The Star’s Will
Where there is Life, there is also Death. This world was no exception. The people were cornered. While they flourished for a time, their burst of growth quickly became a scramble for the ever-shrinking resources of the world. They divided into factions and began to wage war, using any excuse to spur their members. Each clung to the hope that research could give them an edge, and they began to use any means to gain power.
At first, the weapons were simple–axes, swords, bombs, guns, gasses. Anything that would cut through enemy lines. As the factions grew in power and desperation, their weapons became more intense. They created explosives that could wipe cities off the map, manufactured diseases the world had never seen, and weapons that could fire from the stars. However, there were limits to their madness which they sought to correct.
Finding resources elsewhere would be ideal. Space was vast, and surely something out there would help them escape their fate. They could not find a solution in the realm of science, so they turned to things that were forbidden. The human soul was an odd thing, but the human mind was useful. Where computers and processors fell flat, the human mind could sort and comprehend a hundred years of constant memory. Thus began a phase of research where the prisoners of war became test subjects for new technology.
Non-living weapons now used a mind at their core. Technology so advanced that it resembled magic now dominated battles. With time, mobility and function of these minds were lost. The researchers implemented pilots which could supplement lost abilities with their own memories. The connection was intimate and tied the minds together. These pilots were the first to communicate with the lost souls powering these weapons. Together, the elements were theirs to harness. Together, time and space were under their command. At last they could flee to realms uncharted.
Some stayed on the world, intent on claiming a homeland that went back for thousands of years. Others left in waves, deserting the world for greener pastures. The Chronoscape was an escape through time–a promise of paradise that lasted for as long as the pilot and their companion could travel. Whether these weapons remained human, whether the deserters were traitors to their kind, whether the world was worth saving–those who remained fought tooth and nail for the answers.
Those who left found their own answers. They searched for the corners of the Chronoscape, only to find none. While they forgot the purpose for running, they knew to continue forward until they found safety. Some served as makeshift mechanics for their companions, gradually changing the form of their friends. Some companions grew independent, others became wild like animals, and still others grew closer to their aides. Some became dragons and Riders.
These events have been lost in the folds of time. Whether they are the origins of dragons or a simple reflection of what could have been is a mystery…except, perhaps, to the Great Ancestors.
The First Journeys
Long ago, the two Great Ancestors of Day and Night created the first world. Sol, the Day dragon, created the elements of Light, Fire, Jungle, Thunder, and Earth. Luna, the Night dragon, created the elements of Ocean, Storm, Wind, Metal, and Dark. Together, these elements made up the positive and negative of the world. Neither Luna nor Sol were pure or evil—they shared their power and their duties equally. All was well in their world.
However, the planet that they created became filled with Life. They marveled at this surprise…up until the point that the little planet became too small for that Life. As the creatures of the world explored areas beyond their little planet, the Great Ancestors set about making places for them to explore. They used their boundless power to create an entire universe. They made laws so that the world would be infinite and impossible for their children to completely discover.
Still their creation surprised them. The many forms of Life that had popped into existence found a realm beyond even the Ancestors’ knowledge. This world was called Chronoscape, for it was a place between space and time itself. It started as a desolate wasteland that stretched into infinity. Its expanses touched on places within the known universe and created passages, allowing Life to quickly navigate the universe without so much as a spacecraft to guide them or a method to break the rules that the Ancestors had toiled to make.
As Life moved about Chronoscape, they began to flourish in that strange realm as well. It soon became clear that Life had power which rivaled their own. Still, the Ancestors were delighted to have such companions in their ventures. The challenge to their strength only made them more eager to test their own limits. Armed with the knowledge that Life would inevitably catch up to their antics, they set about procuring puzzles and laws for Life to break. They bent the world of Chronoscape so that Life would quickly become lost in its wastes. Anticipating the return of Life to the Chronoscape, the Ancestor Dragons began to craft entirely new universes for them to explore and created new doors to them throughout the realm.
And return they did…with their very first dragons. The little dragons were a curious sight for the Ancestors to behold. Despite never interacting with Life directly, the little creatures resembled them in small ways. A set of wings there, a starry marking there, perhaps even a hint of true sight for some of them. They bore elemental powers akin to their own, though on a much smaller scale. These powers could twist space in ways that confounded even the Ancestors.
Most peculiar to them was that these little dragons could navigate Chronoscape with ease. This ability to move through space and time effortlessly had only been their own up until this point. Life named this ability Chronocompass—for it guided them true in even the strangest of realms. With their hindrance gone, Life set about exploring the new universes.
This is how we live now. The Ancestors scurry to put the worlds before us while we explore just behind them, always coming closer, finding new homes in the endless expanse.