SimpleLife's Clan

A small community of Earth dragons lived in a mountainous land on the edge of an icy sea. They were simple farmers, masons, and blacksmiths, and the land gave them all they needed.

The clan was happy and content, until the day three Guardian brothers out plowing a field dug up some sort of ancient chest, carved of bone. It was covered in strange markings and cold to the touch. Quartz, the largest of the three, opened it while the others crowded around...and what was inside changed everything.

An ancient tome with a beautifully ornate cover set with hard, glittering diamonds and written in an unfamiliar language, with an Ice Rune that started to glow when he touched it. Quartz fell to the ground, and rose to unsteady feet as a transformation began to take place, hardening and changing his scales until they glistened like sheets of frost.

Terrified, his brothers begged him to abandon the relics and come with them to the healer, but he calmly said there was no need, and insisted he was fine.

No one in the clan knew what to make of the change that had come over him, but other than his physical appearance, and absolute refusal to let anyone else examine the book and the staff, he seemed his normal self.

They had little time to wonder, however, as just a few days later a howling ice storm blew in, in those days simply unheard of so late in the spring. When the Earth dragons emerged from their shelters, they found the storm had brought more than just snow and ice. Half a dozen fearsome strangers had arrived in its wake, most of them from the Ice Flight.

Their leader, a stern and, well...cold, Wildclaw named Haukea, explained that she was descended from a line of kings and had sensed the discovery of two elemental artifacts, which once had belonged to her family. Furthermore, its very presence on the island proved this had once been territory belonging to the Ice Flight, and she was now here to take it back.

The outrage of the Earth clan at such claims didn't last long; though they outnumbered the intruders, none of them were fighters, and any who resisted were swiftly slain or subdued.

Quartz's own family were among the latter, but he himself remained in an almost trance-like state during the fighting. When it ended, he slowly approached Haukea. She turned to face him while her allies took up position, preparing for a fierce battle with the bearer of the staff and tome, but then he began to speak to her in a language that none of his clan understood. It was the ancient tongue of the Ice Flight, and even of her own group, only Haukea spoke it fluently.

They conversed for a time, and when the history was later written down, it was translated thus:

"Lady Haukea, I won't dispute that this land belongs to the Ice Warden--the staff tells me that much--but it and the book both have chosen me to be their keeper and wielder. I won't oppose your rule over my former clan, but you must understand the Tome of Ice has revealed to me many secrets, and told me many things. I answer to a higher power now, and may the gods help you or anyone else who tries to get in my way."

With that Quartz turned and walked away, the falling snow soon erasing the print of his claws on the earth that had given so freely to his ancestors for untold generations. Spring would never again come to this land.