Dragons – They are the behemoths of legend. Their feared and respected name brings about awe and wonder whenever it is mentioned. There is very little known about these beasts, though, and they remain yet a mystery to all but their own kind, but there are many legends of these feared creatures, many indeed. I call them legends, not myths, because they may just be true. One such legend, a tale of gods and mortals, tells of how these gargantuan reptiles came to walk the land.

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This legend, like many others, starts with a man – a human – who seeks to be more than he already is…

"Speakith unto me, oh great god Bahamut, and grant upon me your blessing that I might grow to one day be like you… your mirror image!" The man prayed and prayed at a small, poorly-crafted altar in a ramshackle temple. He did not expect Bahamut, the great god – the god of gods – to hear him above the noise of everything else reaching out to him, but something about the sincerity, the necessity in the human's pleading prayers, heralded Bahamut's most sought-after attention.

"Make your way to the very top of the highest mountain, human." A deep voice, like the cracking and rumbling of dry earth, spoke unto the human, "There I shall be awaiting your arrival. Do this of your own power and then may I share my own with you." The voice trailed away, echoing in the man's mind until the light of day disappeared beyond the horizon.

It was a difficult trial. A man of no fortune, and no particular strength was going to attempt a lone climb to the top of the highest mountain in the land? It was a fool's game! Everyone who knew of his venture warned him against it, told him it was just some lesser deity's trickery. The man remained a stalwart believer, though, and the very next day he gathered all of the necessities he could, and started towards the mountains.

It was a perilous journey, made even more-so by the man's careless and hasty preparation. He had just rope, no other climbing equipment, but that did not stop him. He was hungry, he was thirty, he was in pain, and he was on the verge of hypothermia when he finally crested the top of the mountain. He fell to his knees, and gazed up at the sky, sure Death would soon be upon him. The sun, peeking through the clouds, stung at his eyes, and though he thought it was a hallucination he could not look away. The clouds were parting, and a shadow was descending from the heavens; a great winged beast that appeared to be every color at once, yet colorless at the same time. The massive, scaled body only grew as it moved closer. It was only a matter of minutes before those piercing, yellow, reptilian eyes were close enough to touch.

"I see you have managed to make it here, human. An impressive feat for one such as yourself. You must truly desire my blessing." Bahamut spoke unto the man, a hint of curiosity and possibly mischief in his voice.

"Please, oh god Bahamut, I pray thee to grant me your blessing. I desire it not for myself but for the ability to help others." The man pleaded.

"As you wish, but I must warn you. To be a mirror of my power, you must be a mirror of my image. It will start slowly, but you will begin to change. As you become more like me, so too does your powers grow to mirror my own. Like all mirror images, though, it will not be nearly as complete as the original."

"I accept that I will never be as a god myself, and I accept that I will one day grow to resemble your massive yet elegant beauty." The man bowed his head low, his face quite nearly in the snow.

"So be it. Your prayer has been granted, though not out of any desire I hold to help you. Nor do I care for mortal man. I only believe that it will be very… interesting… to see how a mortal handles this power." And in a flash of blinding light, the great beast was gone.

The clouds had closed once again, and a warm glow washed over the man. The cold no longer seemed to bother him, and all around him the snow of the mountain peak began to slowly melt, into trickling streams that cascaded down the mountain. He had renewed strength, as well! He quickly descended the mountain and returned to his village.

People were staring at the man, talking behind hands while looking his way. The man ignored this, but when he returned to his home he could see why. A mirror hung on his wall, and in this mirror he saw himself, or rather his face… but with a length of black hair, and those same piercing, yellow, reptilian eyes that he still vividly remembered from the mountain. His skin was already darkening to a shade of red mimicking the fire now running through is veins. Even his teeth seemed to have some unexplainable sharpness to them now.

The man, though bothered by the sudden wariness that the townsfolk seemed to adapt around him, kept true to his word. He used the power that the great Bahamut bestowed upon him only for the good of his village. He first helped his wife in her ill health, and before long she was walking around again, her skin once more as vibrant as the day they met. He then sought to help other people, to show good will, that he was not some terrorizing beast. It was all in vein.

As the years wore on, the man kept changing, and with each change less and less people would speak to him, afraid to be seen with such a… a freak of nature. His skin soon developed into scales, his face grew long and snout-like, and all the while he was growing larger. Soon his wife left him, scared for her safety, and not long after the townsfolk ran him out, forcing him to take shelter in the mountains. It took many, many years but soon he was almost identical to Lord Bahamut, all except for the color of his scales. While Bahamut's scales were a shining rainbow of beauty, this one's scales were lava-hued.

Annoyed by the lack of companionship, the man -- if he still could be called that -- concentrated all of the power he had acquired thus far as Bahamut's mirror image, and transformed himself back into a man once more. He could blend into society by day, talking and laughing. No one suspected a thing. Every night, though, the man had to return to his home, on the very mountain where these powers were first received, and there he remained a dragon through-out the night, letting his mind rest so he could once again be human in the morning.

*****

This story, while most believe a work of fiction to teach morals to young human children, is not quite such a work of fiction. While some parts are indeed exaggerated, as is obvious, this is as close to the truth as you can find in the legends. All dragons were once people, and all dragons can once again be people. How do I know this for sure? Why, I am living proof… Everyone around me is living proof. The entirety of my House, the entirety of my city, my home, is living proof. We are their children!

When a dragon takes the form of a mortal he can reproduce as one, if the conditions are right. The only race with enough magic in their blood to carry such offspring, of course, is the Elves. We are half Elf, half dragon. We call ourselves the Dragonesti, and despite having such magical lineage we are normally forgotten, left to die. The dragons that sire us do not want us, to them we are worthless. The mothers that birth us are not allowed to keep us. To their society we are abominations!

A trueborn Dragonesti is, however, unheard of these days. Most of our society was bred from the first wave of trueborns. Both of my parents were Dragonesti. I am what they call a ka'hal, or "ka" for short; it means "weak dragon" in my language.

My father, Vonsha, is one of the oldest trueborn in our society, and also the head of our House. My mother, Calyth, is not a trueborn but still one of the elders in our society. I, however, am still young by both Elf and dragon standards, 47 years old. I am Corrah of House Kennyr'athem, third son to Vonsha and Calyth Kennyr'athem.