The bones and metal sheet lying on the floor of the cave seemed to tell the red dragon that his mission was wrought with fraud.

They were a faded white and enormous, around the size of an average Archdragon and slightly larger than a Flame Drake, and were in the form of a Sungold Dragon with some features from other dragon species in it.

In the crook of the bone's curled form, on the stone floor, was an egg. It was the real reason Blaze was here; although the engraved metal sheet got in his way when he first saw and read it.

The egg was white, like light or snow; it had no markings nor blemishes. It was just a perfect white, round egg.

But now he was beginning to doubt coming here.

If this egg was really one of the last of the Nature Dragons, it would be a waste to take it and use it as a lazy power move.

Since the war began, gravedigging became a necessity to end it.

No, it was to win it.

Blaze turned around.

He wasn't going to desecrate this cave.

Not this time, maybe later, when everything was over.

He spread his red wings at the cave opening and vaulted into the cool, half-moon-lit night sky.

The grey-and-brown cliffs and small spires of the Skyridge Mountains soared under him, as if they were fossils from an ancient fight.

These mountains were the territory of the Stormwind Elves and the Sky Dragons, although they could be all over the world.

Sun Dragon territory was the Burning Desert, which was north of the mountains; it was also where the War of Sunblaze Succession originated.

Blaze canted his wings so that he flew in the direction of the Deeptide Sea, where an ally of the Order of Nature would help him there.

They would give him the "Sky" member.

How the Order had gotten seven "chosen ones" from a cryptic Star prophecy befuddled him.

"See the Sun split". That was an obvious reference to Surya's death and power vacuum it created.

"See the Earth quake." That was either literal or referring to the alliance Earth creatures had with Haruki.

The rest of the prophecy could be interpreted that way, except for the last two lines.

"See the Stars watch./And Darkness will reign."

Blaze had a feeling that "See that Stars watch" meant that Star creatures didn't interfere with the war, like they always did for most of Archai's history.

But not this time.

When the Order initially gave him, Flow, Lapis, Dougal, Kestrel, and Arianrhod the task of finding and raising the "chosen ones", a Vastspace Elf with long, crooked, elaborate horns had met them on the coast of the eastern ocean. They gave them a small, dark purple egg that resembled a clear night sky.

"Do not lose this egg", they gruffly said. "The prophecy depends on it."

If the line in the prophecy was changed to "The Stars will come to you", that would make more sense than the actual line.

Cold air from the mountains sliced through his wings like ice.

As the Order's fastest dragon, he should be close now.

But as he flew over a stubby mountain composed of cliffs, he saw something in one of its crevasses at the top.

He paused, beating his wings to hovering as he peered at it.

It looked like a grey egg, and was larger than most Sky Dragon eggs.

Blaze sharply inhaled.

It was the egg of an Air Dragon, the most powerful type of Sky Dragon in the world, second to Storm Dragons.

He dove down to the cleft, landing in front of it. He whipped his head around, making sure that no one followed him from the proto-dragon's cave, before gingerly pawed it out with his wing-talons.

Once it was out, he let it roll into the actual talons, which were on his feet.

He gripped it hard, making sure that it wouldn't slip from him as he flew.

After making sure it was in place, he flew right back into the night sky.

As he flew, he noticed that the mountains were quiet, too quiet in fact.

He looked down.

Where were the dragons of the Moon, the Sky, the Stars, the Earth?

Where were-?

His thoughts were cut off when something – or someone – jabbed its claws into his back, dragging him downward.

He tried to bite his attacker, as he couldn't breathe fire at night, but whoever it was kept dodging and evading him until they both hit a flat, stony butte.

Everything in his body ached from the fall.

As he his vision cleared itself, thick, rune-engraved chains were deftly wrapped around his body and snout, and he could see who his attacker was.

Nature's Fury.

They were Shadow Drakes.

Shadow Drakes were the most common type of Dark Dragon; they were wingless beings whose bodies appeared to be made of shadow. They could slip through anything with this, making them the world's only unkillable dragon.

As the egg was taken from his talons, he could feel that his Sun connection had been drained from him – and that someone was watching him.

Even though he knew he was trapped in Solar Bindings, chains that neutralized a Sun creature's connection to their Source; he looked up, and saw an enormous black dragon with silver horns that curved towards each other being handed the egg by a Shadow Drake.

He trembled.

This was no ordinary, large dragon.

This was Archdragon Ilargi of the Moon, and an ally of Helen, Surya's secondborn heir.

She picked up the egg and held to the light of the half-moon.

"And this is the gift that keeps on giving", she smoothly mused to herself. She handed it to a nearby guard. "Put it somewhere else like the others. We keep going until dawn."

The soldier bowed and disappeared into the dark night, as if they were never really there.

Blaze didn't have anything to say.

The egg he thought as lonesome and chosen, was in fact a trap for those like him.

"Did you really think that egg was 'chosen', Sun Dragon?" she purred before letting out a light chuckle. "That old egg won't hatch for a while, and, well, the prophecy will be fulfilled by the time it does. But not how you lizards envision it."

The Moon Crystal in the middle of her forehead gleamed like a Wind Prism in the silver light.

"I know what you're thinking", she continued. "You might be thinking that the prophecy must be fulfilled your way. What you don't know is that there are others who want it to be fulfilled their way."

She slithered towards him like a snake following its quarry.

Blaze's scales screamed at him to run, but the bindings and the force the Shadow Drakes had on the chain held him in place.

In one swift movement, Ilargi grabbed his head with her large, black talons and twisting it, breaking his neck.

She took a step, studied the corpse, and then flicked her tail.

Two Shadow Drakes came forward and removed the bindings from the red corpse before dumping it off the cliff.

At the same moment, wingbeats and talons descended behind the Archdragon.

Ilargi turned around, and was surprised to see who it was.

"Eden?"

The dragon gave her a toothy grin. "Surprise, surprise."

Down below, in the rocks of the range's cliffs and crags, something moved.

It was a dragon, an Earth Dragon to be specific.

Lapis slithered off the rocks he was hiding on towards Blaze's corpse.

While both their species were considered "wyverns", their stances (and their appearances) set them apart.

Flame Drakes stood and walked like birds; they also had red scales and a crown of black, flame-like horns on their heads. Rock Dragons walked on their two legs and their clawed wings; they also had grey scales and dark, plated scales running down their backs.

Despite these differences, this didn't matter when they were both fighting for the same cause.

The grey dragon stared at the red corpse with his dark eyes.

It should've been him who had come out here. His camouflage was impeccable in rocky ecosystems; and if he had crossed Ilargi, he would've given her quite a beating.

Blaze had no chance here. He was smaller than Archdragons, but no.

The Order had assigned him to find a Sky Dragon or a Stormwind Elf based on his prowess alone, rather than his elemental strengths.

"It should've been, it should've been me, it should've been me", Lapis muttered himself repeatedly as he touched the corpse with one of his front wing-talons, and it turned into stone.

Lapis Corpus.

"Stone body".

No had to know what happened tonight.

Flow (and the Order's) orders.

Lapis took several steps back.

The spell had replaced Blaze's corpse with a bulky, weirdly protruded rock that barely resembled a dragon. If one were to see it, they would see an odd rock, no less.

Wingbeats severed Lapis' train of thought, and he looked up.

Ilargi and her cronies had taken themselves into the night sky, steering north.

No doubt to snuff out prophecy-believers like Blaze.

What good was hope when you were martyred for it?

______________

The Deeptide Sea was the western ocean of Archai. Dragonmouth Bay used to be a part of it, before the Divide.

What remained of the once-wide bay were its sheer white cliffs that dropped down into ocean.

On one of those cliffs, an elf stood watch, scanning his eyes for any travelers wishing to trade in a safe place, away from the destruction, death, and chaos.

Wind blew in from the sea to the land, making the already-cold night air ever colder and rustling the leaves on the trees that grew on the cliffside.

Because of the dark red horns on his head, it was easy for Lapis to spot Pharos, who was standing on the edge of the cliffs.

The elf seemed to sense the dragon's soft footsteps as he landed on the long, cool, damp grass. He didn't turn around.

"I suspect something happened in the Skyridge Mountains."

There was an emphasis on the word "happened".

"Blaze is dead", Lapis griped. "Fell for a trap set by Helen's dragons."

The Sunblaze Elf turned, and the Rock Dragon met his yellow eyes. "And the egg?"

"That was the trap."

"Hmmmm...." Pharos mused, rubbing the back of his dark neck thoughtfully. After a while, he unbuttoned his long, black coat he wore, briefly exposing the red shirt underneath it, and fiddle inside it.

"Where are you?" he muttered to himself.

Lapis tensed, fixing his eyes on Pharos' hands until it emerged with a small, dark-light grey egg in it.

"How did you-?" Lapis started as the elf placed the Lightning Dragon in front of him.

"I kept it in case anything went... sour."

Lapis pawed the egg with his wing claws, letting it roll into his mouth.

"Good luck", Pharos said in his thick voice as Lapis dug beneath the earth with the spell Terra Torquent.

"Churning earth".

______________

The caverns that ran under Archai were long, twisting, and imposing, as if an Archdragon secretly lived under the continent.

It was also the place where the Order's "chosen ones" were to be raised and kept until the time came.

When Lapis arrived in the cavern the designated "main cave" for this system, he found Flow and another elf watching the stone nest in the middle with great intent.

The nest wasn't really a nest – it was a small divot in the ground that they had decided to use as one. Various blankets of different colors and shapes overlapped each other, forming a mosaic which the two other eggs peacefully lied in. One was black; the other one resembled a clear night sky full of stars.

In reality, the divet could support seven eggs. But the prophecy didn't need seven dragons – it required what could be found.

Early on, the Order had decided to have at least three to four dragons and/or three to four elves to be their Primal representatives. No humans were allowed.

Lapis strode over to the nest, and opened his mouth to place the Lightning Dragon egg in it.

The grey egg was now covered with his saliva, giving it a hard, slimy feel.

He backed away several footsteps to allow Flow, a Sea Dragon (a type of Ocean Dragon), to study it.

She was smaller than most Sea Dragons, around half their normal size. Despite this, she was the ringleader of the guardians, watching their every move and dictating who or what should where.

After she peered at the eggs, she gave Lapis a side-eye. "Where's Blaze?" she demanded. The orange-gold light that came from the fires on the walls gave her blue scales an eerie glow.

"Dead", he snorted. "Caught and killed by a trap set by Helen's dragons."

"And the egg...?"

"That was the trap. Luckily, Pharos had a substitute lounging around in his coat."

He gestured at small, grey, nearly black egg.

"We're not the only ones to lose one of our own", Flow snorted. "Arianrhod. She managed to get the Earthtree Elf down here before exhaustion took her."

Lapis stared at Flow. "Did you get anyone?"

She nodded, gesturing at the elf who was obviously holding something. "The Deeptide Elf that Kestrel's holding in her arms."

Lapis craned his long, thick neck, and could see that the Stormwind Elf assigned to them by the Order was holding a small, tan-skinned elfling in a bundle of soft sky-blue and grey blankets.

He never really knew what elves called their offspring; so, he called young elves "elflings", like how dragons called their young "dragonets".

"She was the first to leave and the first to return", Flow explained. "She found the Sunblaze Elf, and she's already named all three of them."

Lapis turned and raised an eye ridge. "She named them?"

The Sea Dragon nodded. "The Deeptide Elf is Coral; the Earthtree Elf is Clay; the Sunblaze Elf is Sabah."

"What about the dragonets?" the Rock Dragon inquired.

"We don't have names for them yet..."

"Well, we don't have any time!" he interrupted her with a furious roar. "They could hatch at any moment!"

"Stop being an arrogant Star creature", Flow growled, "or I'll turn you into water."

Lapis couldn't say anything. He huffed, although he was secretly terrified.

Blaze's cover up could become his own punishment.

From Kestrel's arms, Coral stirred and began to cry.

"Now look what you've done!" the Stormwind Elf hissed.

Dragons couldn't speak Common, Human, Elvish, and Archai's other languages until the age of 65. Until then, they could understand it.

"You could give her to me", a gentle, bass voice came from the shadows.

It belonged to a Darkshadow Elf who was black all over – their hair, eyes, skin, stubby horns, and clothing were all black.

Of all the guardians, Dougal was the only male elf. Although he genuinely tried to be the opposite of what his Primal Source was associated with, he was a coward.

Kestrel turned to him, and her grey eyes threw daggers at him.

"Go back to the shadows, demon", she bitterly hissed, and left the cave with the child.

Lapis couldn't comprehend why the Order had chosen Kestrel to look after the chosen ones. Despite being childless, she viewed raising children as a chore.

She also viewed everyone with a prejudiced lens.

Well, not everyone, exactly. There were a few individuals she tolerated.

Dougal slinked back into the shadows.

After a long night, Lapis wanted some sleep. But he had to watch when the eggs would hatch.

He laid down on the stone floor of the cavern, and watched the nest until he closed his eyes, and sleep took over him.

______________

A sharp crack woke Lapis from a hellish dream where Surya's heirs banded together, found the cave, invaded it, and destroyed the dragonets and elflings.

He gripped the stone underneath him, reminding him that both were very much alive and new in the world.

He groggily sat up, and realized that the others were gone. Only he remained.

Half-awake as he still sat, Lapis, yawned, stretched, and shook himself before peering at the nest.

The dark egg that he had brought was hatching.

Crack.

Crack.

Craccck.

Slowly, but surely, the shell split up and fell away.

He goggled the dragonet that was in its place.

It was a small black dragonet with spikes running down its back; two bat-like wings on its back; six curved horns on its head; and no ears on the sides of its head.

He hadn't found a random Dark Dragon egg. He had found the egg of a Darkside Dragon.

Darkside Dragons were exceeding rare, being dragons connected to both the Moon and the Darkness, and throughout Archai's history, there was only one known.

"Crrrr?" the dragonet purred as Lapis picked it up with the talons on one of his wings and brought it close to his snout.

"Luna Tenebris", he whispered to the dragonet.

This dragonet now carried the name of an Archdragon, a modern legend.

"Lrrrr?" the dragonet purred.

Lapis placed her on the ground, as he heard another egg crack.

He looked up.

The Lightning Dragon egg was hatching.

Impossible! he thought.

Lightning Dragon eggs required their species' namesake – lightning – to hatch.

And you couldn't access lightning underground.

Unless...

Lapis craned his neck over the divet and saw Kestrel casting Caelum Fulmen onto the egg.

"Giving a talon?" he inquired.

The Stormwind Elf jumped, and the spell's rune – which resembled a lightning bolt and gave off a pale blue glow – dissipated into the air.

"I'm not helping", she spat indignantly as her white face went red. "I'm forcing them out."

She cast the spell's rune again, spoke its incantation, and struck the egg with the bolt.

Over, and over, and over Kestrel did this until the eggshell split, leaving a small black hatchling with two bat-like wings, like Luna, in its place. Unlike her, it had grey eyes.

As he placed the dragonet on the ground, he felt that Luna was clinging to one of his back legs for comfort.

"Rrrr?" she said upon seeing the hatchling.

She cautiously slinked away from Lapis, keeping one talon his leg, and reached out with another one to feel the other dragonet.

He bolted away, went around the nest, and jumped onto Kestrel. He clung to her like how Luna was clinging to one of Lapis' legs.

"ACK!" the elf protested. "Get off me!"

A name popped into the Rock Dragons' head at the moment.

The dragonet was a Lightning Dragon, and it bolted towards Kestrel...

He gestured at the hatchling. "Bolt."

"'Bolt'?" Kestrel sniffed. "What kind of name is that?"

"One that you don't get to change."

As if on cue, a splashing sound came from behind the two, and two swiveled their heads towards it.

Flow had emerged from the cavern river, as if the commotion abovewater piqued her interest. Her sky-blue eyes went wide at the sight of the dragonets, especially at Luna Tenebris.

"Great Archdragons", she breathed. "We have all seven Primal Sources."

Looks like Lapis wasn't the only one who knew about Darkside Dragons.

The Sea Dragon's scales shimmered pale blue in the firelight as she strode towards the divet. Luna sunk her claws into Lapis' leg, so much so that one could assume she would accidently draw blood. But the Rock Dragon wasn't fazed by this; his species had the most armored scales in the world.

He could see that Bolt was doing the same with Kestrel, but she was trying to get him off as quickly as she could.

Over, and over, and over, she pried him off until he came loose and shoved him towards Flow.

"Take him", she growled, as she stopped dead in her tracks. "I'm going to check on the others."

She turned away and slunk towards the other caves where the elves were kept.

"Should we-?" Lapis started, but Flow lifted a claw, not even looking at him.

"Not right now. Later."

Both dragons peered into the divet. The Star Dragon egg had not yet cracked. Like how lightning was needed for Bolt to hatch, it needed starlight to hatch.

But how do you get starlight underground when you were so far away from it?

Something popped into Lapis' mind.

"Flow, get the artifacts."

She gave him a look that read "Are you serious?", to which he silently replied with a look that said, "Do it."

"I'll get them", she said before turning away and melding into the water.

They had come so far, and they weren't going to squander it by missing a couple of parts.

The prophecy had tocome true, whatever it took to fulfill it.

Originally published: 10/25/2023 (added an overview of book 1's prologue to page); edited: 02/27/2024 (added text from manuscript version of book 1's prologue to page), 02/29/2024 (centered dividers)