Vengeance

One day, in the announcements, something very strange happens.
The Shade itself posts something.
Flight Rising players are confused, and everyone goes to see the announcement.
"Your deities are dead. The exalted, hunted. Sornieth is mine, and the Beastclans shall rule."
The next day, the dom count updates off of schedule. Holding dominance, the Beastclans. Nobody really thinks anything of it, some players may find it annoying, but really, it's not that strange of an occurrence.
Maybe a user goes to bond with Fiona's or their familiars, maybe they go into the Coli to grind, or maybe they check on an exalted dragon just in case. What they find is beyond imagining.
Fiona is dead, killed by the Beastclan familiars. The Tradin Post gang, dead, also killed by Fiona's familiars. Any dragon with a Beastclan familiar, dead. Any lair with any Beastclan familiar must fight it the second they click on Coli. Beastclans rule the Coli, getting serious buffs. Gathering suddenly becomes dangerous, as notices of dragon deaths come up along with materials. Food is hard to come by, and eggs? Good luck hatching them. Nests with all eggs intact are the result of incredible luck or a Boon of Fertility, which is suddenly retired.
And the exalted?....As users click on the names of their exalted dragons, they find them dead. Every. Last. One.
Mass panic ensues, and a user goes to check the map.
Sornieth is a mess, having the look of a war torn country. The Wyrmwound is dry, the Crescendo has disappeared, the Pillar, shattered. They look at every other deity's monument. Every last one is destroyed.
Soon, every clan must fight for survival, flights are nonexistant as it becomes every clan for itself. Only the strongest survive, and any clan trying to start? Overrun in seconds. Hatchlings and permababies become the rarest thing in Sornieth, and dragons soon start to starve to death.
Another post from the Shade.
"This is only the beginning."


A week has passed since the Shade posted. People have gone onto its profile, pleading for it to stop. This only amuses it.
And then the unthinkable happens.
Every dragon more than 4 years old dies. Every last one, whether it be a progen, a lore dragon, or siimply fodder. It's dead.
Players are scrambling and confused, and you must compete to get even the smallest amount of food or items. The Shade laughs as the carnage continues. Beastclans only get stronger. And when a dragon dies in the Coli, suddenly, it's gone.
Before, on the dead dragons' profiles, there was no picture.
Now there is one. Some users dare to look and see the exalted with their necks snapped, the old laying down and rotting, the Coli fighters, dead by various injuries, whether it be a snapped neck, a number of scratches and burns, or they're just laying there, heart stopped.
Players are outraged. The Shade has gone too far.
Player makes a single forum post.
"It's time we take back Sornieth."
Many players reply, and soon, every clan is part of one big flight: the flight of the Survivors. It's them against the Shade, who laughs at their attempts to pull every clan together. It's futile, not every clan trusts the Survivor flight, not every clan wants to share resources.
The war will soon begin.


The Survivor flight goes in the Coli, taking down as many of the beasts as they can, sharing resources, building up an army.
The Shade sees these efforts, but does nothing to stop them. Several players are suspicious of this silence.
They were so, terribly right.
On the day of the planned attack, a new beast invades the Coli. A swirl of shadow with no element and no health. There's no way to kill it. And it's attacks do more damage than should be possible, killing dragons, forcing the Survivor flight to retreat. The Shade posts again.
"Your efforts are futile. Sornieth is mine. Leave now or face the consequences."


Players are startled by the Shade's message. 'Leave now or face the consequences'? What could be worse than what is already happening? Players take no heed to the Shade now. They soon find out this was a huge mistake.
The next day, every dragon in everyone's lairs are dead, taken over by the Shade. Every egg, rotted. Dragonkind is no more.
Players are furious, how can Flight Rising be without the dragons? But one player finds an unhatched egg in their hoard. Another player finds the same. The last dragons in Sornieth. People are clambering to get their hands on the eggs, but the two players won't give them up. Eventually, they hatch said eggs. One is a caramel Nocturne, the other a blue Pearlcatcher. Female and male. The future of Sornieth.
The next day, a cryptic message from the last Nocturne, named Cara, appears. The player who owns her didn't post it. The message reads:
"We are the Shade's followers. When the rest of the world fell, we became stronger." We? Who else? Soon, two more posts are added on to the thread. The first, from a blood-red Fae named Blood.
"We shall rise, we shall conquer."
The second, from a white Skydancer named Blank.
"But where is the final one?"
Neither dragon exists. Players try everything, but to no avail. Dragon search gets no results. Looking through lairs gets no results. The Skydancer and Fae both give 404 messages when trying to get to their profiles. What has happened?
Soon, a final post, from a blue Pearlcatcher named Sea, goes up:
"I am here. Now we are ready. We shall not hold back."
The owner of said Pearlcatcher never posted. Players are confused and fearful about these cryptic messages and what they mean. What will happen to Flight Rising?


Things are relatively normal for a week. Well, the new normal at least. All that's really active nowadays is the forums. And boy, are they active. It is the only thing left on FR after all. Until the week passes.
Normally, people would be looking forward to a Dominance update. But instead, something else happens.
All non-exalted hatchlings are returned to their owner's lair. Everyone on FR is ecstatic, until they notice the hatchlings' eyes.
Every hatchling's eyes are pure black. Their element: Shade.