Thread: The Dragon and the Princess (Wraith and LovinglyAmira)

The world today is so divided. But that hadn't always been the case, no. Back in the days of yore, only dragons ruled the skies of these beautiful lands. Mighty, majestic, they soared high above and gazed down below at the creatures that could not fly as they did. And pitied them, for the dragons could not think of a curse bigger than being anchored to the ground by no will of your own. How could those little beings live such lives, they wondered. For the dragons were not the mindless beasts that the stories tell of. No, the victors had written the history and the history is not nearly as accurate as it should be. Quite the contrary, the dragons were far more civilized than the humans who were later to become their demise. But before the humans arrived, there were only dragons, ancient and beautiful, left by the Gods to guard the lands. Or so they believed. It was humans who came along from unknown parts of the world and at first, it was peace. For hundreds of years the humans lived in peace, not fearing the creatures that flew right above their heads day by day. Yet the more they evolved, the more structures they built, they became aware and began fearing. Perhaps it was good to secure themselves a place in the world and make sure that the dragons would not burn the things they built to the ground. So it had begun, the fear mongering that led to the creation of defenses that, realistically, would have been no help against one single dragon, let alone thousands as they were. The dragons did not fear and treated humans as insignificant, seeing to their own and to guarding the ancient secrets they kept. But humans were stubborn and soon enough, defending themselves did not satisfy any longer, and so it was about attacking. Within a hundred years, a war erupted, a war that began claiming lives by the thousands each day. The dragons, kind and wise, did not destroy villages or burn cities to the ground and instead only attacked the troops that came to hunt them. But the death toll was still too high for humans were rather stubborn and their resolve was unbreaking. Day by day, month by month and year by year the war raged on, and soon enough it became the sole inheritance that a king left to his successor. By now, humans had learned of better ways to defeat the winged behemoths and the dragons were in more and more danger as time passed, so much so that one of the five Dragon Lords led his kin on a killing spree, breaking from the rule of not attacking human settlements and innocents. The soil was oversaturated with blood and the fire spared none. Children, elderly, mothers, peasants, soldiers, nobles, all were turned to mere ashes and scattered in the four winds. The Dragon Lord and his kin were banished, but that did nothing towards repairing any of the damage. The atrocious acts were what motivated the humans to push forward, to create new ways to defeat the dragons. Those were the times when a new king arose, one Theodrik. It was he who mounted an attack greater than any before it, and it was due to his strategic thinking and his skill in the art of war that earned him the name Dragonbane, forevermore the one who crushed the Dragon Lords and their kins to near extinction. Those left had scattered, assuming the shapes and appearances of humans to pass unseen, and only one was caught, one whom Theodrik Dragonbane wished to keep for himself, a trophy that would remind the generations to come of his victory and glory. Caged and sealed with a magic ward in the capital city of the kingdom of Thaven, the dragon was left on display in the central square, alive. It was how the poor beast spent its last two hundred years, right to this day. This day was not a normal one. A convoy all the way from Ethlorien, Thaven's rival kingdom, was welcomed within the city's walls. The King of elves himself, King Ayred Elkian, had come to discuss with the fabled King Gregor Dragonbane, one of the descendants of the legendary Theodrik Dragonbane. And King Ayred had not come alone for he had brought his entire family. Queen Vaeri, Prince Arderth, Princess Alia and Princess Lyra. The two kingdoms have been in conflict ever since the elves came to the land, just a hundred years after the dragons had been defeated and driven away. But on this historical day, they were to make peace and to create a strategic alliance, for Lyra, the youngest daughter of King Ayred, was to be married to King Gregor himself as the man had been widowed and lonely for years.