The Divine Tears

PROLOGUE

Ialundia, void and barren. Five divine dragons were created to shape a world of perfection.

Air, water, earth, fire, and light.

Hawa, the air dragon created the oxygen we all now live and breathe. Soon after, the air dragon made the cool breezes we feel on our arms in the early mornings. Fresh and salt water formed our great lakes and seas; that was the gift of the water dragon, Ujë. The water dragon also formed the freezing arctic lands. Zemia, the earth dragon gave us lands, hills, and the most beautifully sculptured mountains. Then the fire dragon, Atês, shaped and melded our lands with his magma breath and following each step, the earth dragon brought to life on our lands the highest of trees, lush bushes, and flowers of any kind and colour. While the dragon of light, Valo, roamed the skies, he made a layer of protection to shield us from the harmful rays cast by the sun.

These dragons forged a world with ideal conditions for life to exist within. Ûr, the creator, in a great flash of light, brought to life thousands of beings of all kinds of shapes and sizes. Finally, the last lives were created-these were known as the mortal elves and dwarves, as well as humans. These races were destined for great things. They expanded, building colossal and influential cities. Writing song, poetry, and many languages that could be spoken by any tongue should it wish to. For thousands of years these races lived happily in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, the dragons roamed the skies, basking in the success of their creations. And as time passed on, these dragons had children, and their children had more children of their own. However, dragons were not as quick to breed as other species were, for a single female could only give birth to but one youngling once every two hundred years.

But peace was not for all. Atês, the fire dragon bid his time patiently for thousands of years, openly obeying, but secretly plotting. He had children of his own, two daughters and a son. And although the vile acts of incest were considered a taboo of the highest regard amongst his own kind, the power-hungry fire dragon was quick to set aside logic and reasoning when he decided to do the unthinkable and breed his own children. The results of committing such an act created the ultimate abomination, the wyvern. Atês released his wyvern children to freely roam the world. Devastation ensued, for destruction and slaughter were all that these creatures understood.

It was not long before word spread across the lands of Elves, Dwarves and Man of a wyvern that was taking refuge within the depths of a large cave. The three kings of these lands each gathered one hundred of their finest warriors with the intention of venturing into these caves and slaying the beast.

To their dismay, the kings and their brave warriors found no wyvern, but instead, they came upon Atês himself.

Instead of ending their lives, Atês smothered them with whispers and visions of all that they most desired, exerting his shrewd and devious influence upon the meek beings in front of him.

The elves desired above all the eternal life in which they could outlive even the great dragons. Dwarves desired all the gold and riches, beautiful gems, and shining jewels of silver and gold. But to Atês' greatest surprise, the humans, good at heart, desired no power, lusted after no riches, and wanted no immortal lives.

With the promise of their hearts' greatest desires, the elves and dwarves quickly turned on their human allies, killing all one hundred of the soldiers including their king. In the aftermath of the bloodbath, the elves and dwarves proceeded to bow before Atês and pledge their loyalties to him.

The creator, greatly disappointed by what he saw, chose to curse them all with the blessings they so much desired.

The eyes of the treacherous elves and dwarves forever turned black as a reminder of their now tainted souls. Those who bowed remained forever loyal to Atês and his cause. They obeyed their new ruler who instructed them to return to their homes and recruit all the elves and dwarves that they could find. Everyone else who disobeyed fled to the human cities, escaping the agony of wyvern fire.

Atês was renamed to Zûl, which in the divine dragon tongue represented Chaos.

Great battles were fought and thousands upon thousands lost their lives. Many lost their powers in the war and some even gained power under the leadership of Zûl, these included the dark elves and dwarves.

The few Elves, Dwarves, and humans who refused to bend the knee to Zûl were called upon by the Dragons to join them in a final battle, a battle to defeat the plagues of evil that now engulfed the realm and restore peace and balance once more.

The great fight, now known as The Battle of a Million Souls, took place within the fields of Glavion. Many dragons perished during the battle, including the son and daughters of the wicked ruler Zûl. The immense forces of the fire dragon's dark army were depleted, leaving only a handful standing on the field. Fearing for the extinction of their respective races, the dark Elves and Dwarves surrendered, but not before both of their kings fell in battle.

Zul gazed down, wide-eyed and with disbelief at what remained of his great army. He too decided to flee but as he turned to fly away he came face to face with the leaders of the opposing army. A vicious onslaught followed and even though Zûl was much larger and stronger than his siblings, their ferocity and numbers overpowered him, bringing him to his knees.

He was soon defeated and captured by his siblings, and with the aid of their armies thrown into the deepest prison within the earth, trapped in chains forged by the dragons to hold dragons, cursed and damned to live out all of his days in solitary confinement.

And once again a time of peace began.

The dark dwarves holed up in caves as dark as their hearts, ashamed of their horrible actions died out. The dark Elves, however, knowing that they had all of eternity to ponder their shame decided to sail to a vast island where they could live in isolation.

As time passed, the dwarves became brilliant forgers thanks to their obsession with great treasures. Immortal elves became experts in song, poetry as well as all wisdom within the realms, the latter being the gift time grants everyone. Humans rebuilt their great cities and had powerful armies and wise kings. As a reward for their loyalty in the Battle of a Million Souls and their strong will of denying Zûl's corruption, they were rewarded a gift by the remaining divine dragons. This gift was the ability to possess the strength of a dragon. Every two decades, one hundred humans were permitted to consume a single dragon tear, a tear engulfed in dragon fire, therein granting the human a limited amount of a dragon's capabilities.