Songale

Songale has survived a thousand battles, soared into war on the backs of drakes, and crushed kingdoms beneath the heel of the Dragonsguard. Age has silvered the edges of his scales, and his voice rumbles like distant thunder. Now, as commandant councilor, he serves on the Grand Consul, commandant of the Imperial Academy and military advisor to the emperor. When he speaks, the others take heed.

He listened to the petition of the Riftwatchers’ emissaries with the patience of an old general, one who’d heard a thousand desperate pleas and led soldiers to their deaths for dreams that turned to ash. The emissaries spoke of the Conclave Arcana’s hunt for the secret of Praetoria and the threat it posed not only to the Gloridax Empire, but to all the splinters.

Songale thought of the fields where battle-hardened Dragonsguard warriors once trained. Many of them died in the rebellion. Now, most are new recruits, too young or too old, many barely strong enough to heft a blade. Rebuilding, they called it. But Songale saw it for what it was: desperation.

When the Riftwatchers finished and the suam emperor summoned his advisors, Imperial Councilor Kavor Skarn spoke first. He advised the emperor not to chase shadows when the empire still teetered on the brink, its Dragonsguard crippled, its cities in ruins, and the legions of Chaos gathering power just beyond their border.

Songale echoed his words, and the others of the Grand Consul did the same. Thus, the emperor bade them turn the Riftwatchers away.

But whispers of the devastation the Conclave Arcana wrought soon spread through the palace. Plains burned to ash beneath walls of fire. Entire forests torn from their roots. Great floods swallowing cities. Time twisting mountains into ruin. An army of undead marching beneath a blackened sky. Whispers, too, of the secret of Praetoria. A power that promises dominion. A force that can raise empires or reduce them to ruin.

What if the Riftwatchers were right?

And the old general, who’d survived a thousand battles, now fears he may live to see one more… one he can’t hope to win.