rights' over their three young dragonets, came up that Karmin had to manage (with Altamir, as usual, aiding her in doing so, as he commonly did on his visits to her). Apparently, Mynah and Condor had been arguing and fighting over various things, and this led to the mother getting irate enough to try and legally force Condor to give all of the dragonets up to her.
Altamir could tell from the beginning that he couldn't let Mynah get her way. She was very irate and argumentative, and seemingly constantly on the verge of exploding in rage, not to mention very, very unpleasant and seemingly utterly unwilling to have any regard for her dragonets' wellbeing or happiness. By contrast, Condor was was a mild-mannered, polite lad who made an effort to follow procedure without arguing, and seemed to both place great value in his dragonets' best interests and take their wants and needs quite seriously. It was very clear here, sadly, that only one parent actually loved the dragonets.
So, right from the beginning, Altamir did his damndest to make sure that the dragonets did not end up stuck with Mynah while at the same time still respecting the fact that it was Karmin who was the Queen of the tribe. First, he had the dragonets seated with himself, so as to prevent them from being intimidated into choosing one or the other by either parent. When it was explained why this was being done, Condor accepted it without complaint, albeit clearly a little upset, while Mynah angrily argued with this decision, claiming that the dragonets HAD to be near their mother...though she quieted down when Karmin firmly ordered her to stop. Then, he made sure that Condor was able to make his case, which the latter did by detailing how Mynah was acting and behaving around and towards him and the dragonets and giving numerous examples of such behavior, with Mynah often angrily interrupting and claiming that he was lying (Altamir and Karmin both had to order her to be quiet numerous times while Condor was speaking). And then, Altamir and Karmin made the choice to have the dragonets themselves inform their decision and hear their wishes as for which parent they wanted to be with, which led to Mynah loudly protesting that they 'couldn't be expected to know what was best for themselves', and it took being ordered at spearpoint for her to quiet down this time. Given her actions, her attitude, and her behavior, as well as what Condor and the three dragonets had testified about how Mynah was acting, Altamir and Karmin ultimately decided that the only one who had rights over the dragonets...was Condor.
And that was when things went straight to the hells.
To say that Mynah didn't take the decision well was to say nothing, for it sent her into a fit of shrieking, screeching, screaming rage unlike anything before it, and in the midst of this mad tantrum, and an equally-mad declaration that "if [she] couldn't have them, no one [would]"...
...she inhaled and then blasted an intense gout of flame at Altamir and the three dragonets.
Altamir, reacting quickly, was able to get in front of the dragonets and block the flames with a quick on-the-spot magical barrier...but only towards himself and the dragonets, as while the dragonets were unharmed, albeit greatly terrified (understandably so), Sky Dragons had the most powerful and intense fire breath of all Pyrrhian Dragons, so the flames then boiled off to the side...leaving Karmin and numerous guards near her and them burned, some badly so.
As his companions and other guards frantically rushed to the aid of the downed Queen and their comrades...Altamir, distraught and beyond furious by the sight of a dear friend injured by this...this damn maniac, was seeing red, and before he knew it, he was surging forward, 'long-form' Qanda now in hand...and his own comparatively tiny frame be damned, he violently severed Mynah's torso in half the long way, and he then circled around (much as he'd done with Ariq over a decade ago) and cut her head off for good measure. Then, his anger turned to panic as he then remembered Karmin and the other guards and rushed over to them.
What then ensued was a bout of what was perhaps the most intense healing magic usage that Altamir had ever utilized in his life. Thank the gods that he was able to make sure that there were no permanent or life-long injuries or disabilities as a result of this cesspit-fire, but...
...gods damn it, things didn't have to go this way!
Regardless, now, Altamir and his companions, after seeing off Condor and the latter's dragonets, and making sure that Karmin and those guards were stable, had concluded what had become a very harrowing visit, and were returning to Avraga. All the way, Altamir could hardly find any words to say whatsoever, the day's events beating in his head like a drum.
His companions noticed it eventually.
"Aldy?" Gunesha asked after Altamir was silent for a long time. "Aldy, are ye there?"
Altamir finally turned his head to look at her and opened his mouth in an effort to say something...but nothing could come out, no matter how hard he willed himself, before he looked at his hands shamefully.
Then, he heard a sigh from Gulay. "We ken, Aldy, that whole matter today was a bloody mess."
"Aye." Chagatai agreed. "What matters is that it's over, and that nae one else was killed or crippled for life."
"...I should naet have let it happen like that...Karmin..."
"Aldy, everyone was caught off guard by what that Myn-iac pulled on us." Shiban replied. "It was naet just ye. We all underestimated haew much of a bloody lunatic she was."
"I mean, it was easy tae see from the start that she had a few nails missing in there," Peksen remarked, "but trying tae murder her own dragonets, and the ruler of Pyrrhia and the Queen while she was at it?"
"Karmin will be fine, Aldy." Sorkhagtani assured. "Same thing with thaese guards, taew. Though, I have tae say, I've never seen ye use THAT much healing magic on someone before. Ye probably healed away naet only thaese burns, but alsae every single ailment that she would have otherwise had for the next week!"
The other dragons chuckled a bit at this, but Altamir couldn't delight it with a response. He just looked down at himself...it was like he could still see the blood that had splashed over him when he killed Mynah.
Togay seemed to pick up on this. "We ken, Aldy, we ken...ye had tae kill a dragon today."
"I...I wish I could have gone for longer without have tae ever had tae..."
"And we get that. We absolutely do." It was then that Togay's wisdom struck again. "And yet, here's the thing, Aldy; the other side of humans and dragons being just as smart as the other means that those of both kinds have the same capacity for evil. Just as there are thaese who are rotten tae the core among humankind, the same is the case for haew such individuals exist among dragonkind. Oftentimes, cutting thaese sorts daewn is the best thing we can do for the good and innocent, be it human or dragon."
"Exactly, Aldy." Gunesha agreed. "Killing is never a pleasant thing, but we're alsae never going tae hate ye for just doing what ye need tae for everyone's sakes. We ken ye love dragons dearly, but part of life involves having tae do things that ye dinnae like tae do, right? As long as ye kill only when necessary, and never kill anyone innocent or undeserving, then even if it DAES upset us, we will always understand. Just allow us tae make sure ye never lose yer way, alright?"
"...alright." Gods, his Dragon Companions could be so much wiser than him at times...who knew what he would do without them?
The fall of the latter of the two "Great Tyrants" of Pyrrhia, and the unity of the entirety of the continent under the banner of Altamir Jahangir Alchono, High King of the Dragon Tribes and Great Khan of All Pyrrhia, saw the ushering in of an era that was considered, far and wide, to be Pyrrhia's Great Golden Age. Under the young but brilliant and capable leader, man-made scourges like slavery, tyranny, warfare, and more were more-or-less eliminated under him, and even from early on in his continent-wide reign, a great many advances and developments in the arts, the sciences, ideas, philosophies, schools of thought, knowledge, management, governance, and human and dragon welfare were made. Advances and developments which Altamir himself was a patron of in a conscious effort to improve the lives of those on the continent in pursuit of his dream, with his Dragon Companions standing loyally by.
Aside from the prosperity and splendor that Pyrrhia became awash in (for the most part, at least), arguably the most notable advances of those were of the 'sciences' sorts. While Altamir was undoubtedly most known early on for his martial ability and talent, and for having united the continent at least partially through force, he, in reality, had a great distaste for pointless warfare and pointless bloodshed, so, aside from the welfare and well-being of his subjects, his greatest interests were in culture, the arts, learning, and knowledge, the latter two arising from a curiosity about how the world around him worked, and the various natural processes and phenomena that existed in it and upon it.
This curiosity of his about the natural world and its processes and phenomena had been a thing with him ever since he was very young. He'd had a tendency to ask a great many questions about such things to those that he trusted in his youth, often doing so relentlessly until he got an answer that would satisfy him, which drove his tutors up the walls at times. Now, as an adult, once things settled down on the 'welfare' front, Altamir continued this side-quest for more knowledge of such things, now having the support of an entire continent's worth of great minds, thinkers, scholars, philosophers, intellectuals, and more whose assistance he could gain with regards to attaining such a thing.
There were some who questioned this thirst for knowledge, with at least one overzealous man going as far as attempting to accuse Altamir of 'blasphemy' and 'attempting to usurp the gods'. Altamir shot the man down by pointing out that he full well knew that it was they who had made Pyrrhia, not him, and that he was merely wanting to see how the things that they had created worked.
And see how such things worked he would and did, for it was under him that many, many, many discoveries were made in many fields involving the natural world. From the earth beneath, around, and occasionally over them, where various advances where made in the knowledge of mountains, their makeup, and how they formed, as well as of various geological events like Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis and how to properly respond to them; to the various flora and fauna that inhabited Pyrrhia, of which breakthroughs were attained regarding the understanding of how they lived, acted, and behaved, what illnesses and blights that they could have, and how humans and dragons were to treat them; to even humans and dragons themselves, of which Altamir fostered a great deal of innovations with regards to understanding how they could live best and how they could properly deal with any illnesses, physical or mental, and how such illnesses could be prevented, counteracted, or at least mitigated; and to, of course, the skies above, of which various weather-related and meteorological phenomena, like rain, wind, clouds, storms, droughts, dry seasons, rainy seasons, monsoons, floods and flash floods, thunderstorms, severe storms and thunderstorms, cyclones both tropical and extratropical (including hurricanes), derechos, dust storms, hailstorms, snow storms, blizzards, cold waves, heat waves.
These and many other things were all heavily studied and documented under Altamir, who developed his animus powers even further and ever further by the year, and put them to use in aiding these studies, allowing him to go places, studies-wise, where no normal human or dragon could go given their technology and natural abilities. Though, while all of these scientific discoveries and advancements were certainly notable...
...arguably among the most notable were Altamir's studies on tornadoes.
Tornadoes were a rightly-feared force of nature that were notorious for the death and destruction that they mercilessly caused wherever they could form (Altamir's own Nirun people even referred to them by a term that meant "Black Wind", and many on the steppes believed tornadoes to be the terrifying manifestations of bloodthirsty evil spirits, leading to other nicknames like "Sky Demons/Devils" or "Spinning/Swirling Demons/Devils" and the like). But other than that they formed mainly in a large swath of land stretching from the Eastern Steppes, through Baktria and Gergovia, and all the way into Sagartia, and that they (at least generally) formed in certain times of the year, and that they spun and rotated, came in different shapes and sizes, and could move at many different speeds, they were quite poorly understood, and many believed it fruitless to attempt to study something as chaotic, as wild, and as deadly and destructive as they were.
Altamir, however, thought otherwise. The great thinkers of Pyrrhia were able to, say, figure out the length of a day, length of a week, and length of a year, were they not? If they could do something like that, then they could absolutely study something like, say, a tornado.
And study tornadoes he, and they, did.
Under him, a proper definition of what a tornado was was established, and it became mandated for officials at all levels to report and document any tornadoes that occurred, regardless of when and where, and what they did and what they hit. This allowed for a proper record of how many tornadoes happened a year, as well as what structures they impacted, if any, and what injuries and deaths in humans and dragons that they caused, if any. If the opportunity presented itself, Altamir himself would even personally go out upon the steppes during the storms that formed these apparitions to find one (or more) and follow it (or them) from birth to death to study its (or their) behavior and see how it (or they) moved and acted, and what shapes or forms it (or they) could take. Not to mention that he'd also heavily study the damage done throughout a tornado(es)'s path to see what notable, interesting, or intriguing things he could find, and what such finds could provide when it came to understanding these wraiths of the skies.
The result of these and other practices that Altamir put in place was a wealth of information, some odd, some bizarre, some straight-up absurd farcical, some astounding, some shocking, and some horrifying and terror-inducing, about tornadoes, including how they formed, how they worked, how they moved and behaved, how large they could get, what damage that they could do or deal, and just what kind of destructive power they could contain in those whirling, swirling winds.
Tornadoes, as it turned out, were the products of a process in which differing masses of air of different temperatures and moisture content colliding against each other in the skies above, which caused certain portions of Cumulonimbus clouds (already powerful to begin with and bringing with them threats like high winds, heavy rain, and occasionally even large hail) to begin rotating in (relatively-speaking) tight circles, known as Mesocyclones. It was from these Mesocyclones that Tornadoes formed, and they were fueled by the storms, propelled along by the front of cooler, drier air, ingesting warmer, wetter air from their front-right quadrants, and could keep going as long as their 'parent' storms still had a steady stream of warm, wet air to feed off of...until they didn't, at which point the tornadoes would dissipate.
No two tornadoes looked the same, and they, again, came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They could vary in height from a quarter of a mile to more than a mile tall, and while they generally averaged out at anywhere from a fifth of a mile to a quarter of a mile wide when it came to width at the ground (which was marked by the swirling wind field, NOT by the visible condensation/debris), they could be anywhere from less than 50 feet wide at the narrowest to over a mile wide at the widest (with a VERY rare few even breaking two miles wide). They could, also again, take a variety of forms, from thin ropes, to stout 'stovepipes', to enormously wide 'wedges'...
...and sometimes, there were ones which either had, or basically were, a cluster of smaller, tentacle-like sub-vortexes that were narrow-but-powerful tendrils not so much made of air as they were of concentrated chaos and destruction. Not to mention that, when it came to how they moved, Tornadoes could be unpredictable; they usually had an average forward movement speed of 25-30 miles per hour, and generally moved in the direction of "northeast", but they absolutely could and did change direction, and their forward movement speed in practice varied from near stationary to over 50 miles per hour, the latter being much faster than any horse, and at which point only dragons in flight could escape from, and that was if they themselves started fleeing in time, given the tornadoes' possible size. While generally happening in the afternoon hours of the day, tornadoes could happen at any time of the day, including in the dark of night, often meaning that it took hearing the roaring winds or the tornado being illuminated by a lightning flash for someone to realize that it was there and coming either at them or right by. It was also not uncommon for tornadoes to be heavily wrapped in rain, which ALSO made them hard to see (let alone see coming).
Speaking of "powerful" and "destruction"...there was the severity of such things that tornadoes could respectively be and inflict. Now, it was to be mentioned that tornadoes differed from each other just as much in intensity as they did in size, so, again, no two tornadoes were the same in that regard either. Due to this, Altamir eventually developed, out of necessity, a scale for measuring tornadic intensity. The scale was a seven-point one, ranging from 0-6, and was known as the "Salqin Scale", after the Nirun word for "wind".
Most tornadoes were, at least relatively-speaking, on the "weak" side. Damage from these particular sorts of tornadoes was generally limited to damaged roofs, broken windows, and battered chimneys, as well as signs that were insufficiently anchored being blown down and trees getting branches knocked off and sometimes being uprooted outright if they were, say, shallow-rooted. Of course, "weak" was, again, relatively-speaking, as these ones could absolutely still cause injury and death to both humans and dragons, as humans could be hit by flying glass, struck by falling trees or tree branches, or be on boats or in horse-drawn carriages, wagons, or carts, which these tornadoes could most certainly respectively capsize and flip over, and smaller and younger dragons could potentially get blown out of the skies by the upper end ones among these so-called "weak" tornadoes if caught up in them by carelessness or misfortune. Nonetheless, while these sorts of tornadoes were certainly not harmless by any means, they were still by and far the most survivable sort of tornado, and so Altamir deigned them to the bottom two levels of the scale. "S0" was for tornadoes with windspeeds of 85 miles per hour or lower, and "S1" was for tornadoes which had windspeeds of 86-115 miles per hour (and was more or less the point where the aforementioned "carriages/wagons/carts getting flipped over" and "smaller/younger dragons getting blown out of the skies" started happening).
Things got uglier and uglier the further one moved up the scale, however. "S2" tornadoes, with windspeeds of 111-135 miles per hour, and "S3" tornadoes, with windspeeds of 136-165 miles per hour, were the next two levels on the scale, with both sorts of tornadoes being considered "strong" (and S3 and above being considered "intense"), and this part of the scale marking where fatalities really started to happen in both humans and dragons (particularly with regards to S3 tornadoes). At S2, well-built structures would now considerable and/or serious damage, including roof loss, and more poorly built structures would be battered beyond the point of any reasonable repair due to the loss of external walls, not to mention that small objects would now be turned into projectiles, increasing the potential for damage. Carriages, wagons, and carts would now be either rolled several times or tossed into the air, and most certainly be destroyed regardless, and wooded areas would usually have large percentages of trees snapped or uprooted, not to mention that any dragon, not just the smaller and younger ones, would be blown out of the skies. Things only got worse with S3, against which well-built structures would generally lose most of, if not all of, their outer, external walls, and against which poorly-built structures would be destroyed outright. Larger and larger objects (including the aforementioned carriages, wagons, and carts, as well as trees and pieces of destroyed structures) would now be tossed and hurled about as projectiles, and wooded areas would lose most (if not all) vegetation, with those trees that somehow weren't uprooted by these still likely to be stripped of their bark. Higher end S3 damage was the point where tornadoes started tearing grass out of the ground, a phenomenon known as "ground scouring", and from this point on, those caught without sufficient shelter faced either severe maiming or certain death, be they human or dragon.
But it was in the top three levels where things got truly horrific. "S4" and above marked tornadoes that were to be considered "violent", and S4, the 'lowest' of this sort of designation, still readily proved it with winds of 166-200 miles per hour. At this point, any structure hit, even the most well-built ones, would likely be simply destroyed, with the poorly built and poorly constructed ones in particular being utterly obliterated. Large, healthy, mature trees would be severely debarked, and that was not counting being snapped off close to the ground or being uprooted outright, and in the latter case, they and other large objects could be ripped into the air and launched as projectiles. Ground scouring now became more uniform and more severe (frequently two or three inches deep at the least), and, critically, this was the point where sheltering in the most interior room of a structure, which could at least be counted upon to save one's life in a well-built structure with those S3 and below, would no longer guarantee someone's safety, and at this point, it was better to be underground.
And then came "S5", which was at least generally the strongest that tornadoes got, with winds of 201-260 miles per hour. Now, destruction was almost always 'total', and it was to be emphasized that incredible phenomena would occur. S5 tornadoes were more than capable of ripping apart and obliterating the most well-built structures, sweeping their foundations clean and sending their pieces skyborne, and now even the foundations themselves could be damaged, with even basements of homes potentially not being enough to protect people now. Wooded areas would now be brutally, crudely, and violently "clear-cut"...as in, the trees frequently simply vanished in such winds, ripped to pulpy shreds. Speaking of "shreds", very little recognizable debris would be left from a such tornadic intensity in general, with most building materials being reduced to a coarse mix of tiny particles, a phenomenon that tended to take "sand-blasting" to an all new level when it came to such intensity happening in populated areas (which also tended to simultaneously turn the tornado into an extremely violent "blizzard" of debris on top of the maddeningly powerful winds, intensifying the destruction even further). Ground scouring was now very severe and intense (with such tornadoes ripping not just the grass, but also the soil itself to a depth of as deep as 12 inches or potentially more), large objects could be thrown for miles, the bodies of humans and dragons caught in such tornadoes would frequently be mangled beyond recognition (and that was if pieces of them could even be found), and those communities unlucky enough to be struck by such intensity, be they villages, towns, or cities, tended to be either simply be leveled entirely or at the very least have large portions leveled, with smaller villages simply vanishing in the winds with only small pieces left.
It took several years of investigating various tornadoes of varying intensities in various areas to put the scale together, and Altamir and his companions came across an awful lot of very strange damage in that time, to the point where one would think that it came straight out of an Attican absurdist comedy. More than a few times, dining ware like forks, spoons, knives, and plates, as well as other small household objects, were found embedded in trees or the sides of destroyed buildings. Pieces of paper or parchment from destroyed towns were often found many, many miles away, with the greatest distance being one from central Baktria that was blown out to sea and landed on a ship off the Baktrian coast...over 300 miles away. There was also how oddly capricious tornadoes could be when it came to damage, particularly true with "multiple-vortex" ones. More than a few times, a one or more structures would be utterly destroyed, while other structures near it would be only lightly-damaged at worst. In a few instances, the rest of a structure would be entire destroyed, but the door was still standing strong (and still closed, at that). In other instances, a structure would be dragged off of its foundation entirely, but still be at least technically be relatively intact (in one particular instance, there was this particular structure that was turned entirely on its side, and the residents had to use a ladder to get in the front door salvage what they could). Sometimes, the structure was otherwise destroyed, but certain objects (like, in one instance, a pastry on a plate) were left untouched and intact. And in one rather memorable instances, a group of chickens were stripped of their feathers but otherwise alive (cue the "behold, a man!" jokes about "featherless bipeds").
By far the single strangest tornado that Altamir had investigated while forming this scale was the tornado that hit Baktria, a town on the Halys River, Baktria's northern border with the Parlataeans. The tornado ultimately being rated S5 (albeit a multi-vortex one that only inflicted such intense damage and destruction in scattered areas of the town) and causing 45 deaths were frankly the least strange things about it. Happening late at night and moving fast in November, only visible during flashes of lightning, the tornado first completely destroyed a wealthy farm estate to the point where one could not tell that the farm was there...except for five horses which were found a quarter of a mile away still tied to the same fence post, and remarkably uninjured. At the edge of Moudania, a home was grazed and unroofed, with the inhabitants not realizing the latter had happened until they went outside to check the neighbors' house for damage. A little further in Moudania, one structure had its back wall blown out and scattered, but various tables and shelves and everything on them in the structure seemed basically untouched, while another structure was destroyed and only had a single fragment of a wall still standing...but two wooden racks on that piece of wall were still intact, as were most of their contents. At another large farm on the edge of town, hundreds of livestock were slain and the barn was obliterated, but the farm house nearby had only a blown-in door to show for damage.
But perhaps the most memorable aspect of the tornado was the various objects and debris that rained out of the skies upon confused steppe herders in a very large area of the southeastern quadrant of the Parlataean Steppes to the north and east of Moudania. Of course, there were the papers and parchments (including a four-page love letter found 60 miles away from the town) but there were also other objects as well, like roof shingles, splinters, fragments of books, an entire sack of flour (found over a hundred miles to the northeast, likely the longest that an object heavier than a pound was ever carried by a tornado), and even dead ducks (indeed, the tornado had killed an entire flock of migratory ducks near Moudania, and Altamir remembered very well when an irate steppe herdsman who had been 40 miles northeast of Moudania came to complain about the slain birds raining upon him out of the skies, with some hitting his livestock, including his horses, one narrowly missing hitting him on the head, and one even crashing right through the top of his tent). This led to the coining of the local phrase "raining letters, flour sacks, and dead ducks", which was an equivalent to the more uniform one of "raining cats and dogs".
Either way, though, all of this damage and destruction, and yet...there was still one level of the scale remaining.
Altamir had originally intended for "S5" to be the highest level on the scale with windspeeds of over 200 miles per hour, as it seemed that it was simply impractical for the scale to have any level higher. But then, while he, his dragon companions, and his then-teenaged sons and daughters as well as his companions' respective second batches of dragonets, were all investigating the aftermath of the Great Sozopolis Tornado, a monstrous mile wide tornado that struck the aforementioned town and several others in central Baktria (coming dangerously close to Baktria's capital city in the process) and ultimately incurred a death toll of over three thousand, making it one of the deadliest tornadoes in Pyrrhian history...
...and what he and they found was horrifying enough to make him cut off S5 at 260 miles per hour and add the seventh level, S6, which marked tornadoes with windspeeds of over 260 miles per hour. As for what such incredibly rare and powerful tornadoes could do?
Well...it was best left unsaid.
But, anyways...Altamir's studies on tornadoes and their effects, and what they could do and how they worked, acted, and behaved, as well as officials documenting such things that happened when they went through various areas, meant that these things about tornadoes became much more well-known amongst the populace. On the one hand, this meant that tornadoes became even more feared (and rightfully so) than they were before, including in areas where inhabitants either hadn't realized that they had them, or previously thought that such things "could never happen here". On the other hand, this fear got the populace to take tornadoes as the serious threat that they were, and start taking measures to protect themselves from them (Baktrian and Sagartian authorities in particular cracked down on shoddy construction, as well as recommending that those who could do so dig and build themselves underground shelters).
Tornadoes were not the only natural calamity that Altamir studied, however. Derechos, windstorms, hailstorms, ice storms, sand storms, droughts, blizzards, floods, flash floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, tsunamis, heat waves, cold waves, and more were all, again, also among the natural disasters and phenomena and whatnot that Altamir investigated and made advances in the knowledge of, and of how to properly prepare for and survive them, and how to counteract them in necessary. He always considered it to be among his finest achievements that so many who would have otherwise died in these phenomena survived thanks to his advances in knowledge of such things.
Natural calamities were not the only area that he made new advances in, of course, nor was natural science for that matter. For it was also under him that he built a multicultural capital named "Saraybaliq" (a Nirun-Qangar word meaning "Palace City") on the banks of the Almaz river, as he recognized that conquering on horseback and dragonback was easier than it was to dismount and govern, and he'd need something more permanent if he was going to rule for so long. Not to mention that large-scale trade between Pyrrhia and another continent, Panchala, was finally properly started for the very first time. Panchala was a few days' dragon flight (and yes, it is meant by 'days') from Pyrrhia, and though it was only two thirds the size of Pyrrhia, it was a thriving continent with at least ten different human realms, and with its own dragon tribes. Namely, these tribes were the Beetle Dragons (self-designated "BeetleWings") and the Leaf Dragons (self-designated "LeafWings"), as well as two developing sub-tribes of the former in the Hive Dragons (self-designated "HiveWings") and the Silk Dragons (self-designated "Silk-Wings").
Now, it was to be noted that the dragon tribes of Panchala were not actually native to the continent...in fact, they (or at the very least the Beetle Dragons and the Leaf Dragons, anyways) were actually originally native to Pyrrhia, but went into exile to Panchala in Jangar's time to keep a threat affecting dragons safely contained away from Pyrrhia. Due to this, it was forbidden on both Pyrrhia and Panchala for dragons from one continent to go from another, as to continue to maintain this threat containment.
Humans, though, did not have such a ban upon them due to the threat not affecting them like it did dragons, so while the sea journeys between Pyrrhia and Panchala were definitely long, they certainly could and did happen, and soon, trade routes by sea opened up between the two continents, eventually leading to an exchange in cultures, ideas, languages, religions, and technologies, including something known as 'black powder', a fiery, explosive material that was dangerous, but also had a great deal of potential for usage.
However...this trade didn't start happening until long after Altamir had came to rule Pyrrhia...and long after his dragon companions finally died of old age. While Altamir still lived yet.
Ah, right...about that.
Back when Altamir was 25 years old, he was silently grappling with a certain...issue. Namely...what would happen to Pyrrhia and everything he had worked for when he died. On the one hand, he absolutely understood that death was a natural part of life, and he was a strong believer in the natural order of things, not to mention that he found the idea of outliving all of his immediate family, particularly his own children, exceedingly painful. But, on the other hand, Altamir had, at that point, already sacrificed a great deal for the sake of a peaceful and prosperous Pyrrhia, and he was beyond terrified of the idea of it all going to waste. He could not let that happen. He could not. He simply could not.
When Altamir confided in this to his dragon companions, they were, as usual, doing their best to keep him sane and be there for him...though, they were themselves divided on what to do with regards to this issue.
Well, they were...at least until Gulay made a semi-joking remark about how, if he was that worried about his work falling apart if he died, then he could simply just live forever.
Gulay intended it to be a joke to lighten things, just as she and Sorkhagtani always tended to do...but Altamir took it a different way. Such was he afraid of losing all of his progress and hard work that, on the spot, he asked them very seriously if he could do that. Gulay initially tried to tell him that it was just a joke, but she and the others realized that there was no taking things back now. So, they reluctantly walked him through such an idea and a decision, and about the various downsides to it which would come about if he took it. Then, after they did that, they then finally asked him if he would be willing to attain such a thing in a way that would not harm or kill anyone else, if he was willing to always remember that he was not a god, and if he would at least be willing to live with outliving those dear to them if they died of old age after having lived long, happy lives. Altamir said yes to the first two, and then reluctantly said the same for the last one. When they got these answers from him, they then said that the choice was his, in the end, and that they would support whichever choice he made, but that if he indeed decided to go for it, they would not be joining him, figuratively-speaking, as they all were decisively against 'living forever' themselves, and all very much wanted to live and die normally.
So, after more thinking, and putting his personal happiness last yet again...Altamir made his choice. He compromised. Basically, he decided to go for it in a way that specifically removed the possibility of him dying from old age or from any infectious or otherwise potentially fatal disease or illness or whatnot, but still left him open to dying in other ways. This way, him dying was now a mere possibility, not necessarily an inevitability, but it also meant that, while he wouldn't age and would stay young, he was still mortal and could otherwise die like anyone else, so he'd still have to take care and make sure that such a thing didn't happened if he didn't want it to.
For a time, Altamir was able to hide the decision, passing off his still looking and moving young as being good fortune. However, after he turned sixty years old, he finally disclosed what he had done with himself, heavily emphasis the "not a god" aspect and that he absolutely was, again, still mortal...just one who wouldn't die of old age now, and that it was done for the sake of stability on Pyrrhia. There was an uproar about this for a time, but, within a year or so, most generally let it go, and more or less everyone let it go within a few years.
By that point, however, the aforementioned 'price' was already happening. Tahmasp, the Shah of the Panjians and a dear friend to Altamir two years his junior, tragically died young at the age of 42, albeit not before gaining the title of "Tahmasp-i Marmatgir", "Tahmasp the Restorer", due to his and Altamir's work in restoring a battered Panjistan to great prosperity, with a young but kind and talented son named Anushirvan succeeding him. Anushirvan, aged 19 at succession, would rule wisely and fairly, in a way that would have made his father proud, for 50 years before abdicating in favor of his own grandson, Ardashir, and would live to be 82. As for Altamir's various other allies, Ptolemy would live to 71, Kleomenes would live to 70, Dumnualos would live to 68, and the various other leaders, generals, and princes that had fought in his army or at least supported it would all live to ages ranging from mid-60s to early 80s.
Of his immediate and close family, friends and allies, Altamir's mother, Sorkhagtani the Elder, as well as his aunts Temulun and Ozlem and his uncle Khingila, were the first to go, all dying in their 70s and 80s of various natural causes. Next to go were Babur and Toregene, who both lived to their early 80s despite their hard line of work. Then, after that, came Altamir's siblings and cousins and also Rautastaxma, all of whom had their children and lived long lives, and then died in a range of ages from late 60s to early 90s. And then after that came Tamuriyah, who lived a VERY long life and managed to break a century old before finally dying of old age. As for his children, aside from Bleda, who died very young in a horrific incident, the rest, too, lived long lives, had their children, and died at ages ranging from late 70s to late 90s.
Each time these beloved family members and close friends and whatnot died (except for Bleda's case, in which he was unable to do so due to severe circumstance), Altamir would give them the grandest funerals possible, doing his best to properly honor their lives and their memory, and ensure that they would be properly remembered and never forgotten. He loved and cared for them dearly in life, so he made sure to do so for them in death as well as he returned them to the skies that his people believed that they came from. At Tahmasp's funeral in particular, he even sang a song that the latter had penned in his youth, "Morgh-e Sahar".
Throughout all of these funerals for his human family, his dragon companions were there at his side, faithful and loyal as they always had been, even if they had their qualms about Altamir's decision. After the funeral of the last of his daughters, he simply asked them to stay with him and live for as long as they could. With them each now being 106 years old but not about to give up on life, they agreed to what Altamir asked, and so they stubbornly lived on. Dragon aging being different from human aging meant that they could live for much longer than the average human, and indeed, all of his dragon companions lived for at least a further century, owing to their excellent health and stubborn determination...
...but alas, once that century passed, and once they were all over 200 years old, they, too, began to die one by one as age finally caught up to them. The first of them to die, Shiban, did so at 206 years old, and then the rest followed (Togay at 207, Peksen at 208, Chagatai at 210, and Sorkhagtani and Gulay at 213) until the last remaining one of them, Gunesha, died at 216 years old, an age that made her the longest lived dragon in Pyrrhian history.
Given their great popularity with both humankind and dragonkind on Pyrrhia stemming from their kind-but-firm personalities, their level-headed wisdom, their skill when it came to leadership, administration, and diplomacy, and their ability to aid the Great Khan in wise, fair, responsible rule, as well as many other achievements of theirs (like the developing of an entire new literary language by Chagatai in particular)...their deaths were mourned far and wide.
But none mourned as hard as Altamir did.
It was already the case that each and every single death from those close to him was very, very painful, particularly those of his mother, his uncle, his aunts, his siblings and cousins, and especially his wife and his children.
And yet...even with the knowledge that they'd lived long, happy, healthy lives, were able to see all of their own dragonets to adulthood without a single one of them turning out bad or dead, never went senile and remained sharp as blades throughout their lives, and that none of them died by way of any horrible illness or foul play...
...the deaths of Togay, Sorkhagtani, Gulay, Chagatai, Gunesha, Peksen, and Shiban were by and far the most devastating.
Given how long they had been a part of his life, as well as how faithful and loyal they were, each and every single one of their deaths ripped his heart out and smashed it under a landslide. It felt as if a piece of his very soul was being torn away from him each time one after another of them passed on. At each of their funerals, he had an incredibly hard time keeping a handle on himself as he gave them one final embrace and memorialized their lives before returning them to the skies in the Parlataean tradition.
It was a predictable thing that Altamir grieved their deaths long and hard, particularly after Gunesha's death. After her death in particular, he was described by others as being rather "lost", as if his life was lacking in purpose...he was only barely able to do his job, and he had to take time off to try and steady himself, if only for a little while.
For a time, Altamir's rule was lacking the purpose, the gravitas that it usually had. He never 'became a tyrant', thank the gods...but it was seen by those around him to not quite be doing it as well as he could have, no thanks to his great loss.
This continued until, one fateful day, while he was on a belated visit to Baktria, he stumbled upon a group of (quite young) Mud Dragonets who had been abandoned by their (horribly irresponsible) "mother". Horrified by this as he was, he initially considered finding someone else to take them in, given the pain of losing his Dragon Companions and the knowledge that if he took them in, they would inevitably die under him...but upon hearing and seeing them begging and pleading with him to give them a home...he couldn't say "no".
So, he took them in...and in the process of giving them a proper home and a proper upbringing...he finally realized his true secondary calling (alongside his existing one of ruling a peaceful, prosperous Pyrrhia, that is). Namely, that of being the one to take in and raise those human children and those dragonets who were particularly unfortunate thus far in their early lives, be it being abandoned by their parents, being abused by their "parents", or being orphaned because their parents died.
Before long with this, he began to do this in full, reinvigorated by having found this secondary purpose, and soon, he earned yet another meaning to his nickname of "the Father of Pyrrhia". That, and eventually, he became the sort whom the various kings and queens of Pyrrhia would send their heirs to be fostered under so that they could learn how best to rule their respective realms under his watchful eye...arguably the most notable of these being Queen Margarita, a Sea Dragon Queen who, despite having to become the Queen of her tribe at 5 years old, became known as being perhaps the best Queen that her tribe ever had, and one of the most universally beloved.
So with this new secondary purpose, he properly resumed ruling Pyrrhia, ruling it wisely and with care for hundreds upon hundreds of years...
...until, one day, he didn't.
That morning, just shy of his 1050th birthday, and just shy of what would have marked his 1030th anniversary of ruling Pyrrhia, Altamir Jahangir Alchono, King of Kings, Malik of Maliks, Shahanshah of Shahanshahs, Khan of Khans, and the Great Khan of All Pyrrhia...was found dead, having died of mysterious causes.
It was never agreed upon as to what exactly caused his death. The only thing agreed upon was that there was no sign of foul play, and a consensus upon the matter was otherwise never truly reached.
Unfortunately, given his death, and given that, by this point, there was no real specific heir to the rule of All Pyrrhia, his realm that he had spent over a millennium building gradually broke apart along tribal, ethnic, and cultural lines. With this, and without a wise ruler to keep out any potential tyrants, Pyrrhia went into a slow decline on both the human and dragon fronts, and soon, Altamir's dream became a dying one, especially after wars between once-friendly realms began breaking out against one another. This would continue for hundreds of years after his death...
...until, when it had very nearly been five hundred years after his death, and right around the time of the new year...a great and most horrific calamity occurred. One that utterly obliterated the already dying dream that Altamir had possessed.
The Scorching. Or, as the human survivors of the event would label it, "The Great Perdition".
Aside from keeping the realm together by wise rule, one thing that Altamir had also done was taking in any dragon animus born on the continent, with an order to the various tribes to send to him any young dragonets found to be animi, so that he could make sure that their powers, and the usage of such powers, would not drive them insane, and so that he could teach them that with great power came great responsibility. Without him here to carry out this vital task, it was inevitable that an animus would go mad and cause a catastrophe.
And it came in the form of Bloodfang. A Night Dragon Animus, driven mad by her powers and her overusage of them, she had developed an unhinged hatred of humans, and despised that dragons on Pyrrhia would dare to associate with them and call them friends and even family. So, she decided to 'do something' about it by developing a spell.
In that spell, which would be placed upon all humans of Pyrrhia, humans and Pyrrhian Dragons would no longer be able to communicate with or understand each other, with the latter now hearing only nondescript squeaking and 'yibbling' from the former, and the former now hearing only nondescript growling and roaring from the latter. Furthermore, as long as she lived, Pyrrhian Dragons would now actively hunt and kill (and perhaps eat) every single human that they came across.
And when she cast that spell, the results were nothing short of beyond horrific.
When the spell was cast, humans found themselves being hunted down and slaughtered (and even eaten) en masse by the very same dragons that they had previously closely associated with, even the ones they had mutually regarded as friends and family. The bloodshed was beyond anything Pyrrhia had ever seen, with millions upon millions of humans being slain and even devoured in this act of betrayal. The active slaughter only stopped when a young human woman managed to find Bloodfang by a stroke of luck and kill the both of them in a self-sacrificing manner...
...but by then, it was much too late. Most of the human peoples were either wiped out or almost wiped out, and there were few survivors of the slaughter overall. And Pyrrhia's figurative landscape had already been irreversibly and permanently changed, with dragons now having completely and utterly forgotten their long amiable history with humans, and humans bitterly mourning their lost friendship with dragons as they were forced to hide away in groves and coves and even underground from the beings whom they had once regarded as a 'sibling species', as family.
Thus began the new normal, with dragons and dragon tribes warring with each other over this and that issue, while humans were forced to live in the shadows. And this new normal would persist for centuries upon centuries...
...until one day, five thousand and eleven years after the great calamity, a most momentous event happened, unknown to all upon Pyrrhia at the time.
In the mountains of Central Pyrrhia, in the lower-middle-right side of what Dragons now knew as the "Claw of the Clouds Mountains", a human animus and a Sky Dragon animus, able to understand each other thanks to that human, being a human animus, being unaffected by the curse that afflicted all of the rest of his kind, were living together as they had for seven years up to that point, and they had gotten curious about this figure from the distant past whom they knew as "All-Tamer". So, they endeavored to see if they could raise the dead so that they could be sure that they'd be able to bring him back to life. When they were able to first resurrect a mouse and then a hawk whose carcasses they had found, with both creatures respectively running and flying away no worse for wear, they then resurrected a "random fox that had died six thousand years ago", and the result was a live, healthy fox being brought back from nothing and, too, running off no worse for wear.
When they saw this success, they then set about bringing this mysterious, mythical "All-Tamer" back to life...but when they cast the spell that did so...their cave filled with light, and they felt a great wave pulsing through them that then radiated outwards, soon reaching all of the rest of Pyrrhia.
January 20th, 5011 A.S.
"...eh? What was that?" Clay, a nearly-6-year-old MudWing Dragonet who had been taken in by the beauty of everything outside of the cave that he and a similarly-aged SeaWing Dragonet named Tsunami had just escaped from, was distracted from that beauty by some very odd feeling suddenly flooding through him.
"...uh...yeah, good question." Tsunami had clearly felt it too, given how she looked and sounded as Clay looked at her. "Don't know what that was either."
"...should we go back to the cave?" Clay pensively asked his friend.
Tsunami seemed rather offended that he'd ask this. "...after all of this hard work to get out of there? No! Not a chance! Let's keep going!"
They didn't notice the SkyWings approaching them...
"...hmm?" The usually unflappable Glory, a nearly-6-year-old RainWing Dragonet who was helping Clay and Tsunami escape, and intending to follow along with a similarly aged pair of dragonets, a NightWing named Starflight, and a SandWing(?) named Sunny, was genuinely confused by this foreign, alien feeling pulsing through her. "What was that?"
"I...I don't know." Sunny was confused by the feeling as well, contrasting her usual cheerful nature. "Uh..."
"...question for later, I guess." Starflight remarked. "Uh, guys, let's keep focused on getting this fire started."
"Huh? What was..." Peril, a 7-year-old SkyWing Dragonet with Firescales, was waiting for the next fight to start in Scarlet's Arena when the odd feeling hit her and then left. "Uh...okay, I guess that just happened for some reason...whatever."
"...wha-?" Moonwatcher, a 3-year-old NightWing Dragonet who had the (mis)fortune of being born with mindreading powers, sat up in confusion in the RainWing forest. "What was that?" This feeling that had just hit her...it was nothing like what she got from her powers. "I...hope I'm just imagining things..."
"Whoa...that was weird." Kinkajou, a 3-year-old RainWing Dragonet, stopped in confusion at the strange feeling. "Never felt THAT before..."
She didn't notice the trio of NightWings approaching her from behind...
"...muh?" Qibli, a 4-year-old SandWing Dragonet, confusedly tilted his head as he felt the odd feeling rushing through him.
"Qibli?" Thorn, the adult SandWing who had taken him in as her 'advisor', noticed his confusion. "What is it?"
"Huh? Uh..." Qibli then shook his head. "...must be my mind doing weird stuff for no reason. Nevermind."
"...huh?" Anemone, a 2-year-old SeaWing Dragonet who was both a princess and (annoyingly) tethered to her mother, Queen Coral, felt something strange going through her.
"What is it, dear Anemone?" Her mother (or rather, her mother hen) asked her, clearly concerned.
"Oh...it's nothing, mother." Anemone answered somewhat irritably.
If only she could get away from her mother just for a minute or two...
"Hm?" Turtle felt himself startled to his feet by the odd feeling that went through him like an ocean wave. "Oh...it must be my mind playing tricks on me...like when I thought that I could be a hero."
That was a failed dream...especially ever since THAT incident...
"...eh?"
"Wha..."
4-year-old Winter and 5-year-old Snowfall, a pair of IceWing Dragonets who were a respective prince and princess of their tribe and cousins to each other, were right in the middle of asking Crystal, Snowfall's 9-year-old older sister, if it was REALLY a good idea to try and protect Gharial (a 7-year-old MudWing Dragonet who had been captured in a recent battle and was a prisoner of war, but whom Crystal had come to like and care for) from being executed by way of being a live training dummy by instead taking him as a personal butler and assistant to her, when IT had pulsed through the two of them.
"Uh...are you two okay?" Crystal asked, noticing how surprised and confused they both looked.
"Huh? No, I'm fine, I'm fine." Winter quickly dismissed her concern.
"Yes, we're both fine." Snowfall joined her cousin in this. "Anyways, Crystal..."
And this wave reached even beyond Pyrrhia, washing over Panchala (or rather, Pantala, as its inhabitants now called it) as well...
"...huh? What was that?" Blue, a 5-year-old SilkWing Dragonet, felt the strange feeling blasting through him.
"...beats me. I don't know either." Luna, his similarly aged sister, shrugged, also having been hit with the feeling as well, and being equally unknowing of what it was and what it meant.
"...wha?" Cricket, a 5-year-old HiveWing Dragonet, felt something strange pulsing by. "Uh...I don't know what that was..."
"Cricket?" Katydid, her 15-year-old big sister, asked, concerned. "What is it?"
"Uh...I don't know?" Cricket wished she could know what that was...oh, how she wished she could know. But she didn't know if she ever could or would.
"Hrm?" Sundew, a 5-year-old LeafWing Dragonet, jolted up in confusion, having felt this odd feeling utterly alien in origin flooding through her. "Uh..."
"Sundew?" Willow, another 5-year-old LeafWing Dragonet, whom Sundew had snuck off to meet with, asked, concerned about her.
"Oh, it's nothing." Sundew replied, dismissing her concern. "I've got no idea what THAT was, but...it's probably nothing.
But it was not nothing.
Far from it, it was something that would herald Pyrrhia and beyond permanently changing once again. Something that the likes of which had never seen before.
And as the human animus and dragon animus stared at the red-haired human still asleep in front of them, they would find out just what and how much in the coming day.
Aaaaaaand...we're officially at canon station! Well...sort of, anyways, but still!
Okay, but in all seriousness, this is the quickest that I've finished a chapter for this story in quite some time, and also the shortest chapter since the story's second one. Still enough to push the story to nearly 100k words despite it only being 6 chapters in, but oh well...
...either way, see you guys and girls and whatnot next chapter!
(furiously begins to plot next chapter and the chapters after it)