//------------------------------//
// The Book of Shadows 
// Story: My Little Dragon 
// by Metal Pony Fan 
//------------------------------//

	The book of shadows, a rumored artifact posessing an unknown power, was believed lost in the fourth century of what we call The Void.  The Void was a period of approximately seven hundred years spanning from the end of the Great war to the banishment.  The banishment of what, we do not know.  We don't even know what the war was about, or why the Void occured, only that there was a war, and the Void did occur.

We call it the void because there is little to no record of it ever occuring.  In fact, it seems our entire history, up to and including the great war, begins after the Void ends.  What little we have found from before that is broken, mired in uncertainty and mystery.  Even though my order has spent centuries piecing together what we have found, we are no closer to finding answers.

Ah, of course, I should have introduced myself first.  I am Sator, of the order of Abbadon, a monastic order residing in the city of exile, Casull.  Sator is not the name I was born to, of course.  None of the monks retain their given names, we choose one that describes us and our work in the order every hundred years or so.  I have recently chosen Sator, which means father, because that is what I have become, not through any deficit of my monastic vows, but through necessity.

Unfortunately, there are many innocent hatchlings in this city.  Given that most of the adult residents, aside from the monks, are bloodthirsty criminals, we have begun to take in these hatchlings.  Some of these poor orphans are under our care before they even hatch, and the monks have become the only family they will likely know.

I care for the eldest hatchling under our protection.  I am responsible for her feeding, education, and bed times, and it is quite the hassle at times.  She is as stubborn as a volcano, with a temper just as fiery.  At times, I wish I could let somedragon else care for her, but none of the other monks dare go near her after what she did to poor Excurro.  If only I could return her to Draconica, and find a proper home for her, I am sure her attitude problems would go away.

That hardly seems possible though.  With all the young we care for now, safely making the journey with all of them would be problematic.  We have discussed the possibilty of making several pilgrimages, but we would need to leave enough monks to defend the temple while sending out enough to defend the hatchlings.  We simply do not have enough dragons for that.

It is my hope that, as these hatchlings grow older, we can count on their help to make the journey.  The hatchling I care for alone would be worth a dozen monks.

That is not merely a statement born of pride.  She is a rare one, an angel dragon, blessed with both wings and powerful magic.  On top of that, she has a remarkable will, a strength that I believe will carry her far.  Of course, this will seems to fuel her stubborn nature, and sometimes leads to acts of supreme stupidity, such as sneaking out of the temple at night, or sneaking out during the day.  Honestly, I am unsure which one is worse.  At night, at least you need not battle dehydration, but there are many beasts, and a few plants, that would gladly make a meal out any dragon unable to fight them off.

She snuck off like that a week ago, shortly before dawn.  I suppose she thought that a time between day and night would be safer.  I went out to drag her back myself.  There were not many dragons out and about, and those that were knew enough to give me a wide sway.  I doubt they would do the same for a lone hatchling though.

It took me several hours to find her, and it was a wonder I ever did.  She was crawling around the ruins of a building that collapsed long before I ever came to Casull.  I happened to be passing by as she popped out of the window on a fallen wall.  She was being chased by a horde of rats, no doubt seeking revenge for their brethren, whom she was chewing on.

She tried to fly away from them, but only managed a series of hops and poorly executed hovers.  I grabbed her out of the air before she could see me, and roared at the rats, scaring them back into the rubble.  I scared the hatchling too, and she dropped what she was carrying to cover her ears.  I had not noticed earlier, but she was clutching something in her claws.  That was why she didn't run from the rats, despite knowing full well that she lacked the power of flight.

After returning to the temple, she revealed that the book was intended as a gift for me.  Excurro suggested that she said that to avoid punishment, but I believed her.  She was still punished for putting herself in danger, but I am just glad she is unhurt.  She was put to bed immediately after dinner, and a guard was placed outside her door.  A heavy stone was also placed outside her window, blocking it completely.

I spent the rest of that night studying the book she retrieved.  It was fairly ornate, and seemed to have dragon scales embedded along the spine.  The front cover had a golden emblem riveted to the leather, with a polished gemstone bound to its center.  Thin grooves swirled around the stone, which looked ever more like an eye as I stared at it.

Oddly though, it was blank.  I counted exactly three hundred and forty-eight pages, and not one bore a mark of any kind.  At first, I assumed it was just an empty journal, but then, I tried to write in it.  The pages would not accept ink.  As I wrote, the ink flowed into the paper and was absorbed, disappearing entirely after a few seconds.

The next day, I ordered a team of monks to investigate the ruins.  They returned with several ruined artifacts, cloths and books that did not survive the rats.  They also brought metal artifacts, everything from plates and utensils to bits of jewelry.  Though these items were interesting, and would no doubt be of interest to a museum or a collector, they were of little historical value.

The only item of note was a carved stone box.  Its lid was broken in two, and according to the monk who found it, it was found among blue feathers and rat blood.  Judging by its size, the box once held the book my daughter gave me.  She most likely left the box behind because it was too heavy.

The lid was edged with what seemed to be a variant of today's royal seal, possibly even the design that inspired it.  Carved within that seal, were two figures.  One was a dragon, regal and imposing, even by dragon standards.  He was obviously a drake of some importance.  The other was an unknown creature, dragon-like in shadow, but softer.  It did not have scales, and its tail seemed to be made of hair, matching its flowing crest.  It had one horn, pointing forward in the center of its forehead, and was clad in regalia armor similar to that of a female dragon lord.  Whatever this creature was, it was being depicted in a manner equaling royalty.

Sadly, the lid held no clues regarding the identity of that creature.  It did, however, state the identity of the book.  It was the book of shadows.  More accurately, it was the third book of shadows.  There was no mention of the first or second books, but the text inscribed in the stone clearly said that it was the third of a set.  It also made no mention of being last in the set, leaving the possibility that there are more books of shadows out there.

Within the box, there was more writing, explaining that the book had been sealed away to prevent its misuse during the war.  It also explained how to use the book, and that only those chosen by peace will gain necessary knowledge.  I was not sure exactly what it meant by that, but it seemed that this artifact was older than I thought.  It not only predated the Void, but the great war as well, possibly making it one of the oldest known artifacts, as old or older than the Lineus Veil.

Of course, a blank book can only have so much historical significance, so I followed the instructions given.  I poured my own blood into the grooves of the cover.  It flowed through the pattern, and soaked into the metal.  I then opened the book and brought my pen to the page.  My claw moved of its own accord after that, writing names and places from my past.  The ink stayed on the page this time.

I pulled my claw away after three pages.  It was astounding.  What was written read like a glossary of the dragons and places that shaped my life.  There was encyclopedic information that even I was unaware of, but it was mixed with explanations that seemed obvious, including definitions of common words.  There was no order to it, alphabetic or chronologic, that I could determine, except that everything written was related to my past.

I closed the book and went to fetch another monk.  I had meant to show him the entries, but when I opened the book again, the pages were blank once more.  At my request, he followed the instructions as I had.  He pulled his claw away before the first entry was written, but it seemed the book was behaving as it had earlier.

We experimented after that.  Every member of the order tried offering their blood to the book.  We found that the dragon writing did not have to be the one to give the blood, but that the information written was determined by the blood.  We also found that propping the book open would not keep the words from disappearing, but delayed it for about an hour's time.  One passage in the instructions, "The sanguin offering shall hold the place by mark," led to us finding that a bookmark either containing blood or a scale from the one whose blood is used will keep the words in place.  We have only tested it overnight, but it is promising.  Especially since the information written for each dragon seems static, and begins again each time the book is reset.

The only real problem we faced was that the information we recieved was unimportant.  The method of delivery was amazing, and with nothing but a sample of blood, one dragon could learn a great deal about another, but most of it was common knowledge regarding names, places, and words.

I solved that problem last night.  When she manages to sleep, the hatchling I care for sleeps like a brick.  With a mild anasthetic, and a small sharp blade, I took a small sample of her blood.  I then bandaged the wound with medicinal herbs so it would be healed before morning.  The bandage was removed before she awoke, and she never knew it happened.

When I applied her blood to the Book of shadows, the reaction was the same as it had been for the rest of us, until the stone in the center started to glow.  It looked like an eye before, it was an eye now, one of glowing energy trapped behind crystal, staring, judging.  From that point, I knew that the hatchling was different from the monks.  I did not know what it meant for her to be, "chosen by peace," but she was far more important than any of us.  My thoughts on this matter were confirmed from the first few entries I wrote.

I stopped myself after writing them, and placed a marker, one of the hatchling's feathers, between the pages.  

Tonight, I am returning to the book with a second one by my side.  As words appear in the book of shadows, I will record them in this journal.  I will do this every night for as long as I am able.  I am using a separate pen and inkwell for each task, hopefully to avoid any bleeding of magic between the books.  Truthfully, I should be dictating to one of the other monks, but they would not approve of what I have done to obtain this information.  I do not care at this point.  I only hope that the one dragon that matters will forgive me.  For some reason, I believe she will.

I am sorry, Rainbow Dash, but it was necessary.