Night of the Dragon

PROLOGUE

He was trapped... trapped... trapped...

The darkness of his prison closed in around him. He could not breathe, could not move. How had this happened? What were the foul little creatures who had somehow managed to ensnare him? Vermin capturing a leviathan! It was impossible!

But it had happened...

He wanted to roar, but could not. There was no sound here, anyway. The silence drove him mad. He needed to be free! There had to be some escape—

A blinding emerald light enveloped him. He shrieked as it painfully ripped him from his prison and thrust him into the beyond.

But that shriek turned into a mighty roar of relief mixed with fury. He spread wide his magnificent, shimmering wings, his gargantuan, teal form filling much of this new place in which he found himself. Jagged, almost crystalline protrusions erupted along his spine and head, the latter creating an impressive crest akin to those worn on a warlord's helm. Huge, glittering white orbs—more like pearls than eyes—swept over a massive cavern filled with toothy projections thrusting from both the rounded ceiling and the rough floor.

And then his baleful gaze fell upon the vermin that had dared— somehow!—to trap his greatness. A subtle magenta aura suddenly radiated from him as he bellowed his righteous fury.а

"Foul little worms! Foul little gremlins! You would dare make of Zzeraku a caged pet?" As Zzeraku cried out, his already ethereal body grew more translucent. He fixed on a small party of his captors. They were ugly little things that moved like squashed draenei but were scaled in some places and furred in others. They had vicious little mouths filled with sharp teeth and wore hooded and armored garments. Their eyes were red like molten earth and despite his obvious threat to them, they did not appear properly frightened.

It was clear to Zzeraku that they knew very little about nether dragons.

"Foul little worms! Foul little gremlins!" he repeated. His body suddenly crackled with lightning the color of his wondrous self. He reached out a taloned paw as If to wipe away the creatures, the lightning suddenly shooting forth from it.

The first bolts went oddly astray, turning from the little creatures at the last moment. At the same time, the foreheads of each briefly revealed a strange, glowing rune.

Without hesitation, the captive nether dragon cast again. However, this time the lightning struck the ground around his tormentors. Rock and dirt exploded everywhere, the snarling little beasts thrown with the rest. Their hissing bodies scattered through the air with pleasing effect. "Foul little worms! Zzeraku will squash you all!"

He summoned more of his power. Veins of dark azure suddenly crisscrossed his chest. The lightning crackled more violently.

From somewhere to the side, a long, sinewy strand of silver energy looped around his left forelimb, tightening painfully.

Startled, Zzeraku forgot his own intended attack. The nether dragon was a creature of energy; the strand should have slipped through him. He snapped at it, only to receive a vicious jolt to his jaws. His limb dropped, suddenly bereft of all strength.

As that happened, his other forelimb was likewise snared. Zzeraku tugged in vain, the slender magical strand so very powerful.

The nether dragon's body swelled, the blue veins that distinctly marked Zzeraku now nearly black. He took on an even more transparent appearance, as if fading away to mist.

The silver strands flared.

Zzeraku let out a pained roar and fell forward, crashing on the cavern floor as If made of flesh and bone. Cracks ran across the stone. A crevasse opened up, into which two of the tiny creatures tumbled to their doom.

The others ignored the fates of their comrades as they set into motion two more silver strands. Five of the vermin at a time wielded the sinister threads of energy as if gigantic whips. The strands soared unerringly over Zzeraku to the opposing side, where the ends were seized and guided into the ground with small emerald stones.

"Release Zzeraku!" the nether dragon roared as the strands flashed and his body suffered renewed agony. "Release me!"

The new strands forced him to flatten against the floor. Zzeraku struggled, but his magical bonds kept his powers entirely in check.

All around him, the scaly figures rushed about, adding dread line after dread line until they had all but enshrouded him in them. Each cut into the nether dragon's body, simultaneously burning and freezing him. Zzeraku shrieked his fury and pain, but nothing that he did could alter his situation.

The creatures continued to feverishly work, evidently uncertain as to the strength of the strands. With the emeralds, they constantly readjusted the bonds, often to the nether dragon's further torture. One chortled at his pain.

Zzeraku managed a last burst of energy at that tormentor. Black energy surrounded the creature, who now shrieked with satisfying fear. The nether dragon's magic crushed the one captor into a pulpy mess that then solidified into ebony crystal.

Immediately, another strand fell across his muzzle, clamping it down. The glistening leviathan fought, but his jaws were held as tight as the rest of him.

His captors continued to scuttle about the huge cavern as if in great anxiousness, although Zzeraku could no longer imagine it had anything to do with him. He let out a frustrated hiss—a sound muffled by his sealed muzzle—and tried yet again to free himself.

And yet again, it was to no avail.

Then, without warning, the squat, scaly creatures paused in what they were doing. As one, they stared at a point to the nether dragon's side but well beyond his sight. However, Zzeraku could still sense that someone approached, someone of tremendous power.

His true captor...

Those around him dropped to the ground in homage. Zzeraku heard a slight movement that might have been the wind if not for the fact that no wind could reach this accursed place.

"You have done well, my skardyn," came a voice that, despite its feminine allure, touched what passed for the soul of the nether dragon like the coldest ice. "I am pleased...."

"They obeyed their orders well,'' replied a second, more masculine speaker. His voice held a clear contempt for the creatures. "Though they opened the chrysalun chamber too soon, my lady. The beast nearly escaped."

"There was never a need for concern. Once here, escape for this one was impossible."

The feminine voice drew nearer...and suddenly a small form stepped into sight before Zzeraku. A pale figure clad in a form-fitting gown the color of night paused to study him and be studied In turn. She reminded Zzeraku of another, one who had tried to befriend him and taught him something beyond the absolute chaos he had known in the realm some called Outland. Yet, the nether dragon could smell that this being, while similar in some ways to the one he recalled, was also very different in others.

Long, ebony hair flowed down past her shoulders. She kept her countenance to the side, as if not paying particular attention to the captive beast even though Zzeraku knew full well that she did. What the nether dragon could see of her features were flawless in the way his friend's had been, even more so.

Yet the coldness Zzeraku felt from that half-lidded gaze made the giant struggle anew.

The edge of her red his curled up. "You need not trouble yourself so, my little one. Rather, you should make yourself comfortable. After all...I've only brought you home."

Her words made no sense. Zzeraku strained at his bonds, seeking escape...escape from this tiny figure that somehow so frightened him.

She turned to face him directly, in doing so revealing that the left side of her visage was draped by a silken veil... a veil that fluttered aside just enough when she turned to let the nether dragon see the horrific, scorched flesh beneath and the gap where once an eye had been.

And although she was a mere speck in comparison to the girth of the nether dragon, the image of her ruined countenance still magnified Zzeraku's anxiety a thousandfold. He wanted to be away from it, wanted never to see it. Even when the veil settled over the marred area, the nether dragon could still sense the horrific evil beneath.

Evil that far outshone any that he had known in Outland. Her cold smile stretched farther yet. farther than her face should have allowed.

"You shall rest now," she said in a tone that demanded he obey. As Zzeraku instantly began to lose consciousness, she added, "Rest and have no fear... after all, you're among family here, my child..."