Antares

"In my younger days, I used to have vivid visions of what could one day be. These are what led me to this clan, and I plan to stay in it as long as my days. I was valued here for it - and I saved us from many painful deaths. My visions began to fade as I aged, which brings us to...... Antares. He came to us one summer some thousand years ago, though I remember it like it happened a moment ago. He was still small, then. Naught but a hatchling." The great dragon shuddered as he said this, and pain caused his eyes to cloud over momentarily.

"I moved to take him from the trader's cart to the nursery, overjoyed we had another addition to the clan. But the moment my claw touched him, I was wracked with a vision more powerful than anything I had experienced since I was his age. It hurt, I'll admit." At this, he smiled and laughed.

"I reeled back and hissed in pain, clutching my now fine claw. In the vision, I had seen a world of chaos, the heads of my friends lying on the ground like discarded playthings. It was horrible, something I pray never comes to pass. And above it all stood this hatchling, though much older. He was now a full grown dragon, and an array of weapons and bones adorned him from head to tail." The dragon looked repulsed, and a look of disdain replaced his normally calm features.

"Alas, despite many warnings, I could not persuade the others to abandon or kill him. After all, 'he was a hatchling! What harm could he have done?' they thought! Pah! A world of pain he would bring." The dragon hung his head, looking utterly defeated. He continued, however, bringing himself to go on.

"As the hatchling grew, I tried my best to turn his life away from what I had seen. I taught him truth and light, instilling in him the values we lived by. I became more of a father to him than anyone else, and though I fear it, I know it is true - he became a son to me. I have seen the way he looks at our leader's cave with a hunger, and I have watched the way he uses the charm he has - the charm I taught him - to trick the clan and turn their eyes away from the vile things he does. His children are that of a foreign tribe's. I have seen him bring in his mistresses, springing forth more of his spawn to aide him in his conquest. " He shuddered.

"I know how his story will end. I understand that ultimately, I am the reason he will destroy us. I do not fear him any longer. I only pray that by the time he acts I will be dead - for I know, despite everything he's done, I will not be able to kill him before it is too late." --- excerpt from the letter of an ancient