The Greed of the Blessed

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. For you see, they used to live within the mountains that surround the valley, offering hidden protection to all who live within the valley. The people were raised with the knowledge of the dragons existing and were taught to respect them, even offering them food on special days of the year to keep them happy. The dragons would reward the people with safety and the occasional bounties found within the mountains: gold and rare jewels that have never been seen before in the world.

While most people used to be content with receiving these rare beauties whenever the dragons felt the desire to give them, there were of course the few who became greedy. They would take these rare bounties over the mountains to trade with other villages and cities and found that other places had never seen them before and loved them. They could sell a small jewel the size of a beetle for a large sum of iron coins. This caused a deep corruption in the men’s souls and caused great turmoil for everyone but especially for the people of the valley.

The dragons became restless as more and more people tried to break into the valley, but this gave the men the perfect opportunity to find their hidden tunnels into the mountains. If they could get into the mountains while the dragons were distracted, they could easily sneak out a bunch of these beauties to sell and make themselves rich, or so they thought. They managed to find the hidden tunnels and were amazed by the sheer amount of gold and rare jewels they could find all around them.

What they forgot to take into consideration is that they never truly knew the number of winged beasts who lived within the mountains or that there may be other creatures that lived with them. As they began to harvest everything they could find, they dug deeper and deeper into the hearts of the mountains, drawing ever closer to the hidden, lurking danger located deep within.

Their greed to get richer and richer awoke a great evil that had been long buried deep within the mountains for many millennia. A great evil that had been long since stopped before the race of man ever appeared within the valley or the areas close to it. A great evil that could only be guarded by the great powers that the dragons possessed, a great power that could easily be turned evil. A dragon's heart is the weakest part of it, and it can easily be tainted. It was by a miracle and sheer willpower that dragons managed to guard their hearts the first time, and many of the younger dragons that exist now do not have the experience required to shield themselves properly.

Dragons are very easily betrayed, and the men stealing their gold and jewels could very easily turn their hearts when the great evil is awakened by their digging. Especially when the great evil kills all of their young they had hidden within their nests buried deep within the mountains. Especially when it was the men that they trusted with some of the greatest treasures that betrayed their trust and invaded their homes, endangering all of them and the whole world.

When this great evil is awakened, will men be able to survive? WIll all the dragons be swayed by the darkness found within the great evil? Will anyone be able to survive the destruction that is sure to follow? Will all of mankind fall as the dragons are driven from their home and into the valley? Or will a group of humans be able to rise, garner the trust of the few dragons that were not swayed by the darkness, and be able to put a stop to the destruction threatening all of mankind not just within the area around the valley?