Across the Mountains

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. A long time ago, the Valley had been a part of a large continent, known as No'Paga. One long night, a giant eruption exploded the peace the inhabitants of the Valley had known. Thrusting forth from the surface of Rathe, giant mountains imposed upon the sky where a red moon hung as an ever silent observer.

No'Pagadeans feared for their lives as the very heavens seemed to shake above them, shrinking as the jagged edges of the earth lifted higher into the sky. Giant gaping holes soon grew out of the ground, and that was when the real nightmares began for the people trapped inside the Valley. Great beasts hurtled through the sky blotting out even the silver of Ilystra as they met the outside air for the first time in eons.

The creatures, terrifying in their visage, wore scales of armor that no arrow or sword seemed capable of piercing. Giant membraned wings stretched wide and buffeted the terrified people with great gusts of wind.

Since then, there has been no contact with any outside of the Valley, and dragons roam the skies. Horrifying stories travelled to the pockets of resistance where No'Pagadeans banded together to survive. Cities were razed to the ground, burning infernos bursting from the dragons' fire bellies; many people fled into the mountains that imprisoned them. Giant cave wonders awaited them, and they hid where the dragons could not reach them.

Generations have passed, and no tale has ever been passed down of one going beyond the mountains; not even the dragons ever seemed to leave. If any had managed the feat, none returned to tell us how. Centuries passed with dragons hunting us, until one day a strong manipulator of air and earth stepped forth and challenged one of the leaders of the dragons to a battle of wits and intelligence. Visions of possible outcomes haunted the people, but the man did not back down. He won the duel, much to the surprise of the dragons, and won in exchange a chance for freedom and lives not ruled by fear. Gracious, the she-dragon conceded defeat and granted the man the privilege to join her house as the first Rathean to ever do so in living memory. That man was my great-grandfather.

Soon, an hierarchy became established, houses once only ruled by dragons now established competitions for the humans wishing to join them in their roles of their lives. Teacher houses, Ruling houses, Cleaner houses, and Hunter houses were but a few of the options available. Ratheans and dragons bonded over time. Then one day, the Ratheans flew with the dragons. Riders were then born and established into houses of their own. My father was born bonded to a dragon, and was therefore raised by a house not his own. He was taught his history, as the dragons counted such things as ancestry to be very important.

When I was born, a seer in the Midnight Rider House foretold that I would lead the way back into the world, or chaos would ensue and the way of Rathe as everyone knew it would be no more.

Only problem was that I was the girl who hadn't bonded. No dragon youngling saw me as fit to be a rider it seemed, so I grew up neglected and often alone.

Until one day, a path through the mountains opened up. Could what the Seers have seen be true? Would we finally rejoin the rest of Rathe, and would it begin the end of the world as they knew it? Only time would tell, and I plan to return to tell the tale, as soon as I'm done living it.

Dragonless, but not without determination, I begin following the path before me. Where ever it may lead, I would follow it.