D&D Way to Sword Coast

Prologue

The thunder that was not thunder robbed the world of its innocence and brought silence to the village. Rolling grey clouds erupted in red fury bathing great swaths in a burning nightmare. There was no escaping the malicious gaze of the heavens. There was no surviving the gnashing jaws of hell. Yet it was a parent's duty to try...for their child's sake...

The air was filled with screams choked by smoke. Their eyes stung from heat and terror. The child's throat itched as it breathed putrid air. Their stomachs churned at the scent of things burning that should never burn. In a single moment, everything the child had ever known was reduced to ashes and cinder.

The family passed a trio of bodies sprawled outside the hovel that had been their home. One was too tiny to be an adult. They could've been the baker's family as much as the cobbler's; the bodies were to blacken and burned to tell. "Mama," the child whined.

"Look away!" mother commanded forcing the child's face deeper into her singed cloak. "Everything'll be alright!" The child wanted to believe her, but fear etched every syllable. More tears streamed down the child's face as all it could smell was burnt hair and cooked meat.

"Almost there!" Papa yelled drawing them down a side street. It seemed like a lifetime ago only happiness had filled his voice. Now his face was a twisted rictus of desperation. The child wondered if papa would ever laugh the way he had before.

A sweep of massive leathery wings shifted the air. Debris and rubble were caught up in the beast's passage, peppering the fleeing family. Screams were lost in the maelstrom, including the child's.

"Everything'll be alright!" mama said voice cracking under the strain. "Everything will be alright!" The child wanted desperately to believe her, but intense heat only served to dry the moisture on their face.

"This way!" Papa shouted. He lifted a fallen beam that barred their path. Muscles strained as he hefted wood and stone so that his wife and child could pass. Through the sweat and fear, the child's father offered up a waning smile.

Then the air shifted again, and mama was thrown forward narrowly avoiding landing on her child. Face still buried in mama's shawl, all the child heard was the cracking of wood and stone amidst the torrent of wind. The only thing louder was mama's keening wail of anguish.

Looking up where once papa had stood leading them to safety was now a pile of shattered masonry. Only a single bloody hand protruded from the wreckage.

"Papa!" the child called out trying frantically to get to him only to be yanked back by mama.

"Look away!" she sobbed, tears carving furrows on her dust-coated cheeks. Clutching the child tighter as she rose and hurried away. The child's last memory of papa was the bloody appendage hanging limply in the air. No more smiles...No more laughter...

Mama stumbled but pressed onward through the chaos. She gasped and limped beneath the weight of her offspring. Behind them, the child saw a trail of crimson reflecting the firelight. Mama was hurt.

"Mama?" the child wined again in concern.

"Almost there," she gasped through a clenched jaw, "Everything'll be alright."

The wind shifted again, and the air was torn asunder by a great billowing roar. It was as if fear itself was carried on the wind and struck them like a fist. The pair were slammed to the ground. Mama cried out in pain as the child squealed in terror.

"I'm right here!" she called out cradling the child to her breast. "I'm right here!" Though she spoke to the child her eyes cast about in search of something. They widened, a glimmer of hope filling them when they spotted the cellar door. "Everything'll be alright!" she said. Clinging anxiously to the small bundle in her arms mama crawled over to the entrance, dragging her injured leg.

Another blast of wind accompanied by a heart-stopping roar split the air.

Mama looked over her shoulder and horror dawned on her once beautiful features. Gripping the handle, she flung the doors open and lowered the child inside. Hastily she nestled the child amongst stacks of supplies. The child looked up expectantly only find the doors to the cellar being closed.

"Mama?"

"Everything'll be alright," she said smiling despite the tears and fear in her voice. Behind her, the street lit up like the sun. It was so bright and hot the child had to shield their eyes. "Everything'll be alright," were her final words as the door sealed. The child was lost in blackness. The darkness was punctuated only by the ribbons of flame curling around the edge of the door.

The child heard no more screams, only the dull rumble of thunder that was not thunder stealing the innocence of a life not fully realized.

Mama said everything would be alright...but all the child could do...was cry...