Remnants - The Dragons of Dragonvale - Book One

Chapter One

In a world full of unrest, rifled with pain and suffering, there is tucked away in the cold, northern seas of the eastern hemisphere, an island filled with all the most beautiful things the earth has to offer.  Rivers, mountains, caves and beaches, dark forests and bright meadows. Life that is teeming with hope of a new and glorious morning every day.

Grasses blowing in the wind, dancing to the melody of the sunshine. Large, billowing clouds that cast cool shadows on the ground below them float along, taking a moment to enjoy the scenes beneath them.  Scenes of wonder and beauty, of a land untouched by the soiled and messy hands of greed and selfishness.

That was the island of Dragonvale. A place full of refugees. Refugees that had escaped for their lives from the vast and merciless hand of King Zoilos. Dragonvale had been an uninhabited island, unknown to the rest of the world, its location kept secret by the heavy fogs surrounding like a cozy blanket.

It became a home to hundreds of refugees with two main things in common.  They were all on the run from a ruthless killer and king, and they were all dragons.

Dragons of all kinds and from all continents. A common goal of survival and peace driving them to find the island that would sustain them for generations.

Such was Dragonvale.  The peaceful flapping of leathery wings in the air was the sound that echoed out across the rocky shallows near the island.  The presence of the regal creatures brought rule and order to the land.  However, for most of the dragons it was a sad respite.

Several years before coming to Dragonvale, the dragons had lived around the world in peace. Fulfilling their life goals of bonding with a human and becoming a partner with them, the dragons wished to live alongside humankind and create a world of peace and order.  But it was not to be.

King Zoilos had no respect for the dragon kind. He hated the power they carried. Once bonded with a human, both the human and dragon became almost immortal. Zoilos hated it. Knowing a dragon and a human's bond was one, if not the strongest thing on earth, Zoilos set out to break these bonds and cause hurt to the creatures he hated the most.

Perhaps it was his bitterness over never having a dragon of his own. The heavens had not decreed him fit to be a possessor of a dragon bond, therefore, even as a powerful king, there was that one thing he could never have. It haunted and tormented him. When the dragons of his own country flew across his skies, he seethed with anger and jealousy of the humans riding their backs in flight.

He became deranged and possessed by his bitterness and envy. He put restrictions on dragons and their humans. He forbade them to enter the palace, even if one was a general or statesman. Eventually, it was barely possible for the dragons and their bonded ones to hardly traverse the country without restriction. His hatred became the burning drive within him till he could see nothing but the destruction of the thing he wanted the most.

And so he set out on a campaign of destruction.

First, he sent whisperers throughout the towns and villages spreading rumors of the dragons and their bonded ones. Rumors of deceit, lies, violence, and murder. People began to eye them with fear and skepticism. Not all believed the ridiculous stories, but more believed than did not.  Few stood up to King Zoilos to denounce his tyranny.

Except for one man.

* * *

A man of high rank amongst the army of Zoilos had had enough of the king's insults and rampages. His name was Deryan. He had travelled across Asia on several campaigns for King Zoilos, fighting his wars and earning the scars.  It was during one of these great military campaigns that he came across a young dragon.