Scenario:The Dragon Weeps before Daybreak - Chapter 4: Mourning Under the Moon - Episode 4

The Dragon Weeps before Daybreak - Chapter 4: Mourning Under the Moon - Episode 4

Fafnir tells the crew about the rise and fall of a group of half-person, half-dragon beings called the Vallant who were once considered heroes for saving Feendrache from utter destruction. When told the forefather of the Vallant, Maleagant, has been terrorizing the kingdom, the true dragon expresses pity, and solemnly declares the time for the people of Feendrache to face their lost history has finally come.

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Fafnir: I must ask you, are you aware of Feendrache's origins?

Lancelot: Yes. I believe the kingdom was formed during a war surrounding the ownership of Sylph some few hundred years ago.

Lancelot: The forces of Feendrache were victorious and claimed control over Sylph, leading to the creation of the kingdom we know today.

Fafnir: Correct. However, though the battle over Sylph had concluded, the other kingdoms were not keen on simply surrendering.

Fafnir: Only after an intervention by the primal Cosmos was the conflict truly brought to an end.

This series of events drove many to view Feendrache as an adversary. As such, the sparks of conflict continued to burn.

Then, roughly three hundred years ago, those sparks exploded into a calamitous war right on Feendrache's doorstep.

Percival: The greatest war in Feendrache's history, as it's documented in various records.

Percival: If I recall, it was the first time Feendrache was on the cusp of ceasing to exist.

Fafnir: Indeed. And in that war, one particular group of people contributed greatly to the kingdom's victory, and were hailed as saviors. They were known as the Vallant.

Unfamiliar with the word, the crew collectively knit their brows.

A bitter smile pulls at Fafnir's mouth as if expecting their puzzled reaction.

Fafnir: I understand your confusion. But I know you have all seen the Vallant before.

In that moment, they realize Fafnir is referring to the very people that turned into dragons in Nimue and the abandoned village.

Fafnir: I myself know nothing of their origins or where they came from.

Fafnir: But as you all have seen, the Vallant are both man and dragon. And with their immense power, they led the kingdom to victory. They were heroes of Feendrache.

After a moment of pause, Fafnir lets out a deep, mournful sigh.

Fafnir: But Feendrache, with the power of the Vallant on their side, saw it fit to use them as tools of war to retaliate against other kingdoms.

Fafnir: Kingdoms invaded by Feendrache took to capturing the Vallant sent into battle to study them, and created enhanced soldiers of their own.

Fafnir: Battles fought, lives lost. The next day was more of the same. In those dreadful times, the island was defined by death.

As battle begot battle, and war begot war, people began to tire of the perpetual state of conflict with no end in sight.

Fafnir: The only thing that brought an end to the eternal strife was the threat of something bigger.

Fafnir: It is known as the bringer of calamity. The ebon beast, destroyer of paradise—Megatherion.

Fafnir: The forsaken child, born in the era this land was still called Avalon, had manifested once again.

Fafnir: The beast was eventually felled by the wielder of the holy blade Excalibur.

Fafnir: However, though the threat was gone, peace continued to elude the island.

Lyria: Huh? But didn't everyone come together to take down that monster?

Fafnir: They did. But having lost their common enemy, they turned their attentions back on each other, and warred over the cause of the beast's awakening.

Vyrn: More war? Geez, folks back then never seemed to learn anything from their actions.

Fafnir: Understandably, nobody wanted to be the villain. Thus, everyone looked to lay the blame on one another.

Fafnir: Man believed that foisting the responsibility of the beast's reemergence on someone else would restore true peace to the land.

Fafnir: Grappling with an inconvenient truth, people sought to ascribe the root of the destructive malevolence to another source.

Fafnir: Who is at fault? What caused this? Over these questions, yet another fresh conflict threatened to rear its ugly head.

Fafnir: In this chaos, the wielder of Excalibur, the hero who sealed the beast away, was murdered—by a Vallant.

Fafnir: And people at the time pointed to the man known to many as the forefather of the Vallant, Maleagant, as the culprit.

Vane: Maleagant!

Fafnir: Ah, you know of him?

Vane: Know of him? That's the very guy who's been terrorizing Feendrache!

Vane: He's the one that destroyed our village...

Fafnir: I see... It is clear the past still haunts him.

Murmuring in a voice tinged with empathy, Fafnir attempts to shift the conversation with an emphatic cough.

Fafnir: Well, it seems we have veered a bit off topic. Let me get us back on track.

Fafnir: The murder of Excalibur's wielder did more than enough to diminish the status of the Vallant.

Fafnir: They swiftly turned from heroes of the kingdom to murderers of the island's savior...

Fafnir: The blame for Megatherion's awakening too was thrust upon the Vallant. In time, the opinion of the entire island turned against them.

Fafnir: Like the beast, the Vallant were mixed—part human and part dragon. And the prevailing thought was that mixed beings brought the calamity to the island.

Fafnir: It was quite shocking to learn the murder was but a ploy orchestrated by the then king of Feendrache.

Fafnir: By sacrificing the reputation of the unfamiliar Vallant and presenting them as the evil, he prevented a new conflict from breaking out.

Fafnir: Man was as capricious and self-serving then as he is now.

Fafnir lets out a quiet, exhausted sigh.

Fafnir: What I have just told you is a lost history as I have come to know it. Only the Vallant would be privy to the entire truth.

Fafnir: And now that they have awakened, what was once shrouded in darkness will come to light.

Fafnir: The day for the kingdom and its people to face their forgotten past is now upon us.

The portent of an impending reckoning is intensified by the deep sadness and pity that color Fafnir's eyes.