Prologue.

“I am against it and our kind cannot raise one of…… them.” Says a rumbling voice that could raise the hair on the back of anyone's neck, while gesturing at the small bundle that lays between the colossal beasts.

“Your hatred blinds your judgement, does this look like one of them?” This time, a female voice, gentle as a summer breeze, voices her thoughts.

“MMMmm well it doesn’t look like one of us either.” Grumbles an old man's voice, still full of life and vigor.

“What are you bickering about this time. Calm your minds or I will do it for you! The Elder has summoned all of us. Not that it means anything, we are only five left in the world now.” Says the last and final voice, one with a heroic sound that makes you want to follow in obedience.

Hearing the shocking news, the other three cant help but ask at the same time....“What!?”

The heroic voice is touched with a hint of sadness, as it replies to their surprised expressions. “Malgrobin has fallen, and the skies weep. For one of its rulers, died today.”

“I cannot believe it, Malgrobin is not so easily killed, I know it…… I have already tried.” Rumbles the first speaker that had gestured at the bundle, the last part is said with a tinge of regret.

The female snorts. “That’s not saying much, you’ve tried to kill almost anything you’ve met."

“That’s enough! We need to leave for Heaven’s mountain.” Grumbles the old voice, clearly irritated with the others. But it soon continues, as the true reason for the irritation is grief. ''That stupid fool, why didn't he listen to us! Chronos is too powerful for anyone of us..... Except, maybe, the Elder, but he will not dare attack us if we stay together.”

The heroic voice finally speaks up again. Being a good leader it had given the rest time to absorb the bad news he brought, but they need to hurry, since this is not a safe place and the little bundle cannot be out in the harsh elements for long. “You waste time talking about matters we can no longer change, come, the Elder awaits. And bring the……pink thing.”

Lightning flashes reveal a pure white mountain, stretching past the clouds to unknown heights. Unknown, because no one has ever been able to climb to the top, or even to see it due to the perpetual mist that always obscures the truth from those that seek to know. The sheer magnitude of the mountain accosts the senses. This is the Heaven’s mountain. Its range starts in the north cold lands of the snow elves and dwarfs, said to as cold as their lands. Three seconds in the open will turn you into a sculpture of ice, creatures have been found preserved for eons, nightmares and angels, wondrous and strange.

The mountain ends in the south, a land called the Hells Gate, inhabited by Dark elves and other evil things mothers scare their children with. Two volcanoes can be found in these lands. They make the land full of ash and lava, always changing the its geography, leaving it arid, almost barren of life.

The mountain effectively separates the west from the east, in a long crooked line with only a few places to pass from one to the other. Another flash of lightning, that casts an eerie glow over the mountain, is followed by the raging thunder that dances along the peaks. Rain pours down, hard as if the sky itself feels angry, having lost a lover ,a friend and a brother. Lightning strikes everywhere, ripping the sky open with its vicious anger.

The elder sighs, and even this simple sound makes the rocks around him clatter with the sheer force of it.

“What madness has Chronos unleashed upon the world? He will feel my wrath……… yes, not now, but everything he has done will be avenged!”.

The sound of them coming is heard by the Elder almost one hour before their arrival. Louder than any thunder, or anything else for that matter, the sky seems to welcome them, to give them speed, for the wind direction changed pelting the Elder with small droplets of rain, then again everything to him is small.

His chest swells with pride as he hears them, this is the last of his people and in flight, they are the rulers of the sky and once,a long time ago, far in the past, they ruled the world. But the humans, along with those pigeons that call themselves griffins thought that it would be good to change. With the help of the betrayer Chronos, they slaughtered our kind.

The Elder growls in anger, as lightning flashes revealing how his claws are destroying the ground on which he stands, in utter frustration. “I will rip of his wings, and use them as a mantle while I sit on a throne built out of his bones. As it was in the old days, so it will be in the new.”

The Elder roars his outrage, frustration and pain, a roar that can be heard for miles around. Making all the living creatures nearby scatter in fear.

“All of us are here Elder, it is an hon--" The heroic voice gets interrupted by the rumble of the first one, as he was greeting the Elder in reverence.

“--Why did you make us bring the pink thing!"

“Alric, show some respect or should I teach you some!” Roars the Elder at the obvious disrespect that Alric had shown.

Alric shrinks back, even he who never shrinks from battle, understanding that he won't stand a chance against the great being before him, he decided to back off “I apologize, its just that I do not understand.''

The Elder leans forward capitalizing on Alri's retreat as he says with a sneer “You don’t need to, you just need to follow what I say, unless you want to challenge me for the position that I hold……..? No, okay then let’s continue. All will be explained in due time. For now, know this, all of you……. Pink thing as you call it will be placed in the care of Alric and Sirena.”

This time Alric, and Serina both cry out in unison, their eyes unbelieving of what they heard. “Elder! We can-"

The Elder almost starts to laugh at the two's reaction they are complete opposites; One always battle hungry while the other is passive until it really matters. This is why he chooses them, and if they knew the reason they would vomit blood.

“No objections you are not Elder, This......pink thing is the first of his kind, and will probably be the last. It could be the end of us, or a new beginning, you understand?! I have already sent a request for the Highland Elves to help you in raising and teaching it. I will leave it to the two of you, choose a name for it, until it has earned the right to choose its own name, as is our custom.”

Not caring what the elder said the two still attempt to resist his order. “But it is not one of us Elder!”

He starts to lose his temper as the two prattle on in his ears “You! You will bring it, and raise it up, as if it was one of us, because if it becomes our enemy, not even the sky will be safe for us.”

'

Serina is the first to speak,her eyes wide as she looks at the bundle, that is not even the size of an ant compared to them. “Sky mother help us, why don’t we just kill it now, and get it over and done with!”

The Elder sighs, feeling defeated by the situation the boy's mother, had put him in. He stares at the bundle a long time, before he speaks again. “Because I owe its mother my life…. We all do. Now you have been given your tasks, Pawan and Shogin will remain with me to protect what is important to all of us. If you fail this task, you fail as dragons.”