Reign of Terror

Prologue

An island embedded within the ocean, so far away from any other landmasses, that it could be considered almost nonexistent, was slowly shaking. Thousands of years worth of magma had built up under the island, causing the pressure to rise. The local wildlife were aware of what was to come very soon. Even the plants, knowing their time was up, were starting to wilt away and die. Without the plants, the herbivores starved, and in turn, so did the carnivores. Within two months, the island was a barren wasteland, nothing but a rock completely devoid of life. Some birds came to visit, but never stayed more than a day or two, quickly flying away afterwards.

Another 4 weeks passed, but the volcano refused to erupt. Some fauna had indeed come back, in the forms of small animals like insects and rodents. Life was fairly easy, with hardly any competition between the creatures. Mushrooms returned to substitute plants. Soon, the island was once again a small thriving ecosystem, although it would never again become the paradise it once was. At least the volcano had stopped shaking.

All was fine until the day of reckoning. The mountain shook once more, albeit not as strong as last time. Many creatures noticed, and took shelter in their burrows in case of the worst scenario. There was a while of total suspense lasting until Princess Luna raised the moon thousand of miles away. It was very late, and most of the critters had fallen into a deep sleep. All of them woke up when the top of the volcano split, not releasing lava to the surface, but a strange-looking green gas. It seemed to flow down the sides of the mountain at fast speeds onto the island below, making it hard to see. It seeped into the burrows and homes of all the animals on the island. The ones that lived on the beaches or seaside cliffs died a horrible death, their fur falling off their bodies, and the gas poisoning them from the inside. The ones right next to the volcano got it much worse. After losing their fur the green fumes would flow into their lungs, bloating them up to 3 times their normal size, until they simply burst, littering the ground with their blood and guts. The mushrooms and small plants, all withered themselves into oblivion. Once again like last time, there was no life left. But this extinction had taken only a few minutes.

Nothing was left to witness the gas slowly dissipate and disappear. The massive mountain shook once more, sending tons of rocks and boulders tumbling down the sides. Dead trees that had still stood even years after their deaths a while ago, were violently uprooted. Slowly everything came to a halt. A haunting, soundless moment enveloped the wasteland. One, two, three heartbeats of silence passed. Then the volcano erupted. Massive amounts of magma from underground shot up to the surface, reaching heights of a hundred feet into the air. It rained down onto the island, rolling over the hills and flowing off cliffs into the ocean, cooling down upon contact. It found its way into the burrows of the dead animals and cooked their remains to charred flesh. It covered most of the island, rendering it completely useless. But the worst was yet to come. Another jet of fire exploded from the mouth of the volcano. Strangely, it was the exact same color hue as the gas, a lime-green. A gigantic quake shook the ground and cracks started to open in the earth, swallowing the lava. A grumble was heard from inside the peak. Something was in there.

A massive hooked finger rose up from the mouth of the volcano, dripping with molten rock. Then another came up and gripped the other side, and both started to pull the owner of the fingers up. Steaming from being bathed in magma, a figure exposed itself for the first time in hundreds of thousand of years. The creature pulled itself from the volcano, revealing that it was big enough to completely destroy a city with no real effort. It was a massive wyvern, so big it would make Tirek in his final form quiver in fear, that emerged from the smoldering precipice. He roared defiantly at the heavens, which was so loud that all small creatures like fish in the ocean floated up to the surface, dead. As it shook itself clean, the features of it became more defined. Charcoal black and shimmering gold scales lined the body, with spikes as thick as tree trunks going across the back. The tail ended in a club lined with spikes as big as a house. The source of the green gas was obviously the mouth, for it snarled and puffed out a rather large quantity of it. The eyes, a shimmering emerald-green, glinted with evil delight. "Freedom..." he spoke. Even after so long, the monstrosity still remembered its intentions. Destroy. Nothing else mattered. All other things weren't important to him, not even hoarding treasure, like a normal dragon. The monster spread his wings to their full length, reaching 3 miles from wingtip to wingtip. As he did so, the wind generated blasted into some unfortunate birds a distance away, snapping their bones like twigs. He bellowed, and unleashed a jet of green fire onto the land below, obliterating everything, turning the leftover land into pure glass and even setting the lava on fire. Looking up at the stars, it flapped its wings, sending it over three hundred feet into the air. It peered its eyes, trying to pinpoint a certain location. The nose of it sniffed the air.The first destination of unadulterated destruction was set in its mind. The Changeling Empire. Flying upwards, it entered the stratosphere in no time at all. Letting loose another roar, this primal creature from another time flew to his destination. There was going to be another week before he reached them. No matter. There was not going to be any time to escape. High above in the clouds, he was concealed from anything spotting him. No one was going to expect him. No one would expect the king to return...