The Dazzling Blade of the Crescent Moon
The dazzling blade of the crescent moon. It's a term not heard by the dragon's
ears in quite some time, but with this curious fellow asking about it, the dragon's face spread a bemused grin. The dragon
opened his mouth, and began to tell the tale of a warrior who had lost all that he could imagine losing.
Dusk was born in an interesting position, the result of one of the draconic gods being seduced by a mortal. He grew up alone,
and in an environment where people would mock him. He cursed his father every night for bringing him up with this fate, a
bastard child that would never be desired by his far superior father. He lived in a kingdom ruled by a church, a church
that worshipped the draconic gods, including his father. The dragon of the moon, whose heritage shone brightly upon his
face with the mark of the moon.
Dusk was very short in stature, leaving him to be bullied quite a bit for his feminine appearance, his bastard upbringing
, and his love of dance. The dragon sought out a temple where the elite would go to learn the ins and outs of dancing,
and to all of their shock Dusk glided with unbefore seen grace with each move he made, enough to make the most envious
drop their jaws. It was agreed that he would briefly stay to try and teach them his unique style. Try as he might though,
he could not get any of the other dancers to perform as he could.
Dusk soon found himself exiled from the school, a failure for being unable to pass his talents on. This truly devastated
the dragon, who ran off in search of some sort of purpose. Left in dancer's garb, he made his way to a training camp for
warriors of the land. Seeing nowhere else for him to go, he joined their ranks. He was shocked to see many who had gave him so much grief were also there.
The first night, some drink had intoxicated the bloodthirsty warriors into abusing the poor dragon, taking his virginity in a most degrading way.
They kept going, until they got the idea to kill the dragon...
Weapons drawn, they chased him around the camp, Dusk surviving and dodging every blow with dancer's grace. Eventually, he was blindsided and knocked into
one of the buildings. Surrounded, and with no hope of escape, the dragon found the latent power of his heritage within himself.
in a blinding flash of light in the night, the warriors found themselves face to face with the form of a draconic god. With a potent roar,
he released a burst of divine moon energy around him, shattering the souls of those who sought him harm. The entire camp was wiped out that
night, save for one warrior, who had taken the night to meditate. The one warrior who would not join in on belittling him.
When that warrior returned, he found naught but the small dragon standing in awe of what he had done the previous night, the bodies of former allies
mutilated beyond recognition. All that stood was the dragon, crying, blood dripping from his hands. The warrior spoke with a surprising calm.
"They deserved it. You did the world well by ridding the world of their kind." Those words rang through the dragon's head, as he turned around to stare into friendly eyes.
"I only wish I had the strength to do as you did." The two of them talked for some time, before the warrior used some water to wash the blood from Dusk's scales.
The warrior and the dragon spent a couple of days camping out, leaving the camp to be discovered as a 'mysterious crime of war' from the nation's enemies.
The dragon became close with the human warrior, before they parted companies to follow their separate paths. He would never forget the human though, the one who called himself Qoth.
The Rise of the Tyranical Serpent
As time went on, Dusk continued to hone his skills with twin scimitars, weapons befitting his unique style of combat. The dragon adopted a
style of fighting that was almost more gracefully dancing wounds into one's enemies. It wasn't until he met his equal match in the forests with a raptor who had unhindered aggression in his fighting when he met a foe he could not out maneuver while dealing blows upon.
This raptor and he fought for days on end, before the dragon gave the exhausted raptor the last of his water. Upon receiving this kindness,
the raptor carried the dragon to the nearest stream. From that day, the both of them became inseperable.
The two of them travelled throughout the lands, earning a reputation as The Dazzling Blade of the Crescent Moon, and the Raptor the Firey Fury of the Burning Sun.
The raptor himself possessing no direct power or mana, but he fought as an irreplacable ally to the dragon. His aggression took out any who were occupied dealing with Dusk's mesmerizing style,
and the dragon would dispose of those who forgot about him due to dealing with the raptor's aggression. The dragon fed each of their defeated foes to the raptor, an agreement which left the both of them satisfied.
The dragon could never admit this to anyone save for his closest friend, but he derived pleasure from pleasing his partner, particularly with a full and squirming belly.
The two of them blossomed into something more than friends after a time, soon only to one another as partners.
Eventually, word began to spread that the kingdom had a new high priest, a serpent who sought to lead their land to victory. What most would
not see however, was the want for an eternal throne that the snake hid so deep within himself. This lead him into extreme methods for winning the war against their enemies.
Eventually, the war was won by them, but not until the vast majority of their citizens had either been slain, and reanimated into the snake's mummies, or allowed him to turn them into his own race of kobolds.
The dragon sought to bring this reign to an end, and so he and his partner set out to overthrow the snake. Dusk spent a week observing the opulant serpent, gleaning that he was a masterful sorcerer.
This of course did not mean that he was unfamiliar with a sword, though it was obvious that his true prowess came from his divine, arcane arts.
It wasn't until the night of their planned betrayal of their kingdom that the dragon heard the priest's name, Qoth. A distinct name, and one that the dragon had remembered all too well. That night, when the citizens had left the serpent's opulant pyramid, both the raptor and the dragon approached.
The snake's eyes widened in shock as he gazed once more upon the glistening blades of that dragon. No words exchanged between them. There ensued a battle that would last for a week.
The snake's spells were devastating, and to be hit by one would surely cripple the graceful dragon. The raptor on the other hand was far more durable to such things,
using his intense speed to rush the serpent, forcing him to deal with the raptor in close combat. Another serpent came slithering to find the battle ensuing, and caught the raptor off guard with a blast of divine fire. This left Qoth coiled around him, and squeezing the life out of him, staring at where the dragon was, hoping to see a look of desperation on his face. Instead what he saw was the additional snake, his mate, put in a lock with swords ready to decapitate her at a moment's notice.
Eventually, they traded. The life of the dragon's precious raptor companion, for the life of the serpent's mate. However, as the serpent released his grip of the raptor, it was clear to all that his vitality was giving out. In desperation, and in anger, the dragon transformed once more, darting at godly speeds towards the snake and sending him slamming against a pillar.
The other snake rushed over to tend to Qoth, but the dragon had his own companion to treat. The dragon wept over the body of the raptor, who clung to life just barely. That fire shot had left him clinging to life even before the snake's grasp. A tear from the dragon brushed across the mark on his cheek, as it dropped down atop the almost deceased raptor's body.
Just when the hope had been lost, the vibrant orange and red feathers of the raptors began to ignite, and the dragon watched in awe as he stood back up, stronger than ever, and wielding fire.
The snakes both turned back to deal with them, casting a spell of exile upon them, the two cursed to lose their closest ally, only hopefully to be reunited. They would settle this score another time, after the both of them had better learned how to wield new tactics.
