Lilia's eyelids cracked open and fluttered. Her field of vision was still swimming, awash with strange forms and lights. Memory and awareness poked and prodded at her skull, demanding entry. Indulging them, she began to peel herself from the ground and whipped her head to and fro, drinking in the scene around her.
She pushed herself to shaky feet, fighting back nausea. Her back ached from her sheathed sword digging into it as she lay in the dirt. The pain reminded her of the sword, which reminded her in turn of where she was and what she was doing. Once again, she had failed.
The half-formed lump of matter lying at Lilia's feet was supposed to be a ball of dirt, one of the simplest things to create as one trains in the final pillar of wolven magic. Instead, it was an oddly misshapen bundle of unidentifiable material. It was smooth to the touch and rough-hewn, looking like a clay model a child might make. It had only the barest, most basic details. She picked it up and studied it, then banished it with only a thought.
"You've got destruction down," Ylfres yipped across the way, "But creation is proving troublesome. Keep your focus, erase your doubts, and try again!" Lilia steadied herself, parted her booted feet, and focused on the blank space ahead of her.
In her mind's eye, she created a spherical boundary about a foot in front of her face, then stared into the center of it and began exerting her will. "Dirt.", she said on a breath. Flecks of earth began swirling in the boundary, making its way around the centerpoint she had bound it to. Finally, the particles started to swirl together at that centerpoint and bind to one another.
'A ball of dirt', Lilia thought over and over, like a mantra. 'A ball of dirt...' The dirt curled in on itself as her thoughts melded. Finally, after many attempts, she was doing it. She was going to form the ball of dirt, then move on to bigger and better things.
A movement in the underbrush caught Lilia's attention by instinct, and in that split second, the ball exploded violently, showering her with grains of soil. She grimaced as the bits and pieces smacked into her face, some hitting hard enough to bury themselves and leave her bleeding. Her hands went up and her eyes squeezed shut, keeping any permanent damage from being done.
The movement in the underbrush soon revealed itself to have been worthy of her attention. A cooing baby dragon eased from the bushes, spewing tiny flames and dripping amniotic fluid. The thing had evidently hatched mere minutes ago, meaning that more eggs may be buried somewhere nearby.
Ylfres grinned. "Lilia, you know what this means, don't you?", he sniffed. She nodded to him. Silently, she focused on one of the dragons and stretched out a hand. "Bubble", she whispered. The creature reared into the air in a golden bubble, then floated to Lilia. She reached back and put a hand on her sword. "Stop", Ylfres called, "That's not what I had in mind."
The bubble suspended itself inches from Lilia's face, and she studied the creature inside. Soft pink skin covered it from head to tail, scales not yet sprouted. Its rounded snout gave no hint of fierceness, and its mouth lacked any hint of teeth as yet. The only thing about it that resembled an adult dragon, besides the basic shape of its body, was its glittering scarlet eyes.
"You mean this baby dragon to be...", Lilia breathed, "An emissary?" Ylfres smiled and made his way over, leaning in to take a closer look at the captured dragon. "Yes.", he nodded, "The start of a new era for the dragon race. We can eliminate all those who are indoctrinated into the old way, with dragons ruling." Lilia smiled back at Ylfres. "We can come together as a community to raise the baby dragons from the eggs left here. They'll be humble citizens of the world, in harmony with the people around them just like everybody else."
Lilia smiled. The thought of dragons existing in harmony with other races gave her great pleasure. After all, she didn't hate dragons themselves. No dragon asked to be born one, after all. She hated their collective philosophy. She hated the atrocities they visited upon anybody they viewed as inferior. The start of a new dragon race was the start of a new world, and Lilia was glad to be a part of it. "This pleases me, Ylfres. I am glad you thought of it." The wolf leader smiled and nodded at her, then loosed a howl to the sky.
When all the wolves of the city were gathered around at last, Ylfres brought the baby dragon to the center of the huddled mass for all to see. Thousands of gasps rang out, along with growling and howls of protests. Calls of "Kill it!", and "Disgusting!" joined them. Ylfres howled again, rising above the cacophony and demanding silence.
The crowd finally complied, and Ylfres made his intentions clear. "We are faced with a unique opportunity, dear ones!", he called to the masses. "This baby dragon may well be from one of many eggs hidden around our territory. If that is the case, we can find all of these eggs."
"And do what with them?!", a voice spat. A small blue wolf stepped forward, her fur dyed in homage to the newly minted hero standing next to Ylfres. "We can try to create a new social order, but there's no guarantee the new wave of dragons won't simply end up sharing the current wave's worldview!"
Ylfres shook his head. "That won't happen. No currently living dragons will be left in our wave of slaughter. Even the younglings whose indoctrination has already begun will not be spared. Nay, the dragons here, that we can teach empathy and compassion, will remain in this world." Lilia nodded her agreement. "My original plan was to wipe dragonkind from the face of the earth.", she called out, meeting a chorus of pleased howling. When it died down, she continued. "Dragons, however, have a unique role to play."
"I've been studying while here. Texts both ancient and modern have not escaped my inspection, and I've noticed something about dragonkind." She motioned to the baby dragon floating nearby in a bubble, currently babbling and chewing on its tail. "Specimen just like this one, from the youngest to the oldest, all have a unique ability in common. Without them, and this collective ability, the planet's weather would be far less hospitable."
"Dragons are the largest flying creatures in the world. That's an indisputable fact. Because of this, their flight paths influence the winds and break up clouds. Texts from other dimensions speak of natural phenomenon called 'tsunami', 'hurricane', and 'tornado' that rip apart entire cities. Our realm does not have these, and I believe that it's because of dragons. Cloud formations don't have a chance to gather at the kind of scale that would be necessary for the formation of these weather patterns."
"I thought the adoption of such weather patterns to be a necessary evil. I thought that dragons' evil ways were ingrained upon their species, and that they would have to be wiped out to spare other races. Your leader, however, opened my eyes." Ylfres stepped forward, taking the floor. "It takes a village to raise a child, and a dragon matures quickly. Our efforts must be focused. They grow up to near-adult size and intelligence in only about six months. That's how long we have to raise these new dragons to be compassionate citizens, and to find and eliminate all dragons from outside this village." Lilia reached out a hand to the baby dragon, and the bubble around it gave way. She cuddled the creature close, and it reacted by wrapping its stubby front legs around her in a hug. "The clock is ticking! Find the eggs, and stand with me against the tyranny of the current generations of dragons!" The entire city's wolven population joined in one long howl, committing entirely to Ylfres and Lilia's plan.