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Dated Diary of Destructive Days
By Cyrus

Today is a special day indeed. As I once mentioned before, I managed to convince Sheila to let me use some of the old diary entries she made from around the time of our mother's death. Strangely, she didn't seem to mind and, in fact, laughed a bit when she, as she put it, "thought about a certain something written in there". Probably a pinch of sibling rivalry, if anything. In any case, I present what I was able to retrieve from her in the pages below, thanks, in part, to the useful technology those Drakel have:


11/17/1351:
This may be the most horrible day I've lived, but I feel I must write of it in case somebody later finds this. I don't believe I'll ever forget the details anyway, and it helps to get them out somewhere.

It started out as a dull day until the humans came again. Normally they're somewhat kind, and before this, the worst that had ever happened was one of them swinging his sword at Xerxes. Thankfully, all he did was shatter the rather pitiful steel sword with his axe, making the human run away quickly, whimpering in fear. These weren't the usual humans, though. They came with well-made, powerful weapons and armor, bent on destroying the lot of us. It took my brothers less than a minute to ready themselves and by the time the humans reached our home, they, along with my mother and myself, were prepared to defend our home and each other. There were only six of them, but they were very powerful, moreso than any human I'd seen before, and a horrendous battle ensued...

For a short while, though it felt like an eternity, we managed to hold our ground rather well against them, though neither we nor they could gain any real advantage for long. My brothers' weapons easily held three of them off while my mother's claws and breath were able to keep a fourth at bay. I was able to hold off another with my magic and Nava, despite any weapons, had managed to pin one down under a dead tree, nearly blown over by a recent storm. However, their skill, along with their heavy armor, kept us from doing any severe damage to them. After what may have been half an hour we reached a stalemate, both sides battered and bruised, now unwilling to make another move. For a few seconds the scene was quiet, until all five of them rushed Cyrus at the same time. Between my brother's skill and our efforts, most of them didn't reach him, but two managed to break through and tackle him against the stone wall of our home, leaving him dazed for a moment. It was then that they made their most important move:

While Cyrus was unable to move, the two humans who had him cornered raised their swords, intending to finish him while they had a chance. Instead, they and their weapons were intercepted by the lunging form of our mother, who managed to crack their armor with the sheer force of her attack. Their swords had managed to go through her instead, managing to hit something vital and cause her to collapse, lifeless. At that moment, even the human attackers stopped and looked down on her. At first they seemed pleased with themselves and one let out a triumphant yell, until Cyrus stood up again.

His eyes... they had gone from their normal color to glowing completely white, and he let out a deafening roar as his body shifted slowly, becoming much taller and taking on many more dragon-like features. Within a few seconds, a monstrous form stood where my brother had been a moment ago. The humans who had killed my mother remained confident and laughed at this until he growled out two words that are burned into my memory: "Revenge... Death..."

I couldn't believe what happened after that: my brother's new claws tore through the humans' armor like it wasn't even there, and they were in a heap on the ground in a matter of seconds. Everyone left standing there-- including the remaining humans-- looked on in horror before he turned and dove at them, leaving them lifeless in the snow in the blink of an eye. After this, he stood still for a moment, his body slowly returning to normal, and seemed rather confused by how he ended up standing there. With all of the humans taken care of, we set about burying them along with my mother, in case anyone else came looking for them.


11/18/1351
None of us left our home for very long today, if at all. I'm the only one even close to my usual self and I only keep it up for the sake of my family.

Xerxes went off in a fit of anger with one of his axes and ended up chopping about half a dozen trees into firewood to calm himself down. He still seems incredibly angry but he's now able to sit still, at least. Both Nava and Gaspar were in tears for most of the night, and Gaspar spent half the day asleep because of it. It's a horrible thing to see, as he's always had trouble with even the thought of harming anybody. Strangely, every time Xerxes has come too close to Gaspar today, he seems to go into a fit, tossing and whimpering in his sleep. I can't figure it out, but I hope he can recover from whatever it is.

Cyrus is taking this in a rather strange way. He hasn't spoken at all since his brief transformation and didn't leave my side for most of the day. It's not a reaction I'd expect at all... After all, my brother's normally very strong-willed and doesn't like anyone seeing him in a weak moment. He keeps pushing himself and acting like nothing can hurt him because the others have looked to him almost as a father since what happened all those years ago. The others draw confidence from it, but I can tell how much of an act it is. It's cute, in a way, because he's about as tough as Gaspar at heart. I'm just hoping he hasn't pushed himself too far this time.

Another thing I don't understand is the strange glow that's appeared over my brother's eyes. Even though it almost always covers them, masking his reactions, he can see just fine. Since it first appeared, it only went away for the few moments he calmed down before sleeping tonight. Since it doesn't seem to be hurting him, I'll worry about it later. There are bigger things to worry about for now...

Perhaps vengeance on the town that attacked us is in order. Between the five of us, we could probably destroy the entire village in less than a day. My family can't go through this much suffering and loss for nothing. I won't let that happen.


11/22/1351:
It's been a few days, but Cyrus is finally speaking again, if only a little. We haven't seen a human since the attack, but we know we can't stay here for long. The others talked about taking revenge on the humans, but now that I've thought about it, it seems wrong... Most of the humans were kind to us, after all. Instead, Cyrus came up with the idea that we move to the city in the nearby mountains. The buildings are a bit different, and nothing we've ever seen or heard of, even regarding Dwarves or the strange domed cities on the outskirts of human lands. From the rumors I've heard, it might be the city full of people like us, of both human and dragon blood, that the travelers who return from the far northern lands talk about. Whether or not that's true, it might just be a good place for us to live, at least until the humans here can understand why we had to do what we did. Xerxes and Gaspar both were very reluctant about the idea, but eventually gave in after some convincing that the humans weren't as terrible as they thought. If Cyrus can convince someone as hard-headed as Xerxes, it's likely he has a good chance of being able to convince the humans that we aren't so bad after all.


Yes, it is mostly accurate, except for anything related to my being "cute". I have the power to make entire armies tremble before me. There is NOTHING cute about me, and I will be having a word with my dear sister about that when I see her next. In the meantime, I must be off to deal with pressing matters. Kethorat has relayed word of strange events all over the continent, particularly magical energy surges, which I must investigate. I shall return soon to unveil further mysteries. As always, send your questions or comments to aqcyrus@gmail.com, and they'll make their way to me quickly.