Author's Note: This tale is a recount of events that occur shortly before Rageon and Torrentia came into the world as eggs. At this time, the first two dragons created at the beginning of time (King Volcanus and Queen Frostania) are still alive and the rulers of all dragons. Their firstborn son, Blizzardoth, suffers a devastating loss at the hands of Drazi the Annihilator, the human wizard king of Tesar. Drazi is the last of Count Doom's ancestors to sit as king on the throne of Tesar, and he was the one who wielded the wizard's staff to its full potential before its power was snuffed through a terrible sacrifice.

An uneasy chill crept down the spine of Shardia as she watched her son Hiddoth play on the floor before her. No, it wasn't the chill in the air that put her in a state of unrest. As an ice dragon, she welcomed the frost and snow. Rather, there was a vague sense of anxiety that danced through her mind. Her husband, the mighty Blizzardoth, had gone into battle against the knights and minions that answered to Drazi the Annihilator. Shardia did not like being alone. Until a few years ago, being alone would not have put her on edge. She was a mighty First Blood dragon of tremendous size, after all. Her body was 150 feet long, and she was impervious to weapons that could hurt ordinary dragons. But things were different now. King Drazi of Tesar had formed a league with the unholy demon known as Cinatas. From that alliance, Drazi was reborn as a wizard king known as Drazi the Annihilator. Before this alliance, most First Blood dragons after the Great Earthquake knew nothing of death. After Drazi received his powerful wizard's staff, First Blood dragons fell by dozens and scores. King Volcanus and Queen Frostania were doing their utmost to put an end to the menace, but so far even their attacks could not stop the bloodlust of this wizard king. Even now, Shardia feared that her own Blizzardoth would die in battle.

The dragoness looked down upon her son with tenderness in her eyes. She then closed her eyes and released an icy breath. She and Hiddoth were in a cave high up on Mount Teverton. It was one of the highest mountains in Tesar. Surely the wizard could not reach them here. Surely they were safe from harm.

Little Hiddoth crawled up to his mother and placed his foreclaws on her own foreleg. The two year old dragon looked inquisitively up at his mother with his pale blue eyes. "All right, Mama?"

Shardia placed a claw on his head and wrapped her tail protectively around him. "Everything is all right, Hiddoth," she answered with her green eyes blazing with determination. "Mama will protect you. You are safe, my little Hiddoth."

"Is he now?" asked a voice that was deep and full of malice. "I wonder."

Shardia turned her gaze from her son to the intruder. A man covered in head to toe with black iron plate armor was striding into the cave. A blood-red cape was draped about his shoulders and fluttered in the wind behind him. On his chest plate was blazoned a red serpentine dragon possessing seven heads and two arms. The rear legs of this symbolic dragon were absent. The man held a black staff in his right hand. Within this staff glowed a green gem that shimmered like an emerald set ablaze. The dragoness thrust herself between the intruder and Hiddoth. There was no mistaking it. The masked trespasser was none other than King Drazi the Annihilator, the dark servant of Cinatas. Apparently, their cave could not hide them after all.

The dragoness looked down upon Drazi the Annihilator. From her vantage point, he resembled an insignificant ant. But in her heart of hearts, she knew that this man was not just another mortal that could be easily swatted away. She rumbled with fury. "You will not touch my son!"

At this, the wizard king chuckled. "The blood of hundreds of your brothers and sisters stain the ground. That blood was shed by my hands, and mine alone. Even your parents cannot conquer me. What foolish notion makes you think that you will escape the might of my power when so many others could not?"

"The love of a mother," Shardia replied defiantly.

At this, the wizard laughed. "The love of a mother? Need I tell you how many dragon mothers I have slain? There is your sister Terenia, who guarded her two daughters to the bitter end. There is your sister Charkald, who was guarding her egg. I'm sure you can imagine the pain in her eye when I cleaved her egg in two and left the half-developed dragon gasping and writhing in his yolk!"

"Enough!" Shardia bellowed. "Your genocidal crusade against dragons is at an end! As I live and breathe, you will not touch my son! For your crimes, I shall let my son feast on your flesh!"

"I doubt that," the wizard answered. He raised his staff. A green translucent bubble surrounded him. "I look forward to adding your head to my collection!"

Shardia blew a torrent of freezing wind and ice upon the sorcerer. Drazi calmly stood his ground as ice bounced off his magical shield. The mother dragon kept up her attack. She continued her exhalation for five minutes. But still the wizard calmly stood before her without even so much as an ice crystal appearing on his armor.

When finally the dragoness let up her attack, the wizard deactivated his shield and chuckled at her futile assault. "Foolish lizard. I have survived that attack more times than I can count." He raised his staff. "Prepare to meet your Maker!"

Quickly, Shardia spun around and struck Drazi with her tail. The wicked king was flung from his feet. However, the sorcerer activated his staff and was suddenly suspended in midair. He levitated himself until he was floating in front of the dragon's face. "Nice try." He pointed his staff at her face. A bolt of enchanted energy flew toward her scaly brow. The mother dragon dropped her head under the blast and swiped at King Drazi with her claws. The king dropped under her claws and fired another blast of enchanted energy. The mother dragon was too late to react. The enchanted energy beam shot into her heart and out her back. When Drazi the Annihilator ceased his attack and looked upon his victim, there was a gaping hole in her chest. He could see the cave wall behind her.

Shardia gasped and fell to her belly. Her vision blurred, and the mocking laughter of Drazi the Annihilator floated in and out of her ears. The wife of Blizzardoth dropped her head to the floor. As her surroundings faded to darkness, a small white mass stood before her. With the last of her willpower, she forced her eyes to bring the white bundle into focus. It was Hiddoth. Tears streamed from his eyes as he placed his foreclaws on her snout. "Mama!" he screamed, "Mama, don't leave me!"

With one last ounce of strength, she lifted her head and looked her son in the eye. She brought a claw to his cheek and caressed him tenderly. "Don't be afraid, my little Hiddoth. I love you." Shardia kissed her son on the cheek before dropping her head to the ground and releasing her final breath.

Hiddoth watched in horror as his mother's beautiful green eyes glazed over in death. He spun around and cried, "You killed Mama! Why?"

Drazi the Annihilator walked casually to the little dragon who had nearly grown to his own size. "For the same reason I'm about to kill you. You get in the way." Without another word, he stabbed his staff through the little dragon's skull. There was no pity, no remorse, in the sorcerer's heart as he watched the baby dragon join his mother in death. With his act of wickedness complete, the sorcerer strode from the cave.

Many miles away, Blizzardoth felt a terrible pain stab through his heart as he helped lead the charge against King Drazi's forces of evil. At first, he thought he was dying, but quickly realized that something terrible had happened to his mate. He left off from his attack against the wizard's forces and made all speed for his home. "Mother!" he bellowed, "Come with me!"

King Volcanus landed amidst a horde of evil knights and annihilated them with his raging fire. He turned to Queen Frostania, who had landed next to him. "Go, my love," he commanded. "I feel the tearing in my heart of another child lost to death. I fear our daughter Shardia has perished. Our son needs your comfort."

Frostania nodded. "I feel the pain in my heart, too." She shed a tear. "Curse Drazi the Annihilator. I haven't felt this kind of pain ever since the Great Earthquake had claimed our wayward children...until he got his hands on that accursed staff!"

Volcanus draped a wing over his grieving wife. "I know, my love. I swear that we will avenge our children, whatever the cost. But right now, our eldest son is in need of your comforting wing around him."

"Yes, my lord," Frostania replied before taking off. She quickly caught up with Blizzardoth, and the two of them set off toward Mount Teverton together. Neither mother nor son said a word to each other during the flight. After several hours of traversing over mountains, the two of them arrived at Blizzardoth's abode.

The firstborn dragon gasped and clutched his heart at the ghastly sight before him. His beautiful wife lay prostrate with a gaping hole through her back and chest. His son, so full of life and curiosity, lay dead on the floor with a stab wound through the head. Tears fell like rain, and Blizzardoth sobbed uncontrollably. Through the recent years, he had lost all his children at the hands of Drazi the Annihilator. Not one of his sons or daughters was left alive. But he and Shardia were hopeful that Hiddoth would be the start of a new legacy. Now that legacy was gone forever, snuffed by a wicked human who did not deserve a crown.

Frostania, who dwarfed her son by fifty feet, wrapped herself around the heartbroken ice drake. "Oh, my first born," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I love you, and I love Shardia and Hiddoth. They will live forever in our hearts. Even now, they are no longer suffering. The Creator has promised a good place for all who trust Him."

Blizzardoth soaked in his mother's love for an entire hour. He did not speak during that time. In the end, he pulled away from his mother's embrace. "I wish to sleep here."

The mother of all dragons arched an eyebrow. "That is an unusual custom to sleep in the presence of cadavers, but I will grant you this request."

The firstborn dragon shook his head. "You misunderstand. I do not wish to live without them. I am done fighting. I am done with pain and strife, and I do not seek another wife to replace Shardia. I will sleep here and preserve the bodies of my wife and son with my breath until the end of time."

Frostania shook her head. "You can't! As your mother, I allow you to spend a few months to bury them and mourn their deaths. As your queen, I command you to aid us in battle once your heart has had time to heal."

Blizzardoth shook his head. "Mother, I have been through much with you and Father. I am your first child. I survived thousands of years, through the Great Earthquake, and through the life and death of Christus. I have seen and borne much with you. And I did it all with Shardia at my side. I cannot live without her. Through my everlasting hibernation, I can preserve her body and the body of my son from corruption and sleep with them forever."

Frostania sighed. "I cannot stop you. But know this: there will come a day when the world will need you. It is clear that the prophecy of your father and I having to sacrifice ourselves is about to be fulfilled. The surviving dragons will need a leader, or all will fall into chaos between man and dragon. We were meaning for you to become the lord protector of dragons upon our death. But you have chosen to forsake this duty, so we shall assign that responsibility to another. He shall come to awake you when the time comes. You will find love again. I promise." The queen of dragons kissed Blizzardoth on the cheek and looked into his blue eyes. "Sleep well, my son. I love you."

Blizzardoth clutched his mother. "Mother! You can't die!"

Frostania embraced her firstborn one last time. "Alas. Ever since your father and I sinned against the Creator at the beginning, it was foretold we would have to die for a noble cause. Saving what remains of our offspring from a sorcerous madman is the noblest cause your father and I can think of. This is the way of things. I love you, son." She pulled away. "We will meet again." She exited the cave, leaving Blizzardoth alone with the corpses of his wife and son.

Blizzardoth lay himself next to Shardia and wrapped a wing around her. "Goodnight, sweet Shardia," he whispered into her deafened ear. "I love you for all eternity." He then pulled the body of Hiddoth to his side. "Pleasant dreams, my son," he said. "You are my pride and joy always and forevermore!" The firstborn of all dragons then closed his eyes and breathed. It was not ordinary breath. Fueled by his sorrow and fury, Blizzardoth created a blizzard that wrapped itself around the top of Mount Teverton. Over the course of days, ice accumulated over the entrance of the dragon's cave. Within a fortnight, the cave was buried beneath twenty feet of snow and ice. And thus the firstborn of all dragons slept in misery.

Once she had flown to a neighboring mountain, Frostania landed and looked back upon Blizzardoth's cave. Among her abilities, the queen of dragons was able to switch between the appearance of a white ice dragon or a black sonic dragon. Her husband the king was able to switch between the appearance of a red fire dragon or a green acid-spraying dragon. Now, Frostania's scales shifted from white to black. In this form, she possessed a beautiful singing voice. She gazed upon her son's home and sang the following mournful tune:

Sleep, my son, my eldest child,
Blizzardoth, my love, you were born to be wild.
Wipe your tears and allay your fears,
Let my song comfort your aching ears.

Know that I love you,
As your mother, I do.
You will see them again,
In the bliss of heaven.

You have brothers who need you,
For your sisters this holds true.
Your guidance they'll need,
So my advice you must heed.

Let not rage cloud your heart,
The world needs you, and we each have our part.
Evil will fall, and good shall rise,
Please understand when you open your eyes.

Sleep, my son, my eldest child,
Blizzardoth, my love, you were born to be wild.
Know that I love you,
As your mother, I do.

"Sleep well, my son," Frostania sighed. "One way or another, we will meet again."