Into The Doom
(Thought I’d write something to pass the time while my financial issues, among other things, are cured.)
The General they called him, though his name was Isarius, the massive ancient black dragon, teal stripes accenting his entire body, had earned that title in his escapades against the Aegis blight. Fate had dealt him a sour hand early in life, his parents killed, while he was still yet in the egg, in the darkness of night by conspiring dragons that traded their souls to the Aegis in order to gain power.
The human village that his parents had protectively watched over sent one of their best scouts to scale the destroyed mountain side to see what had become of their protectors only to find their decimated bodies and a solitary egg that they had obviously died protecting. To this scouts surprise, the egg was untouched.
In the days to come, the scout and his family (wife and infant son) would be given sole responsibility to care for the egg and see to it’s hatching. Without any other dragons in the area to trust, they felt it necessary to try to keep this precious gem within their own grounds to protect.
As time passed and the now hatched youngster grew to become part of this human family, fate dealt him another nasty blow. His human father, returning from his usual scouting duties to their humble dwellings in the village, raised his bow and with deadly accuracy, and killed both his human mother and brother with lightning speed.
The overwhelming stench of blight hit Isarius’ sensitive nose and in sheer panic, he bolted out the window, narrowly being missed by the same arrows that had killed his adopted family. Something had gone terribly wrong in his father’s trek today, and once he had made it far enough up a cliff side, certain that he was no longer being followed, he saw the horror that was the Aegis blight. Just as they had done to so many other villages, they came in innumerable hoards, killing and destroying everything in their path, and then raising hundreds of the dead villagers to become part of their blighted army. His mind was reeling from shock but he knew he had to leave immediately before he too became just another member of the fallen.
Time knows no bounds when you’re growing up, but Isarius had to grow up quick, and quick he did. In his journey, he came across many who had been victims of the blight’s rampages. Orphans, husbands and wives who had lost their mates, all races, all ages, all who had one common goal: The Aegis must be stopped.
Isarius worked with each of them, training them into fine soldiers, each with their own unique strengths. Firm, but compassionate and loyal, his make-shift army came to call him "The General" as he led them through many battles against the blight, each one ending in success.
His travels led him to Delgarath, as his curiosity was pricked by tales of “monsters” living just below the ground. After gaining entrance to this place, he spent a large portion of his time there, fascinated by these creatures known as the Myloc. His comrades often joked about him spending so much time in the Delgarath underworld, known as the Doom to most who dare venture there.
As he studied the Myloc, he realized that their poison could actually be used as a way to treat blight poisoning. With the assistance of a local potions expert, the two began their experimentations to concoct something that would benefit anyone who suffered the effects of the blighted poisons.
With each visit into the Doom, Isarius began exploring farther into the bowels of the Myloc dwellings, discovering many old relics from ages long since past. However, concern began growing when the General turned up missing. Passerby’s had watched him enter the Doom as usual, but he had not surfaced in several days. This spurned an all out search by his comrades as they entered the Doom and searched for their missing leader without finding a trace of his existence…
