War of the Dragons

Once, in the beginning of things, there were four dragons.

The first was called Grisin, born from the endless cold surrounding the pulsing warmth of the Vein. They were the most powerful of the four, the oldest, the wisest, and the slowest to act. They existed before life did, a wandering manifestation of the void, of cold, of existential nonexistence. When the Vein birthed life for the first time, and changed itself, so too did Grisin change. They took on the form of a dragon, and walked the world observing, ruminating, and bringing cold wherever they went.

The second was called Enfel, the first instance of life birthed by the Vein. She was a manifestation of the Vein itself, an outpouring of energy, vibrancy, and life. She feared Grisin, her opposite, and avoided them at all cost. She birthed many creatures, and saw them as her legacy. Even creatures that emerged from the Vein on their own, whose life she did not have a part in, were welcomed as her own children. She drank deeply from the Vein's wellspring, and used its power to create the world of Envein. She saw Grisin's form and thought to mirror it, in order to reassure her children that she was as powerful as them, and could protect the world from their suffocating ice.

The third was called Pah-ri, who was born when the life made by Enfel (and when Enfel herself) began to gain consciousness and complexity. When the leylines began to incorporate thoughts, urges, and ambitions into itself, Pah-ri emerged from the wellspring. As the thoughts of people grew in depth and ambition, so too did Pah-ri grow, and they came to view the sentient races as their permanent favorites. They cultivated growth, ambition, and power among their favorite creatures, and under their guidance cities, civilization, and innovation was born. Pah-ri, too, was ambitious, and so took the form of Grisin and Enfel as a show of vanity and strength.

The last was called Talkav, who the leyline created when the work of Enfel and Pah-ri began to strain the Vein. Talkav began as the method by which energy from the Vein returned to the Vein, replenishing the wellspring. The constant creation of life and the wild growth of civilization had strained Envein to near depletion, and so it produced Talkav to restore balance. All creatures feared Talkav, who represented their end, and so they, too, took the form of a dragon in the minds of the people. As a creature of the Vein, and so influenced by the subconscious of all creatures, Talkav became a dragon in actuality as well as in tales.

It was Pah-ri who began the conflict that would become the War of the Dragons. They grew to hate Talkav, whose work hindered their own. "If I remove Talkav, then Envein will be as it was, and an eternal civilization of growing life and prosperity will take root." Pah-ri believed that the Vein itself held no value for the people of Envein, since their ambition could conquer any and all obstacles the Vein's depletion would create. "The Vein created life--but if there is no death, then why is the Vein needed? We have our wits, we have emotion and thought--is that not a greater force by which to rule the world?"

Pah-ri rallied forces to them and attacked Talkav. Talkav, who had no allies, fled and begged Grisin for help. They believed Grisin, who created cold and suffering in the life of the world, hated Pah-ri and Enfel. But in truth, Grisin was ambivalent towards them, and indeed all life. They turned Talkav away, who fled again to Enfel. Pah-ri, who also believed Grisin would take Talkav's side, and who hated the suffering Grisin's presence brought, was threatened by Talkav's visit to Grisin. However, they feared Grisin, and knew they would need Enfel's help to overtake them.

Pah-ri reached Enfel first, but Enfel was horrified by Pah-ri's worlds. Though she disliked seeing her creatures returned to the Vein, her wisdom surpassed Pah-ri, and she knew that if she was to keep creating and nurturing new life, the Vein needed to remain healthy. For that, Talkav was a necessary existence. She tried to explain this to Pah-ri, and admonish his attempts to remove Talkav, but was taken aback when Pah-ri told her of the possible alliance with Grisin. Enfel had a great fear of Grisin, whose presence was older than her, and who she did not understand. Secretly, she had long desired Grisin's absence from the world. She dismissed Pah-ri, saying she would not help them, but she did not forget their words when Talkav came to visit.

When Talkav begged Enfel for assistance, she was initially relieved their bid for Grisin's assistance had been denied. However, the more Talkav began to ask for her help, the more she doubted their words. What if their alliance with Grisin was real, and they were lying to her in order to prevent her from helping Pah-ri? She respected Talkav as a necessary existence, but she could not claim to know their mind. Weighing her suspicion and Talkav's desperation, she decided to help them temporarily, but to keep an eye on them lest anything change.

And so the war began--Pah-ri's forces against Talkav and Enfel's. It was deep in the war when Talkav began to sense that Enfel's forces, which she created wholecloth from the Vein, were also putting an extreme strain on the wellspring. Since Talkav could not return the energy of the dead to the Vein, it was charging the battlefields with errant magic, the cries of the damned, and chaotic life. Talkav begged Pah-ri to cease, showing the state of the world as it declined into rampant chaos, but Pah-ri was blinded by stoic ambition. Talkav went once more to Grisin, to beg their interference and ask them to restore peace.

Grisin, for their own part, had watched the chaos in growing disquiet. For them, the world had always had an equilibrium. A rythmn, a peace, an order. The conflicts Pah-ri's people had stirred in the past meant little to the function of the world. But now, all was in chaos. When Talkav begged them to stop Pah-ri, Grisin relented. However, they had their own goals. Before Enfel, Pah-ri, and Talkav, all the world had been peaceful and everything had been in its place. If this was what their presence had done, if such chaos was the result of their existence, then what point was there in having life at all? Grisin had seen the suffering, the fear of Pah-ri's people and Enfel's creations, and seen the chaos that Talkav's role had wrought, and tired of it. They longed for the peace of the beginning, and thought to find it in the end.

Talkav returned with Grisin, knowing not of Grisin's plans. Enfel viewed Talkav's new alliance as an expected betrayal--and betrayed them in turn.

What followed was a bloody battle between the four forces. What started as a two-sided conflict soon became a three-sided one, and with Grisin's betrayal, a four-sided one. The battle soon grew more and more ruthless, and took place at the wellspring of the Vein itself, where Enfel drew her power and Talkav was the strongest. At the apex of the conflict, the wellspring shattered, and the Vein split into four under the fury of their fight. In the end, Grisin had vanished. Talkav was alive but exhausted to nearly the point of death. Enfel had been lost in the explosion of the wellspring. Pah-ri initially declared themself the winner, though their forces were greatly diminished. However, as time passed, they saw that the creatures of the world, whose ambition and thought fueled his own powers, had been greatly affected and isolated by the clash. Pah-ri was not foolish, and saw that their victory had been Pyrrhic in nature. The great civilization of prosperity they had dreamed of was shattered forever, and they retreated to their own corner of it to mourn.

In the times that came after the War of the Dragons, the four new leylines that were formed from the shattering of the Vein were named after their progenitors. One leyline had been affected the most by Grisin's power, and was filled with the cold, quiet stillness of the void. This leyline was the Winter leyline. The second leyline had been affected the most by Enfel's power, and was filled with the blooming fertility of life. This leyline was the Spring leyline. The third leyline was dominated by Pah-ri's power, and remained their domain where they cherished endless growth, prosperity, and ambition. This leyline was the Summer leyline. The last leyline was affected most by Talkav's power, and was filled with the bright power of return. This was the Fall leyline.

Over time, the legends of the dragons changed, and the history of the War of the Dragons changed with it. Few remember the dragons' old names, and refer to them only as the Dragons of Winter, Autumn, Spring, and Summer. Pah-ri, the only Dragon still roaming the world freely, has embraced this title warmly. Talkav knows not of it, sleeping as they are in the Golden Mountains over the Autumn Leyline's wellspring. Enfel is but a memory, and Grisin an unknown.