Malynxion had spent the last few hours atop a mountain side cliff staring at the human farm village of Surofor. Within this village stood randomly placed, indistinct wooden buildings that stood not much taller than the humans themselves. On the far east side of the village, he saw a flat plain that he assumed was a farm, seeing as how it was lined with systematic rows of crops. On the far west, he noted a tall well embellished structure that appeared to be a church or temple of some sort. He could only assume that’s what it was, since he saw little use for such an ornate building other than to pray to whatever false gods they indulged themselves in. Then again, few understood how humans thought.

He focused his eyes into the dusty streets within the village. He observed farmers milking cows, blacksmiths forging crude weapons, militia aimlessly patrolling the streets and occasionally breaking up fights, peasants of all ages participating in various activities of civil life, all in a dusty, polluted town which at first sight seemed to be colored by nothing more than three shades of dull brown.

He shook his head in thinly veiled disgust. This was the humans’ idea of civilization? This primitive cesspool that belied everything nature’s beauty cherished? Granted, this was a mere peasant village, but if this was any example of human progress, then the humans would’ve done the world a favor by ceasing to exist. If anything, he felt they were actually better off as they had always been before: as slaves.

Insisting that he didn’t need to punish himself by watching such a pitiful existence, he took his eyes off the village and stared into the afternoon sky, and thanked the crystals that the humans have yet to taint the sky’s natural blue beauty. It was then that he sensed an unfamiliar presence lurking in the woods behind him. Fearing, however unlikely, that a troupe of human militia had somehow discovered him, he turned around and faced the general direction his instincts insisted the intruders hid. His sharp eyes scanned the surrounding area in a manner not unlike his scrutinizing the village behind him. To his slight frustration, he saw nothing.

He shrugged moments later, seeing that his dire search was for naught since the intruder ended up revealing itself anyway. The creature was a tall, furry, and untamed grizzly bear, or at least that’s what the humans thought of it. It stood much taller and sported a brawnier build than he did and wore claws that, at first glance, looked like they would rip him – or any fleshly being for that matter – into shreds. The grizzly drooled hungrily and trudged its way toward its target, as if it had found the meal it it had likely spent hours looking for. Indeed, the grizzly would’ve ripped Malynxion apart -- If of course he was a mere human like the feral beast assumed he was.

Malynxion removed the hood shadowing his face and revealed a pale, handsome and austere face accompanied by sharp, black hair with bangs that covered one side of his face and long, pointy ears resembling those of elven ones. Upon revelation, the feral grizzly stopped dead in its tracks. Whatever ferocity the creature exhibited previously was immediately replaced with fear and, to the discerning eye, a slight hint of reverence.

The creature knelt before the elven figure and roared archaic grunts, as if trying to communicate something – a plea. Malynxion, the worldy being he was, acknowledged the fallen grizzly, though he had yet to decipher the grizzly’s primitive tongue.

“Hail, mighty black dragon! Show this miserable one the slightest light of mercy!” the furry giant suddenly spoke in heavily accented, Known language.

Known language was the universal standard language. It was created by the dragons, who named it because it was the first true language any species in recorded history had ever spoken, and was accepted and spoken all over the world much like gold was accepted as the universal currency.

Malynxion couldn’t help but smile at the grizzly’s admirably earnest, albeit rather pitiful, plea for forgiveness.

“You and your tribe have my blessings, young Furglen. I might’ve gone far enough to aid you in your hunt for nourishment, but little can disguise my foul mood. Begone, for it would be wise that you not incur my wrath this day.” The dragon replied in his naturally deep and overwhelming voice.

With no further word, the grizzly ran off.

Moments later, a massive, translucent figure soared over the sky above the dragon mage. Despite its size, it did not make even the slightest sound in its approach, and its transparency would have rendered it invisible to any eye other than Malynxion’s. The behemoth descended and landed with a grace that belied its size. The giant revealed itself, or rather, herself, to be none other than a black dragon like Malynxion. Upon landing, circles of neon glowing lights circumscribed the female dragon as unnatural, arcane symbols orbited distinct parts of her body in a systematic fashion. Seconds later, the giant re-materialized into a smaller, humanoid form, with elven ears and pale skin just like her male counterpart, as well as a height that stood only three inches shorter.

Flowing onto her shoulders and off the upper part of her back was fiery red hair tied in an elegant, royal fashion. Her eyes were tinted of maroon. The woman’s gown was embroidered with arcane symbols and various jewels that, at first glance, may have been thought to have taken centuries to craft. She wore golden rings and bracelets of various fashions on her extremities. Although Malynxion was no slob in appearance, she clearly cared more for appearance than he did, and cared for it with a beauty and elegance like no other. To any lesser race, she may as well have credibly called herself a goddess.

“You know how distasteful I find it when you strike fear into the hearts of innocent creatures like the Furglens, Malynxion,” the red-haired dragon stated in a furious tone.

Her male counterpart, however, did not reply, and instead continued staring at the human village.

“My love?” her voice softened, “What is it that troubles you so?”

She walked up to where Malynxion stood and realized what caused her lover such anguish.

“Ah, a human settlement,” she softly remarked.

“You must have noticed it on your flight here, Nelraina.”

“I might have, if my eyes were not so fixated on you,” she smiled in a flirtatious manner.

He struggled to smile back, to retort a witty charm of his own, but failed miserably, lost in his thoughts about the humans.

“These humans,” he started as if he was about to cry in frustration, “they strip us of our land, our flight, our rightful place in this world, only to end up creating this, these… things! These primitive dwellings they call towns! This is what they do with our land? Poison it with their amateur understanding of physics and magic? I had always thought that since they overthrew our rule they had surpassed us as a species, but..."

Try as he did, he couldn’t find the right words to describe his disgust. Upon closer inspection of the village, his beloved wore a similar expression.

“I can hear nature’s cries! Her anguish at the human’s defiling of her body! This time of year should have plenty game for all creatures of all dwellings to hunt! But I see none! No rabbits leaping in the forest grass, few birds flying in search of food, the forest colored with only indistinct shades of dull brown. If the Furglen’s dying hunger was any indication, the land is losing its life because of their reckless abuse of nature!” Malynxion threatened to bellow his anguish into the skies.

“My love,” she wrapped herself around his right arm, hoping to use her seductive warmth to alleviate his agony. “What has become of the world has become of the world. Our loss, our failure, they’re in the past now.”

“Does this look like the past to you?” he pointed at the village.

“But we might as well call it our past. You know that ever since the crystal’s powers disappeared, we’ve lost our vigor, our power, our hold over the land. The rest of the dragons are lost in a state of lethargy. The humans have grown to the point where we no longer have the strength to overtake them and reclaim the land that was once thrived under our dominion. Reality is harsh, but we must move on. The Age of the Dragons is gone.” She stated bitterly.

“No. It is not.”

“Yes it is!” She shouted, feeling an uncharacteristic pessimism her own, “Unless you have some kind of miraculous plan to—“ she interrupted herself upon seeing something she had not seen in a long time: Malynxion’s sinister grin.

She smiled. “Ah, you do have a plan, don’t you Malynxion?”

His agony all but gone, Malynxion finally turned to stare at his beloved mate. He then turned back in the direction of the human village and raised left hand into the sky. He muttered words of power, and soon after, much to the noted surprise of the villagers, a massive, pitch black cloud materialized over the village and replaced the sky. He let out an unheard sigh, signaling his spell’s ignition. Shards of flame rained down from the cloud’s epicenter and within moments, explosions and screams of agony were all that was heard in the surrounding area. Crude, wooden buildings were set ablaze instantly as peasants struggled to tame the flames latched on their own clothing. The flames seemed to have a mind of their own, as they purposefully jumped from building to building as if intentionally causing destruction. Whatever the raining shards of death touched, seemed to explode, and the panicking humans were no exception. Some peasants and officers exploded with blood and entrails flying in every conceivable direction, while others simply had their bodies burned and melted until only bone and cartilage, and sometimes not even that much, was left.

Chaos and destruction were two words that easily came to mind when Nelreina tried to describe the squalid scene.

“I’m sorry if this does not bode well with you, my love,” Malynxion remorsefully stated, “I know you do not appreciate the genocide of innocent lives.” he was referring to the women and children of the village.

At that comment, Nelraina snapped and slapped her lover cold in the face. As blood dripped out of Malynxion’s lips, his expression changed from a surprised frown to a loving smile.

“You insult me to even think that I would sympathize with these humans! They are to me what pigs and cows and other livestock are to them! Remember Malynxion, and don’t you ever forget! They were our slaves back in the Age of the Dragons, and I still view them as nothing more!”

Despite her ferocity in battle, Nelraina was always, at heart, a kind, motherly being that cared for and helped to nurture younglings of all species; humans being the grand exception.

She pouted and turned away from her lover, but Malynxion walked behind her and lovingly wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her on the cheek, which caused her to flush slightly and seemed to alleviate her anger at his previous affront.

“Even if I tried, I could love no one else as much as you,” he whispered into her ear. He motioned her to stare at the carnage of the village.

“I have a plan,” he whispered, “one that will revive our failing flight and allow us the power we need to retake the world that was once ours and enslave the humans like the dogs they rightfully are.”

“The only thing in this world that can grant us such power is the infinite crystal, the Magis Crystallis…”

“Yes. Its power is our birthright, and you know as well as I do that we have been stripped from it for far too long.”

“You realize how difficult this quest will be, Malynxion?”

“Very.”

“How perilous?”

“Incredibly.”

“How likely the humans, maybe even the detached elves, will do everything in their power to stop us?”

“They could send armies for all I care.”

“In the face of all this, you're still going to do this?”

“Yes,” Malynxion paused, “I will do this one way or another, with or without help. For our children, our fellow dragons, I will prevail, even at the cost of my life.”

“No,” Nelraina retorted, “I would sooner be enslaved by humans than watch you perish alone!”

“Nelraina…” he was stunned by the notion.

“You are wrong, Malynxion. We will do this one way or another, with or without help. For our children, our fellow dragons, we shall prevail, even at the cost of our lives. I will be there with you, against whatever peril, whatever enemy, whatever odds…”

“I take it that means you will join me, my love?”

She paused for a moment, and then wore the most sinister smile Malynxion had ever seen. “Only if we can slaughter the humans in the process.”

During their resolved love statements toward each other, the world around them, including the forests, had been set ablaze. Fire surrounded them, but didn’t dare to touch them. Sparks of fire and ashes flew in the wind around them. One of Nelraina’s hair bands fell lose, and causing her hair to flutter freely in the fiery winds.

Malynxion stood in front of his lover, embraced her, and kissed her.

“Malynxion.”

“To you, my love.”

“No. To us. To our children. To our fellow dragons, our flight. And, by the crystal’s blessing, to the new Age of the Dragons!”

***************

Notes: I've never written a prologue before, so I don't know if this is good or not.

Malynxion and Nelraina are the primary antagonists of the story, but I spent the prologue on them to establish some kind of ambition for the story to drive upon (also because I believe even the bad guys have to have some kind of 'good' motive.)

The general summary is: The two black dragons seek to revive an ancient artifact called the infinite crystal: Magis Crystallis in order to revive a power that was lost to them several decades ago when the humans liberated themselves from dragon enslavement. With the crystal's powers, they intend to rebuild their flight and destroy the human kingdoms and regain their rightful dominion over the world. The protagonists (will be revealed in chapter one) are obviously humans and will embark on a race-against-the-clock adventure to try and stop them.