[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/66vXDYa.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/5tPNHK1.png[/img]

[h3]The First Dragon[/h3][/center]

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Lapis was slammed down upon the stone outcropping. Wind like a hurricane whipped at her, sending the pelting rain down upon her skin like pebbles. She groaned, pressing her wings in tight. If she didn’t, they’d be ripped off. A great hand grabbed the nape of her neck and head, tufts of her hair caught in the grip and she screamed in pain. Lapis was dragged, broken and beaten, into a place where the wind did not tread. She flung a hand at the mass of scales on her captor but it bounced off uselessly. The fight in her had died back in the village. As her father was burned alive. 

She felt the lifeforce ebbing from her and knew she was leaving a long trail of blood, like a fresh coat of paint on the slick stones. 

“Let me go!” she croaked.

Her captor gave no reply. 

Face down, she could not see much. But she felt the burns beginning on her exposed knees, rubbing raw on the stone. The biting pain at her head. The flickering lights on her left and right. Or maybe it was one light. Her vision began to blur as exhaustion caught up like a bad hangover. Punctured by claws, broken arm, black eye, broken ribs, flight feathers plucked… Compounded by blood loss- Yeah, she had seen better days. 

Her head hit the floor when the demon at last let go. She wheezed as a fresh pain blossomed in her forehead. The cool stone sent shivers down her spine and for a blissful second, she thought sleep might take her somewhere far away. Then someone said, “W-Welcome back lord. I take it your excursion was a success?” It was a male voice, nasally and Lapis knew she would hate the face that it belonged to. 

That thought vanished as she heard a deep guttural bellow, like some insidious lizard. She could feel it all the way into her core as it wrapped up with a hiss. Then an impossibly deep voice, dripping with malice spoke and her heart stopped. “This meat needs tending. Put it with the others.” 

“At once, lord.” The nasal man said and just like that, the demon walked off. Each footstep grew quieter and quieter until silence reigned. Sleep sought her but before she knew it, many hands had grabbed her. She tried to fight them off but it was no use. She was lifted and carried. 

What happened next was a blur as Lapis fought consciousness. Whispered words fretted and cooed. She saw angelic faces with dull eyes. Liquid washed over her body and she was scrubbed bare for all to see. Then something warm covered her and Lapis at last fell asleep amidst her delirium. 

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The land of origins held many secrets. Most forgotten by the beastfolk of old. In the time of beginnings there had been the great whirlwind and the exodus towards Salvation. Gods bent the world to save those ancestors who had been so hunted by their wildblood kin. Some still existed, shunned and waiting. Some had been slain, put down like the brutes they were. Heroes had risen to put an end to the depravations. Jaxx had been once such hero but others had existed. Their tales now but long shadowed dust. 

The invasion had brought back the fear of the wilds. Salvation had taken on a different meaning when once safe places became overrun. Beastfolk had died, perished in the desert or had suffered much worse fates. There had been more heroic exploits, even by those that had once profused their insatiable hunger for their lesser kin. Once the fellbeasts had been driven back to their prison and the greater beasts annihilated, the world could settle once more. Life would always go on despite the scars. 

Yet not all of those beasts had been driven away. Like insects to carrion, they found their dark places and began to multiply. Ever present and waiting. 

The One Who Waited, the Lord of Hate, the Dark Shadow… He was such a beast but not of the invaders. In the time of the whirlwind, he had been born with a dark flame. Did Anat’aa know? Could she fathom her gift being bastardized? Was he chosen? These questions had no answers and his flame had no purpose. 

It drove that black heart to madness.

So the Dark Shadow wandered. He watched his kin die. He killed them. He watched as they were eaten. He ate them. He watched them huddle around small fires. He burned them. On and on this went as time blurred into starless recess. 

When that invasion had come, the Lord of Hate did not help the defenders. He did not help the invaders. He bathed both alike in searing flame. For he had come to realize in his long nights of travels, one could make their own purpose. His, he chose, was to wait. To see. To watch. And to burn. Why should he suffer all alone? Why should any other have a purpose but he?

He set his roost within gray mountains. Away from the cradles of civilization. Away from the gods and their ilk. The invasion came to a close and the dark shadow of his wings lengthened. He became despot of nowhere and tyrant of wanderers. He grew a hoard, not of wealth but slaves. For wealth was little to him but trinkets he could not ever use. The taking of flesh and subjecting it to his will, now that was what he could do. His visage grew beastly, monstrous with each village burned and hamlet scorched. He favored those of beauty. For innocence begot such delightful features. Men, women, even children- of all races, of those who were unfortunate enough to be caught. He took them to his mountain retreat where they could not escape. He made them work, he killed them for sport, he relished in turning them against one another. Beauty could be marred. Innocence lost. 

It was there that Lapis had been taken. She was no innocent thing but for the first time in his existence, he had found a halfblood with wings to rival his own. It was a slight she never even knew she had made. There could only be one Sovereign of the skies and he would suffer no rivals. So Lapis was tended and washed by those of his slaves suited for the task. She was thrown upon a cot to sleep in the place that would surely be her tomb. 

And the Dragon counted another for his hoard.

[hider=Summary]
We see the fate of Lapis, taken by the First Dragon. Lord of Hate. The Dark Shadow. The One Who Waited. May his rule be long and his will ever great. 
[/hider]