Emerald

A long lived dragon that has spent thousands of years living amongst the species she once considered prey. When dragons ruled the world, she led the Dragon Queen Flemeth’s forces against the lesser races. Her being on the battlefield was a blessing in disguise as she was not present when the Fallen Saint Dragon Slayer murdered everyone she knew and loved. Nowadays, she spends her waking hours helping those in need, defending the weak in a hope that doing good will someday cleanse her conscience of the wrongs she committed in the past.
== Background ==
Emerald was born among the first of the Dragon Queen Flemeth’s brood. She grew up with the desire to become as strong as her mother. Like many dragons, she felt the world was theirs for the taking and once the elves were gone there would be none left standing that could oppose them. This belief would ultimately lead her species down the road to extinction. Once Flemeth gave the command to wage war against the humans and demons, Emerald took on her role as grand commander. The final battle would be fought in the place that earned its name from the battle itself, the “Howling Desert.” Emerald led hundreds of her fellow dragons against an army of humans and demons that was a million strong. Every able bodied prey animal gathered their courage to stand before death and fight for their survival. The battle itself raged for an entire day as humans, demons and dragons clashed with weapons of iron and claws, teeth and fire. Emerald herself found her opponents to be the demon lords Razgriz and Abbadon. Instead of engaging them as her natural self, she would shame them by killing them in the form of a humanoid like themselves. The three traded blows until the sun began to set and the roar of battle soon became as silent as a graveyard. Corpses and ash covered the field for miles all around them. All vegetation had been burned away by dragon fire. It was then that Emerald suddenly felt something in her chest. Something was wrong…. Very wrong. With the battle seemingly at a deadlock, Emerald took flight and returned to her nest.
Emerald called out to her kin as she landed at the entrance of the cave system her kind called home. The smell of death filled the corridors and caverns as dead bodies laid all around her. Panic set in as she rushed to the queen’s chambers to find the unimaginable… Flemeth, her mother dead. “No!” She cried as she tried to wake her dead queen. “Who did this?” she wondered to herself as the silence was broken by a moan of pain. Buried under corpses and rubble, laid the queen’s guardian and her nest sister, Cinder. The dragon was deeply wound from what Emerald surmised as a sword wound. Lacking in knowledge of the healing arts, she could only watch as the life slowly seeped from her sibling. Suddenly a drastic solution came to mind. Emerald would seal the wound by welding plate to her sister’s scales. It must’ve been an agonizing experience as Cinder howling in pain during and after the procedure. Once stabilized, Cinder would explain what happened while Emerald was gone. It seemed as if a Fallen Saint entered the cave and exterminated her brethren. As dragons lacked the skills to use white magic, they could do no harm to the “saint” as she butchered them in their own home. Consumed by rage, Emerald left Cinder to seek out this “saint” and kill it. She searched for days, weeks, and even months but to no avail. Eventually she would return to the nest, only to find Cinder gone….
With no reason to stay behind, Emerald too would leave the nest she called home and wander the land in search of the murderous saint. No matter how long and hard she search, it seemed as if she would never find the hated enemy. One day she would find someone she never expected to see again before her, the demon lord Abbadon. While she had no interest in what he had to say, he did have a proposal for her that would change her life. He wanted an egg. In return, he would give her access to scrolls and tomes that allow her to learn light magics. He explained that this was the one weakness the saints all shared. Emerald accepted the proposal and followed him to his lab deep in the north. This is where she would stay until fate would introduce her to a fallen angel…
Emerald and Abbadon worked together to fulfill his aim to create a demon that would not be affected by the wards that protected human cities. As much as it sickened her to bed a demon, the opportunity to learn skills that would end the saint who massacred her race was too much to ignore. It took several tries, however one day she would conceive and eventually lay a single egg. This egg would eventually hatch and produce the young demon Laevateinn. Abbadon had prepared a small cottage for them to stay while he continued his work. This however would not last long as one day while walking outside with her young hatchling, Emerald would see the angel Olivia exiting Abbadon’s lab. The smell of blood was fresh and she believed she would be next. Emerald faced the angel and made a solemn request. Her life, to spare the baby. The dragon was shocked to see the angel offer to take the baby. She handed the young Laevateinn over and watched Olivia raise her blade and bring it down across her body. Everything turned black as Emerald silently hoped her child would survive.
Eventually Emerald would come to, and see that her wound had healed. With no sign of anyone else around, she would pack up some things and leave. The dragon considered heading to Makai to see if the baby was still alive, but decided that it was too risky to show her face again. She walked away and resumed her destinationless journey. The years slowly etched their mark on her soul and eventually she would find herself intermingling with the very creatures she once consumed for food. The years without the threat of dragons allowed humans to grow and build impressive cities even while locked into periodic wars with demonkind. Demons often used the undead to fight and humans that weren’t protected by trained soldiers were in great danger, so she would make a decision. During her travels, she one day realized that she had not once felt the desire to revert to her natural form since laying the egg. Alone she attempted to transform, but found herself no longer able to. While this would likely terrify most dragons, Emerald felt no fear at all. She accepted this as perhaps some sort of divine punishment for working with demons. This “Curse” however was actually a blessing as with the need to revert to her dragon form, her hunger for massive amounts of food went away with it. Now she would not need to gorge herself as she once did. With a renewed outlook on life, she decided that until she breathed her last she would make it her life's mission to help humans and perhaps one day “balance the scales.”
== Abilities ==
* Draconic strength and agility: As a dragon, and one trained in combat at that, Emerald possess a strength matched by only a few known dragons. This would naturally put her far beyond the capabilities of lesser species such as demons or humans.
* Transformation Magic: This magic is known by most dragons and they use it to blend into groups of other species. In the old days, this was used as a hunting tactic, however now Emerald uses it to walk and live among humans.
* White Magic - Emerald, during her time with the demon Abbadon, learned how to wield white magic. Not only for defensive purposes (such as defense and healing) but also for offensive purposes. This for the hope of one day slaying the saint now calling herself Dragon Slayer.
== Trivia ==
* Emerald, like many of her kin takes her name from a precious stone. Her scales and hair in human form are green very much like the stone.
* Emerald was the second dragon to appear in the Fading Fires world after the dragon Cinder, whom she is related to by blood. 
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