Dreamburner

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"Ah, you wish to know about The Dreamburner?" The Lorekeeper laughs softly, settling more comfortably around her clutch of eggs. "Well then, settle down."
Her tail flicks, indicating a rock made soft by a cover of moss. She watches you settle, and few nestlings peek out of their nests to listen as she begins, her voice soft in the near dark.


"Once there was a young dragoness, she had eyes the color of the summer sky and horns that looked like molten copper."


Her eyes gleam in the dusk light. More nestlings come to listen, crouching at the edges of the clearing, their ears pricked to hear the familiar story.


"She loved to fly, so fast she felt like the wind, so high she might become a cloud. Her favorite time to fly was early in the morning, before the sun had quite decided if it was day or night, when most dragons were still asleep.


"There, in the early morning light, she watched the dragons sleep. She saw them dreaming in the predawn light, and she saw their nightmares, haunting them like the heavy mist that cloaks the forest and flees at the first light, and her heart hurt with the pain of all these dragons suffering.


"Morning after morning, she watched the dragons sleep, until her heart couldn't take it any longer. She flew to the Behemoth, begging the Gladekeeper to do something, to take it away, to take the nightmares away.


"The Gladekeeper stirred at her cries, 'I have heard the prayers of my children,' She told the dragoness. 'I have been waiting for you. Listen carefully my child...'


"'Take this,' The dragoness watched in awe as a glowing orb emerged from the center of the Behemoth, hovering in front of her nose. She could see her own distorted image in the ball as she listened carefully to the Goddess' instructions. 'You will be a guardian, a protector of dreams. You will watch over all dragons while they sleep, keeping them safe from harm. You will be called the Dreamburner, destroyer of nightmares. Go, my child, and guard well.'"


The Lorekeeper glances up at the nearly dark sky, shifting in her nest to a more comfortable position. "The Dreamburner took the orb, carrying it with her into the predawn sky. It's said that in the early morning, you can see her flying by, collecting the nightmares from dragons across the glade."


The clearing is nearly dark, the trees blocking out the last bit of the sunlight. Dragons are moving around near the edges of the clearing, carefully lighting lamps to cast a soft glow across the clearing. The Lorekeeper smiles, her white and red scales stark against the dark dirt and leaves of her nest. "You are a curious one my child. It grows late. Come back another time and perhaps I will have another tale to tell."

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