> The Beginning
Ross came to being inside the deep glacier lakes and cold mountains of the Scottish Highlands. The world at that time was chaotic with magical energies and great beasts. He survived and grew strong through his aquatic beginnings. Devouring sea creatures of the shallows and great depths, this allowed him to grow stronger and bigger through the ages. Flight wasn’t something on his priority list, but he knew he yearned for it.

He would continue to grow in strength and power for some time until finally being able to comprehend speech and the magic flowing through him. Soon he was even able to shift into the size of the mortal races that dotted the north. He settled on the likeness of a chieftain of the north men, strong, hardy, and wise. Even this likeness he would carry with him as he watched and explored the early beginnings of men and the gods they called upon.

> Primitive Roots
Man had learned over many years how to manipulate and terraform the world around them. From mud huts to towering stone castles and walls. They were learning about themselves and the world quickly through magic and war. It almost seemed like they knew how to kill each other more than they knew how to love each other. In this time Ross was focusing on his own growth in growing his wings and flight ability while wandering from town to town spreading stories and knowledge of times past. Never staying in one place for long.

He kept to himself mostly, learning from men of all races and places in his travels. Even some deity’s and the odd dragon he was able to find and trade stories with. It was a time of expansion, a time of learning, and a time of war. It was a distasteful thing that he didn’t particularly like but dealt with it when he had to. The topic itself including its many strategies was something he simply brushed off. That was until the message.

The earth shattered, a mass signal sent from something that wasn’t from their world but reached us all the same. A message from a dying people or the warning from some great god. It was the same either way, the earth was in peril, his world was threatened. The technology of the age couldn’t do anything and most seemed to forget after some time. Ross did not forget. His protective nature forced him to do something he had never done, go to war to learn how to fight.

> Man, and their Machines
The industrial age soon came to be, dwarves and humans working together to bring their industries to bear and bring their people into a new age. For Ross it almost seemed to happen overnight. These mortals were soon producing goods, medicine, cloth, and weapons at an outstanding rate. The development of complex moving machines increased their ability to spread across the world and in time shrink the horizon on what was possible and how far they could go.

Ross was fascinated with all the moving parts and sat through lectures and classes pertaining to the metal monstrosities these men were making. The elves and orcs didn’t seem too fond of the pollution and destruction brought on by these changes. Soon a balance was brought up by struggle and politics pushing for the replanting of forests and the distribution of products through the world. It was a troublesome point as the many races pushed back and forth with the nobility as resources were sparse in some places and abundant in others.

Many political shifts and civil wars broke out during this time as the people were worked too hard without food or breaks so that the upper classes could become fat and wealthy in their thrones. This again wasn’t something Ross particularly liked and instead spent most of his time assisting the dwarves and learning from them.

> A World at War
With the new powers and expanding influence of the many countries war was inevitable. Trench warfare soon gripped Europe crisscrossing the once plentiful land with craters and death. Even the gods seemed to be at each other’s throats. The world of the mortals was quickly gaining speed at an unprecedented rate and was quickly showing signs of possibly even overthrowing some long-standing immortals in the realm of power and influence. Everyone seemed to be at uneasy place in their lives.

This type of warfare did not interest him but the inventions and creations going into them did. The mortals finally had flying machines. Fixed wing gliders, giant floating blimps, and armored tractors with cannons. The sudden development of such machines continued to anger the more natural races and gods this only seemed to fuel the fires of industry more. Until an uneasy peace was reached, and a nation surrendered.

During this time when Ross was not watching and occasionally helping the mortals build these machines, he was wandering through the country side. He witnessed a great many things from his travels. Walking or flying from place to place and getting to know the locals and their way of life. During this time he visited as far off places as china and japan before returning home. Traveling was a must for an immortal.

> Man Harnesses the Sun.
It was definitely a shaky peace in the world of man. Countries continued to grow and set themselves into stone. More mass killings of people on all sides and the gradual destruction of the world through pollution and exploitation of resources and people. This short few centuries were not Ross’s favorite as through all of this he knew that thing was drawing ever closer to their world. This price the world had to pay was spent in blood and war. One thing he noticed was that war and the technology produced during it was growing every year.

This was something he figured out early on, the technology that he could see and its implications were growing and for him he saw a light during these dark times. A light that meant they might be able to fight this thing in space. This alone was enough of a push for him to join the ranks of the Royal Air Force. The thing that he saw the most growth in was the growing power and complexity behind airplanes. With his knowledge and power he signed up with the air force at the time. The political powers at the time wanted him on the front line but he refused and told them if they wanted his help and expertise at flying then that is what he would only be doing.

Even then it was only as a training instructor. Ross himself only flew a handful of combat missions but even this was towards the end of the war so that he could see the power of these Jet engine fighters first hand. With the mortals harnessing the power of the sun in the form of a bomb changed everything almost overnight.

> A Slow Burn
The war was over and a new type of war began. The world was broken and needed time to heal, mortals and gods gathered and judged for what had transpired during those dark days of the last war. Some killed others imprisoned for decades to come. In the end everyone got what they deserved either from their actions or inactions during the war.

It was at this time that that Ross was now learning how to fly the new jet powered aircraft that the now Royal Air force was using. The other initiative that started up at this time was the OMR. This new initiative intrigued him and he was assigned to a research and development team with a few other instructors. By this time his legacy as a fighter pilot instructor for the RAF was rather well known. Not too many immortals took part or interest in human development like he did.

During this time he would test and assist in the research of experimental aircraft and spacecraft. Being a dragon and having a high resistance to fire helped them by putting him in the more dangerous tests where others may have lost their life. This again was something he enjoyed. He could both help the mortals learn more and help teach them at the same time.

In truth he was afraid. He knew what was drawing closer and their time was running out.

> The End times
It was picked up by long range satellites and foretold by seers of old when that thing was going to arrive. The day of reckoning, Ragnarök, Armageddon, Doomsday, Judgment day. In the end it’s all the same the world was once more at war but this time united for its continued survival. Angels and demons, gods and devils, mortal enemies joining together to fight off something that threatened them all. Ross was a part of the fleet that attacked the dam thing.

They couldn’t guess or speculate as to what they were going to be facing. Ross and his squadron of 24 small fighter craft where meant to intercept and engage any small craft that the abomination might use against them. With the dam thing coming alone as one massive organism their job shifted to destroying whatever it could use as offensive or defensive weapons. The mission of the strike craft from then on was to distract and disable what spike pods they could to allow the capitol ships time to engage the beast with their main weapons.

The team he had been training with for the past 8 years was made up of all sorts of races, primarily human but orcs, dwarves, and elves also filled the cockpits of the one to two man fighter craft. They grew to be a family, training and living in close quarters can do that to people. It was the closest he had ever felt for individual mortals.

The battle was intense and lasted many days, his squadron would continually provide supporting fire to specific parts of the beast, guide weapons and munitions to specific points, and unload their own ordinances countless times onto the beast. By the last day there were only 6 of them left and they still had one last run to make until they were out of ordinance and had to rearm again.

On this last run they were tasked with hitting one of its last eyes so the capitol ships could get more rounds off. His crew completed their mission but got caught up in a last minute attack from the beast. A barrage of spikes and tentacles sealed the fates of his last squadron mates and almost himself as well. One shot ripped through his shields and into his engine. He was able to get away but his ship still tore itself apart when the engine finally exploded.

All he could do was drift through space with an emergency responder and a chunk of a cursed barb in his abdomen. He watched as the beast was finally destroyed by the combined efforts of what remained of their fleet. In one last go the screaming finally stopped, a wave of magical energy was released from the beast as it died and the last of its energy was dispersed. The magic engulfed him for a moment and he lost consciousness. The last thing he remembers is a blue haired android carrying him into an airlock, saving his life.

> After the fall
He woke up a month later at a hospital. His human form took time to heal and he needed to shift back into his dragon form to heal faster. This was when he realized that he could not shift back, nothing he did worked. No magic healer, psychiatrist, or doctor could explain why he couldn’t shift back. The only thing they could think of was it had to do with the eldritch horror and the trauma of losing basically his family during the battle.

It took him another year before he could even use his magic again but quickly found it was different. Akin to wild magic, random negative effects would happen while trying to use his magic. Included with this was night terrors and dreams of the beast as well as something else that he cannot explain. Deep down it scares him that he might be consumed by this unknown magic and become a danger to others.

Through the next 5 years Ross would struggle with sleepless nights and whatever drugs he could use to try and sleep with the memories of those he lost and the shadow that seems to follow him. To try and pull himself out of this he has become somewhat of a specialist in the creature itself. Trying to find something that could make sense as to why he has this curse and what’s happening to him while also studying the lasting effects of the magic and influence even the corpse of the creature still holds over them.

This combined with his renewed effort to assist the OMR with their own issues. He was quickly promoted to field agent given his prior service and almost need to continue with something that can break his attention away from his curse.