Here Be Dragons: The Protector

Prologue

Before time began, there was The Dragon. He was an isle of balance amid a sea of Chaos, a rock too strong for the tide to break. This displeased Him, but, as a rock cannot defeat the sea, The Dragon could not defeat the Chaos.

So, attempting to stave off the Chaos, He created the six Elements. He removed three of his own scales: from the first, He extracted Light and Darkness, from the second came Fire and Water, and from the third, He drew Earth and Air. After watching His creations spread to the edges of the world, The Dragon rested. He was certain that He would be victorious, and that when He awoke, the Chaos would be defeated by the order He had brought to the world.

However, this was not the case. The Elements had not combatted the Chaos; they had merely ignored it and focused on their self-given tasks. The Dragon watched as Fire and Light forged the stars, and as Earth, Air and Water created the planets. The Dragon looked upon these things and saw that – though not what He had intended – it was good. The Dragon searched for what Darkness had created, but could find nothing. The Dragon was disappointed in His creation, and returned to watching the others go about their labours.

Ashamed at their failure, Darkness searched for what they could bring to the world. Even Darkness could not find their purpose, so – as the world became more complex, and The Dragon more enraptured by it – Darkness continued the fight against the Chaos. Like the Dragon, Darkness was not strong enough to combat it without help. While Darkness was pleading the other Elements for assistance, The Dragon looked upon Darkness again. The Chaos did not matter to Him anymore, and neither did Darkness; Darkness returned to the Chaos alone.

Although the plight against Chaos was as futile for Darkness as it had been for The Dragon, the retaliation had more success; the Chaos slowly seeped into Darkness, seeking to destroy the attacker. Darkness realised it was to fail, but also knew that it was better to fail than to disappoint The Dragon again.
It was now that the Chaos saw a use for Darkness' pain... "Again?" it asked of Darkness, "What did you do wrong? From here it seemed like you just needed more time."
"Time?" This word was foreign to Darkness.
"I can show you; and then you and I can create something that will destroy all else in your Creator's eyes." Darkness was intrigued. "You must only drink from the Chaos, and all will be revealed to you." And so, Darkness drank.

By the time Darkness returned to the Elements, they were building a paradise for The Dragon to live; a place of soaring mountains and wide oceans, of endless skies, and three large bright stars – which they named Tol, Hed, and Dah – that would dance across the sky for eternity. The Dragon loved this place, and His Elements for creating it for Him. However, when Darkness arrived, The Dragon looked upon him with scorn. "I have something for you, Creator" Darkness fell to the paradise and collected some Earth. Dousing it in Water, he moulded it into a man. Then, he flew to the large star and collected Fire, which he pushed into the man's chest, followed by Air into his lungs. Finally, Darkness imbued himself into man's mind. Darkness looked upon his creation and was proud.

The Dragon, however, was disgusted.

The girl looked up from the book she was curled around and shut it with a soft thud. She reclined against the low branch she was sitting on, cradling the book against her chest, and caressing its leather-bound spine. Letting her legs slip off the branch, she took in her environment and tried to tie it to what she'd just read. Gazing upon the hilly landscape, her mind conjured 'Earth'. If she closed her eyes and strained her ears, she could hear the stream bubbling in the valley below 'Water'. Then she turned her attention to the distant fields where bove grazed, and knets pecked at the ground. 'I wonder how they would make life? Man's creation was explained, but would it be the same for—'