Prologue - The Emperors Pit
In the legends of dragons, there is but one beast of horror, of death beyond all others. Its existence has been denied by many, and feared by more still. Only the gods and the Imperials speak of it outside of whispers. This beast is an Emperor. This is one tale of such beasts, passed down from generation to generation. The true tale has been lost to time, centuries of storytelling has changed it into the tale we have now. Be it truth or fiction, reality or fantasy, the legend reads as follows.
Long ago, in a time only the gods truly remember, there lived a clan of Imperials, nested along a mountainside. Unlike most of their own kind which choose to live in pairs or in solitary, this clan was many. The giants littered the mountainside, enjoying the Lightweaver's sun and sharing their knowledge among themselves. Their caves were filled with books and scrolls, stacked carefully around artifacts from times before their own. It was a peaceful time, though peace rarely lasts long.
While an adult Imperial will be quick to say that they are well behaved, scholarly, and generally less violent than their cousins, every dragon has a line that will trigger aggression if crossed. One of the easiest ways to anger a dragon- as we all know- is to tamper with their hoard.
With such a large clan living in one area, and so many hoarding similar items, it was only a matter of time before things began to turn up missing. It began slowly, of course. A scroll here, a tome there, something a dragon may have simply misplaced... It did not stay that way, however. Larger, rarer items began to disappear. Familiars vanished, artifacts plundered, and soon the Imperials began keeping logs of their possessions. This helped very little, and things begun spiraling out of control.
The eldest in the clan, both over six meters from nose to tail, begun to argue one day. Each believed that the other had taken their missing possessions, as none of the smaller Imperials would have dared. The confrontation began as nothing but a battle of words. An accusation, an insult, growls and roars... Until one lunged for the other.
As the elders tore at each other, shaking the mountainside with their rage, other fights broke out across the clan. Those with strength of mind and body protected their collections. Those who dared not fight fled with all they could carry. Treasures were lost, and bonds broken. The mountain rivers ran red.
For miles around the echoes of battle sang, and miles more heard the tales from those who had fled. It was days before there was pause in their cries, and months more before the sounds of battle had been truly silenced. Still, it was a long while before any gathered the courage to investigate what remained of the clan.
The first to return were those who had fled. Younger and smaller Imperials hoping to regain some of what they had lost, or to take their pick of what remained. Few returned to their new clans, and those who returned had not finished their journey. They spoke of strange noises coming from the area. Calls of pain, of sadness, but never explained. It had soon become a place no Imperial dared to go.
Eventually, a single brave young male returned.
They had explored deep into the caves, avoiding traps both magical and mundane. Many had been triggered by the unfortunate souls that had gone before him... Though while there were the stains of old blood, there were no bodies to be seen. At first this was assumed to be the work of scavengers, though a lack of even bones made this suspicious.
It wouldn't be long before the mystery was solved.
He had been ambushed by a dragon twice his size. Luckily he found a passage large enough for himself, but too small for the beast. It was then that he got a good look at his attacker. It was something he had only heard of in legends. An emperor was there. Three sets of golden eyes staring back at him. It tried for hours to reach the young dragon, and eventually, bleeding and bruised, he retreated further down the passage.
There was no way for him to tell how long he walked. The path curved, narrowing at points almost too small for him to fit through. Eventually, he found light. It was faint, but he followed it. The Lightweaver was guiding him to freedom... But first there was one more thing he needed to witness.
There was a crack leading to the surface above. He moved towards it eagerly, hoping to escape the nightmare he had found himself in. As he approached the opening, the sound of scraping claws came from below. Like the opening in the roof of the cave, there was another below. He moved closer, and the sight brought him nothing but horror.
Below lay a giant. Another Emperor, made from more Imperials than the last. It carried eleven heads, one for each of the gods, Beneath it was a pile of bones, some small but most large. As he watched another of the smaller Emperor- though larger than the one he first saw- appeared at an opening in the side of the pit. It carried a creature in its jaws.
They were feeding the giant.
He had seen enough, spreading his wings and making for the crack in the roof of the cave. The opening wasn't wide enough. Desperately he clawed at the stone, hearing movement and then a roar beneath him. There was no need to look down to know they were coming.
His tail was soon in the teeth of one of the monsters, and he held on for dear life to the stone above. With the beasts strength pulling him downward, a piece of the ceiling fell with them. Twisting in the air, he clawed at his attacker, aiming his energy towards the head that held his tail, thanking the gods that it was a smaller Emperor that held him, and not the giant.
They fell a distance, landing on the edge of the pit. It took all of his strength to wrestle free of his opponent, and not all of him escaped. The opening in the ceiling was wide enough now, and he was soon free of the cave as well. Part of his tail, however, was left behind.
It is said that the Earthshaker and his followers covered the openings to the cave. The Emperors were sealed inside, or at least those that remained in their home. The area was abandoned, made forbidden to all dragons in the area- Imperials especially.
There is no record of a forbidden cave anywhere near the Sunbeam Ruins. Many believe this story is just that, a story. A tale made to scare hatchlings into not wandering the mountains on their own. Others, however, believe it to be true, though the location of the cave has been lost to time. The truth behind the legend is known only to the eldest of dragons, and the gods themselves.
