“Ah, so glad you arrived, Miss Vine! I’ve been awaiting your arrival after all.” The pitch dragon with neon orange and blue highlights gave a slippery smile. Vine, the mudwing gulped inaudibly though she was sure as ever GameShow could hear it. She was well aware that if she were any other dragon, she would have already paid the price for making GameShow wait.



    “Now that you’re here, our work can begin! Now, Miss Vine, you may be asking,” At this point, GameShow spoke is false falsetto, “Oh GameShow, whatever is your grand plan this time?” He returned to his normal voice, “My dearest Miss Vine, I’m so glad you asked! Why my glorious plan, just like how every plan of mine is grandiose, is to prepare for the First Game!”



    Miss Vine nodded, knowing that GameShow would explain himself. While he was something of a maddened individual, he was at least consistent.



    “Now those aren’t very nice thoughts about me…” He faux frowned, before continuing on. Vine reminded herself of who she was with. GameShow shot her one final glance before moving on.



    “Well, Miss Vine, I can already hear your endless curiosity towards the How of the matter. And it’s elementary, my good secretary. All you’re here for is to act as my witness.” Stretching their neck side to side, and cracking the knucklebones on their claws, GameShow readied himself.



    With a grand flourish and a snap of his pitch claws, a great mountain began to erupt from the ground with a shattering rumble. Through the din of boulders and breaking stone, Vine found herself rising rapidly into the air alongside GameShow, who was cackling at the display.



    After several tumultuous minutes, the mountain slowed down in its creation, and eventually stopped, leaving GameShow and Vine at the summit. Slightly resistantly, she looked over the edge and found the drop to be quite steep, as she pulled back swiftly, realizing how high up she was.


    “Forgot you had wings, I see.” GameShow was clearly amused at her wariness of the height. Since Vine was literally incapable of lying to GameShow, she could only nod. However, his attention was no longer on her.



    Currently, he was sticking his claws into the stone like it was water, and once more, the entire mountain rumbled. Structures began to form alongside the edges, pathways, and stairs flowing into place. Caves opened up, and tunnels were constructed. Soon the mountain was less a mountain and more a massive fortress.



    One Vine knew would be filled with traps and puzzles intended to maim and kill if they were failed or missed. GameShow had described his machinations to her for quite a while now. She tried not to jump out her scales as he chuckled and clapped her on the shoulder. She did her best to ignore how cold his touch was and how her shoulder felt like it was decomposing. Or the fact the surrounding scales were already turning black.



    “Beautiful, isn’t it?” GameShow asked, far too loudly for how close he was. Vine could only voicelessly nod. The whispers of insanity were audible when he was nearby. The wails of souls felled by his will. Such were the woes working under an eldritch horror that called itself a dragon.



    “Well, all that’s left now, my dear secretary, is to populate it with dragons. And I know just where to find them.” Vine did her best not to shiver as he began to fall to maddened cackling.





    Around the world, dragons from all tribes began to feel something prickle at their scales. It became a sharp stinging pain for some as they were dragged into the shadows by an unseen force. For others, it merely subsided. But on this day, a significant number of dragons went missing. And as history will soon discover, not all of them would be coming back. In fact, very few did.