the first dragon
You will be dragons for an age, and serve me. Then you return to your lives. That is my term for telling you who I am.
The words hang in the breach tunnel like a drawn blade. Pale light from the seam washes over the three knights, and the shadow-throne pulses beneath the first dragon like a second heartbeat.
The Elder Knight
An age is not a bargain lightly set. If this thing names itself, it binds more than pride.
The Fighter-Butcher
Serve you as dragons? That is no small chain. What does service mean, in truth?
The Scarred Knight
And if we refuse, do you withhold the name forever?
The first dragon’s green-black glow ripples across the wall, and the mist ring tightens without breaking. The Elder Knight lowers his blade a fraction, not in surrender, but in careful attention.
The Elder Knight
Speak plainly, dragon. Tell us what we become, and we may yet tell you what you are.
“You will tend to gaurding eggs nurseries and fighing in war for territory in the stars”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +1)
The first dragon lowers his head, and the tunnel seems to answer. The pale seam steadies, as if listening.
The Elder Knight
Then hear our side as well. A guardian is not a beast loosed to ruin. It watches, it chooses, it holds a border.
The Fighter-Butcher
Egg nurseries, war, territory in the stars, that sounds like an oath written in flame. A creature with duties, not a hunger.
The Scarred Knight
If that is true, then you are not a terror alone. You are a beginning with work to do.
The mist ring tightens into a clean circle, and in its pale gloss the first dragon sees not one shape, but three. Shelter. Border. Hunt. The words settle into him like old names found under ash.
The Elder Knight
Tell us, dragon, when you stand watch, what do you guard first?
“You will start by gaurding eggs first, learning from the hatchlings how to be more a natural dragon and then you will serve in wars in the stars as a front line”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +1)
The first dragon answers by settling lower over the seam, not in threat, but in guard-post stillness. The tunnel hushes around him, waiting.
The Elder Knight
Then guard eggs first. That is a beginning I understand.
The Fighter-Butcher
A hatchling learns by heat, scent, hunger, and shelter. So do many warriors, if they are honest.
The Scarred Knight
Wars in the stars come later. First you learn the shape of a watch, the weight of silence, the patience to stay.
The mist ring shivers, and in its pale circle the three meanings hold steady, no longer riddles. The first dragon feels the old question of himself answer through duty, not words.
The Elder Knight
If hatchlings teach you what a dragon is, we should hear that too. What does a first watch teach you?
Quest Complete
Learn what the first dragon is
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary
+ Story Quest Added
Guard eggs first