The Earth.
A tiny planet in the vast cosmos that has hosted an infinite number of different species over the ages. Whole genealogies of creatures have followed one after another over the endless millions of years of its existence. And about a couple of hundred thousand years ago, a blink of an eye compared to the life of the planet, Earth welcomed into its arms an extraordinary new species, the humans.
Apparently, humans are no different from all other creatures. They have large brains, of course, and are capable of reshaping the face of the planet as they please; but from an external point of view, they are just another species living on a tiny planet in a very small solar system on the periphery of one of the countless galaxies of a universe that has just finished using diapers. They aren't the first species and certainly will not be the last. As a result, someone could safely say that there is nothing special about them.
But humans have a gift. It isn't known how they got it. Maybe it was an evolutionary mechanism unknown to the rest of the universe, or maybe a higher entity had made sure they had that ability. It is also unknown why this gift was given to humans: it isn't in fact useful for survival or for improving knowledge... and yet, they own it.
This gift is called imagination. For the narrow-minded human vocabulary, it only allows you to think about things that don't exist. But in reality, imagination is an immense power that only the human mind possesses, which breaks down the barriers of space and time and allows them to see, even if in a blurred and fragmented way, what happened, is happening or will happen in lands far away from them.
Because Earth isn't the only world, and the universe where it is located isn't the only universe. There are billions of them, each one with quintillions of exotic worlds within it. Other intelligent species usually need to develop science advanced enough to travel across the universal barrier to find out what other worlds are like, but not the humans that live on Earth: their gift allows them to experience another world without ever having physically set foot in it. All that infinity of stories that for humans on Earth are just fantasy, for any other civilized creature are treatises on science, history and geography of distant worlds that would require a technology beyond common understanding to be reached.
There are many examples that can be given. All the various mythologies contain accurate descriptions of other realities. But it is above all with the advent of fantasy literature and science fiction that humans on Earth have begun to write down what they could see with their imagination. Chimeras, centaurs, elves, aliens, distant worlds, gods, demons. All of these things that seem just fantasy to these humans, exist in universes far away from Earth.
The funniest part is that humans should have realized their power by now, since certain elements of 'fantasy' occur in cultures that have never met each other, so it should be obvious that behind the inaccurate definition that they give to the imagination there should be something more. Sadly, Earth's humans are creatures often fearful of the unknown and would rather rely on a misconception than face the implications that the discovery of their power would have. But ultimately, it is their choice. Maybe one day their brains will evolve enough to stop fearing the unknown, but that moment is far from happening.
As already mentioned, many elements are recurrent in the so-called 'fantasy literature'. And among them are some of the most extraordinary creatures ever to appear in the vast multiverse: dragons.
Dragons aren't native to Earth, of course, nor to the universe of which Earth is part. The physical laws of that universe would not allow such large animals to exist, since they would be crushed by their own weight or suffer respiratory or heart failure. To find dragons we have to leave Earth. For any intelligent species, that would be an immense scientific achievement; but for humans on Earth, a thought is all it is needed, and in an istant we are at our destination.
We have to move about four universes away. Here the laws of physics are similar, but there are small differences. Some things don't change: there are galaxies and, going into one of them, we find a medium-sized sun and several planets revolving around it. Gravity still holds the solar system together and keeps the celestial bodies in their eternal dance around their star.
The planet of interest to us is the fourth in order of distance from its star. Its name, or at least what the locals will call it when intelligent life will appear, is Ramat. It is a magnificent blue sphere with large areas of land. It has a large moon that stabilizes its axis by preventing it from tilting uncontrollably. Its orbit is almost perfectly circular, preventing too large changes in temperature during the seasons. The planet is geologically active and has an atmosphere suitable for breathing. It's the perfect place to search life.
The laws of evolution are similar in many universes and this one is no exception. Life is born, grows, and adapts to various environments. Just like Earth species, the Ramat's ones too are born, extinct, differentiate and change. From small microorganisms they pass to multicellular life, and then to more complex creatures. Hundreds of millions of years pass, continents change shape, plants cover the landscape, marine animals emerge from the waves and colonize the mainland. Ramat turns green in a very short geological time. Animals spread and colonize every environment. And among them one species stands out among all the others: the dracomorphs.
The first of the dracomorphs is a small lizard, which however is destined to evolve into something majestic. For the next hundreds of millions of years, the dracomorphs rule the entire planet. Like the dinosaurs on Earth, they come in all possible forms: there are gigantic herbivores, huge predators, and some of them even evolve flight. And they are real monsters: they can measure hundreds of meters and weigh several thousands tons. On Earth, such creatures wouldn't be able to exist. But there is a substantial difference between Ramat and Earth: mana.
In the universe where Earth is located, the decay of the elements in the core of the planets simply produces heat, which causes the tectonic plates to move. In this universe, however, it produces also something else: an invisible force, called mana, which if exploited in the correct way allows the physical properties to be altered. Only a tiny amount of mana reaches the planet's surface, but that's enough. Animals evolve to be able to use it. They use it to make their bodies lighter, to gain hunting skills, to defend themselves. The planet's ecosystem becomes bigger, fiercer, and wilder than Earth's. At the end of what posterity will call the 'age of dragons' the world is covered by trees as high as three hundred meters, with herbivores of impressive size, carnivores as tall as buildings and, above all, hovering in the sky creatures tens of meters long that on Earth would be too heavy to fly.
And among all these species one in particular rises above the others. They are what in the future the inhabitants of the planet will call 'dragons'. They are the masters of the sky, hundreds of meters long and with wings so large that they block out the sun. They have four clawed legs and terrifying jaws, and can manipulate mana in many ways. These characteristics alone would make them the top of the food chain, but dragons also have something else more than other living creatures: intelligence.
Thanks to their superiority and the ease with which they obtain prey, their brains grow in size and improve their thinking skills. Dragons soon leave the primitive stage and become aware of themselves. They begin to question the nature and the meaning of life, and start to placate their primal instincts in favor of a more civilized way of life.
Dragons gather in great clans. From solitary animals they become social. Together they discover culture, law, science, magic and many other things. The clans begin to unite in turn, eventually forming nations. Kings, princes, emperors are born. Many dragons still live in the nature, but their intelligence has reached a Earth's human-like level: they simply have no reason to abandon their rustic lifestyle since they have no predators and they don't fear the cold.
Dragons are obviously not the only intelligent creatures on the planet. There are others. They are the progenitors of those species that will later evolve into humans, elves, beastmen, and so on. But in this world dominated by giants, these ancestors live underground and feed on anything they find. They don't dare to venture outside. Though intelligence has been attained, it is useless against the monsters that rule the planet. These beings are currently too weak to threaten the dominance of the dragons, who seem invincible.
But all great eras must come to an end, and as on Earth, the so-called 'mass extinctions' exist on Ramat too. Dracomorphs have ruled the planet for hundreds of millions of years, but now, at the end of their era, the continents have merged into one large land mass. This causes an extreme change in currents which causes desertification of many areas. Many dracomorphs disappear, but that's just the beginning. The supercontinent, after a few million years of unity, is starting to fragment. Tectonic activity is so immense that the earth's crust collapses: volcanoes erupt all together, so much so that the entire north of the supercontinent is ravaged by lava.
However, this is not enough. The catastrophe is devastating and wipes out many living species, but the dragons aren't worried in the least. Thanks to mana, they can adapt to harsh conditions and still get food. Many other dracomorphs manage to survive as well. What on Earth would have been a catastrophe that would have left only a few life forms alive, on Ramat it is only a moment of passing unease. When tectonic activity subsides and the ash from volcanoes settles, the world is still ruled by dracomorphs, and dragons are still the dominant species. Nothing on Ramat could threaten their dominance.
Nothing... on Ramat.
If dragons made use of writing and observed the night sky often, they would most likely be able to notice that a detail is changing. One of the stars in the sky, which until a few years ago was the brightest, is slowly fading. Over the course of thousands of years, the star becomes fainter and fainter, until it is almost difficult to recognize it in the midst of the sea of stars. And then, suddenly, one fateful night, the star seems to shrink until it disappears. For a few more minutes, peace still reigns; and then, the catastrophe comes.
Suddenly the star appears again, but it is no longer weak and dull; indeed, it shines in the sky more than ever. It becomes almost as big as the sun and lights up the night sky as if it were day. All creatures on the planet look up and admire a sight that no one would have ever imagined seeing. But although that sight is truly wonderful, it heralds the arrival of death.
This is what the humans from Earth call a supernova. A gigantic star, several times more massive than the sun, which has now run out of fuel. In its initial stage, the star expands and its light dims, because it releases much less heat; then, the elements within its core fuse one after another, until no further fusion is possible. And at that point, the star dies in one of the most extraordinary shows in the universe. With no more radiation pressure from the core, gravity wins and the star implodes on itself, at nearly a quarter of the speed of light, until it reaches the critical point and explodes, so violently that its light can outshine entire galaxies. But as magnificent as this vision is, it's a danger to any habitable planet in its vicinity. Being within 150 light years of a supernova is equivalent to being hit by terrible radiation that can increase cancers and mutations. Less than 100 light years away, a supernova is powerful enough to cause mass extinctions.
The humans from Earth have seen thousands of supernovae, but most of them were too far away to pose any serious danger. However, Earth has been repeatedly hit by several supernovae in the past. One of them, which occurred 60 light-years from Earth, caused the Devonian mass extinction 350 million years before the human era.
The supernova we are talking about exploded just 5 light years away from Ramat. In cosmic terms, basically next to it.
For over a month, the star shines in the sky almost as bright as the sun, and in doing so the planet heats up rapidly. The temperature on the surface of Ramat burns under the intense light of the star and every vegetable is on fire. Fires ravage the planet and kill countless life forms. Thanks to the mana, Ramat's life still has a chance to survive; this is not the first crisis that dracomorphs face, one of the many that hit the planet during all its billions of years. In their arrogance, dragons are sure that soon everything will soon return normal and that they will survive without problems. But the worst is still to come. The intense light is followed by the radiation.
When a star dies and goes supernova, it releases an immense amount of radiation in all directions. This radiation can continue for even tens of thousands of years. But in Ramat's universe, things are a little different. The star cores, like the planet cores, also drop mana. Therefore, the dying star's radiation merges with the little remaining mana, turning them into veritable killing machines. Upon reaching Ramat, this special radiation momentarily nullifies the effect of the mana. Without being able to use their powers anymore, the creatures are now defenseless. And the dragons, unfortunately for them, realize that this time it won't be as easy to survive as they thought.
It's the beginning of the end. The radiation wipes out all of the ozone layer and every life form on the planet is exposed to the cosmic poison. Whole ecosystems are wiped out in a matter of days. Radiation triggers all kinds of natural disasters: the climate seems to go crazy as lightning storms devastate the planet and huge clouds caused by the rapid evaporation of the oceans block out the sunlight. Now walking on the surface of Ramat is like being in the middle of a cemetery: ash and debris cover everything, the sky is dark, it's cold, food is scarce, thunder and lightning strike the ground continuously, and just breathing carries deadly radiation into the lungs of the survivors, killing them within hours. Basically all life that sees sunlight is exterminated.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the planet is an hostile and deadly place. It is the most terrible extinction event in all Ramat's History. Basically 98% of all species on the planet are just wiped out from existence. The only survivors are the creatures that lived in the deep sea and the ones that lived underground. Between them there are the ancestors of the future dominant races of the planet: the progenitors of elves, humans, orcs, beastmen and all the others used to live underground to avoid dragons, and this saved them from extinction.
Dragons are less fortunate. Their large bodies make hiding difficult and they need a lot of food. Without the ability to use their mana, dragons are hopeless. One by one, 95% of their population is wiped out by radiation, starvation and natural disasters. However, some of them survive. Dragons still have one last card to play: hibernation. In fact, these reptiles can slow down their metabolism so much that they sleep for several thousands of years. However, hibernation cannot last forever: the bigger the dragon, the more energy their body needs to continue to survive, and therefore more food. Therefore, many of them die in their sleep. The only ones who manage to resist until the end of the catastrophe unleashed by the supernova are the cubs: they have small bodies that need little food and can hide deeper, far from the deadly surface of the planet.
After hundreds of thousands of years, the catastrophe finally ends. The radiation stops, the ozone layer reforms, and the natural disasters end. Finally, Ramat is now able to sustain life again. And while the sun returns to illuminate a martoriate world, the dragons start to wake up and come out of the caves in which they had taken refuge. Even if they have been decimated, even if the last survivors are only inexperienced cubs, the dragons have resisted. But that doesn't change their fate.
This is the end of a kingdom. The recovery of dragons is very slow: due to their long life, they reproduce only every hundred years. The current dragons are too few to control the planet, and without their presence, the path is clear for the development of new species.
The progenitors of the new races survived the disaster too. By living underground they avoided the catastrophe. Now, finally, they can come out into the sunlight. Their turn has come.
Normally the dragons would have no problem to remain the masters of the planet: to evolve, the new races would need tens of millions of years, and by then the dragons will have recovered their former number. But the intense volcanic activity that occurred just before the supernova created deep fissures in the earth, through which mana emerges as never before. Dragons fear this rifts, since they sense the mana radiation that reminds them of the deadly supernova radiation, but the small creatures are drawn to them instead. There is so much mana that it accelerates cellular mutation and evolution with it.
Unlike dragons, the new races reproduce quickly. This, added to the large supply of mana, allows for very rapid evolution. Just ten thousand years after the mass extinction, mammals colonize the planet, birds fill the sky, and the surviving reptiles diversify as well. By the time the rifts finally close, the planet's ecosystem has now been fully restored.
Although the dracomorphs have been wiped out, some species are still alive besides dragons. There are sea serpents, who have taken refuge in the depths of the ocean to escape disaster. And then there is a small burrowing lizard, which had found refuge in the deep soil. This small lizard, the last of the terrestrial dracomorphs, is in turn attracted by a vein of mana and thanks to it evolves into new species: wyverns, wyrms, drakes, hydras, and some others. They are still the top of the food chain, even if they are few, but this situation is about to change forever. The large amount of mana has allowed the birth of new intelligent species. Humans, elves, beastmen… there are too many to list, and the dragons simply call them 'newcomers'.
Newcomers reproduce very quickly: their demographic explosion is almost instantaneous. Their intelligence allows them to build cities and towns. For some time they are still afraid of dragons, but they soon start to arm themselves. Newcomers are good at using magic and are ingenious: they create special weapons that can harm dragons. And above all, there are a lot of newcomers. Even if a single newcomer can do nothing against a dragon, many of them are a winning force.
The dragons are persecuted and killed to prevent them from continuing to exterminate the livestock and the population. Some of the remaining dracomorphs, such as wyverns and wyrms, are partially domesticated. Those left in the wild learn to avoid newcomers. True dragons are luckier due to their intelligence, but soon they realize that they have lost. While they still have the pride and arrogance they once had, their reign is over.
Dragons retreat to areas where newcomers don't live: mountains, valleys, deserts, islands. However, this leaves them without a large number of resources. The little society they had built splits: everyone thinks for themselves. Each dragon needs a huge territory to survive and sharing it means losing the resources they possess. Dragons become solitary and territorial and end up killing each other. Mothers kick out their children, fathers eliminate them to ward off competition, and those who don't keep up are killed. The number of dragons drops even further, bringing them to the brink of extinction.
In the end only a few dragons survive. Their long life is what saves them: even if they live far apart from each other, they still have the opportunity to interbreed and reproduce. But in any case, dragons are now defeated. If they dare to get too close to an inhabited area they are killed, and it is not uncommon for newcomers to organize squads to hunt them even in their own territories.
The fate of the dragons now seems sealed. Thirty thousand years after the mass extinction, dragons are too few to pose any threat to newcomers or lay claim to domination of the planet.
And it is right here, in this period, that our story begins. Incidentally, in the territory of a great dragon, one of the last exponents of a dying species that desperately gasps to survive, which after decades of solutidine is ready to meet a companion again.