Long ago, all Species lived together in harmony. But peace cannot exist forever. The different Races split into factions, fighting wars within themselves. They used Dragons for their greedy desires, and the Dragon Race was almost eliminated entirely because of it. But the Ancients finally interceded. They decided that the Race of Dragons was too powerful to be left to the whims of the creatures of the Earth. They assembled the Monarchial Powers of each Species, and in the most important event of history, they agreed to hide the remaining Dragons and their Eggs. No dragon has been seen or heard from for thousands of years, and their existence has, for most people, passed into legend.
Today, the Earth is governed by a family of creatures so powerful and self-absorbent, the people have been all but exterminated. Had it not been beneficial to this Ricasha Family, there would be no one left to hear complain. But all tyrants need someone to control, and there were still plenty of those left.
With the Family's coming into power, those creatures who could think and fight for themselves first began to do exactly that. But as time grew on, their numbers began to dwindle until they were finally forced to retreat. Some, like the elves, retreated deep into the Seven Forests, where their power allowed them to keep out all outsiders. Others, like the dwarves, made their homes deep within the largest mountain regions, where outsiders could get lost and die from thirst or landslides before they ever found the hidden villages.
But the humans and the goblins were left to fend for themselves, and they failed miserably at that. With the bulk of the opposing forces suddenly disappeared, the Ricasha Family had no difficulties in taking control of the majority of the land. And within a ten-year period, the Family doubled in size, allowing it to spread out across the Earth to properly control and reign in every person.
The Ricasha Family has now ruled their Kingdom for more than ten generations. The people of the world have all but given up hope, choosing instead to obey and try their best to keep out of the Family's anger. Dragons, elves, dwarves? They are all legend, now.
But time has allowed the hidden creatures of the world to reproduce and grow in number. And though the humans do not yet know it, the elves are planning on taking back the world. How it is to be done, though, has yet to be determined.
What no one knows is that the Ancients have been watching all of this, and they are tired of the Family's tyranny. They have decided that those with the purest hearts will be the ones to end the reign, and they have a special plan to give them a bit of assistance....
Esmerelda Alin was young for an elf, but that did not stop her from being wise beyond her years. Despite her wisdom, however, she continued to react in many ways similar to those of a human teenager, though most young elves had to go through that phase as a part of their development. This was the main reason for her current situation.
She was running. More specifically, she was riding her horse, which was running. The trees whipped by, and it was only the combination of Esmerelda's magic and the horse's skill that kept it from being injured by anything out of place on the forest floor.
Esmerelda had gotten into quite a spat with her mother. Her mother, who also happened to be the Elvish High Queen. And the little fight they had just been in had something to do with their lack of involvement in the situation outside the Forests. The Queen had been quite clear that the Elvish Forces were still too limited in both number and training to be a considerable force against the Family. Esmerelda, however, rather disagreed with that. She had grown up in the politics of her mother's world, and she was well-versed in most of them. But unlike her mother, Esmerelda believed that the best thing they could do was to announce their presence to the world.
"The humans have forgotten we exist! We are nothing but myth to them!" She had protested. But the Queen had not listened.
And now, Esmerelda was determined to prove her point to her mother. Of course, she would not be foolish about it. But she needed fresh air, and she wanted a clear mind. Fresh air meant going outside the Forests, an opportunity Esmerelda had waited her whole life for.
She glanced back when the thunder of hooves reached her highly-sensitive ears. Someone had noticed her horse missing from the stalls and reported it to the Queen. Now there were Hunters on her trail. They were the best, trained to track down anything and everything, and to catch it fast. Of course, Esmerelda had also been trained to do just that. She knew their tactics.
Esmerelda faced forward again, and she whispered something under her breath. The scent of the fresh pines on the trees grew heavier, clouding the air and blocking out most, if not all, of her scent.
Let's see if you can find me, now, she thought with a smirk. She knew they had other ways, but she had to save her energy for now.
Soon, she was within a League of the Forest's edge. She could feel her excitement building within her. This was it. This would be the point where her life finally changed. What she did not know, however, was just how much it would change. And then before she knew it, she was upon it. She shouted in the elven language at the magical barrier, and she passed through it with no problem.
She was out. She was out of the Forest. Esmerelda felt the mare grow uneasy beneath her, but she kept her at a quick trot, now, as she glanced back at the forest. The line of trees stretched for leagues on either side of her, as far as her eyes could see. A smirk crossed her pale lips, and she turned forward again. The elf woman breathed a sigh of relief, then kicked the horse back into a gallop again.
They had traveled around 6 or 7 leagues before night began to fall. Esmerelda knew they would have to find shelter soon, and just when she was about to give up and lay out in the open meadows they were now in, she spotted the remains of a large, ancient structure not too far up ahead. The elf dismounted and led the tired horse up to the structure, which upon a closer look, was about the size of her own palace back in the Forest. She tied the horse to a sturdy-looking group of stones, checked to make sure the horse had enough room to move around or lay down, and then turned to look at the structure once again.
Her curiosity was instantly piqued when she spotted the ancient symbols carved into the stones. She had learned many languages, but she had never seen anything like these symbols before. She briefly wondered if they belonged to the time of the Ancients, but then dismissed the thought. The building could not possibly be from the Era when the Ancients walked the Earth. But nevertheless, Esmerelda was drawn to the building, and after some consideration, she withdrew her sword and cautiously entered the place.
Though these were the remains of the building, the structure was still relatively intact. The roof remained strong and kept out almost anything from overhead, and the walls were still thick and strong enough to support the structure and keep it from crumbling to the ground. The elf was cautious with each and every step, but as she opened her mind a bit more, she could not help but notice the aura of magic here. Someone powerful had once resided in this castle.
A large wall suddenly ended the hallway she had been walking down. It seemed rather odd that it would have such an abrupt ending. She almost turned back around, but then she spotted something in the wall, and she moved closer. There appeared to be various indentations in the stones, and though at a glance they appeared random and nothing more than simple chips off the stones, a closer look revealed that there used to be more carvings here. Esmerelda pressed the tips of her fingers against several of the indentations, and then gasped when she felt a shock of electricity run through her fingers, up her arm, and spread throughout her entire body. The elf took a few steps back, her eyes wide as she stared at the wall.
She had been right: the indentations were specific areas of different carvings. But a bright green light began where her fingers had just been, and then worked its way through the entire wall, lighting up the carvings that had just moments before been almost invisible to the naked eye.
Esmerelda gasped in shock as each carving was revealed. Image after image of dragons and symbols of Ancient Magics rested in the stones of this wall. The light remained in the lines of the carvings, and the elf felt like she spent forever staring at the wall. And then, something else happened: all of the dragons that were lit up suddenly disappeared, leaving just the symbols of the Ancient Magics remaining. And then a door opened on the wall beside her, and Esmerelda felt a deep magic beckoning her to enter. She could not resist, and enter she did.
Inside was a beautiful room surrounded on all sides by glowing crystals. But what was in the center of the room was what caught Esmerelda's eye. A large stone structure arose out of the ground, what appeared to be carved as two hands holding an intricately-carved bowl. And inside the bowl lay the true miracle: 4 dragon eggs, each a different color. The eggs were each making a soft humming, a sound that could only be heard by the sensitive ears of an elf. Esmerelda gasped again, and she was unsure what to do. And then, a single resounding voice spoke in her mind. One voice, but many.
"This is our gift to you. Be wise in who you choose to be the Riders, for your choice will affect the future of the entire world. Good luck."
Esmerelda tentatively stepped forward, and she felt herself strongly drawn to the smallest egg in the group, almost 2/3 the size of the others. The egg was a beautiful green color, with darker green veins spreading out across the shell. The elf reached her fingers out to touch the egg, and when she did, her entire world erupted in a flash of white hot fire, and her body fell to the ground beside the statue.
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