Free Scourge of the Dragons by Cody J. Sherer

Wrotan
replied.
    “The paper is blank on that side,” Alandra
said.
    “No, it clearly is not.” The hunter held up
the note to show the others.
    “Of course,” the sun King said.
    “Care to enlighten us?” Hadrin asked.
    “The dragons had always told rumors of their
lost brethren. They were known as the shadow dragons. I have no
real concrete information about them, but they are said to have the
ability to see that which others cannot. Ungaroth speculated that
the scourge originated with a different strain of dragon when they
attempted to contact their kin. He also speculated that it is the
scourge that changed Wrotan’s ritual. To be certain, the dragon
temporarily cut himself off from his fellow scourged dragons when
he made a connection to the two of you. As it turns out, he had
only connected a part of himself to Wrotan. That part connection
has been severed, but the connection through the scourge is still
there.”
    “So, these dragons wanted to kill their kin
with a scourge of some kind and it interfered with Wrotan becoming
champion?” Alandra asked.
    “Not exactly, we weren’t going to reveal
this part to the three of you quite yet. I suppose it is time
though. There are two parts to the scourge. One part is a poison
that appears to have been added after the initial contact was made.
You have, no doubt, noticed that Ungaroth alone had red wings. That
was not always true. Many of the others were crimson and gray. None
of them were black, not until the scourge appeared,” Erlkan
replied.
    “You mean to say that the scourge is some
sort of darkness?” Wrotan asked.
    “Shadow to be exact. The shadow dragons are
the missing dragons. They’ve been gone for so long that we assumed
they were dead. More than a hundred years ago they began to reach
out to the closest of their kin, the night dragons. You see,
Ungaroth is not truly a night dragon. He is the product of one
shadow dragon and one night dragon. That is why the scourge has no
effect on him. It is not truly a scourge, but a shadow. If our
assumption is correct, Wrotan is the new shadow dragon
champion.”
    *
    “You are certain this is the case?” Obrin
asked as he turned to Ungaroth.
    “It is impossible to be certain, but I’ve
always had a feeling that the shadow dragons survived. Have you
heard the tale of the exodus?” The dragon asked.
    “I have not.”
    “There was a time, long, long ago, when all
the dragons were as one. We accepted each other’s differences.
Though small, the forest dragons were still a part of our number.
The mammoth sized mountain dragons were very much a part of our
society. Even the undersea dragons would be accepted as brethren
when they visited. The sun dragons and the shadow dragons were the
first to begin fighting. Not wanting to cause turmoil amongst
dragonkind, the shadow dragons embarked upon a journey to find
another homeland. It was, ultimately, too late. The dragon wars
erupted and sides were formed. We fought for hundreds of years,
until your people arrived. The fighting had been so fierce and
lasted so long that we had no idea how many kinds of dragons had
been lost. Shadow dragons, like star dragons and fairy dragons,
become something of a myth. Yet here I am, half shadow half
night.”
    “You are proof that the shadow dragons
existed as many as two hundred years ago.”
    “That I am. I sent the others to the spirit
monks because I believe they have found the shadow realm. They are
adamant that it is a spirit realm and that there is no physical
connection to our world, but I am not so sure. Do the elves have
any information on whether that is possible?” Ungaroth asked.
    “Our people once knew how to make magical
portals. The knowledge was lost long ago and we are uncertain if
the portals are to another world or just to another place in our
world,” Obrin replied.
    “Let us hope that the others can find
out.”
    *
    Mariah slowed down as they came to the edge
of the forest. She knew that the woods