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Only the oldest dragons remember what it was like to fly on their own power and they have retreated to the most secluded of areas, trying to forget their sorrow over what was stolen from them. This happened a very long time ago, when dragons were strong and had wings that would carry them above the clouds and they were truly the masters of the sky. And like any creature that has the ultimate power over an element; it elicited jealousy from the humans. So a secret group of magic users banded together and tore the gift of flight from the dragons and planted it deep within the human soul, hoping to rob the dragons of their birthright and give it to their own people instead.

They succeeded – partly. The dragons were robbed of their wings in an instant, hundreds dying from the shock of their wings tearing from them and being reduced to the stubbed things they are now. Those that remained unleashed their rage and pain upon the humans in retaliation and thousands perished in fire and blood. The spell, however, was incomplete. The humans received the gift of flight in their souls as the mages had intended, but all the magic in the world could not change the fact that they were humans and the gift of flight they now held was that of dragon kind. Flight was denied to both races now.

More dragons died from despair as the years passed and they failed to find a way to restore their wings to them. Then, a small group of their kind discovered the secret of the spell that took their flight from them and from that found that there was a way to regain their supremacy of the skies. It was in the humans. They carried a dragon’s flight in their souls and if a dragon could tap into this then they would be restored. Their wings would remain stunted in form but they never flew by flesh alone anyways – they could soar the skies by the magic bound in a human’s body.

The years that followed were a time of war. Dragons raided the human lands to steal away a human, killing those around the poor soul in retribution, and then bound the human to themselves, chaining their will to their own and tying their souls irrevocably to the dragon’s. They felt each other’s emotions, pain, and even thoughts. The human shared in the dragon’s long lifespan. However, the dragons were still the masters and the humans merely a tool to regain their lost flight. They controlled their human’s very will and the human could refuse no order from their master. The dragons deemed this just punishment.

In time, an uneasy truce was established. The bound humans grew closer to their dragon masters and many became an equal to their dragon, working as a partnership to protect and defend one another. If the dragon died the human would feel the death and forever be missing a part of themselves, until the end of their days. If the human died the dragon would lose the ability to fly. Eventually being dragon-bound grew to be a mark of great power among the humans, as a dragon-bound was protected and shared in a dragon’s power. Some humans would even seek to be bound willingly, hoping to find a dragon master that they could serve for the rest of their days. They could use the dragon magic as their master granted. They were trained in the ways of combat to better protect themselves and their master. A rank of dragon-bound knights even arose. Still, it was an uneasy truce at best. The rage and resentment still resided within the dragon’s soul and humans were still bound against their will, their kin slaughtered before their eyes. As with any people there are dragons who mistreat this arrangement and dragons who treasure it as much as their own lives.