Dragon fire and Quiet Skies

The Crucible Of Kings

My dear reader, you have remained? How enticing~ surely you wish to know more about our dear and beloved king? Of course you do, well I suppose I shall continue on with the tale. But be warned, after the beginning of this tale. Our king shall forever be changed, is it for the good of his people? Or shall he follow the path laid bare before him?

—
Daggen only had a few days of prep before the collection of chaplains arrived. Dressed in ceremonial armor adorned with both the royal colors and sigil, but also celestial star signs carved into the intricate plate and inlaid with silver and gems. Only a few carried weapons but most had staffs, the remaining of them pulled a heavy laden cart with two ringed pillars on top of it. The pillars were a brilliantly shining metal, wrapped around with thick thorny chains with serrations along the ends of them. Large glowing runes faintly pulsed with elemental energy.

To all the still savage elves watching, it was a wonder of an ancient world. Gathering around the central tree as the group brought the pillars inside. Placing them in the middle of a stone courtyard past heavy set iron doors. This room would be a stronghold for the elves, but in this time it would be the herald of its greatest defender. The chaplains set the pillars and began the chain, the pillars thrummed to life with a swirl of such terrible energy. The clouds started to gather and roar with the howls of long dead dragons.

Daggens walk up to the room was ceremonial, each successive step he had shed a piece of armor. Other dragons of his company holding each piece on a red silk cloth, as calia followed carefully behind the group of them. Clutching a case of a numbing crystal, singing in a gentle haunting tone of woe and love. Old words she had no idea of the meaning but could feel the energy build and funnel to the ground beneath her.

They were stopped as he had reached the room, the doors boomed behind them as they shut. The chaplains said not a word as they took the box and escorted Daggen to the pillars, had him step in the middle of them and prepped him. Stripping him down to just the armor and cloth covering his lower half, the many vast and numerous scars dotted across a vast percentage of his skin.

Calia was indeed worried, she had felt how tense he was for all of this, this moment would decide their peoples fate. Just as her worries were being elevated, a chaplain walked over and ceremoniously handed her the numbing crystal. "Take hold of this my lady, and hold it close to your heart." He said in a solemn tone. "If you don't, you will go mad far before you have a chance to register the pain." He spoke gently, and as she took it she couldn't help but stare at her mate. Feeling the worry and tenseness leave her body as she took hold of the crystal, even though he was in eyesight. She felt nothing emanate from him, no emotion or any nerve from him, as if they had yet to bond their souls together at all.

As the ritual the chaplains prepared had finished, Daggen held his arms out and in an instant the chains swung to life. Coiling around his arms and digging into the shoulders and chest muscles as the serrations bore into him like a hungry snake. The searing pain greater than a bare wound under dragonfire, he flinched as he clenched his teeth. The pillars started to swirl as the chains tightened his body up, around the ground a molten circle of metal started to swirl and swish around him in a fluid motion.

One of the men came over and took their staff, tapping his head gently as a powerful surge of energy slammed him out of consciousness. His body limp but taught among the tightness of the chains.

—

Everything had gone dark, his mind was just a void. Trying to blink his eyes but nothing, not even the faintest feeling of the weight and burden of his flesh to cling to. He could feel something though, the steady thrum and pulse of some energy. Wafting over his feelings and letting him feel his spirit, getting adjusted to it as it took him a while to not gawk at the marvel. He started to see; a burning sensation right between his brow that started to allow images to flicker and take shape. This is what he had always seen when he closed his eyes, the vast void of his mind. When suddenly he could feel many presences around him, he could feel their collective gaze pierced through him.