Shadow

[Purchased from LadyRowyn on 10/8/2014 for 8,000T. Please sell him back to her if you ever don't want him any more!]

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[From LadyRowyn]
A dragon's life is duty.

Duty to one's clan, before all else.

To one's flight and one's god, next.

Thence to all of dragonkind.

Only after these duties are satisfied may one consider the wishes and desires of one's own self. Indeed, any wish or desire one might have which conflicts with these three paramount duties would be base villainy to fulfill. No, not villainy, but wrong, so wrong that its fulfillment will bring one only misery. Like eating candied arsenic: one may think it delicious, but it is still poison, and it can only destroy.

If you don't understand these things, you can never hope to understand me.

It doesn't matter whether or not I love my mate, Starlight. The important thing is that our children are shimmering, iridescent, triple-gened beauties whose bride or groom-price enriches the clan. It is not out of indifference that I ask they be named by their future clans, but out of consideration for that future home. It is not out of greed that I wish our clan to be enriched, but so that our riches may be spent for the greater glory of the Windsinger.

Would I love my children less if they had dull patternless scales, or clashing colors? Of course not. But to seek less than the best for them would be a failure of my duty to dragonkind. That duty dictates that I produce the finest young within my capability, that I add to the glory of my race insofar as I am able.

And if they do not enhance or beautify the race, then there is honor too in being exalted to Windsinger. It is no punishment to go to our god! It is a reward for faithful service. A reward we should all look forward to one day receiving. Of course, while we are needed in this world below the gods, we must remain, do our duties to clan and race, for in so doing we serve one part of the gods' goals for us. But when we are not so needed, let us go with gratitude and joy to the embrace of Windsinger. Let his warm winds carry us ever higher into the Cloudsong.

I do not understand why these simple, obvious truths cause such conflicts among dragons. There are those who say the world is cruel, those who think the clans or gods villainous because we have not limitless space in our lairs, or because rare and beautiful dragons are prized more than ugly or common ones, or because dragons may not return permanently to a lair or bear young after exaltation. Those who wish to defy their duty, to nest with unsuitable mates, to stay where they are not needed, or to demand others remain despite their clear Calling to exaltation. To them I say: your cup of Want is full of poison. Do not drink of it.

Put it aside, and do as duty bids.

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[From manojalpa - read at your own risk]
Master had captured the realm of ice and snow; he had his lines of perfect beauty, able at a second's notice to produce more. Then he had captured the aurora, the only thing in his land to elude him, through the bodies of those who dance within the sky, colored all the soft, gentle spectrums of the northern lights.

When he had captured snow, ice, the aurora itself, Master decided to attack the very elements of the world. It was in his nature to own things, to control, to bring order unto chaos and wisdom onto the poor living fools who thought they knew best.

One from each element, Master decided. A boy that he could play with. And, of course, they would have to be perfect.

They would be bred of the element, and their bodies reflect the element from dark to light.

When he found the shadow dragon - Lord Auros, he was called - Master realized he had not simply found visual perfection, but perfection of spirit as well. This dragon understood what it meant to serve a higher power. He understood duty above all things. He understood the realities of service, behind the glamor, behind the idealistic propaganda.

Master bound him, tender, in dark jewels with shadowed centers. He marked the dragon with Shadow's emblem and bid his body sparkle like crystal. He took the dragon to his chambers and showed him what service truly meant, and then he took the dragon's very name.

When Shadow's initiation was complete Master allowed him freedom to preach his dedication through the clan. "Go," Master bid him, "and teach them of their duty to me."