Misted Deceit

Proloug: Unforseen Disaster

Vicious roars tore through the air, accompanied by screams of pain.  Fire and poison flew in every direction as dragons and hydras battled against each other.  And in the middle of it all was a glistening green and gold dragon, calling out to his troops below.  Sunlight glinted off his silver armor as he dealt out blows of every kind to the three-headed foes around him.  "Look out!" someone cried as a stream of dark liquid flew towards him.  He ducked and retaliated with a blast of flame, but only after a searing pain bloomed across the horn on his wing.

The dragon flapped, trying to gain altitude, but his injury could not hold him; he spiraled to the ground, landing with a loud thump as he nearly crashed head-first.  Shaking himself, he surveyed the battlefield.

The main part of the Dragonian army was spread out too thin amongst the foothills of the mountains for his liking.  They needed to stay together if the Hydranian forces were to be defeated; but to his dismay, the hydras began to gather their forces anew to start another assault. 

"Talon!"

He turned and saw a purple dragon flying towards him.  The dragon landed with a dull thud next to him.  "What is wrong?" he asked worriedly, seeing the desperate expression on her face.

"There are far more than we anticipated.  A group of scouts came back from a mission, reporting that the hydras are swarming all through the Woode-Stone Mountains," she replied, out of breath, "We need the phoenixes.  Without them, I fear we won't be able to win this."

Talon swore.  Both of them knew that their allies couldn't assist them in time; the phoenixes were fighting another battle in the north, too far to reach them in time.  He sighed, "I'll have to send one of the scouts to bring word to Queen Xyalan and her army.  After that..."

"Help will come.  Don't worry," Orchid nuzzled his neck.  He smiled, "I'll be back," and took off flying.

"Be careful!"

Flashes of pain ran up and down his injured wing, leaving him breathless.  His flying faltered as a sudden spout of queasiness washed over him, causing him to almost crash into a rocky mountainside.  Swallowing it, he looked down, glancing around for the bright blue and white of the scout legion, looking up too late.  He flew head-on into another dragon, who hissed and snarled in anger.  The only thing he could see was a swirling mass of black and red.  Backing up dazedly, he looked at the dragon before him in shock.

"Paganblood!  What are you doing here!?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," the monstrous dragon replied in a silky voice.

Talon stared at him, stunned.

The other dragon laughed, "Why am I here, you ask?  To do something that I should have done years ago, when the war was still young!"  A blast of searing fire flew towards Talon.  Panicked, the LongClaw struggled to evade it.  But a following gust of wind sent him tumbling backwards, slamming him into the mountain.  Pain shot through every fiber of his body.

The last thing Talon LongClaw saw was Paganblood's outstretched claws before his world shattered into darkness.