Amber Dawn

House Ember had ruled the TriKingdom for a thousand years. Upon discovering dragon eggs in the rocky cliffs along the southern shore, they had collected and hatched them, raising and bonding with dragons. With this newfound power, they united the three warring kingdoms of Rune. For a millennia, House Ember has brought prosperity and peace to the continent of Rune. And they built a grand city, Dragon Bane, on their family’s ancestral land. With each king, the city grew. The dragons grew. On the edge of the city, in the cliffs of the southern shore, the dragon pit was constructed, half man-made and half natural landscape. A special order, the Scaled Men, were put in place to help care for and tend the dragons. Knowledge was acquired and passed down through the generations. The Scaled Men cared for the dragons, but the dragons only bonded with those of Ember blood. Legend says that a witch cursed Alex Ember, the man that found the first dragon egg, to have his legacy tied to wild beasts. What was meant as a curse was turned into a strength. What was supposed to bring chaos and ruin instead gave power and reverence. But with great power comes great responsibility. ~ It is Ember tradition to introduce young children to the dragon pit as soon as safely possible, to encourage a bond to form. King Darren held to this tradition, much to Queen Layla’s chagrin. After two miscarriages and a stillborn, they finally had a daughter named Vera, after Alex’s own daughter, the second dragon rider ever. And from the moment that Vera was born, King Darren took her to the dragon pit daily. His own bonded dragon, Topaz, liked the babe well enough and was curious of her, giving her sniffs and studying the infant swaddled tightly in her rider’s arms. But Queen Layla’s fears were logical, because dragons are untamable beasts. They can coexist with humans, they can pick a rider, but as intelligent as they are, they’re still only instinctual animals. Despite the many protests from the Queen, the King never wavered on Vera’s daily dragon pit visit. Even when the Mamoian people from the islands east of Rune began attacking trade ships and shore towns, forcing a swift but brutal war, Vera was still taken. When the king’s younger brother died in battle and his dragon, Bane, returned home, grieving and volatile, she still went. Not long after Vera’s second name day, the Scaled Men were discussing with King Darren what to do with Bane. It was the first time the king had left Vera at the castle. Bane had become half mad and more wild since the Prince’s death than anyone could’ve guessed. He was young by dragon standards, but larger than the others, and was temperamental before losing his rider in battle. Now, he was simply deadly. Just that day, he’d killed a fellow dragon and two Scaled Men, and destroyed an entire chamber of the pit. Dragons had only ever died naturally since their discovery, but talk of finding a safe and humane way of disabling this formidable beast was now taking place. Control of a dragon is an illusion that was never entertained by the royal family or the Scaled Men. But the devastation Bane was causing wasn’t something that had been encountered before. And if this conversation wouldn’t have been such a serious and unheard of topic, perhaps the king or the three elder Scaled Men talking with him would have noticed when Vera entered the pit. If Vera wouldn’t have been such a wild child herself, she would have went to her father when she saw him instead of heading into the main chamber of the pit, eager to see the dragons. Topaz uttered a guttural sound that alerted the king and Scaled Men as Vera passed where she lay. In reaction, a riderless dragon named Crescendo whirred on Vera, a high warning screech emitting from him as flame began to burn in his open mouth, ready to attack the sudden threat. The earth shook as Bane crashed into Crescendo, knocking him into the rock wall of the cliff chamber, shielding Vera. Bane’s growls were clear - stand down. Crescendo hissed before slipping down the chamber path, deeper into the cliff cave. The king and the Scaled Men were frozen halfway to her, unsure of what was going to happen. Bane swiveled his large head around, lowering himself to look the tiny creature in her gray eyes. One tooth of his was bigger than her whole body, and in that moment, King Darren was frozen in pure fear for his only child. Vera, in all her child-like wonder and bravery, waited until Bane tilted his head closer, and punched him on the nose before giggling. A low thrumming sound came from the black-blue beast as he lowered his enormous body, half-curling around the girl. “It seems the solution found us,” Franco stated. King Darren let out a nervous laugh, trying to keep his weak knees from buckling. “So it has.”