Nuella

Nuella always wished he'd been born with the fire in his heart that seemed to drive other dragons. For years, he wandered bleakly through his life, trying to find something that invigorated him with that sense of purpose and fulfillment he always heard other dragons talking about.
He didn't yearn for glory on the battlefield or mountains of treasure, nor was he interested in finding a partner and having kids. Even the idea of traveling the world and encountering all sorts of dragons, creatures, and landscapes seemed bland. He really, truly couldn't find anything to care about, and he ended up spending most of his days lounging in the woods near the river, watching lizards and bugs roam about.

At some point, Nuella's clan ended up in a territorial dispute of some sort. No one informed him of any pertinent details, and he didn't care enough to ask. He ended up getting drafted into their fighting corps and passed through the training sessions in a daze. It occurred to him during his dinner one evening that perhaps he ought to care more; this was a revelation that lasted him about two and half minutes, before he returned to daydreaming about the strange two-legged creatures he'd seen in the woods earlier.

Then the Spirals came.

It was late evening, and Nuella was airily strolling the outskirts of the village. He yawned deeply and shuddered from the cold. The Skydancer tugged at his armor, wishing it were lined with fur, and rubbed sleep from his eyes. He sighed and glanced over at the string of mountains to the west. The very last licks of sunlight still hung to the sky in the distant horizon, as if the sun was having a hard time saying goodbye, and a lone swallow called out into the empty winter air.
He would've loved if the sun could stick around until the end of his patrol; he hated being stuck with the night shift, and it was even worse this time of year. He wanted nothing more than to rush home and curl up under a wool blanket next to a roaring fire, maybe with some roasted seagull or a nice, seared boar. Not that he could get either of those. With another band of dragons encroaching on their hunting grounds, meat had become a luxury.
Nuella checked over his shoulder for the other soldier who was supposed to be patrolling with him, Crite. She was running a little late, but considering that the punishment for skipping shifts was a three-day ban from meals, he was fairly certain she'd show up eventually. Still, it was a bother to be made to wait.
He was dragging his tail through the frosted grass and wondering to himself if they'd get any snow when he heard a sharp hiss and felt the weight of another dragon suddenly slam into him. Nuella and the attacker were sent sprawling and the force set his spear aflight and knocked his helmet from his head. He scrambled out from the weight on top of him, talons crunching on frost as he desperately groped at the frozen blades of grass and heaved himself up onto his back legs. He scurried backward and gaped at the Spiral dragon effortlessly lifting themself off the grass.
The only other kind of dragon Nuella had ever seen were the strange Mirror dragons who came by to barter every now and then. They always requested odd things and Nuella found their beady eyes unnerving. This dragon was completely different from any he'd ever met, though. Her eyes were an electrifying pale blue - almost white - and they were a stark contrast against her dull, sandy brown scales. Do dragons live in the desert? he wondered.
Even more unusual was how her body twisted in a spiral shape. He almost began to wonder if there was something wrong with her, but then he noticed the the dragons coiling through the sky and landing behind her.

Why did they all look like that?