So much time has passed since the Frateregians rose to power, that even they have forgotten their history. They had been as mortal as you or I, in ages past, but that is no longer the case. Years past, they had been a thriving civilization, much enlightened by the world around them, and their theories about how life came about, and what their existence meant. Large groups broke away from the main body to worship gods, whether it was a monotheistic religion, or poly, others doubted them. Never once had they seen a true miracle. The sciences that were the center of their civilization proved that they were a cosmic accident, but unlike most accidents, the Frateregians believed themselves to be one of the few good ones. As centuries passed, their civilization grew to be so enlightened, that their growth halted and threatened to stagnant. What else was there to discover? They knew most, if not everything about their planet, and the galaxy surrounding them. Their growth was due not to the science of technology, but the science of the magic energies that every living being emanated. Where else could their minds expand? They were too far along the branch of magics to go back and look for the branching off into technology. Their great leaders all gathered as they watched their great civilization decline and stagnant from disuse. Along with the greatest minds of their time, they threw ideas back and forth on how to expand their great nations further. One of the more religious of the greatest minds dared to venture forth an idea that the Frateregians could seek knowledge in the planes that host the gods they worship. He was immediately cast out from the meeting, and deemed dishonored by the public and governments. But when they could find no other way for expansion, they truly thought about what the Dishonored One had suggested, and took insight from it. After all, they knew barely anything, if at all, about those planes. Taking this new venture at heart, the Frateregian civilization gained insight in leaps and bounds, until they finally unlocked a way to become unto gods, the legendary Ambrosia. Years more it took to gather all the necessary materials for the elite of their civilization to step into godhood, but in the middle of production of the mysterious substance, a cataclysmic reaction occurred. It was so severe that nearly the entire population of their planet was killed, with the rest becoming sterilized from the aftereffects. None of them knew what had caused the blast, whether it was inferior materials, or even a spell gone wrong, but what they all knew was that they needed to get the Ambrosia finished before the side effects caught up with them. Pushing the project forward, the surviving populace grew weaker. People started dying just as they succeeded in creating the Ambrosia. Gathering as many of their strongest remaining populace together, the Frateregians partook of the mystical substance.....

The platinum dragon finished his story to the dragonets scattered before him, their faces all enraptured as they listened to the Wise One. He was twice the length and size of the teacher, who appeared to be a silver dragon. The Wise One's thick scales gleamed white at times, and silver at others as the bright sun overhead hit them. His back and neck spines lay close to his neck, showing him to be relaxed, while his body's pose was that of a teacher talking among students, but students he believed to be his equals. Noticing that he came to the end of the story, the hatchlings began their high pitched screams of delight, hopping around as if they had boundless energy, their claws not yet long or hard enough to tear up the grass field in which they lounged. All he did was hold up a single claw, radiating an aura of command and calm. The young dragons immediately calmed down and quieted, settling back into the spots they had recently vacated.

Lowering the claw back to the ground, the Wise One slowly let his gaze slide across his audience. "There is yet more, as there is always, and will always be more. We now come to the aftermath of the Frateregians' ingestion of the Ambrosia, when what remained of their race woke up, but not on their homeworld......."

It was days before the remaining Frateregians gathered together on their new plane. The aftermath showed greatly on their faces. Out of the last several thousand of their kind left after the cataclysm, and from the changes the Ambrosia made in them, only about five hundred remained. Very few of the great leaders and minds of their time were left. Many of the survivors blamed them for the disasters, while others claimed that the disasters had weeded out the weak among them. Arguments and tempers flared, and it seemed as if a war between gods would happen. No, nothing of the sort would occur, though. The gods did not wish to destroy the remnants of themselves, and broke off in several groups. We will ignore all of the other groups for now, as they are not part of this story. One group wandered through the plane, looking for other 'cosmic accidents' among the collection of worlds in their galaxy and beyond. As they searched, the small group of gods worked on developing their powers and energies. The eons passed, and they found nothing, but something occurred to them. If a god had created them in the first place, which evidence of this god they have yet to find, why don't they create life as well?

Tharinaxx used to be a chunk of rock not suitable for any life. For one, it was too big, the gravity on it would crush any living thing not prepared for it. Not only that, but it's rotation was too long. It roasted half the day and froze the other half. Taking time to work, the gods agreed on the planet's perimeters and began their work. It was ten times the size of their home world, but it would do. They sped up it's rate or rotation till the days were livable, and lowered gravity's pull on the planet. So many changes did they place on the planet that it soon started to look like a paradise. Once it was all said and done, the world looked quite marvelous. All it needed now was life, from the intelligent beings they wanted to create, down to the lowliest of bacteria. Once again, arguments broke out over what sort of creatures they would create, and what sort of intelligent beings they would raise, until finally, after what seemed like years, they agreed. They would each own a segement of the planet to raise their own intelligent species. After all, there was plenty of room. And so began the population of Tharinaxx. Once all the plantlife and beasts were created, they ventured forth on what else to create. They of course needed something to watch over the planet, and they all agreed on one thing. They wanted dragons. Each of the higher ranking gods, except for one, among the group created a single race of dragons.....But the Quel'Tiarth were not one of them......

The Wise one blinked as one of the dragonets ventured forth a question, and he smiled. "The reason the Quel'Tiarth were not created by the gods will come later, for I am far from done. Now, when they each created their own race of intelligence, the dragons were proclaimed as holy, and it was whispered among the races that to attack them was to risk the anger of their chosen god, or even complete destruction..." he said soberly. Looking across his gathered audience, he paused for a moment, as if implying that a long period of time passes between when he stopped and the time he starts again. "Many years pass, and countless civilizations have risen and fell, leaving behind remnants for the next created race to uncover. And we come to the part where we were created...."

The Verithians were a relatively new race, being only four thousand years old, but they had managed a lot of progress from when they were first created. They were a race of humanoid lizards, with chameleon-like attributes. Their entire society was based on magic, from building materials all the way to simple heating in the winter. But this is not about their society, this is about the single mage who created the Quel'tiarth. We do not know his name, for that was lost over time, but what the Elders called him while under his rule was Triilath, meaning Master in our ancient language. Triilath was an archmage, or more exactly, a sorceror, probably one of the strongest in his civilization, and he himself was the reason for their downfall. He was one of those beings who craved power, but never had enough. Thus the area around his tower was embroiled in war. He couldn't stretch his influence to the east because of the vast Centralia Desert. He knew there was another intelligent race in there, but he never saw, nor could he find out how to locate and enslave them. But all the other direction, the land was rich enough for him to subvert and control. He had built himself a massive army and threw it out in all directions. It was either the cities and towns surrender and be taken over, or he would lay siege and take everything by force. But the war was going bad for him. His forces were stretched too thin and most of the time it was nothing but a stalemate. IT was one afternoon when he had received a message about yet another battle lost when he glanced out one of the many windows in his fortress-like tower, and spotted one of the Sand Dragons that inhabit the desert, knowing he couldn't subvert or even control them. It was forbidden by the Scriptures. He had the thought that if he created an army of his own, instead of building it, he could make it unstoppable, and what better to create than his own set of dragons? Delving into his records, he searched for ways to create creatures. He'd created a couple already, but they were useless when it came to something that needed true intelligence. The only things he had right now were servants, nothing better than faithful dogs. Ordinary flesh and bone was too weak to be made into an ultimate army, but what if he substituted materials for others, building in the way that stone houses are sturdier and stronger than wood? He then set about finding ways to incorporate different materials into a creature, but continuous failure only angered him. Until he thought of the documents he had recorded concerning techniques from other civilizations, most no longer existing. He had built his tower on some ancient ruins, presumably that of a university for mages, or a gathering of mages themselves. What he had discovered was a way to make metal stronger and lighter, changing it from one substance to another. He called it Krylithium, a substance that could never melt, but grew more flexible the hotter it became. Not even diamond could scratch it's surface, and it seemed to have more of a crystalline structure than anything. It could only be created by the strongest of wills, and it had to have a continuous supply of energy to keep it's state. It was useless in wet climates because water seemed to suck the energy out of the substance, rendering it useless. He had contemplated making armor with it, but the lack of a power source would make it useless after a few days. But for a living creature, it would be perfect, and he had a unique energy source for them...It is the fire that heats our bodies, it is the energy that keeps us alive, and it is the weapon that cannot be stopped. Essence of Flame is the pure soul of fire, discovered years ago by Triilath. It will feed on anything, melting through any substance except for the ground, for it is repelled by it. The only way to contain it is within a solid stone bowl, or heavily shielded, touching nothing. Draining his treasury, he created four dragon statues, being extremely meticulous to detail and inner workings. He then placed the statues in stasis shields and slowly worked the spells that would change the four dragons, gold, silver, bronze, and copper, into Krylithium. Once that was finished, he heavily shielded a single organ withing the bodies, then filled it with Essence of Flame, tying every spell into the power supply. A year he worked upon these bodies, changing and building them to be the ultimate warriors. When Triilath had finished, his creations were not yet refined. There were still systems that needed to be completed. For one, they were utterly loyal and obedient, but their minds were not yet awakened. They followed orders to the letter, no more, nor any less. Sending them out with his armies, he kept tight reins upon them, doing enough damage to demoralize the enemy before letting his troops close in. The only damage they ever received were minor wounds to their wing fabric, the only visible weak point on their bodies. As time went on and his territory and power grew, he added things to them, from the ability to mate, to advanced senses, such as being able to sense heat and some of the outer reaches of the light spectrum. His greatest, yet best addition to his creation was intelligence, but unknown to him, free will came with it. By this time, the dragons had begun to show rudimentary knowledge about magic, but it was drastically different from his way. They were more mages than sorcerors, and that angered him. Sending them out on yet another raid, he didn't know that the dragons had been communicating with themselves and planning a revolt. They despised the way they were treated, and what they were forced to do. Halfway through the battle on a large city, they saw a fleeing female with a child cut down, the child ripped from her dying clutches and killed in front of her eyes......And the dragons were helping it to happen. They fled the battle, horrified by what they had allowed to happen. Angered by their desertion, Triilath was distracted by a way to punish them, when  they took their chances and attacked him. Caught by surprise, he lost valuable ground in the fight, and that was his downfall. He had created them to be unstoppable, and he found out that it was the same way when they were fighting him. He soon fell, the battle having ravaged the countryside with it's released energies.

Now the dragons were lost, their master dead. They were unsure of what to do next, since they had always relied on him for everything. Food, shelter, healing. For weeks they wandered, growing weaker as their power supplies dwindled, until finally, the one god, or should we say, goddess, who hadn't created a dragon species appeared before them. She told them of how their creation had angered the Verithian god, and days after they had killed their master, he had wiped out the whole race. She proposed a plan for them. In exchange for being adopted by her as her own dragons, she would help them, give them a home, and destroy the reliance they had upon Triilath. They accepted, and she created the Vale. Removing their dependence upon their former master, she then revitalized their bodies, giving them the strength to work, and gave them the name Quel'Tiarth, which in the ancient language means Honor Dragons...

The Wise One fell silent again, and he grinned inwardly. The hatchlings' heads were stretched upward, their necks at their full length, hanging upon his every word. Before too long of a silence went on, he continued, "And several thousand years ago, before you were all hatched, young dragons began to die mysteriously. Nobody knew why, until one that had died came back, wiping out the Wing sent to retrieve his body. The bronze youngling was no more, and in his place was a machine, a monstrosity of moving part in the shape of one of our own kind. Triilath had returned, and he was still angry. Extending every bit of influence he had, he grabbed the minds of his four original creations, the Elders, and had them swear new oaths, ones that would have them never think another traitorous thought against him while he still lived. As every hatchling should know, we are very honorable creatures, and we are unable to break oaths. Oaths are stronger binders than the most tempered of steel chains. It was one dragon who managed to take Triilath down once again." He paused and smiled, "I knew him while he was alive, as I knew his family. This dragon was a great bronze called Aquanth Silverflame, and maybe someday, while I am not busy, I shall tell you his story..."

Nodding to the teacher, he turned his back on the delighted dragonets and walked to the take off field, his eyes watching the sky above him. <i>Of course I knew Aquanth Silverflame and his family. He was me, once upon a time, and in a different world...</i> And with that thought, he vanished in a brilliance of light.