The story starts about a year ago, in Qade Valley, an isolated forested valley of peace and plenty, on the northwestern corner of the continent of Falnear.
It was a gathering of creatures in Qade Valley, and like the many held regularly throughout the year, it was attended in its fullest. These gatherings were organized by the Qade Valley Council, the five old, wise creatures sitting up in Ysk Mountain who we supplied with food in exchange for advice and counsel. They were also too old to show up to anything. This particular gathering was the Qade Competition. Creatures would come together and compete in organized games. We had javelin throwing (throwing javelins as far as you can), stone throwing (throwing stones as far as you can), tree rolling (rolling trees as fast as you can), flying (flying as fancy as you can), and many more.
I always tried to attend as much as possible. It was the one thing that broke up the boring day-to-day search for food. Most other creatures had friends to play with, but I could never seem to make a friend. So I remained alone.
Well, almost alone.
I had only one friend, Aavern. He was my brother, and as long as I could remember, we lived together in a bush. We didn't like to refer to each other as brothers, since that would involve a discussion about who our parents were. Since we never knew our parents, we tended to avoid starting this conversation.
He was an informant of the Council, providing them with information about the area where he lived. There were a few dozen informants. Nobody was supposed to know who they were, what they were doing, what the Council asked them to look for, or how many there were.
Aavern was never very good at keeping secrets.
This time, Aavern had left early for the day. Probably on council business. I ate the berries I had gathered the previous night and went to a small hollow near the bush. I had stored a small number of javelins, long wooden poles with sharp rocks stuck on the tips which some clever dragon had made for me to wander in and take, next to a few largish rocks. Normally, I would just wander around the gatherings watching the competitions. However, a few months ago, Aavern started training to compete in the stone throwing competition.
Most other Oacinhragn, as we small fuzzy six-legged winged creatures called ourselves, weren't anywhere near strong enough to hunt for meat. Aavern and I were the exception. We had been learning from an early age to throw stuff. Aavern threw rocks at things, and if he managed to hit one, we would have a nice quail to eat. I learned how to throw javelins at stuff. I had surprisingly good aim except when I was aiming at things to eat. I can definitely hit a tree across the forest dead-on, but somehow, when I aimed at a juicy quail just across a clearing, the wind would make me miss.
So unfair.
Aavern decided to take his stone throwing skills to competition. Many other Oacinhragn competed as well, but they wouldn't do very well. It was mainly the various-colored dragons that won. Aavern and I, however, had a technique to throw things further than most. We had found out that if you fly up and pull a loop, then when you loop back, you will fly very fast. If you then throw wherever you were holding, it will be thrown very far.
The other Oacinhragn called us genius for figuring it out. It sure felt good.
When I arrived at the clearing of the gathering with my bundle of javelins, I was puzzled to see that Aavern wasn't there. He had been looking forward to this competition to finally show off our technique, but council business always trumped whatever agenda we had.
I took a deep breath and let it out in satisfaction. The day was warm. The sunlight filtered through the trees nicely in a wonderful cascade of tiny beams of light. The warmth of the sun combined with the cool of the shade and comfort at being surrounded by bushes and foliage on the forest floor made me feel invigorated.
I dragged my bundle over to the javelin-throwing area and got in line. This area was a flat section of clearing with a long rectangle about three times as long as it was wide marked out with rocks. One end had logs. You just had to be behind the logs when you threw the javelin and the judges would see how far it went. There were already several javelins planted in the ground. There were a few dragons milling around at the log side, waiting their turn. No Oacinhragn this time. They must all be out practicing the loop trick Aavern and I taught them. I dragged my bundle up to the line and waited. A few of the spectators looked at me curiously. There were creatures in the trees and on the ground, all watching the throwing. A cheer went up as another dragon threw. I watched closely. Most dragons would grab the javelins in their claws and swing their foreleg violently upwards in a sideways hooking motion. The javelin would then sail out of their claws and land far off. There was already one javelin that was almost at the end of the arena.
Another cheer went up. Almost my turn. I removed one javelin from my bundle and pushed the bundle to the side. When the dragon in front of me finished throwing, I nudged my javelin up and surveyed. My heart was pounding in my chest and my wings felt weak. I picked up the javelin anyway. There were a few murmurs around me. How is he going to throw that? Is he doing this for fun or to win? He won't throw that far. Most Oacinhragn don't. I took a deep breath. I turned around and flew up. A few others laughed. One dragon stepped up to throw, likely thinking I had fled. I carefully corrected my flight, then dropped into the loop. The scenery blurred around me. A rush of adrenaline and speed coursed through my veins. The ground came up. The dragon had thrown and another was getting ready. One of the judges noticed me and shouted something. Silence fell over the spectators. The wind whistled through my fur. I gripped the javelin firmly. When the log line came up, I pulled up violently, careening to the left on accident as I lost control, and released the javelin.
I smashed into a tree behind the log line and ended up stuck in leaves. A deafening roar went up. I managed to poke my head out of the tree. I was far short of the log line, but my javelin was far beyond the end of the throwing area and had actually gone into the stone throwing area further across the clearing. Everyone was yelling and cheering. I fell out of the tree with a thunk.
-
It was the next morning when Aavern came back to the bush. I had put the small carved javelin inscribed with the number "57". I had thrown the javelin 57 gyts. The best dragon could barely throw 30 gyts. I had no idea what gyts were, but apparently some of the smarter creatures came up with a way to measure things with numbers. It didn't really make much sense to me, especially since the measurement system was based on the average length of an Oacinhragn's wing. Who wanted their wing to be used as a unit of measurement? And who even needed a unit of measurement? All I needed to know was if one thing was farther away than the other thing. There was no need to bring numbers in! I already had enough trauma being bored in mandatory reading and writing and counting classes! Those council people loved forcing poor and unfortunate creatures to learn useless things!
Aavern walked in on me stuffing the carving into the top of the bush proudly.
"Hey! You won something!" he said.
"Yep! Threw the javelin 57 gyts!" I proudly announced.
"Gryna must've had a very hard time believing an Oacinhragn could beat her."
"Who?" I didn't really take the time to get to know others.
"Gryna. The green dragon."
I looked confused. Aavern sighed.
"She's been throwing consistently for over 26 gyts for the last two years."
"Oh, her!" I remembered the strong-looking dragon who had been throwing when I first arrived. "I didn't see. I got stuck in a tree."
"Figures."
I threw a leaf at him.
"So what did the council want this time?" I asked, changing the subject.
Aavern sighed, this time longer and most drawn-out. I could tell the news wasn't good.
"Sit down and eat, this'll take a while to explain," he finally said.
News had reached our secluded forest about the disasters.
Massive waves the size of mountains crashing to shore, tearing apart cliffs, shorelines, uprooting forests, and dragging unfortunate creatures out to sea. Crumbling hills that collapsed suddenly, revealing a massive pit, only to close again, often swallowing unfortunate creatures along with them. The very earth shaking, grumbling, and splitting open, throwing such a tantrum that everything nearby would soon become desolate, only to be quickly reclaimed by nature, leaving no trace behind within a few days. On top of all that, the dark shapes. They resemble tiny animals, trailing dark smoke, with bone-chilling cries that froze you in place with fear. The army was in their thousands now. Fighting was out of the question, as the last skilled warriors left for another plane of existence with the wizards during the Call of the Beyond.
It seemed mythical, a story from the rolling plains, scorching desert, and high mountains outside our home. We only ventured out to attend urgent meetings in Ysk Mountain called by the Council. I had a hard time believing this.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone."
"You are very good at keeping secrets."
As an informant, how well Aavern could gather information and keep it secret was a big part of his job.
"Thanks! Anyways, I'm supposed to suppress rumors and stuff, and not let it spread. I've been spending the last day doing that."
"You could've done that while showing up to compete." I had always said that I wanted more variety in my life; something to break up the routine and fill me with excitement, just like the gatherings. But not like this. I wanted to meet travelers, discover new food, and maybe even travel myself. I didn't want to know that there could be danger around the corner. I was suddenly filled with the urge to keep going with the boring day-to-day that I had been doing for my entire life. At least that life was safe.
Aavern saw the look on my face. "Relax. It might not even be real."
It was all I could do to nod and look assured. I wasn't. I didn't want to continue a normal life with no new things happening, but I also didn't want this peace to be destroyed.
"I'm going out to forage," I said. I needed some time to clear my mind. Being worried like this was unlike me.
"Bring back some of those stripy leaf things you found last time. They taste good," Aavern said to me on the way out.