Prologue
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❝And he turned into a DRAGON—
No—not a dragon—
SOMETHING MUCH MORE ANCIENT, PRIMAL, ANIMAL, AND CRUDE...
... SOMETHING BRUTISH, MADE OF HUNGER, AND EARLY BRUSHSTROKES OF TIME,
LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF PREHISTORY. I GAZED OUT IN FEAR? HORROR?
AWE? AS HE BENT THE FOREST AROUND HIM WITH A GOD'S
ALMIGHTY, BLOODCURDLING, EAR-SHATTERING CRY,
AS THE EARTH BROKE AND BOWED, AND I FELT
DEEPLY IN MY BONES THAT HE CAME FROM
THOSE WORLDS BEFORE US, BEFORE
WARS, BEFORE GOLD, BEFORE
TIME ITSELF, WHEN
________________________ EVEN DRAGONS WERE STILL YOUNG AND THE JUNGLES THAT NOW CRUSH OUT OUR ARTIFICIAL UTOPIAS WERE THE SOFT, MOSS SAPLINGS THAT COWED UNDER CLAWS LARGER THAN MEN. AND AS HIS EYES TURNED TO LOOK AT ME, I SAW IN THOSE SCARRED MIRRORS NOT A DEITY'S IMMORTALITY OR BRIGHT OMNIPOTENCE, BUT A PURE, AND ABSOLUTE BESTIAL VIOLENCE: THE CHILLING LANGUAGE OF APATHETIC MOTHER EARTH, HER BRUTALITY, AND WHAT KIND OF CALM, PREDATOR, AND IMPERFECT DESIGN IT TOOK TO SURVIVE HER. ________________________ 
________________________ WHO WAS HE? WHO WAS THIS CREATURE? I COULD NOT BE CERTAIN UNTIL I SAW HIM AGAIN, THIS TIME—IN THE FORM OF MAN. BUT HIS EYES WERE THE SAME. THOSE STEADY, AND BRIGHT, FIERY VESSELS STUCK LIKE MOONSTONES IN HIS FACE, WITH A GAZE MORE ANCIENT THAN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MANKIND, AND EVEN AS HE WORE OUR CLOTHES, SPOKE OUR LANGUAGE, BEHAVED WITH THE MANNERS OF CIVILIZATION, I COULD NOT SEE BUT ONLY THAT HERE LAY SOME SLEEPING BEAST CAPABLE OF MASSIVE DAMAGE AT ANY COST PAID, FOR HIS LIFE AND HIS PEOPLES... A KING OF HIMSELF, A STUBBORN RELIC— ________________________
—who would not be killed by ANYTHING LESS
than PYRRHIC VICTORY.❞
